Death of an outlet shopping mall

[ladder13]

Obviously not to the mall.

The original Outlet Malls were so the big retail merchants could sell their end-of-run and second merchandise without undercutting their premium stores. By clustering these stores together people would drive to get the savings.
Then someone thought to start selling their regular merchandise in these stores at a small discount. People would still drive, in hope of getting some savings.
Now the Outlet malls are just another marketing outlet for the big retailers. No price discounts or other reason to drive out in the country to these stores.

You know what an outlet mall is as I understood the OP, and defined it perfectly.

 

[Rustyt1953]

"It's got to be a haven for walkers" hits the nail on the head.

This is the mall closest to me.

 

[ladder13]

San Marcos Outlet Mall (actually two different but co-located malls) on I-35 between San Antonio and Austin is one of the country's largest, over 200 "outlet" stores. We have been there a couple of times, most recently about 4 years ago. No reason to waste the gas going there, no real deals to be had.

Woodbury Commons Outlets are 250+ stores and still growing. As mentioned the "outlet" has become just another way for retailers to bunch together and get a larger walkable presence.

Bot Detection & Human Challenge - Simon Premium Outlets

 

[DWalt]

It was closed for 2 years, better now than before the flood. Very busy, in part due to the influx of tourism in Nashville. IMO, probably the best mall I've shopped in. Seems whenever I'm near Nashville I end up there!

The last time I was in Nashville the Opryland Mall was still closed. At one time my employer had annual National training symposiums at the Opryland Hotel, which is quite a remarkable place itself. The structure is under a huge dome and has a river inside. It is just a short walk from the hotel to the Mall, and the Mall was quite an experience. It was over a million square feet and had almost every type of store you could think of plus several theaters. And was always packed with people. Then the flood wiped out the Mall. I think that might have been around 2010. The hotel was was also flooded but not damaged seriously. I think there was quite a squabble with the insurance company over what was covered, and it took a long time to get settled. I have never read whether it had been re-opened.

 

[rwsmith]

I like anything orange....

When you see Orange Julius and Spencer Gifts fold their tents you know the mall is withering on the vine.

...but I tried an Orange Julius one time and wasn't impressed at all. Maybe they didn't make it right. Didn't have a lot of orange flavor to it. I'll stick to Fanta.

 

[DWalt]

...but I tried an Orange Julius one time and wasn't impressed at all. Maybe they didn't make it right. Didn't have a lot of orange flavor to it. I'll stick to Fanta.

Mall food is, if anything, less impressive than airport food. I got food poisoning from eating at an airport many years ago, didn't kick in until I had been in the air a few hours. One place you definitely don't want to come down with food poisoning is in an airplane. Have not eaten at any airport since.

 

[Glynn863]

Most of the malls in my state have been declining due to increasing "incidents" generally attributed to packs of hoodlums (being nice here). Those same hoodlums tend to congregate there and then trash-talk each other and bystanders, and often it escalates. Of course, there is the criminal element side as well: shoplifting, robbery, car-jackings, drug-deals-gone-bad in the parking deck.