The Life and Death of the American Mall
atlasobscura.com
atlasobscura.com
I go there for the Lego and Apple Stores, and restaurants (Cheesecake factory isn't treeeible)
It's the smaller, lower end malls that are dead. Their anchor stores are either long gone (Sears) or on deaths door (Macy's, JC Penny), food courts are empty.
They look like flea markets inside. Random junk stores, kiosks...
> It's the smaller, lower end malls that are dead.
I’ve noticed that also, and it seems consistent with the vanishing of the middle class.
If stores really want to succeed in a world where you can order anything online for less money with better selection they simply NEED to give value to the experience of physically going into the store. I've often thought that Radioshack might have survived longer if they got into the maker space and offered classes in simple electronic projects rather than just becoming a mobile phone store. Clothing stores need to push helpful staff and the value of trying on clothes in the store to get a better fit and look.
The decline of the mall is an American thing, and its reasons are not entirely clear. I'd say there are a few plausible contributing factors: Most other countries lack all-in-one stores like WalMart/Target. To put it gently, Americans are... well... larger than other people, and they're less likely to care about what they wear or how their clothes fit, so they're perhaps more likely to buy clothes online rather than in shops. America has a low-level crime/safety problem that most Asian/European countries do not.
I know there were big out of town malls in the UK, but going there was a special trip, and then they were always a disappointment, despite the grandeur.
I will call bullshit on my own original post though. I used to live near Santa Rosa CA and that had a mall that spilt into the street stores that I had forgotten about, so it's not actually a difference between the US and the rest of the world. My general point though is I think those are friendlier malls than the out of town variety.
On Wallmarts and such, don't make me laugh. Ever heard of Carrefour? Lidl/Aldi? Eroski? Mercadona? Just a few names in Spain. Big hypermarkets outside the town/city.
We also have American shaped malls, too, but they are often placed in the middle of a city.
And you've never been to a WalMart or Target if you think that something like Lidl is remotely comparable. Offhand, I'd say that the American versions of those stores are anywhere from 3-20x larger, and I'm not at all exaggerating.
Walmart is more like a bunch of stores. You can buy car tires, clothing, food, a playstation, vitamins, diapers, curtains, house paint, alcohol, tobacco, a gun, a coffee pot, a mop and a sewing machine in one stop.
Now, I understand that I'm in Norway, an immigrant, and haven't been all over europe, but I've not seen such a place that sells such a variety under one roof and one brand name.
And about the crime rates: Malls in the US started their downturn years ago. It wasn't the crime rate - I suspect it is just the assortment of stores and location and the increase in online shopping. Unlike here, I'm not usually going to find a grocery store in a US mall - traditionally, they didn't tend to sell practical items at malls. It generally isn't going to be convenient. And ordering online probably is cheaper, considering the travel time and stuff.
That hypermarket (not Carrefour, another one) it's composed of several buildings, they even have a renewed VR arcade gaming place and several cinema rooms.
You can buy books, computers, clothes, groceries, tyres, courtains, tools, whatever.
While they may not exist in the US, I think Aldi does have 'hypermarkets' (ie Walmart-type things) in some countries. Other brands certainly do, and would cover most of that stuff (though, well, not guns).
I remember an article in the Economist a few years ago that said America had nine times the square footage of mall space compared to the UK. If they have a decline it's probably because they overbuilt in the past.
Yes, I should have said per capita.
That's patently untrue. The "hypermarché" has been a staple in France since at least the 1980's for example. They're also ubiquitous in Portugal and Spain. They're also a thing in Germany (though I get the impression there that they are less popular and came later than in France).
And those are only the countries I have direct experience with.
Aviapark is the largest in Europe with over 500 shops:
As an American, I can tell you why:
* They are fucking filthy. Literally every mall I visited back in the day fucking stank. I fucking hated them, my nose died every time.
* Their prices aren't competitive (note: they don't have to be cheap, I don't mind expensive goods), their selection is poor, and the quality of the goods are questionable.
Between online shopping and physical stores located outside of malls with better prices, selections, and quality there just aren't any reasons to bother going to those hellscapes.
Regarding "Americans are...larger than other people and they're less likely to care" this is just a stereotype. While it is true Americans are less formal in clothing, and thus more likely to wear casual clothes, people still spend an enormous amount of time "trying to look good". My wife, a very fashion-oriented person, buys clothes online and keeps returning them until she gets what she wants.
Also modern asian malls are generally much more luxurious than western malls, very clean, air conditioned, with 3 or more floors, ice rinks, pop up events, clean toilets, etc. Many of your local malls of a city would be comparable to the best of an American city, let alone the best of that respective city.
The larger chains consolidated inside the bigger malls, even closing street shops.
Galleries are all but dead: some of them live off cafés and parking if they are well located. This I've seen in Uruguay too.
I think the only way they can survive is to pivot to entertainment and co-working.
There's a nice quiet food hall near me that fills up daily with people working (one café gives you all the coffee you want for about US$3.50 a day).
We don't have a Walmart where I live in the US, and the nearest Target is only ~100k square feet.
> America has a low-level crime/safety problem that most Asian/European countries do not.
I do wonder how much of this is more _anxiety_ than an actual safety problem. American cities are, in general, somewhat more dangerous than European cities, violent-crime-wise, but for most it's not separate worlds.
Malls are expensive. They have huge parking lots to accommodate vast numbers of customers but their prices aren’t competitive. Americans quietly took their business elsewhere (Walmart and Amazon).
Sounds Of The Department Store 1979 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4ZyCX1aRZY
More Sounds Of The Department Store https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQlIxbLvTr8
So I put a linux mp3 streamer on a pi and I leave music going 24/7 at a sensible volume.
One of the icecast channels is "Music of K-Mart from the 1970s and 1980s"; I was out there at midnight doing a glue-up this summer, when my heart nearly exploded: "Security, rotate cameras to section 3!" boomed from the speakers.
Afterwards, sitting there on the stairs, wiping sweat off the back of my neck, I had a very good laugh.
I believe that there are two factors.
One, the law in Poland allows to return any item purchased online in 15 days without giving any reason. I can imagine that for shoes, clothes there is a pretty big turnover which is costly (delivery costs, return handling, repacking, etc.).
The second one is that when customer is in the shop, it is way easier to offer accessories, offer to buy something else, etc.
Curious, if this going to be some trend...