For our outdoor mall in San Diego at UTC, they completely reconfigured it. It is now full of upscale eateries with outdoor dining, kind of like a cafe street scene. There are seating areas and entertainment. Our other mall that survived is at least 50% tourist visitors whenever I go there (which is hardly ever).
I did not grow up near a mall. The only mall (Fashion Island in Newport Beach) was built in my high school years and then I was off to college where the mall was far from school and not affordable for my gang. So, I never went through a ‘hang out at the mall’ phase.
Edited to correct myself… I just looked it up. Fashion Island opened when I was younger. I remember going to Buffums with my Mom, but I don’t remember hanging out there.
All the malls in our area are slowly dying. One trend that I’ve noticed is that when dear wife and I were dating back in the 70’s, each mall was different and had stores/restaurants that the others didn’t have. At some point they all became exactly the same.
In Boston, Quincy Market was the urban rehab darling of the 70’s, copied in many other cities. Slowly, the unique local stores were squeezed out and replaced with the exact same stores in the suburban malls. It used to be fun to go into Boston and walk around that area–now, why go there to see the same stores that are in the 'burbs, with acres of free parking and easy access.
I live about 5 minutes from a major regional indoor mall with at least 120 stores and numerous kiosks. Just about all of the retail spaces are occupied.
It seems like it’s doing fairly well, but Macy’s moved out and Sears closed down. They were able to find a replacement tenant for Macy’s, so I think they’ll be able to stay afloat financially for at least several more years.
In my area, particularly on the weekends the malls are not safe. They have had random shootings, drugs, and other crime. IMHO, I think they would be closed except we are in the north and in some ways the enclosed structure is vital for much of the year.
I live about 10 minutes from a medium sized mall which lost it’s Nordstrom a year or so ago. I rarely go there anymore. Even though we live in a very upper middle class area I think it is struggling. Personally prefer the more open, multi use areas with shops, restaurants and apartments/condos.
The mall in the small town area where I grew up is not dead, but is dying. No department stores left and just a handful of small shops among many empty storefronts. I will be surprised if it lasts until the end of the year.
These days, the rare times I go into a mall, the traffic is sparse. And, yes, many of the malls are dying. The problem I had with those stores was that they charged more for stuff I could get cheaper. They required a specific trip to the mall. Whereas the local Target or TJMaxx we’re right in an area I could just run in and combine errands I needed in my list.
The large mall closest to where I live is thriving. It seldom has empty stores. Many shops are trending towards high end because of the location. It has a Nordstrom, Macy’s and Lord and Taylor stores as the main anchors. And they are usually busy.
The smaller malls have closed. These are the ones in smaller towns. Many have been transitioned to the outdoor “mall” shopping experience…and that’s fine too.
I was sort of recently at King of Prussia Mall in PA…and it didn’t seem to be suffering.
I honestly think it’s the smaller malls that are languishing…some due to location, and some because they can’t attract good stores…or new customers.
Our only remaining indoor mall also has some safety issues.
I also enjoy a good outlet “mall” - but around here they are largely outdoor open area “malls”. Only thing is that it seems that often “outlet” is not what “outlet” used to be! Sometimes it just means a sale rack in the back of the store.
The mall in my town is doing fine, I think because it is very upscale and people come from far away to shop there. They just lost the Sears but still have 5 other anchors including Saks, Neimans and Bloomingdales. Other high end stores include places like Gucci and Louis Vuitton - places I never saw in a mall growing up. I don’t go there much unless my kids want me to take them shopping.
@kiddie I worked in the Pru right after college - so jealous there is an Eataly there now. Back then I would eat Sbarros most of the week then once in a while I would splurge and sit at the counter at Legals and pretty much blow my whole paycheck.
@MADad I miss the old Quincy Market when you could wander for hours looking in stores you couldn’t find anywhere else. I used to love pigs when I was little and it was so fun when my mom would bring me to the I Heart Pigs store. And we loved picking present for my uncle at the Left-handed store. Somewhere I still have my original Cabbage Patch that I got at the specialty toy store that was upstairs. Now every time we fly home we stop there, get Reginas & Chipyard cookies and leave.
There are a few malls near me (4 within 20 minutes) that are doing fine/well, not including outlet malls. I have to say, my teenage kids seem to really enjoy the in person shopping experience. Maybe because they have always known the convenience of online shopping, so they see it as a treat to take time out of their day to browse and try things on. Since my daughter got her drivers license, she has been to the mall more times in three months than she probably went in a year when she had to be driven.
I think the idea of anchor stores is dying. Seems a lot of the things in the anchor stores can also be bought in brand specific stores (especially at high end malls) so they aren’t necessarily the draw they used to be for customers. Mall owners seem content to break up the space into smaller stores - probably protects their investment as well.
One particular mall near us doesn’t even seem to want new anchors. It has had three anchors close in the most recent 10 years or so, but by breaking up the space, has seen great success. The new spaces are still large stores (think Container Store or Crate and Barrel type stores vs. Gap), but they are more flexible for the future.
Our mall is dying since it lost Sears and BonTon as two of its four anchor stores. I stopped shopping there when my husband was laid off in 2009, and lately when I’ve stopped in for something specific, it seems so different from what I remember. I used to love to spend hours there, browsing, eating, and just enjoying what it had to offer. Not anymore.
Here is my personal take on my local Seattle area malls. Bellsquare was hopping like a madhouse when we went there a few weeks ago… Across the lake, Northgate is dying… the whole area is ready for a major facelift that will now come with the light rail being built. Alderwood is doing OK after adding its outdoor areas and a movie theater. Finding a parking spot there is always a hassle. Have not been to the Southcenter in ages, so no comments on that one.
IMO, malls in good locations that offer dining and entertainment and more than just a handful of stores are doing OK. Also, in our area, a mall needs to provide both indoor and outdoor areas to be successful: who wants to be stuck indoors when the weather is great, and who wants to wander under pouring rain when the weather is horrible?
Outlet stores have faced a tremendous amount of legal issues in the last 5 years or so. I suspected this for some time, but it turns out most of the goods are made just for the outlets and are of much lower quality. Only a few skus are actually from the “main” stores. There are laws regulating what you can say the “original” price was- and it had to be sold at that price for a period of time. So you can’t lie, like most outlet stores did and say “Was $99.99” if the thing is a cheaper version of something and was never sold for that price. I used to love outlet malls decades ago when they were scarce and you really could get the original goods for a lower price.
I noticed the labels at outlets now say “compare to $99” instead of “original price $99.” While the difference in quality might not be very noticeable for things like jeans, the lower quality of bags sold at the Coach store in one of our outlet malls is quite apparent. You don’t even have to look at the inside tags for clues that it is an outlet item.
Not a new phenomenon by any means. MFOs (made for outlet) are how they make their money.
IME, most companies play by the rules and say “Compare at” or something similar. How the customer chooses to interpret is a different story. Not to say that there aren’t some that bend/break the rules.
Ski, some of us used to shop outlets long before you started grade school. Back in the days, the labels listed “original” prices that were original, and Nordstrom Rack sold unsold merch from the main stores. MOfWC and I are talking about those times.
Are you saying Nordstrom Rack is not doing that anymore and sell separate items? How about online stores that give discounts? Are they also selling lower quality items? When you buy plumbing fixtures from build.com, are they not as goos as what they sell at Fergusons?
Not gonna debate, but while you may have been talking about those times, MOWC specifically referenced the recent 5 year period. Regardless, while Nordstrom Rack, Neimans Last Call, Saks Off Fifth, etc were originally conceived as a way to get rid of goods from mainline stores with “originally” price tags, TPTB quickly realized that this was not a sustainable business model, hence the MFOs. They also realized that outlets could be a large volume and profitable growth engine if managed right. The “if managed right” being the operative term; Macy’s tried it (and failed) years before they relaunched Macy’s Backstage. Nordstroms seems to have been doing it OK, but the number of Rack stores has been about double the number of their mainline stores (so more outlets than could possibly be needed to handle mainline overstocks) since at least the time I has in grade school. So again, not a new phenomenon.
It’s a mix of items from the main store and specially made products and opportunistic buys from vendor’s overstocks, and has been for decades.
