My mom was visiting today and was talking about how her mall in her smallish town is a ghost town and that she doesn’t even feel safe there because it’s so deserted.
Her in our mid-sized town we are down to one indoor mall. I probably don’t stop there more than once a year - and that’s under diress. There is one mall we enjoy in Canada when we vacation but we can hit the unique stores there in an 1 - 1 1/2 hours and be out.
Malls were THE thing for a few decades. I remember going to my first mall as a kid and it was AMAZING that you could shop inside with so many choices. When my kids were born in the late 80’s and 90’s it was a refuge on winter days when they were little - just a place to go and be entertained, get some walking out, do a few fun things for them.
I prefer the “outdoor mall” concept though really, is that a mall? I actually don’t shop the two of ours more than once or twice a year.
Do you still like a mall? Have malls survived in your town? What is the draw of a mall for you? Malls…dead or alive??
We have several malls in the greater metropolitan area that are doing pretty well and several that have almost completely folded. The ones with more upscale anchors (Dillards, Macys, Nordstrom etc) have survived- the ones with the Penneys/Sears type anchors have not. Of course, a number of mall stores have closed- Limited, Claire’s and many others. Gap is really struggling. I used to LOVE to go to the mall. It was sort of my relaxing thing- I would shop, walk around and enjoy myself. Now I hardly ever go unless I specifically need something like at the Apple store or cosmetics. So much shopping is one online or at non-mall shops. Our very upscale mall seems to be doing pretty well, although the JCrew is struggling and I question who actually shops at some of the REALLY high end stores.
I would agree that definitely in our area the malls without the higher end stores have folded. However our “higher end mall” recently lost both Pottery Barn and William Sonoma - Pottery Barn used to be my favorite dream store!
You are right that the mall used to be a bit of a haven - a place where you could (or wanted to) roam for a couple of hours. Now I just look and think , “I don’t really care for this set up or these stores” largely.
One thing that I despise are the kiosks with the paid Eastern European workers (they house them in dorm type lodging) who accost you to try the skin care or eye cream or whatever every time you walk by. They say, “May I ask you something?” Or “Your skin is so beautiful. Can I give you this sample?”
In my area a town mall is springing up. They built a phony town with condominiums and shops and sidewalks, street signs but not any prominent store signs.
In my area, three malls are dying – and they’re building a brand new one, to open in 2020! I don’t understand why. It will have Nordstrom and Bloomingdale’s, and cinemas and restaurants, so they’re touting it as a high-end entertainment mecca. We’ll see. I really hope it takes off, but I’m skeptical.
My sister lives on the east side of the Cleveland area. The annoying thing is that you have a few stores you want to go to. And none of them are in the same mall!
It seemed to me that I used to be able to go to a mall and all of the stores that I liked were there.
Now if I want to go to the lululemon, it’s in an upscale shopping area that doesn’t have any other stores I want to go to. The Talbots is somewhere else next to the Lilly Pulitzer and the LL Bean. And the Athleta is somewhere completely different with the Nordstrom and the Kate Spade. So if I want to go to 3 stores, it would take an hour just driving to go.
So I order on line and then if it doesn’t work, then I can go to the store or return in the mail. It seems like they make it hard to shop in person.
In my area, indoor malls are in trouble, but one upscale outdoor shopping center is doing well. Free parking. No anchor stores but lots of upscale stores. Hope it continues to thrive, you can usually zip in and out of the stores you want.
@abasket Yes- the Eastern European/Israeli workers are a real thing. There was a big article in the WSJ a couple of years ago about it. They pay them really low wages and house them in dorm-like places.
There are a few larger malls I like to visit when I travel to certain cities. I don’t shop at my local mall as much as I used to. My kids don’t go to the malls, so I don’t see them as sustainable. The eastern European workers are for real. I see some at our mall, but you really see a lot at Cedar Point and Mackinac Island (seasonal workers).
I mainly shop online for non-grocery items, have not been to our city’s indoor malls for years, I think all of them are folding or dying. I go to outdoor malls mainly to the restaurants, doing returns or during holiday times. The new trend in town is to have shopping/restaurant/condo in one place, downtown-feel in uptown locale.
In Indianapolis we got food poisoning at the huge local mall’s food court. After that, we only went to the busiest and most highly recommended restaurants in town. It was a ghostly mall—barely anyone walking around and really bored-looking workers.
Our local indoor mall works hard to attract people—allows scrabble and chess tournaments, has lots of tables and benches for folks to sit. Sadly, don’t see many folks buying things other than food and beverages & a few going to the movies. Macy’s closes early because if has very few customers and lots of workers and retail space.
Most of the malls around us have died but the one right by my house has expanded and thrived. They added an outdoor mall area to it with great places to eat, a dinner theater, and upscale stores. We almost never go to the inside part except to go to one clothing store I like (that flooded and is closed right now) or the apple store. We do go to the outdoor part often to eat or go to the movies. It is really nice. We were skeptical when they expanded but it seems to be doing really well.
I wonder if the thought of upscale stores like Lulu is that it’s more profitable and “cool” to younger people to be in an outdoor setting where you can drive and park relatively close to the store you like vs. an indoor mall.
The big downtown San Diego mall has effectively closed - Horton Plaza - and been taken over by the homeless. It’s going to be converted into fancy upgraded tech office space. There’s one big mall with some very high end stores along the 8 east of town - Fashion Valley; and one a bit north - Westfield UTC. The latter just keeps growing and they’re extending the trolley system to go there. All malls are outdoors since San Diego allegedly has perfect weather.
Our local mall is limping along with tepid retail activity. A charter school rents or rented one of the empty storefronts. If pressed to answer dead or alive, I’d have to say undead.
@abasket Yes, there are shops, REI, Nordstrom Rack, Wegmans are the big ones and many smaller stores and restaurants. At the edge of the mall, there is a sizable condo building simulating a small town. So far , it only looks artificial to me.
@Marilyn Horton Plaza was my absolute favorite shopping place in the 90s (I went to San Diego a lot for business and stayed right next to it). That’s sad that it is dead. @abasket There are a number of Lululemon stores that are in malls- at least the upscale malls. Many are outside of malls in smaller centers, too. A lot goes into selecting retail locations. I’ve gone to the site selection meetings at our company and it is fascinating- things like traffic patterns, what stores are nearby, growth in the area etc.
Many malls are looking for creative ways to stay open. For example, the Galleria Mall in Cambridge MA is really suffering (had Sears as an anchor). They are converting their third floor into “tech” offices. In Boston, Copley Place is always deserted, yet the shops at Prudential right across the street is always packed. The Pru has added more upscale eateries (Earles, Del Frisco’s), is home to a giant Eataly, and in recent years has gone the route of fewer stores but with larger footprints.
In NJ they are still going to open a giant mall in the Meadowlands. Decades in the making, it is supposed to include lots of entertainment spaces (indoor amusement park type stuff), modeled after the Mall of America in Minneapolis. Saks closed their Short Hills location to open there. I have seen the preview of shops and I am unimpressed. I frankly think it is going to be a bust.
There is one mall we enjoy in Canada when we vacation but we can hit the unique stores there in an 1 - 1 1/2 hours and be out.