The Life and Death of the American Mall: The indoor suburban shopping center is a special kind of abandoned place.

Atlas Obscura ^ | January 10, 2024 | Matthew Christopher

[fwdude]

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 memories of any American over the age of 20 and their ubiquity in popular media. They reflect the American consumer’s identity, and to see a suburban mall in ruins warps nostalgia into something nightmarish and forlorn in a way that abandoned factories, hospitals, or even churches don’t quite do.

[SamAdams76]

I've been spending more time in malls lately because I try to walk at least 5 miles a day. When the weather is crappy, I go to a mall and walk around the perimeter a few times.

Some of these malls seem to be coming back to life, at least those in upscale areas. For example, the Danbury Fair mall in Connecticut has been quite crowded lately with new restaurants and stores opening up. Including a large facility for bowling, billiards, etc. The Apple (and Microsoft) stores there are mobbed. Food court does a brisk business.

Granted, the high end clothing stores are mostly empty. Have no idea how they even stay in business.

[1Old Pro]

Malls at Christmas were beautifully decorated.

Malls at Christmas...sadly they do not decorate much for Christmas. I was in Boston MA strolling around Copley/Pru mall and my wife said that 25 years ago they were spectactulary decorated for Christmas, now she says there is 5% of what they had.

[fwdude]

We have about half of our malls in my large city failing. But the failing ones are in the areas with the most subsidized housing, no surprise.

I’ve noticed the trend is more toward the “urban village” model, where residential, office, and commercial retail features are all combined in an urban, open air environment. The Neiman Marcus closed in our outdated mall and moved to one of these new, up-and-coming areas in a stand-alone building. I kind of like the new model.

[Chickensoup]

Used to sing for chande at that mall. Great acoustics.