Dead Mall Walking

Heat and humidity moved in, and we moved our walks indoors. I've become a mall walker. So far we've been doing most of our walking at Landmark Mall, which is the closest to campus. Originally built as an open air mall in 1965, it was enclosed in 1990. It had three anchor stores, of which two remain--Sears and Macy's. The large restaurants are closed, as are about half the food court spaces. Close to half the retail spaces are empty. What remains isn't capable of supporting it. The city has approved the most recent redevelopment plans, and work is scheduled to begin later this year.

Last night  we walked the Bollston Commons Mall in Arlington. It has very few empty stores, but two of the large restaurants are closed closed as well as some of the smaller ones in the food court. While not as dead as Landmark, there still weren't a lot of people there for a hot and humid summer evening. There are signs that Bollston Commons has begun the decline. We see this trend across the country.

As malls popped up they replaced town centers, many of which were dead or dying, as the social and commercial focus of communities. Some towns fought the building of malls but instead worked to attract some of the same stores found in malls. In a sense those redeveloped streets became open air malls themselves. In other places the old town centers have revitalized and become the vital retail, dining, and residential centers they once were. We're reversing the process.

But it's more than revitalized town centers that are causing the decline in malls. The Internet has taken a large and increasing part of retail spending. It's also affecting the big box bookstores, which in their time pushed many of the small book shops out of business. A process hastened by the arrival of Amazon.com. The internet is changing the retail landscape, and social media is changing the way we interact with each other. Yet it seems we still need places where we interact face-to-face. This probably has something to do with the revival of our old town centers.

So what will become of the mall spaces? Even some of the currently successful ones are adding office and residential space, hotels, and recreational space.They are creating town centers in suburban areas that developed without traditional centers.

But the rest?