In the USA, a ton of malls got built in the 1950’s to 1980’s because of various tax incentives. These malls were anchored by department stores, providing a middle class place to buy goods.
Department stores tanked when dealing with big big box stores and online retail. Also, some mall specialty stores died off as well. Without that foot traffic, dead malls started to form.
Some malls are fighting back by increasing food and entertainment options, but the economics of malls are pretty rough.
A local hospital system largely took over one of the two malls near me. You’d almost not recognize the inside anymore as having been a popular mall in the 90s.
A country being car centuries, however, does mean that people vastly prefer buying things online than going there yourself. When it’s far away, needs a trip, need to find parking, and can’t just pop into a mall randomly when walking nearb
I mentioned big box retail as another reason for the decline in malls. Shopping at a Walmart or Target has the same car experience as shopping in a mall, but Walmart and Target were able to expand as malls slowly died.
Also, parking is never an issue in a dying mall. If the mall is dying, demand is likely very low, which means the best parking spaces are open.
Not exactly.
In the USA, a ton of malls got built in the 1950’s to 1980’s because of various tax incentives. These malls were anchored by department stores, providing a middle class place to buy goods.
Department stores tanked when dealing with big big box stores and online retail. Also, some mall specialty stores died off as well. Without that foot traffic, dead malls started to form.
Some malls are fighting back by increasing food and entertainment options, but the economics of malls are pretty rough.
A local hospital system largely took over one of the two malls near me. You’d almost not recognize the inside anymore as having been a popular mall in the 90s.
A country being car centuries, however, does mean that people vastly prefer buying things online than going there yourself. When it’s far away, needs a trip, need to find parking, and can’t just pop into a mall randomly when walking nearb
I mentioned big box retail as another reason for the decline in malls. Shopping at a Walmart or Target has the same car experience as shopping in a mall, but Walmart and Target were able to expand as malls slowly died.
Also, parking is never an issue in a dying mall. If the mall is dying, demand is likely very low, which means the best parking spaces are open.