There's one big mall in Columbus Circle in Manhattan that I know about - and then a bunch of lower key shopping plazas. Nothing like the huge sprawling malls that I grew up with in Northern Virginia. But I hear that many malls are disappearing these days.
Are there thriving malls near where you live?
eggplant / 11716 posts
There are several in northern NJ. I don't really shop IRL these days, though!
grapefruit / 4089 posts
We've got 3 malls (one main one and two smaller ones) within 2 minutes of my house. The big mall is thriving, and the other 2 seem to be chugging along Ok.
hostess / papaya / 10540 posts
A huge one within walking distance and there are talks of expanding. Gotta love the traffic around the area from it.
papaya / 10343 posts
We have 3 mall in my city, two of which are thriving and growing. One is more of a traditional mall with an attached outdoor shopping area. The other is mostly an outdoor mall with a smaller indoor mall in the center. Both have a ton of great restaurants in/around them, movie theaters, kid attractions (a play area at one, a splash pad at the other)... they're sort of what there is to do here if you don't want to go downtown.
persimmon / 1461 posts
over the last few years it seems that malls have taken over in popularity here, and shopping strips are slowly being killed off by high rents. melbourne has always been known as "the shopping capital" in australia, with 4 or 5 main shopping strips with designers/independent boutiques/chains etc. lately they've been slowly filling with empty shopfronts though. westfield has taken over as the main company with big suburban malls that the former shopping strip stores are moving into. there's also been a resurgence of shopping in the CBD with the opening of a huge interconnected mall that sprawls across 3 city blocks right in the center of the city. I tend to shop at my local shopping strip for groceries/errands, and there are 2 small suburban malls if I need a chain store. otherwise, its to the city maybe once a month.
blogger / wonderful cherry / 21616 posts
Yeah there are tons! We have the mall of America less than an hour from us which is, of course, booming! There are several others within 45 minutes that are typically pretty busy.
pomelo / 5607 posts
There are at least 4 malls in my city or the surrounding area. One is definitely failing badly, and there's one that's been turned into a medical center since I was in high school. Of the remaining 3, pretty sure 2 are doing well, and one is something of a tourist attraction (Opry Mills), and for whatever reason is doing so well it backs up the exits to go there.
honeydew / 7586 posts
We don't have malls in the city but have a few really nice ones in the surrounding counties that are thriving.
pomelo / 5258 posts
The malls in the nice areas are doing fine but the malls in average areas are really depressing and empty. The dividing characteristic seems to be having a Nordstrom's.
apricot / 358 posts
It's funny... I live in San Jose, CA, a city that now has over a million people and is really urbanizing. However, this city has insanely popular malls that are all in the process of expanding and adding super high-end stores. This means that retail in the urban core has suffered. Right now, downtown is full of tech companies, condos, restaurants, and clubs, but has very little to offer shoppers...
pomegranate / 3329 posts
We are in the middle of three pretty large malls, two are outdoors and I frequent those more often than the indoors one. We have a few that have died off too.
coconut / 8861 posts
There's a few outside of the city in Rosemont and Lincolnwood. Downtown, there's Block 37 and two malls on Michigan Avenue.
grapefruit / 4355 posts
Lots of big, thriving malls in the Atlanta area (both regular and outlet malls)!
watermelon / 14467 posts
Yes! The two closest to me are doing well. The smaller one just had a huge remodel and has attracted some high-end stores (Marc Jacobs, Kate Spade, Madewell will be coming soon, etc.) and the other one is popular too. There is a large outdoor strip in the far northeast part of the city that is booming, and one other that I know of that is doing ok. One in So. Ind. is okay, it's small but always seems to have a crowd.
Have you seen the Buzzfeed article about the forgotten malls?
persimmon / 1367 posts
Yep, indoor malls around here (Boston suburb) are doing great! They're just finishing up putting in one of the outdoor malls, and while it is very nice and seems popular now, I can't imagine that it will be as busy in the winter - way too cold around here!
nectarine / 2797 posts
We have two malls within 10 min of our house. One is chugging along fine, and the other is scheduled to be demolished this fall and turned into an upscale shopping center. But Kevin Smith might film Mallrats 2 there first!
pear / 1599 posts
3 malls but only 1 thriving. It is lass than a year old and was brought to the area as a "higher end" mall. I think they failed at that but it's still nice.
pomelo / 5678 posts
Yes, it is cold here in the winter, so lots of people walk in the malls. We have a really lovely upscale (mainly) outdoor mall with high end and local retailers and restaurants and some other great incentives attached by our home and it is flourishing. I love pedestrian malls! We also have one downtown.
The two indoor malls are doing great!
GOLD / wonderful apricot / 22646 posts
Yep, malls are still thriving around here. We're in a cold weather state, so they are the only source of activity for months-long winter seasons!
Surprisngly, we live across an outdoor mall and it's doing great considering there's low traffic for nearly half the year!
We also have another indoor mall within 2 miles. 2 other malls within 10 miles and an outlet mall 20 min away!
squash / 13208 posts
@Mrs. Pen: Oh I have always wanted to go to the Mall of America!!
Yes we have a really nice mall!
pomegranate / 3863 posts
We have one pretty upscale mall in our town and then there are a couple outdoor malls/shopping areas in surrounding towns that have been doing well for many years now, which is surprising since it's so cold half of the year!
GOLD / wonderful pea / 17697 posts
Yeah, the big one here seems to be thriving. One in a nearby city is pretty much deserted, though. And we're fairly close to the King of Prussia mall, which is the largest in the US in terms of leasable retail space
pomegranate / 3350 posts
For the most part I think the malls around us are doing fine. There are two big traditional malls and the parking lots are always packed. There is a smaller one that always seems to have a fill parking lot but there are a lot of empty stores inside. The few stores that are there seem to be doing well so I don't know why they can't fill the others. There is a newer outdoor mall that people seem to love. It's funny though because. I grew up just an hour away and most of the malls there are awful. One in a nearby city could not even sustain a Walmart and there is no other competing store within 20 minutes.
pomegranate / 3032 posts
Also near King of Prussia but I tend to avoid that one and go to smaller malls like Willow Grove, Oxford Valley and Cherry Hill. There's also great outdoor malls like the Promande
nectarine / 2180 posts
@mrbee: Tysons, Pentagon City, still thriving! Tysons especially since there is a metro stop now. Apparently even the Springfield mall has been revamped, though I haven't been out there. I guess northern Virginians love their malls!
nectarine / 2180 posts
@mrbee: eh, it never seems very busy compared to Tysons I, but we rarely go there. I'm sure Cheesecake Factory and Maggiano's continue to bring people in 
pomegranate / 3809 posts
Boston suburb here and there are probably 4 malls within 30-40 minutes of me. There's a ton of indoor malls in the area. They use to be all pretty much the same, but now 1 is upscale (Natick) and one that I think is on its way there (Burlington). Then the rest are still the same average stores and haven't changed.
pomelo / 5129 posts
Tyson's 2 is still catering to the bigger labels and getting along fine. I think there may be more restaurants there now too?
Springfield Mall nearly died, but they just finished redoing it into a "town center". It's still a "mall" (in that it's enclosed), but they seem to be marketing it more like the outdoor shopping areas that have been successful in Reston and fairfax, so maybe it's better? I never shopped there until they closed all but the anchor stores because it never really felt safe with all the loitering that went on there.
nectarine / 2053 posts
We have one mall but I make it a habbit not to go there- it's full of pre-teens and teenagers who run into you because they cant take their eyes off their phones.
grapefruit / 4862 posts
Here in Orlando they mostly seem booming. Here on the west side, there are the big outlets, a MAJOR tourist mall (with Ikea, a huge indoor mall, and lots of strips that are thriving around the mall), and a great outdoor mall.
I used to work for a very well known property management company in the Midwest and their malls were both thriving and failing at the same time in our area. The outdoor ones seem to do really well, even in the cold areas! The ones closing seemed to lose business (and lose tenants or at least higher-quality ones) because of crime and incidents. The mall I worked at was only a few miles from another owned by the same management company, and our mall was 4 times smaller but did 4 times better, mostly because of the high-end stores and shoppers. The other was had less high-end stores, movie theatres and more theft and incidents. There was a mall in a rougher side of town that I believe closed shortly after I left. I have seen that a few of my coworkers have gotten let go so I do wonder if they're struggling and having to cut losses and focus on better investments.
admin / wonderful grape / 20724 posts
@Pancakes: I went there once or twice as a teen, and the prices were so high that I thought for sure it would go out of business. Guess they knew what they were doing though, because I heard that high-end malls are doing a lot better than the rest of the mall market!
bananas / 9357 posts
Yes and no. We have one mall that does well and one that is practically empty.
kiwi / 661 posts
King of Prussia I think does really well... they seem to be upgrading it and it is too big / busy for me to attempt to shop at!
hostess / papaya / 10219 posts
Oh yes. There are 2 big malls right in the city, but most of the smaller malls have closed. The suburbs all have big malls too.
| Today | Monthly Record | |
|---|---|---|
| Topics | 0 | 0 |
| Posts | 1 | 0 |
Ask for Help
Make a Suggestion
Frequently Asked Questions
Bee Levels
Acronyms
Most Viewed Posts
Hellobee Gold
Hellobee Recipes
Hellobee Features
Hellobee Contests
Baby-led Weaning
Bento Boxes
Breastfeeding
Newborn Essentials
Parties
Postpartum Care Essentials
Sensory Play Activities
Sleep Training
Starting Solids Gear
Transitioning to Toddler Bed
All Series
Who We Are
About the Bloggers
About the Hostesses
Contributing Bloggers
Apply to Blog
Apply to Hostess
Submit a Guest Blog
Hellobee Buttons
How We Make Money
Community Policies
- Google Plus
- Stumbleupon
- Twitter
- Facebook
- Pinterest
- Favorite0
61 comments