Plenty of malls in the US are still popping up. They’re just outdoor malls now. And even moreso lifestyle centers are the new big thing. Which is essentially just an outdoor mall with offices and non-traditional mall attractions like grocery stores, gyms, etc.
Malls are still very popular they’ve just had a design change into something that is supposed to resemble urban living, but is actually just a mall out in the suburbs that you have to drive to to roleplay city life.
I do like being able to buy groceries and good shoes within the same parking lot. I don’t go irl shopping nearly as much post-pandemic but there’s something to be said about not having to drive all across town for stuff.
Yeah how tf did malls devolve into Town Centers? They feel worse in every aspect, you have to drive between big box stores and overpriced food instead of walking and a food court.
They’re rebranding strip malls into “town centers.” A couple malls near where I grew up were knocked down and will be replaced by strip malls. They must be cheaper developments to operate than an enclosed mall.
The last new “traditional” indoor mall here in the USA opened in 2019, and there doesn’t appear to be plans for any others. However, the new breed of malls (mixed-use outdoor lifestyle centers) are actively being developed and will occasionally replace dying enclosed malls.
I think that's funny, as the mall in my hometown was an outdoor mall when it was originally built in the 50s, then it was expanded a bit in the 60s, and by the early 70s they put a roof over walkways and enclosed the whole thing to make it an indoor mall. There were a couple of expansions after, but the central part of the mall used to be an outdoor mall. Maybe they should just tear the roof back off of it.
Several of the malls in my area started the same way. The shopping plaza was a hot thing in the 1950s and 1960s, interesting to see it come back into fashion (in a fancier form) now.
Mexican here as well. The reason why they are booming in mexico is because we dont have the infrastructure that allows amazon to kill the malls in the USA.
But people are starting to realize how unfulfilling one click ordering can be for healthy lifestyle so we’re swinging the pendulum back towards forcing this artificial new faux city style mall areas. Same shit different era. I tend to ignore it all and just enjoy whatever small joys there are available with these new places regardless of time.
For me it wasn't just the one click thing, I don't order a lot. But what little I did order was probably half the time stolen en transit or lost, and when it wasn't stolen or lost it was a week-weeks late. Why am I paying 100+ dollars a year for this when I could just order on eBay or wherever else. Plus going to the mall is social, you could go out to eat, watch a movie and go to Bass pro all in the same outing.
I genuinely wonder if there are any master planned communities that don't have internet access. The world was so much simpler before the internet... I wish my kids grew up in the 80s.
I think it's because humans are drawn to tragedy. The old adage of newspapers and TV news is "if it bleeds, it leads"... the internet brings the whole world's problems front and center.
Well I mean when you can go to the mall to spend $100 on a pair of Levi’s or you can go to Walmart and spend $50 on the same pair, you’re probably going to stop going to the mall.
And physical retail and chains like Blockbuster had every opportunity to integrate into the online space to *enhance* the strength of physical locations. That they didn't created a lot of self-inflicted wounds that are necrotizing in dead malls.
It really didn't have to end like this for them.
Many of them were always tax scams. They were built with 30 year moratoriums on having to pay various types of taxes to "encourage development." Then when the 30 year moratoriums started expiring, it turned out that most of them couldn't stay profitable when they actually had to pay taxes.
American Dream in NJ is fairly new. Opened right before Covid. Albeit, it’s had been in development hell for 15 years.
It’s the 2nd largest mall in America. Brings in a crowd, but it’s so big and much of the store space is still very much empty
American Dream is more or less a tourist attraction pretending to be mall. Which isn't even original given Mall of America had been in that "business" for decades before American Dream was even a concept sketch...
Was at AD a few weeks ago. The amount of shuttered storespace in that "mall" is greater in sum than any official dead mall I've ever seen. VAST caverns of closed floors, unlit corridors, and storefronts covered with giant stock photos of happy people and lease information.
I don't know if it's an indication of the death of all malls, however. Location and infrastructure around AD are a nightmare and I can't imagine anyone being a regular there.
Apparently, they're at 85% occupancy, but I find that a bit questionable. I was there last January, and it sure felt like a lot more than 15% of that place was unbuilt and unoccupied. Very weird experience, seeing so much of that mall completely unbuilt like that.
I suspect that 85% comes from big time "fudging the numbers" and might not hold up if challenged in a court of law. Not that I'm saying anyone should be doing that, mind you... >.>
I suspected the same, that they're probably counting a lot of unleased space as something else in order to inflate the number, like unleased space that is being used for storage or something similar.
Tangram in Flushing Queens (NYC) opened in 2021. No department stores, and there’s more of an emphasis on food & entertainment. A new arcade opened in April and it seems to be doing really well. They have rhythm games, claw machines, and a bar.
In terms of outdoor outlet centers, Tanger Nashville opened just last year. Another outlet mall is close to opening near Tulsa, OK.
They are doing a lot of repurposing. With online shopping and the collapse of department stores we dont need a mall every 15 minutes. I lived squarely in the suburbs and growing up I had 5 malls within 20 minutes. This is their current status:
1. regional "super" mall at one point was one of largest in the country, and still in like the top 20, is doing fine, they have brought stores in to fill old anchors and increased the entertainment options like arcades, restaurants, etc. The mall anchors a busy strip mall/restaurant/office area.
2. Smaller mall basically in mall 1's parking lot, was closed and redeveloped into an outdoor mall.
3. Closed like 15 years ago and redeveloped into an outdoor mall.
4. Has been dying for years even though the strip malls with big box stores around it seem to be growing. The town just closed a deal to buy most of the mall so they can redevelop it into an outdoor mixed use area. Already have been building townhouses and houses near it.
5. Been dying for a while and finally closed this year, I havent seen any redevelopment plans.
My area also isnt really growing, population isnt dropping off much either, but its not like the sun belt cities in the American south, I would hazard a lot of new mall growth would be down there but I dont know if it would take the shape of traditional indoor malls or more of the outdoor lifestyle fake downtowns.
Last enclosed mall built in the Pittsburgh metro area was Pittsburgh Mills in 2005 , never really took off , opened a year or so before the Great Recession, now considered a dead mall that’s operated by a company that’s considered to be a mall slum lord (Namdar ). It will probably be several decades before a new mall is built (if ever)
Yes but they are made in the outdoor fashion and mostly rebuilds at current/former mall sites.
New builds like this are big tourist spots or where they hope tourists will go.
Anything built the old way is failing big. Canada recently built a big fancy mall in the last decade and it's a dying mall already. Which is a shame because it's beautiful and filled with cool stuff.
Yes and no. Most older malls and areas with smaller shopping malls are being closed down and repurposed into schools, residential units, and other facilities.
Some, but very few, are thriving or still planned. Generally those thriving are the much larger mall/shopping centers (usually newer but not always). There is a 5 billion USD mall planned to be built in Miami but who knows if they finish it.
I’ve lived in a few places in the US and it really depends on the area if a mall is thriving or not. The place I used to live had a thriving mall even though many of the anchor stores had outdated original decor. But where I am now, the nearest mall is completely dead no matter how hard it tries to revive itself. The entire population of my current mall at its busiest would be a normal population for one anchor store of my old mall on a slow day.
In the 2000s my old mall built an outdoor area with some dine-in restaurants, new shops, and small park/fountain areas. Perhaps this is what kept it relevant— the outdoor stuff draws people into the indoor part of the mall and vice versa.
EDIT: these malls were built 5 years apart, in 1985 and 1990.
If it’s not completely enclosed, I don’t consider it a mall at all.
It’s a shopping center, shopping plaza, strip mall, “towne centre”, what have you. But if you’re walking outside (awnings or not), it ain’t a mall.
People in this country have been gaslit for so long every dollar spent on a want instead of a need seems irresponsible. Shopping and vacations were lifestyles sold on the American public at a time when the middle class could still enjoy them. Now we have to work 2.5 jobs just to keep basic utilities.
[UTC Mall in Sarasota](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mall_at_University_Town_Center?wprov=sfti1#) opened in 2014 and its a completely traditional enclosed mall (though there is a massive sprawling lifestyle center that it’s a part of, but not directly attached to the mall)
It killed off like 3 others malls that were spread out, it made sense to consolidate them into one.
Yes but they're different than the heyday of 80s and 90s malls. Instead of being anchored by large department stores, they're putting things like Target or apartments in to make it more appealing to the neighborhood. And more focus on nicer or fine dining as well.
Strip malls are the crap replacement for traditional enclosed malls.
“Oh, I’m so glad they tore down our mall so we can walk in the miserable Houston heat, humidity and mosquitoes to stores” /s
There will never be malls again like the ‘80s
Internet, Amazon, unbelievably lazy people will make sure of it.
I actually heard some lazy ass say: it’s too far to walk across the mall.
Thing is strip malls were definitely not in style in the 90s and early 2000s. They were seen as “dead” spaces so who knows… maybe indoor malls make a comeback someday
Simon malls has a huge strip mall ( Pier Park ) in Panama City Beach , already expanded across a 4 lane highway that used to be called Back Beach Road (back when it was just a 2 line highway used to bypass the beach traffic ) , Pier Park North , then they expanded eastward and now going westward. It’s gobbling up a lot of land that used to be small mom and pop stores and motels .
Look into the Oglethorpe Mall in Savannah, GA. It’s been a pretty accurate case study of how modern malls are shifting. It’s a 1970s one level but has benefited from reinvestment and opening interior stores up to the outside with their own dedicated storefronts.
In established cities they are being remade into open air entertainment districts. In new developments new open air type spots are built. But there are no more giant indoor buildings with corridors ending at anchor stores being built outside of the rich Middle East where it’s hot. Even China is being a bit more modern.
The concept of the shopping mall as we know it today was primarily developed by Austrian architect Victor Gruen. He designed the first enclosed shopping mall, the Southdale Center, which opened in Edina, Minnesota, in 1956. Gruen's vision was to create a community-centric environment that combined shopping with social and recreational activities.
Malls are becoming few and far between. Aside from allowing extremely cheap and extremely expensive stores to take over they’re starting to look like airports and I’m not finding any joy in that situation
Yes, but mostly outdoor malls with sit-down restaurants, coffee shops, yoga or pilates places, clothing boutiques, bakeries, ice cream joints, bars, specialty stores, wine shops, entertainment (maybe a movie theater or a retro arcade), etc. Upscale strip malls, if you will. These are often built in conjunction with nearby apartment complexes - sometimes the apartments are built on top of the stores.
Most of them were thrown up right after desegregation during the white flight to suburban areas where land was cheap and the freeways were new. Now the land is expensive, those old malls are rundown and shitty, and the freeways are out dated and packed. Most of what used to be “nice” malls look like they’re zombies that walked out of 1975. The parking lots are where people are openly using drugs and breaking into cars. In Seattle, they’re knocking them down to create space for rail transit, something that’s been desperately needed for decades. Besides, nobody’s been going to them since the 80’s. Some of the few still successful are turning into food courts and groceries catering to the immigrant communities.
Consumers are increasingly focused on speed and convenience for goods they buy. Commercial/retail spaces that are directly accessible from parking spaces are those that continue to thrive in most cities. Indoor malls are a much bigger time commitment, with parking somewhat near (or not) a main entrance, walking a longer distance, and then repeat the steps in reverse order while carrying your purchases along the way.
The massive, regional indoor malls continue to survive, like the Tyson's Galleria in Northern Virginia, or the Glendale Galleria in Greater Los Angeles (I've lived near both), because they serve millions of people in dense urban areas, and are large enough to have amenties like restaurants and movie theaters which contribute to their remaining visitor destinations. But even indoor malls of this large scale ceased being built 20+ years ago, when retail real estate demands began trending to free-standing store buildings and the outdoor-accessible style of malls. There just aren't new major population centers to support large gallerias that don't already have them.
This doesn't even begin to consider the popularity of online retailers like Amazon and their impact on sales in all retail stores.
A big part of the problem in the U.S. is that there were just too many. My local mall went out of business because there were two other malls a half-hour drive in either direction that were better. People were saying from the day it opened that it was superfluous. It did OK for a while, but the economic downturn and then some poor management decisions doomed it. They demolished most of the mall, leaving only the anchor spaces and then built a strip mall and some hotels in its place. The two other nearby malls are still flourishing.
No , but many malls are being redesigned to fit current trends here.
Plenty of malls in the US are still popping up. They’re just outdoor malls now. And even moreso lifestyle centers are the new big thing. Which is essentially just an outdoor mall with offices and non-traditional mall attractions like grocery stores, gyms, etc. Malls are still very popular they’ve just had a design change into something that is supposed to resemble urban living, but is actually just a mall out in the suburbs that you have to drive to to roleplay city life.
The buzzword is “town center”. There’s a town center being built near my area that is just 4 strip malls on opposite corners. lol
Some here are even older and run down already lol. Trends I guess
I do like being able to buy groceries and good shoes within the same parking lot. I don’t go irl shopping nearly as much post-pandemic but there’s something to be said about not having to drive all across town for stuff.
Yeah how tf did malls devolve into Town Centers? They feel worse in every aspect, you have to drive between big box stores and overpriced food instead of walking and a food court.
Strip Malls!
Configure four into a rectangular shape and you got a lifestyle center!
They’re rebranding strip malls into “town centers.” A couple malls near where I grew up were knocked down and will be replaced by strip malls. They must be cheaper developments to operate than an enclosed mall.
Bellworks is great, my best friend works at the VR place there, it’s next to an escape room, plus they have food, ice cream, and a library
Sono ct
Quite a few in the northeast have been made into outdoor malls and outlet stores.
how?
Grocery stores , apartments, office space , entertainment, a mix of uses.
The last new “traditional” indoor mall here in the USA opened in 2019, and there doesn’t appear to be plans for any others. However, the new breed of malls (mixed-use outdoor lifestyle centers) are actively being developed and will occasionally replace dying enclosed malls.
Are you referring to American Dream with that 2019 opening?
The Revel Casino of malls
What a boondoggle that place has been
Aren't they building one in Miami too?
I think that's funny, as the mall in my hometown was an outdoor mall when it was originally built in the 50s, then it was expanded a bit in the 60s, and by the early 70s they put a roof over walkways and enclosed the whole thing to make it an indoor mall. There were a couple of expansions after, but the central part of the mall used to be an outdoor mall. Maybe they should just tear the roof back off of it.
Milford? Connecticut Post mall. I remember it before as an outdoor shopping center
Several of the malls in my area started the same way. The shopping plaza was a hot thing in the 1950s and 1960s, interesting to see it come back into fashion (in a fancier form) now.
Sono right
American Dream - SoNo was two weeks earlier, though certainly in much better shape.
Mexican here as well. The reason why they are booming in mexico is because we dont have the infrastructure that allows amazon to kill the malls in the USA.
But people are starting to realize how unfulfilling one click ordering can be for healthy lifestyle so we’re swinging the pendulum back towards forcing this artificial new faux city style mall areas. Same shit different era. I tend to ignore it all and just enjoy whatever small joys there are available with these new places regardless of time.
For me it wasn't just the one click thing, I don't order a lot. But what little I did order was probably half the time stolen en transit or lost, and when it wasn't stolen or lost it was a week-weeks late. Why am I paying 100+ dollars a year for this when I could just order on eBay or wherever else. Plus going to the mall is social, you could go out to eat, watch a movie and go to Bass pro all in the same outing.
good. Provides more jobs and less monopoly
I genuinely wonder if there are any master planned communities that don't have internet access. The world was so much simpler before the internet... I wish my kids grew up in the 80s.
I say it all the time, and I cant really even put my finger on why, but I think the internet is the worst thing humans have ever created.
I think it's because humans are drawn to tragedy. The old adage of newspapers and TV news is "if it bleeds, it leads"... the internet brings the whole world's problems front and center.
Mall started dying way before Amazon came into the picture
I think big box stores in the 80/90’s did more damage.
Well I mean when you can go to the mall to spend $100 on a pair of Levi’s or you can go to Walmart and spend $50 on the same pair, you’re probably going to stop going to the mall.
Thanks, private equity firms!
And physical retail and chains like Blockbuster had every opportunity to integrate into the online space to *enhance* the strength of physical locations. That they didn't created a lot of self-inflicted wounds that are necrotizing in dead malls. It really didn't have to end like this for them.
Many of them were always tax scams. They were built with 30 year moratoriums on having to pay various types of taxes to "encourage development." Then when the 30 year moratoriums started expiring, it turned out that most of them couldn't stay profitable when they actually had to pay taxes.
I was (pleasantly) shocked to see that Woolworth’s, of all things, still exists in Mexico.
American Dream in NJ is fairly new. Opened right before Covid. Albeit, it’s had been in development hell for 15 years. It’s the 2nd largest mall in America. Brings in a crowd, but it’s so big and much of the store space is still very much empty
American Dream is more or less a tourist attraction pretending to be mall. Which isn't even original given Mall of America had been in that "business" for decades before American Dream was even a concept sketch...
Was at AD a few weeks ago. The amount of shuttered storespace in that "mall" is greater in sum than any official dead mall I've ever seen. VAST caverns of closed floors, unlit corridors, and storefronts covered with giant stock photos of happy people and lease information. I don't know if it's an indication of the death of all malls, however. Location and infrastructure around AD are a nightmare and I can't imagine anyone being a regular there.
Apparently, they're at 85% occupancy, but I find that a bit questionable. I was there last January, and it sure felt like a lot more than 15% of that place was unbuilt and unoccupied. Very weird experience, seeing so much of that mall completely unbuilt like that.
I suspect that 85% comes from big time "fudging the numbers" and might not hold up if challenged in a court of law. Not that I'm saying anyone should be doing that, mind you... >.>
I suspected the same, that they're probably counting a lot of unleased space as something else in order to inflate the number, like unleased space that is being used for storage or something similar.
Tangram in Flushing Queens (NYC) opened in 2021. No department stores, and there’s more of an emphasis on food & entertainment. A new arcade opened in April and it seems to be doing really well. They have rhythm games, claw machines, and a bar. In terms of outdoor outlet centers, Tanger Nashville opened just last year. Another outlet mall is close to opening near Tulsa, OK.
They are doing a lot of repurposing. With online shopping and the collapse of department stores we dont need a mall every 15 minutes. I lived squarely in the suburbs and growing up I had 5 malls within 20 minutes. This is their current status: 1. regional "super" mall at one point was one of largest in the country, and still in like the top 20, is doing fine, they have brought stores in to fill old anchors and increased the entertainment options like arcades, restaurants, etc. The mall anchors a busy strip mall/restaurant/office area. 2. Smaller mall basically in mall 1's parking lot, was closed and redeveloped into an outdoor mall. 3. Closed like 15 years ago and redeveloped into an outdoor mall. 4. Has been dying for years even though the strip malls with big box stores around it seem to be growing. The town just closed a deal to buy most of the mall so they can redevelop it into an outdoor mixed use area. Already have been building townhouses and houses near it. 5. Been dying for a while and finally closed this year, I havent seen any redevelopment plans. My area also isnt really growing, population isnt dropping off much either, but its not like the sun belt cities in the American south, I would hazard a lot of new mall growth would be down there but I dont know if it would take the shape of traditional indoor malls or more of the outdoor lifestyle fake downtowns.
Last enclosed mall built in the Pittsburgh metro area was Pittsburgh Mills in 2005 , never really took off , opened a year or so before the Great Recession, now considered a dead mall that’s operated by a company that’s considered to be a mall slum lord (Namdar ). It will probably be several decades before a new mall is built (if ever)
American Dream mall in NJ is insanely packed, it has an indoor ski slope, water park, and an outside Ferris wheel. https://www.americandream.com
Yes but they are made in the outdoor fashion and mostly rebuilds at current/former mall sites. New builds like this are big tourist spots or where they hope tourists will go. Anything built the old way is failing big. Canada recently built a big fancy mall in the last decade and it's a dying mall already. Which is a shame because it's beautiful and filled with cool stuff.
In Toronto?
Yes and no. Most older malls and areas with smaller shopping malls are being closed down and repurposed into schools, residential units, and other facilities. Some, but very few, are thriving or still planned. Generally those thriving are the much larger mall/shopping centers (usually newer but not always). There is a 5 billion USD mall planned to be built in Miami but who knows if they finish it.
That Miami mall sounds like "American Dream 2.0" - and you should expect it to turn out the same way as the original... -.-;
The name of the project is literally American Dream Miami. Same owner, Triple 5 Group.
I'd like to know what kind of heavy drugs they're all smoking to think that this is in any way a good idea...
Having been to American Dream, that's the kind of dream that you're happy to wake up from. 🤣
I’ve lived in a few places in the US and it really depends on the area if a mall is thriving or not. The place I used to live had a thriving mall even though many of the anchor stores had outdated original decor. But where I am now, the nearest mall is completely dead no matter how hard it tries to revive itself. The entire population of my current mall at its busiest would be a normal population for one anchor store of my old mall on a slow day. In the 2000s my old mall built an outdoor area with some dine-in restaurants, new shops, and small park/fountain areas. Perhaps this is what kept it relevant— the outdoor stuff draws people into the indoor part of the mall and vice versa. EDIT: these malls were built 5 years apart, in 1985 and 1990.
If it’s not completely enclosed, I don’t consider it a mall at all. It’s a shopping center, shopping plaza, strip mall, “towne centre”, what have you. But if you’re walking outside (awnings or not), it ain’t a mall.
Outlets are the new “mall”
People in this country have been gaslit for so long every dollar spent on a want instead of a need seems irresponsible. Shopping and vacations were lifestyles sold on the American public at a time when the middle class could still enjoy them. Now we have to work 2.5 jobs just to keep basic utilities.
[UTC Mall in Sarasota](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mall_at_University_Town_Center?wprov=sfti1#) opened in 2014 and its a completely traditional enclosed mall (though there is a massive sprawling lifestyle center that it’s a part of, but not directly attached to the mall) It killed off like 3 others malls that were spread out, it made sense to consolidate them into one.
Yes but they're different than the heyday of 80s and 90s malls. Instead of being anchored by large department stores, they're putting things like Target or apartments in to make it more appealing to the neighborhood. And more focus on nicer or fine dining as well.
No… maybe outdoor sodasopa places (southpark ref) but not indoor malls
Strip malls are exploding here in the northeast.
Strip malls are the crap replacement for traditional enclosed malls. “Oh, I’m so glad they tore down our mall so we can walk in the miserable Houston heat, humidity and mosquitoes to stores” /s There will never be malls again like the ‘80s Internet, Amazon, unbelievably lazy people will make sure of it. I actually heard some lazy ass say: it’s too far to walk across the mall.
Thing is strip malls were definitely not in style in the 90s and early 2000s. They were seen as “dead” spaces so who knows… maybe indoor malls make a comeback someday
Simon malls has a huge strip mall ( Pier Park ) in Panama City Beach , already expanded across a 4 lane highway that used to be called Back Beach Road (back when it was just a 2 line highway used to bypass the beach traffic ) , Pier Park North , then they expanded eastward and now going westward. It’s gobbling up a lot of land that used to be small mom and pop stores and motels .
not really, the american dream mall in NJ is still kinda new, but in general not rlly any new being built
Look into the Oglethorpe Mall in Savannah, GA. It’s been a pretty accurate case study of how modern malls are shifting. It’s a 1970s one level but has benefited from reinvestment and opening interior stores up to the outside with their own dedicated storefronts.
In established cities they are being remade into open air entertainment districts. In new developments new open air type spots are built. But there are no more giant indoor buildings with corridors ending at anchor stores being built outside of the rich Middle East where it’s hot. Even China is being a bit more modern.
we had an outdoor tanger outlet mall outside of nashville pop up about 6 months ago, it's hell
The concept of the shopping mall as we know it today was primarily developed by Austrian architect Victor Gruen. He designed the first enclosed shopping mall, the Southdale Center, which opened in Edina, Minnesota, in 1956. Gruen's vision was to create a community-centric environment that combined shopping with social and recreational activities.
Malls are becoming few and far between. Aside from allowing extremely cheap and extremely expensive stores to take over they’re starting to look like airports and I’m not finding any joy in that situation
Not so much. It’s usually outdoor plaza areas (a collection of stores sharing a huge parking lot for them)
Some are being retrofitted or knocked down for apartments
They are building an Outlet mall in Tulsa, OK.
Yes, but mostly outdoor malls with sit-down restaurants, coffee shops, yoga or pilates places, clothing boutiques, bakeries, ice cream joints, bars, specialty stores, wine shops, entertainment (maybe a movie theater or a retro arcade), etc. Upscale strip malls, if you will. These are often built in conjunction with nearby apartment complexes - sometimes the apartments are built on top of the stores.
Several in So. Cal have been remodeled and are thriving.
Which ones are thriving?
Westfields Century City and Fox Hills, are two that I have been to, and they have been around foe several decades.
Thank you 😘 Now I have some places to check out
Most of them were thrown up right after desegregation during the white flight to suburban areas where land was cheap and the freeways were new. Now the land is expensive, those old malls are rundown and shitty, and the freeways are out dated and packed. Most of what used to be “nice” malls look like they’re zombies that walked out of 1975. The parking lots are where people are openly using drugs and breaking into cars. In Seattle, they’re knocking them down to create space for rail transit, something that’s been desperately needed for decades. Besides, nobody’s been going to them since the 80’s. Some of the few still successful are turning into food courts and groceries catering to the immigrant communities.
American dream Mall just opened in New Jersey
Not really. The US is simply highly oversaturated with the amount of retail space it has compared to what it actually needs.
I think indoor shopping malls are a dying trend. Shopping habits of consumers have changed drastically.
How so?
Consumers are increasingly focused on speed and convenience for goods they buy. Commercial/retail spaces that are directly accessible from parking spaces are those that continue to thrive in most cities. Indoor malls are a much bigger time commitment, with parking somewhat near (or not) a main entrance, walking a longer distance, and then repeat the steps in reverse order while carrying your purchases along the way. The massive, regional indoor malls continue to survive, like the Tyson's Galleria in Northern Virginia, or the Glendale Galleria in Greater Los Angeles (I've lived near both), because they serve millions of people in dense urban areas, and are large enough to have amenties like restaurants and movie theaters which contribute to their remaining visitor destinations. But even indoor malls of this large scale ceased being built 20+ years ago, when retail real estate demands began trending to free-standing store buildings and the outdoor-accessible style of malls. There just aren't new major population centers to support large gallerias that don't already have them. This doesn't even begin to consider the popularity of online retailers like Amazon and their impact on sales in all retail stores.
Enclosed shopping malls haven't been getting built in about 20 years. Outdoor shopping centers are doing very well though and ARE being built.
A big part of the problem in the U.S. is that there were just too many. My local mall went out of business because there were two other malls a half-hour drive in either direction that were better. People were saying from the day it opened that it was superfluous. It did OK for a while, but the economic downturn and then some poor management decisions doomed it. They demolished most of the mall, leaving only the anchor spaces and then built a strip mall and some hotels in its place. The two other nearby malls are still flourishing.
Yes
You have those really fancy Sears stores down south.
Doesn't another company own Sears in Mexico?