Does the survival of malls in California make it a national outlier?

[I’m not Stu]

New malls have opened in the past few years in California. An old dead mall close to where I live was rebuilt in 2007 and now very popular. Another old mall has survived since 1974. A pedestrian mall in Long Beach opened in 2019. The mall in Tustin opened in 2007. Does this make California a national outlier?

[Hope For A New Era]

For what it's worth -

Utah is full of malls, which was a surprise for me coming from Missouri where every mall of every type is dead or dying.

[Pres Mike]

Malls are like any other retail location. They can and will do well if it has the products people WANT

Malls that relied on Sears went out. Malls that have Abercomie, American Eagle, Old Nacy, Tommy, Polo, etc are doing well

[Santander]

Malls that relied on Sears went out. Malls that have Abercomie, American Eagle, Old Nacy, Tommy, Polo, etc are doing well

Are you posting from 2005? The archetypal successful mall these days has an Apple Store, luxury department store(s), and high-end boutiques. They may have some of the stores you mentioned, but those are just filler for the kids of the top 10%, which is the market malls are built for these days. Malls are basically cookie cutter enclosed mini-Fifth Avenues or Michigan Avenues that can be dropped into any affluent neighborhood or suburb. Think Fashion Square in Scottsdale or The Galleria in Houston.

The mall is no longer the place for median families to do all their shopping or high school girls to hang out. They are grotesque cathedrals to hollow consumerist culture where the upper-middle class tries to make up for their meaningless lives by spending beyond their means.

[I’m not Stu]

2nd and PCH (opened in 2019) in Long Beach is across the street from Marina Pacifica (opened in 1973). Marina Pacifica has a popular AMC movie theater in its basement. Santa Ana will get a new mall called One Broadway Plaza.

[100% pro-life no matter what]

There are plenty of people at the Cool Springs Galleria every time I go there...and the mall was really the start of the whole Cool Springs area of North and East Franklin that is now full of restaurants, offices, strip malls, hotels, and apartments, in addition to the main mall.

[Pres Mike]

Malls that relied on Sears went out. Malls that have Abercomie, American Eagle, Old Nacy, Tommy, Polo, etc are doing well

Are you posting from 2005? The archetypal successful mall these days has an Apple Store, luxury department store(s), and high-end boutiques. They may have some of the stores you mentioned, but those are just filler for the kids of the top 10%, which is the market malls are built for these days. Malls are basically cookie cutter enclosed mini-Fifth Avenues or Michigan Avenues that can be dropped into any affluent neighborhood or suburb. Think Fashion Square in Scottsdale or The Galleria in Houston.

The mall is no longer the place for median families to do all their shopping or high school girls to hang out. They are grotesque cathedrals to hollow consumerist culture where the upper-middle class tries to make up for their meaningless lives by spending beyond their means.

I mean, my town of 100,000 still has a JC Penny. That is where the lower middle class buy their clothes. The rest of the middle class either shops at Target or Khols. The poor people shop at Walmart or Goodwill. Everyone shops at Ross, TJ Maxx, Marshalls. The weathler folks travel to a larger city an hour away to buy at Tommy or Polo (men).

All the kids either get their clothes from American Eagle or Aeropostal. The local mall has lasted far longer than I thought it would.

As a teacher, I can tell you kids grow like weeds. Its very common to grow out your clothes within months. Sometimes you need to buy some cheap shirts or school pants from JC Penny. Its silly to suggest all successful malls are mini-5th Avenues

[I’m not Stu]

The famous Puente Hills Mall in City of Industry from Back to the Future is going to be expanded.

[Progressive Pessimist]

Possibly. I live in the world's mall capitol, and while all six of them within miles of where I live are still operating, the pandemic really hurt them. Some parts of them are very depressing. So I guess they're surviving too, technically, but hardly thriving.