I wonder why people keep the malls in business. The stores have a major overhead, and the consumer foots the bill. Is it just something to do? Is it a prestige thing? Conspicuous consumption? In the future, if you have any money to burn, please pass it along to me… 
- Jinx
The consumer foots the bill for any business’ overhead, whether they are in a enclosed mall, strip mall or stand alone building.
I generally shop at enclosed malls because they typically have several stores selling similar merchandise. Therefore, I don’t have to go traipsing all over town to find something at least close to what I need.
This helps me to save time, gas and every unnecessary car trip I don’t make cuts down on air pollution.
Not all of us are. I haven’t set foot in a mall for years, with the possible exception of See’s Candies for christmas presents. I avoid them like the plague. Too much traffic, too many people, too high prices.
[hijack] Hey Gatopescado–you can order See’s candies online. Why go to the mall? [/hijack]
To answer the OP–I almost never go to the mall. I don’t like the noise and the crowds of people Furthermore, I can usually find anything I would normally buy at the mall at other places for a lot less money.
However, when I was a teenager, I lived at the mall (for all intents and purposes). I don’t quite know why, beyond the fact that all my friends did, and it was a place to cruise for guys.
My wag is that it is designed to be somewhat of an idea environment. You go outside the shop and the temp/humitidy is perfect - the malls are spacious and you almost get the fealing that you are outside but your not.
This is somewhat going away as they cram keosks all over the place.
of course we are…go watch Dawn of the Dead
Big U.S. outlet malls seem to do pretty well. That Potomac Mills one in the metro DC/ northern VA area appears to attract a lot of people. I don’t know about conditioning. I just think people like going to one spot to look for a number of various things, including clothes, books, perfume, …
I don’t see it as conditioning as much as convenience - you’ve got a whole lot of stores in one place, so you park once and take care of all your needs, including lunch at the food court.
When we were first married, Mall-walking was our primary entertainment. We’d window-shop and make plans for when we had money. We’d watch people. We’d go to the food court and get a soda. It was a safe, clean, climate-controlled place to pass some time. Seems to me I read something about malls being the replacement for Town Squares - social as well as business. I can believe it.