Showerthought: the dead mall in my town had 2 open stores left and I realized something about why I keep going back

Karen Thomas · 2026-10-15T19:50:04.882545+00:00

I've been walking the same dead mall in my area for about 3 years now and last Saturday I finally counted, only 2 stores were still open out of like 80 spots. A nail salon and a weird little phone repair kiosk. But here's the thing that got me, the food court still had power. All the lights on, empty tables wiped down, no food. Just humming. I stood there for maybe 10 minutes trying to figure out if someone still comes in every morning to do that or if it's automatic, and honestly it changed how I look at these places. I used to go just for photos of the old tile and the fountains but now I mostly go to see what's still "alive" in a building that's basically given up. If you're new to this, pay attention to the small stuff like this, it tells you way more than the big empty anchor stores do. Has anyone else seen a dead mall where the food court was still powered but totally empty? Trying to figure out if that's normal or if the owner just forgot to shut it off.

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Showerthought: the dead mall in my town had 2 open stores left and I realized something about why I keep going back | Dead Mall Walking - Topic Shares