Hey y’all my local mall is up for sale and my county commissioner is working to find ideas for what they can do to reinvigorate the complex.  It’s been dying for years and only the movie theatre there is really worth going to, if that.  I’ve said for a while that I wish that malls would be really cool again like you see in 80s and early 2000s movies.

The Starcourt Mall scene in Stranger Things was like the greatest thing I’ve ever seen and the irony is that mall isn’t too far from me and it’s absolutely deserted in irl and was sold as county offices for only a few million dollars cuz thats all it was worth.  And I went to that mall once as a kid.

As a 20 something I do remember when my local malls were a place to be, and while some malls are still more active than others I think overall the mall scape as a whole could do with a an overhaul and actually be a place to be again.

I know that people say online shopping killed malls, but they’ve been on the decline much longer than this recent amazon boom.  With the popularity of retro things, Mallcore and and dying mall aesthetics, I think theres a real market to appeal to more young people and give communities a better place to hang out than just the sad dregs that are left with just a few junk stores.

My mom has often talked about how malls in the 80s and 90s were almost an all day experience.  There were movie theaters, hair salons etc (in more upscale malls those still exist) but there other things like bookstores, music/record stores, and arcades.

I also know theres a big difference between American suburban malls and shopping centers in Europe etc.  Theres plenty of shops along side larger department stores.

What are malls like in Europe as well??

My Mall Ideas

I think malls should try to compete with online retailers like amazon but do what they were originally designed to do: be a central community pedestrian space for the suburbs with shopping but can also have resources for the community the same way libraries etc provide just on a much larger scale.

Have recreational centers/areas in place of department stores that have left

internet cafes/study spaces

bookstores (like Walden books use to be in malls)

ARCADES (not just game stop but actual arcades/gaming stores like tabletop games)

Pop/sub culture stores (not just hot topic and box lunch, but definitely have both of those and other like it with even a wider array of stuff)

RECORD/MUSIC STORES!!

technology co-op or radio shack like store where you can get basic device help or purchase a new/second hand one (side eyes apple and its genius bar)

thrift stores

independent stores or boutiques

80s mall aesthetics

I think the appeal of malls is both their central accessibility and the experience of going out to the place. I think this is best exhibited by Target. I think i saw an article or post of the internet that said that the draw of buying something from Target is literally do the experience of shopping there. You go because of the feeling of experience as well as getting the things you need. Almost like a miniature mall, with books, an entertainment section, groceries and starbucks/pizza right at the door. Malls could be like this or more.

TL:DR

Malls are dead and i have a chance to help improve the one in my area. What would you want to see in a mall today? 80s mall culture? arcades?

If you know of malls that have been turned into different things (like it think there's this giant bookstore in texas that use to be a mall) please let me know in the replies

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