We talk about malls like they were some mythical place that vanished overnight, but we’re the ones who stopped showing up.  Back then the mall was where you went because that’s where everyone else was.  You wandered around, pretended you had plans, ate junk food, tried on clothes you couldn’t afford, and hoped you’d run into someone you liked. It wasn’t about shopping. It was about being young and accidentally finding the perfect place to hang out. You could say the same thing about 7/11 or the local video store, but nobody really talks about those places anymore either.

Then our behavior changed.  The demands of the world changed. We grew up, got busy, and the younger generation never really knew any of it because we were too distracted to pass it down. We wanted everything faster, delivered, frictionless. We didn’t want to walk anywhere or talk to anyone. We rebuilt our lives around convenience, and malls couldn’t compete with the speed we demanded.  They stayed the same while we optimized everything.

Now people say they miss malls, but what they really miss is the version of themselves who had nowhere to be and nothing urgent to do.  They miss the crowds, the randomness, the feeling of being part of something. Meanwhile they complain about the death of retail while filling their Amazon carts, ordering DoorDash, and waiting for an Uber. It’s not hypocrisy.  It’s nostalgia that hasn’t caught up with reality.

We didn’t lose malls. We outgrew the world they belonged to.  And now we miss the life we had inside them more than the buildings themselves.