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. I couldn't find the exact figures, whether it's only some malls closing or if the whole model will become extinct in near future
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I think it's the traditional enclosed malls in particular having a hard time, and that isn't a new trend caused by the internet but instead started 20 years ago when big box chains started to expand. The dead mall phenomena started in the late 1990s when some of the really old malls from the 1950s that had passed on by competing shopping centers couldn't hold on anymore. Then the recession started killing off the small town malls. Another thing is there used to be a bunch of different regional department stores and then they all merged into Macy's and Dillard's.
What I've read in the news and what I've seen in articles quoting retail leaders is that large cities and some towns that function as commercial hubs for the surrounding region will be able to sustain 2-3 "super regional" or "luxury" malls while the rest will slowly go away, perhaps becoming other things like offices or warehouses or schools or medical clinics, etc. There was a time period when towns with about 50,000 or 60,000 people(like where I grew up, Killeen, TX) could have a mall with a 3 or 4 department store anchors but that is the past, I think this type of mall is the one that is disappearing the fastest and accounts for the statistics showing malls are dying. For what it's worth, when they were building those enclosed malls in the early 1980s there were far fewer strip malls or chains located outside of malls in these towns.
However as you said, strip malls continue to be built. Some struggling department stores that used to be mostly inside malls have found success with standalone stores outside of malls like JC Penney.
Also there's been a lot of new shopping centers built in the last 10 years that are basically malls but don't call themselves that. Suburban mixed use town center developments tend to have the same stores that used to be in malls except now they are outside. Also there are those Prime and Tanger Outlet centers.
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Everyone else for the most part will be buying online or going to a big box warehouse.
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I think this is a bit dramatic. I'm a Millennial and my younger sister is Gen Z and we both still like to go to the store.
Ironically I went to a mall this afternoon, lol. Memorial City in Houston, which is one of 2 big malls in the central part of the city. It was built in 1959 but has changed a lot, not sure if any particular section of it is original at this point. I wanted to go in the Apple store to see what the iPhone 13 was like to physically hold in person, before I buy one. It was recently remodeled and almost all the storefronts are occupied. They recently tore down the empty Sears department store, there are plans to expand the mall out further. The place is huge, and anchored by a large medical center(the world's tallest hospital building in fact) as well as other high rise office, hotel, residential, etc.
That said, within a few miles of Memorial City there used to be several malls that are gone now. Town and Country, Northwest, Westwood are closed entirely. West Oaks is on it's last legs. Sharpstown became PlazAmericas.