They haven't perished at all. Some of them had to contract some, after all you don't need 3 department stores and 2 malls in a small urban area in central Ohio in the Internet age. To compare to Berlin, look to NY or San Francisco - Nordstrom's, Saks, Bloomingdales, etc are all test I'll there and still crowded.
Also worth noting the rise of a new category of mall (new since the 80s and growing rapidly in the past decade) - the outlet mall. These are huge, often outdoor malls with many traditional and non-traditional anchors. They draw millions of shoppers from much further away than traditional malls, and offer atomic competition for offline shopping, and a destination for a 'shopping trip as entertainment'.
That's been the situation in Wichita, Kansas with regard to the statement about Central Ohio. They overbuilt the two malls we do have and now they're slowly bleeding out (the west side mall is hit the hardest imo) by the newer open air 'malls' in the new suburban developments outside of town. But I think Wichita itself is an anomaly since it's been losing all the higher paying jobs in manufacturing for the last fifteen years and hasn't replaced them with their equivalents in other industries (basically, who wants to setup a business in Kansas or Wichita seems to be the question implied.).
Also worth noting the rise of a new category of mall (new since the 80s and growing rapidly in the past decade) - the outlet mall. These are huge, often outdoor malls with many traditional and non-traditional anchors. They draw millions of shoppers from much further away than traditional malls, and offer atomic competition for offline shopping, and a destination for a 'shopping trip as entertainment'.
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