[larrydallas]

http://www.deadmalls.com/

Navigate in and around that site.

Some of the pictures are creepy.

Is this the future?

[mindfarkk]

AAAAAAGHHH... dead malls... don't make me look!

[PhilBiker]

This has been linked here before. Fantatic very entertaining site. The original mall builders wanted them to be community town meeting places in addition to shopping centers. They wanted them to be like a "main street" that was always doing lots of things.

The Dixie Square Mall is the deadest of the dead.

The Memphis Mall is next, shuttered for years without being demolished and redeveloped.

Lots of interesting reading on that site - highly recommended.

[stu]

Woah!!

The whole idea of dead malls is entirely new to me. Seeing as I live outside the US and have never been there it's a shock to the system to see this. The mall is one of the most popular images of US culture and has helped shape the way I view the country.

Is this a sign of economic decline or did they just build too many?

[mindfarkk]

dunno. but i knew of some dead malls in the middle of the boom in the 90's, one in the core of the wealthiest section of metro orlando.

[PhilBiker]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'I')s this a sign of economic decline or did they just build too many?

[larrydallas]

One fallacy in that web page I like to point out is how they always seem to suggest that when the middle or upper class moved out the gangs and urban decay moved in. While that is a reality they kind of take a leap and say that all poor people are criminal and seek to do nothing but destroy everything.

In Houston TX I grew up in the 80's and 90's and saw 2 malls die in front of my eyes. Sharpstown mall was built in the 1960s and was the first air conditioned one in Houston. It boomed during the 70s from what I have read. Then as the suburbs got further away from the city the area became diminated by Blacks, Mexcians, and new immirgant Asians. The retailers freaked and the anchor stores started to pull out. First the Federated electronics retailer left, then one, then the other.... I think it went into a self fullfilling prophsey.

Motngomery Wards did hold out until they went belly up. These days all of the tennants are independent retailers that sell stuff a nothc up from dollar store like stuff. I could take a digi cam in there and add to that web page; which I may do.

Westwood mall was about 5 minutes down the highway from that one. Same story there but in that one the whole mall except a Sears died. They converted it into a computer trade school during the late 90s dotcom bubble. These days enrollment is pathetic and I don't know how they can pay the bills.

The Sears is still there and I go in once every months or so just to see the place and buy a tool or two. I have noticed a disturbing trend in that Sears. All of the sales people are now looking like they are from my parent's generation. It used to be a teenager to late 20something job to cashier at that place. Now I see people in their 50's doing this type of work.

I had a chat with an Irish woman (looked 40something) in the Crafstman dept. to sort of indirectly ask about this trend. I said something like I thought it was good how they were having store managers work as floor employees to make it seem like everyone was sharing a load and it was just good company culture. She kind of laughed and said that was her job in tools and she was not a manager. She said she came to town 2 years ago but some engineering job fell through and she was not able to find work for a long time so she took this to pay the bills. I guess she told so much cause she kept giving me wrong info about tools. It would be like me selling some fancy dinner plates and not knowing about what makes for fine China.

Not a pretty pic.