“Sure signs of a dying mall.”
You left out “Tattoo parlors renting space”...
Here in NJ we had a “stillborn” mall; the Xanadu mall in the Meadowlands (next to Giants Stadium) was completed years ago and never opened due to lack of shoppers. The retailers that were signed on all opted for the minimum space they could occupy, and it never opened its doors. It is a big ugly thing, complete with indoor ski slope; very eerie when you stand outside it.
A couple of years after it was finished without opening, officials admitted it was built for foreign tourists to NYC. In the meantime, every Saturday the “replacement Americans” (mainly Hispanic & Asian) flock to the Meadowlands flea market in the adjoining parking lot to buy tools and household goods from the Americans that no longer use them - all transactions in cash, of course. Right on about the Third World road!