• Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Our mall revitalized itself by reinventing itself. It still has some standard mall stores like Ulta and Spencer’s Gifts, but it also has an archery range, a huge antique mall, a collectibles/comic book store and, best of all, a pinball arcade with unlimited play for $10 on weekend evenings. The food court also has several locally-owned businesses. It’s surprisingly nice.

    • isthingoneventhis@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      That sounds super cool! Arcade bars are always such a blast I’m surprised there’s not more of them, or at least just arcades, given how popular they’ve become again.

      • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        This is just an arcade, all ages. I take my 13-year-old daughter sometimes. Which I think is even better.

    • Psythik@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      Meanwhile my local malls are just normal malls with normal mall stores. Yet they’re thriving.

      Keeping the design of the mall itself up-to-date goes a long way. The ones in my city that were stuck in the 80s and 90s all failed.

    • mihnt@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      There’s only one mall that I know of that’s dying in Metro Detroit. The rest of them are all fine and healthy. The one that’s dying didn’t even try to stay afloat it seems like.

      • ChewTiger@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        They tore down at least two in the city I used to live in the Midwest. Now I’m on the west coast and I’ve seen one turn down and another converted in the past few years.

    • JokeDeity@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      My local mall did most of this… but all as cheaply and mechanically as possible. No one goes to the arcade because the games aren’t good, it’s too expensive, the setup is very much an after thought, and it’s not designed in any way to attract people. There’s a shooting gallery thing with airsoft, again it’s over priced so no one goes to it. We had a sweet antique store in ours when I was a kid with a whole themed hallway that people from this city still frequently reminisce about, but now it’s just empty white halls, closed stores and dark dead ends. It’s very much a conservatives attempt to keep things running without investing too much.

      • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        That really sucks. The mall here isn’t packed by any means, but there’s a decent amount of foot traffic. I’m there a lot because my daughter likes to dress punky, which means taking her to Hot Topic and Spencer’s Gifts when she won’t accept me ordering it for her online. She wants to feel how spiky the collars are for herself, I guess.