✳flâneur — a map of the web's best reading

Can anything replace the mall?

slate.com · 2,339 words · saved by 1 readers

For most of my life, the shopping mall was the symbol of the capitalist experiment. Everything about it celebrated consumerism and the illusion of plenty, and fueled the suburbanite’s need for a real-world simulacrum—one that could replace scary diverse downtowns with “safe,” artificial Disneyland-ish approximations that substituted commerce for community. The choices in a mall were simultaneously endless and extremely constrained: You could try on every shoe in the world. Eat six different kinds of foods at the food court. Watch one of five movies. Maybe there was a fountain or a carousel. The actual activities you could do were limited, but there were so many products to choose from that it felt—to lame teenage me, certainly, covered in zits and longing to belong—like a place where rehearsals of glamour and independence and self-fashioning were possible (even if I never quite managed to access them myself). And yet, they’re dying. A 2017 report by Credit Suisse predicted that 1 in 4

The outside of the Eastmont Wellness Center. Lili Loofbourow Copy Link Share Share Comment Gift Story Only Slate Plus members can gift Slate stories. Become a member to share 10 free articles a month. Copy Link Share Share Comment Gift Story Only Slate Plus members can gift Slate stories. Become a member to share 10 free articles a month. For most of my life, the shopping mall was the symbol of the capitalist experiment. Everything about it celebrated consumerism and the illusion of plenty, and fueled the suburbanite’s need for a real-world simulacrum—one that could replace scary diverse downt

Explore this link on the map →

related reading