The "mall as retirement home for Gen X" started off as a joke years ago, but people have been taking the idea more and more serious as we age. There actually is a mall (iirc in Massachusetts) where they have cleared out all the businesses on the 2nd and 3rd floors and turned them into little (very little) studio apartments. It's not even exclusively for the retired as young people need the cheap housing too. As long as the mall has good bones and natural lighting, there is no reason this couldn't work in other places.
From what I understand, Gen Z may actually be helping to make the mall come back, as they get what it's about, including the weird notion of purchasing something they want, and they have it right away after the purchase. Try stuff on, etc.
As someone who still works in a mall I wish they were more alive the way they used to be, our store gets decent traffic compared to the rest of the mall but some days it feels pretty dead :(
Growing up in a small town, the mall life in the 80s/90s was something else. We had a movie theater in our mall. Friday nights after games/Saturday nights were packed with kids cruising and dining out with friends. You were bound to see other kids you knew from school. And there was an attempt to be dressed in the latest fashions of the time.
@5:21 big shout out to Randhurst Mall (RIP), Mt. Prospect, IL. The Bergner's dept store was a dead giveaway, as was Camelot Music. That mall had a funky downstairs section, where the weirdos hung out: PJ's Trick Shop and some leather store, etc. The upstairs had their professional offices, management, etc. A food court opened up in '86, I believe.
even in the 2000s, my friends and i would go to the mall just for fun. Hot Topic and Spencer's were top of the list for us, but even Abercrombie and Hollister were places we'd go just because. (okay fine, i was the only one who went to Hollister. i just liked the smell and the music, okay??!) we'd walk around, window shop a little bit, grab a bite at the food court, basically just hang out. but we'd almost never see anyone else we actually knew. it wasn't the hopping social spot it was in the 80s. and nowadays, i still want to go hang out at the mall, but all my 30-something-year-old friends would just rather stay home and be boring. i really want mall culture to come back. our society needs more third spaces, but people barely even want to go to the ones we already have. we really need a cultural shift to make social spaces a thing again.
80s millennial here. I still go to the mall probably at least once a month. There is just a feeling I get there that you can’t get anywhere else. I like the idea of mall is retirement homes. I did see the video where they are doing that somewhere. I think your mall would be pretty cool though
I remember telling somebody the mall was the Internet before the Internet.
The "mall as retirement home for Gen X" started off as a joke years ago, but people have been taking the idea more and more serious as we age. There actually is a mall (iirc in Massachusetts) where they have cleared out all the businesses on the 2nd and 3rd floors and turned them into little (very little) studio apartments. It's not even exclusively for the retired as young people need the cheap housing too. As long as the mall has good bones and natural lighting, there is no reason this couldn't work in other places.
@@LividImp That is awesome! I wish other areas would do the same.
They're talking about doing this all over the U.S. converting all the unused buildings into living spaces
From what I understand, Gen Z may actually be helping to make the mall come back, as they get what it's about, including the weird notion of purchasing something they want, and they have it right away after the purchase. Try stuff on, etc.
That 4 minute into easy could have been 10 seconds long l
@castlepat Thanks for the feedback! I learn from every video.
i. am. not. a. ro-bot.
this is why season 3 of stranger things is the best
The mall was an experience man
As someone who still works in a mall I wish they were more alive the way they used to be, our store gets decent traffic compared to the rest of the mall but some days it feels pretty dead :(
@@devykat52 So sad! I went to mine today, and it had good traffic without being packed.
Yes!
that opening montage is insane! it feels like a.i., but the editing errors make it feel like a labor of love. so cool. well done
Growing up in a small town, the mall life in the 80s/90s was something else. We had a movie theater in our mall. Friday nights after games/Saturday nights were packed with kids cruising and dining out with friends. You were bound to see other kids you knew from school. And there was an attempt to be dressed in the latest fashions of the time.
@@islandbee That sounds so much like my experience!
@5:21 big shout out to Randhurst Mall (RIP), Mt. Prospect, IL. The Bergner's dept store was a dead giveaway, as was Camelot Music. That mall had a funky downstairs section, where the weirdos hung out: PJ's Trick Shop and some leather store, etc. The upstairs had their professional offices, management, etc. A food court opened up in '86, I believe.
even in the 2000s, my friends and i would go to the mall just for fun. Hot Topic and Spencer's were top of the list for us, but even Abercrombie and Hollister were places we'd go just because. (okay fine, i was the only one who went to Hollister. i just liked the smell and the music, okay??!)
we'd walk around, window shop a little bit, grab a bite at the food court, basically just hang out.
but we'd almost never see anyone else we actually knew. it wasn't the hopping social spot it was in the 80s.
and nowadays, i still want to go hang out at the mall, but all my 30-something-year-old friends would just rather stay home and be boring.
i really want mall culture to come back. our society needs more third spaces, but people barely even want to go to the ones we already have. we really need a cultural shift to make social spaces a thing again.
Malls were the shit
80s millennial here. I still go to the mall probably at least once a month. There is just a feeling I get there that you can’t get anywhere else. I like the idea of mall is retirement homes. I did see the video where they are doing that somewhere. I think your mall would be pretty cool though
p.s. MEMBERBERRIES!