The US is lucky to have its malls. TFA mentions growth coming from Asia, where pretty much every new development - and there are a lot - is a luxury mall that positions itself as an 'integrated' destination i.e. retail, entertainment, lifestyle, office space and residential. The problem is worst in Hong Kong where MTR Corporation, which owns the underground network, also owns the land that its stations sit underneath. It makes more money from the malls it builds on top of them than from running public transit.
The luxury part is a problem too in that Chanel, Gucci etc are given free/low-cost storefronts to up the image of the mall which not only raises prices for normal tenants but means they put their goods prices up too so they look like a serious alternative to the luxury brands. Chinese malls in particular have a lot of made-up Chinese-owned store brands with foreign sounding names, selling utter rubbish at wildly inflated prices.
I wish the 'high end' here was JC Penney or Sears. And forget a reasonably priced Kung Pao chicken; I hope you enjoy chicken feet and birds nest.
The luxury part is a problem too in that Chanel, Gucci etc are given free/low-cost storefronts to up the image of the mall which not only raises prices for normal tenants but means they put their goods prices up too so they look like a serious alternative to the luxury brands. Chinese malls in particular have a lot of made-up Chinese-owned store brands with foreign sounding names, selling utter rubbish at wildly inflated prices.
I wish the 'high end' here was JC Penney or Sears. And forget a reasonably priced Kung Pao chicken; I hope you enjoy chicken feet and birds nest.