I think it might be a little premature to cite this article as evidence of the coming death of the mall, but if you want to test out the idea, just visit Glenbrook a few times between now and Christmas:
Shopping malls gained stature in many corners of America by evolving into mini-cities, places where senior citizens took exercise walks and Girl Scout troops sold cookies. Some malls leased space to Post Offices and libraries. On Halloween, the mall became a place to trick-or-treat and come Christmas time, it was where Santa Claus spent the day accepting wish lists.
In short, the most successful malls usurped the role of Main Street as the commercial and even cultural center of the communities they served.
Now, however, many shoppers want Main Street back.
Development of new malls has almost completely stopped, with only two being erected in the country since the beginning of 2009, according to the International Council of Shopping Centers.
Outdoor town center concepts, featuring brick sidewalks, streetlights and even public clocks evoking the Main Street of yore, are climbing to a degree that many owners of enclosed malls are considering dramatic makeovers, some including plans to tear off the roof of, or “de-mall” enclosed shopping centers.
The headline on the piece -- "Main Street making a comeback at the expense of the shopping mall" -- is somewhat misleading, evoking images of our old downtowns when it's clear what is mostly meant in the story are all these faux cities and downtowns of shopping centers such as Jefferson Pointe in Fort Wayne and Clay Terrace in Indianapolis. I'm not sure this is a major trend rather than a passing fancy. The malls developed naturally with our greater mobility and helped empty downtowns in part because they really did take on some of their gathering-place functions. The "new Main Street" is just an interesting new way to shop and, sorry, developers, Amazon is way beyond you there.
The more interesting development is the growing effort to revitalize real downtowns in cities the size of Fort Wayne. It's been a struggle for years, but it's possible to see a tipping point soon. The chicken-or-egg question has always been whether you need to have enough attractions to lure the people or get enough people to justify the attractions. There now may be enough people wanting the same thing -- empty nesters and older baby boomers and younger people in the so-called "creative class" -- to answer that question. What they want is something -- anything -- other than the ordinary suburban life.
