Crazy, but the mall fifteen miles from our house is always packed. And that baffles me. Malls in American have been on such a steep decline with their empty storefronts and low foot traffic are depressing dinosaurs.
Not so in Deutschland (this photo was purposefully taken just after opening to avoid having many people in the shot).
Part of it is Amazon and how they are driving all Americans, not just those that use Amazon, to do more and more shopping online. Germany is Amazon’s number two market but Amazon.de is not the same in matters of convenience.
But part of it I think are the store offerings. As detailed in this picture, you have a local butcher and baker located in the mall. So even if you live in a big city like Regensburg with a mall, you still have an option of visiting your ‘neighborhood’ butcher and baker.
I could see that working in a place like Burlington, Vermont. I love the building where the Great Harvest Bread is located in Burlington but it would be awesome to have them in the mall for foot traffic. Ditto with August First.
