The Landmark Mall in Alexandria, Virginia, was closed in 2017 after Macy’s announced its closure. The mall’s owners notified tenants, except Sears, that they were to vacate by January 31, indicating that approved redevelopment is imminent. The demolition of the mall began on Thursday morning to build a new development including the expansion of Inova’s Alexandria Hospital. The news of the mall’s closure in 2017 reverberated across the city, marking the end of a long journey. Officials say the mall was torn down to make room for a new development that will include an Inova hospital, apartment homes, stores, and restaurants. The Alexandria City Council approved the project in July.
The demolition of Landmark Mall is now underway, with the old mall being replaced by an Inova hospital and a mixed-use development. The Alexandria City Council approved the project in July. The first strike at Landmark Mall was years in the making, as city officials and a rotating cast of property owners planned. The demolition of Landmark Mall began Thursday as it will be replaced by a new development anchored by Inova Hospital.
Landmark Mall received a little life after its closing when it served as a brief set for the movie Wonder Woman 1984. YouTubers ‘The Proper People’ entered Landmark Mall just days before demolition started. The demolition of Landmark Mall is now underway, marking the end of a long journey and opening doors to new possibilities.
📹 Exploring the Abandoned Landmark Mall – Just Days Before Demolition
In this episode, we’re in Alexandria Virginia to explore the abandoned Landmark Mall. The mall closed in 2017 and is currently …
Why so many stores closing in usa?
Inflation has led to a surge in store closures and bankruptcies in the US, causing nearly 3, 200 store locations to close in 2024. This represents a 24% increase from 2023, according to data from retail tracker CoreSight. Despite some expansion plans, such as Dollar General opening 800 new locations and 7-Eleven opening 270 US locations, there are 4% fewer location openings this year compared to 2023, according to CoreSight’s data. This has exacerbated the financial struggles faced by struggling retailers and restaurants.
Why are US malls closing?
Mall vacancies have reached their highest levels in the past 15 years, exacerbated by COVID-19 lockdowns, online shopping, and closures and bankruptcies among popular mall retailers and major department stores. The number of malls in the U. S. fell from 1, 500 in 2005 to around 1, 150 by late 2022. This holiday season, only 2 in 5 shoppers plan to visit stores inside malls, compared to 3 in 4 expecting to buy online with home delivery and nearly half planning to shop at physical stores not inside malls.
Developers are building open-air retail spaces, with traditional mall tenants and new retailers opening shops. Malls are bouncing back, especially those that offer dining and recreational experiences.
What happened to Landmark Mall in Alexandria, Virginia?
The Alexandria City Council has approved redevelopment agreements for the former Landmark Mall site, which will result in up to approximately four million square feet of new development. The project will be anchored by the relocation and expansion of Inova’s Alexandria Hospital, bringing more than 2, 000 healthcare workers to the medical campus. As part of the collaboration between the City and Inova, the Alexandria City Council also approved a master plan amendment and rezoning of the current Inova Alexandria Hospital site on Seminary Road to permit a variety of residential uses, which will facilitate the sale of the property in advance of its relocation to the Landmark site. This land-use decision was the first legislative action by Council required to bring this plan to reality.
The Alexandria City Council also approved the use of $54 million in public bond financing to allow the city to acquire the land for the hospital and lease it to Inova, as well as $86 million in public bond financing for site preparation and infrastructure at the Landmark site and adjacent Duke Street and Van Dorn Street corridors. On January 24, 2022, it was announced that the project would be renamed to WestEnd Alexandria.
Demolition began on May 12, 2022, and lasted six months. The parking garage was left intact. On September 5, 2023, the Alexandria Planning Commission approved many special use permits for the Foulger-Pratt project. It will include retail and restaurant pavilions, trails, and recreational facilities that will house a skating rink and pickleball courts.
The Foulger-Pratt project will include retail and restaurant pavilions, trails, and recreational facilities that will house a skating rink and pickleball courts. The project is expected to attract more than 2, 000 healthcare workers to the medical campus. The project is part of the collaboration between the City and Inova, with the City Council also approving a master plan amendment and rezoning of the current Inova Alexandria Hospital site on Seminary Road to permit a variety of residential uses.
In summary, the Alexandria City Council has approved the redevelopment agreements for the former Landmark Mall site, which will result in up to approximately four million square feet of new development. The project will be anchored by the relocation and expansion of Inova’s Alexandria Hospital, bringing more than 2, 000 healthcare workers to the medical campus.
What is the biggest closed mall in the world?
Despite its seven million square feet of space, the New South China Mall in Dongguan, China, has remained largely vacant. Despite being lauded as the globe’s largest shopping center and anticipated to draw 100, 000 daily visitors, the mall’s impersonal ambience has not elicited the anticipated influx of migrant workers.
How many malls are left in the USA?
The United States currently has 1, 150 malls, with some projections suggesting that by 2032, there may be as few as 150 remaining. Large shopping malls may close over 10 years, with closed malls remaining empty for an average of 3 years and 11 months. The number of malls declined 16. 7 per year from 2017 to 2022, with 2 million square feet of mall space demolished in 2022. The nationwide mall vacancy rate is 110 higher than the overall average retail vacancy rate.
Shopping malls are more than twice as likely to be vacant as the average retail space. By 2022, there were as few as 700 large shopping malls left in the U. S., with an 8. 6 vacancy rate at the end of 2023. Class C malls with less than $300 in annual sales per square foot have a vacancy rate of 10. 2, 18. 6 higher than the overall vacancy rate for shopping malls. An average of 1, 170 shopping malls closed every year between 2017 and 2022, with the average vacant mall selling at 43 below its acquisition price.
What is the largest abandoned mall in the United States?
Randall Park Mall, a shopping mall in North Randall, Ohio, opened on August 11, 1976, on the site of the former Randall Park Race Track. After a decade of decline, it closed on March 12, 2009, with the former Dillard’s store and interior demolished in 2015 to make way for an industrial park. Amazon built a new distribution center on the site in 2018. In 1966, Dominic Visconsi proposed building Garfield Mall in nearby Garfield Heights, which was approved by voters in 1968.
The mall was planned to have heated underground parking, elevator and escalator access to stores like JCPenney, Sears, Higbee’s, and Halle’s. However, Youngstown developer Edward J. DeBartolo planned a shopping-apartment-office complex nearby in 1971, scaling down Garfield Mall and signing with DeBartolo instead. The mall was built on the site of the Randall Park Race Track, envisioned as a “city within a city”, with 200 shops, three 14-story apartments, two 20-story office buildings, and a performing arts center. The total construction cost was $175 million.
What is the 3 biggest mall in the world?
The world’s largest shopping malls are architectural wonders that combine the retail sector with international consumer experiences, transcending the realm of grandeur and richness. These malls function as sites for entertainment, skillfully fusing luxury and leisure. The world’s ten largest malls are New South China Mall, Golden Resources Mall, Central World, SM Mall of Asia, Dubai Mall, West Edmonton Mall, SM Megamall, Istanbul Cevahir, Berjaya Times Square, and Siam Paragon.
The significance of these malls is highlighted in the list of Top-10 Largest Malls in the World, which also include the largest mall in the world, New South China Mall, Golden Resources Mall, Central World, SM Mall of Asia, Dubai Mall, West Edmonton Mall, SM Megamall, Istanbul Cevahir, Berjaya Times Square, and Siam Paragon.
What is the most famous abandoned mall?
A dead mall, also known as a ghost mall, zombie mall, or abandoned mall, is a shopping center with low consumer traffic or deterioration. Many North American malls are considered dead when they lack an anchor store or successor to attract people. Without pedestrian traffic, sales volumes decline, and rental revenues cannot sustain the mall’s maintenance costs. Structural changes in the department-store industry have made survival difficult, with some areas or suburbs having insufficient traditional department stores to fill larger-lease-area anchor spaces. A few large national chains have replaced many local and regional chains, and some national chains are defunct.
What stores are going to shut down in 2024?
A total of 11 retail brands are projected to cease operations at 1, 401 US locations in 2024. Family Dollar, the largest chain, has announced plans to close at least 600 stores. Additionally, Walmart and TJX are engaged in a dual strategy of store closures and openings. Users are able to access personalized feeds of their preferred topics while in transit. To opt out, users are directed to the Preferences page or may unsubscribe at the conclusion of the email.
What is the oldest mall in New York?
The Paddock Arcade, a 19th-century shopping mall in Watertown, New York, is the second oldest covered shopping mall in the United States and the country’s oldest, continuously operating enclosed shopping mall. Built in 1850, it runs perpendicular to the adjoining Paddock Building and features a Gothic style architecture with a glass roof that allows daylight to filter through. The arcade was designed by architect Otis Wheelock and was built by Watertown native Loveland Paddock, based on similar arcades in the United States and Europe during that era. The bottom floor houses shops, while the upper floors are used for office space. The arcade was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976.
Who owns the Landmark Mall?
Landmark, formerly known as The Landmark, is a Filipino department store and supermarket chain owned by Citysuper Incorporated. Established in 1988, it is the third department store in the Ayala Center after SM Makati and Rustan’s. The Makati flagship branch offers lower-priced items than most department stores in Metro Manila. In 2013, the branch was redeveloped with two additional floors and the Mary Mother of Hope Chapel, a Roman Catholic chapel named after then-Archbishop of Manila, Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle.
The TriNoma branch, opened in 2007, is now an anchor store for TriNoma and underwent expansion in 2015, becoming the largest Landmark branch ever built. The third floor of the expansion was opened to the public on September 8, 2017, coinciding with the inauguration of Landmark’s second chapel, the namesake of the first chapel in Makati, at the fourth level. The chapel has a seating capacity of 2, 200, making it the largest of its kind in Metro Manila.
📹 Reasons Why Malls Across The US Are Closing Down More Than Ever
The American shopping mall is in a crisis. One of the largest malls in Pennsylvania, the Galleria at Pittsburgh Mills, sold for just …
Two important points i think were missed here. Class B and C malls account for most of the closings – elite class A malls are doing just fine, and are expected to out live the others through the next 10 years. Also, outdoor malls are faring better than indoor malls. I’m guessing it is the more prestigious shops that wish to more fully control the customer experience.
I remember when my grandmother scoffed at malls saying it took away from downtown businesses locally. After the postwar boom, developers were fulfilling a need for millions of families that moved to the suburbs by building these massive shopping centers. More than a half a century later the pendulum is shifting the other way, specialty store and entertainment venues have eclipsed the shopping mall.
Another reason for the decline of shopping malls as well as traditional retail in general is that their main target customer base (women) aren’t willing to go out, shop and spend hours shopping as they did in the past. Now that more and more women are working outside of the home, they aren’t going to want to spend their precious time off in someone’s store.
My childhood mall is still thriving. The Potomac Mills Mall in Woodbridge, VA open in 1985 and has 200+ stores on one single level. It has been a popular tourist attraction. The mall is anchored by JC Penny, Sears Outlet store, TJ Maxx and Marshall Home Goods. We also have an AMC Theater on the front side of the mall. The Ikea grew so big that it built it’s own building across the parking lot of the mall.
the indoor mall boom was ridiculous in the 70s and 80s, to the point it became saturated, and then in the 90s and early 2000s were outdoor malls and mini-malls or shopping centers, but the thing is, people would rather hit the internet now, or get a discount 1 stop shop. However, I see these dying out eventually too. Department stores will phase out, nobody really wants to shop the same as they used to. I do security at an outlet mall, a lot of our stores have been closing recently, and that mall has been dying for years. The dynamic of how cautiously one spends their money has changed so drastically.
My hometown mall was starting to die, so they began to renovate it. They had taken out the fountains and the trees, and I suggested that they put them back, because they lend a flavor to the experience of shopping, but the mall manager said that both tended to block the line of vision (to glimpsing store fronts). That’s too bad, because one way that malls are to save themselves is to make themselves a unique place where people like to spend time and relax–and fountains and trees induce a feeling of relaxation and tranquility. What do the rest of you think about this?
One of the other reasons malls are losing people is cause they kicked out all the kids, they got rid of the arcades and toy stores and some of them even got rid of the food courts as well. So if kids at a young age are not exposed to the malls they won’t care for them when they are able to drive and hang out in. Least the malls around me went to upscale and wanted to keep the young out, so you more or less killed your future customers going there when of age to travel on their own.
In South Korea, housing is combined with malls, and every mall has at least one big supermarket, and tutoring schools for the kids too. Hardly any reason to leave home, and one is less inclined to spend the time/energy to save a buck or two. These US mall buildings should become affordable housing, especially for all the babyboomers that are not going to be able to drive in the near future.
Mall closings are sometimes because of real shoppers being ran off by thugs trolling by the hundreds on the weekend just hanging out looking for trouble and a chance to shoplift . Real shoppers feel unsafe and just shop a safer, but less fun way, online . This may be a politically incorrect answer but it’s sad and true .
Doctor’s offices, legal offices, tax offices, pharmacies, mini libraries, dentist offices, optometrists and more can move into that retail space including restaurants. Gyms, spas, florists and other service businesses could thrive in a mall. Retail items like like large rugs and furniture need space. Who would by a vacuum cleaner or a bed on the internet? Mall owners were charging far, too much for rent is the other unreported part of the story.
a mall that was dying here in ft worth texas was turned into a mexican style mall, with lots of independent vendors and even has a side of the mall dedicated to smaller vendors like flea market style and lots of food vendors too. This mall is NEVER dead! and its still looks very clean and attracts all races of people.
Although people didn’t have the Net, online reviews, etc. in the ’70’s when I grew up with them, we didn’t go shopping at the mall wondering if an item was top quality or not. You bought basic items in stores pretty much knowing what you were getting. If you wanted something of higher caliber, you shopped at the higher caliber anchor stores. We loved the malls for the “people” atmosphere & discovering new things by our leisurely browsing. You could see & hold the object. Malls were a great way to pass time & maybe meet someone new. Walmart/internet won’t replace the fun at the mall. In the case of my area, it was the gangs & unruly teens who killed off business. Signs of the times. 🙁
A big factor is that malls now discourage teens from making the mall their social hang-out place by placing strict limits on when they can be there without parents. …and, admittedly, the past generations probably didn’t spend a huge amount at the mall, but it established the mall as the place to shop for them into their higher-spending 20s and 30s.
Sorry but I think this is awful that the Malls are closing..I’m old school, I like going into a store and seeing, touching the items I want to buy..I don’t get buying everything in life on the internet, on my laptop..I can’t even think about buying clothes without trying them on, let alone a pair of shoes! People are getting so lazy, almost ‘Hermit’ staying home behind a computer 24/7..This is not normal to me, we need to get out there and mingle with people..We need to drive or walk to any store we want to go into, not look at a screen! To me this is too sad, what a world this is now…And I’m not liking it!
It’s the death of the middle class and nobody wants to see it. People still need clothes and it’s difficult to buy clothes online without trying them on. Plus a lot of dinner restaurants are closing too. Fast food is thriving, and the Chipotle like ones, but the other ones are not, this should tell us something. People don’t have money to spend. Wages are going down and housing prices up. China and Mexico are building malls like crazy and they’re full of people.
People are waking up is what it is. They’re falling out of this matrix. People are realizing a shirt is a shirt its just name tagged differences. There are stores opening all over the world now where you can get clothes, very nice clothes dirt cheap. I walk around looking like a CEO of a business with spending very little. Closet full of polos at 3 dollars a piece as well as khaki shorts & slacks under 10 dollars. All brand new no good will not that I have anything against good will, just making a point. Glad to see people waking up .
They are closing because too many malls are right next to each other even without the internet they would be closing down due to less money from jobs being moved overseas to China which means the people that would be doing those jobs are all on welfare and people on welfare are more likely to steal than buy due to needing the welfare money for food and rent.
One word answer, “Amazon “. Young people shop online for everything. I’m 73 and now even I shop online. I get delivery in a few days right to my porch. I buy clothes, stamps, tools and cleaning liquids online. It is easy and cheap. I do go to Home Depot for some things for my house but I haven’t been inside a mall in two or three years.
My city’s biggest mall is always full during weekends. You can’t find a decent parking space and lots of trucks park on the grass. It was renovated about a year ago, the food court looks modern and everything is ecofriendly (no disposable dishes). People just followed. But the Sears parking lot is always half deserted.
Malls were dying well before Amazon because many of the burbs that supported them aged out demographically and stand alone store blocks became the new design for retail. A massive contraction of vendors went hand in hand with their closing as many chains simply ceased to exist as the crowds that they counted on vanished.
If all the malls close, where are the pranksters going to go at nights to find people to prank and kiss for their articles? My God this is so sad. The night pranking article industry is going to close too. Jesus Christ a lot of pranksters are going to be on the bread line. Don’t talk about the effect it is going to have on YouTube viewership. Jesus Christ Lord have mercy. This affects every one! Something has to be done!
The young women here don’t mention the fact that the whole mall experience developed with the growth of suburbia and long before the internet. Then along came e-commerce and Amazon and others. Movie theaters as solutions? They are too young to remember that malls built movie theaters as part of the complex back in the late 60’s and 70’s and it DID NOT save them beyond the first 20 years. The movie places were profitable for a while but then with the coming of dvd’s, and cable movies and then the internet, it’s over. The only mall I know that is hanging on or doing moderate business is an upscale place with some real high end stores, and more upscale restaurants in the block next to the mall.
My personal reason for shopping online is that clothes at the mall don’t fit me! I wear anywhere from a size 12-16, and I never see these sizes on the rack at stores. Since the average American woman wears a size 14 now, the malls lost the opportunity to appeal to women who spend more time and money shopping!
Happily, shopping centres like Westfield are still doing well here in Australia. If a business goes down the gurgler here, it’s mostly due to poor management. A recent business failure here was Dick Smith Electronics. The person who’s name graced the business, sold the business to the grocery chain, Woolworths several years ago and they in turn sold DSE onto some other company. Dick Smith himself had moved on to other interests but the electronics store chain that bore his name went into receivership roughly midway through last year and the stores themselves closed late last year. The internet did not figure in that collapse but that’s not to say the internet could not have caused the collapse. In different circumstances the ‘net might well have caused DSE to go down the gurgle-hole.
Malls in my area were in trouble before the rise of ecommerce and before the Recession. Every couple of years, a new mall would open, often adding a second, or even a third location for an anchor store in a county of 350,000 consumers. This is not counting at least two malls in the other major city in the county, of which I visited one, once. I would say since the mid 90s, even the busiest mall had a 10% vacancy rate, . The older malls shifted to comic book stores, etc and had vacancy rates closer to 20-25%. Malls also became investments for massive corporations, which tend to concentrate on getting money out of the mall rather than putting money into maintenance. One did an “upgrade” – new tile, etc. but never got around to fixing the roof.
Besides the internet, I also think that lack of variety killed things. Back in the day, you could go into any mall in the country and find pretty much the same stores, JC Penny, Gap, Claire’s, Sears, Footlocker, etc. What reason is there to go to a mall across town when the one near you has all of the same stores? There was never a mall that had something special to make you go out of your way to get there. Also redundancy within the individual malls themselves. In high school in the 90s, one popular mall had 7 sneaker stores, 5 sporting goods stores, 4 card shops. Even then, I wondered why there wasn’t more variety in types of stores.
The prices at malls are really outrageous. and unless you’re a size 2 its hard to find anything sbove a medium in stores like wet seal. Mostly bc (and I’ve asked) the larger sizes get scooped up first bc everybodys larger now. its discouraging to shop and find the cutest thing but not your size. i always feel poor and body shamed after the mall and I’m not even fat!
They are ignoring the elephant in the room. A coworker of mine put it best. The price of things went up but wages have remained the same. The average wage from the past eight years almost declined $4k from around $54k a year to about $51k a year. So yea, people are going to be more frugal with their money. Dying malls are just the canary in the coal mine. We are just not the consumer juggernaught we used to be.
online shopping is a factor in the decline of malls but not the major reason. The rising cost of the products was the initial reason. regular people couldn’t afford to spend $150 for a shirt. Everybody got greedy. Malls had the highest rent. stores had to charge the highest prices. After a few trips without buying anything people stop going. I only go to the mall maybe a couple times a year usually around the holidays. This trend will unfortunately spread to other parts of the world eventually. Too expensive.
Didn’t realize malls were struggling as much as this article and comment section are claiming. The nearest mall to my place has a food court located about hundred feet from a sears, Abercrombie, and Macy’s, and the other two anchor stores (dillards and jc penny) are located on the other side, but they are close to the movie theatre and two other restuarants outside. Most of the people are centered around there and walk between the two places, traveling along and finding all the smaller stores like think geek, gamestop, as well as indoor rock climbing, lunar mini golf, skate place and other attractions they bring in from time to time. That mall has always been thriving, as well as the other one nearby which hosts a more modern approach with 2 easily reachable floors, and, at times, a third floor. They have a Round 1, movie theatre, several restuarants littered around (and not concentrated in2 spots) with both indoors and outdoors attractions. They are always full of people, and while I do see fewer people nowadays inside the bigger more expensive stores, when I go in during holiday season, when a new movie releases, or just when it’s a nice day out on a weekend, there are always people walking around, talking, and having fun.
I don’t know why they close all the shopping malls and meanwhile build these huge commons where each store has its own individual building. In a mall you park at one spot and walk throughout the whole thing. But those shopping commons are terrible, and you have to park at each store which is a bane in winter or when you have children. For example, the largest mall in North America is West Edmonton Mall which takes up 24 blocks. There is also the South Edmonton Common which has many stores too, but it occupies over a quarter section and you have to drive around it everywhere (and that’s green??) It sucks with a passion, but that’s what’s being built throughout North America instead which I think is so stupid. Long live the mall, and no more shopping commons.
The bottom line is that people got no money! They don’t want to tell you because a panic will start. I was on some luxurious property in the Silicon Valley. I and my GF were invited to a summer camp sales pitch. We parked our Subaru amongst the tall redwoods, Ferraris and Teslas. The property owner was trying to get the invitees to commit to sending their kids to Montana to experience (pay to work) a working ranch. As the slides were viewed and the fine champagne was passed around, each invitee responded with “We’re still looking at our options.. ” or “We’re thinking Switzerland perhaps”. When they got to me I said “I don’t have any money”. You should have heard the silent gasp. Later on when I approached the kitchen I heard an invitee tell another that they couldn’t afford to run their house a/c. As we left I heard the stern voice from the wife chastising the husband that the party was a bad idea. I didn’t hear anyone commit. The drinks were good.
When I was growing up, malls had a special place. I remember my mom would go shop and I would hit all my favorite stores: Electronic Boutique, Hobby Town, arcade, then the food court. They also had the KB Toy Stores and the discount game rack was a big hit for me, and sometimes I could buy something off there. Usually the food court and arcades like the two top spots. Go in, play some, go grab samples from the Chinese food place, then come back to the arcade. This one mall I went to had a pet shop and I would go in there and look at all the dogs and sometimes buy a little pig ear for my dog back at home. It was fun times. Then around the early 2000s, I just never went back to the mall. I think in the last 10 years, I only recall ever going to the mall maybe once or twice. Personally I think to make malls profitable they need to offer something aside from stores. They need to offer some sort of amusement like arcades or a fun center where you can go in and do stuff with the family. Just having stores a bit boring. I don’t really see anything unique anymore. I go in a mall and yeah, I’m like I can buy that same exact item from Amazon or eBay and I don’t even look at it or even price compare. I just buy it off Amazon or eBay when I can.
in indonesia malls are just growing bigger and bigger. i think the issue in here is not about everyone are doing online shopping. indonesia e commerce market is growing tremendously. but rather bcs people just want to go to malls to fancies themselves. they want to watch movies, (in here every theatre is in mall, so if u want to watch movies, u have to go to mall), they want to spend their holiday (thats the cheapest way to enjoy a holiday in HERE) bcs most people here doesnt have enough money to went through vacay, and etc etc.
There can be a number of reasons why shopping centres, like these malls are closing but one of the biggest reasons is because of internet on-line shopping. A lot of the stores are their own worst enemy in this regard. Basically bricks-and-mortar shops are the best way to shop because of the opportunity for social interaction, something you can’t get from gawking at a computer screen for hours on end. If a store offers on-line purchasing of its wares, people will order from home and the social aspect of the shopping experience is flushed down the toilet. The better use of the internet would’ve been to simply publish the store’s catalogue on-line(saves printing it out, the potential customer can do that from home, anyway) a customer sees what he/she wants, sees how much it costs, then heads down to the store to buy it if it’s available. If not, this fact can be edited into the catalogue. The customer can then be notified by phone to come and collect the item when new stocks arrive. Bricks-and-mortar shops can provide employment to salespeople as well. A good salesperson will know the product he/she is selling and be able to explain it. A rapport between customer and salesperson can develop that would be impossible if shopping on-line. Basically the internet is the greatest danger to shopping centres(malls) today.
I hate Malls . For many reasons People in a mall store are inexperienced and don’t have the Knowledge to deal with all the the People that come in 1.with a returned item 2.security, undercover security Tracking people racial profiling people Retail stores are a target for teenage thieves, drug addicts 3. Parking, entitlement is now A big deal, “oh no you put a a Nick or a small unnoticeable dent on my Mercedes”, people fight over parking space at s mall 3.plz buy online Why ! 1. No lines, 2.no racist retail sales cashiers 3.refund and return policies are so much more catered To the buyer
This is sad really, because it also spells the economic decline of communities that relied on malls. Just ten miles from where I live is a community of about 5000, and they have a fairly large mall there. For decades it has declared itself to be the economic hub of the entire area. As stores close in the mall, fewer people visit from nearby towns, and other businesses also feel the ripple effect. You see where this is going?
You’re right about the fact that e-commerce only accounts for a portion of the decline in sales at brick and mortar stores. Small local stores and thrift stores are the way to go, with online shopping for what one can’t get locally. We have to prioritize the limited amount of time and energy we have and not waste it by wandering aimlessly through malls.
A lot of things have changed over the last 2 decades. The biggest one, of course, is online shopping, Amazon, eBay, etc. Amazon for example, has Amazon prime which most people will get their order the next day. It is a lot more convenient and saves time plus money. A lot of retail stores I have been in recently are pushing the, “If you can not find a product, you can search on our website for thousands of products and have it shipped directly to your favorite store.” Retail stores also offer pick up in store as well. I can see this making big headway in retail, as like in this article, people are looking for real world reviews with products.They can look in the comfort of their own home, without the nagging of a salesperson to buy something they may not like. Most retailers will even offer free shipping to their stores to bring back that foot traffic they have lost from the internet. Another big hit to the malls of America are big retailers like Wal-Mart. Even though now, Wal-Mart is seeing a drastic decrease in sales and customers; their deep discounts along with convenience, have brought in some of the malls foot traffic. Consumers these days do not want to wander around an indoor building and be in huge crowds. Hopefully these mall developers will take lesson and switch their game.
Wrong, it is intentional. The real state on those malls are worth more than just running it, why wait for 30 years to make X amount of million dollar while you can get it now? The answer is simple, sell the property. This is also due to lease renewal, many of these malls probably sold out to a real estate companies and those companies wanted to capitalize on it before another recession hits the market. In a few years, these dead malls will be leased or demolished to be sold at face value on the land. Follow the money, see who owns those properties.
The upkeep on these huge structures is staggering. If every retail space is not filled and paying the rent, then it will fail. If you walk through a small or average size mall and count more than a dozen empty retail spaces, then you can pretty much be assured that mall won’t be around for long. Retail is not what it used to be, young people are more interested in social media than hanging out at the mall. Older people do not want to walk around and gawk at mall store anymore. Anchor stores are failing daily. Mall have ran their course and served their purpose, now its time to use the land they sit on for something else.
I thought the two young blonde ladies for the first half of the article were the same person, LOL. I doubt this is an either/or situation. Malls service as a social function is timeless. I love the idea they are shifting to an experiential concept of consumerism, since that appeals far more to me than materialism. Thanks.
I don’t go to malls,because their inconvenent, when I can just shop on Amazon, or Walmart/use door dash/make someone else pickup my groceries and anything I want and need. Also I have a projector in my house, a gym/treadmill/weights, in my house, meaning everything I need and want, is at my house, I work from home/I am a programmer, its a BIG inconvenience to leave home, we live in a digital world, which is more efficient/convenient, malls are like paper, they are dead/obsolete.
I stopped going to malls in my town because they are simply huge time wasters. When on vacation in another city, I might walk through a mall because I have the time to do so. In contrast, with my daily life, I am so busy with work, sick and tired of dealing with traffic, parking, and idiots in a face to face environment. I cannot fathom why I would want to torture myself on purpose with the same traffic, parking, and piss poor customer service simply to shop when I can do that in an alternative way (online). Plus, if you need some specific whimsical item, you often have no idea if the item is going to even be in stock, versus shopping online where I know for sure if they have the item or not. Again, not going to waste my time to walk from store to store, burn gas to another location, when I can get what I want online.
In the UK several big malls have opened up over the past few years. The two Westfields in London seem to be doing good business, and Westfield (based in Australia) wants to take over an existing mall in south London (the Whitgift Centre in Croydon) and expand it. Then again some town centre malls are contracting or closing because people want to drive to out-of-town shopping malls or those with a lot of parking (or both) like the Westfields, Bluewater and Lakeside. I think there’s space for a big drive-to mall on the west side of London; there are two on the east but none over here; but that would take revenue from the town centres here.
this is really shocking to me all the malls in my area are huge and constantly filled with people, kids go there to hang out and stuff on the daily, and almost everyone i know does their clothes shopping almost exclusively there. I wonder if this is just based on location, I live in northern California, if you reply what are the malls like in your area??
Hit it right on the head, and it’s sad, because when I was growing up, going to the mall was kind of like going to an amusement park. It was great just to look at all of the stuff available and the appearance, fountains and plants, tall ceilings with natural light coming in. I was never a big mall goer, but I did love to go when I did. It’s sad that an entire generation of people will very quickly lose that experience, kind of like people are losing the experience of what life before Internet was like, something I also still remember, though I’d never want to return to those days (but there is something about it that brought people closer together).
But is it mostly suburban malls or inner-city malls as well? I live in Norfolk, Virginia and we have a mall downtown called MacArthur Center, and to my knowledge it’s been going strong since its opening in ’99 even without landing an elusive third anchor. Maybe the trend of dying malls, isn’t only about technology, an economic crash, and changing habits, but also population and demographics. From what I heard there’s a trend of people moving back into cities for the culture, convenience, and to be close to work, etc. I’m just wondering if that has something to do with it.
There’s a bigger problem allowing these malls to deteriorate. It’s bringing in all the wrong kind of people into neighborhoods. Which already struggle with bad perceptions. To a developer you do look at those things. Which may then decide not to develop in an area because it’s adjacent to an abandoned Mall. However I don’t think malls are going to disappear entirely. I for one hate shopping online as it”s a hassle more than not. Yeah I get the review part. But reviews aren’t the only reasons you go shopping. I like actually going out seeing a product. Feeling it seeing how it’s build quality is. I’m not going to take somebody else’s word for something. Especially if it’s a high-cost item until I actually see it for myself. Clothes is even more of an issue. Because I’m hard to find stuff for. Which makes shopping online more of a headache then it’s worth. Maybe this is just a generational thing. Which will blow over in time. However in my case I still prefer shopping versus going online but that’s just me.
I would Love to see the A&W Root beer stands come back, where we would cruise from one to another, and use our hands to wave at each other, and NOT used to shoot. Those were the blessed old days, where everybody respected each other, and had kindness.. What OVERPOPULATION has done, is put us in the gutter.
Think of it like this, when Rome fell in the 5th century it didn’t end civilization it created new ones. The Huns became the Magyars, the Goths settled in areas around central and eastern Europe. The Vandals settled around North Africa and Spain. Business’s like Amazon is going to take the throne and well that should not be a bad thing. And to be honest malls for the past 20 years have been in decline due to poor treatment of customers, shitty quality of products and raising their prices which would give birth to Wal Mart and Amazon. Who knows there could be an increase of small brick and mortar stores that see an opening in the market. You might never know.
I can agree to the fact that the mall is an epicenter to both the foot traffic and the economy, but what defaces a lot of malls nowadays is the freedom to relax or even get that experience is no longer there and because of certain people of certain social status (i.e.: homeless), they take that publicity and the deface it to a point where security is not only tighter and stricter, but they act more like the police of the state and the way malls are going, relationships among the store begin to deter and hole and the wall shops are struggling and realtors and brokers have to sell the ENTIRE property to get new businesses in and get their businesses going. It affects not only the stores but the employees that work there, the customer morale and the economy…to rebirth the malls, you will have to step up the game and bring in the stores that will bring in the money and keep the malls alive.
Witnessed Prince George’s Plaza in a near D.C. suburb die an incredibly protracted and sad death, with no new investment by the landlord in anything for 12-15 years until it just fell apart and became uninhabitable. Also 2-3 of its sister malls in P.G. County, all of which were razed for new, if equally marginal, development such as the 12th area Home Depot, which could only attract as employees the same uncaring semi-derelicts the malls used to. Witnessed the Cherry Hill Mall (ca. 1961) in C.H., NJ be overrun with black youth from nearby Camden each weekend, driving away its traditionally well-heeled white customers, and after a few shootings, be marginalized as “a black-only place.” Not sure if it’s still there or not. Witnessed the Echelon Mall (ca. 1970) in Vorhees, NJ radically downsize, add a large outdoor walking section, and at least survive. Meanwhile, King of Prussia Mall in KoP, PA, is still doing great, even expanding this year. You’ve got to play the cards you’re dealt, but you’ve also got to play them well — esp. if your hand is weak. Gotta believe the life of death of particular malls is due largely to relative willingness of big lenders to lend (instead of redlining), and the cooperation/support of local governments. Note how many drive-in theaters are still around, even when any economic model would tell you the last one should have closed back in ’75.
Greed. Moving the main street stores indoors was a nice innovation at the time, but as the developers took ever larger chunks of the money, rents were raised beyond what was feasible. As theaters and arcades have closed, and anchor stores are moving to their own “stand-alone” locations, complete with food service within their own stores (i.e., Target, WalMart), the food courts are also becoming increasingly irrelevant. The wide open spaces inside malls are not being used efficiently to maximize sales space (compare the “hallways” in malls with the aisles in WalMarts, Targets, and Home Depots). When combined with internet sales and crumbling and/or outdated structures, as well as the expiration of the original tax breaks and government subsidizes, it is like a game of “hot potato” and those still in malls ended up with the hot potato and are the losers — they’re the ones left holding the bag, responsible for increasing costs in order to keep the mall open, all while sales and customer numbers are dwindling.
Another reason malls are closing : APATHETIC EMPLOYEES. My daughter and I recently went to the mall and EVERY STORE we stepped into we were greeted with annoyed looks from the employees. Every employee would glance up at us (from the cell phones they thought they were cleverly concealing) shoot us a face that indicated we were not welcome and then they would go back to the important business of texting their friend or whatever they were doing. When we were finally waited on the employees never smiled, barely said a word beyond announcing the sales total and did not thank us for shopping in their store. Even in the food court when we got coffee we were scowled at by an employee who was annoyed they had to serve us. Stores pay high rent to be in a mall, they are charged for not only their space but they also share the expense of maintaining the common area, heating, cooling, security etc. In every store we entered the employee did not pay one iota of attention to us. I can only imagine the inventory loss these stores incure due to shoplifting since none of the employees give a damn. Malls are closing because it SUCKS to shop there.
I LOVE going to the mall!!!! I go to browse around, try on things and then come home and purchase anything I liked for much less online 🙂 Macy’s and Sephora are great for their perfume testers. I once went to Macy’s and liked a perfume that was $100+ bucks!! I found it on eBay for $45 free shipping, brand new in box. Yay!
Franchise retailers has always been unstable for decades and because of the nature of these chain of retailers were own by average Joe’s and ownership of these store relied on constant business flow to stay afloat. With the rise of online shopping and the pandemic, this caused a large shift in the smaller retail marketing which had begun way before the shift. Its like small businesses vs the retail market giants and the pandemic which are leaving these smaller franchise retailers falling by the wayside.
As many people have referenced…. malls used to be the social hangout location. This is very true and very important for malls as it takes a great mass of people to achieve the few number of daily purchases. So…. interesting enough malls killed off the ongoing development of new people following the many years of trending for them being a social hangout when it was decided that they no longer wanted to manage the “teen environment”. As with many businesses decisions…. it can take years to experience the consequences of determined decision! Teens were turned away from the mall being where they can hangout and thus found other locations. Mall owners had hoped that grown up teens would later switch to malls being their social hangout…. but that is not how things work. People continue to follow through in their newly determined hangout locations even as older adults! O:-)
“The only reason why people go to Amazon is so they can get credible reviews than a retail worker is ever going to tell you.” Wow what bs reason right there. People shop on Amazon for its convenience and price. I bring my smartphone with me when I shop retail and find reviews on the spot without needing a retail worker to explain things to me. It’s also a good way to see if they can price match Amazon. There is still some pros shopping retail, you get your stuff right away and start using it rather than waiting for it to arrive in your door. Another pro is a retail worker can demo the product for you. Online reviews can also be fake or paid. The reasons they mentioned in this article are so subjective. With those opinions I’m so surprised they work for Business Insider, I’d be worried to get super subjective opinions with market research to back it up. “Hey let’s just make things out of thin air.” Exactly what they did on this article.
most the anchor stores in the mall, own their building and are not paying the mall huge amounts of rent. Because they own their stores, they have kept some that were not making much money anymore. Malls customer base change and people start shopping elsewhere, plus we do not need as many Malls as we now have and some of these dead malls are about 30 to 40 years old and even Department stores know they do not need as many stores as they have and do not need to keep non productive stores open anymore, so you see shut downs. There is a big hick up going on in Retail and its going to take a while for them to get it figured out,
Hmmm. Let’s think about it, Maybe it’s because 1 simple made in China t-shirt at Macy’s costs 75 dollars! I can get that same shirt on Amazon for 10 bucks. Oh, oh! Maybe it’s because if I walk into Sephora or Coach, just browsing I get 10 employees either asking me if I would like help with anything, trying to talk me into buying something and I need to shoo them away or they are eyeing me to make sure I don’t steal anything. And I’m a white girl btw. I have bad social anxiety and I don’t like idiots trying to talk me into buying things when I only came to look. It’s annoying! I can go on the Internet, look at the exact same products over and over again (for a cheaper price) and no idiot woman is bothering me.
Holy crap! I hope the Brea mall doesn’t close down and become a ghost town. But, then again, it has a Tokyo store. The weeaboos and people who just generally like Japanese culture, along with the occasional Asian person, are filling up the tiny shop. They should really add more of these to malls to keep them alive.
Just listen to the crap being said here. “We used to go the mall with groups of friends and hang out for hours. Now we just do our shopping online.” Why, because of better prices? Those two things are not substitutes! Where’s the socializing and people perusal in websurfing, alone in your basement? We still have an underlying need to get out and mingle with friends, but malls can’t provide that anymore. Instead, malls became the hunting grounds for the preferred classes to prey upon whites. We have to find more and more exclusive venues, to get away from the Democrats who, by law, have more rights than everyone else.
malls in general, lose $ due to high rents & lack of interest. orlando FL tried to convert a large mall 2 years ago into a art market, trendy hip place but it failed. metro Orlando FL like las vegas or other tourist spots has many overseas visitors/travel that buy retail products or clothes then go back to brazil, China, Japan, europe, etc. several malls in central FL have closed or have “mixed use” plans today.
yup.. although some people who wanted deep, deep discounts prefer the 5 fingered discount, steal and run.. and that is sad.. because when the malls go away, they won’t have anywhere to go to get things unless they break into their neighbors homes.. and that won’t last long as most homes have security systems and many owners are armed.. so, breaking in might be their last.
Before there was no internet and online shopping thats why they were successfull . Now you can get anything cheap online simple as that . The stores in the malls cant afford to have low prices because they pay high rent . Companies that sell online dont have to pay thoysands of dolars in rent so they can sell stuff for cheap its simple as that
Everyone in my city were pissed off that the mall closed & now they built a mall & a bunch of restaurants we never heard of & Verizon stores . Erryone was pissed off that they took off our only footlocker, clothing sears, & random little clothing stores . But I guess they’re right because the outside mall they created is always filled but it’s only been open for a year or so .
There’s alot of Malls that get alot of business still. Yes alot are closing but those are class C malls and class B malls that was falling to class C. 1. Class A and good Class B malls change with the times. Upgrades are common. 2. Malls in bigger market. Not all malls do well in big markets but there’s usually 1 that out performs the others. 3. There’s no such thing is high quality for cheap. that’s a myth. Unless you are ok with outdated merchandise.
Truly sad, in the 80’s the mall was the place to be and the kids that were a nuisance were skaters that would scurry off the moment you shook your finger at them, but now these roaming gang of thugs with their pants hanging off their ass walk around like they own the joint.. makes the whole family experience uncomfortable.
Another reason, which is just my experience with the malls around here, is a lack of variety. Clothing shops appear to take up most malls now, which isn’t that different from the 90’s, however there’s not much else to look at or do for people who don’t want to shop for clothes. Or perhaps I’m just too picky since my favorite places in the mall were the gamestores (when Babbages and Electronic Boutique were still around), Radio Shack, arcades, bookstores and hobby shops. Another problem now is the music they’re playing at a volume just high enough to be annoying when it should be lower and more in the background. Something else that seems odd to me is the lighting, I mean back in the 90’s on a show called Beyond 2000 they showed off a light pipe that could be used to light up an interior space with natural sunlight……guess I’m just surprised that the concept wasn’t more widely used considering how much electricity it might’ve saved.
I miss the mall that was down the street they had everything even when they closed the movie theater was still there. but now thet shut that down too that cinimark was there since I was a kid. i had so many great birthdays there etc now the person that owns the place is putting a wrecking ball to my childhood. it sucks😔
I have kiosks in Ohio, it’s not bad. BUT. in countries I’m familiar with I.A Saudi Arabia, malls are bigger and absolutely MURDER internet shopping. But in my personal opinion why would someone purchase clothes or jewelry online?… I’ve never not once had something reach me that was the correct item as shown in picture, size, color etc idk man I hate to see internet stuff Kill fun places for people to not only shop but eat hangout with friends etc
That’s what it was like when Europeans got to America it was more glorious and fabulous than anyone could even imagine like trying to imagine something that your great-great-grandmother knew like a 3-year-old trying to imagine something that a 30 year old would know they have no clue and the cold part is 90% of those people have money stored away somewhere that they don’t know about and no one will tell them because they have involuntarily regressed to being criminals now do you really want to trust somebody that will rob and steal from you if they are the wrong color😮😢 it’s not their fault US History has made them that way and the papal masses definitely had a hand in all of that what will they do to make things better stay tuned 🤨🙄😓
Those were the good old days when people had one on one contact with each other in and public area like the Mall!!! Now with new technology, social media and less contact with human Beings were moving more far apart than closer. The increase in living and goods are up so many people day to day don’t have the money to shop or spend. These people are so blind or misleading people from the facts. Why is it that everything out side the Malls are closing to as well. Business,Companies,Stores that have been here for years before. Its have changed and were in and different age and time. That the rich are getting richer and the poor are dead poor. Where in the New Age of the Roman Empire and history always repeats its self the Fall Is Coming Soon!!! Not trying too mislead or confuse anyone but people that truly have lived and see what’s going on can see the TRUTH of what’s going on around this great Country we call America… God Bless The Old Dayz.
if an e retailer offers a price 50% off a brick and mortar store price that’s not wanting “deep discounts” that actually ripping the consumer off……..now your reply could be “the price is what the market will bare” and I say the market price is a “FAIR” sum…not 100 % markup + what ever the E- retailer markup is..thats alot of markup and the math won’t be kind to retailers who subscibe to over priced foreign made products that suck our wealth over seas and don’t get me started on overpriced ceo, cfo,coo,c…what-evers pay scale…..
Back in the day, everyone would go to the mall. It was just the in thing to do. Especially for teenagers and young adults. Everything was there! the stores, the movies, the restaurants, the food courts. Sorry to see the decline of them. One thing great about them is when the weather was bad, you could go from store to store and not get rained on or snowed on. It was so convenient. They were most popular from the 1970’s- 1990’s. Now that technology has taken over and Amazon, it seems malls are becoming obsolete. People just want to go online and buy that way. instead of the whole gambit of going to the store talking to people and the whole shopping experience. It seems in the future, we will have robots order things for us and do the shopping for us! How sad that is, there will be no human communication anymore!
All these women are like ” yea, back in my day, everybody meet at the ole Abercrombie & Fitch. Yea, then there were those darn tootin online shoppers. Worst dang thing since they made those peanut butter jelly sandwiches without the crust that you would put in the fridge and then the peanut butter was always to solid once it was frozen for only like thirty minutes, and then you realize you pretty much wasted money buying a whole box of the worthless peanut butter jelly sandwiches in the first place. And its not like you got fifteen of those things *NO*, it’s never that simple. A small box contained like thirty PB&J’s. You could feed an entire village in chile with those ( that is if that village is no more than thirty people) And one more thing, Does anybody know how much a box of Q-Tips would cost?
Why don’t they turn them into old folks homes with doctors offices dentists And turn the bigger stores into condos at a decent old age prices.. for exercise they could walk the halls, and yoga studios Etc. could fill in the other smaller stores. They wouldn’t have to beg for rides to the doctors etc,, it would be all right there… Also they could green houses on roof space They could grow their own food—-and the heat gathered in these green houses could be circulated to cut down on heating costs in the winter time.also. It Woolf be easy to secure with security personal of their own, My name is Ed. K for qny reward money wise on this idea…see my home page
It’s funny how everyone here are writing comments as if malls are dead now just because of this article lol. It’s true there are malls that have closed but there are still a bunch of malls around with a lot of people there everyday lol. I live in California and there are literally malls in every other town here full of all people.
good explanations. malls that have had makeovers to keep them afloat include North Hills (raleigh) Coliseum Mall (hampton va). too bad for eastland mall (charlotte). once had a ice skating rink then turned into soccer field. anchors started leaving. charlotte government couldn’t resurrect it. military circle (norfolk) mall may make a comeback similar to new market (Hampton va). Watch Dan Bell on YouTube for a look at dead malls.
LoL the old blaming online retailers!! Lol E commerce has nothing to do with the decline most of it is debt that brink and mortar stores have plus yes the income deficiency within the public!! Also consider the over pricing that many stores are guilty of and how about those fake sales they run!!! The other things is think about fashion.. yes not really in technology but rather the concept of lots of theses retailers… Like elder beerman Penny’s Macy’s and Kohl’s along with Sears… Yeah too high prices and fake sales along with and out dated business concept saturated with high debt!! Simply put they are outdated!! The mall it’s self is outdated it’s a concept that’s got it’s roots in the late 1950’s and is best famous for the 1980’s so it’s looking dated!! It’s all of these points that’s the real reason behind the death of large retailers and their host known as the mall!! Not E commerce given many of these retailers are E commerce and have been a part art if it for 20 years!!