Quote Originally Posted by SoonerDave View Post
Anyone thinking traditional, enclosed malls are totally dead anachronisms of the past haven't been to the greater Dallas area lately. Was there this past weekend, and visited two different malls - one in Arlington, and the other in Dallas (Galleria). These places were packed, stores were busy, and in fact the Arlington mall was open well past 10PM and still busy when we left (excepting Starbucks, grrrrr). I'll concede that last weekend was Texas' tax-free back-to-school weekend, but that notwithstanding, these places aren't in danger of folding anytime soon. The Galleria recently completed an expansion and it was clear new construction had been completed fairly recently in Arlington, or so it appeared.
As someone who lives in the DFW area I'm going to politely disagree with some of this.

Yeah pretty much all the malls down here were packed this weekend, but I would consider that an accurate measure of retail performance. I can think of plenty of malls that have bit the dust....just off the top of my head, Prestonwood, Valley View, Richardson Sq, Big Town, Red Bird. That's just in Dallas County.

Collin Creek and Willowbend malls, both in Plano, have struggled a bit. But go across town and the outdoor "lifestyle center" at the Shoppes at Legacy is packed 24/7. Also, I don't think the Galleria has had any expansion but maybe I've missed it. IMO the Galleria has gone downhill. In terms of upscale stores, Northpark and Highland Park Village are cornering that market.

I think much like OKC you are just seeing retail return to a more appropriate equilibrium. Even now DFW is pretty overbuilt in terms of retail space and there's no telling how much Amazon and the internet will ultimately gobble up brick and mortar sales. The malls that will succeed are going to be "destination" type places; I don't think your typicall mall is out of the woods by any means.