Macy's just announced it will be closing 35-40 stores in 2016. This will likely mark the slow, steady progression toward death for the malls to which those stores are attached. But maybe the closure of these Macy's stores is a symptom of a deeper problem in the mall shopping experience, not the cause of the malls' failure.
Today, shopping malls are becoming twenty-first century ghost towns. Since 2010, more than two dozen enclosed shopping malls have closed, and an additional 60 are on the brink. By 2025, an estimated 15 percent or more malls will be closed or repurposed, according to projections by Green Street Advisors.