03-01-2017, 04:08 PM
testcase wrote:
"Next developer plans.. how to repurpose mall properties ?"
I was in the Dayton, OH area the last two years for Hamvention. Driving from the campground to the venue (Hara Arena), I was shocked at how many derelict malls I saw (and the Hara Arena should have been abandoned YEARS ago; it was a disaster). LOTS of malls and mini-malls across America that are vacant.
"Dead Malls" has been a thing since the '80's, there were BBS's tracking this phenomenon before the internets came along. Quite frankly their heyday was the '70's, but developers kept building them as a kind of "one trick" approach to retailing that was already problematic over 30 years ago.
Sam Walton and Walmart were a major example of the problem with malls. His stores rarely were connected with malls and pulled shoppers away in droves.