The Death of the American Shopping Mall,“My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:Look on my works, ye M

The Death of the American Shopping Mall,“My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!”Malls were once a cornerstone of American life, a center of culture and commerce similar to the agora’s of ancient Greece and the forum’s of ancient Rome.  When I was a kiddo it was the place where your parent’s went to shop while you hung out with friends, watched movies, or blew your money in the arcade. Not anymore. Today the United States is littered with so called “Dead Malls”, once great temples of American consumerism that have seen better days. An odd sight that is often depressing, Dead Malls are shells of their former glory, only inhabited by a few shoppers, mall walkers, vagrants, and the elderly. Where once they held scores or even a few hundred businesses, now their stores are mostly shuttered, with only a handful still remaining. Many malls are in noticeable states of disrepair and decay. Others are gussied up with fake plants, mosaics, statues, and fountains as desperate malls owners try to make it seem like things aren’t that bad. Among those few stores which seem to thrive in these post apocalyptic wastelands are Bath & Body Works, GNC, and Victoria’s Secret. I don’t know why.Shopping malls are not new ideas, some of the first were built by the Roman’s in ancient times, and during the 18th and 19th centuries some of the first modern shopping malls were built. Shopping malls really exploded around the 1960′s and 1970′s, and the 1980′s and early to mid 1990′s were their golden age. By the late 1990′s shopping malls began to decline, until as the new millennium wore on, they began to empty and close. The reasons for the decline and fall of the American shopping mall are varied, but I think four main reasons can easily sum up why, at least as I see it.1. Socio-economic changes: Many shopping malls were built in places which were once affluent and bustling but over the decades have become less affluent or even deserted.  When the community dies the mall dies with it as well. In the 1980′s the decline of heavy industry in the US led to the decline of many communities, the so called rust belt.  This dealt a terrible blow to businesses operating in those communities. One could say that the problems of the entire US economy altogether has been problematic for retail businesses.2. Walmart: The first event which to me really began to show the cracks of the shopping mall was the rise of Walmart.  When Walmart came to town, the local shopping mall began to die, as did many other businesses around town. Love em’ or hate em’, Walmart’s “one stop shopping” retail in bulk business model is extremely successful resulting in Walmart becoming the wealthiest multinational retailer in history. Walmart really raised the bar for retailers, and many couldn’t compete.3. Internet Retail: Why go to a store where you have long lines, have to deal with customer service, crowds, parking, traffic, and everything else when you can buy anything you want (and I mean literally everything you want) on the internet from the comfort of your own home while you’re wearing your bunny slippers and answering nature’s call on the toilet? I admit, I buy a lot of stuff from the internet, as do millions of other Americans. It’s easy, it’s convenient, and it’s cheap because online retailer’s have very little overhead.4. The Death of Mall Anchor Stores: Anchor stores are the big time retailers that attract people to malls. Back in the golden age of shopping malls, those stores were Kmart, Sears, JCPenny, Bon Ton, Kaufman’s, Boscov’s, Macy’s, and some others. Today those retailers are dying, with store locations closing everywhere, and as they die malls die with them. Kmart/Sears (Sears is owned by Kmart) has been doing so badly that it has been operating at a loss since 2010. This is often related to points 2 and 3, but I’m not going to let these retailers completely off the hook. Many of these stores did little or nothing to adapt to the times, to alter their business models, adjust to the competition, improve, and remain relevant. These stores don’t even look like they’ve updated for two or three decades. They are often drab looking, boring, and filled with old people shopping for their funeral clothes. Merely walking into a Kmart, JCPenny, or Sears today (at least one that is still open) feels like journeying back in time to the 1990′s. So the fact of the matter is that the age of the shopping mall is coming to a close. Many malls are dead and dying, many are at risk, many are being closed and demolished.  Some malls are surviving by bringing in non traditional mall businesses and entities such as fitness centers, doctors and dental offices, lawyers, senior centers, and community centers. Others are being re-purposed and converted into offices, hospitals, greenhouses, or community colleges and trade schools. One interesting re-purpose of malls is for residential space. Yeah, imagine renting an apartment in a mall, and having the convenience of a few small shops and restaurant, a gym, recreation center, post office, and other services literally right outside your door. I’d go for that.While the age of the mall may be over, the mall will not entirely die out.  There were be some malls that continue to thrive and stand the test of time, much like some surviving retro drive in theaters and drive in restaurants today. Nor is brick and mortar retail dying despite the internet, in fact, I would say its thriving more than ever. Rather than malls, today what seems to be the big thing is the bigass shopping plaza, a large space, typically located near a busy highway, featuring some one stop shopping big box retailers or wholesalers like Walmart, Sams Club, Cosco, or Target. Along with them are some specialty retailers likes Home Depot, Lowe’s, Petco, Best Buy, IKEA, some new name clothing stores, and maybe a car dealership or two. Finally scattered around the complex are dozens of smaller stores and restaurants. I can think of no better example of the new superceding the old than the Pittsburgh Mills Complex in Tarentum, PA, a few hours from where I live. The Pittsburgh Mills Galleria (”galleria” AKA shopping mall) was built in 2005, one of the newest malls in the country. It did well in it’s first few years, but quickly fell flat on its ass, rapidly becoming a dead mall.Beside the mall is a Wamart, Sam’s Club, Lowes or Home Depot (don’t remember which), some big brand electronics, specialty stores, and furniture stores, and dozens of smaller stores and restaurants surrounding it. All of them are thriving, yet the Galleria right beside it, a $190 million dollar mall with space for 100+ stores, is mostly empty except for around two or three dozen businesses. Recently it went into foreclosure and was bought out by Well’s Fargo, who still operates it. It sold for at auction for the amazing sum of $100. Oh how the mighty have fallen.If you are further interested in this topic I suggest you see two sources,https://www.facebook.com/deadmalls/A facebook about dead malls across the country. With photos, stories, and history of various dead malls.https://www.youtube.com/user/moviedanDan Bell is a producer and filmaker who has a popular channel on Youtube. His most popular videos are from the Dead Mall Series, where he tours dead malls and does urban exploration of closed and abandoned malls. He also does a series where he inspects the grossest hotel and motel rooms in the country. I highly recommend both. -- source link
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