Mall

now playing "Flight" (R). An airline pilot makes a heroic landing, but faces a level of scrutiny he didn't expect. With Denzel Washington, Don Cheadle, Kelly Reilly, John Goodman, Bruce Greenwood, Brian Geraghty, Tamara Tunie, Nadine Velazquez, Peter Gerety, Garcelle Beauvais, Melissa Leo. TownMall Cinemas (11:45 a.m., 3:30, 6:50, 9:55 p.m.) "Life of Pi" (PG). A zookeeper's son and a tiger are stranded together at sea. With Suraj Sharma, Irrfan Khan, Tabu. TownMall Cinemas (12:45*, 4:25*, 7:20*, 10:15* p.m.)

Across the nation, consumers snapped up TVs, toys and other mass-produced goodies last week, as the holiday shopping season expanded into "Black Thursday" (aka Thanksgiving). But closer to home, authors, artists and musicians have been toiling over works that, given as gifts, are more apt to say, "Baltimore pride" than "Doorbuster special!" In the spirit of local enterprise, we've rounded up locally themed gift ideas that sample the offerings this year from Baltimore's arts and culture scene.

Mall info.: Arundel Mills Mall , 7000 Arundel Mills Circle, Hanover, 410-540-5110 Holiday hours: Nov. 22: Closed Nov. 23: 12 a.m.-10 p.m. Nov. 24: 9 a.m.-10 p.m. Nov. 25: 11 a.m.-8 p.m. Nov. 26-29: 10 a.m.-9:30 p.m. Nov. 30: 10 a.m.-10 p.m. Dec. 1: 9 a.m.-10 p.m. Dec. 2: 11 a.m.-8 p.m. Dec. 3-6: 10 a.m.-9:30 p.m. Dec. 7: 10 a.m.-10 p.m. Dec. 8: 9 a.m.-10 p.m. Dec. 9: 11 a.m.-8 p.m. Dec. 10-15: 9 a.m.-10 p.m. ...

As the Baltimore area deals with the loss of power and closed and flooded roads in the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy, some stores and businesses plan to reopen Tuesday but others remain closed. Harborplace & The Gallery mall at the Inner Harbor will stay closed Tuesday, with plans to reopen Wednesday, management said, though Harborplace restaurants and shops with exterior entrances were making their own decisions about opening. Office tenants and Renaissance Baltimore Harborplace Hotel guests will be given access to the offices and hotel.

Hurricane Sandy forced many area retailers to close Monday. Mall owner General Growth Properties shut down its Baltimore-area malls including Harborplace & The Gallery in Baltimore's Inner Harbor, Towson Town Center in Towson, White Marsh Mall in White Marsh, Mondawmin Mall in Baltimore city and The Mall in Columbia. The Gallery remains ccessible for office tenants and guests of the Renaissance Baltimore Harborplace Hotel. Management expects to know later today whether the malls will re-open on Tuesday.

The American shopping experience changed in the second half of the 1900s from one where customers made their way to free-standing stores ranging from ma and pa operations to department stores to one where customers converged on a single destination, that being a mall with an enclosed and largely climate controlled common area surrounded by outlets selling just about anything. Harford Mall was among the early such facilities, given its relatively rural location when it opened 40 years ago in 1972 at the site of what had been a horse racetrack and county fairgrounds.