The Decline of Shopping Malls: A Cultural Loss

Shopping malls are a dying art, and it’s sad to see. Thanks to the introduction of online shopping, people have gone to malls less and less now that they can have everything a mall has to offer delivered directly to their door. But this isn’t actually the case. Malls are more than just a collection of storefronts; they’re an experience.

Malls were a place of social congregation, where people went to walk around, window shop, and grab food. Now, most malls I go to have been reduced to hollow shells, with the only real illusions of business occurring in narrow stretches near the food court and, in malls with movie theatres, on the days of significant, anticipated movie releases.

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And I honestly just want to know why this is.

With the rise of online shopping, you can browse and shop a nearly limitless range of products from the comfort of your own home, and the ease of it is undeniable. But, with its popularity, people have fallen into the practice of going from home to work and back again, since the things they need can already be at home waiting for them, through grocery deliveries and streaming services. But, to me, this is a boring, soul-crushing routine.

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With the business of modern life, everyone should want to go someplace to blow off some steam, and what better place than somewhere with a little bit of everything: food, movies, and stores of every variety. Not to mention the decent amount of casual exercise shoppers can get while traversing a mall’s expansive area, plus the simple joys of people watching.

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To be quite frank, I think it’s sad that malls are on the decline in recent years. At the height of their popularity, malls had the advantage of being one of the best ways to get together, as it was a well-known location with lots of places to go inside, making planning a trip easy to do through casual conversation or just as an on a whim decision. But in the modern age, technology has made it easier than ever to shop and interact with calls, texts, and social media, leaving the connection and experience of malls behind for the instant satisfaction of the digital age.