The Retail Apocalypse is upon us, or so we're told: the US has gone from 2,500 malls in the 1980s to about 700 today, and as anchors fold even more are expected to close in years to come. Today I'm joined by guest Alexandra Lange, architectural critic and author of the new book "Meet Me by the Fountain: An Inside History of the Mall", to discuss the amazing life and death of the shopping mall. We'll examine how the mall serves as a nostalgic touchstone for so many, their problematic reinforcement of structural inequality, the phenomenon of dead malls, and what might lie in store for shuttered malls in the future!

Buy Alexandra's new book, "Meet Me by the Fountain: An Inside History of the Mall": https://amzn.to/3eKViXc

Check out Abandoned America's photo gallery of dead malls: https://www.abandonedamerica.us/dead-malls

Support the Abandoned America podcast on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/AbandonedAmerica

Show Notes and Links: https://www.abandonedamerica.us/the-life-and-death-of