Dixie Square Mall , Chicagoland's rotting eyesore, urban archaeology mecca. and site of a Blues Brothers chase scene, is finally being demolished. For real this time. It sat vacant and rotting since closing in 1979, slowly becoming the grim epitome of dead malls. (Previously)
posted by Yakuman on Feb 25, 2012 - 36 comments

Shopper Stalking: Starting on Black Friday and running through New Year's Day, two U.S. malls -- Promenade Temecula in southern California and Short Pump Town Center in Richmond, Va. -- will track guests' movements by monitoring the signals from their cell phones. "It's just not invasive of privacy," said Stephanie Shriver-Engdahl, vice president of digital strategy for Forest City. "There are no risks to privacy, so I don't see why anyone would opt out." (Consumers can opt out by turning off their phones.)
posted by Blake on Nov 23, 2011 - 153 comments

Lifestyle centers are open-air malls designed to look like an urban street or a contemporary residential area. But don't be fooled. Among the activities not allowed in the center are: excessive staring or taking photos, video or audio recording of any store, product, employee, customer or officer. Oh, and "non-commercial expressive activity" is not allowed either. Hopefully, that doesn't include talking.
posted by Tlahtolli on Apr 6, 2005 - 37 comments

They have ways of making you spend A guided tour of the tricks stores use to make you spend more.
posted by Mwongozi on Jan 4, 2005 - 19 comments

The Father of the Shopping Mall "His most remarkable innovation--unveiled in Edina, Minn., in 1956--was the first enclosed shopping mall, a climate-controlled community of retailing under a single vast canopy. But it was intended to be more than just a place to shop. It was to provide a center to otherwise centerless developments, offering community, entertainment and even enlightenment. Gruen lamented that Americans, at the time, were living 'detached lives in detached houses.' With his shopping-center designs, Mr. Hardwick writes, 'Gruen hoped to offer a corrective to this grim and soulless American environment.' "
posted by jamsterdam on Dec 24, 2003 - 30 comments