Tempe Marketplace: Just a Click Away

First off, welcome to the Tempe area! Whenever visiting a new area or town, what is the first thing that comes to your mind? For most people it is ,“Where is the best place to hang out, shop around, and grab a bite to eat?” The good thing about being an ASU student is there is one place near campus that lets you do all of those things and more: Tempe Marketplace. When I first came to ASU, I was attracted by how close the Target at Tempe Marketplace was to campus and ended up stopping there on my way back to campus; after a few hours of being sucked into all of the fun there, it is one of my favorite places to go now! Before coming to town, make sure to check out their website to get all of the information you are searching for. Tempe Marketplace’s website is successful because it has functionality and a great visual representation of all the amenities, shops, dining, and events available.

To begin, Tempe Marketplace’s website is highly functional and accessible because you can either click the link www.tempemarketplace.com or go onto Google, type in Tempe Marketplace, and press “I’m feeling lucky,” which will take you right to the website! I played around quite a bit all around the website, and it navigates extremely well. There is nothing worse than trying to get information on things and having to refresh the page over and over for it to load, but there is not a problem with that here! Every link they provide, every drop down menu, and every new page loads within two seconds at the most.

The functionality of Tempe Marketplace’s website is evident in that it offers a variety of drop down menus with many different options to each as well. Tempe Marketplace is not just a place to shop; it is a place that provides events, dining, and amenities as well as your typical mall stores. When looking at the main screen, the first things you see are the six-drop down menus at the top of the page. The six-drop down menus include “Shop, Dine, Events, Experiences, Gift cards, and Visitor info.” Under “The Shopping tab,” it provides a store directory, interactive map, sales and promotions, and Arizona State University student discounts. The directory just gives the typical yet very necessary list of all of the stores that are available to their customers. There are both their “specialty” stores such as “As You Wish Pottery” and nationwide retailers such as “Barnes and Noble.” The interactive map is perfect for a newcomer; it shows a simple and easy to navigate map of the entire marketplace. By using this map, you can easily find your way to any of the stores you are looking to browse at or any of the restaurants  where you want to eat. When looking online, it also provides drop down menus in case you do not know exactly what you are looking for. You are able to select general categories such as “Coffee shops” or “Clothing and accessories,” which helps you find the perfect store instead of wandering until you find what you want. The last sub tab would be the “Sales and Promotions” tab. This one includes all of the different deals going on throughout the entire Marketplace as well as special ASU student discounts. They create these discounts to attract all of the business, which, by being so close to campus is mainly students looking for something to do. By providing a discount specifically for them, Tempe Marketplace is more likely to receive their business than the other malls in the area that do not recognize and support the Sun Devils’ budgets! Many of the restaurants and stores do a simple 10-20% off your purchase, so if you are coming to the area as a new devil this could definitely benefit you!

The dining section of the website serves users well by offering both a dining guide and a section that lists all of the happy hours and specials. This could be perfect for a day out with the girls; grab something to eat and a few drinks without having to search all over for the best deals! The dining guide is just a list of all of the bars, restaurants, coffee shops, and yogurt places they have to offer. I was excited when I realized they had the Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf, which, like Starbucks, is an excellent place to grab a coffee and study if you just want to escape.

Tempe Marketplace is not only the perfect place for shopping and eating, but they also display on their site that it is the perfect place for having fun with the family! If you are simply vacationing with the kids, they offer an extremely fun kid splash fountain that children are more than welcome to run around and play in for a quick cool off in this harsh Arizona heat. They also have a Harkins movie theater, free Wi-Fi, and pets are always welcome!

One of the last bits of information they accommodate on the website is the Tempe Marketplace visitor info. On the first page, without even having to scroll down, they list the address along with a quick link to get directions from wherever you are in the valley, another link with the map again, also the main desk’s phone number for any additional questions you may have. Directly under that is a list of the operating hours. Like most shopping places, they are open Monday through Saturday from 11 o’clock A.M. until 9 o’clock P.M. except for on Sundays when they close at 6 o’clock P.M. instead.

After viewing all the visitor info, they also furnished the website with a very handy drop down menu of all of the stores and restaurants once again; but when you click on the store that you are looking for, it presents all of the information on that store. As an example, I clicked on Bath and Body Works. It showed me a description of the store and what their merchandise consists of along with the hours, store phone number, and link to the company’s main website; that way I could check out all they have to offer in stores prior to going there and looking so I can find what I have in mind and not waste any time shopping around and spending extra money.

Now I don’t know about you, but most people this day and age are complete social media and tech people. It seems our world revolves around the Internet, and you can do just about anything on it. Every bit of information you could possibly need is just a Google search away. The Tempe Marketplace website designers realized this fact when constructing it and provided the world with various ways to connect online to never miss the deals that they have to offer. At the top of the main screen, there are three little boxes that most people are familiar with: Facebook, Twitter, and Foursquare. They give the option to like them on Facebook, follow them on Twitter, or check in with them on Foursquare. I did all three of these things just to see what they had to offer. By liking them on Facebook, you can check out and stay updated on all of the upcoming events, view photos the community has put up, and be the first to know all of the deals. The same thing is with Twitter; by following them they tweet the new deals and events so that you can easily check them on the go! Foursquare allows you to see who else has been there and what kind of special deals they have for checking in at the restaurants there, such as a discount on your meal or a free appetizer. They also provide a box at the bottom of the page allowing you to add your e-mail and subscribe to their E-new, which features events and specials.

Tempe Marketplace’s website has great visuals, which help the functionality of the website as a whole. The drop down menus, the visitor info, the shopping and dining guides, all demonstrate how accessible and functional the website is. Tempe Marketplace is a relaxing, enjoyable shopping experience, and is just a click away at www.tempemarketplace.com. So, if you are ever in the Tempe area and are looking for a place to shop, dine, or just hang out, Tempe Marketplace is the spot to check out.