Hmm, where I see malls thriving is where they have nicer and more varied stores. I don't know whether the other malls are failing because they don't have the nicer stores or if the nicer stores don't want to go there because they are failing. Mayfair Mall near Milwaukee is expanding. If they can keep the teen traffic under control, they will continue to be very successful. But as it stands, with the attached movie theaters, once evening comes the real buyers leave that mall because they are scared of the gangs of teens.
There is a strip mall being installed near that same mall that has a Nordstrom Rack, a Saks Off Fifth, and will soon have a DSW. I am not sure why strip malls are successful here, as it snows.
In Madison, the mall on the East Side is failing, but the mall on the West Side has much nicer stores and is installing a Nordstrom (the first regular Nordstrom in WI), so they aren't hurting.
Ultimately, people want a one-stop convenient place to shop, and a lot of the alternative models haven't provided that. Boutiques are interspersed in strip malls here; outlet malls are just that - outlets, and free-standing stores force people to drive short and heavily trafficked distances from place to place. A mall is really the only place where many stores are all within walking distance around here, so they can reinvent them all they please, but they serve an important purpose in some areas.
