Being inside a store when the gates clang down and having employees rush you into a back storeroom is bound to be a scary experience. And it was one that was totally unnecessary at a mall in Houston, after mall management accidentally sent an emergency alert to retailers warning of an active shooter on the premises, instead of a smash-and-grab robbery at a jewelry store. [More]
malls
Mall Sends Wrong Emergency Alert To Retailers During Robbery, Prompting Scare Over Active Shooter
By 3.11.15
Apple Stores Rake In Money, Get Mall Rent Breaks
By 3.10.15
An article in the Wall Street Journal today forced me to face a difficult truth about myself: I only go to the mall when one of my Apple products breaks or I want to test makeup. I’m not alone in this, apparently, because Apple Stores are replacing department stores as a driver of traffic to malls, and they’ve worked out unique rent arrangements because of that. [More]
Mall Of America Owners Want To Build An Even Bigger Mall In Miami
By 3.5.15
The company that operates the mammoth Mall of America in Minnesota and the larger West Edmonton Mall in Canada are looking to erect an outsized shopping destination in warmer climes with a new proposal to build a combination mall and amusement park in the Miami area. [More]
Detroit-Area Shopping Center Goes From Nation’s Oldest Mall To Nation’s Newest Dead Mall
By 2.27.15
If you spend much time on Consumerist, then you’re probably aware of the current sad state of the world’s malls; from the former largest mall in the world being demolished to those full of fish or snow covered, it isn’t exactly a pretty picture. Today, we learn that another historic shopping center will soon trade in its purported title as the nation’s first regional shopping mall for that of the latest “dead mall.” [More]
Mall Owners Will Really Miss RadioShack
By 2.5.15
RadioShack no longer serves an important role in most American consumers’ everyday lives. Yet one group will miss the chain quite a bit: mall developers, who will need to find replacement tenants for about 2,000 current Shacks that are expected to close. [More]
Urgent Care Clinics Move In To Malls, And Landlords Really Like Them
By 1.9.15 — Updated: 2.7.17
Sometimes you need a sprained ankle bandaged or a sore ear looked at outside of the hours that your primary health care provider is open. Where do you go when that happens? In a growing number of communities, you can head to the mall, where small urgent care clinics are setting up in that storefront where Blockbuster used to be. [More]
Why Are There So Many Dead Malls? The Middle Class Is Dying, Too
By 1.5.15
Dead malls are in the news often lately, whether they’ve become self-aware, are being reduced to rubble, or are being turned into condos or houses of worship. Even teens don’t want to hang out there anymore. Why is it, though, that malls that once clothed and entertained the middle class are dying out? What, if anything, will take their place? [More]
It Was Once Dubbed The World’s Largest Mall, And Now It’s About To Be Dust
By 12.30.14
Oh, how the mighty have fallen: The former ruler of wide swaths of parking lot as the world’s largest mall when it was built in 1976, Randall Park Mall near Cleveland, has been dead for years. But the final nail in the coffin comes this week as the building undergoes the final demolition from which no mall can return. [More]
26 Kids Who Decided Santa Claus Is Not To Be Tolerated, Proceed To Freak The Heck Out
By 12.25.14 — Updated: 12.5.16
We asked, and oh boy, did we receive: For our third annual installment of holiday-induced panic on a wee scale, you, our dear readers, submitted 26 photos of your children freaking the heck out upon meeting the man in red, one Santa Cornelius Claus. Does Santa have a middle name for real? We might never know, but what we do know is that before children come to love the guy, they often want nothing better than to be as far from that jolly fellow as possible. [More]
Mall Santa Recruitment: Only Real White Beards Need Apply
By 12.9.14
Where do the finest mall Santas come from? It’s not just anyone who is able to terrify children who the finest malls want to hire to rule over the North Pole and its lucrative photo business. There’s a special company that recruits and employs hundreds of Santas nationwide. While Santas vary, for some malls only the very best St. Nicks are suitable. [More]
Scary Santa Strikes Again: Send Us Photos Of Your Kids Freaking Out With Costumed Mall Characters
By 12.9.14
Maybe you were kid-free in 2012, and last year your wee one was just a perfect angel when it came time to visit Santa Claus at the mall for that traditional photo opportunity. But if your kid freaked out at the sight of St. Nick or had a meltdown when faced with a costumed Frozen character, this year is gonna be yours. [More]
California Mall Replaces Santa Accused Of Turning Away Autistic Girl Over Her Service Dog
By 12.2.14
Perhaps the only thing worse than being terrified by a mall Santa Claus is not getting to hang out with the guy when your heart is set on it. The family of a 7-year-old autistic girl in California says the youngster was “heartbroken” when she didn’t get to see Santa after a 30-minute wait, because he didn’t like the look of her service dog. [More]
Pro-Holiday Activists Protest At Mall That Will Open On Thanksgiving Day
By 11.14.14
There’s less than two weeks left until Thanksgiving Day, and consumers are beginning to learn which retailers will be open on the holiday so they can either plan their shopping trips or get very, very upset. Some people in Michigan have taken the “get upset” option, holding a protest outside of a mall that is scheduled to open at 6 P.M. [More]
When Is The Right Time For Santa Claus To Set Up Shop At The Mall?
By 11.14.14
There’s Christmas Creep, and then there’s showing up so early to the party that your guests aren’t even aware they’ve been invited yet. At least one mall in these United States has already ensconced the seasonal Santa Claus in his digs, surely giving some Christmas Creep curmudgeons out there a case of the grumbles. [More]
Mall To Stores: Open At 6 PM On Thanksgiving Day Or We’ll Fine You
By 11.11.14
Last year, the Walden Galleria near Buffalo, New York welcomed shoppers at midnight on Black Friday. This year, they’re moving that start time back by six hours, and other malls owned by the same company, Pyramid Management, will be opening at dinnertime on the holiday as well. [More]
Developmentally Disabled Man Falls Over Mall Railing, Dies
By 10.31.14
Police say that what happened yesterday at the Palisades Center mall in the suburbs of New York City was a terrible accident. Residents from a nearby group home for developmentally disabled adults were on a trip to the local mall, and somehow––nobody knows quite how yet––one of the residents fell over a third-floor railing, landing at the bottom of an escalator near the Best Buy store. He died on the scene. [More]
This ‘Premier Shopping Destination’ Is A Mall For Rich People
By 10.28.14
When people who are truly wealthy go shopping, they don’t always go to the regular malls that regular people use. No, people who drop six-figure sums at a single mall every year are entitled to a much fancier level of service, and there’s a Long Island mall that exists to provide it to them. Since the ’80s, Americana Manhasset has been a mall only for rich people. [More]
What Happens When One Mall Has Two Different Minimum Wages?
By 9.2.14
Normally, it wouldn’t be a huge deal to have one mall that sits on the border between two cities. There might be some small differences in laws or sales tax, but at the Westfield Valley Fair Mall in California, there’s a huge difference. It sits on the border between the cities of San Jose and Santa Clara, and San Jose recently raised the citywide minimum wage by $2. [More]
