Gruen transfer

Wikipedia

In shopping mall design, the Gruen transfer (also known as the Gruen effect) is the moment when consumers enter a shopping mall or store and, surrounded by an intentionally confusing layout, lose track of their original intentions, making consumers more susceptible to make impulse buys. It is named for Austrian architect Victor Gruen, 

In a speech in London in 1978, Victor Gruen disavowed shopping mall developments as having "bastardized" his ideas:[5][3] "I refuse to pay alimony for those bastard developments".

The shopping center, however, is where Americans (and their cars) love to be.