Decline of Indoor malls- Alli Murphree

     Indoor malls contribute a huge impact to a community. They raise the number of population and help increase the development of new buildings, houses, and restaurants.  These things expand because of the desire to be close to a busy area with shopping, food, and business buildings. All these things are new and exciting attracting more of the public to want to be closer and involved. But what happens when these things aren’t as new and exciting as they once were? This is the result of what is now called a dead mall.  The decline of indoor malls has been a huge concern for the economy. Major aspects that have negatively affected the mall society are diversity fears, online competition, and bankruptcy issues; America is working there hardest to turn things around for the mall association and make the economy a better place. 

       Victor Gruen was the mastermind behind the creation of indoor malls. When the breaking news was released the public were thrilled.  Many people relocated to areas closer to the mall to be in a prime spot where they could reach all the action easily. Gruen made things very attainable for costumers to make their shopping experience easy and enjoyable. He created large parking lots so that numerous vehicles we able to fit. Inside he designed the floor levels so that you were able to see stores above and below you. This was appealing to costumers because they were able to see a majority of the shops and not have to go on a search looking for a certain store.  He also included a food court, which provided multiple food options that were only available inside the mall. This created the idea that you didn’t have to leave for any meal you could just eat then continue on your shopping extravaganza.

Rise of Indoor malls

  This also created the publics desire for cravings that only the mall could provide giving them another reason to come besides the shopping aspect. Popularity of indoor malls grew rapidly through public media. The Valley Girls, which were a huge hit in the 90’s, were in a commercial advertising indoor mall activities. This expanded the popularity rates tremendously. Later films were shot within indoor malls making them appear even more appealing. All these luring aspects also created the growth of communities and formed many new neighborhoods for the vast amount of people moving into the district.  Indoor malls were always a busy organization until things became to fall apart.

      
            As time went on Indoor malls became less pleasing and no longer had that new exciting feeling. White wealthy people were the main target for the indoor malls.

Dead mall

When malls first opened you would see people from your community and feel no sense of danger; yet danger began to become an isue once the diversity of the indoor malls began to transition. Now the mall was filled with all kinds of social rankings and racial differences. This is what created the feeling of uncomfort within the mall. A combination of all these different people and personalities increased crime rates. This affected the opinion of the mall tremendously. Regular customers now avoided the mall to escape the possibility of dangerous incidences. Without there regular customers the mall began to slowly deteriate. The outside appearance also began to decline once the popularity of the mall slowly died. Graffiti began to be a common sight found on walls of the public building. Landscape also began to fail and weeds started taking over creating a more “deadly” look.

Graffitied Walls

Gradually the mall was becoming a dead mall. The mall now attracted crime and homeless people. The death of the mall was caused by the loss of comfort. The white wealthy people found the mall a time of luxury. Now that different diversities have appeared that desire is no longer existent. Although this was a major cause leading to the death of the mall, it wasn’t the only aspect.

    
           Competition was another big factor that affected the indoor mall. A perfect example of this is the malls in Huntsville, Al. Parkway Place, Madison Square, and Bridgestreet are all local malls within the area. The question is, are they still alive. Madison Square was the first mall of the three. Like any other new thing it was the popular place and had the hip places to go. Then Parkway place was created and it was bigger and had better things. This guided people towards the new mall and drifted them away from Madison Square.  This produced the slow and depressing death of the Madison Square mall. Parkway Place began to be the only popular mall in Huntsville until more competition arrived. Bridgestreet, a strip mall, was very different then the last indoor mall’s, making it appealing to the public to experience a change. The creation of Bridgestreet didn’t kill the Parkway Place mall but it did hurt. Now bridgstreet and Parkway Place face a competition that is unbeatable, online shopping. For these people trying to avoid the malls that are dying, online shopping is the best option. The public feels as if malls are now creepy and unsafe. Online shopping not only helps you avoid those incidents but also offers you better deals. Online they may have better sales and items that the store doesn’t have.

Online shopping

      Competition and public fears all lead to the cause of why the costumer rates have tremendously declined. If there are no customers there is no money being received. This developed a huge problem for worldwide stores. Bankruptcy spread throughout all indoor malls. During this time many store owners struggled in disbelief, not knowing what to do. This also arose the problem of vacancy rates. Many stores had to close down because they were broke and the economy was so poor that they couldn’t afford to help either. The economic struggle also made people worry. When the public was worried, they were anxious. When customers were anxious they refrained from spending money, they were scared. This not only hurt the indoor malls but is also effected the economy. Manufactures were producing things to sell. People weren’t buying these products causing the loss of money and the action of overproduction. The community, just like the economy, was also struggling. Jobs became scarcer and unemployment began to become a popular term. If the costumers had no job they weren’t able to pay for their essential needs, much less pleasurable items. The Great Recession is a major factor that influenced all the adversity in the community. It also made the people worry, protect and save their money instead of casually spending it. The Great Recession was a time of grief that many families struggled through. This was a hard time for everyone in the U.S., everybody and everything faced difficult adversities. “At the mall’s peak popularity in, 1990, there were 19 of them. But we haven’t cut a ribbon on a new one since 2006.” This quote helps you see the actual decline of the process of indoor malls. Indoor malls desperately struggled through this time but the US wanted to turn things around.

        America recognized the terrible decline of the indoor malls and wanted to find ways to help. America knew they couldn’t build any more malls so the only way to improve them is to reinvent them. The malls began to loan spaces to businesses and special events to help occupy all the vacant spaces within the mall. This helped level out space and give people a reason to come to the mall. The mall organization realized by adding the business corporations it created more popularity for the mall. Many people had necessary visits to these businesses spots leading them to wonder into the other stores. Indoor malls have also invested into acts of entertainment to keep the environment alive. Live music and movie theatres are two forms of entertainment that helped replenish the mall. It also added other new additions like casinos, restaurants, lounges, car show rooms, and aquariums.

Live Music within the mall

This raised the mall popularity enormously. This helped create the environment to be more inviting and exciting instead of creepy, quiet, and dull. To have a more inviting look not only did that have to improve the inside but also the outer appearance. Malls have gotten new paint jobs, redone landscape, and remodeled poor areas. This helped get rid of the weeds, graffiti and deadly look of the mall. For those malls that were unfixable they were recreated into car delarships, classrooms, and business buildings. For those malls that were in poor licatins and had no hope, they were torn down. “What should never be an option is to allow the building to sit neglected for years. Although it may be sad to see a place with so many memories bulldozed, there isn’t much future for an abandoned generic suburban shopping mall.” Although not all malls have changed these improvements have helped recover malls all over America. Dead malls are still existent today but America is still in the process of recovery to improve the decline of indoor malls.

        The decline of Indoor malls have been a recent downfall occurring in America and the society isn’t quite sure how to fix it. The economy has faced some difficult times throughout the past few years that have also affected the indoor malls. The malls have experienced their ups and downs and are still continuing to face these issues. Through the good and the bad time indoor malls are still working today, to work back to recovery from the dead malls. Although dead malls are becoming more and more common the economy is working its hardest to make responsible improvements to gain malls popularity back.

Sources:

http://www.theatlanticcities.com/arts-and-lifestyle/2012/07/shopping-mall-turns-60-and-prepares-retire/2568/ On this site I learned about the rise of the indoor malls. I learned how Gruen created them and what his intentions were.

http://www.economist.com/node/10278717 On this site I learned how the rise of indoor malls affected people. It influenced them to move and create new communities. 

http://deadmalls.com/malls/the_mall_al.html On this site I learned about the cycle of our malls in Huntsville and how there were affected by the decline of the indoor malls.

http://www.theatlanticcities.com/jobs-and-economy/2012/12/death-american-shopping-mall/4252/ On this site i learned about the competition of the online shopping sites and how the affected the vacancy rates in the indoor malls. 

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/06/business/making-over-the-mall-in-rough-economic-times.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0 On this site I leaned about the increasing vacancy rates. I also learned what the economy is putting in the malls to reinvent them.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/31/realestate/commercial/rackspace-revitalizes-a-defunct-mall-into-an-unorthodox-tech-campus.html?pagewanted=all On this site I learned that malls added business corporations and restaurants into the malls to help replenish them. 

http://reclaimdemocracy.org/independent_business_dead_malls/ On this site I learned about the affect of the community and how the public attraction is so important. I also learned how dead malls are wasting the american landscape.

http://roomfordebate.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/04/04/101-uses-for-a-deserted-mall/#ellen On this site I learned what the dead malls were recreated into once they were no longer usable. 

http://roomfordebate.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/04/04/101-uses-for-a-deserted-mall/ On this site I learned how the struggling lifetsyle of americans poorly affected the decline of consuming. 

http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=3&sid=935fd36d-9728-4f55-b533-95a97f93d02f%40sessionmgr115&hid=26&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=nfh&AN=2W6992122011 On this site i learned about the bankruptcy issues that occured in indoor malls.

http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=935fd36d-9728-4f55-b533-95a97f93d02f%40sessionmgr115&vid=7&hid=26

http://www.gallup.com/poll/149930/americans-spending-declines-again-september.aspx On this site I leanred about the decline of consumer spending and how the public reacts.