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I thought I might bring this up because I really find this idea interesting. Andrew Yang, who is currently running as a presidential candidate for 2020, posted today. In it, he discussed how 30% of malls are scheduled to close within the next four years and how it's difficult to keep these big spaces filled.

And he also discussed his proposal called the . To summarize, the American Mall Act would be a $6 billion U.S. government program that would give grants and money to communities and private developers to help struggling malls attract businesses, schools, organizations and entrepreneurs to find new purposes for those spaces.

Regardless of what you think about the government getting involved in this, he does bring up a legitimate point. Malls are dying. Spaces that were once home to massive shopping hubs are now mostly abandoned. It's real. Back in the summer of 2017, I visited the West Valley Mall in Tracy, California. And it was . And indeed, it was quite eerie.

If anything, we do need to find better and more of a variety of purposes for these large spaces. A good role model that current mall owners could go off of for revamping themselves is in Albuquerque, New Mexico. For the context of its history, this space initially opened as the Winrock Mall in 1961. It was the first modern commercial shopping mall in the State of New Mexico. But because of how competitive they got with the nearby Coronado Center and the opening of the Uptown center, it was closed for the most part in 2007.

Today, it's being revamped as a mixed-use town center. And while it's still not near completion yet, it has enjoyed plenty of success thus far. The former TGI Friday's was turned into a Genghis Grill. The old UA movie theater was demolished and a new Dave and Buster's replaced it. There's now a Regal Cinemas on the east side of the property that includes an IMAX theater. The former Toys "R" Us was turned into a fitness gym. Several new restaurants, including BJ's Restaurant and Brewhouse, Sauce Pizza and Wine, Crackin' Crab, and many more have opened there. Nordstrom Rack, Ulta Beauty, and Skechers have also opened there.

And in the near future? New Mexico Orthopaedics will be moving to the second floor of one of the buildings there. And there's plans for a park, a hotel, and even condos if I remember correctly.

Nevertheless, it is my honest opinion that we should try to find new purposes for these increasingly abandoned malls that help to benefit the communities around them. And more importantly, the economy.

Would love to know your thoughts: How do you think abandoned malls should be revived? And do you think the government should or should not give grants for these purposes?

I thought I might bring this up because I really find this idea interesting. Andrew Yang, who is currently running as a presidential candidate for 2020, posted [a video on Twitter](https://twitter.com/AndrewYang/status/1147609257673670661) today. In it, he discussed how 30% of malls are scheduled to close within the next four years and how it's difficult to keep these big spaces filled. And he also discussed his proposal called the [American Mall Act](https://www.yang2020.com/policies/american-mall-act/). To summarize, the American Mall Act would be a $6 billion U.S. government program that would give grants and money to communities and private developers to help struggling malls attract businesses, schools, organizations and entrepreneurs to find new purposes for those spaces. Regardless of what you think about the government getting involved in this, he does bring up a legitimate point. Malls are dying. Spaces that were once home to massive shopping hubs are now mostly abandoned. It's real. Back in the summer of 2017, I visited the West Valley Mall in Tracy, California. And it was [nearly empty in terms of crowds](https://pic8.co/sh/5HnzYb.jpg). And indeed, it was quite eerie. If anything, we do need to find better and more of a variety of purposes for these large spaces. A good role model that current mall owners could go off of for revamping themselves is [Winrock Town Center](https://winrocktowncenter.com/about-winrock/) in Albuquerque, New Mexico. For the context of its history, this space initially opened as the Winrock Mall in 1961. It was the first modern commercial shopping mall in the State of New Mexico. But because of how competitive they got with the nearby Coronado Center and the opening of the Uptown center, it was closed for the most part in 2007. Today, it's being revamped as a mixed-use town center. And while it's still not near completion yet, it has enjoyed plenty of success thus far. The former TGI Friday's was turned into a Genghis Grill. The old UA movie theater was demolished and a new Dave and Buster's replaced it. There's now a Regal Cinemas on the east side of the property that includes an IMAX theater. The former Toys "R" Us was turned into a fitness gym. Several new restaurants, including BJ's Restaurant and Brewhouse, Sauce Pizza and Wine, Crackin' Crab, and many more have opened there. Nordstrom Rack, Ulta Beauty, and Skechers have also opened there. And in the near future? New Mexico Orthopaedics will be moving to the second floor of one of the buildings there. And there's plans for a park, a hotel, and even condos if I remember correctly. Nevertheless, it is my honest opinion that we should try to find new purposes for these increasingly abandoned malls that help to benefit the communities around them. And more importantly, the economy. Would love to know your thoughts: How do you think abandoned malls should be revived? And do you think the government should or should not give grants for these purposes?

(post is archived)

[–] • 7 pts

Malls are dieing because retail is dieing. No amount of government spending can change that. If retail wants to be kept alive they need to compete, offer something online can't, pay employees what they are worth instead trying to squeeze every last penny out of labor to keep profits high. Retail business are dieing because of miss management and refusal to accept they need to change. If you place almost zero value on the people actually interacting with your customers and then those customers go a route that means they don't have to deal with low payed people who don't care about their jobs, its not anyone's fault but your own.

[–] [deleted] • 2 pts

That is absolutely true as well. Retail and food service have not really had any healthy turnover rates lately and they definitely need to stop treating their employees like shit and actually start paying them for what they're worth.

[–] • 3 pts

Or pretty soon they won’t have employees, and if that’s how they deal with it so be it, the market will adapt. At the end of the day if no one has money to buy shit then it really doesn’t matter how great your product is no one is buying it and almost no business can survive on super rich clients alone. The masses have to have spending money or th market tanks. Supplies are limited and the illegal immigration we have the lower wages get, lower wages leads to less buying leads to bad economy. Not sure how CEOs today somehow can’t seem to figure this one out.

[–] [deleted] • 1 pt

I don't know how they can't seem to figure that whole thing about paying good wages out either. No green stuff flows around well if folks ain't getting paid a good amount of green stuff.

[–] • 6 pts

The malls are dying and being repurposed naturally. We need fewer of them. If the developers think they can fill space with non-retail tenants then they should go do so, at a price the market will bear, but not with government handouts.

What is happening already is just that, OR teardown & rebuild: https://www.dallasnews.com/business/real-estate/2019/04/22/plano-approves-1-billion-redevelopment-plan-collin-creek-mall

[–] • 5 pts (edited )

Not something the government should be involved in. If the mall is going to die, let it. Many are being converted as you describe. That seems to work in a lot of places, and it should be done with private money.

[–] [deleted] • 3 pts (edited )

Agreed. I think government handouts of money, especially to private companies, are a real slippery-slope. They do usually have good intentions of wanting to boost the economy. But most of the time, one of two things happens:

  1. The private company usually overestimates how much economic impact they think they'll have and won't live up to the promises they state to the local and state governments.
  2. The private company threatens to leave if the government even remotely tries to hold them accountable for anything shady.
[–] • 1 pt

The private company threatens to leave

We see this all the time with sports teams, if the tax payers don't sign up to build these multi million dollar complexes.

Yes these teams do add a lot of value for local economies, but in the end why are the tax payers subsidizing millionaires and billionaires?

[–] • 2 pts

Sounds like this was posted by a real estate developer who just bought a mall and has no idea what to do with it.

Regardless, I'll bite. Malls have to give up on the idea of retail. Amazon, Target, and Walmart are always going to win in those spaces.

Malls need to focus on experiences. I have a good friend who runs a VR experience center in an otherwise lifeless mall. It is busy as fuck always. You want to know the other stores that are busy? The Vietnamese nail salon does well, an experience that you must be there in person for. LensCrafters is always busy, people need optical exams and glasses.

If I bought a mall, I'd try to get a few decent bars, not restaurants, but actual bars, and I'd fill the rest of the space with experiences.

Arcades of all sorts and manner. VR arcades, pinball arcades, arcades dedicated to soyboys playing smash brothers on Nintendo GameCubes.

Massage parlors, run by the finest south-eastern Asians money could buy.

Ping-Pong centers and Pool halls.

I'd have an Axe-throwing range as well as two gun ranges, one for airsoft, and one for actual firearms.

A coffee house for open-mic nights, staffed by pretentious hipsters imported from the most esoteric of Brooklyn neighborhoods.

I'd have an adult obstacle course, like the old McDonald's playzones, complete with ladders and climbing nets and tubes that you would have to crawl through, and we would give the adults camelbacks filled with low calorie vodka-sodas.

Then I would have one store, just one, with nurses dedicated to giving you IV Saline so you wouldn't have a hangover the next day. They'd play nothing but Rick and Morty as you accepted the IV.

At least, that's what I would do.

[–] [deleted] • 1 pt

This idea is like bailing out the bias ply industry because no one is buying them anymore. A few people want them, but most don't for a reason.

I do think the online shopping takeover is a bit of a shame, but we do not need more grant money bouncing back and forth to try and save something that needs to adapt and fix itself.

Let's make malls great, not lazy.

[–] [deleted] • 1 pt

Save the malls

Like the "save the banks" bullshit, this is stupid.

If you can't see that, you are stupid too.

[–] [deleted] • 1 pt

>How do you think abandoned malls should be revived?

They shouldnt, the market has spoken, it's an obsolete business model.

>And do you think the government should or should not give grants for these purposes?

Absolutely should not. Why should my tax dollars go to prop up a failed business and put money in the someone elses pocket?