Stop calling every mall with 2 closed stores a dead mall

I keep seeing posts here where people call a mall dead just because a Sears closed and one food court spot is empty. That is not a dead mall, that is a normal mall in 2024. A real dead mall has a parking lot with maybe 12 cars on a Saturday, a JCPenney hanging on with 3 employees, and that weird smell of old carpet and cinnamon. I walked Northgate in Durham last month and counted 9 open stores out of 110 spaces, that is what dead looks like. When you post a pic of a mall with a busy Auntie Anne's and call it dying, it makes it harder for the rest of us to track the ones that are actually on life support. Can we agree on a rule, like under 30 percent occupancy before we call it dead?

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irisg574d ago

Count me out on the 30 percent rule. A mall can sit at 45 percent occupancy and still be dying if the stores left are all phone repair kiosks, a GNC, and a Bath and Body Works holding the whole place together. Real death is about foot traffic and money, not store count. I have seen malls with 60 open stores that feel more dead than a gutted one because nobody is buying anything and the lights are half off in the halls. Setting a number just gives people a pass to keep posting the same tired "is this mall dead" pics of a place that is clearly fine.

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