On Facebook and Reddit, retail-focused groups remember the heyday of malls and share stories of shuttered department stores
The fascination with these markers of a middle-class American landscape — the grocery stores we grew up going to, the department stores our mothers took us to, the McDonald’s playgrounds we had birthday parties at — revolves around a way of life that has changed significantly and become unattainable for many.
On Facebook and Reddit, private groups and public forums like All Retail, Off the Rack or r/RetailNews are cataloging brick-and-mortar shifts. Like the “Dead Mall Series” on YouTube, by the filmmaker Dan Bell, their dispatches are rooted in nostalgia for stores and shopping centers that have closed. The groups also chronicle moments that may be harbingers of disruption.
In the last two years, big retailers including Sears, Toys “R” Us and Payless have filed for bankruptcy. Some have shuttered most if not all of their stores. Though the strategies of these chains hinge on standardized, replicable experiences, the stories people share about them are often quite personal.
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McDonald’s is frequently used in these groups as an example of what members perceive to be a loss of character in design. (“Why did McDonald’s go from a happy kid to a depressed adult?” one member recently asked, comparing a photo of the old yellow arches and red double-mansard roof to the industrial box design and color palette of newly opened locations.)
That question is emblematic of the sentiment behind these groups. There is a perceived lack of warmth in the commercial landscape that has revived an aesthetic interest in maximalism.
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