You already see this a lot with the upscale outdoor malls. e.g. the Domain in Austin. These places are always crowded and popular... and tend to have more up an

You already see this a lot with the upscale outdoor malls. e.g. the Domain in Austin. These places are always crowded and popular... and tend to have more up and coming brands/niche stores rather than copy/paste main brands. Fundamentally, people like to go outside and hang out, even if there's not a compelling economic reason for doing so (online is cheaper/more practical). So I don't think the "mall type" experience will ever die, just needs to be a higher quality experience, as you said. Also the rents in these older malls will drop dramatically which either leads to repurposing the space (apartment conversion) or previously uneconomical business models starting to work (big box retail again)