Dead Mall

Basic Information

A dead mall is a shopping mall which is either in serious decline because many of its shops have closed (leading to a further reduction of customers who will visit the remaining stores) or which has closed entirely.

The stage before "mall death" is usually when the place is occupied only by charity shops and 'pound stores' (or local equivalents) and those other brand names associated with minimum rent footprint.

See Also

• Urban Prairie

Sources

Bibliography

1. Deadmalls.com - a collection of photographs from abandoned malls

2. Wikipedia entry

Game and Story Use

• Given the recent financial meltdown in the USA and elsewhere, dead malls are popping up everywhere - and thus they could easily become iconic locations in a game like the Abandoned Hospital and the Amusement Park Of Doom, symbolizing loss, past excesses, and general decline.
• A truly dead mall is as good a place as any for the mole people to hang out … or for less reputable gangs.
• For a truly wierd effect, try a mall built on a public right of way that is nonetheless dead as charity - you then have a fully boarded up mall with people still walking through it. The overall look is bizarre and usually quite sinister, especially as lighting is usually limited to whatever minimum the landlord is legally obliged to provide.
• Extend this to an entire mallplex and you have something close to an above ground dungeon.
• Use as the venue for a literal black market.
• For those that like a wainscot fantasy world, or similar settings with their weirdness (partly)hidden a boarded up mall in the middle of an otherwise more-or-less functional city can provide the sort of discordant detail required. Whether the death of the mall was actually engineered by whoever is using it now may depend on setting.
  • Combine with the black market venue above for a goblin market with actual goblins.
  • Attempts to redevelop such prime real estate are likely to end badly in this context.