AmiSight 9/23: The Mall Was Supposed to Be Dead
For years, we were told the American shopping mall was dying. Amazon and e-commerce were going to make them obsolete, and the pandemic seemed like it might finish the job.
Apparently, nobody told the malls.
According to The Wall Street Journal, mall values have increased 13% over the past year, making them the best-performing sector in commercial real estate. There are fewer malls than there used to be, but many of the survivors have adapted. Owners have invested in their properties, brought in restaurants, entertainment and higher-end retailers, and turned them into places people actually want to spend time again. Younger consumers are showing up too.
There is an interesting lesson here for entrepreneurs. We have to be careful when conventional wisdom turns into something we simply assume is true. Industries change. Consumer behavior changes. And sometimes businesses that everybody has written off don't disappear—they adapt.
The mall isn't what it was 20 years ago. That may be exactly why it's working again.
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