Ah, Crossroads Mall... I bought my first rainbow wig in a year-round costume shop that opened up in one of the many empty storefronts near the anchor store.
That costume shop is gone but they had a pretty sweet set-up, insofar as they could rent the storefront nearest the anchor for their store and then rent the next one over for storage of their high-quality rental costumes for school plays and parties and whatnot.
And then for the little foot traffic that would walk between Barnes and Noble and Target (both still open, as of the last time I was in The Big O), they had displays in several other empty storefronts.
At one point there was a plan to revitalize the mall by turning the upper floor into affordable housing for UNO students, which would have delivered what malls actually need to survive: people hanging out there.
There have been some good posts/threads on here about how malls have changed over our lifetimes, from places that welcomed customers in and then gave them reasons to linger (and thus shop) to hostile, unaccommodating places.
You can blame it on Amazon and changing shopping patterns but the whole mall concept works great when you've got people already spending time at the mall. When you're there, everything in the mall is convenient.
Going to a mall to buy something is not only less convenient than buying it online, it's less convenient than going to a standalone or strip mall store, any store with an external entrance.
When you're *in* the mall, everything else in the mall is convenient. That's the secret.
But having people hanging out looks unproductive, when you look at numbers of foot traffic vs. sales, walk-ins vs. conversions, etc.
But having people hanging out looks unproductive, when you look at numbers of foot traffic vs. sales, walk-ins vs. conversions, etc.
"What if we got rid of all these people who hang around all day and focus on the people who make us money?"
This is why I go for a mostly free-to-read model on my writing, even as I'm trying to make a living at it. I understand I'm not going to get any customers unless people are hanging out where I'm selling.
And here's the thing: a lot of "urban development" aimed at the moneyed works like this. Omaha's Midtown Crossing has a bunch of executive-level condos built over a pedestrian mall so the people who run businesses downtown don't have to commute.
