Some believe that malls are evolving - and offering experiences and amenities you can't replicate online. It's also arguable that malls aren't actually dying at the same rate they once were. Who needs to "be seen" by locals at a likely empty mall when the whole world is now your oyster? Deliveries and un-boxings have become YouTube "haul" videos as attention is bought and sold like currency. Products are tied to influencers in a world with instant access to everything. Of course, now customers are no longer wanting to keep their shopping introverted, as was the mall's design. So malls that were trying to survive during the start of the online shopping boom never stood a fighting chance. Online shopping meant you could get virtually anything you needed without leaving the comfort of your home. that's what they did," notes Amanda Nicholson, a professor of retail practice at Syracuse University.īut they didn't account for one thing: the invention of the internet. "Developers realized they could put a large, flat building in the middle of a field and quickly make money - so for decades. The insane popularity of the mall ultimately meant that corporations built too many of them. Seph Lawless The empty mall at Rolling Acres in Akron, Ohio. More than 30,000 live plants act as natural air purifiers, which is helpful as the mall is large enough to require its own zip code.īoth Southdale and The Mall of America still stand today, but whether or not they'll survive the culling of retail chains, or succumb and become dead malls, remains to be seen. With no central heating, indoor temperatures are maintained year-round with solar energy, skylights, and lighting. This may seem like it'd be an environmental disaster, but the mall does its part to be green. The gigantic Mall of America takes up 96.4 acres - enough to fit seven Yankee Stadiums inside. ![]() Minnesota also hosts one of the biggest malls in the nation, and it attracts approximately 40 million visitors a year. It cost $20 million, which went a long way back in 1956. It has undergone numerous renovations and store closings over the years, but when Southdale first opened, it was downright glamorous. ![]() "You should have left downtown downtown," architect Frank Lloyd Wright grumpily proclaimed during his visit to Southdale. The new malls were introverted: Everything was focused on the inside. Until this first enclosed shopping mall, retail areas were characteristically extroverted. Americans were enthralled by their automobiles, and the mall would be primarily used for shopping, but also for relaxation, green space, food, and fun. Gruen wanted to recreate the pedestrian experience of European cities by designing a place for the community in the deserts of suburbia. It has a central atrium, two floors, and escalators. Designed by Victor Gruen in 1956, the Southdale Mall is a climate-controlled complex. The idea of the American mall began in Minnesota, and that's where it reached its peak.Įdina, Minnesota is home to the very first enclosed shopping mall. To see all those big looming spaces so empty now - it's a childhood haunting." What Shopping Centers Were Like Before The Era Of Dead Malls We were the last of the free-range kids, roaming around malls, not really buying anything, but just looking. Gillian Flynn, author of Gone Girl, says, "For kids of the '80s especially, dead malls have a very strong allure. Today, as abandoned malls have become the norm, the very notion of these indoor shopping centers has taken on an entirely different character. Mallrats, Clueless, The Blues Brothers, and Dawn of the Dead all have characters who spend major time in malls (though one just happens to be filled with zombies). The media reflected this, as many films - especially ones from the 1980s and 1990s - heavily feature shopping malls as important locations. Add in the social gathering aspect, and it's easy to see how the mall became as iconic as it did. The wide variety of goods in one place was like a Sears catalog come to life. Malls became cultural symbols of the time, as well as marketplaces. They purchased glistening new homes and went shopping to fill their spacious rooms and closets. This was when the wealthy (and usually white) people migrated away from urban zones and into the suburbs. ![]() Malls enjoyed a booming heyday in the 1970s and 1980s - even as the economy was tanking.
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