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In the US, did Amazon kill the mall, is everyone too broke, or a combination of other factors? (lemmy.world)

submitted 4 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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I watch a lot of Dead Mall videos on YouTube and I wanted to see what everyone's thoughts are on why there's so many dead malls now.

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[–] [email protected] 30 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (2 children)

Malls were just a way to privatize mainstreet and allow the ownership class of capitalists to extract more money from a local economy through large chain stores and to give them private control over what used to be public space.

Now the middle class is worth a fraction of what it used to be, their purpose has dissolved.

People use Amazon instead of the mall because they can still afford the Temu-level garbage Amazon sells.

[–] [email protected] -3 points 4 months ago

How can I turn this into the class struggle?

[–] [email protected] 13 points 4 months ago (2 children)

People use Amazon instead of the mall because they can still afford the Temu-level garbage Amazon sells.

I mean a few reasons.

Pricing is better on Amazon vs mall. I can get a Gangsta Luffy T-shirt at $12 vs $20 at hot topic
Inventory is significantly bigger. Outside of clothes, I can't imagine not finding the exact online version and compare
Malls are kinda ugly now. Many are indoor and just wall to wall commercialism.
People suck. Naked dude stealing stop signs and angry Karen about the take a dump on the escalator.
Driving vs ship to door.
Both have temu-level garbage, but it's cheaper on Amazon.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago

Indoor is good though. Floating around the mall is a good activity for shit weather days

[–] [email protected] 8 points 4 months ago

Both have temu-level garbage, but it's cheaper on Amazon.

Currently, as they are dying today, yes.

This is not how malls have traditionally worked.

In the past, malls provided a plug-and-play way for national chain retail to offer premium, private-labeled goods that allowed them to extract money away from a community's locally owned stores found on main street.