Prompt Cast
The Rise and Fall of Shopping Malls: From Ancient Rome to the Modern Era
TLDR From Trajan's Market in ancient Rome to the first enclosed shopping center in Minneapolis, shopping malls have a long history. However, with the rise of online retailers and the end of tax breaks, malls have been in decline since the 1990s.
Timestamped Summary
00:00
The hosts discuss the history of shopping centers, starting with Trajan's Market in ancient Rome and the Grand Bazaar of Istanbul, and how the concept of a one-stop shop has been around for a long time.
05:58
The concept of a department store and the first enclosed shopping center, the Westminster Arcade, are discussed, along with the evolution of shopping centers and the first real mall, Southdale.
11:21
The first real mall, Southdale, was built in 1956 outside of Minneapolis and was designed to be an introverted, enclosed shopping center with department stores on both ends and open access to all the stores in between.
16:30
Victor Gruen, an Austrian architect who fled the Nazis, essentially invented the modern shopping mall, including the concept of stacking stores on top of each other and using low balconies to provide a view of the different levels.
22:32
During the golden age of the mall, which spanned from 1956 to 2005, malls were a popular destination for families to spend the day together, with activities such as shopping, going to the arcade, and watching movies.
28:28
The hosts discuss various movies and scenes that were set in malls, including Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Commando, Night of the Comet, The Blues Brothers, Back to the Future, and Mallrats.
34:28
Malls in Canada, such as the West Edmonton Mall and the Mall of America in Minnesota, have grown in popularity and size, with the Mall of America even having a program for mall walkers who can track their walking with swipe cards.
40:32
The mall was opened specifically for mall walkers, who were initially seen as a nuisance but were eventually embraced and given their own time to walk around, and the Mall of America was described as a place where people felt like they were in another era and living in golden times.
45:44
The facilities manager at malls is responsible for controlling the music, lights, and sounds of the mall, but the music played is often not considered "real" music, and malls with three levels can be confusing for shoppers.
51:42
Malls have been in decline since the 1990s, with the great recession and the rise of online retailers like Amazon being major factors in their downfall.
57:24
Online retailing is projected to only make up about 12.4% of retail by 2019, which is not enough to kill the mall, and the tax code changes in the 1950s allowed for accelerated depreciation, which had a significant impact on the economics of malls.
01:03:20
Malls were built for tax breaks and not to fulfill consumer demand, which is why they were destined to fail once the tax breaks went away.
Categories:
Society & Culture
