>The Internet and technology, has largely killed the mall. Teenagers, for example, no longer need to go to the mall to exchange gossip and be "seen." They also

>The Internet and technology, has largely killed the mall. Teenagers, for example, no longer need to go to the mall to exchange gossip and be "seen." They also have high amount of disposable income. (see: millennials and car usage for similar changes in a market) And Shopping online has become too easy for many people. I wonder how much is because of helicopter parenting: parents won't let their kids out of their sight until they're 18 these days. That'll keep kids from going to the mall to hang out. Also, the middle class is dying out and people have less disposable income, and jobs fit for teenagers have all dried up; this probably means teens aren't getting cars as much and are stuck at home. However, even back when I was a teenager and hung out at the mall, we teenagers did little more than make the mall look busy. We didn't buy very much, except maybe ice cream cones, and dinner at food court. Malls have always had crappy prices for a lot of stuff, but they were convenient. But now Amazon is more convenient, and a lot cheaper. The only thing keeping malls open these days is clothing stores; there's rarely book stores or electronics stores or music stores or other kinds of stores there any more, just clothes. You can buy clothes online, but it's a crappy experience because you can't try them on and you can't feel them. You can still buy consumer electronics and appliances at Sears, but they're teetering on the edge of bankruptcy so that isn't going to last long. >There are other reasons that malls have been struggling as well (Suburban sprawl is a big one, especially due to factors such as in part, the Concentric Zone Model [0] (as housing stock gets older, and population increase, many persons move further out to newer/better/larger housing stock, and the previously housing is then taken up by a lower socio-economic class, which may no longer be able to support the local mall. Yep, I saw this in Phoenix. The malls near the urban center are smaller and older, and not doing well. "Metrocenter" mall used to be a really nice mall decades ago, and these days it's derisively called "ghettocenter". If you go to those malls, you'll find half the stores closed, and wonder to yourself how they're still in business.