There are simply not as many chain stores nowadays as in prior years. That’s part of this trend as well. As you note about the DC area, many old local chains went out of business. Off the top of my head, I can think of Woodies, Hecht’s, Lansburgh’s, Garfinckel’s, all gone . All used to have major anchor stores in DC area malls. There simply are not enough remaining chain stores to rent these vacant retail spaces.
And we can’t forget Amazon and other online retailers. I think I did about half my own Christmas shopping, limited tho it may be, online.