Willing to Wander Shopping Malls and So Much More

Every member of the Taylor family found something of interest and entertainment. Bob tried his hand at the miniature golf course and checked his accuracy throwing an axe at a target.

His wife, Evelyn, searched for the bald eagles that like to hang out along the nearby lake, and then took in a show at the comedy club. Their son, Roger, preferred to speed around the GoKart track and do his best to avoid getting hit on the bumper car ride.

The fact the Taylors found all of these activities at one place was unusual. What made it even more different was they were spending time at a shopping mall.

For decades, malls have been primarily for shopping and perhaps enjoying a snack at a restaurant. Today, they have become destinations of their own, where customers may spend time having fun as they spend their money.

The growth of suburbs and rise of the automobile culture in the mid-20th century launched an explosion of shopping malls away from inner cities and into the residential neighborhoods that sprung up around them. In the 1990s, close to 150 malls sprung up each year. Then came online shopping. Malls that had been go-to places suddenly seemed out of date.

Hundreds have closed their doors in recent years, and professor Mark Cohen, a retail business specialist at the University of Columbia, predicts that, of the approximately 1,000 malls still operating, half will be gone within five to six years.

Rather than accepting this outlook without a fight, some mall owners have been combating the trend by adding new attractions that can appeal to people of all ages and many interests. That includes the Taylors.