Are we too lazy?
Are we too caught up in social media and our online life that going in person is out the window?
When did we stop shopping
It’s a Sunday afternoon, and I am in a mall that once felt like the ultimate shopping trip.
My mom, my grandma, and occasionally my aunts would hop in my mom’s Dodge Dart and head to the mall after dentist appointments or just because it was our weekly Saturday shopping trip.
I would have one of those Betsey Johnson purses filled with lip gloss, a few dollars, and probably my fully charged iPod and headphones for the ride.
It felt so far.
It’s March 2026, and as I pull up to that same mall with my mom. The parking lot is empty.
A few shoppers coming out of Kohl’s and JCPenney had a little bit of action, but overall, the mall was dead.
Store signatures scraped from the outside wall, random birds just hanging out, making it their home.
“Wow, that was quick.”
Once a lively mall, one of my favorite places to shop as a kid, is closing right in front of me.
A chapter is closing.
The smell of A&W chili cheese fries and coney dogs is just gone.
This is Value City and that random mall all over again. Another chapter in my younger years is closing.
Growing up, you think these experiences and memories would live and grow with you. But sadly, sometimes they just die.
What happened
No music, the remaining jewelry stores where I would wave to my cousin’s wife while she worked, the Pretzel Peddler is gone, it feels like I just had it in 2021.
Claire’s been gone. I remember my baby cousin and her parents randomly getting her ears pierced there, and we watched because we were just so happened were at the mall that day.
That felt like yesterday.
Or when my mom, grandma, and I used to go to Sears, and I would beg for a Rebecca Bonbon purse because it was a cool cat, and Hello Kitty was too expensive.
I don’t even remember our last time
I got my cartilage pierced at Piercing Pagoda, and I was super scared. I feel like my grandma was against it.
Santa Claus visits and photo shoots.
Now, I see why my aunt kept going to Macy’s in Northland till the last few days.
My beginner shopaholic days.
Popcorn and Coca-Cola slushies.
Being at that mall that day felt soul-crushing
When was the last time we went as a whole?
Why didn’t I cherish it more?
I was a kid.
Walking around seeing the once Wet Seal, where I brought my first graphic tees, or the former Bath and Body Works, where my mom bought me lip glosses and hand lotions because I begged to have them. Or the first time I went to Journeys, to Hot Topic, to look around. I got my first Aeropostale hoodie at this mall.
I got my first pair of Chuck Taylors at that mall.
When it was income tax time, we went to that mall. So, you know the haul was tea.
I got a pair of sneaker wedges for $5 at that Sears. “It was the better location,” my mom always explained to justify the long drive.
I remember riding past that mall before we even went, saying, “I want to go there.”
It looked so big and cool. I knew they had cool finds.
So what happened
No, it wasn’t Somerset, it wasn’t Twelve Oaks or even Oakland. It was never an exclusive mall, more so, the everyday shopper space. One that had everything you needed and more, just not Gucci or Prada.
It was a place that was far and felt exclusive to my family and me because we built memories there.
That mall became one of our hubs once Wonderland closed and Value City.
It was our new Saturday hangout spot. We used to shop till we couldn’t anymore!
I truly hate to see what happened to that space because it feels like when the doors closed, so do the memories, the experience.
Or does that just mean new chapters are arriving
While one door is closing, maybe something new is coming. Are we still talking about malls?
While Westland Mall reminds me so much of my grandma, shopping with my mom, and my aunts. I know that our memories don’t die because the mall culture is dying.
It just means we have to make new memories, go to new spaces, and shop till we can’t no moe.
It was truly never about the shopping anyway; it was the long car ride, the tunes of Anita Baker and Mary J Blige playing on my mom’s stereo as we drove there.
The mini stops we made, to grab something to drink, grab a bite to eat, and play the lottery. (I wasn’t playing the lottery at 10)
Online can’t replace those moments of in-person experience
While it’s convenient and a chance to get it over with, it holds no true essence.
It’s just a quick way to avoid social interaction and to move on to something quick.
See, mall trips let you experience a new scenario and interaction every time you visit. Just like working in retail, while retail can be something else, every day is a new episode. A new opportunity to meet someone new, to experience something new, and not be stuck in a cubicle repeating the same thing daily at a screen.
Are we still talking about the mall?
Society has taught us to make memories online, not offline
Yes, it’s documented. It’s saved in a digital scrapbook, but it’s not realistic. It’s for online.
Online shopping was a tool for accessibility, but it killed experiences.
Instead, it made you lazy and less social. You’re ” anti-social ” because you have lost the skills to interact beyond the workspace, family, or friends. You can hide behind a screen online, crack jokes, and create a persona that you don’t have to pretend to do in person because you have a digital shield.
So, yes. The mall is dying, some more than others. Are you going to become like the empty mall with only a few lasting characteristics holding you down, or are you going to let society pull all your anchor elements?
As the saying goes, “Once the anchor stores leave, what do you have left?”
With love,
C.Alilijah