When the first malls opened in the 1950s they were such an achievement that they inspired even Walt Disney. By the 1980s, the mall had become the center of American social life and accounted for the ...

Southdale Center in Edina, Minn., America’s first enclosed mall, in the 1950s. Shopping centers may have been pedestrian-friendly in their way, but they were nevertheless islands in a sea of parking. ...

The prevalence of malls has been declining sharply after a rise in popularity in the 1950s and 1960s. In the 1980s, there were nearly 2,500 malls in the United States- now, there are only about 700.

The shopping mall as we know it became popular in the United States in the 1950s as a suburban lifestyle took hold and interstate highways were built. For the first time, shoppers were able to travel ...