The Expiration of Shopping Malls
In the past decade, the once ever-so-popular shopping malls have begun their descent to obsoleteness. With their quick rise to fame in the 80s, malls made up over half of the total retail sales within the U.S. There were 2,500 malls in the country during the 80s, making it hard to find a city that didn’t have a shopping center.
Malls acted as a social hub for teens, an all-in-one store experience for all—and don’t forget about the extravagant food courts. However, as the use of technology has increased in the past two decades, so did the popularity of online shopping. Within the past two decades, the country has gone from 2,500 malls to 700, and very soon there are expected to be only 150 malls still standing.
The great mall shutdown began with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Many loyal and longtime in-person shoppers were forced to stay home, leaving online shopping as the sole option for all shoppers. As the pandemic slowed, many shoppers did not return to stores as the ease of online shopping had become highly evident.
Coinciding with the rise of online shopping, fast fashion has also gained traction during the pandemic and after. Online stores like SheIn have become popular amongst shoppers for their cheap prices, an abundance of “trendy” clothing, and easy access. With everything being available online, malls lose many of the incentives they once offered shoppers, causing them to meet their demise.
The Twin Cities have reflected the changing of the times through their own malls, some of which include the “-Dale” malls of the Twin Cities—Southdale, Rosedale, Ridgedale, and Brookdale. Each of these malls was forced to adapt in its own way.
For the Brookdale mall, this meant officially closing its doors in 2018 after a slow death beginning in 2010. For the others, it meant closing many of the retail stores within the malls and reducing their food courts to only a few restaurants. In these malls and other malls across the country, the only form of life support is the major department store anchors (Macy’s, JCPenney, Von Maur) that bring in just enough revenue to stay afloat.
Despite the ever-so-dooming odds, the three remaining “Dale” malls are still continuing to bring in a decent amount of shoppers, giving a little bit of hope for the future of malls. These malls were able to weather the storm by opening more luxury stores in order to bring in a particular type of customer that online stores cannot reach.
Additionally, these three malls offer many options for entertainment, such as movie theaters, a comedy club, a gym, and several sit-down restaurants. Even with these malls devising new tactics to bring in shoppers, the question remains: will they be able to stand the test of time?
