A dead mall,[1] also known as a ghost mall, zombie mall or abandoned mall, is a shopping mall with low consumer traffic level or is deteriorating in some manner.[2]
Many malls in North America are considered "dead" when they have no surviving anchor store or successor that could attract people to the mall. Without the pedestrian traffic that department stores previously generated, sales volumes decline for almost all stores and rental revenues from those stores can no longer sustain the costly maintenance of the malls.[3][4]
Structural changes in the department-store industry have also made survival of these malls difficult. These changes have contributed to some areas or suburbs having insufficient traditional department stores to fill all the existing larger-lease-area anchor spaces. A few large national chains have replaced many local and regional chains, and some national chains are defunct.
In the US and Canada, newer "big box" chains (also referred to as "category killers") such as Walmart, Target Corporation and Best Buy normally prefer purpose-built free-standing buildings rather than using mall-anchor spaces.[5] 21st-century retailing trends favor open air lifestyle centers; which resemble elements of power centers, big box stores, and strip malls; and (most disruptively for storefronts) online shopping over indoor malls.[6] The massive change led Newsweek to declare the indoor mall format obsolete in 2008.[7] The year 2007 marked the first time since the 1950s that no new malls were built in the United States.[5] Most Canadian malls still remain indoors after renovations due to the harsh winter climate throughout most of the country, however the Don Mills Centre was turned into an open-air shopping plaza. Attitudes about malls have also been changing. With changing priorities, people have less time to spend driving to and strolling through malls and, during the Great Recession, specialty stores offered what many shoppers saw as useless luxuries they could no longer afford. In this respect, big box stores and conventional strip malls have a time-saving advantage.[8]
Between early 2013 and November 2017, the Bargate Centre in Southampton, England, was empty.
The number of dead malls has increased significantly because the economic health of malls across the United States has been in decline, with high vacancy rates in many of these malls.[9] From 2006 to 2010, the percentage of malls that are considered to be "dying" by real estate experts (have a vacancy rate of at least 40%), unhealthy (20–40%), or in trouble (10-20%) all increased greatly, and these high vacancy rates only partially decreased from 2010 to 2014.[9] In 2014, nearly 3% of all malls in the United States were considered to be "dying" (40% or higher vacancy rates) and nearly one-fifth of all malls had vacancy rates considered "troubling" (10% or higher).[9]
Heikintori, the first shopping mall in Finland, started to decline in the late 2010s
Some real estate experts say the "fundamental problem" is a glut of malls in many parts of the country creating a market that is "extremely over-retailed".[9] Cowen Research reported that the number of malls in the U.S. grew more than twice as fast as the population between 1970 and 2015; Cowen also reported that shopping center "gross leasable area" in the U.S. is 40 percent more shopping space per capita than Canada and five times more than the U.K.[10]
Some malls have maintained profitability, particularly in areas with frequent inclement weather (or otherwise weather undesirable for outdoor activities, such as shopping in an open-air shopping/lifestyle center)[citation needed] or large populations of senior citizens who can partake in mall walking.[11] Combined with lower rents, these factors have led to companies like Simon Malls enjoying high profits and occupancy averages of 92%.[12] Some retailers have also begun to re-evaluate the mall environment, a positive sign for the industry.[13]
A retail apocalypse that started in the 2010s made the dead mall situation even more noticeable, due to the complete closing of several retailers, as well as anchor tenants Macy's and JCPenney closing many locations and the sharp decline in Sears Holdings. The trend was particularly noticeable when Pittsburgh Mills, a mall once worth as much as $190 million, was sold at a foreclosure sale for $100, with the mall itself being purchased by lien holder Wells Fargo.[14][15]
North American malls that have permanently closed citing the pandemic as a precipitating factor include Northgate Mall in Durham, North Carolina, Cascade Mall in Burlington, Washington, and the Metrocenter in Phoenix, Arizona.
Redevelopment
Dead malls are occasionally redeveloped. Leasing or management companies may change the architecture, layout, decor, or other component of a shopping center to attract more renters and draw more profits. Several dead malls have been significantly renovated into open-air shopping centers.[19]
Conversion from a shopping mall into an open-air, mixed-use area may entail the demolition of parts of or all of the former shopping mall. An example of this can be seen in Fairfax County, Virginia, where the old Springfield Mall was converted into Springfield Town Center, a mixed-use development that includes a 12-screen movie theatre, shops, and restaurants with outdoor seating and entrances. When the structures are demolished completely, it is known as a greyfield site. In jurisdictions such as Vermont (with a strict permitting process) or in major urban areas (where open fields are long gone), this greyfielding can be much easier and cheaper than building on a greenfield site. An example of this type of redevelopment is Prestonwood Town Center in Dallas and Voorhees Town Center in Voorhees Township, New Jersey. Also, in Boardman, Ohio, the Southern Park Mall, demolished the former Sears building, to construct DeBartolo Commons.[21] The commons honors late Edward J. DeBartolo Sr.
Amazon, FedEx, DHL, UPS and the United States Postal Service have already acquired the sites of some failed malls and converted them to fulfillment centers.[22] A proposal called "Re-Habit"[23] uses portions of struggling malls, particularly vacated big box space, for homeless housing.[24] As an example of this concept, the vacant Macy's in the Landmark Mall of Alexandria, Virginia has been converted into a temporary homeless shelter[25] for the Carpenter's Shelter.[26]
Some major healthcare systems such as Vanderbilt Health and the University of Rochester (UR) Health have converted several dying malls into new "health malls" or "mall to medicine." The large spaces allow for the easy conversion of space-intensive activities such as ambulatory surgical centers, while the multiple storefronts facilitate "one stop shopping" for all of health related needs. Roughly half of 100 Oaks Mall in Nashville, TN is now dedicated to Vanderbilt University Medical Center.[27] Following the model, it is expanding to other dead or dying malls throughout its region,[28] while University of Rochester Medical Center is converting roughly one-third of The Marketplace Mall in Henrietta, NY.[29]
Simpson, Tim (2010). "Lazarus, the Dead Mall, and the Demise of the City Center". In Burd, Gene; Jassem, Harvey; Drucker, Susan J.; Gumpert, Gary (eds.). The Urban Communication Reader. Hampton Press. pp.35–47. CiteSeerX10.1.1.718.7459. hdl:10692/20936. ISBN978-1-57273-948-2.
Laura, Schatzman (22 August 2013). Metabolizing obsolescence: strategies for the dead mall (Thesis). hdl:2142/45379.
Ferreira, Daniela; Paiva, Daniel (8 August 2017). "The death and life of shopping malls: an empirical investigation on the dead malls in Greater Lisbon". The International Review of Retail, Distribution and Consumer Research. 27 (4): 317–333. doi:10.1080/09593969.2017.1309564. S2CID168971868.
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Dead malls.
A shopping mall is a large indoor shopping center, usually anchored by department stores. The term mall originally meant a pedestrian promenade with shops along it, but in the late 1960s, it began to be used as a generic term for the large enclosed shopping centers that were becoming increasingly commonplace. In the United Kingdom and other countries, shopping malls may be called shopping centers.
West Edmonton Mall (WEM) is a large shopping mall in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, that is owned, managed, and operated by Triple Five Group. It is the second most visited mall in Canada, after the Toronto Eaton Centre in Toronto, followed by Metropolis at Metrotown in Burnaby, and the 14th largest in the world by gross leasable area. It is the second largest shopping mall, by square footage, in North America behind the Mall of America. Mall of America encompasses 520,000 m2 and West Edmonton Mall encompasses 490,000 m2. By store count, West Edmonton Mall is the highest in the Western Hemisphere as it currently counts over 800 occupants, in comparison to Mall of America's 520 occupants. The mall was founded by the Ghermezian brothers, who emigrated from Iran in 1959. The mall's major anchor stores are Hudson's Bay, London Drugs, Marshalls, Simons, The Brick, Winners/HomeSense and West Edmonton Mall Toyota.
A shopping center, shopping centre, also called a shopping complex, shopping arcade, shopping plaza or galleria, is a group of shops built together, sometimes under one roof.
Yorkdale Shopping Centre, Yorkdale Mall, or simply Yorkdale, is a major retail shopping centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Located at the southwest corner of the interchange between Highway 401 and Allen Road, it opened in 1964 as the largest enclosed shopping mall in the world. Yorkdale is currently the third largest shopping mall in Canada by floor space and has the highest sales per unit area of any mall in Canada, with current merchandise sales levels at roughly CA$1,905 per square foot. At 18 million annual visitors, it is one of the country's busiest malls. Many international retailers have ventured the Canadian market initially at Yorkdale.
The Galleria at Pittsburgh Mills, or simply Pittsburgh Mills, is a super-regional shopping center northeast of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in Frazer Township, along PA Route 28 near its intersection with the Pennsylvania Turnpike. The mall is the second largest shopping complex in Western Pennsylvania, and the main retail center for the Allegheny Valley with 905,667 sq ft (84,139 m2) of retail space on 200 acres (0.8 km2). The grand opening of the mall portion of Pittsburgh Mills was on July 14, 2005.
The Mills Corporation was a publicly traded real estate investment trust headquartered in Chevy Chase, Maryland, United States, acquired on April 3, 2007, by an investment group composed of Simon Property Group and Farallon Capital Management. The company developed, owned, and operated major super-regional shopping malls. The company built 18 "Landmark" centers in which the malls were named after "Mills", like "Vaughan Mills", or "St. Louis Mills"; and also over 20 "21st Century Retail" regional malls that they started operating in 2002, like Del Amo Fashion Center and Southdale Center. Most former Mills facilities have a large movie theater from 10 to 30 screens, and a large food court. Their facilities were normally built in colorful modern/abstract architectural designs, but in recent years have been renovated to more conventional designs with mainly neutral colors. Simon Property Group assumed management of the former Mills properties after the acquisition, and is operating the former "Landmark Mills" group as a separate operating segment within its organization.
Southdale Center is a shopping mall located in Edina, Minnesota, a suburb of the Twin Cities. It opened in 1956 and is both the first and the oldest fully enclosed, climate-controlled shopping mall in the United States. Southdale Center has 1,297,608 square feet of leasable retail space, and contains 106 retail tenants. The mall is owned by Simon Property Group and the anchor stores are Macy's, Dave & Buster's, AMC Theatres, Hennepin Service Center, and Life Time Athletic.
Eaton Centre is a name associated with shopping centres in Canada, originating with Eaton's, one of Canada's largest department store chains at the time that these malls were developed. Eaton's partnered with development companies throughout the 1970s and 1980s to develop downtown shopping malls in cities across Canada. Each mall contained an Eaton's store, or was in close proximity to an Eaton's store, and typically the mall itself carried the "Eaton Centre" name. These joint ventures were a significant retail development trend in Canada during that period.
Columbus City Center was a 1,250,000 sq ft (116,000 m2), three-level shopping mall in Columbus, Ohio. It was located in the city's downtown, near the Ohio Statehouse, next to the Ohio Theatre, and connected to the Hyatt on Capitol Square hotel. The mall's closed and was demolished in 2009. The mall had a large adjacent parking structure attached that remains in use. The parking structure has been joined, directly or via bridge respectively, to two 12 story structures, 250 S. High Street and 80 on the Commons, both of which feature lower level office spaces with residential spaces on the upper floors.
South Edmonton Common is one of Canada's largest retail power centres, and when it will be completely developed, it will spread over 320 acres (130 ha) and contain some 2,300,000 square feet (210,000 m2) of retail space, making it one of the largest open-air retail developments in North America. The Common is located in south Edmonton, Alberta, extending from 23rd Avenue south to Anthony Henday Drive, and east from Gateway Boulevard to Parsons Road.
An outlet store, factory outlet or factory store is a brick and mortar or online store where manufacturers sell their merchandise directly to the public. Products at outlet stores are usually sold at reduced prices compared to regular stores due to being overstock, closeout, factory seconds, or lower-quality versions manufactured specifically for outlets. Traditionally, a factory outlet was a store attached to a factory or warehouse, sometimes allowing customers to watch the production process, such as in the original L.L. Bean store. In modern usage, outlet stores are typically manufacturer-branded stores such as Gap or Bon Worth grouped together in outlet malls. The invention of the factory outlet store is often credited to Harold Alfond, founder of the Dexter Shoe Company.
In US retail, an "anchor tenant", sometimes called an "anchor store", "draw tenant", or "key tenant", is a considerably larger tenant in a shopping mall, often a department store or retail chain. They are typically located at the ends of malls, sometimes in the middle. With their broad appeal, they are intended to attract a significant cross-section of the shopping public to the center. They are often offered steep discounts on rent in exchange for signing long-term leases in order to provide steady cash flows for the mall owners. Some examples of anchor stores in the United States are: Macy's, Sears, JCPenney, Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue, Dillard's, Kohl's, and Target. And in Canada; Hudson's Bay, Sears (formerly), Target (formerly), Zellers, Nordstrom/Nordstrom Rack (formerly), TJX Companies, Saks Fifth Avenue, Sporting Life.
Voorhees Town Center is a regional shopping mall and a residential area located in Voorhees Township, New Jersey. It was built in 1970 and named after Echelon Airfield which was located where the mall stands today. The Echelon Mall was renamed Voorhees Town Center in 2007. Boscov's and Modax Furniture Outlet serve as the anchors of the mall.
CrossIron Mills is a fully enclosed shopping centre development just outside the northern city limits of Calgary, Alberta, Canada, and immediately east of the hamlet of Balzac in Rocky View County. It was developed by Ivanhoé Cambridge, a major Canadian real estate company. Completed in August 2009, the mall is the largest single-level shopping centre in Alberta, containing approximately 109,440 m2 (1,178,000 sq ft) of retail and entertainment space. Century Downs Racetrack and Casino is close by to the east.
Greyfield land is underused real estate assets or land. The term was first coined in the UK in urban design theory in the late 1990s, and later adopted in the US a decade later, with the name coming from the "sea" of empty asphalt concrete that often accompanies these sites. The word greyfield is a relative neologism as compared to more commonly known terms such as brownfield and greenfield.
Mill Woods Town Centre is a shopping centre located in south Edmonton, Alberta, Canada in the neighbourhood of Mill Woods. It contains service and retail including Canadian Tire, Shoppers Drug Mart. Some surrounding satellite stores are located in and around the mall's exterior properties. Stores inside the mall include Tim Hortons, M&M Meat Shops Ltd., Alberta Works Support Service Center, Telus Mobility, and more. There is also an ETS transit centre on the northern side of the property.
Hagerstown Premium Outlets, is an open-air outlet mall located along Interstate 70, 3 mi (4.8 km) east of the highway's junction with Interstate 81, in Hagerstown, Maryland, United States. It is one of two major shopping malls in Washington County.
The Carousel Mall, also known as Central City Mall, was a mixed-use two-story shopping mall located in San Bernardino, California, along the city's former main downtown street.
A power center or big-box center is a shopping center with typically 250,000 to 600,000 square feet of gross leasable area that usually contains three or more big box anchor tenants and various smaller retailers, where the anchors occupy 75–90% of the total area.
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