Once people had the alternative to shop online (usually for a lot less money), the mall model was dead. This is just the natural evolution of human behavior. One mall here in northern NJ that was good 20 years ago has been reduced to opening a tattoo parlor; I haven’t been there since I watched a customer from the Indian subcontinent try on shoes with bare feet (he had been wearing sandals). They are now filled with foreigners, and many aren’t carrying packages (almost like they are visiting museums to late twentieth century capitalism); besides the jammed food carts, countless kiosks throughout the mall seem to be selling various snack foods.
We’ve come full circle here in NJ; we had a big mall built next to Giants Stadium in the Meadowlands, and it never opened; the stores that committed to opening there were opting for the minimum space outlined in their agreements, and it simply never opened. It is a real eyesore, with an indoor ski slope and all; the fact is the Greater Depression never ended here, and few people have any discretionary income anymore. Interestingly enough, you can stop at the Meadowlands Flea Market right next to it on Saturdays, and watch people buy everything imaginable second-hand (or knock-offs). It is sad to watch the Americans sell all of their tools to the foreigners who took their jobs...
“jammed food COURTS”
“the mall model was dead.”
Actually, it’s not simply on-line shopping, or all brick&mortar shops would be dead.
It’s because starting about 20 years ago people finally figured out that indoor malls (that is default what “mall” means now) are a PITA if all you want is a single thing. No one wants to park far outside, walk all the way into the center, just for one thing.
So now we’re swinging to easy-access stand-alone or (old) shopping center/strip mall mode again. Some are even replicating old towns with park-in-front (street) parking.
It’s the ease with which one can access for different purposes. As my husband says, malls are turning into apparel-only shopping OT1H, and “empty” OTOH. Nothing interesting in there anymore if you don’t want shoes or clothes.