Posted on 07/10/2014 12:44:05 AM PDT by WhiskeyX
Hundreds of shopping malls across the U.S. have been forced to shut down following years of debilitating declines in consumer traffic.
In many cases, the shuttered malls are left to decay for years before developers or local governments raise the funds to bulldoze or renovate the space.
Pseudonymous photographer Seph Lawless traveled the country for years to find these forgotten malls and document their decay from the inside.
The photos he captured are haunting and apocalyptic, featuring dead trees and abandoned shopping carts against landscapes of broken glass and crumbling walls.
He compiled the photographs in a new book, "Black Friday: The Collapse of the American Shopping Mall," and shared some of them with Business Insider.
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
bfl
After watching a sandal-clad Third Worlder try on sneakers with his bare feet, I couldn’t imagine buying any article of clothing at a mall.
The first two story inside shopping mall in my city was shutdown & bulldozed a while ago. Parents began leaving their unruly teens to roam played a part in its downfall.
Malls have a distinct life cycle. They age and die.
However, it is curious that we started with catalogue sales and have come full circle to effectively catalogue sales via the internet. The heyday of the bog box mall stores is about over. Between boutique stores and internet sales the big expensive stores will fade away.
The mall featured in the article is Rolling Acres in Akron, Ohio. It was the mall of my youth. The glass elevator and orange tiled fountain were what I looked forward to as a child.
In the late 80s people started reflecting to it as Strolling Afros. By the mid-90s nobody went there due to violence., which in turn led to closed shops. Sad.
Did the 3rd” whirler” leave his sandals and take the sneakers?
I seen that happen a few times.
Amazing how fast nature takes over once activity ceases...
A few years ago there was an amazing website that detailed all the abandoned buildings in Detroit that were very ‘high end’ in their day when the economy was great and this was the place to be. Fascinating stuff.
I’d add the massive late 90’s influx of home video game systems as a contributor. The only reason we went to the mall as kids was to play video games in the arcade. Once we bought a NES, that ended...lol
In Florida, when WestShore Plaza opened, it had Maas Brothers, along with Sears and JCPenny. What happened to the local stores?
Just saying...
Everything is made in China.
Bring back American jobs.
Walmart killed most of these overpriced, cheesy malls. Shed no tears.
And how many here remember the Sears Roebuck catalogue? I've often wondered what Sears would be like today if they'd continued their catalogue business. Probably a lot better off than it is. They built their success with their catalogue and retail locations.
Walmart did not kill them. I remember several dead malls way before Walmart became a player in that game. Bad areas of town or better competing malls killed them.
Of course moving Section 8 welfare people into the areas doesn’t help.
A series of bankruptcies and disputes stalled construction of the mall. The project is under new ownership, and current plans schedule an opening in 2016.
I have not been to our mall since our city bus system put in a transfer station there.
Lol I love it! New term mall bling! To answer your question...not much :-)
Thank you. I was in a hurry and didn't check the spelling.
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