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In the 1980's people wrote about malls as cultural centers, as temples to shopping. Now, they're dying.
Many observers are speculating about the growing trend of so-called dead malls: once-flourishing, large retail spaces that now have a high vacancy rate, low numbers of pedestrian traffic, or the lack of an "anchor" store (typically a department chain). Is it because of economic recession, or stagnant middle-class wages and growing income inequality? Or has the death of these malls been hastened by the rapid growth of online shopping?
It's difficult to say, but the dead mall phenomenon is becoming a cultural item of interest -- for retail historians, urban explorers and documentarians alike. We may read about dead malls in The New York Times or The Atlantic, but film footage can say much more than words.
Is Amazon to blame?
(Score: 2) by VLM on Wednesday April 26 2017, @07:32PM
but to create an empty and inoffensive buffer zone between them.
Maybe the store managers didn't get along LOL. Sometimes its something that simple. Takes a lot of cooperation to pull off some of the stuff I saw. Even something as "simple" as the bridal show every store in the building went insane with bridal registry this and that, and theming every window display to match the event, handing out free junk bags from each store to the brides... I could see if the store mgrs hated each other it isn't happening and they're all gonna be much poorer till they're out of business.
The whole thing reminds me of "downtown boosterism" except at a mall, and unlike downtown, people actually went to the mall. Or maybe "downtown boosterism" is merely dreaming of doing today, downtown, what malls did in the 80s, I donno.
Maybe its just what successful retailers do, no matter where they are, and in the 80s they happened to be in the suburban mall. About all I'm sure is they're not in the mall now, LOL.