The RISE and FALL of Malls in America
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- čas přidán 20. 02. 2024
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Script: Jordan Tucker
Editor: Sam Askew
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Host: Levi Hildebrand
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Where did you buy your clothes? And concretely your Sweatshirt. I really like it
@FutureProofTV could you please, remove the image at 7:35 , as this mall was destroyed during the Russian invasion of Ukraine and I guess you'd agree it isn't appropriate to use it in both topic of your video as well as the joking tone of it. Thanks.
8:41 from what I heard Macy’s sounds like Hudson Bay Company, Sears or Zellers if I’m right, but I don’t know for certain so don’t take this as fact that’s just my best guest on what I’ve heard from people walking around dead Malls, and talking about what they used to be like
2:38 The AP tilts left. NPR is hard left. USA Today hard left. Daily News hard left. Washington Post.....I'm detecting a pattern here. I think this scale needs to be recalibrated given the reality of today's mainstream media.
You're in Canada, what are doing with Bay Plaza JCP?? You literally in this same video just shitted on strip malls, but you features 1 of the most prominent strip malls and stand alone stores in the bronx as an "anchor store"... 🤦🏾♂️
Malls in Australia are going strong on the whole. Nothing like this.
Usually, because they were built somewhere useful, not as a destination.
Thanks for this perspective. I hope they suck less than the ones in america
Melbourne Central station is a great example of that
@SamScalzo same with east asia, from my own experience japan. Malls in enormous train stations is brilliant. The success can be replicated in north american cities with big public transportation hubs, but theres not many.
Same here in Brazil.
I worked in e-commerce in Australia for a decade, one big difference with Australia and US is the slow and expensive postal delivery service in AU. Also Amazon was very slow to roll out in AU. eBay was the dominant online marketplace there for years. Amazon and their delivery services is not be as dominant as it is in the US. In AU High street stores are also going out of business in Australia and “malls” or shopping centres are not as numerous as it is in the US.
Living in Prague (a capital city in Europe), almost every single mall is built on or near a metro station, so when you're getting off the metro, you walk next to or even through a mall, which lures more people in
🇨🇿
In Tokyo, malls actually also tend to be train stations. You exit the train and already, you're in a mall.
In merica we've billionaires, like Elon Musk, who lobby against public transportation so they can sell more cars and we get to sit in traffic !
It's called "MERICAN FREEDUMB"....you some sort of commie??;)
The mall with the most public transit accessibility in my US city shut down from crime and not enough affluent shoppers. Malls are only doing well where it's hard to get to by bus.
Did you catch the Paladium mall timelapse in 1:10 in the video? 😁 It looked familiar from my visits to Prague and google confirmed it
There was a mall in Quebec named Fleur-de-Lys that was slowly dying. Now, there's a university inside the mall, and there are plans for apartments, a hotel, and a small park with numerous trees instead of a huge parking lot. The investors have expressed their hope that these changes will positively impact people's lives.
I'm glad it's being converted back to Gruen's original vision
I guess that's one difference between Canada and America- the only thing that investors care about in America is squeezing as much money as possible out of every square inch of the country, safety and ethics be damned.
Reste à voir si ça va changer aux alentours de l'université Laval et de place Laurier. Avec l'uni, y'a un très fort potentiel si on change le zonage familial détaché à du moyenne densité. Question de faire un peu comme le mcgill ghetto à Montréal. Myrand pourrait ainsi devenir une grosse artère commerciale avec son arrêt de tramway.
Est-ce que je rêve en couleur? Ptet ben.
Rubik's Quebec
@@Wheelman2004 You also described most of Asia just then
Singapore represent here. For a small city state, we have 170+ malls all around the island and they are doing great. Almost all are connected or at least near a public transport hub. Heartland malls are filled with essential stores and the Luxury malls are all concentrated on the more touristy stretch.
Singapore controls crime, the US doesn't, it makes a big difference.
Reeeeeeee
Singapore is doing great.
I would like to recommend a video from 8 months ago from Adam Something called "Why US malls are dying, (and European Malls Aren't). It has similar themes to this video, but with a European perspective on the issue.
People just assume this is the fault of online shopping, amazon, etc... but it's a more complex issue, and online shopping is just one facet.
People still value being able to see products in person and handle them before buying them. There's a big market for in-person shopping - especially for clothes, shoes, and products where the tactile feel of the thing is important. People still like getting out of the house, shopping together socially, getting a bite to eat etc.
One of the biggest issues is urban planning. If you have to drive for an hour, pay for fuel, park... You're making it "a day out" rather than just something you can quickly drop in and pick something up. If your mall is in the middle of a dense urban area, where people can walk to it... with good transport links, it's very different. Make it easy to visit, and people will visit. This is one of the biggest reasons why European Malls are doing better - they're easy to get to.
If you make it hard to get to the mall, then people will shop online, even if the experience is worse. The annoyance of not being able to see your items in person first, sifting through low quality amazon drek... if it's less frustrating than travel, people will stay home.
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I live in the UK, "the mall" is a 15 minute bus ride away, 25 minutes on foot. We visit the mall about twice a month when we need to pick something up. We went last weekend, picked up some clothes, ordered some spectacles, grabbed a meal, did some grocery shopping, then returned home, all within a couple hours.
Here's Adam's video link: czcams.com/video/586SO9-wWoA/video.html
Yes the two malls where I grew up were built right in the city center, in pedestrian districts. WAY better!
Thanks for sharing this! We love Adam's content!
A good question to ask about abandoned malls, is how much of the urban center closest to you, is completely abandoned? Empty shops, maybe, but not entire acreages, like a mall. If the location was at all desirable, even if retail was completely dead, you'd think they could come up with something to do with the empty space, whether that be offices, housing, etc.
Eh I don’t know. The mall near me is just as close as literally anything else to get to. I can drive there faster than you can get to your mall. But the stores are just slowly disappearing and not being replaced. It’s mostly teenagers there, getting into much much more trouble than they used to when I was young. I’ve never seen a mall in a “destination” place, they’re always in easily accessible places, at least where I live.
@@kristinotto102 But it's probably out of the way, you don't walk by it every time you're leaving home, and if driving is the only convenient way to get there, that is extremely limiting to several potential audiences.
Growing up, it was the movie theater that was one of the anchor stores of my mall.
Arcades, food court, weird stores like uh. Spencer's. Yet Spencer's or the gimmicky things they sell can be found online.
I can tell you why malls are failing. Rent. The prices are outrageous. It is ridiculous how much someone has to pay each month. They think, yeah we will get more traffic, but that isn't the case.
Not when you can search online for whatever you want.
If they knocked down prices people would go. Open up a super market, a butcher, bakery, and things people have to buy daily. They will go for a one stop shop.
@dianapennepacker6854
Agreed. Store closures were all rent related when my local mall started becoming a ghost town.
First Hot Topic left, Pacsun followed suit and soon enough they were left with places like H&M, Buckle and Best Buy.
Yep Batman was a thing to do
@@dianapennepacker6854 I went to the Mall of America recently on a weekday in winter, and so many of the stores were empty. The employees looked bored because everything was straightened in their small shop. I couldn't work like that, I need stuff to do
Same and now theater prices don’t make sense to draw ppl in anymore. We bought a 75in tv and a couple recliners a few years ago for our living room and never looked back.
One major difference I’ve noticed between malls in North America and Asia (China & S.Korea) is the quality in the food offerings. Malls in Asia have food that attracts people to the malls who then shop since they’re there anyway. Here in North America mall food courts are filled with below-average fast food chains that people only eat at because they’re hostage to the malls being in an area void of better food options.
I went to a mall in Saga Japan and I noticed they had both fast food and higher end food at the mall. The mall was like an American mall where I had to ride the bus to it, there were no large anchor stores, lots of regular retail, I went to a Uniqlo and a Toys R Us. I had dinner at a Nagasaki Chanpon chain in the food court. There was a nicer food section on the lower floors with proper restaurants, although I have been to American malls with this as well.
Wtf is he wearing in the video?😂😅 that’s the literally gayest sweater I’ve ever seen in my whole life🤮🏳️🌈😂🥹🤣💀🤦🏽
Food courts here suck.. Except for Cinnabon, christ that shit is good.
It generally depends on the location of the mall. A newer mall in a wealthier city in the US is more likely to have a large expensive chain restaurants in it in medium spaces almost as if they were anchor stores (things like a PF Changs or a Cheesecake Factory) but a mall in a mid size city would have smaller scale, food court only offerings instead.
What the hex is a food court?
In South Korea, most of the time the malls have their own subway exits meaning you don't have to walk far at all to get to them. One of the most famous, the Lotte Tower, has a concert hall, cinemas, an aquarium and apartments
When I was stationed in Korea there was this mall in Gwangju. It was a high rise and I swear I spent more time on the elevators to see how far they go up than buying things😂. I’ve never seen a high rise mall since.
I just went to Auwon yesterday and I love the beautiful libraries they place inside malls!
I remember there were actually a lot of small businesses in malls when I was a kid, which was neat to explore. Today every mall is the same and has the same crap.
You are right. In high school in the 1970's, my friends parents had shops in the mall. Not so much chain stores, but owned and operated by them. Even the Hallmark shop was not company owned back then...two of theirs were in competing malls owned by my friends.
In the 70s, inside the mall near me, there were at least two local bank branches, a full-service pharmacy, a barber shop AND a salon, at least one photography studio, and a fabric store (and probably many more interesting places I never went to). Like, if I could buy craft and sewing supplies in the mall, I would go to the mall.
That’s because the same crap are owned by the same parent company conglomerates catering to each and every market segment. Do a deep dive and you’ll find all the strings are being pulled by a few and this has resulted in the homogenization of the retail landscape. You won’t find boutique businesses operating in these malls
Yeah, it's gotten pretty bland.
I remember when malls had more variety in the 80's and 90's, arcades, electronics shops, computer stores, hobby stores, competing bookstores, etc, etc.
I really miss those days.
The craziest thing is when I go to HUGE malls, and I'm like wait a second... wasn't this store on the other side of the mall? That was so disappointing that a huge mall just had repeating stores.
I'm born and raised twin cities, MN. The Mall of America has always been seen as a pointless tourist trap. Locals will almost NEVER shop there because the prices are just outrageous... for no reason. It's the same shit you get at target/walmart, which is right down the street, or on amazon.
Counterpoint, the mall of America is a great place to hang out. It has an amusement park, an aquarium, and police department, and is a transit hub. Many great restaurants and stores. I go there frequently. I often drop off my teenage daughter there.
Literally. I’m from Edina and I only went to go to the aquarium when I was little.
@@aborneI need to check out the mall of America 🇺🇸
Is it still operating? Most of the shops in our mall left.
I've lived in the twin cities my whole life and I go to MOA quite frequently, as do most of my friends and coworkers. When I lived ~10 minutes away I'd go there at least once a week, often just to grab lunch.
Now that I live a bit further away I go less often, but I still go pretty frequently. It's a fun place to hang out, you know you can find something everyone will like to eat if you're with a large group, and it's a great place to get some exercise walking around in the dead of winter.
I don't even particularly enjoy malls or shopping in general, and I rarely buy more than food at MOA, but there's just something cool about that place and I enjoy hanging out there.
One of the oldest malls in my state is still hanging on. There's not a lot going on, but they are going with the less traditional mall plan. There's an old pizza place that's been there since the 80s, a bar, some doctor's offices, a church, a thrift store, and a dress shop. And this summer, we're supposed to be getting a Goodwill center. Not just shopping, but there will be a Goodwill Excel center, donation center, and a few other arms of Goodwill taking over the old Sears area. It make me happy that this old mall is still alive and growing. Especially since the whole place is still stuck in the 80s with neon and colorful tiles spewed about.
The downfall of public hangout places is a detriment to us all. Unfortunately, the US doesn't have the public plazas so common in Europe to replace them.
Exactly this. Our "gathering spaces" in America are usually only for shopping. There's very few places to gather or hang out that don't cost money.
you forgot to mention how malls nowadays are built so you just go there and buy, it has this hostile architecture that is not very welcoming or has signs saying no loitering, I mean no even teenagers are welcome to go out with friends, i’ve personally seen how security guards won’t let them get in because they have skateboards
go to Malls around the world, and you can see that Mall is like a Festival, basically going to mall is like going to Disneyland.
they Host a lot of Events, From live music, Circus to Stand up Comedy
There are a lot of unique foods like food stalls and food Truck style of Exciting foods and not just a famous food chain like McD
There are a lot of Activities you can do from Paintball, Go Kart to Ice Skating,
The Clothing store and Accessories shop is Diverse, like everyone won't look like they're shoping from only one place.
not enough for you?
there are also exist a thriving Arcade Culture where people play the Dance Arcade machine and people was surrounding and cheering.
or play a competitive racing game with Friends, or just Karaoke and have fun goofing around.
there are also a Guild like place, like Trading card place, Hobby place, Art Painting Community, Gym, Cosplay, Competitive e-sport game.
where the members constantly do a meetup and talk and play with each other.
like you can belong to one of these Community
people do interact with each other and become a part of a crowd.
every floor is Diverse that there are always something new you can experience.
go to Malls around the world, and you can see that Mall is like a Festival, basically going to mall is like going to Disneyland.
they Host a lot of Events, From live music, Circus to Stand up Comedy
There are a lot of unique foods like food stall and food Truck style of Exciting food and not just a famous food chain like McD
There are a lot of Activities you can do from Paintball, Go Kart to Ice Skating,
The Clothing store and Accessories shop is Diverse, like everyone won't look like they're shoping from only one place.
not enough for you?
there are also exist a thriving Arcade Culture where people play the Dance Arcade machine and people was surrounding and cheering.
or play a competitive racing game with Friends, or just Karaoke and have fun goofing around.
there are also a Guild like place, like Trading card place, Hobby place, Art Painting Community, Gym, Cosplay, Competitive e-sport game.
where the members constantly do a meetup and talk and play with each other.
like you can belong to one of these Community
people do interact with each other and become a part of a crowd.
every floor is Diverse that there are always something new you can experience.
Why would you bring a skateboard into a mall unless there’s a skateboard shop there? I can understand mall security being apprehensive about that.
@@nole8923 because, like bikes, it was their mode of transportation to get to said mall
@@nole8923 And unlike bikes you can't chain them somewhere easily
Malls here in the Philippines tend to have groceries as the anchor stores, so anyone planning to get their weekly or monthly groceries will shop there as well
And recently, some malls here have chapels in them.
We treat malls here as if indoor air-conditioned parks.
Same for the cinemas integrated into the malls (at least before streaming + high ticket prices made them less popular)
Found it kinda weird that Americans speak of "sneaking food into the cinema" instead of buying concession stand snacks, when mall cinemas in the PH don't really seem to care where you got your movie snacks
@@TheSecondVersion Maybe in the US they are very strict in terms of what food can be brought in to their cinema, probably have something to do with cinema branding which include cinema food.
@@cossacktwofive4974 It's because they use the cinema concessions as a source of revenue, as the cost of the movie tickets is frequently not enough to cover operating expenses and also pull profit. They charge $10 for the tub of popcorn that costs $1 in ingredients to make because the person making the popcorn is getting paid $15/hour, the electricity to run the theater for the 2 hour movie is another $10, and the cost of digital movie "reel" for the theater for its whole duration was $3000-$5000.
Plus the fact that almost all malls have a centralized transport system for different commuters going to a ton of routes. Heck there's even 3 different malls that's 5 minutes away from a local train station.
I remember towards the end of malls being popular, they were becoming less of an inviting destination for customers, as malls were setting things up for customers to just shop and get out. They didn't want shoppers lingering around. They purposely removed more seating so customers would spend less time sitting and more time spending money.
I was actually going to say that malls in Germany seem to be doing quite well however they are really different than the USA. Many of the large train stations are also malls. While waiting for your train you can get your grocery shopping done, pick up a book, buy clothes, get some food etc. Also the malls that are in cities are really in the city and not surrounded by parking lots. They are well connected to transit and integrate with all the shops around them. You might not even notice when you walk in and out of mall sometimes.
There are two very different types of malls in the USA. Suburban and city. Most of the failed malls are in the suburbs. Malls here in (and around) NYC are still very busy.
Malls in Korea are attached to major hubs for public transit. They’re thriving.
Public transit in Southern California is riddled with homeless and disabled people because they get free passes. I'd rather walk than take public transit anywhere. Even though there are bus stops close to my house and work, still don't use it. My safety and sanity are more important.
Seems like this is the case anywhere but the US. Feels like americans are allergic to public transit.
I always found it weird how most American malls looked like they were built in the middle of nowhere. Just a big building with a huge parking lot and nothing around it.
Most malls where I live (Europe) are in the center of the city.
Malls in North America are mainly placed at the center of suburban areas.
@9025 Which is essentially in the middle of nowhere. Suburbia is a pain in the ass to navigate without a car.
@@Xachremos Indeed, Suburbia was effectually designed with the car in mind. I don't have a car, so I can't live there. I was born a 'downtownite,' and will remain so.
It's explained by racism and white flight. Wealthy white Americans were convinced that if they left the city and went out to the suburbs, they could simultaneously own their own little slice of land (an acre with a white picket fence) in addition to the physical property of a building/home, show off their wealth since that lifestyle necessitated a car to get back into the city for work, AND escape the poor urban people (read: Black and Latino people) who couldn't afford to follow them out there. The mall was the solution to bringing a downtown city center experience back out to suburbia, but it was a poor substitute, and the middle class is ever fickle with its shopping habits.
@@katarh That's an interesting read, but this whole narrative around 'racism' has genuinely been drawn-out to such harrowing lengths that it has truly become a numbingly tired platitude fit to put the most lively crowd to sleep.
here in the 🇵🇭, we treat mall as a one-stop place for everything like what the Austrian-Jewish businessman exactly envisioned: a space for community to hang-out and get-together
its sad how malls in U.S. are just dying whereas malls here are just bustling alive like its no end
Malls in Southern California are shifting into food malls. They make it so the good food and drinks draw the crowds to the mall. The Westfield UTC mall in San Diego is a good example of this.
I think the key point is even if 50% of malls close in the USA, there will still be an over supply of retail space. This is driven by how local governments are financed via sales taxes and property taxes and development is controlled by building departments and zoning laws. Different communities compete for retailers by tax incentive financing and sweetheart processing of building. Rather than existing retail being upgraded, there is a strong motive to jump into the next location and leave space behind that is relatively low value - thrift stores, churches in former retail space, dollar stores, department of motor vehicles, etc.
Ha ha ha DMV so trueee. Been to at least three separate dmv offices in former or aging malls 😂
I do hope we find a good second life for these spaces though. No need for them to fall into ruin.
Here in Texas, Tesla bought out the anchor space of a former Randalls as a dealership/service location. Better than being empty but in a lot of cases, by that point the area will begin to shift and income the budget retailers.
In Romania malls are placed well, near train stations, office buildings, city centers, the most busy places, you can easily go by walking or with public transport, malls are thriving here.
Here in Lviv, Ukraine, a rather modest size mall was open near historic center and it is very popular. Also, it has underground parking that doubles down as shelter during attacks, who could have predict that.
American midwesterner here. Our mall is now missing several anchor stores. One of those spaces is being renovated and expanded to be local government office space, for some reason. The rest of the mall is sad and prone to the occasional shooting/teen melee.
Regarding the first mall, the locals pronounce the city name Edina not like you'd think, they say E-die-nah.
Levi's Canadian... I don't know if that explains anything but it's true.
The pronunciation made me laugh 😆 I don't blame him, that's definitely how it looks like it would be pronounced, but it took me a second to figure out what he meant.
As a Minnesotan (born and work in Edina and currently live in Bloomington) it physically hurt to hear it said so wrong
As a several decades resident of misetona-pasona-dona, this is the first time I've ever heard Edina pronounced with a soft E and soft I. Credit where credit is due though, he got the soft A right.
He also pronounced the author's name as Large instead of Lange.
Here in Mexico City most Malls thrive because of something you didn't mention on the video... Food! Malls have a lot of options for eating, and many are close to centers of high density office workers, so you go to a Mall to eat in your break... and end up buying a game, a new shirt or some Starbucks
A lot of mall food courts here in Mexico City still have vacancies, especially those in places near office buildings, but not near the subway. Like Galerias Insurgentes. The last time I went to get my IFE renewed I saw about half the number of people as I would before. They actually moved the food court to a smaller area downstairs and no more waiting in line to use the ATM. The nearby plaza Manacar seems to be doing a little better.
I went some days ago to that plaza, and something I did not like too much about Galerías Insurgentes, is that when I went to look my older favorite store: Trenes SA de CV, was no longer there and had closed a certain time ago. Because, I know, hobby stores like them are not popular in Mexico and have move to e commerce, so you know obtain models and tools throughout Amazon or MercadoLibre, but come on, it was beautiful and a bit disappointing. Anyway, and also, yes, one thing I noticed, is that the place looks a bit dark and a bit hidden, and mostly the Liverpool store shines more over the little plaza. Most of the people prefer to go to Manacar or to the WTC
I’m surprised sears is still a thing there. I went to Mexico City to visit family there. I go with my cousin to Sears because he wanted to buy a suit for a friends wedding. I was surprised they had designer clothes. He ended up buying a Michael Kors suit, which is unheard of for Sears back in the states.
@@SMGSpiritRT every time I go to Mexico City I like to go to Plaza satelite. They remodeled that mall a few years ago and it’s way nicer than the mall I see in the states.
While there are options for food at US malls, they are relatively modest and standardized. Also, malls are seldom close enough to offices to make that sort of thing sensible anyway.
Asian malls usually are built right next to residential or with residential development usually with public transit, if they are really lucky location wise, trains/metro as well. So the malls have built in customers including commuters needing to make quick stops for breakfast before work or dinner/grocery after work.
Poland here. Each big city has several malls and at least one of them is in the city center. They're always full and most people shop there, including myself. All of them have at least one grocery store inside as well, which is why weekly giant grocery shopping is not a thing- people get what they want only for the next couple of days.
I grew up part of my life in Poland, going to the mall was something we really enjoyed and always got there via public transport
Malls were created as a substitute for Main Street. With the effective demise of walkable cities in North America due to the car and suburban neighbourhoods designed around the car, the American mall created a car friendly version of the Main Street experience. What killed malls wasn't online shopping, it was the big box store. The big box store provides an even more car friendly experience for shopping than the mall, at the cost of the site having no pretensions whatsoever of being a third place. The big box store is car-centric consumerism in its purest form.
Online shopping isn't killing the mall though. Online shopping is killing the big box store. I for one won't shed any tears.
I would argue that Facebook and Instagram killed the mall. Back in the '80s and '90s the mall was the cultural heart of America. People went to the mall even if they weren't going to buy anything. The mall is where people socialized. As you said Malls were a substitute for main street. It was place for teenagers to hang out and for old people get out of the house to exercise. The famous mall walkers. Generation Z mostly hangs out online in virtual places such as Facebook, Instagram, and now Tik-tok and discord servers. They don't go to malls. None of this ever had anything to do with shopping. The merchants of the world follow the people. When people abandoned the cities and moved to the suburbs the merchants created the malls because that is where the people were. The people went out to the suburbs first and then the malls came later. In the 21st century we are seeing the flow reverse. People started to spend a lot more time online FIRST then the merchants followed and started selling stuff to the people online.
You may not shed any tears but I weep for this country. These virtual places fall far short of being adequate "third places." Sitting around all day looking at a screen is bad for both physical and mental health. What I see in this country is people going stir crazy and collectively insane. Human interaction is a need, not a want. A screen can't replace human interaction. America needs it's malls NOT for shopping but to serve as a "third place."
go to Malls around the world, and you can see that Mall is like a Festival, basically going to mall is like going to Disneyland.
they Host a lot of Events, From live music, Circus to Stand up Comedy
There are a lot of unique foods like food stall and food Truck style of Exciting food and not just a famous food chain like McD
There are a lot of Activities you can do from Paintball, Go Kart to Ice Skating,
The Clothing store and Accessories shop is Diverse, like everyone won't look like they're shoping from only one place.
not enough for you?
there are also exist a thriving Arcade Culture where people play the Dance Arcade machine and people was surrounding and cheering.
or play a competitive racing game with Friends, or just Karaoke and have fun goofing around.
there are also a Guild like place, like Trading card place, Hobby place, Art Painting Community, Gym, Cosplay, Competitive e-sport game.
where the members constantly do a meetup and talk and play with each other.
like you can belong to one of these Community
people do interact with each other and become a part of a crowd.
every floor is Diverse that there are always something new you can experience.
Somewhat correct. The main reason why I shop online is because the selection at Walmart $ucks. What they sell is mostly crap and they are constantly out of stock of the crap they do sell. I would go to the nearest mall, but the drive is so much of a hassle that it would exhaust me and take up a huge chunk of my day. I shop online not because I want to but because I am forced to. And I won’t shop at Target ever since they pushed transgender crap in the kid’s clothing section.
@@jensenraylight8011It used to be like that in the USA in the 70s and 80s. Then trickle down economics happened, Congress got bought off by Wall Street, and corrupt state and local governments became a thing.
A few malls around Mississippi have been turned into medical malls! Every old store front is a clinic or a specialist or an outpatient treatment. It's a shared space so rent is spread out among the clinics, and it's an old mall so it feels less like a doctor's office
In addition to online shopping, you need to factor in big box stores and the associated retail. Walmart is essentially the department store of my youth, where I can get groceries, beer, office supplies, automotive, pet supplies, personal care and pharmacy, and low end hardware. Rather than going to a lumberyard, I can go Home Depot, where I can get lumber, tools, hardware, cleaning supplies, and nursery and garden supply. And if I want art or craft supplies, rather than going to the mall for a special trip, I can just go to Michael's while I'm picking up something at Super Target. Or when going to Walmart I can go to Tractor Supply if I happen to need chicken feed or a horse stall mat.
I live right by the Community College Mall. It's Austin Community College's Highland Campus, and a silght correction is that the mall was completely dead and abandoned, and the City of Austin decied to turn an abandoned property into a large campus, because land in my city is quite expensive. They're wonderful. The public is free to use the library and cafe there ($1 lattes, woo!) and a fun fact about ACC- It's cheaper to take one class a semester there (even before financial aid) than to buy 4 months of the city's bus pass, and being a student means you can ride all buses and the light rail for free!
Here in México the main reason to go to malls are the cinemas. Since streaming took off, we've been going there less and less.
I recognize many of these malls from the South Jersey/Southeast PA region. For a great tutorial on where NOT to build a shopping center, read about Echelon Mall. In 1969 Rouse assumed "Build it and they will come" and plopped Echelon in the middle of a old airfield. With exactly two one-lane roads for access, and no room for major highway expansion, Echelon peaked in the early 80s and began a free-fall. Legal battles ensued for taxes and foreclosures. Now it sits, like so many of these, a blight on the land.
I'm in North Jersey and most of our malls are ok. I know Woodbridge Center is in dire straits tho. I haven't been to Echelon in years.
Jersey boy here, been to every mall in the state, and it’s amazing to me that in this world where malls aren’t what they used to be, so many are still thriving here, albeit a few that I expect to close in the next few years (Hamilton, Livingston, and Moorestown mostly), but Echelon… yeah it has no business still being open, none.
My local mall became a place where mobs of teens get into fights, shoplift, and rob people. Haven't shopped there since the mid-2000s. Things got so bad that there were a series of videos from this mall posted online last year, showing kids being beaten within an inch of their lives. Some of the original anchor stores were converted to grocery stores, which seems to help keep this mall on life support.
So why didn't that mall hire more security then?
@@YourCapybaraAmigo_17yrsago Mall security are limited in what they can do. If they respond with force, they and the mall get sued and potentially charged criminally. The kids would assault the guards because they could get away with it more than the guards. They could say "but I'm just a kid!"
@@dameneko well I suppose but if anything gets out of hand they can call for police backup. Usually just security guards on scene is enough i would think...
@@YourCapybaraAmigo_17yrsago It wasn't. And it isn't. Kids are assaulting adults and each other now more than ever because they know they can get away with it or come up with endless excuses to behave like trash. I know several people who quit teaching after being assaulted by students. We all grew up in rough homes and rough schools, but this is a new level of disrespecting humanity in general that we are seeing. We had race riots and shootings in my day, but it was never 20 against 1, kicking someone in the head because they are not the right color or perceived as being too rich for the neighborhood. Our in-group violence tended to be the worst, and that was where people would usually get killed. Now it's out-group violence.
@@dameneko well yeah that type of behavior is pretty terrible. Yeah idk what's going on. That's a tough situation. Don't know what would drive someone to be like that. Bad home life maybe. Going thru trauma. I'm not excusing any of that behavior but I imagine some pretty terrible things must have happened in their lives to lead to that kind of outcome. It is very unfortunate. I don't know what the right answer is. Anything to that extreme requires some kind of intervention, I don't deny. Before just criminalizing someone, real rehabilitation should always be tried.
I'd love to see malls being repurposed into giant mixed use housing and business structures. Imagine how many apartments could fit in a single department store inside a single mall. Keep some shops in the bottom floors as a kind of main street, build higher levels into housing, offices and services (like gyms). That way the giant structure can remain, the current infrastructure for resupplying the stores can stay in place, and all you'd need to change on the outside is remove a crap ton of parking.
YES! THIS!!! And much of the parking space could transform into community gardens and playing fields :-) I would love this.
Apartments inside, probably not, most of the floor is interior space (kinda awful to get an apartment without any windows); but having the mall as some office / food court / light commercial use, and the parking spaces converted to mid-to-low-rise housing? That could work
It’s cheaper to demo and build apartment complexes than renovate a mall
Living in a mall structure environment would be terrible but it’s a great land play for redeveloping a whole new walkable neighborhood without car domination, if the property owners can think beyond the mall.
BTW, a major challenge with redevelopment of these is that often an anchor store or two owned their pad in the middle of the mall property making it challenging to assemble ALL the lots for a complete redevelopment. Many (Paradise Valley mall in Phoenix, AZ, Cinderella Mall in Englewood, CO) have torn down the rest of the mall & incorporated the weirdly positioned former anchor store.
Good god, that’s my idea of hell. People need space not tiny apartments in an old mall.
Thank you so much for explaining about the rise and fall of malls. I learn a lot about on why malls are struggling to survive in America. In my home of New York City, malls are still thriving during my entire childhood and despite the pandemic, everyone is going there for fun, shopping and food. In Flushing Chinatown, there was a brand new mall called Tangram that opened two years ago. The architecture design is a mix of futuristic, sleek and modern styles with Asian influences. Many locals and friends love going there to watch movies, swimming lessons, salon, family gatherings in restaurants, and friends hangouts They are still opening new businesses like a tutoring center and an arcade.
I discovered Tangram by accident and I felt like I wasn’t in NYC. I got some gifts there but I haven’t checked out the food hall which I hear great things about. There are malls in the city that are connected by subway or bus. Even Newport Mall is connected by Path, Light Rail, and bus; yet I know of one urban mall that failed despite being in a central location with direct access to the subway and Path train (Manhattan Mall, most of it is now office space with the only remnant being Aeropostale).
@@97nelsnI am glad you discovered Tangram mall and it does feel like we are not in New York City. It’s worth exploring Flushing for food. You can all sort of Asian cuisines especially authentic Chinese cuisine.
I so strongly think that the video is right, the main reason people choose staying at home to shop instead of going to the mall because of the effort it takes. You can’t just walk to the mall. You have to drive to get there and then find parking. It’s such a hassle. Many people just don’t wanna be bothered with the effort of going there thanks to car centric infrastructure. I firmly believe if it was easier to get to malls, we’d not see them dying off.
I find it ironic how even though malls are "dying," they're still so packed that it's still hard to find parking.
Meanwhile Malls all around the world was thriving, clearly US did something very wrong here,
that they're screwed up big times, in a times where Malls Traffic is Thriving.
Malls in other Countries basically is the Hub,
the Mall developers there are competing for which Malls is considered the most Majestic and over the top,
resulted in So many people get enthusiast and excited to go to the mall.
they also didn't shy from putting a no name store, experimental & weird store or a new hip food & Restaurant.
there are also so many activity you can play, from archery, escape room, arcade, ice skating, soccer.
there are always a new thing to see.
and yes like Online shopping is a thing too in all around the world, but people would rather see and buy the product themself
and not buying cat in the bag.
people still went to the mall for refreshing, seeing new thing, hang out with friends, seeing the special event in the mall.
also Parking is not an issue, because they're very Generous with parking space, it was never run out.
most of the mall have a multi floors Underground parking + separate Building 5+ floors for Parking space + Outside Parking space,
Like always, US chose the quick Cashgrab approach, only put capitalistic fast food chain, and other chain stores,
shaming a no name tenant, then do the bare minimum maintenance required to maintain the Mall.
and nothing else good to see..
and they expect to attract those suckers to be swindled in the mall
Mall is not Dead, US Mall developer is dead.
know the difference.
@@jensenraylight8011 because the video is badly wrong, just look at home prices which have risen almost 8 times faster than income since 1965. People are functionally poorer.
I live in Budapest, Hungary and we have like 5+ malls in the inner city, this combined with public transportation makes them super convenient.
My local mall has been largely converted to office space, headquarters to a large health organization.
The demise of malls isn't a matter of retail, it's a matter of real estate
Honestly that sounds like a pretty good switch imo 👍
Although Commercial office space seems to be in even worse shape than retail now.
In Florida there is a mall that is now like a big makerspace for content creation. A cappella group VoicePlay and one of the members formed PattyCake Productions for music videos and things
I have so many childhood photos at the Mall, it was a DESTINATION. I miss it
I LOVE the shotengais of Japan and the general "Main Avenue" of places like Argentina where even small cities have a local main street to do everything you need and feels like a giant open 3rd space surrounded by your neighbors, plazas, churches, schools, etc
Crossroads Mall in a Seattle suburb was designed as a third place. It has large tables for meetups, live music, a library, and a senior center. They've been thriving for decades.
At 11:33 you show the Oakbrook mall. For anyone around the Chicago suburbs, you know that this is one of a couple of the malls in the area still doing well. I believe Oakbrook is doing well for a few reasons.
The proximity of all income levels leads to diversity in stores the mall caters to. Because the mall is outside, this means it’s a great place to hold seasonal events like Christkindlmarkets, art fairs, and car shows. There are also many offices in the area which has lead to the Oakbrook mall being a place people can meet up at for lunch or dinner.
While the parking lots may seem sprawling, this is still in my eyes a successful mall and a good third place people continue to meet at.
Yes , agreed with you. From Chicago myself and Oakbrook mall and Orland mall in the south suburbs are still doing well.
I’m crying 😭 reading about malls decline since it brings back so much nostalgia.
as a kid, I saw videos of cosplayers having fun and hanging out at the mall and wanted so badly for that to be my life. since the city is a nightmare to drive to, mom rarely took me there, and now with my license, I don't want to drive there either. malls had a bunch of specialty stores like hot topic with stuff I couldn't find anywhere else, but now my local suburban target sells anime merch, and hot topic doesn't even sell the same stuff I grew up loving.
7:11 As a Minnesotan, hearing Edina pronounced as Ed-ee-na was a new experience.😂
Actually, I was born Edina! Lol
One of the big problems with the American mall is no loitering policies. Like you have to be there to buy stuff, you can’t just sit around with a group of friends. A business person may think something like maximizing the value per person or something like that but it fails in three major ways. 1: a group goes to hang out not intending to spend money but one thing leads to another and they have bought a massive bag of popcorn from a novelty shop. 2: forming an emotional bond with the mall, if you have happy experiences with a location your more likely to return and even if you didn’t spend money the first time you may spend money in future visits and it may become your go to spot. 3: the perception of popularity, many malls end up falling into death loops where a decrease in attendance makes the mall look empty, the empty look gives an eerie feeling that becomes off putting making less people enter the mall that leads to businesses leaving leading to less people coming. By letting people just exist in your mall your mall looks more popular and people are more likely to come to it and check it out and then is more likely to spend money.
No loitering policies are about crime and homelessness. The people commenting from elsewhere in the world have different cultures. It's not strictly about maximizing gain, but about dealing with the consequences of how American culture actually works, not how we want it to be, which is unfortunate. Suburban sprawl is the same way, but in a more roundabout and much longer winded way.
Why doesn't the government convert those abandoned malls into homeless shelters? I think that it would solve a big problem as to where to put all those people. 😊
Recently been on a binge of sustainability and infrastructure videos, and I always love it when the two start to intersect!
I'm from India and I basically grew up with Malls in my city. And after watching your video i can connect the dots; malls that are easily accessible by public transit are generally doing better in my city. Though most sales they get are from people who go there by car
🗿
As an aging boomer. I remember the malls in central MA quite fondly. People got to interact out of the home in a neutral space. You could spend a day floating around. I think their demise had a negative impact on positive social interaction.
The content is interesting, but that way you integrate your sponsor into your video is ethically questionable. There are no clear breaks or signs indicating that sections that discuss your sponsor, Ground News, is an ad. Rather, it decieves the audience into thinking that Ground News and the content of your video are one and the same, which psychologically elevates Ground News. It makes it seem that your opinions of Ground News are independent and objective, like the rest of the video, rather than paid sponsorship.
A shout-out to Stary Browar mall in my hometown Poznań, Poland (Europe). It’s placed in a beautifully renovated brewery from XIX century. And apart from having all stores and different kinds of bars and restaurants it hosts art exhibitions and cultural events.
Man, what I would give to stroll through a free-standing Toys R Us...
This is going to hit hard. I miss mall's 😢
Are you trying to tell me that "Europe" is a real place?
German Girl here. I fully support / am backing your research about the european situation.
I was recently in Bangkok, Thailand and they have a huge number of mega-malls that all seem to be doing quite well. In fact they are building even more of them. I would have to agree though that one of them main reasons for their success is their proximity to public transportation. Almost all of them are just steps away from the public rail lines. I even rode a water taxi to one of them.
How about replacing malls with housing?
I find you cutting a Ukraninan mall ruined by russian bombing at 7:35 in a video about completly different subject, quite tone-deaf.
Was just about to say that. I get the idea of illustrating the phrase "malls turned into what we know them to be today" with abandoned/destroyed building, but God, THIS ONE? That's the Epitsentr in Bucha and it was destroyed by russians during their occupation.
@@julm7744 "Just a background" that has nothing to do with the video. Even if you don't think it's a problematic image, it's A) not an American mall and B) was destroyed by missiles, it wasn't slowly abandoned due to the socio-economic and cultural changes in the US. So people aren't being snowflakes, it's calling out bad research and poor taste.
Hey team, we definitely messed up with this one. We source most of our BRoll footage from stock video sites that don't always do a great job at listing the source material, we searched "abandoned mall" and used whatever came up. Moving forward we're gonna keep a close eye on cross referencing this material so we're not using inappropriate stuff. Thanks for letting us know about this one ❤️
@@FutureProofTVyou actually need to remove this image please. Yes you may take more care in the future, but this is now. Addressing an apology in this comment is unacceptable. This was an image that is seared into my mind from the tragedy this war represents. Given the deaths that occurred, out of respect to the Ukrainian people, kindly re-edit now, take this video down and relaunch it.
Your apology is hollow and disingenuous.
Great timing on this video. My GF and I went to a movie theater that's part of a mall this weekend and couldn't help commenting on how weird it was to be in a mall that was empty besides us and a couple other moviegoers on a Saturday afternoon. Maybe 1/3 of the stores were even occupied.
I'm looking forward to your parking lot video. I keep thinking about people who say that America is "full," when an aerial photo of the "city" I live in looks like an airport with the occasional building.
One of our local malls is still doing quite well, but it absolutely demonstrates the trend I described in my previous paragraph. An aerial photo of it looks like a giant parking lot with a tiny hut in the middle.
You showed my home town for a few seconds and it makes me so happy ❤
I have a mall nearby and love it. I love to go there 😊
I'm from Poland, and to add to the commute aspect of getting to and fro malls - we have those both in city center and on peripheries too. Not only are all of them located super close or almost on top of municipal public transport stops, several of the biggest malls have their private FREE buses coursing through all busiest parts of town before taking everyone to the mall. Those buses go at least once if not twice an hour and were extremely convenient, as once again you didn't even need to pay the usual ticket fare to go shopping. Having moved to US recently, this ease of communication is something I greatly miss.
In Panama 🇵🇦 malls are staying strong, mostly because a lot of them have big store that would be considered Targets/Walmarts, etc. We do have a few luxury malls as well, but they are really packed with people with little to no spending power. We are also do a lot of online shopping but we open PO Boxes and then have our items sent to us later (ex: shipping to Miami, Florida PO Box, and then it is prepared and shipped in 24 to 72 hrs to Panama City, Panama depending on the item)
Thank you for the video
100 Oaks Mall in Nashville, Tennessee, USA, experienced a long, slow decline. Then it was transformed when Vanderbilt Hospital System turned the entire upper floor and three entranceways into a pediatric hospital and medical center. The lower floor is dedicated to shopping spaces as it once was, and the food court is long gone. To repurpose everything effectively, the large pedestrian aisle was converted into shopping space so that rather than an A side and B side on either side of a walkway, there is ONLY the A side and it goes completely from front to back. This is the future, going from anchor stores to anchor services such as hospitals, community colleges, and offices.
In my countr, I noticed that when a mall starts struggling because of retail sales going towards online platforms, they started opening up doctors clinics, optometrists and skincare centres, and these places are getting lots of additional customers in. Nowadays I only go to the mall to get laser facial treatments, buy groceries, the bookstore, the cinema and sometimes a burger.
Look up Hillsdale mall halfway between San Francisco and Silicon Valley in San Mateo, CA. They have a classic indoor "anchors and food court" mall but built MORE space next door that is outdoor shopping, a high-end cinema, of course a Philz and an Apple Store, a place where a ruben sandwich costs $25 without any side or drink, and even a place where the infamous "Belcampo" restaurant once sat. They didn't remove the old mall. They just supplemented it with a nice "third space" mall in a place where people have a lot of money.
I traveled to Japan recently and found their malls fascinating. They are underground, underneath office buildings and sometimes connecting office buildings across the street, and in the underground portion, there are the more public facing businesses like restaurants (great for the office workers who don't need to go too far to find a restaurant or convenience store with bento boxes or onigiri), shops, and medical services (I saw a dentist, an optometrist, etc.). Plus they have a really efficient subway system that uses these underground malls as stops (neatly connected by hallways decorated with artwork to give some space between the slightly louder/more crowded subway and the nice peaceful shopping space).
I live in croatia and most of the malls I go to go into 2 categories: small ones in the middle of the city near a walking park that have a lot of entertainment focused stores like bookstores, tech stores, playrooms, cinemas etc. or big ones at the edges of the city that have different themed floors (for example: the first floor is for groceries and just general consumer stores, the second one has clothing and furniture stores ranging from the cheapest of cheap to luxury stuff and the third floor has like casinos and cinemas and bowling and cafes and stuff)
Great video! I'm in USA but I live in a walkable/bike-able/accessible public transit state, Massachusetts. If you live close enough to take public transportation, it's very easy to do mall shopping since it is accessible. Not to mention it feels like a third place to hang out especially for college and high school students. Nowadays though I do notice where most people hang out are the food courts, most stores barely had any paying customers. I do see people shopping but it's less buying and more like window shopping, possibly due to the economy with less spending power, unless they're rich customers. Either that or people saved up enough of a budget to just go to the mall and buy what they need, or more credit card usages.
I LOVE visiting abandoned malls! Looking forward to your parking lot video. We need more discussions about the negative impacts of car culture.
I love your channel! I do watch the abandoned series on Malls so sad I grew up in the 80's that was our hangout🙂
I currently live in spain, and I can say you are completely right.
people go to the mall for everything here,
they wanna have a nice time with family, they go to the mall
with friends, they go to the mall,
for shopping, hanging out and going to the cinema we go to the mall for almost everything.
Because the mall is so easy to acess and the transport to get there is very very cheap.
And one thing i can say about spain is that they have one of the best transportation system in the world.
American here, I got to experience El Corte Inglés in Valencia last fall and I loved every bit of it! Way more life in those malls than anything back at home
Here in Germany, I think it's a big thing that you have Drugstores or Supermarkets in most of our Malls. So you have a reason to go there because you need to by you groceries. On the other hand, we also have small malls that were too specialized or the old large department stores in Germany (like Karstadt and Kaufhof) that are actually currently closing or where buildings are becoming workspaces or something similar. This is a development in Germany, too but it’s more with the Kaufhaus (kinda all in one mall in just one store) than our malls - some malls are doing good, some are struggling
JAPAN, it wasn’t mentioned but most malls are built near or next to train stations. Japanese love the shopping experience versus online shopping. Super malls require driving to and parking is nicely handled. We don’t have road rage or parking lot rage like the USA so it’s a good experience. However, most people take the train and have the store ship big items to your house/apartment. Shipping is very cheap, perhaps too cheap. Also, most malls have really good restaurants so most people go there to eat and socialize.
There is an old mall in my town and all I can think is all the fun things I could do with it if I had money. The main idea I keep coming back to is turn it into a massive indoor Airsoft and Paintball Park. Each wing could be its own arena, and then it could be opened up to the whole complex for events.
In Australia, the only reason i goto the mall/shopping centers is to go buy groceries ... i find them mostly filled with fashion & jewellery stores, maybe i'll goto the food court, movie theatres, occasional thrift stores, & novelty stores (b/c foot traffic attracts shoppers) = there's no much to do, but i still see teenagers frequent there.
Plus rent in Malls is very high so your mom & pop stores have since moved out ... and even the big brand electronics + home depot + furniture stores.
One of the malls in my town closed the interior of the mall and reoriented entraces to the outside. It's really having a revival despite losing some major anchors like Sears. It's also built buildings on the edge of the parking lot that have smaller chain restaurants and even the DMV. I really wondered if it would work in a cold and rainy climate but its actually really busy now.
There’s a place in Chapel Hill, North Carolina called “University Place”. The mall only had a small handful of stores and hangout spots. During the pandemic it started to lose businesses left and tight as if it’ll start shutting down the mall itself. Then forward to 2024, the area is now thriving. They actually implemented outdoor dining areas, apartment complex(it also helps that they have a grocery store right next door.). Like i kid you not, i almost don’t recognize it anymore. But I’m glad that they managed to figure out what they need to succeed in their unique situation.
You can find anything online but when you go to the mall you don’t find what you are looking for. I still like to go to the mall. The atmosphere, the sounds, the scent. Everything. I hope that they continue to stay.
In Seattle, it does seem as if at least one if not more of our main mall areas are suffering, but the one shopping "mall" we have that always has tons of people is in the University District area. They renovated a few years ago, and while it caters a lot to that wealthier category of people, it's got highly walkable areas, hits a lot of those "third place" notes, and is always filled with teens, families with young kids, people walking their dogs and more as people go just to congregate there.
Bratislava (capital of Slovakia pop. ~450k) has like 6 major malls, all located in or near the city center. They are always full of people, but not due to shopping sprees (except for the Holiday and discount shopping season) but mostly because of large supermarkets, food courts and cinemas are located in these malls. Plus, western Europe needs a place where to dump out-of-fashion garments to sell for the same price. If someone wants discounted designer clothes, they usually go to the internet or to the large outlet mall located 30km out of Bratislava in Pandorf, Austria - a popular destination for international tourists visiting Vienna.
Great watch as always 🫡👊🏿
Thanks for being here!!
The footage at 14:30 is in fact in Warsaw (Poland) which has a lot of huge malls (at least 10 in the direct city center) but all more or less connected to public transport, some even have direct access from the Metro, railway or tram
I went to Thailand couple of months ago. You wouldn't believe how busy the malls are over there. I mean , thousands of people walking around shopping , eating , whatever. The parking lots were jammed , and you could hardly find parking spot. They have 2 dedicated floors for just food !!!! I'm talking about 20 - 30 restaurants on 1 floor and another 30+ in the basement !!! You could literally walk all day trying to figure out which restaurant you want to try out. They have every stores you need in one shopping mall from pharmacy , super market , food court , etc. One floor would be for clothing , another floor would be dedicated to tech like phone stores , or electronic stuffs. Crazy !!!
In the Washington DC metro area, the only malls that are thriving are higher-end places like Tysons Corner Center and Galleria at Tysons II, where they can offer hundreds of stores and niche retailers (often brick and mortar extensions of online brands) that you can find nowhere else in the region. They still have Macy’s and Nordstrom, but the anchors are smaller, but trendier stores now.
In the UK was also have malls but theyre called Shopping Centres and tend to be located next to town centres. The Shopping Centres tend to be within walking distance of peoples homes, which makes it far less of a hassle to travel to
I'm from Melbourne, Australia, and shopping centres (malls) are doing super well. Perhaps a factor is we have dollar stores and high end stores in the same centre. They are also usually served by multiple public transport options or actually are transport interchanges.
I studied town planning and for a while there Melbourne planning policies looked like US planning policies (car based). Thankfully even though we went pretty far down that path it didn't quite get here due to our high streets getting popular again. Pretty much most suburbs have shops and restaurants within walking distance. Malls have a different but complimentary purpose
Here where I live, we still have an active outdoor mall, it’s very much thriving. And still adding new stores and restaurants every few months.
Another active mall is in National City CA. Not every city has removed malls completely. 🙂
The nearest mall to me (I live in Studio City, California) is within walking distance of a few suburban neighborhoods. That place is doing fine, as far as I know.
The Burbank Mall seems to be fine. They revitalized their food center a while ago to move it from the third floor to the center of the mall.
One of the key elements of Australian (specifically Brisbane in my case) "shopping centers" (not malls) is that almost always it constitutes a major public transport hub for the area, with most local routes at least passing through. So people who would otherwise not have access to these without personal vehicles, can also always pass through them on the way home from the office. "Oh I'll stop in and grab some things as I go past" etc.
here in Madison, WI back in the 90's we had FIVE different malls in this City. It is not a big city either.. west towne, east towne, Hilldale, East Gate Mall, and South Towne Mall. South Town became stores, Hilldale became stores, East Gate got torn down and became a Hyvee. Luckily East and West Towne Malls still exist though.
In my city Kassel (Germany), the main mall is right in the city center where all the public transit lines meet. During lunch break many people go to the food court because their workplaces are often just 2-4 tram stops away from the mall. The malls also arent made up of specialised stores with anchors but rather you can get everything there. There are tech stores (which often have good prices compared to amazon), grocery stores, drugstores, tobacco outlets and of course lots of clothing.
My local mall has a huge arcade called round 1 & is constantly the sole reason why my boyfriend & myself still visit the mall very frequently!!! We always end up walking around the mall and usually getting at least one thing before we leave. It's pretty genius of them 😂
Where I live the two malls most visited are either one that's an outdoor "mall" and more of a shopping area. It's got lots of places to just hang out and can be a nice destination in the summer.
The other is in the middle of our smallish downtown.
(There are two others in town, both on major bus routes)