I read through more than 40 posts on this thread and didn’t see one reference to “internet shopping”. Now an argument can be made that the entertainment value of the mall declined because of a change in the environment that was caused by rowdy teens and therefore folks turned to internet shopping.
But for me It was simply the convenience of sitting at home to do comparative shopping.
I remember setting a rule in my family that no one was to go to two specific malls in Charlotte. They were not safe, in my opinion.
They are both closed now.
If the malls had the guts to replace all doors with ones that could be closed and locked electronically, then any time there was a theft in any store, the doors could be shut and the criminals would have nowhere to go until the police showed up. Even better if the malls had armed security.
Yes, at first there might be some dangerous gunfights, but if the criminals never got away, then they would eventually move on to the unprotected stores on the street.
Mall killed downtown business, covid and big ox stores wounded malls, online retailed finished them off. Retail Darwinism
The target clientele does not want to park out in some large parking lot, waddle a few hundred yards to a heated/cooled atrium, and then waddle a couple hundred yards more to a store, especially if the temperature is more than 5 degrees away from 70 or there is precipitation of any sort.
They want to park near the door of a big box store.
The weird crap sold by the mall boutique stores is now available in wider selection on the internet.
If a city tries to convert a mall, or the property it's on, to housing then the NIMBY's come out of the woodwork complaining about increased traffic.
In our area the only reuse allowed is to turn tax-generating property into tax-eating parks.
But I think that fad will soon go away when the homeless turn beautiful parks into horrifying campsites.
Death of the American Mall
Amazon and the likes of it (on lines sales)because to many people are just to lazy to have to walk computer buying is a killer of many things.
Arlington County’s Parkington shopping center at the intersection of Glebe Road and Wilson Blvd was the mall of my youth. It took its name from its multilevel parking structure. Very original.
It was built in 1951 and so must have been one of the earliest American shopping malls. Parkington has been replaced by something new called “Ballston Quarter” so Parkington exists only in memory.
“Ballston” may derive from the small Ball Family cemetery nearby. That’s the family of George Washington’s mother. IIRC the intersection of Glebe and Wilson was once known as Ball’s Crossroads.
Malls that people go to in order to buy something, rather than walk around and socialize because it’s on the bus line, still do well.
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.