Retirees Dick and Anne Saplata work out by walking around the largely empty halls of the Metcalf South Mall in Leawood, Kan. It’s likely to close soon, and there’s talk that a developer will raze the place. If the mall goes under, Dick Saplata asks, “where are we going to walk?”
Er, outside? Down a street? God forbid, in the country?
I think (mostly) seniors like to walk in malls because they're air conditioned/heated, relatively safe, and have restrooms. Few other locations have these amenities for free.
It's not something I've ever come across in Britain. People will tend to go and have a stroll around a local country park, or just round the streets near home. Personally, I couldn't think of anywhere worse than a shopping centre to spend a few hours walking!
Britain has quite a few parks and streets designed for walking. Those are very valuable commodities in the USA.
And, as others have pointed out, much of the USA is really cold in the winter. Here's an article about Britain's "record cold" from earlier this winter. (As low as -11C in parts of Scotland!)
Here's a map of Minnesota's mean winter temperatures. Note that the mean temperature in the southern-middle part of the state, where Minneapolis and the Mall of America are, is around 14 degrees F, or about -10 C.
I'm from this area (although I haven't been to Metcalf South in ages). Our winters are mostly below freezing and our summers are mostly above 95, so for older people, walking outside is rather less appealing than walking in what amounts to a climate controlled indoor track.
Sadly, this isn't even the worst case. The (not so) Great Mall of the (not so) Great Plains in Olathe (about 20 mins away), actually opens early in the morning so people can use it to walk. The stores don't open until 9 or 10, but the mall itself will open at 7 for walkers. This mall is a giant oval that is probably 3/4 of a mile in circumference, with carpeted floors.
Yeah, it's stupid, and it's not that cold/hot outside, but honestly anything is better than the average suburban exercise routine, which is to do nothing.
Basic summary and sentiment of the article: "Boo hoo, wah!"
If super-sized shopping malls are disappearing, it's for a reason and probably because they're too big. The local mall here is currently doing a $60 million expansion, but then this is basically a middle-class only town and the malls target this. It's also getting a supermarket in the expansion, and the next mall over already has one.
Walmart recently opened a supercenter, not far from the older mall, but it definitely doesn't appear to have affected the amount of people going there. Walmart certainly gets a large amount of visitors, but it doesn't necessarily have all what people here want. They have a great selection of electronics, however their stocking practice sucks monkey butt. They've lost numerous sales from me because despite the website claiming they have something in stock I end up going to one of the malls to get it. I don't like walking into the store one week and seeing something I'd like to get, and the next week it's gone.
All in all, personally I'll shop at a mall over Walmart, just because I like being treated like a customer and not a broken ATM with legs.
I still don't get why malls don't have supermarkets. Almost every shopping center in Sweden have them, and guess what? People shopping at the mall pick up food. People grocery shopping browse the mall.
Amusingly, the opposite is happening. Most supermarkets (in the midwest anyway) are starting to sell non-food items.
The one I went to when I was recently living in Texas sold flat screen TVs, DVD players, books, kids toys, and clothes, in addition to food. Many Wal-marts are adding grocery stores.
From the consumer's viewpoint, they can still get everything in one place (just like a mall), but the economics for big box retailers are better than a bunch of small stores that happen to gather in one building.
I'd like to see malls in the US become more like those in Singapore. Supermarkets, fresh fruit stands, top-notch restaurants and amazing food courts. A reflexology clinic here & there would be nice too :)
Of course, malls in Singapore (and probably elsewhere outside the US) benefit from being placed within walking distance or directly on top of/underneath mass transit hubs. When you have to drive to a concrete island, it won't be quite the same.
My guess is the grocery carts. Shopping for food can be a high volume experience. In a place where store owners can get reprimanded or penalized for closing before 9pm (it's usually in the mall lease), I think carts would detract from the shopping "experience".
Most malls in the U.S. close at 9pm or 10pm. If a mall store closes its storefront before then, it looks bad (similar to a block with abandoned buildings, a couple not open storefronts break the RetailLand experience).
the shopping mall was a product of the 1960s, when land was cheap. I hate shopping malls. They take up a huge amount of real estate, encourage people to drive instead of walk and take transit, and house overpriced businesses selling things I don't want anyway. The only reason I go into Bellevue Square is to visit the Apple Store, which now is too small for the number of people shopping there and so crowded it is unpleasant in there so I don't stay.
Er, outside? Down a street? God forbid, in the country?