Many of us are still hearty shoppers despite the changes thrown our way in the past several years.
But that doesn’t mean our habits haven’t changed.
Related: Formerly troubled retail chain opening 60 new stores in 2025
Some of America’s most dedicated shoppers several decades ago could have been found in a shopping mall nearly every weekend. Whether they were teenagers, mall walkers, or busy parents doing back-to-school shopping, indoor shopping malls were the place to be.
This is largely because malls offered the kind of selection that few other plazas or shopping hubs could. Unless you lived in Manhattan or some other central shopping mecca, your nearest indoor mall was probably your best bet to find everything from electronics to furniture to prom dresses.
More Retail:
Walmart, Target, Costco make major 2025 announcementFormerly bankrupt retailer makes painful decision to close more storesTop investor takes firm stance on troubled retail brandWalmart and Costco making major change affecting all customers
In fact, in the 1980s and 1990s, more than 50% of all retail activity in the U.S. happened at shopping malls. If that doesn’t seem like much, consider the time commitment going to a mall takes.
At peak popularity, around the 1980s, the average U.S. consumer spent 12 hours per month inside a shopping mall.
Shopping malls were once the top retail destination, but their popularity has faded in the last 25 years.
Shutterstock
Malls are losing their luster
With all that time consumers spent inside, it’s easy to understand why most shopping malls had something of a stranglehold on the retail landscape for decades.
It’s also why most malls typically charge their retail tenants outsized rents.
Most malls were located in accessible suburban or urban areas, which attracted a lot of shoppers. And once those shoppers were inside a mall, they tended to spend more time there, which translated to more dollars spent. It’s easier to justify higher rents to eager tenants with the prospect of more sales.
Related: Analyst makes bold prediction about store closures in 2025
But malls are also very costly to build and operate. Most malls are between 400,000 and 800,000 square feet, which takes a lot to build and maintain. In order to recoup those costs, malls need to charge their tenants more to have a hope of seeing profit.
This model is all well and good until tenants start having financial difficulty. Defaults on payments are a death knell for large and cumbersome businesses like malls, and as soon as malls themselves start to struggle, the whole house can come crashing down rather quickly.
Top mall retailer considers another bankruptcy
As the popularity of malls has faded, the rapid decline of retailers that mainly cluster within malls has followed on.
We’ve seen it recently with The Body Shop, Rue 21, and Express — all mall retailers that depend on robust mall foot traffic to continue their successes.
Such is the case with Forever 21, too. The fashion retailer, known primarily for its affordable fast fashion options popular among teens and young adults, first filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2019.
Related: Popular brand files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, closing all stores
In February 2020, Forever 21 was sold for $81 million to a group of buyers, including Authentic Brands Group, Simon Property Group (SPG) , and Brookfield Property Partners. It closed about 350 stores and embarked on a turnaround plan.
Five years on, however, Forever 21 is still struggling.
After requesting rent reductions by up to 50% just one year ago, the mall retailer is reportedly considering filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy for a second time if it cannot find buyers for profitable leases.
Forever 21 is working on a restructuring plan with BRG, but as external pressures from other fast fashion companies — such as Shein — weigh on the mall retailer, bankruptcy may be the only option.
If it does file for bankruptcy again, Forever 21 may have to liquidate and shutter more of its 500 remaining stores.
Related: Veteran fund manager delivers alarming S&P 500 forecast
