Malls started dying off in the late 90's.
They were fads of a type. Sure there are still some around, but they are getting low on customers that come in to shop.
Sure online shopping has dealt a blow to malls, but its not the ONLY reason.
The upkeep of any mall is a staggering amount of money. Most of these malls were built with glass roofs, and all sorts of ponds, waterfalls, plant gardens, art exhibits, etc...... And on top of that, just keeping the mall CLEAN is an expense that never ends and constantly grows.
"Boutique" stores became worthless over time, mainly because they only catered to one VERY specific type of person, individual, or particular consumer of the goods they sold. This made them targets for mass extermination at the next turn of fashion culture. Which happened a few times over since the late 90s.
And seeing as most of America is heading towards the obese, all these boutique stores that only carried clothes sizes under womens size 12 and mens under Large, have pretty much all gone bankrupt and erased from malls all over.
Crime is another reason. Malls started dwindling down in foot traffic, and people started moving away to other up and coming areas, leaving the areas around failing malls to be taken over by gangs, thugs, and crime.
The only malls I know of that are still around are in "Karen" areas of town...........that is to say, the "rich bitch" areas of town. All the other malls are gone now. At least around here they are.
I used to be a mall rat when I was a teen. Now, no way.
Theres a small mall down the road from me that has 1/3 of it shut down. Theres still a lot of foot traffic there, but its mostly the elderly walking their walks, and parents with young kids bringing them in and letting them loose to kill, maim, and destroy while they sit there and ignore thier demonic offspring.
Another 20-30 years and malls will be completely gone forever.
