When You’ve Seen One, You’ve Seen the Mall

Gostiny Dvor (1785) open gallery in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Wikimedia Commons

Still, all the displacement downstairs is modest compared to what's been happening, in general, to the malls in the United States. It is estimated that there are now 30% fewer of them than at the height of their popularity. An article in Forbes, The Coming Death of the American Shopping Mall, forecast that another 10% of the roughly 1,000 remaining large malls in the US would fail.

It's rather hard to remember a mall-less society. Indeed, the mall concept in some form has existed somewhere in the world for centuries, at least since Trajan's Market in Rome in 100 CE and the Grand Bazaars of Istanbul. In Europe, as early as 1785 the Gostiny Dvor shopping center was constructed in St. Petersburg. A century later, the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II (tk) rose gloriously in Milan.

As for the United States, the prototype did not grace (or disgrace) our landscape until 1915, with the advent of a landmark two-story Duluth mall. Then in the mid-20th century, the idea proliferated on steroids, as the new suburban and auto culture encouraged mass mall construction away from downtown areas. This was incentivized by the passage of accelerated depreciation laws tied to Greenfield development around the malls. Another growth component was the introduction of REITS (Real Estate Investment Trusts) that attracted individual investors by avoiding the high rate of corporate taxes.

From the start, the idea of sprawling malls created controversy across America. Their defectors accused them of sounding the death knell for small downtowns everywhere. Many believed that the larger chains moving into the malls would devastate the more modest locally owned businesses along Main Street. And to a large extent, they did.

Shoppers climbed into their cars and pick-up trucks and headed to monstrous malls on the outskirts — often conveniently close to freeways — and made a day of it. The selection was greater and prices generally less. Eventually the malls also become hangouts for teenagers.

During economic downturns, malls suffered. And they took another big hit with the advent of buying online, which could be done from the comfort of one's own home. As more shopping moved from the brick and mortar stores to the Internet, less physical retail space was needed. Businesses could avoid retail rents and use one warehouse for goods. This more than made up for website costs and merchandise delivery.

I would also theorize that the ubiquitous use of cell phones enabled one to indulge in a social experience anywhere, not just in the mall. When I traveled in China in the mid-'80s, portable electronic gadgetry was just making its debut there, and few Chinese citizens could afford it. Owning a cell phone became a badge of affluence. And where better to show off one's monetary success than in a big, busy mall? So it was not uncommon to see shoppers standing in the center of a crowded aisle and shouting a conversation into a cell phone, in a shameless bid to attract the attention of envious shoppers.

On rare occasions, Ma Nature has usurped the economy in taking revenge on malls. In 1999 I happened to be near Oklahoma City when the then most violent tornado recorded in our nation's history ripped through the area. It loomed up from the town of Moore to the south and twisted furiously toward Tulsa, capriciously destroying property in its path. The morning before the tornado struck, I had gone shopping at the Tanger Mall along the inter-city Turner Turnpike. At a Bass outlet, I bought myself a pair of blue suede shoes, just like Elvis.

That night, as I and others cowered in the cellar of my in-laws' house a scant ten miles away, the entire mall was leveled. An adjoining Best Western motel remained standing, barely touched by the twister. There are some things more powerful than commercial progress.

Incidentally, I was never charged for the blue suede shoes. Nor, as it developed, did I wear them much. The credit card receipt had no doubt been whirled away with all the other mall merchandise. Perhaps the whole chaotic mess landed somewhere in Kansas — like Dorothy and her sparkling ruby slippers.

*As an aside and strange coincidence, a few days after I submitted this article about the struggles of America's malls to survive, a far more serious threat loomed in the form of a possible terrorist attack on the Mall of America in Minneapolis.

Pages: 1 · 2

Home and Shopping, History, Culture Watch, Moving and Retirement, Senior Women Web, Articles, Sightings, Doris O'Brien, Authors, What's New Add comments

When You’ve Seen One, You’ve Seen the Mall

More Articles