dual personalities

I read today that Chesterfield Mall is being torn down and replaced with a $2 billion mixed-used development with more than 2,500 apartments that “will create an urban city center in Chesterfield, a suburb that has never before had a downtown.” I’m sure it will look like every other American suburb with new-build downtowns. Congrats, Chesterfield.  

Malls used to be such a thing. And now, they are tearing them down or turning them into office space. Or leaving tearing them down and leaving the lot vacant for like 15 years before finally building a subdivision on top. I mean, to be fair, I haven’t been to a mall in ages. But I miss them. I’d like to go to the mall and walk around, popping in and out of stores without having to drive and park and drive and park and get in and out of my car in the heat. And that free air conditioning! Sign me up. Alas, I also enjoy not potentially being murdered outside the Footlocker or in the garage.

And shopping isn’t even that fun these days. Everything is the same or so marked down you assume slave labor produced it half a world away. Pretty unappealing. The Wall Street Journal agrees, kind of, writing, “Shopping has, in many ways, become an uninspiring activity: We see something on Instagram or on your favorite actor or a friend, google it and buy it. It can all feel very preprogrammed and predictable.”

Anyway, I’m not sure what my point is, but I was pretty surprised about the Chesterfield Mall.

*Blog post title is from Clueless.