Several banks have created online malls including First Union, www.firstunion.com Wells Fargo www.wellsfargo.com Norwest www.norwest.com and Barclays in the UK www.barclaysquare.co.uk Online malls in general, and especially those run by banks, have been a bust. There just hasn’t been enough value-added to hook users or merchants on the malls. Barclays may be the exception with a consolidated shopping statement, security checkpoints, and BarclayCoin payment options, though only six merchants are currently participating in the full program.

But perhaps these efforts by superregional banks haven’t focused on the right thing — local targeted info. We think a well written, guided-link shopping area, kept localized and up-to-date, could be a valuable and well-frequented community resource. This would be an ideal project for a summer intern or Webmaster-in-Residence. Finally, don’t call it a mall, make it sound more useful and less commercial as in Community Shopping Resources.

Warning: Be careful not to push online stores at the expense of local competitors. For example, if you link to Amazon.com, you should provide equal time for local booksellers, even going so far as to provide tools to help them compete online.