Decline of Malls

Discussions focus on the decline of traditional indoor shopping malls, with observations of some thriving high-end or outdoor alternatives, regional variations, and personal experiences of changes over time.

📉 Falling 0.2x Politics & Society
3,087
Comments
20
Years Active
5
Top Authors
#7910
Topic ID

Activity Over Time

2007
2
2008
12
2009
27
2010
22
2011
21
2012
39
2013
74
2014
216
2015
117
2016
98
2017
277
2018
281
2019
300
2020
278
2021
295
2022
378
2023
272
2024
242
2025
133
2026
3

Keywords

US HN VERY HK wikipedia.org malls mall shopping stores outdoor dying retail areas indoor apple

Sample Comments

jimktrains2 Nov 29, 2020 View on HN

There are options besides malls.

dmux Aug 2, 2017 View on HN

Too bad malls are on the decline.

colmvp Sep 30, 2019 View on HN

Overall mall traffic might be declining but I’ve been to malls here in my city where the higher end malls are thriving and more popular than in previous decades.The Forever 21’s in my area are located in malls that are dated, and ripe for a major renovation.

malyk Nov 13, 2014 View on HN

This is happening to the mall near where I grew up.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Springfield_Town_Center

jleyank Mar 23, 2023 View on HN

More evidence that “the mall” is a fading concept, yielding to on-line and outdoor collection-of-stores. Is this some concession to the n American car approach to life?

seanmcdirmid Jul 7, 2016 View on HN

Touche. Abandoned shopping malls might be a step up from garages.

buttersb Nov 8, 2017 View on HN

We are only thinking of malls in the classic context.For the last 10+ years many "malls" have been outdoor "areas" with shops, beautified walking paths, communal spaces, grocery stores, movie theaters, etc. Essentially miniature downtowns.We have both these and the classic style mall here. Only 2 or 3 classic malls any more. However, they are all VERY successful. There were 7-8 and I've watched many die, or be taken over by distribution hubs, data centers (think bi

BigHackerNuts May 30, 2021 View on HN

Is HN pining for the days of malls now?! Lol

mrbombastic Jun 25, 2025 View on HN

I recently went back to my local mall (in the US) for the first time in a long time that was a ghost town until recently and it was packed full of kids and families! Arcades, carnival style games in storefronts, ice cream stores, go karts, they even had one of those Japanese style capsule stores. It seems has become less explicitly shopping place and more a place to kill a few hours with the family. Would be interested if this is a trend in other places.

peckrob Nov 11, 2014 View on HN

Meh. Around here, at least, (Huntsville, Alabama) they're just making newer and different malls. They're still malls though.When I first moved here in 2005, the bigger of the two malls in town (Madison Square Mall) had just received a major renovation and was bustling. A few years later (I think this was about 2007) they announced this new major construction project called Bridge Street[0]. It was just about two miles away from Madison Square.It was essentially an outdoor mall, w