Free Republic

I've visited hundreds of abandoned places in my life—factories to asylums, schools to churches—but suburban malls might be the most surreal and striking. They captivate the imagination in a way few other types of environments can: with an almost imperceptible layer of fog that forms between the first and second floors of an atrium, endless reflections of vacant storefronts, or a chance encounter with a groundhog in the remains of a food court. Stripped of signage and wares, they are nearly perfectly liminal spaces. Malls have become a part of the modern collective unconscious, through both the haze of half-buried...

Shuttered stores at Schuylkill Mall in Pennsylvania in 2017. By the 1980s, the mall had become the center of American social life and accounted for the bulk of all retail sales. But a shrinking middle class, the rise of online shopping, and the fact that there were simply too many malls contributed to the decline of the American mall.

In this episode, we're exploring the abandoned Richmond Town Square Mall just outside of Cleveland. Originally opened in 1966, it was one of the largest of its time and was an early example of the American shopping mall. It closed in 2021 and is awaiting demolition for a new mixed-use development

32,197 views Jun 24, 2023 #levis More video from the South Shore Plaza mall in Braintree, Massachusetts in February. Sorry all, no toys or video games in this one...🥲 A simple one here, as it's been too long since that last upload: - - At a mall - - In the late 80's - - Buying clothes Some fun footage complete with a 'Gnarly soundtrack! Shots of various customers looking at items and trying the products on in the store, etc. This one last close to 9 minutes. #southshoreplazamall #levis #gatewaysoccer

Jennifer Sepulveda used to drop off her 14-year-old son, Jorden, at the local mall on a Friday or Saturday night, where he would catch a movie with his friends and then hang out afterwards at the food court or elsewhere. Not anymore. Starting April 18, Garden State Plaza in Paramus, New Jersey — the second largest mall in the state — is requiring anyone under 18 years old to be accompanied by a chaperone at least 21 or older on Fridays and Saturdays after 5 p.m. The move, according to the mall, follows “an increase in disruptive behavior by a...

As a new year dawns, we can’t help but look back on recent changes, and wonder what changes are in store for us. The first thing that came to my mind, a downright surprising realization for me, as I look back on this Christmas season, is the realization that it was the first Christmas ever in which I did not set foot inside a mall. And I am not alone. The business pages have followed the ebb and flow of retail for decades. The huge department store has suffered; the small boutique chain has felt it too. The big mall...

This is an excellent 1982 documentary of mall culture in America. Could it have been so long ago (nearly 40 years!)? Before the Internet. Before cell phones. MTV was just getting started and most youngsters didn't even know what it was, much less have it. I remember those days well. The mall was the place for teens and young adults to hang out. It was where boys and girls dated. They'd start off at the Orange Julius at the food court and make their way to the multiplex, where they might see "Fast Times At Ridgemont High" or maybe "ET"....

Amazon is reportedly in talks with realtors to buy and remake the US locations of bankrupt Sears and JC Penney into Amazon fulfillment centers. The Wall Street Journal cites sources familiar in reporting that Simon Property Group, a commercial retailer specializing in mall locations, was in talks with the Bezos' bunch to sell the now-vacant department store buildings. These will then be used as smaller, local versions warehouses for Amazon to store products before shipping out to customers. Neither Amazon nor Simon Property Group responded to a request for comment on the report. Those unfamiliar with the 1970s-1990s heyday of...

Lenox Square and at least eight other malls and shopping centers in the Atlanta region plan to reopen Friday, the latest sign of businesses reviving after the coronavirus shutdown. Lenox Square will open on a reduced schedule, General Manager Robin Suggs said in an email to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Other malls in the area owned by Simon Property Group, including Phipps Plaza, Mall of Georgia, Town Center at Cobb and Sugarloaf Mills in Gwinnett County, will also open, Suggs said. All of the Simon malls will open 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and 12 p.m. to 6...

The American Dream entertainment and shopping complex is opening its doors to the public on Friday, more than two decades after it was first conceived. Back then, the iPhone didn't exist, Amazon was only selling books online and malls were where you went for all your shopping needs. Now, after endless fits and starts and billions of dollars spent, American Dream will become the second largest mall in the country, and third largest in North America. It will showcase 3 million square feet of leasable space dedicated to more than a dozen entertainment attractions like a 16-story indoor ski slope,...

Shopping malls have always been a hangout for bored teenagers or families looking for something to do on a rainy day. They've probably also been around a lot longer than you might think. Long before Americans made malls their own, residents of ancient Rome met in the marketplace to buy goods and catch up on the latest gossip. In Victorian times, arcades with covered walkways became the precursors to today's malls. With the rise of the suburbs and automobile culture in the mid-20th century, what's generally accepted as the first enclosed mall in the country opened near Minneapolis in 1956....

So, what did these guys do? - Robbed him of his phone - Stripped him naked - Punched, kicked him - Spat on him - Bodyslammed him - Jumped on his chest - Whipped him with a belt - Rode over him with a bicycle - Threw garbage at him Sounds like just another day in Minnesota.

Mall-based retailers reported dismal earnings last week, reminding investors of the sector’s fundamental problems Retailers’ earnings season has gone from bad to worse. The bleeding intensified last week, with shares of Abercrombie & Fitch plummeting 26% on Wednesday, the biggest percentage decline since the company went public. PVH Corp., owner of brands including Van Heusen, Tommy Hilfilger, and Calvin Klein, dropped 10% that day, too. On Thursday, women’s wear chain J.Jill was down a jaw-dropping 53% and on Friday, Gap Inc. slid 9%. It is hard to miss what all of these retailers have in common: They are mall-based. While...

A man has been charged after police allege he critically injured a child at the Mall of America on Friday. Emmanuel Deshawn Aranda, 24, has been charged with attempted homicide in relation to the incident, according to police in Bloomington, Minnesota.

Plans for a sprawling "high-tech-meets-retail" metropolis have been unveiled in Dubai. The mega mall will be the largest leasable retail space in the world, spanning over 100 soccer fields in size. Called Dubai Square, the $2 billion project in the Dubai Creek Harbour development will boast over 8 million square feet of retail space -- more than twice the size of Dubai Mall -- and will also be home to the Middle East's largest Chinatown. Designed as a destination outright, the ground floor will host celebrity performances, concerts and theater shows in a futuristic entertainment arena with 3D projection mapping,...

Dead malls are popping up all over the states, particularly in the Midwest, where economic decline has sped up the "going out of business" process. This map, put together by a Dead Malls Enthusiasts Facebook group, shows that well. As Americans are faced with multiple shopping options and more stores are leaving malls, it should be interesting to see if malls and mall culture will survive. What you are about to see is what happens when malls are abandoned. It's apocalyptic and really, really creepy....

For over a century, Chicagoans grew up with a signature memory: special days downtown, shopping at Marshall Field’s and Carson’s, the great rival retail giants down the block from each other on State Street. (shown here: Carson's longtime downtown landmark by Louis Sullivan, sold off years ago). Smaller stores came and went, but Field’s and Carson’s were the giants, the dominant figures in Midwestern retail for generations. Macy’s bought out the struggling Field’s chain over a decade ago and cremated the brand name while keeping the stores. Carson, Pirie, Scott & Co. wasn’t so lucky; its current holding company, Bon-Ton,...

Eighteen states raised their minimum wages at the start of 2018, but increasing labor costs are strangling the dining industry so much that restaurants could soon face the same fate as shopping malls. "I think you're going to see thousands of restaurants close their doors," Willie Degel, "Restaurant Stakeout" host and CEO of Uncle Jack's Steakhouse, told FOX Business. "Fine dining is going to go by the wayside." The downward cycle seems daunting to Degel and other industry insiders. As costs rise, only so much of the burden can be passed along to consumers in the form of price hikes...

If the mall killed Main Street, then this must be Main Street’s moment for schadenfreude. Real Estate Investment Trust stocks have dropped 18% in the past year, Bloomberg recently reported, and while mall executives would prefer to see the current decline as a transformative period rather than a death knell, that may be wishful thinking. Not all malls are created equal, of course. A-class malls are thriving, due to a premier selection of retail and restaurant tenants that successfully target the affluent communities they serve. However, B and C-class malls are struggling to find customers and keep tenants, as anchor...

U.S. women's apparel chain The Limited filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Tuesday after closing all 250 stores, the latest brick-and-mortar retailer to fall victim to changing tastes and online competitors. The retailer that began as a single store more than 50 years ago blamed declining mall traffic, falling sales, expensive leases and the shift toward online shopping. Retailers filing for bankruptcy in the past year include Aeropostale Inc (AROPQ.PK), Pacific Sunwear of California Inc (PSUN.MU), Sports Authority, Vestis Retail Group and American Apparel. In addition, department store chains such as Sears Holdings Corp (SHLD.O) and Macy's Inc (M.N)...