The Rise and Fall of the American Mall

During the 1970s and 1980s when malls were in their heyday, it was such a nice experience just to go there. Especially around the holidays with the beautiful seasonal and especially Christmas displays. I'm really glad that I was able to be a part of that time and experience. I really do miss mall shopping, especially like they were back when they were doing well 😢

What's puzzling to me is how Sears and Montgomery Ward couldn't read the writing on the wall and go back to their roots? They were catalog shopping businesses in the nineteenth century, and what is the internet if not a digital catalog?

As a teen in the 80’s I spent tons of time at our local mall and miss it. So much to do in one place. Shop, eat, arcade, movies, roller skate.

I recently returned from a month in Australia. Malls are everywhere there and are thriving. It was almost like going back in time walking into one. Just like the old American mall they have anchor stores, hundreds of small stores, food courts, movie theaters. And they were very crowded! It was like old times and it was fun being there.

It really should have been mentioned that big malls on the outskirts of town combined with big box stores pretty much killed the Main Street downtown shopping district of most small towns.

Growing up in the upper midwest, the best thing about malls was that they were warm and filled with tropical plants. That's great when it's freezing and snowy outside. The depressing thing for me was that we grew up poor, so all the stores were a constant reminder of all the things I couldn't afford, but everyone else seemed to be able to.

I've been lamenting for years over the demise of the malls. They were great and didn't deserve to fall out of favor.

The history guy holding no punches at the beginning. That was so incredibly sweet so I really wanted to cry.

I'm working on a time machine to take me back to the 80's and 90's, when my hair was still dark and things at Sharper Image and Brookstone still amazed me. The malls are one of my fond memories, especially at Christmas. Amazon just isn't the same as looking for that special thing and coming across things that I hadn't seen before. The internet, for all its wonders, just made things too easy and took away the magic of discovering things in person.

As a kid, going to the mall with my parents was a huge treat. Wonderful memories, but things change…what Walmart didn’t kill, Amazon did.

A friend of mine who used to work for a Mall management company told me that one of their biggest problems was what they were charging for rent and maintenance of the mall. She said they lost a lot of stores to outside Shopping plazas/malls because of the cheaper rent and maintenance fees. Plus the Movie theater that was in the mall built their own building and moved out into a mega theater instead of a small 5 screen theater. Then Covid hit a few years later and that took care of the rest.

I've always enjoyed going to the mall as a child. To look through every boutique, supermarket, toy store, jewellery store, gift shop, bookstore, etc. was always a pleasure because of all the variety. If anything, social media should be used to help keep the tradition of going to the mall alive.

Luckily my local mall has been able to keep with the times and is still thriving. But man, Sears being gone hurts my heart. What could have been.

As a teenager of the 80's, the mall was a quintessential part of our existence... think of Fast Times at Ridgemont High set in the Midwest, and that was our life. It was where everyone would meet up on a Friday afternoon, grab a bite, maybe catch the latest movie, and plan the evening's escapades. The Christmas decorations and shopping crowds were a thing to behold, especially in the early 90's with the boom of the electronics sector. I've long since moved away, but it was sad to see our hangout abandoned & razed over 15 years ago.

Malls were a great place to go when you had nothing to do, no matter your age. They were warm or cold depending on the season and if you just walked around looking at things you couldnt justify buying time passed until you had to go to wherever you had to be.

It’s quite amazing to listen to the history guy talk about his experience with the mall and his family and then he opens up the throttle on the length and history of the mall. Nice job 👍

I always thought Malls would make good Senior Centers or Nursing Homes. Following the Scandinavian model of Dementia Villages, abandoned Malls would make excellent remodeled places because the entrances can be controlled and there are already food prep areas and walking area built and multiple floors and wings.

We avoid shopping in malls here in Australia, reason , the rent paid by the shops is so high that prices for goods are almost always more expensive than elsewhere.

Pretty sad to see. I loved hanging out at malls as a teenager. What killed malls for me was the decline of physical media. We would normally hit the music, movie, or game stores. There are 2 malls by me and every store inside is pretty much just clothes now.... pretty boring. There's no reason for me to go anymore.

I am 45. I recently moved to Albania where online shopping is not nearly as common as in America. Well, I recently went to a Mall here, a decent sized one, and very similar to an American mall. The main difference, it was busy and I believe every store space was taken. I felt like I went back in time to when our malls were a busy shopping and social hub, just with modern clothing and goods. It was a very interesting. A good number of the malls from my youth are now defunct. I had to move to Albania to have a similar mall experience to what I had so many years ago.