In the US, did Amazon kill the mall, is everyone too broke, or a combination of other factors?
I watch a lot of Dead Mall videos on YouTube and I wanted to see what everyone's thoughts are on why there's so many dead malls now.
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What killed the mall:
It was an experiment on the 3rd place (read up on it) and it failed at that.
Big box retailers wanted big, huge, gigantic stores. So they left malls to open them.
Being surrounded by parking structures doesn't look appealing.
High rent for mall space.
Amazon.
*Other entertainment options are much better now with streaming tv, video games, etc.
also a big thing was the rapid openings of malls in the 80s and 90s. honestly they opened too many of them then just kind of limped along as it was too hard to close and Sears kinda funded them till their death.
Being a 3rd place you can't even walk to because you have to cross those huge parking lots and all the traffic they bring. Not to mention none of them had decent places to actually collect and hang out.
Big box retailers want to own the property they’re on. Most of the time they own the property any other shops are in even in their lot. Big box has a huge realty presence. They out malled the malls in this regard.
Also people getting used to group chat and online games with friends, being able to socialize more effectively made activities like the mall pointless.
That's why when you go to places where people used to hang out to socialise most people are just on their phones, the phone is better.
I sincerely hope that you don't think that group chats, online gaming, or phones are "better" than true social life, because there is overwhelming science indicating that those things are making people absolutely miserable... and we actually don't need science to see it everyday.
You're right. At the same time, there are now alternatives that generally don't require being in places that are trying to get you to spend money just to interact with other people.