Let’s Go To The Mall

History of Malls 

This topic is very special to me. Not just because I love to shop, but because I was born and raised in New Jersey, the land of malls. 

There are many names for the many types of places to shop. Not just in New Jersey, but all over the globe. In the U.S., Persian Gulf Countries, and India the term “shopping mall” is applied to an enclosed retail structure. On the other hand, the term “shopping center” usually refers to open-air retail complexes. So many stores next to each other and you have to go outside to get to each store. 

Outside of North America, the terms “shopping precinct” and “shopping arcade” are also used for shopping centers. 

Shopping centers predate shopping malls. For example, the first covered shopping passage was built in Paris in 1798 titled, the Passage du Caire. The Burlington Arcade in London was opened in 1819. The Arcade in Providence, Rhode Island was built in 1828 and claims to be the first shopping arcade in the United States.

The Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II in Milan opened in 1877 and was larger than other shopping centers. The term "galleria" is used for many other shopping arcades and centers.

Shopping centers started to explode in the US after World War II with large open-air shopping centers popping up in cities throughout California. While some of these places used the term “mall” in their title, they were open-air shopping centers, not the fully enclosed malls we are familiar with today. 

One of the earliest examples was the Valley Fair Shopping Center in Appleton, Wisconsin, which opened on March 10, 1955. Valley Fair featured several modern features including central heating and cooling, a large outdoor parking area, semi-detached anchor stores, and restaurants. Later that year, the world's first fully enclosed shopping mall was opened in Luleå, in northern Sweden, and was named “Shopping.” 

The idea of a regionally-sized, fully enclosed shopping complex was pioneered in 1956 by the Austrian-born architect and American immigrant Victor Gruen. This new generation of regional-size shopping malls began with the Gruen-designed Southdale Center, which opened in the Twin Cities suburb of Edina, Minnesota, in October 1956.

The Southdale Center was the first of its kind: a large, spacious building filled with modern shops and public art. Since the building was enclosed and climate-controlled, people fled to the mall during Minnesota winters. 

Gruen revealed that this mall was inspired by the life he had left behind in Europe and its town square. US communities were beginning to spread into the suburbs. Gruen wanted to replicate the feel of a medieval market or the Greek agora: a community space where people could meet, exchange ideas, and purchase goods and services. 

While shops were an important part of the design, they were the sole purpose of Gruen’s mall. He envisioned a mall that included amenities such as medical centers, schools, and even residences.

Following its debut in the 1950s, the US quickly fell in love with Gruen’s creation. Malls allowed people to shop without going into the city or downtown area. Malls brought numerous retailers and services together in a single location.

As people left the city and the US suburbs grew, the popularity of malls increased. Over 1,200 shopping malls shot up in the US. Here are some more examples of popular shopping malls:  Harundale Mall opened in 1958 in Glen Burnie, Maryland, Big Town Mall opened in 1959 in Mesquite, Texas, Chris-Town Mall opened in 1961 in Phoenix, Arizona, and Randhurst Center opened in 1962 in Mount Prospect, Illinois.

Places that originally opened as shopping centers turned into malls. Although it was called a mall when it opened, the Bergen Mall in Paramus, New Jersey, was the first retail complex to be changed from an open-air format to fully enclosed in 1973. 

Even though malls mostly appeared in suburban areas in the U.S., some U.S. cities facilitated the construction of enclosed malls downtown as an effort to revive city centers and allow them to compete effectively with suburban malls. Examples include Main Place Mall in Buffalo which opened in 1969 and The Gallery which is now known as Fashion District Philadelphia opened in 1977. 

In the 1980s, developers such as A. Alfred Taubman of Taubman Centers expanded the concept of the mall by adding indoor fountains and additional levels. He did this at the Short Hills Mall in New Jersey. Taubman believed carpeting increased friction and slowed down customers, so it was removed. 

Taubman also designed glass panels to allow fading daylight and gradually increased electric lighting to make it seem like the afternoon lasted longer, encouraging shoppers to linger. 

The shopping mall has impacted the US economy since the first completely enclosed mall opened in 1956. These economic impacts include:

• Retail Centralization: Malls provide a centralized location for a wide range of retail stores, offering convenience to consumers and creating opportunities for businesses to grow.

• Job Creation: The construction and operation of malls created jobs, both in the retail sector and in supporting industries like construction, maintenance, and security.

• Increased Tax Revenue: Malls generated property and sales tax revenue for local governments, contributing to public finances.

• Real Estate Development: Malls often stimulated further development in the surrounding area, increasing property values, and additional economic activity.

• Increased Consumer Spending: The cultural phenomenon of “going to the mall” encouraged consumer spending, boosting sales for retailers, restaurants, and entertainment establishments inside the malls.

There’s a reason why people love going to the mall. Here are some reasons malls remained popular for decades: 

• Get Togethers: Malls were not just shopping destinations; they were also social hubs where friends and families would meet up.

• Teen Hangouts: Malls were particularly popular among teenagers. It was a place where they could hang out with friends, flirt, and have independence.

• Entertainment: Malls often featured arcades, movie theaters, and food courts, providing a range of entertainment options for visitors.

• Fashion and Trends: Fashion enthusiasts flocked to malls to buy the latest fashion trends, spending hours exploring the racks of clothes and honing their personal styles.

• Music and Media: Malls served as hubs for music and movie enthusiasts, with stores selling records, cassettes, CDs, VHS cassettes, and DVDs.

• Retail Diversity: Malls typically included a wide range of stores, from clothing boutiques to electronics shops, making them a convenient one-stop shop for many consumer needs.

• Holiday Traditions: Malls embraced holidays with elaborate decorations, Santa Claus and Easter Bunny visits, indoor trick-or-treating, and other seasonal events, becoming a part of many families’ traditions.

Specifically, Santa 

Santa Claus became an official holiday icon in the late 1700s and early 1800s. During this time, his image started to appear in advertisements. The first documented appearance was a jewelry ad in 1820, and by the 1840s, statues of Santa were in store window displays. 

There is great debate over the true origin of the mall Santa. As many of these Christmas traditions started over two centuries ago, not a lot of information was well-documented, and what was documented was not well-preserved. 

J.W. Parkinson owned a dry goods store and bake shop located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and claims to have hired his neighbor to portray Kris Kringle at his store as early as December of 1841. The hired Santa Claus climbed down the chimney of the retail shop, carrying a big sack of toys slumped over his shoulder. The words, “My friends shop at Parkinson's” were written on the bag. 

From the rooftop, Santa waved to onlookers, inviting them to come inside to shop for last-minute Christmas items. Unfortunately, there is not much documented about Santa's stop in Philly in 1841, aside from a newspaper clipping featured in the book Christmas in Pennsylvania by Alfred Shoemaker.

Macy’s claims to be the home of Santa Claus. There is evidence that the store advertised that they were "The Home of Santa Claus" in 1861 to promote their large toy selection during the holiday season, but there are no photos, drawings, or much proof of Santa appearing in store at this time. In fact, other stores were regularly decorating for Christmas long before Macy’s first opened their doors in 1858. Macy’s didn’t even begin their holiday window display tradition until 1874.

While debate rages on, it is generally believed that Santa’s first visit to a department store was The Boston Store in 1890. Located in Brockton, Massachusetts, the store was owned by Scottish immigrant James Edgar. James Edgar loved holidays. On the Fourth of July, he would dress as George Washington and host parades and picnics in the park. During the holiday season, he would dress as a clown and wander the aisles of his store, giving toys to kids shopping with their parents. 

Inspired by the holiday artwork of Thomas Nast, in 1890 Edgar had a custom Santa suit made. One afternoon in early December, he walked around his store in the Santa suit instead of his regular clown costume. 

Edgar only expected to wear the suit a few hours a week, but his acts were sensational and his store was mobbed with excited children and parents who heard that Santa was spotted at his store. He had lines of people waiting around the block with visitors from as far as New York and Rhode Island. He immediately ordered a second suit, for another one of his employees, Jim Grant, to wear when he was unavailable. It quickly became a yearly tradition at the store. 

By 1891, Santa began popping up in stores nationwide. By the turn of the century, his in-store visits became a fixture of the holiday season at nearly every major department store in the country.

However, it wasn’t until 1943 that people started photographing the visits from Santa. Arthur French, a staff photographer for the Seattle Post-Intelligence, saw the crowds of people outside a popular department store in Seattle called Frederick and Nelson. After discussing his idea with the store owners, they agreed to let him charge for photos with Santa in exchange for a percentage of the profits. 

He charged $1 per photo and made $10,000 that December. This was more than he earned the entire year from the newspaper, so he quit his job and founded Arthur and Associates Photography, which is still in the Santa (and Easter Bunny) photo business today.

In December 2016, Business Insider spoke with a company providing Santa photography services in 400 retail locations and reported that Santa meet-and-greets generate an average revenue of more than $1 million for each location. Some shopping centers earn as much as 30% of their yearly profits, just in the few weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas. This does not even take into account the increased patronage at the stores, food courts, and restaurants at each location. This is just because of Santa. 

The Downfall of the Mall 

While malls have expanded and become extremely popular, the original founding father of malls is not very supportive of the new generation. In a 1978 interview, Gruen made it clear he did not support the direction modern malls were going in.

He said, “I would like to take this opportunity to disclaim paternity once and for all. I refuse to pay alimony to those bastard developments. They destroyed our cities.”

The biggest criticism of malls is the negative impact they have had on the previously established urban landscape. Robert J Gibbs, President of Gibbs Planning and author of Principles of Urban Retail Planning and Development, said malls have been disastrous for the main streets and urban centers once found at the heart of local communities.

“The first generation of malls built in the mid-1950s to mid-1960s devastated small towns”, Gibbs said. “They pulled out the department stores from the city centers and shifted the center of commerce from downtown to the mall. Most of the downtowns then struggled for about 25 to 30 years. The effect was devastating.”

In addition, malls are pretty impossible to access without a car. Unlike a downtown area that is accessible by a bus or train, malls are typically encircled by highways and lack sufficient connection to public transportation. 

It seems like malls were destined for failure since the traditional architecture of malls set them up for failure. Typically, malls have major department stores at either end. Department stores are known as “anchor stores” and they are the main attraction of malls. 

In this traditional structure, smaller boutiques and other stores would open between the two anchor department stores. Gradually, malls began to experiment with different shapes and sizes, but the fundamental premise of connecting department stores always remained the same. 

Unfortunately, department stores have begun to go under. In 2016, Macy’s announced it would be closing 100 stores. Sears also closed over 150 stores and JCPenney has announced a number of store closures. A chart released by Financial Times in January 2020 showed that US shopping mall vacancies hit a 20-year high just prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

So even before the pandemic, stores were leaving malls. Malls have been declining in popularity for over 10 years. The documentary TV series Dead Mall premiered in 2014 and took visitors on virtual tours of stores and shopping centers that went out of business during the early-to-mid-2010s, and its website features a list of nearly 450 dead or dying shopping malls across the US.

It seems like people are trying to do a lot more than shop at the shopping mall. Malls have the square footage, parking, and infrastructure necessary to accommodate a diverse range of non-retail functions. This includes: office and commercial spaces for telecommunications carriers or data centers; healthcare clinics or fitness centers; government and civic services such as DMV; satellite education centers; multi-family residential housing; storage facilities; entertainment venues; churches; community centers; hotels; and unique food courts featuring small locally-owned restaurants. 

Malls have been used as concert venues in the past to promote emerging artists. Singer Tiffany is credited with helping popularize mall tours. Her “Tiffany Shopping Mall Tour ‘87” spread over 14 sites, helped bolster sales of her self-titled debut album. This tour started at the Paramus Park Mall in Paramus, New Jersey. The land of malls.  

Here are some other celebrities who performed in malls:

• Britney Spears did the Hair Zone Mall Tour in 1999 which was an early promotional mall tour for her debut album. She performed a few songs off the album LIVE.

• Avril Lavigne performed in the Toronto Mall in 2004. She also performed in malls in California at this time. She performed songs like "He Wasn't", "My Happy Ending", "Sk8er Boi", "Don't Tell Me", "Take Me Away", "Nobody's Home", and "Complicated"

• Taylor Swift performed in Mall of America twice. The first time was in 2006 when she performed “Teardrops on My Guitar” and again in 2007 when she performed “Santa Baby” as part of the holiday special. 

• Lady Gaga performed in an IKEA Parking Lot in 2008. The San Diego radio station 933 FM pulled together a charity concert that included a performance from Lady Gaga. Not exactly a mall, but I love the fact that she performed in an IKEA parking lot. 

• Ariana Grande performed at Macy’s Summer Blowout in 2011. This set of concerts with Macy’s was performed before her first album was released. Because her album wasn’t released yet, she performed “Only Girl” by Rihanna and a mashup of “Born This Way” and “Express Yourself.” 

Mall Media 

In 1986, Consumer Reports included the shopping mall in its list of the top 50 most revolutionary consumer innovations, ranking them alongside things like antibiotics and personal computers. 

In addition to their economic and social importance, shopping malls held a prominent place in pop culture, showing up in board games, television series, films, and music. Examples include:

• The “Mall Madness” board game came out in 1988. It was a shopping spree in a board game format that represented a mall with various stores. You had to be the first player to purchase six items on your shopping list and return to your starting point to win.

• The game show Shop ‘Til You Drop was released in 1991 and put contestants in a mall setting, where they had to compete in shopping-related challenges.

• The movie Fast Times at Ridgemont High was released in 1982. The fictional “Ridgemont Mall” was the backdrop for several scenes. 

• Mallrats was released in 1995 and the mall is the main setting of the movie.

• Clueless was released in 1995 and the mall and fashion itself are very important to the movie. 

• A more recent movie that I have to give a special shout-out to is Paul Blart: Mall Cop. That movie rocks. 

Here are some other movies with good mall scenes: The Hot Chick, Mean Girls, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Superbad, and Fear Street. The Mall of America was used as a filming location for many TV shows and movies including D2: The Mighty Ducks and D3: The Mighty Ducks. 

Conclusion 

Even though going to the mall gives me so much anxiety because people stand too close, walk too fast, and fight each other for parking spots, the mall will always have a special place in my heart. 

As someone who grew up getting Chinese food at the food court and buying two-for-one earrings that made my ears itchy at Claire’s, the mall is nostalgic and comforting. 

Unlike downtown areas, visitors don’t have to buy something to use the bathroom and people can sit on a bench for hours without it being considered loitering. Although lack of transportation and accessibility make them difficult to access for many people, upgrades to these buildings could make malls the backbone of America once again. Especially if they turn into concert venues, sports facilities, or movie theaters. 

Anything besides another arcade or escape room. There are too many escape rooms at the mall!