Wednesday, June 21, 2023

 

The Mall Problem

 

The town I live in, Edina, is unusual in that it has not only a little downtown area with a theater and restaurants and shops, but two malls. One of those malls, the upscale Galleria, seems to be thriving. People from the upper Midwest seem to flock there. The other one, Southdale, has struggled.
 
Southdale was, in fact, the first enclosed mall in the United States. It went through stages of change before, but the pandemic hit it hard.
 
Intriguingly, though, it seems to have had a pretty good strategy for survival. Instead of continuing to try to find retail stores to fill up storefronts, it changed pace. First came lots of apartments and a hotel in the parking lots. Then came a huge LifeTime fitness center, and next is a grocery store. It won't be the same kind of mall, but it will be a thing-- and that is probably good. 

Comments:
A struggling mall in Louisville has opened a Topgolf facility. Where all manner of goods once were sold is now the site of whizzing golf balls being batted in the direction of what used to be part of the parking lot. An excellent use of empty space.

Shopping is one of my 3 primary hobbies and I'm a child of the 20th century -- the century of the mall -- so I see the national decline of shopping malls as a sad thing. Like everyone, I shop more and more online but nothing beats the thrill of the hunt as I enter a mall: What will I find TODAY???
 
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