I owned 2 stores in a major and very successful mall for 10 years. When the leases got close to expiring, I said to myself “this place is going down hill”! So, I did not renew. I just moved out. Since the mall was full of stores, it continued to do well for a few years.
Then, The City, dumbest in the land, built a nice public bus facility across the street. At that point, the white trash, the brothers and the sisters and the Tejanos started hanging around. At that point, it didn’t take long. Then, the City, after destroying the property, bought it and made a poor boys college out of part of it.
The malls that have survived around here are the ones that had free parking and one level. I suspect it was because of the free parking that led to their long term success.
The mall in Charleston went down because of the B&O tax the City added. So all the shops left and went outside the city. Lease was too high, had to pay to park, then a stupid B&O tax on top of all that. So everyone just got up and left. Democrats never learn.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2mT58ZaDKs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLwXM58qJuQ