Malls, the beloved ghost towns of America.
Malls used to be the happening place of our commercial country, filled with overpriced stores and bored teens. Yet, malls seem to be either doing okay or terribly bad. My local mall- the Chambersburg Mall- is one it's breath.
I remember as teen, Friday nights were the nights everyone went to the mall to hang out. They were a plethora of stores we could go into and chill at. There was a game store, the candy shop, FYE, and my personal favorite, the local punk store Sea The Source. There was no shortage of entertainment.
Yet, as I grew up the mall began to die. Heck, it was dying before that. During my teen years I never thought much of couple empty slots. However more and more empty slots began to appear. The game store left, came back, and left again. The candy shop left and then had a couple of reincarnations before finally puttering out. Sea The Source moved to a different more prosperous mall. FYE stayed the longest but after while it too had died.
These are just the stores I'm familiar with. However more and more stores left beside them, JC Penny, Burlington, Hallmark, and so many more. When you walk into the store there's only 5 stores left in the many empty slots
Its sad and it's pathetic.
On May 4th and 5th My local mall had a special event in attempt to draw in business. They had animal rescue from Canada come down and bring animals to view, pet, hold, and educate about. They had many reptiles, rodents, and their name ticket animal, a sloth. The whole event was titled "Meet a Sloth".
It succeeded in drawing people in, especially families. There was a good crowd of people when I went and lots of children. Everyone loved the animals, and the educational presentations were entertaining for all ages. The sloth was very cute and many people were amazed by him. It was success in that it drew people in.
The mall has started planning many events to encourage people to come. Despite this effort, is it too little too late? How can you draw business in with only a handful of stores?
Yes, people will come to the events but if you don't have stores that meet the customer's needs and expectations, do you even have a mall?
That is the question that's on the mall's last breath, just another beloved ghost town of America.
