

Malls Aren't Dying, They're Thriving - acheron
http://www.newgeography.com/content/004947-malls-aren-t-dying-they-re-thriving

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macandcheese
The traditional closed-air mall is in fact dying, in most locales across the
country. The transition to online shopping reduces the need for trips to the
big box "anchor" stores, and as a result the smaller stores receive less foot
traffic walking by, and in time are forced to close.

This is very similar to how many American downtowns suffered in the 1970s when
malls themselves were rising in popularity. Big box stores, seeking lower
rents and closer quarters to one another (captive pocketbooks!), re-located to
the more affordable fringes of town. As cities sprawled and families piled in
their cars for shopping trips, independent locally-owned stores in medium-
sized urban downtowns went out of business when the "anchor" stores packed up
and moved to indoor malls. This lead to economic stagnation in the former
"hearts" of small American cities, as the economic drivers moved from the
geographic urban centers to further into the suburban sprawl.

Quite a fascinating cycle.

Large city center malls don't suffer the same fate, since they don't rely on
the draw of a few anchor stores, and have a higher percentage of out of town
visitors.

What you are seeing emerge instead in most of suburban America is a new kind
of open air, "commons" type of shopping destination, which provides a uniquely
different experience than either a closed-air mall or online shopping can
afford.

~~~
maratd
> The traditional closed-air mall is in fact dying, in most locales across the
> country.

I'm seeing the exact opposite.

> The transition to online shopping reduces the need for trips to the big box
> "anchor" stores

Most of the malls in this area have transitioned to entertainment
destinations. Huge movie theaters, the stores are more showroom ... Tesla,
Perch, Apple, etc., tons of restaurants.

They're building a new mall nearby.
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Dream_Meadowlands](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Dream_Meadowlands)

Apparently the cost is 3.5 billion? The new mall will have an ice rink,
amusement park, water park, concert hall, movie theater, and an indoor
12-story ski slope for skiing, snowboarding and tubing.

Does that sound like something that's dying?

~~~
mcphage
> The new mall will have an ice rink, amusement park, water park, concert
> hall, movie theater, and an indoor 12-story ski slope for skiing,
> snowboarding and tubing.

> Does that sound like something that's dying?

Yeah, it does. It's saying "we can't exist as just a shopping center any more,
so we've got to become an all-in-one entertainment destination instead."
Which, I'm sure will be successful, but not every city can support a $3.5
billion complex like that, and it doesn't bode well for the thousands of
existing locations which _are_ just plain shopping malls.

~~~
dragonwriter
Malls as all in one entertainment centers were the norm most of the existence
of malls; as well as shopping they usually include dining, included arcades
when those were a viable business, very often movie theaters, and often some
other, usually child/family-focused, entertainment venue. If anything, they've
narrowed in focus from the latter 1990s to today -- arcades mostly gone,
diversity of shopping reduced to mostly clothing stores, etc. -- broadening
the focus returns malls to the kind of destination that they've been four most
of their history.

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Yhippa

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Exposing your SQL queries in an exception on a public-facing website does not
seem like a best practice.

~~~
dragonwriter
From a UX POV, probably not.

If this is a security complaint, well, its less exposed information (a strict
subset) than if your app was open source, so I don't see it as particularly a
problem.

~~~
viraptor
Actually it's not a subset. Even if the app is open source, what you gain from
this error is: username, installation path, resource limits. All of those add
something you don't know from the code itself. All can be useful when trying
(respectively) injections / bruteforce auth, path traversal / secrets access,
denial of service.

Also line numbers can help you identify the deployed version.

Also optional table prefixes which are deployment-specific.

~~~
dragonwriter
You're right, I was wrong; leaving the grandparent post just for context for
your response, otherwise I'd delete it.

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mturmon
The author, Joel Kotkin, definitely has a preconceived notion about
development, suburbia, and malls. (That being, he is a booster for all three,
for example, see
[http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2013/04/30/kotkin_on_sub...](http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2013/04/30/kotkin_on_suburbia_he_forgot_about_prices.html?original_referrer=http%253A%252F%252Ft.co%252F2JtEULybXo))

I mention this _ad hominem_ tidbit because he always presents himself as a
neutral observer, who happens to have brought a counterintuitive fact to
light. It's tiresome.

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bane
I can think of half-a-dozen closed air malls within 30 minutes of each other
where I live. Some of them are absolutely thriving, packed full of shoppers
pretty much all day and on a race to expand space and amenities with the
growing crowds.

Others are near-dead ghost towns with something like 50% occupancy and entire
wings blocked off because of a homeless/drug addict/gang problem.

Most of the open-air "town center" style malls around me are also packed to
the gills at all times. It's actually unpleasant to shop at them because
they're _so_ crowded, but they usually mix in outlet stores with regular
stores and draw huge tourist crowds.

I'm not sure what the trend is, not all that long ago I would say they're
definitely - most certainly dying. But then one of the near-dead malls near me
just changed hands, is undergoing major renovation and the numbers of stores
and shoppers is growing.

I think people like the social aspect of shopping, the walking around and
browsing, touching things, trying them on. My wife orders lots of clothes on-
line, but the smart stores let her return non-fitting clothes in-store, where
she'll also check out what they're offering, try some things on and then buy
more -- she's not the only one.

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jdonaldson
There's a pretty close parallel here with American libraries. Conventional
libraries suffered in the transition to online information/book sources. But,
they've become a great community gathering place, especially for kids. I've
seen evidence that malls are headed this direction with the increasing size of
their indoor play areas, etc.

The stores can come and go, but I think the folks running the mall properties
will figure out what to do to stay a viable destination for large numbers of
people.

~~~
bane
I agree. The local libraries around me have been undergoing a steady
transformation into resource-rich study centers for school-aged kids to
college kids. On-line degree programs also seem to attract loads of people
looking for quiet places with reference sections to study.

My county system also has a robust e-book, book-on-tape on-line check-out
system, community activities (kids Minecraft club, adult retrogaming
Saturdays, book club guest speakers, puppet shows, etc.) The library system in
my county is actually _growing_ due to so many people using them. They've
become true community centers and I personally find it a beautiful thing.

~~~
ZanyProgrammer
I pity the poor people who simply want dead tree books to read.

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lholden
Awesome! _goes to her local mall_... Oh wait. Its dying and has quite
literally two businesses left in it. It's the only mall within an hour from
where I live.

The mall at the last place I lived closed down a couple years ago, also due to
lack of business.

I know my experience is of a very small sample...

~~~
acheron
The failure of your local mall doesn't extend to the concept of "malls are
dying". As the article says:

 _To suggest malls are dead based on failure in failed places would be like
suggesting that the manifest shortcomings of Baltimore or Buffalo means urban
centers are not doing well. Like cities, not all malls are alike._

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pizzasynthesis
Anyone have a mirror?

