Then And Now: Mall Deathwatch

It looks like all those door-busting sales didn't do much good this holiday season and it could mean that some malls may be permanently out of business. The slowest retail holiday season in 38 years could end up dooming 2,000 to 3,000 malls by the middle of the year with an estimated 200,000 more businesses shutting down. Even those that are still around will be cutting back on store locations, shutting down stores that aren't making good sales numbers. An ABC News article quotes Howard Davidowitz, the chairman of retail consulting firm Davidowitz & Associates who says that: "The American standard of living is changing forever."

At the beginning of 2008 we mentioned the dying out of the traditional indoor shopping mall which was being replaced by outdoor shopping areas. But the recent economic fallout is affecting both the indoor and outdoor kinds of shopping malls as what is now changing isn't how people shop but whether or not they shop at all.