Another epic article about the future of retail malls in the New York Times.

At this point, what is left to be said?

• eCommerce continues to take share. Shopify CEO reports that eCommerce trajectory was accelerated 10 months in the first 10 weeks of COVID.

• Leases and debt are a huge impact to retail balance sheets.

• Most of the top-performing retailers like Target have not been building large stores in the last couple of years at all - focusing primarily on smaller-format stores.

• COVID has added a double-whammy to the Apparel category in particular - given that a large majority of mall retailers are apparel-focused. Much of that inventory is being liquidated (which depresses prices) or pushed forward (which depresses manufacturing orders).

Yet, those statistics which quote America as "over-stored" forget about the fact that most shoppers never wanted to drive 50 miles to the nearest mall, which is how we became over-stored to begin with.

One way malls could pivot, but keep their core retail mission (and tenants), would be to serve as a central point for click-and-collect purchases from multiple stores. Customers could pay a premium for same-day pickup (or delivery), and stores would function more like fulfillment centers. Perimeter stores could convert to having exterior-facing storefronts, and interior shops could set up pick-up counters in parking lots. This would address the pain point of shipping delays and, in COVID times, both give people an errand to run while keeping low/no contact. This also means stores could maximize their square footage for inventory, rather than curating an in-store shopping experience.

The best ideas I have heard show malls being hubs of both entertainment - which in some sense they have always been - as well as self-care. They could function like indoor recreation/activity centers with facilities like climbing walls, dance/fitness/yoga studios, indoor skate parks, as well as spas. Think: elevating the “indoor amusement park experience” that the Mall of America has been cultivating on for years, but make it modern.

The big issue: extra mall space is not a consumer problem. It's an investor problem. What persistent consumer problem are you trying to solve that also happens to solve this investor problem?