AJC.com > Opinion > Opinion Talk > Archives > 2005 > June > 16 > Entry
DEL.ICIO.USDeclining shopping malls
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
What factors lead to a shopping mall’s decline? What types of stores should malls feature to stay afloat?
Tell us what you think about the site
Customer Care »
Vacation stops, manage subscriptions and more
AJC Services
Sections
Other Editions
Guides
Visitor Agreement | Privacy Statement | AdChoices
© 2012 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Comments
Commenting is now closed for this entry.
By Cindy
June 16, 2005 07:58 AM | Link to this
Shopping malls begin to deline as soon as roving bands of rude, unruly kids move in and take over. I haven’t regularly shopped at malls for years because of this problem. All hail the internet shopping!
By Henry Keller
June 16, 2005 08:47 AM | Link to this
Generally, the primary factor to any area’s decline is the large influx of minority ethnic groups. That along with the exodus of white people. See South Dekalb and South Gwinnett as an example.
By Brian Curtis
June 16, 2005 08:58 AM | Link to this
The question assumes (wrongly) that malls SHOULD stay afloat. Letting them decline and fade away sounds like a great idea to me.
By Lee
June 16, 2005 12:52 PM | Link to this
Shopping malls are a recent fixture, due to more people having cars, and able to travel to a single place with all-purpose shopping and entertainment.
Walmart and Target have replaced the need for many of the mall’s services, except for “high-end” retailers that sell the brand name.
Malls react the same as most other shopping areas. Change and adapt, or go out of business. Some things that malls cannot control are population movement and overall economic factors. If a small town has one big plant, and the plant goes out of business, then the mall in that town will probably go out of business too.
As a consumer, I have not been to the mall more than a dozen times in the past year, but I’ve been to Wal-mart and Target a hundred times. It is competition that is the strongest factor in closing a mall.
By E. Lewis
June 17, 2005 10:05 AM | Link to this
A particular mall’s decline is usually caused by things beyond its control. If the neighborhood declines, the needed demographics move out to the burbs, a major employer in the area lays-off well paid workers, or if a much shopped at anchor store goes out of business, people will naturally leave. The mall management may not have much of a choice than to get another replacement store in that will bring in a lower economic clientele. These people have as much of a right to shop as anyone, but they may not be enough to sustain a mall. It’s a vicious cycle.