Description

At the end of the Second World War, the vast suburban shopping mall did not exist. By the 1970’s, malls dominated retail shopping and had contributed to the decline of center cities across the US. By the late 1990’s, many malls were beginning to look shop-worn and tarnished. By 2020 the industry was in free fall, dozens of malls were closed, abandoned, or threatened with foreclosure. In a richly illustrated lecture, Bill Keene briefly traces the rapid rise of the shopping mall, highlighting the reasons for its success and the devastating impact of that success on center cities. Following that introduction, the focus shifts to the reasons for the early decline and then rapid fall of the shopping mall: from aging infrastructure, changing demographics, the rise of Internet buying, consolidation among department stores, to over-building. Each contributed to the decline and fall of malls across the country. With the advent of Covid, the decline became for many a death spiral. The program concludes with an overview of the prospects for the near future, ranging from housing, offices, to Amazon fulfillment centers and more.