Jul 19, 2016 3 min read

If you’re old enough to remember the debut of MTV – and that would put you firmly in a demographic where retirement is now looming closer than high school graduation – you also remember when malls weren’t just a place where you could pick up a pair of jeans and a bestseller. They were vital gathering spots and a focus of teenage social life, scented by popcorn and the offerings from the Orange Julius stand.

But just as malls laid waste to downtown shopping districts, now malls themselves have fallen victim to changing times and shifting habits. Acres of free parking were once an inducement to head to the mall, but now shoppers don’t even need to fire up the buggy, or even slip out of their pajamas, given the 24-hour bazaar that is available at a mouseclick. Young people whose parents once orbited around food courts are now texting their friends from home or immersed in video games. Some of the stores that were once mall mainstays, like Sears, Waldenbooks, Camelot Music or RadioShack, are now either departed or gasping for air.

Need an example of how a mall can flourish and fade? Look no further than Washington Mall in South Strabane Township. Opening in 1968, it’s been largely moribund for the past decade, with stores like Staples and Toys “R” Us remaining at the peripheries, but the core of the mall is now completely vacant.

Once offhandedly referred to as “the other mall,” Washington Crown Center in North Franklin Township endures, and has benefited over the last couple of years from the addition of 85,000 square feet of new retail outlets and other renovations.

However, Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust, which has owned Crown Center since 2003, announced Monday it has sold the mall to an unnamed buyer at an unspecified price. Crown Center went on the market last year, along with Uniontown Mall, which was sold last August. PREIT also announced Monday it was putting out a for-sale sign for Beaver Valley Mall in Beaver County’s Center Township, saying that the eventual opening of an ethane cracker plant nearby would “maximize the value of the property upon sale.”

While the sale of Crown Center and the decision by PREIT to offload Beaver Valley Mall doesn’t signal by any means that either mall will soon be shuttering, it is perhaps a reflection of the uncertain position that malls, particularly midsized ones, have in the retail marketplace.

Along with facing competition from the web, as well as big-box retailers like Walmart and Costco, midsized malls also have seen customers lured away by upscale shopping centers that sell themselves as “lifestyle centers.” As The Wall Street Journal reported in April, these malls tend to have high-end restaurants and gyms alongside more typical shoe and clothing outlets, and they host special events. According to the Journal, “As a result, shoppers are more apt to bypass smaller, local malls that tend to stock basic items more easily purchased online.”

It can be argued this is a natural consequence of an economy where most of the income gains have raced toward the top of the pyramid.

But a retail world that caters exclusively to the well-heeled can’t be sustained.

We hope Washington Crown Center, and other malls like it, enjoy long lives and prosperous futures.