Mall retailer won't survive Chapter 11 bankruptcy

You cannot blame the current round of retail bankruptcies and store closures on declining mall traffic. Malls have generally performed about as well as they have traditionally, so stores have had opportunities to sell to consumers.

Lackluster sales numbers are not due to a lack of potential customers, and they're certainly not due to massive growth of the internet. Online sales have held pretty steady at around 16% of the total for the past couple of years.

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In fact, the only time they topped 20% was during the height of the pandemic. Foot traffic and failing malls are a convenient excuse, but not a valid one. So many retailers have failed that malls simply have had to reinvent themselves to stay busy. They've largely been successful in doing that.

"But comparing YoY at average daily visits – a more accurate analysis of YoY performance when comparing a regular year to a leap year – reveals that visits to indoor malls and open-air shopping centers held relatively stable in February 2025, despite the sharp drop in consumer confidence. And both mall types outperformed the wider retail YoY average – highlighting the ongoing resilience of the retail format," according to data from Placer.ai.