Sales are down, so they cut costs by cutting staff and presentation. That ultimately turns the store into a warehouse of goods which in turn discourages shopping further. With that decline they often resort into cutting store operating hours which further kills off shopping.
One of my local malls is open from like 11am to 6pm on the weekdays and 8pm on the weekends. Even if I wanted to shop there, it's hard because they are closed during normal work hours. The shops and stores are all manned with a skeleton crew. I've seen Macy's have a single employee manning the entire store.