[buccaneer81]

Canary in the coal mine for shopping malls.

I haven't set foot in a mall in at least five years.

[Yardstick]

I went to the mall recently to get a pair of shoes repaired. There’s a Vietnamese guy there with a booth who fixes them. Twenty bucks and I’ve gotten another five months out of the pair. He seems to be doing good business, which is probably not a good sign for the economy.