Imagine apartments built into what used to be department stores, (Oh, you’re JC Penny 203? I’m at Sears 106). Get those old arcades up and running. Set up meal stations at the food court. Once people actually live there, stores will start to move back in.
If I’m unable to finish my life in my own home, that doesn’t sound like a terrible option.
Malls are actually doing fine.
Apparently they were already shutting down the too-many-malls that there were, but there are still a few hundred and they’re doing well.
Specifically, for the reasons you’re saying, because they have a food court and arcade stations and basically our community centers, more than just shopping outlets.
It looked like all the malls were dying out because there were simply too many for the American population, but now that number’s kind of stabilized and slowly growing again.
But as for the disused ones that were built during the boom 20 years ago? sure.
They’d make good housing.
The malls that are succeeding still are the ones that are transitioning to hosting nearly exclusively luxury and fashion stores, i.e., retailers that don’t have to compete with Wal Mart and Amazon. These are obviously only viable in areas that are fairly affluent to begin with.
As far as I understand, the malls that are succeeding are the ones focused on the community itself.
High end retailers have always had an important part in the mall, since inspecting luxury goods in person is preferable to trusting the online process, but they don’t keep malls full.
There were already too many malls for the American population, then online shopping showed up, but what still gets people to go to malls are the social aspects.
People assume malls as cultural hubs are dying because the excess malls have been dying off for over a decade and the popularity of Amazon or whatever, but the hundreds that are still standing are very popular, especially since covid, like apparently over 90% occupancy.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/shopping/2023/08/28/future-of-shopping-malls-in-america/70649848007/
Consequently, malls are focusing on those social aspects rather than any sort of retail specifically. They’re coming around to the realization that the experience of going to the mall is much more important than the products sold.
https://passby.com/blog/the-future-of-shopping-malls-retail/