By Roland Murphy for Arizona Builder’s Exchange
Malls in America, and in the Valley, were once not only retail powerhouses, they were cultural centers as well. Nationwide, one point of community identity was which mall you lived closest to.
The combined impacts of the Great Recession, urbanization trends, online retail and the reduction of the traditional middle ground in brick and mortar retail into a focus on discount shopping on one end and experiential/destination forays on the other, have left the malls that still survive in a state of flux.
