Exploring the Mall: Stores and Vocabulary

At the mall, Bob teaches English vocabulary for different stores and items, including verbs used for shopping.

### Learning English at the Mall: Vocabulary for Shopping and More
* 🛍 Three common verbs used when talking about the mall are "**go shopping**," "**do some shopping**," and "**grab**."
* 🗺 Most malls have a map near the entrance to help you find **stores**.
* 🛒 In North America, "store" and "shop" are used interchangeably to refer to **places where you can buy things**.
* 🏬 A small structure in the middle of the mall is called a "**kiosk**".
* 👠 Common types of stores found in malls include **clothing stores**, **shoe stores**, and **department stores**.
* ⬆ An "escalator" is used to move between floors in the mall.
* 🍔 The "food court" is an area in the mall where you can find **various restaurants and food options**.

Let's learn English at the mall. So I thought it would be a good idea to make another English lesson at the mall. I did one of these a few years ago now, but I thought it would be fun to do another one. So here we are at the mall. And I wanted to start by telling you about three verbs that I use when I talk about the mall. I would say something like this, I'm here today to go shopping. I might also say, I'm here today to do some shopping. Be careful with that one, though. You do need the word some in there, or you can even use a little bit. I'm here today to do a little bit of shopping. And then also in English, we like to use the word grab a lot. I'm here to grab some things. I'm not actually going to buy anything, though. I'm just giving those as examples. But once again, welcome to this English lesson at the mall.

So I'm happy because this mall still has a map of the mall. You can see a map of the mall up there, and a list of all the stores. A different mall that I was at recently, you had to download an app in order to find stores in the mall. I like this better. You'll usually find a map like this close to the entrance of the mall. We would call that the entrance. There's no main entrance in this mall, though. There's just a lot of entrances, like one on every side of the mall, if not more. So, the map of the mall and one of the entrances. Oh, and by the way, mall is actually the short way of saying shopping mall. So I am right now at a shopping mall in Burlington, Ontario. If I wanted to speak quickly, though, I would just say: Right now, I'm at a mall in Burlington, Ontario. So in North America, we generally refer to all of the places where you can buy

things as either stores or shops. We use those two words interchangeably quite a bit. I know if you're learning British English, there might be a slight difference between stores and shops, but this behind me, I would call it a store. I might also call it a shop. I would use both words interchangeably. But this down here, let me spin you around. You look down here, I would call this a kiosk. When it's located kind of in the middle part of the mall, we call these little things kiosks. You can see down the middle, there are a number of different kiosks here. You can buy a case for your cell phone. You can buy popcorn, and here you can buy more cases for your cell phone or a cell phone if you need one. So I thought real quick, we should review the vocabulary we use to talk about different kinds of stores. This store behind me is a computer store. This is a place where they sell computers.

This store here is a shoe store. This is where you would come if you wanted to buy a new pair of shoes. This is a clothing store. You would come to a store like this if you needed to buy a shirt or a skirt, or maybe you need a suit. You would definitely come to a clothing store if you needed to buy clothes. We also still have department stores at our malls. A department store is a large store that sells pretty much everything. This department store sells clothing. But if you look over here, you can also buy pots and pans, and other things for your kitchen. So these stores are generally quite big. Department stores generally have everything, and usually there's more than one floor. I think this one has two or three floors. There's lots of things you could buy here. So right now I'm going down the escalator. An escalator is this really cool thing that you can go on when you want to get from one floor to another.

It's kind of like stairs for lazy people. I remember as a kid, the first time I went on an escalator, I actually forgot to take a step at the end, and I tripped. But as an adult, I'm pretty good at going up and down the escalator. So I personally have not done a lot of shopping at a store like this. This is a dress store. You would come to a store like this if you were going to a fancy party or a wedding and you needed to find a dress. So I have been to a store like this, though. This is a jewelry store. I have been to jewelry stores not to buy jewelry for myself, but I have bought jewelry for Jen in the past. So this is a jewelry store. This is where you would come if you needed earrings or maybe a necklace or maybe a nice ring. So at the mall, there are a lot of stores, but the two kinds of stores that I see most often would be clothing stores.

And if you look behind me over here, another shoe store. I find that the majority of the stores at malls in my part of the world are either selling clothing or they're selling shoes. So the store we're about to go in is one of my favorite stores. I love bookstores. I love coming and seeing what new books have come out recently. This bookstore, in particular, is a very, very nice store to shop at. I've bought many, many books in this bookstore. So if you are athletic, if you like to play sports, you might want to go to a sporting goods store to buy some shoes or some shorts or other athletic gear. I'm not sure if that's the name that's used around the world in English, but in Canada, we would call this a sporting goods store. You can come here and buy anything you need for playing different sports. You could buy a basketball. You could buy ice skates. I'll show you some on the wall right here.

After all, we are in Canada. There are a lot of different ice skates available to be purchased here. So if you are into sports, if you like playing sports, this would be the store for you. A sporting goods store. So sometimes you're not feeling well, and if that's the case, you might want to go and find a drugstore. So in Canada, we would call this either a drugstore or a pharmacy. This is a place you would go if a doctor gave you a prescription, and you needed to get it filled. Or maybe you just need something because you have a headache, or maybe because you've hurt yourself, and you just need some bandages. So you would then go to a drugstore. When my kids were younger, they loved going to stores like this. This is a toy store. So if you needed to buy puzzles or games or stuffed animals or any other types of toys, this would be a great store to come to.

So always a favorite with my kids when they were little. This is a toy store. So it doesn't surprise me that this store is closed. This is what we would have called a record store or a CD store. This is a place where you could buy music. But people usually don't buy their music that way anymore. Usually, they get their music online. So a store like this used to be very, very popular. But as you can see, even though the mall is open, this store is closed. So if you're wondering why there aren't very many people here, it's probably because I'm here on a Monday afternoon. So generally, people shop a lot on the weekends and maybe at night after work. But I'm here today at 01:00 on a Monday. So the mall is a little bit empty. So it's pretty common for Canadians to go south in the winter. Jen and I don't do that very often, but if we did, we might come to a store like this.

To buy a bathing suit. Yes, this is an entire store that is just filled with bathing suits and things you would buy if you were going south for the winter. So this is another store that I don't know a lot about. But this is a store that sells makeup. So if you needed nail polish or you needed lipstick or you needed anything else, eyeliner, I don't even know all the words that you would use to describe what they sell in this store, but you would come to this makeup store if you wanted to buy those things. So when it comes to stores that I don't really know anything about, and I might actually blush a little bit as I talk about this one, this is a lingerie store. This is a store you would go to for more intimate apparel. I guess that's a good way to describe it. But it's here. It's at the mall. I've never shopped here, but this is a lingerie store. So I've mentioned this in other videos.

When you're in Canada and you need to go to the washroom, you look for a sign like this. And yes, we do use the word washroom. If you were in the United States, you might use bathroom or restroom. But certainly if you need to go to the washroom or go to the bathroom or go to the restroom, you would certainly find one at a mall. And it's usually in the food court. It's usually at the back of the food court. So this is one of my favorite places to go to in any mall. This is the food court. The food court is the place in the mall where you can find all different types of restaurants. In this food court you can buy french fries, you can buy coffee, you can buy bagels, you can buy chicken, you can buy subs, you can buy almost anything in this food court. I think I might get some food myself in just a minute, but there's so many choices.

I'm not sure what I'm going to get. Hi, could I get a double buddy burger with no onions? It's for here or to go? For here, please. Would you like anything else? No, that's it. And how would you like to pay? Uh, tap. Thank you. Thank you very much, and have a good day. Yeah, thank you. You too. Well, hey, thanks for watching this English lesson at the mall. If this is your first time here, don't forget to click the subscribe button. Leave a comment. Give me a thumbs up if this video helped you learn a bit more English. And if you have some time... I'm going to eat my burger... but why don't you stick around and watch another English lesson? Bye.

Let's Learn English at the Shopping Mall! It's Time for A Field Trip! 👔👟👗

Do you want to learn English?  Then you have come to the right place. Each week I upload 2 to 3 videos to help you learn and improve your English.

I upload videos that will help you improve your basic English vocabulary, videos that will help you understand and pronounce common English phrases, as well as videos that are just meant to encourage you in your journey towards learning English.

Please enjoy these videos as you continue to work on your English!

Learn English with Bob the Canadian

Learning English Vocabulary for Shopping at the Mall

The speaker discusses three key verbs used when talking about the mall: go shopping, do some shopping, and grab things.

He also points out the presence of a mall map and the variety of mall entrances, emphasizing the convenience of this mall compared to others.

Additionally, he explains the interchangeable use of the words "store" and "shop," while also introducing the term "kiosk" for the small stores in the middle of the mall.

There are different types of stores at the mall, including shoe stores and clothing stores for various items.

Department stores are also common in malls, offering a wide range of products across multiple floors.

Additionally, there are specialty stores like dress stores and jewelry stores, catering to specific needs like formal attire and accessories.

Most stores in the mall sell clothing or shoes, with a particular focus on a bookstore and a sporting goods store.

The bookstore is a favorite spot for the speaker, offering a wide selection of books.

The sporting goods store provides a range of athletic gear and equipment for different sports, including ice skates for the Canadian market.

A toy store and a music store in the mall have closed down, reflecting the shift towards online shopping.

The decrease in foot traffic at the mall, especially on weekdays, indicates changing shopping patterns.

The presence of a store specializing in winter apparel suggests the common Canadian practice of traveling south for the winter.

The Difference Between Washrooms and Restrooms

In Canada, the term "washroom" is used, while in the United States, "bathroom" or "restroom" is more common.

The food court, located at the back of the mall, offers a wide variety of food options, including bagels, fries, coffee, and more.

The food court is a popular destination in the mall, attracting visitors with its diverse restaurant choices.