For years now the conversation around malls in America has been more bad than good. The overarching sense is that the business model of a large, indoor shopping hub has been rendered outdated by the internet. For some cases, that’s true – who wouldn’t rather browse for everyday items online instead of driving out to a store that can’t guarantee they’ll have them?
Malls are being faced with a challenge: evolve, or become obsolete. Already many have gone the latter path. Amid longstanding community concerns that it may join those ranks, the Volusia Mall on International Speedway Boulevard in Daytona Beach has taken steps to keep itself vital.
The Volusia Mall’s addition of Native Home Marketplace in May invests in an appeal that still draws people out of their homes in the e-commerce era. The shop, consisting completely of homemade, handcrafted, and personally-curated products, is made entirely unique by the artisans who fill it out. The business owner, Ca-rin Whitehawk, oversees business and conducts transactions made of the unique creations of the vendors who’ve signed up with her.
“You’re not going to be looking at articles from another country,” Whitehawk says. “When you buy it, you’re not supporting a large corporation and so on. When you buy a dish or a piece of clothing or an art arrangement or a painting, you’re literally supporting your neighbors.”
This appeal defeats the apathy for in-person shopping that comes with the persistent convenience of Amazon, eBay, and the likes. Volusia County, like Flagler County above it, has a remaining appreciation for seeing the positive impact made while shopping. Though some transactions are tougher to justify conducting at the store nowadays, this has yet to permeate into the circuit of buying locally-made goods and products. The online retail giants are far too universal to be so personal.
Before getting set up in Volusia, Whitehawk started her business in Oviedo. She still operates out of there, having expanded north upon receiving a quite attractive offer from Volusia Mall General Manager Renee Milza. Along with Native Home Marketplace, Milza also opened the door to several other small, independent businesses with unique products and services to offer.
“You’re going to see a lot of our artisans taking an old, damaged piece of furniture and making it into a cabinet,” Whitehawk continued. “Somebody that takes something that would’ve gone in the garbage – pop tops, bottle tops – and making it into graphic art…you’re going to see a lot of repurposing. Our goal is to keep things out of the landfills, off of Mother Earth, and moving forward in our repurposing.” Floridians resonate as much as any other Americans with the value of reducing trash and pollution. What doesn’t go into landfills often winds up on roadway medians, in parking lots, and in the community. It’s one tenet of the environmental cause which transcends politics.
Looking forward, the proprietors and artisans of Native Home Marketplace are optimistic that their inventive new project will buck the trend and beat the odds by succeeding in the Volusia Mall. Large tourism draws such as race weekend, Bike Week and Biketoberfest, the Welcome to Rockville music festival, and more appear to be already driving crowds into the mall for downtime recreation and exploration. Even with the remaining locals who still peruse the mall looking for new businesses appear to be enjoying what’s been happening.
“It has been phenomenal,” Whitehawk said with a grin, thinking back on her first couple weeks in business. “The encouragement with people walking through and leaving with this big smile on their face…this is wonderful.”
