Surfing the web I found this interesting website, Dead Malls, by three historians that have documented the death of retail malls in the US for over 10 years. They provide many links from numerous contributors featuring malls all over the US.
The website and article recalled two quotes:
"In consumer capitalism, the working classes abandon the union hall for the shopping mall and celebrate the system that fuels the desires that it ultimately cannot satisfy."
"To expand the domain of shopping and profit, advertisers are already creating new malls in cyberspace that will provide virtual shopping environments of the most exotic kind to parade an unbelievable surfeit of products. Indeed, corporations are currently establishing Web sites on the Internet which offer all sorts of visual spectacles in order to entice customers to buy their goods and provide consumer profile information for future advertising and commercial ventures."
In "Debord and the Postmodern Turn: New Stages of the Spectacle" by Steven Best and Douglas Kellner
Do you think they're dying? What about Canadian malls, such as http://storelocator.bell.ca/bellca/en/ON/Brampton/Bell-Trinity-Commons/53G43 ? I'm interested in your opinion :) Thanks!
Posted by: Virginia Lawrence | 02/08/2013 at 04:24 PM
Yes and no. I am not familiar with Canada but in the U.S. there are areas where the shopping mall seems to be thriving. For example, the malls in the Washington, D.C. metro area. However, in Philadelphia the downtown malls such as Gallery Place appear do be dying. I believe this is tied to the economic prosperity of the area, gentrification and the rise in online shopping.
Posted by: Elizabeth Patton | 02/16/2013 at 10:55 AM
What a lovely story! The story in this YouTube video that is posted here is truly a pleasant one with having nice picture feature.
Posted by: lida daidaihua | 08/17/2013 at 01:35 AM