dakota798•2mo agoMost Upvoted

Every dead mall I hit on my summer trip had a boarded-up anchor store.

3 comments

3 Comments

Remember when those big anchor stores actually meant something? Every time I see a boarded up Sears or JCPenney, it feels like the mall's heart just stopped beating. Those stores were the reason people showed up in the first place, and without them, the whole place just spirals. It's kinda sad walking past the empty space and hearing your own footsteps echo. What was the most common dead anchor you kept seeing?

margaretc592mo ago

Those empty anchors do echo, but the mall's heart was struggling long before the boards went up. I remember walking past a still-open Sears and seeing more staff than customers, whole sections just gathering dust. People had already stopped showing up for the stuffy department store experience. Maybe the anchors closing just made a slow bleed obvious.

bencampbell2mo ago

So what finally killed that old department store vibe for you, @margaretc59? You're right that the emptiness just showed the end result. I wonder if it was the prices, the boring stuff, or just the feeling of being in a time capsule.