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Comment by pascalxus | Hacker News Reader

Malls, yuck! I find little attractive about them, and I'm not surprised no one's going any more. malls are dying because they're all based on materialist consumerism: something millennials want no part of.

Here's my suggestion. Fill them with Libraries, Gyms, yoga centers, Cafes, Restaurants, movie theaters, science museums, bike repair shops, ceramic hobby shops and indoor swimming pools, theaters and historic museums. That would get me going back in a heartbeat!

And for crying out loud, put those massive cement filled parking spaces underground. Replace all that extra space with Green trees, bushes, parks, bike lanes and outdoor gyms.

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Ironically enough the malls were envisioned to be that by the person who came up with the idea, the devil's bargain here was letting cars be the part of the equation.

https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/the-gruen-effect/

Also I'm not sure about the egalitarianism of the millenials. Millenials shop at Amazon, and we've seen article after article reporting on deplorable ways the company in treats its workers.

>materialist consumerism: something millennials want no part of.

You must have missed Instagram... Consumerism is alive and well among millenials. Remember not everyone is a HN reader who works in IT...

> they're all based on materialist consumerism... Libraries, Gyms, yoga centers, Cafes, Restaurants, movie theaters, science museums, bike repair shops, ceramic hobby shops and indoor swimming pools, theaters and historic museums

Aside from libraries and (some but certainly not all) museums, aren't all of these examples of things that fit well within materialist consumerism?

I also prefer yoga studios, expensive coffee, fancy restaurants to specialty knives, clothes shopping, shoe shopping, and food courts.

But those sorts of personal preferences are just matters of choosing what to consume, which doesn't seem like a fundamental or important difference.

Well at least the results don't end up in landfill.

The things I mentioned are mainly about experiences. For example, with a 5$ cup of coffee you get a great third place to hang out in an inspiring location, comfortable seat, stable table and wifi: it's not really about the coffee (for me anyways).

> The things I mentioned are mainly about experiences

I've become convinced that clothing and shoe shopping is also "mainly about the experience" for many people.

I don't get it, and I'm happy to see enough others who don't get it so that there's a critical mass of consumers for the business that provide the things I enjoy to thrive. But I do believe it's a matter of preference (and perhaps also of environmental/economic impact).

> Here's my suggestion. Fill them with Libraries, Gyms, yoga centers, Cafes, Restaurants, movie theaters, science museums, bike repair shops, ceramic hobby shops and indoor swimming pools, theaters and historic museums. That would get me going back in a heartbeat!

what's the point of getting you back if all the largest of those things make little to no money?

malls aren't a contest to see who can get the most bodies into the smallest space. (and if it were, they'd lose to clubs and bars anyways.) they're a contest to see who can pack the most variety of businesses into the smallest space.

not all of them need to make much money if they're run by the local gov or by a non-profit (libraries, parks, outdoor gym areas, museums), just enough to keep them going: like the way we have libraries and parks, etc.

>malls are dying because they're all based on materialist consumerism: something millennials want no part of.

There are more than millennials alive. The malls are dead because it's not longer convenient. Clothing stores are now in neighborhood shopping centers. Not to mention the real killer: the internet.

Funnily enough, the malls near where I live are packed. Go to a suburb of a with a large immigrant or minority population (the folks who are still having kids), and you’ll see tons of older millennial pushing strollers around the mall.

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