I’m sitting between the fireplace and a big window in a bakery that lies within sight of what has become today’s Bizarro World shopping mall: the “power center.” Instead of the mall being in the midst of the parking lot, this big-box conglomeration is a bunch of stores on the outside, the parking in the middle.

On my travels throughout the United States, I have never understood this. To get from one big-box store to another often requires one to drive up to a mile from one end of the property to the other, instead of walking in the elements.

Instead, I wonder if someone will come up with the same idea as the proprietors of the Palisades Center in West Nyack, N.Y. If you look at the floorplan, you’ll notice that the architects are able to squeeze in an entire Home Depot into this center, as well as a Target and other category killers. Somehow they are also able to fit in a food court, an Imax theater, an indoor amusement park, and a wholesale store.

Is this the cure for suburban sprawl? Perhaps not, but at least it might help some people in terms of gas mileage.