No mention of 45 years of stagnant wages and a disappearing middle class. People still like to go out and shop. The malls in affluent areas are mostly doing just fine.
Globalism results in everyone being valued as someone payed in third world wages, careers are dead because the internet makes you easily replaceable, feminism devalued men's work and destroyed the single income family, now men and women are equally low payed and hate each other more than ever. Boomers still pretend the world works the way it used to whilst our buildings are literally crumbling into the earth and society is dead because nobody leaves the house unless for work.
I literally remember the mall only five minutes from my house go from thriving, to a hotspot for older crowds, to only the food court and certain stores getting traction, to ghost town, then just getting replaced by Costco. Recessions and Amazon has really done a number on them.
research Yang for 2020 or it may get worse. My town used to have jobs and factories. The population was 175,000. Now, the population is 40,000. People cant afford to live without jobs. But, if the jobs go away, how do we survive?
In LA they may still be thriving but other parts of the country not really. I live in the mid west and there's one mall in my city where you can walk around for a half hour on Saturday and only see 25 or 30 people. That includes the people working there. Other malls in my city aren't doing much better.
@@spadeyspacely Los Cerritos, South Coast Plaza in OC, Glendale Galleria are still pretty lively. Just to name a few. There are some dead ones too though (Westside Pavilion, etc)
I’m in West Covina (next to LA) and the Westfield Mall here has about 8-10 fairly new vacancies. Not many other businesses lined up to take them over either.
I'm starting to miss physical stores as a whole. I'd rather see what I'm buying in real life than buying it online. Also, the malls near me are not dead, in fact, they are very lively! For now, though
In America they are fine for the most part too. This video is far too dramatic, it’s just that they built far too many malls in the past few decades, and malls that weren’t as nice as competing malls nearby are becoming vacant
I’m sure malls will still be around for years to come just not the insane amount of malls we once had. From what I read a problem was over saturation of too many being too close together and the shops not really being something shoppers would really spend time driving too. Shopping has changed and it’s nice that we can move on and try something new. The past will always be there and just be a pleasant memory.
This is misleading in multiple ways. It's very rare a mall gets repurposed. They are either left to crumble or demolished. Also not all malls are dying. The US was overmalled and only the ones that keep up with the times need to exist.
It really is hard to imagine the sheer insanity in growth of malls and shopping chains during the 80's, 90's and 2000's. It was already pretty blatant how unrealistic eternal growth was going to be, the lack of competition lead to shoppers looking elsewhere to make savings and the internet didn't disappoint, delivery was just icing on the cake. Despite loving the atmosphere and the activities like arcades and cinemas, I personally have always hated shopping in huge stores or malls, they just bombard you with stuff you don't need and you almost inevitably end up overspending or buying things you would never have bought as all the walking and choices exhaust your mind and body into a state of weakness easy to exploit for a sale, unlike the internet which lets you browse and choose in a logical stress free environment where you can plan and think clearly. It's not like the previous generation didn't have massive credit card debt and unrealistic expectations of shopping every weekend for non essentials, a younger generation more savvy with their money is a good thing, as long as they actually have money and the unfortunate reality perhaps being the death of the middle class.
SEPH LAWLESS HAS EXPLORED MORE ABANDONED MALLS THAN ANYONE IN THE WORLD AWESOME THAT YOU INTERVIEWED HIM FOR THIS VIDEO HIS UA-cam CHANNEL IS FASCINATING
Asia has the best malls in the sense that it goes above and beyond to cater what people needs - social experience, exhibition plaza, open space for events, close to main transport hubs, endless cafe choices etc. not just goods & cookie-cutter stores we see in Europe & US.
You are correct, the few malls that are lifestyle malls in America are doing great. Just look at the Mall of America, that place isn't going anywhere anytime soon.
@@_rio The thing about us in Asia is that we have a large and concentrated population in smaller land areas, that's why Malls are more efficient. We're also Traditionalist and Innovator means we like to keep our tradition and also improving our tradition. That's why we still have Gaming Arcades up to this day.
I live in western PA and while we have had a few small malls close, most of the ones that are open are doing fine. We have Westmorland Mall, South Hills Village, Mall at Robinson, Ross Park Mall and Southern Park Mall in Boardman Ohio. They are doing fine with few or no empty stores. Even Beaver Valley Mall is doing OK at attracting people even though it is struggling since Sears closed and Macy's moved out. I think you are overstating the case that malls are mostly ghost towns.
Take another look at beaver, Century 3 which was the biggest mall is closed, and monroeville mall is half empty. Big department stores like macys and other stores are doing fine online and see no need for their stores and employees expenses.
@@moustafa6748 Century Three started having trouble back in 2003, before on-line shopping became a big thing. They were hurt by being close to the Waterfront development and South Hills Village, then the 2008 recession. The five malls I mentioned are doing fine. All of them have a Macy's. My beef with the video is that they overstate the case that all malls are dying and the simplistic answer that the malls that are closing are due to online shopping. In reality, there are many reasons a mall might close, one of them being suddenly located between too much competition (Beaver Vally, Century Three).
From my European perspective. Here we don't have ancore stores. That is problem with your American malls. People don't need to enter the mall to get to ancore stores. And as we all know lot of retailors go bankrupt. Thats were the problem is. For exaple in my country big retailors are based on underground floor. And od course you need to pass many small stores to get to them. And consumer will come across a lot of things to buy which they diden't come for in first place. That increases sales and stores make money.
in our town in SA in 1980s a mini mall opened and 2000s a big mall opened and in 2014/2015 a medium sized mall was built and new areas are still being built today.
Can't believe they didn't mention Rolling Acres specifically. It's sort of the "poster child" of dead malls. If you're interested in this topic, it's absolutely worth checking out Dan Bell and others walking through it. This is of course, before the building was completely demolished and removed.
I think that it is interesting that I'm not really seeing a lot of this where I live in western Canada, or in any of Canada really. Many of our malls seem to be located closer to where people actually live, and are typically used as things like bus hubs. Just interesting to see how our two countries dealt with the idea of malls differently.
Same here in Australia. I'm not a shopping person, but the big mall's here seem to continually increasing there size, number of shops and and parking. Maybe this is more of an issue with the USA's decreasing living standards and household incomes.
Yeah same here in Sweden. The shipping mall I've lived around has been renovated and expanded twice during the my life. it is a large bus and train center.
I think location has a lot to do with it. In my area, the city of Worcester, MA can't seem to hold on to a mall. One in the downtown area was called the Galleria but was slowly dying because no one liked going downtown to shop. So it was re-branded the Common Fashion Outlets and it too eventually closed and was torn down. It had too many high end clothing stores that no one in Worcester would ever shop at. Another, The Greendale Mall, only has like two stores left in it and will probably close soon. One in Auburn, MA still has a lot of stores but they are constantly closing and being replaced. One end of the mall is now a medical center as it was taken over by Reliant Medical Group. Now Sears on the opposite end of the mall is going to be closing so who knows what will happen after that. On the other hand there is a fairly new "Outdoor" mall called the shoppes at Blackstone Valley in Millbury, MA and that mall is booming. There is also a more traditional indoor mall in Marlborough, MA called the Solomon Pond Mall and it is doing very well. So if you are in the right area and have the right type of stores for that area, I think malls can still do well. :)
I miss going to the mall! Grew up in Warrenville, Illinois and would go to Fox Valley Mall in Aurora, worked at Yorktown in Lombard, went to Stratford Mall, as well as others. So sad to see this!
I believe the mall concept will return some day but maybe with a different focus. People Like to go out and physically touch cloths and meet friends, this is something online just doesn’t have, Both malls in my area are doing really well so it’s hard to watch these but also hard to not watch them. Very interesting!
Definitely - especially now that people are fed up with multiple lockdowns for most of 2020, online shopping has lost some of its lustre. I mean, it's convenient in some ways, but not in others (I want/need my stuff now, not a week from now, and returning online purchases is beyond awful). I think people will want the experience of getting out of the house again.
I really miss malls the way they use to be. It was like your own Disneyland going there. If your mall was tiny and in a suburban town far away; it was like your sneak peak into what the rest of the country was doing. Physical shopping is better. I'm not against online shopping but I think physical shopping is still needed.
Growing up, there were three malls within our radius. One was “always flailing and out of city limits”, another was “sorta dangerous and crime-ridden”, and the last was one of the best local malls I’ve ever been to. Small (one story) but amazing store selection. Guess which survived?
The Dead Sea in Chrono Cross predicted the end of Malls. For those who don’t know what that is, it’s an area frozen in time from the future and part of it is a destroyed shopping mall. Some of the enemies in there include mannequins and the pissed off spirits of little girls who were in the theater area performing at the moment of the mall’s destruction.
I don't miss shopping. I'm in Atlanta, where they had a shoot out in the mall multiple times. It's just not worth it anymore! If you must then get there early, and leave after an hour.
Malls still huge in Brazil! I mean it! There are clinics, scape rooms, bowling, parks, gov. institutions ( SACS), karts, supermarketings, and of course stores, first class restaurants, fast food and cinemas. It's air controlled, it's safe, it's usually in cities downtowns so lot of workes and students pass by to eat or buy something.
Every time I see this kind of thing, I remember that you would need 4 earths to keep up the American levels of consumption, according to an article in BBC. Every time you stop for a while and consume less is good amount of time you’re adding for the things you consume to properly replenish themselves. So malls closing is actually a pretty good sign.
I think companies need to make more durable products that last longer and when they do wear out, can be recycled. I don't like the totally disposable, throwaway culture.
The stagnant wages and the disappearing middle class is a big factor. Many retailers target the middle class able to afford the prices above the discount big box stores. The most affluent malls are doing fine. Also malls targeting the Asian and Hispanic clientele. Crime being another factor. Ghetto black youth is a big contributor terrorizing malls once the bus route or section 8 housing is built causing thefts, shouting, fights, and gunshots. Shoppers and tenants flee and the surrounding areas become ghetto. Chris Rock quoted there's two malls. One where white people go and one where white people used to go.
The nature of retail is changing. Brick and mortar stores are dying because it's expensive to operate one and profit margins are thin. Companies like Amazon are the new way of shopping. Couple that with 24 to 48 hr door to door delivery and it puts the squeeze on malls and their antiquated way of doing business.
As somebody who lives in Nairobi, and in the construction industry, I'm afraid this is what the future of malls look like here. I tell investors to build community sports complexes (at the same budget of malls) but investors want that fast ROI. Joke's on them. A new mall comes up every 6 months, and consumers mall-hop. And again online shopping is closing down stores but nobody wants to see this. In the next 5 years Kenya will have many abandoned malls like the ones in the video.
One of my childhood malls was demolished earlier this month after being pretty dead for years. I cried. I am 27 but I feel I should have been born 10 years earlier. I love the 80s and 90s mall aesthetic and how they were and and got a small taste of them when I was young. I miss it so much and hate what has happened to commerce with online shopping. Amazon can go to hell.. Steph Lawless is a great inspiration for me as a photographer too! I love taking photos of abandoned spaces.
Some malls are successful, some are not. Flying over them in an airplane doesn't give you a proper perspective on what is really happening. You should go back and do research on why those surviving malls are successful.
The only shopping centres (malls) I like are those with outward-facing shops along the perimeter that are part of the local high street (commercial street). Giant inward-facing shopping centres and some retail parks (outlets) within towns are a blight to the more traditional high street, the latter of which I prefer. I think the high street/town centre/broadway encourage small independent businesses and offer less mass produced goods and services. That said, I appreciate that I have plenty of choices all within a short distance. Where I live in suburban London, there's 4 or 5 high streets with shopping centres and markets approximately 3 miles each direction, 4 or 5 retail parks with full-size supermarkets within a walking distance, and multiple chains and independent businesses of varying sizes down the road. The Westfield is a monstrosity however in my opinion.
Went to my local mall a few Weeks ago. Barley a single person. Very few employees. It felt like an alternate dimension. I had to leave bc it was so depressing to be in
Let me ask americans something on the subject... Would you say there was an overabundance of malls and the excess has now closed doors getting to more manageable levels, or is it really that malls are completely dead and you can't find any around you? The reality here where I live is completely different. Amazon never quite caught on.... in fact, Amazon took too long to open business here (which is ironic since I'm from Brazil), another giant took it's place (B2W with some half a dozen of the biggest online retail brands), and now that it finally opened up shop it's having a really hard time getting costumers. Which is to say, online shopping is growing and does have it's place, but in my city shopping malls are still here. In fact, they are still growing. Since I moved to my city, 3 new shopping centers opened up, one of them being the biggest ever in my state. It's quite amazing... some of them will get lots of traffic on weekends, all weekends, and particularly crowded near holidays. If it rains during the weekend then it becomes even worse... too many people. The biggest shopping center here had to buy a separate lot and build an external parking space to accommodate more cars, because it was always getting too full during weekends, despite having two entire 4 level blocks of parking space, plus already having a huge front space of parking space previous to buying the other lot. Now, there are a few key factors to consider. Mail is expensive here. You can save quite a bit by shopping locally instead of online. Like I said, Amazon is quite small here... the selection of products isn't as big as it is in the US, there's no grocery shopping on Amazon here (some big grocery markets are starting to offer delivery service at a price though), and I think none of the online shops offer same day or overnight shipping.... they offer faster shipping if you pay a ton more for it. One way or another, you have to wait a few days for stuff to arrive, so if you want the thing right now, you'll have to go out to physical stores. Parking at shopping malls tends to be pretty expensive, having a store on a shopping mall is very very expensive, the food at shopping malls are generally way more expensive than a restaurant on street level, and most shopping centers don't usually have much in the way of services. A few of them do, but the majority of it is just retail stores and food courts. Sometimes you get a gym, a repair shop area, banks, travel agencies, gaming centers, and a few others... but they are usually isolated in a relatively small space. Now, for myself, if I had an Amazon like the US plus several other big retail stores working as well as they do there at prices that usually beats physical stores, I can see myself not needing shopping malls anymore. I live near one and I don't go there much already. It's generally cheaper to order food, and I do buy stuff online a lot. But I don't see the habit of going to shopping malls and using it as a social space dying anytime soon here. So, while I can understand a steep sharp decline because of online shopping, a complete die off seems a bit... over the top. There are obviously way more factors at play than what I said, but still....
Bob Taylor Sorry I didn't mean to come of as being negative I agree with it and I think it's well written. I just think that it is objectively a long comment
@RaFari1119 Bee Thanks for the answer! Interesting perspective, it certainly does make sense from a general quality perspective and lack of unique and exclusive products made by the companies themselves or at least locally. It also kills diversity. Did you notice though that it clashes with my own comment? While I can't really say that local commerce is growing much, the reality for my country is that shopping centers and malls are still flourishing somehow... despite them also carrying mostly chinese made products. But in a way, this is probably only true for bigger cities and capitals. And perhaps tourist hubs. Thinking back about my comment, the city I'm currently living in which is a capital city, and my hometown which is a touristic city, both got 3 and 2 shopping malls in the past half decade. But I can't say this is a national level phenomena really... I was born in the 80s, so from a more recent perspective I do remember lots of big retail stores that closed down, were sold off, or merged with newer chains. The reality of production also changed, but I don't think it happened as drastically as it did in the US. We used to have way bigger local production of shoes, and perhaps a few other commodities... but it was mostly already imported goods, particularly stuff like electronics which my country never really had a big internal production. Can't say I'm very fond of the entire new concept of fast fashion, cheap quality stuff, fast upgrade cycles, and most things turning to waste in such a quick turnaround... but I think it would be fair to say for countries like mine that it enabled tons more people to have access to several categories of products they couldn't afford in the past. And since we already didn't have a big local production, I think (though I might be wrong), that is also didn't affect retail stores and malls as much as it did up there. Then again, the other thing I can think of is that online shopping here just isn't as convenient, as well structured, as reliable or as well understood as in the US. First of all, the majority of my country still don't have reliable computers, internet connections, or even access to more fundamental stuff like a credit card that is needed for online shopping. We also don't have the secure systems in place for reliable transactions in place. Scams and fraud related to payment transactions moved from PoS credit card transactions to online ones, big part of my country is computer/Internet illiterate, and the big eCommerce stores here have extremely bad security, design, costumer service and return practices. This all contributes to people still mostly going for retail shopping instead of ordering stuff online, even if the precedence of goods are basically the same. Anyways, thanks for sharing your perspective! :D
@@spookysenpai7642 Sadly, but Kmart fell off though in the mid to late 2000s, when i was a kid, Kmart was thriving and one of the biggest retailers from the 80s until the early 2000s when Walmart and Target started growing.
Food court full of expensive fast food and the same chain stores over and over. All the malls look the same now. I go to buy things but not sure why I would go to more then that
@@jayandree4361 there are thriving malls all over California. The mall I grew up going to is booming. It's more about the income in the surrounding area than anything. If your anchor store is Sears or JC Penny, your mall is dying. If your anchor store is Bloomingdale's, your mall is probably OK.
cleftintwain most malls are dying but a few are thriving in my area. Like Tysons mall in Va n Wheaton mall in Md but some are dying or dead like white flint mall Md, City Place in MD.... from the dc area
@@mjwbulich I live in the bay area and Westfield is pushing out literally everyone. my childhood mall Vallco died recently in Cupertino. I dont know where you live but I hate this modern shit
The death of American malls is due to many factors, chief among them being the rise of internet shopping coupled with the continued skrinking of a middle class burdened by a draconian tax system and a tanking economy.
Well I’m from Metro Atlanta originally, in my lifetime only 3 malls in Georgia have shut down for good including one right after the recession even! 😳 Anyways: The first mall to close for good was the year I was born, Cobb Center Mall in Smyrna, Georgia anchored with Rich’s now modern Macy’s all over Metro Atlanta, Kesslers, Grants, Woolworths, Colonial Supermarket, and etc, Anyways burned down to the ground, so all that was left was the Rich’s Clearance Center and Publix Supermarket, the Rich’s closed in 2004 before the merger in 2005 with Macy’s, then Publix closed down in 2016 long after I moved to PCB, to anybody who is a UA-cam user from Metro Atlanta or Panama City Beach please comment what you remember about these malls I’m going to mention! 😁 Next the Avondale Mall in Decatur, Georgia never been to it before, the Sears, Macy’s that used to be Davidson’s back in the day before 1986 when that merger with Macy’s came into fruition, anyways the mall closed in 2001 I believe with no anchors it just was crippled long before the attack of 9/11 that year, so today a Walmart replaced the whole property, where as for Cobb Center a school and now a foreign supermarket including a soccer field replaced the property. 🤔 The final and last mall to close in Georgia in general not including ones in the Non Metro Atlanta region: Union Station Mall in Union City, Georgia anchored originally with Rich’s, Macy’s formerly Davidson’s as well, JCPenney’s, and Sears, Anyways the first anchor to leave was JCPenney’s closed in 2004 and became some entertainment center called Maxx Fun closed right before the mall did, only went this mall once in my lifetime, the really old Macy’s actually left before JCPenney’s did technically which was 1998 surprisingly when the other Macy’s closed in 2003 to consolidate with Rich’s, anyhow the Macy’s that ended up coming back to this mall that replaced Rich’s through a merger closed down for good in 2010, then finally the mall filed for bankruptcy and the owner forgot to pay the bills on time sadly, so that same year the last anchor known as Sears was the first Metro Atlanta location to close down long before Mall at Stonecrest did in the recent times of course, so now the mall closed for good in 2011, so today it is now known as the Atlanta Film Studio! 🧐 Now finally the moment of truth, I saved the best for last, after 4 years living in Panama City Beach Florida, the worst catastrophic hurricane inevitable to hit the United States on Wednesday October 10, 2018 at 11 or 12 something in the afternoon anyways the only shopping mall besides Pier Park, which this mall has been dying for an extremely long time, the Panama City Mall in Panama City, Florida originally anchored by Dillard’s formerly Gayfer’s, JCPenney’s, and Sears and etc, so on that one December day last year the mall closed for good, along with the Chapter 11 Bankruptcy of Sears at that time was planning to close long before the storm however, so as of today part of the former mall has reopened including JCPenney’s, but everything else gone and abandoned including Sears! 😳 So with all of this being said, sadly out of the former malls that closed, Panama City Mall was my favorite, because Cobb Center was apart of my family’s time mostly, Avondale Mall was already ghetto before I ever got to go there, Union Station has turned for the worst after I visited once sadly, and Pc Mall was good because of Fye, and the different choices in the small food court, the former Bennigans, and that’s it mostly, so therefore I agree malls are dying, but the more popular ones including Pier Park Town Center in Panama City Beach Florida are thriving, which it’s properly known as Pier Park, are reasons we still need malls in new forms! 😁
Why would you go to the mall when you have to drive or be driven if youre too young as you have almost 0 access to public transport. America needs to overhaul its city planning so they can try to remedy this
@@fionafiona1146 So true. Not mention adults who cant drive for whatever reason, if the public transportation is no good or unreliable makes it even worse.
As unions declined, so did the purchasing power of the working class. Malls were always a result of the purchasing power of the working class. No unions, no purchasing power, no malls.
@@SalivatingSteve Running out of interesting dead malls to visit maybe? Plus travel is costly for a YT video that probably doesn't make a big return on investment.
Watch James Fallows in a previous Idea File episode. Will America Fall Like Rome?: ua-cam.com/video/kMJQzQhuJ8o/v-deo.html&
No mention of 45 years of stagnant wages and a disappearing middle class. People still like to go out and shop. The malls in affluent areas are mostly doing just fine.
The 90's put nafta down our throats.
Exactly. Major cities still have very active malls.
Globalism results in everyone being valued as someone payed in third world wages, careers are dead because the internet makes you easily replaceable, feminism devalued men's work and destroyed the single income family, now men and women are equally low payed and hate each other more than ever. Boomers still pretend the world works the way it used to whilst our buildings are literally crumbling into the earth and society is dead because nobody leaves the house unless for work.
Yup, here in Eugene, Oregon we have two malls that are doing just fine.
@@balthazarbratt8194 I agree. Many malls are far from dead. Definite agenda pushing in this video.
I literally remember the mall only five minutes from my house go from thriving, to a hotspot for older crowds, to only the food court and certain stores getting traction, to ghost town, then just getting replaced by Costco.
Recessions and Amazon has really done a number on them.
research Yang for 2020 or it may get worse. My town used to have jobs and factories. The population was 175,000. Now, the population is 40,000. People cant afford to live without jobs. But, if the jobs go away, how do we survive?
Crazy how I've never really noticed how rampant this decline is. I'm in LA, malls are still thriving here
In LA they may still be thriving but other parts of the country not really. I live in the mid west and there's one mall in my city where you can walk around for a half hour on Saturday and only see 25 or 30 people. That includes the people working there. Other malls in my city aren't doing much better.
which ones? del amo mall was the last mall I seen with a considerable large amount of young people. DTLA didn't seem to offer much.
@@spadeyspacely Los Cerritos, South Coast Plaza in OC, Glendale Galleria are still pretty lively. Just to name a few. There are some dead ones too though (Westside Pavilion, etc)
I’m in West Covina (next to LA) and the Westfield Mall here has about 8-10 fairly new vacancies. Not many other businesses lined up to take them over either.
In south Florida malls are really popular. Not just small average malls but really large ones as well.
I'm starting to miss physical stores as a whole. I'd rather see what I'm buying in real life than buying it online. Also, the malls near me are not dead, in fact, they are very lively! For now, though
orange bird Same with our mall! I love seeing kids and families walking around the mall. It brings me joy.
Thanks for interviewing me for this everyone can see more of these abandoned malls on my channel
SEPH LAWLESS You have a terrific and interesting channel. 👍
Mall: life is boring without me
Mobile phone: i'm about to end this malls whole career
Amazon: mee too
Here in the Philippines, malls are far from being dead, they are as popular as ever!
Dwight Gutierrez Same here in Portugal. Malls are still going strong.
Dwight Gutierrez that is probably because of the weather in the Philippines and the lack of air conditioning in regular homes.
Yeah they have 3 stories malls
In America they are fine for the most part too. This video is far too dramatic, it’s just that they built far too many malls in the past few decades, and malls that weren’t as nice as competing malls nearby are becoming vacant
They're not dead but a part of Filipino culture
Sad with so many people homeless they don't think to turn them into low income housing.
Low income housing simply means new slums unfortunately
Dark Carousel douchebag liberal comment
@@ronaldtartaglia4459
oh no, empathy
I'm sure you have room at you house you could donate.
I’m sure malls will still be around for years to come just not the insane amount of malls we once had. From what I read a problem was over saturation of too many being too close together and the shops not really being something shoppers would really spend time driving too. Shopping has changed and it’s nice that we can move on and try something new. The past will always be there and just be a pleasant memory.
Malls are only popular in big cities now, in smaller towns/ cities there really not
This is misleading in multiple ways. It's very rare a mall gets repurposed. They are either left to crumble or demolished. Also not all malls are dying. The US was overmalled and only the ones that keep up with the times need to exist.
It really is hard to imagine the sheer insanity in growth of malls and shopping chains during the 80's, 90's and 2000's. It was already pretty blatant how unrealistic eternal growth was going to be, the lack of competition lead to shoppers looking elsewhere to make savings and the internet didn't disappoint, delivery was just icing on the cake. Despite loving the atmosphere and the activities like arcades and cinemas, I personally have always hated shopping in huge stores or malls, they just bombard you with stuff you don't need and you almost inevitably end up overspending or buying things you would never have bought as all the walking and choices exhaust your mind and body into a state of weakness easy to exploit for a sale, unlike the internet which lets you browse and choose in a logical stress free environment where you can plan and think clearly. It's not like the previous generation didn't have massive credit card debt and unrealistic expectations of shopping every weekend for non essentials, a younger generation more savvy with their money is a good thing, as long as they actually have money and the unfortunate reality perhaps being the death of the middle class.
SEPH LAWLESS HAS EXPLORED MORE ABANDONED MALLS THAN ANYONE IN THE WORLD AWESOME THAT YOU INTERVIEWED HIM FOR THIS VIDEO HIS UA-cam CHANNEL IS FASCINATING
What the US needs are lifestyle malls like the ones in Asia
like in Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan, and the Philippines.
Asia has the best malls in the sense that it goes above and beyond to cater what people needs - social experience, exhibition plaza, open space for events, close to main transport hubs, endless cafe choices etc. not just goods & cookie-cutter stores we see in Europe & US.
You are correct, the few malls that are lifestyle malls in America are doing great.
Just look at the Mall of America, that place isn't going anywhere anytime soon.
Yes Singapore has the greatest malls!
It's already happening.
@@_rio The thing about us in Asia is that we have a large and concentrated population in smaller land areas, that's why Malls are more efficient. We're also Traditionalist and Innovator means we like to keep our tradition and also improving our tradition. That's why we still have Gaming Arcades up to this day.
So basically malls didn’t really “die”.There just being reused or repurposed.
Yeah, but the 'mall' that we know of, where we can go shop, eat, and have fun, is dying gradually.
@@mehtaverse And they're being turned into big clothing department stores.
I live in western PA and while we have had a few small malls close, most of the ones that are open are doing fine. We have Westmorland Mall, South Hills Village, Mall at Robinson, Ross Park Mall and Southern Park Mall in Boardman Ohio. They are doing fine with few or no empty stores. Even Beaver Valley Mall is doing OK at attracting people even though it is struggling since Sears closed and Macy's moved out. I think you are overstating the case that malls are mostly ghost towns.
Take another look at beaver,
Century 3 which was the biggest mall is closed, and monroeville mall is half empty.
Big department stores like macys and other stores are doing fine online and see no need for their stores and employees expenses.
@@moustafa6748 Century Three started having trouble back in 2003, before on-line shopping became a big thing. They were hurt by being close to the Waterfront development and South Hills Village, then the 2008 recession. The five malls I mentioned are doing fine. All of them have a Macy's. My beef with the video is that they overstate the case that all malls are dying and the simplistic answer that the malls that are closing are due to online shopping. In reality, there are many reasons a mall might close, one of them being suddenly located between too much competition (Beaver Vally, Century Three).
From my European perspective. Here we don't have ancore stores. That is problem with your American malls. People don't need to enter the mall to get to ancore stores. And as we all know lot of retailors go bankrupt. Thats were the problem is. For exaple in my country big retailors are based on underground floor. And od course you need to pass many small stores to get to them. And consumer will come across a lot of things to buy which they diden't come for in first place. That increases sales and stores make money.
in our town in SA in 1980s a mini mall opened and 2000s a big mall opened and in 2014/2015 a medium sized mall was built and new areas are still being built today.
"Amen"
"I've never heard that before from you..."
😂😂
So many terrific 'Dead Mall Explorers' on UA-cam 👍
Dan Bell was one of the first and best.
Can't believe they didn't mention Rolling Acres specifically. It's sort of the "poster child" of dead malls. If you're interested in this topic, it's absolutely worth checking out Dan Bell and others walking through it. This is of course, before the building was completely demolished and removed.
I expected a montage from an abonded mall.
Malls in rich areas are slammed.
Metrocenter in Arizona use to be a nice mall in 80s and 90s
Now it's a shitshow of vacant stores and crime
I think that it is interesting that I'm not really seeing a lot of this where I live in western Canada, or in any of Canada really. Many of our malls seem to be located closer to where people actually live, and are typically used as things like bus hubs. Just interesting to see how our two countries dealt with the idea of malls differently.
Same here in Australia. I'm not a shopping person, but the big mall's here seem to continually increasing there size, number of shops and and parking. Maybe this is more of an issue with the USA's decreasing living standards and household incomes.
Yeah same here in Sweden. The shipping mall I've lived around has been renovated and expanded twice during the my life. it is a large bus and train center.
I think location has a lot to do with it. In my area, the city of Worcester, MA can't seem to hold on to a mall. One in the downtown area was called the Galleria but was slowly dying because no one liked going downtown to shop. So it was re-branded the Common Fashion Outlets and it too eventually closed and was torn down. It had too many high end clothing stores that no one in Worcester would ever shop at. Another, The Greendale Mall, only has like two stores left in it and will probably close soon.
One in Auburn, MA still has a lot of stores but they are constantly closing and being replaced. One end of the mall is now a medical center as it was taken over by Reliant Medical Group. Now Sears on the opposite end of the mall is going to be closing so who knows what will happen after that.
On the other hand there is a fairly new "Outdoor" mall called the shoppes at Blackstone Valley in Millbury, MA and that mall is booming.
There is also a more traditional indoor mall in Marlborough, MA called the Solomon Pond Mall and it is doing very well. So if you are in the right area and have the right type of stores for that area, I think malls can still do well. :)
I miss going to the mall! Grew up in Warrenville, Illinois and would go to Fox Valley Mall in Aurora, worked at Yorktown in Lombard, went to Stratford Mall, as well as others. So sad to see this!
All you need to sustain the malls is a crappy Amazon selection, and expensive shipping from other stores. Welcome to Canada!
MOA is still going strong and expanding actually
I live right next to the mall of america.. never even noticed a decline. If anything its busier with all of the crazy new stores
Depends where you live tbh
Ala Moana mall in Honolulu is always busy. You can have Ross and Hermes all on one place.
I believe the mall concept will return some day but maybe with a different focus. People Like to go out and physically touch cloths and meet friends, this is something online just doesn’t have,
Both malls in my area are doing really well so it’s hard to watch these but also hard to not watch them. Very interesting!
Definitely - especially now that people are fed up with multiple lockdowns for most of 2020, online shopping has lost some of its lustre. I mean, it's convenient in some ways, but not in others (I want/need my stuff now, not a week from now, and returning online purchases is beyond awful). I think people will want the experience of getting out of the house again.
I really miss malls the way they use to be. It was like your own Disneyland going there. If your mall was tiny and in a suburban town far away; it was like your sneak peak into what the rest of the country was doing. Physical shopping is better. I'm not against online shopping but I think physical shopping is still needed.
Growing up, there were three malls within our radius. One was “always flailing and out of city limits”, another was “sorta dangerous and crime-ridden”, and the last was one of the best local malls I’ve ever been to. Small (one story) but amazing store selection. Guess which survived?
Lmaooo, they boosting. The malls in my area be busy asf
The Dead Sea in Chrono Cross predicted the end of Malls. For those who don’t know what that is, it’s an area frozen in time from the future and part of it is a destroyed shopping mall. Some of the enemies in there include mannequins and the pissed off spirits of little girls who were in the theater area performing at the moment of the mall’s destruction.
I don't miss shopping. I'm in Atlanta, where they had a shoot out in the mall multiple times. It's just not worth it anymore! If you must then get there early, and leave after an hour.
One of the footage is from the mall here in my town...it's struggling to keep business in. Yes it was used during the fire too. It's sad.
in SA there are more than double the amount of malls than there was 20 years ago.
Malls still huge in Brazil! I mean it! There are clinics, scape rooms, bowling, parks, gov. institutions ( SACS), karts, supermarketings, and of course stores, first class restaurants, fast food and cinemas. It's air controlled, it's safe, it's usually in cities downtowns so lot of workes and students pass by to eat or buy something.
Every time I see this kind of thing, I remember that you would need 4 earths to keep up the American levels of consumption, according to an article in BBC. Every time you stop for a while and consume less is good amount of time you’re adding for the things you consume to properly replenish themselves. So malls closing is actually a pretty good sign.
Creed Bratton well, if the BBC said it, it must be true🙄
I think companies need to make more durable products that last longer and when they do wear out, can be recycled. I don't like the totally disposable, throwaway culture.
But all this means is people are consuming from a different source. I.e Amazon
The stagnant wages and the disappearing middle class is a big factor. Many retailers target the middle class able to afford the prices above the discount big box stores. The most affluent malls are doing fine. Also malls targeting the Asian and Hispanic clientele.
Crime being another factor. Ghetto black youth is a big contributor terrorizing malls once the bus route or section 8 housing is built causing thefts, shouting, fights, and gunshots. Shoppers and tenants flee and the surrounding areas become ghetto. Chris Rock quoted there's two malls. One where white people go and one where white people used to go.
Malls are well and good in the UK as there usually integrated into the local high street. So you can go round local shops and big brands seamlessly.
American malls are usually in the middle of nowhere and you need to drive. Public transport is awful there.
The nature of retail is changing.
Brick and mortar stores are dying because it's expensive to operate one and profit margins are thin.
Companies like Amazon are the new way of shopping. Couple that with 24 to 48 hr door to door delivery and it puts the squeeze on malls and their antiquated way of doing business.
As somebody who lives in Nairobi, and in the construction industry, I'm afraid this is what the future of malls look like here. I tell investors to build community sports complexes (at the same budget of malls) but investors want that fast ROI. Joke's on them. A new mall comes up every 6 months, and consumers mall-hop. And again online shopping is closing down stores but nobody wants to see this. In the next 5 years Kenya will have many abandoned malls like the ones in the video.
Summit malls just torn down in Pontiac,Michigan about a month ago.
DETROIT!!!!
One of my childhood malls was demolished earlier this month after being pretty dead for years. I cried. I am 27 but I feel I should have been born 10 years earlier. I love the 80s and 90s mall aesthetic and how they were and and got a small taste of them when I was young. I miss it so much and hate what has happened to commerce with online shopping. Amazon can go to hell.. Steph Lawless is a great inspiration for me as a photographer too! I love taking photos of abandoned spaces.
Its sad... I used to love going to the mall. No one likes or engages in social interactions anymore.
Does anyone remember Gadzooks?
Malls were quite limiting in the way they segregated people and views.
Well, we have walmart now, Eh!
Jennifer W so true
@@fionafiona1146
LOL what a stupid comment
@@indigoism6089 yeah what the hell is she talking about
Aww, I miss the Mall.
Very good, informative video.
You should go check out the King of Prussia mall...it is now a monster behemoth, and just expanded
Some malls are successful, some are not. Flying over them in an airplane doesn't give you a proper perspective on what is really happening. You should go back and do research on why those surviving malls are successful.
The one thing not mentioned is the fact that malls are a magnet for gangs. It's like putting a school of sharks in a swimming pool.
The only shopping centres (malls) I like are those with outward-facing shops along the perimeter that are part of the local high street (commercial street). Giant inward-facing shopping centres and some retail parks (outlets) within towns are a blight to the more traditional high street, the latter of which I prefer. I think the high street/town centre/broadway encourage small independent businesses and offer less mass produced goods and services.
That said, I appreciate that I have plenty of choices all within a short distance. Where I live in suburban London, there's 4 or 5 high streets with shopping centres and markets approximately 3 miles each direction, 4 or 5 retail parks with full-size supermarkets within a walking distance, and multiple chains and independent businesses of varying sizes down the road. The Westfield is a monstrosity however in my opinion.
Went to my local mall a few Weeks ago. Barley a single person. Very few employees. It felt like an alternate dimension. I had to leave bc it was so depressing to be in
The only reason I ever went was because it had the skating rink where you could play recreational hockey. Still would if I were there.
Let me ask americans something on the subject...
Would you say there was an overabundance of malls and the excess has now closed doors getting to more manageable levels, or is it really that malls are completely dead and you can't find any around you?
The reality here where I live is completely different. Amazon never quite caught on.... in fact, Amazon took too long to open business here (which is ironic since I'm from Brazil), another giant took it's place (B2W with some half a dozen of the biggest online retail brands), and now that it finally opened up shop it's having a really hard time getting costumers.
Which is to say, online shopping is growing and does have it's place, but in my city shopping malls are still here. In fact, they are still growing. Since I moved to my city, 3 new shopping centers opened up, one of them being the biggest ever in my state.
It's quite amazing... some of them will get lots of traffic on weekends, all weekends, and particularly crowded near holidays. If it rains during the weekend then it becomes even worse... too many people. The biggest shopping center here had to buy a separate lot and build an external parking space to accommodate more cars, because it was always getting too full during weekends, despite having two entire 4 level blocks of parking space, plus already having a huge front space of parking space previous to buying the other lot.
Now, there are a few key factors to consider. Mail is expensive here. You can save quite a bit by shopping locally instead of online. Like I said, Amazon is quite small here... the selection of products isn't as big as it is in the US, there's no grocery shopping on Amazon here (some big grocery markets are starting to offer delivery service at a price though), and I think none of the online shops offer same day or overnight shipping.... they offer faster shipping if you pay a ton more for it. One way or another, you have to wait a few days for stuff to arrive, so if you want the thing right now, you'll have to go out to physical stores.
Parking at shopping malls tends to be pretty expensive, having a store on a shopping mall is very very expensive, the food at shopping malls are generally way more expensive than a restaurant on street level, and most shopping centers don't usually have much in the way of services. A few of them do, but the majority of it is just retail stores and food courts. Sometimes you get a gym, a repair shop area, banks, travel agencies, gaming centers, and a few others... but they are usually isolated in a relatively small space.
Now, for myself, if I had an Amazon like the US plus several other big retail stores working as well as they do there at prices that usually beats physical stores, I can see myself not needing shopping malls anymore. I live near one and I don't go there much already. It's generally cheaper to order food, and I do buy stuff online a lot. But I don't see the habit of going to shopping malls and using it as a social space dying anytime soon here.
So, while I can understand a steep sharp decline because of online shopping, a complete die off seems a bit... over the top. There are obviously way more factors at play than what I said, but still....
You should put a tl;dr disclaimer
@@silversunset , actually, what he wrote was quite interesting. You should put a "5 second attention span here" disclaimer before anything you write.
Bob Taylor don't assume things about people. I did actually read the *entire* thing after I commented that. I was just surprised about how long it was
Bob Taylor Sorry I didn't mean to come of as being negative
I agree with it and I think it's well written. I just think that it is objectively a long comment
@RaFari1119 Bee Thanks for the answer! Interesting perspective, it certainly does make sense from a general quality perspective and lack of unique and exclusive products made by the companies themselves or at least locally. It also kills diversity.
Did you notice though that it clashes with my own comment? While I can't really say that local commerce is growing much, the reality for my country is that shopping centers and malls are still flourishing somehow... despite them also carrying mostly chinese made products.
But in a way, this is probably only true for bigger cities and capitals. And perhaps tourist hubs. Thinking back about my comment, the city I'm currently living in which is a capital city, and my hometown which is a touristic city, both got 3 and 2 shopping malls in the past half decade. But I can't say this is a national level phenomena really...
I was born in the 80s, so from a more recent perspective I do remember lots of big retail stores that closed down, were sold off, or merged with newer chains.
The reality of production also changed, but I don't think it happened as drastically as it did in the US. We used to have way bigger local production of shoes, and perhaps a few other commodities... but it was mostly already imported goods, particularly stuff like electronics which my country never really had a big internal production.
Can't say I'm very fond of the entire new concept of fast fashion, cheap quality stuff, fast upgrade cycles, and most things turning to waste in such a quick turnaround... but I think it would be fair to say for countries like mine that it enabled tons more people to have access to several categories of products they couldn't afford in the past. And since we already didn't have a big local production, I think (though I might be wrong), that is also didn't affect retail stores and malls as much as it did up there.
Then again, the other thing I can think of is that online shopping here just isn't as convenient, as well structured, as reliable or as well understood as in the US.
First of all, the majority of my country still don't have reliable computers, internet connections, or even access to more fundamental stuff like a credit card that is needed for online shopping. We also don't have the secure systems in place for reliable transactions in place.
Scams and fraud related to payment transactions moved from PoS credit card transactions to online ones, big part of my country is computer/Internet illiterate, and the big eCommerce stores here have extremely bad security, design, costumer service and return practices.
This all contributes to people still mostly going for retail shopping instead of ordering stuff online, even if the precedence of goods are basically the same.
Anyways, thanks for sharing your perspective! :D
Malls and Sears: Exist
Amazon and Walmart: I'm going to end this man's whole career.
StarFighter Studios well said
@@SEPHLAWLESS Also Kmart is in its Grave now.
@@spookysenpai7642 Sadly, but Kmart fell off though in the mid to late 2000s, when i was a kid, Kmart was thriving and one of the biggest retailers from the 80s until the early 2000s when Walmart and Target started growing.
I have a Westfield mall just 10 miles away from me and it seems to be doing just fine :/
Is that in the UK?
Malls are booming in Asia and Africa...
In the Phillipines, Our Malls are Dominated by S.M., or Robinsons Malls.
Check out the Dead Mall Series on UA-cam
What kind of Cessna plane were you looking at?
Food court full of expensive fast food and the same chain stores over and over. All the malls look the same now. I go to buy things but not sure why I would go to more then that
Too many malls and too much damn DEBT
Malls are thriving where i live
Ha Ba where u live
@@jayandree4361 there are thriving malls all over California. The mall I grew up going to is booming. It's more about the income in the surrounding area than anything. If your anchor store is Sears or JC Penny, your mall is dying. If your anchor store is Bloomingdale's, your mall is probably OK.
cleftintwain most malls are dying but a few are thriving in my area. Like Tysons mall in Va n Wheaton mall in Md but some are dying or dead like white flint mall Md, City Place in MD.... from the dc area
@@jayandree4361 Metro DC is a prime example of the widening income gap in the US. I'd bet the malls in Calvert and Loudoun County are doing great.
@@mjwbulich I live in the bay area and Westfield is pushing out literally everyone. my childhood mall Vallco died recently in Cupertino. I dont know where you live but I hate this modern shit
The death of American malls is due to many factors, chief among them being the rise of internet shopping coupled with the continued skrinking of a middle class burdened by a draconian tax system and a tanking economy.
While malls are growing here.
Well I’m from Metro Atlanta originally, in my lifetime only 3 malls in Georgia have shut down for good including one right after the recession even! 😳 Anyways: The first mall to close for good was the year I was born, Cobb Center Mall in Smyrna, Georgia anchored with Rich’s now modern Macy’s all over Metro Atlanta, Kesslers, Grants, Woolworths, Colonial Supermarket, and etc, Anyways burned down to the ground, so all that was left was the Rich’s Clearance Center and Publix Supermarket, the Rich’s closed in 2004 before the merger in 2005 with Macy’s, then Publix closed down in 2016 long after I moved to PCB, to anybody who is a UA-cam user from Metro Atlanta or Panama City Beach please comment what you remember about these malls I’m going to mention! 😁 Next the Avondale Mall in Decatur, Georgia never been to it before, the Sears, Macy’s that used to be Davidson’s back in the day before 1986 when that merger with Macy’s came into fruition, anyways the mall closed in 2001 I believe with no anchors it just was crippled long before the attack of 9/11 that year, so today a Walmart replaced the whole property, where as for Cobb Center a school and now a foreign supermarket including a soccer field replaced the property. 🤔 The final and last mall to close in Georgia in general not including ones in the Non Metro Atlanta region: Union Station Mall in Union City, Georgia anchored originally with Rich’s, Macy’s formerly Davidson’s as well, JCPenney’s, and Sears, Anyways the first anchor to leave was JCPenney’s closed in 2004 and became some entertainment center called Maxx Fun closed right before the mall did, only went this mall once in my lifetime, the really old Macy’s actually left before JCPenney’s did technically which was 1998 surprisingly when the other Macy’s closed in 2003 to consolidate with Rich’s, anyhow the Macy’s that ended up coming back to this mall that replaced Rich’s through a merger closed down for good in 2010, then finally the mall filed for bankruptcy and the owner forgot to pay the bills on time sadly, so that same year the last anchor known as Sears was the first Metro Atlanta location to close down long before Mall at Stonecrest did in the recent times of course, so now the mall closed for good in 2011, so today it is now known as the Atlanta Film Studio! 🧐 Now finally the moment of truth, I saved the best for last, after 4 years living in Panama City Beach Florida, the worst catastrophic hurricane inevitable to hit the United States on Wednesday October 10, 2018 at 11 or 12 something in the afternoon anyways the only shopping mall besides Pier Park, which this mall has been dying for an extremely long time, the Panama City Mall in Panama City, Florida originally anchored by Dillard’s formerly Gayfer’s, JCPenney’s, and Sears and etc, so on that one December day last year the mall closed for good, along with the Chapter 11 Bankruptcy of Sears at that time was planning to close long before the storm however, so as of today part of the former mall has reopened including JCPenney’s, but everything else gone and abandoned including Sears! 😳 So with all of this being said, sadly out of the former malls that closed, Panama City Mall was my favorite, because Cobb Center was apart of my family’s time mostly, Avondale Mall was already ghetto before I ever got to go there, Union Station has turned for the worst after I visited once sadly, and Pc Mall was good because of Fye, and the different choices in the small food court, the former Bennigans, and that’s it mostly, so therefore I agree malls are dying, but the more popular ones including Pier Park Town Center in Panama City Beach Florida are thriving, which it’s properly known as Pier Park, are reasons we still need malls in new forms! 😁
Outlets > malls
In Australia malls b thriving
Ironic last name Fallows...America's malls' have indeed become fallowed ground..
They’re not dead here in Atlanta
That's not a Cessna, that's a Cirrus.
That was not a Cessna!
Thats the cost of innovation and progress it cant be help
Malls are dying out because of Online Shopping. Blame Amazon!!
OMG I saw the mall I shop at 😭
Andrew Yang warned us about this!
Malls are disgusting and show the bad side of human nature, greed and over consumption.
Agreed
But you could say the same about any type of shopping location; highstreet etc
Well, that really escalated quickly! Thanks Covid 🤦🏼♀️
Why would you go to the mall when you have to drive or be driven if youre too young as you have almost 0 access to public transport. America needs to overhaul its city planning so they can try to remedy this
i live near by 4 malls
I still don't by anything from online
the internet killed malls just like the way video killed the radio star
Deb Fallows looks more than a bit like Edie Falco AKA 'Carmella Soprano'
thats not a cessna but ok...
Reminds me of the “Ford Unveils New Lamborghini” headline some news station had a few years ago. Anyway, that’s a nice Cessna Cirrus.
‘’ misguided’’? How so? Where would people find affordable housing? Keep in mind suburbs go back to the 19th century
By not spreading them out in ways that disenfranchise people? Children can't get anywhere, teens neither and having been an au pair that was starting.
fiona fiona that’s a leap.
@@Dog.soldier1950
Suburbs are so odd, satellite towns, middrise housing sure but suburbs are simply wasteful.
@@fionafiona1146 So true. Not mention adults who cant drive for whatever reason, if the public transportation is no good or unreliable makes it even worse.
RIP mall ya...next
Google bought the west side pavilion mall..clueless was filmed there ....
Tell that to aisa
efficient for whom?
America is horrible about spaces and efficiency what is he talking about
Lol 2008 is probably when malls started booming here in India.
As unions declined, so did the purchasing power of the working class. Malls were always a result of the purchasing power of the working class. No unions, no purchasing power, no malls.
Amazon.
More documentation of the dying middle class
God forbid we repurpose them into thoughtfully crafted affordable housing with associated schools stores and medical facilities.
Just turn them into housing
You made a short doc about dead malls and you didn’t interview Dan Bell🙄 Do you even know how UA-cam works?
I love Dan Bell, but he hasn't been making as much content lately besides the dirty motel series.
@@SalivatingSteve Running out of interesting dead malls to visit maybe? Plus travel is costly for a YT video that probably doesn't make a big return on investment.
America is doomed
>(mega-)malls alive & well all over asia