The Slow Death of the American Mall

The rise of online retail and changing consumer preferences have hammered U.S. shopping malls since their heyday in the 1990s. Many of these former engines of commerce and centers of community life are now mere skeletons as they fight for their lives.

By Esther Fung and Yaryna Serkez

Published Dec. 21, 2017 at 5:30 a.m. ET

The rise of online retail and changing consumer preferences have hammered U.S. shopping malls since their heyday in the 1990s. Many of these former engines of commerce and centers of community life are now mere skeletons as they fight for their lives.

Methodology

The Wall Street Journal put together a composite of the typical American mall in 1995, based on the average number of stores, by type, for 458 enclosed malls with at least 800,000 square feet of retail space, and a food court.

Source

All data for the analysis was provided by Directory of Major Malls Inc./ ShoppingCenters.com.

Note

Anchor stores are limited to brands with more than 20 stores in our dataset.

Additional Credit

Illustrations: Merrill Sherman
Additional Research and Reporting: Vanessa O’Connell and Taylor Umlauf
Additional Design and Development from Gabriel Gianordoli and Laura Holder

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