I think what really separates successful brick and mortar establishments in a post-amazon era like the Apple or Lego store, the restaurants, etc. is they offer you value for traveling to the place in person. The Apple Store has the genius bar/tech support, displays products for you to play with, has demos and educational offerings; the Lego store has things for people to experiment with; and of course the restaurants give you a different experience by walking in rather than ordering out. Another type of store that seems to be doing well around me are game/card stores that host MTG tournaments, tabletop adventure sessions, etc. allowing people to gather and play games together.

If stores really want to succeed in a world where you can order anything online for less money with better selection they simply NEED to give value to the experience of physically going into the store. I've often thought that Radioshack might have survived longer if they got into the maker space and offered classes in simple electronic projects rather than just becoming a mobile phone store. Clothing stores need to push helpful staff and the value of trying on clothes in the store to get a better fit and look.

> The big expensive malls are doing fine.

> It's the smaller, lower end malls that are dead.

I’ve noticed that also, and it seems consistent with the vanishing of the middle class.

Is it really a vanishing middle class or vanishing brick and morter. For shopping experiences that are not high-end, I get the impressions individuals prefer to sit on their couch and buy those items.

yeah, that lines up. We have three malls in our area. Two are dying and about to be shut down. The third is flourishing and always crowded even in the winter.

The story of Cheesecake Factory was posted here, it's also quite interesting: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36889251