Back in Wichita Kansas Town East and West malls have been in decline (the latter has been hit the hardest over the years) now that shopping centers in areas like 21st Street North and Maize have opened. It doesn't seem to be a uniform pattern across the country that malls are categorically dying, but that malls in towns like Wichita are basically dead or dying due to their location (Town East and West are located far away from the newest suburbs where as the shopping center I mentioned is less than a mile away from most of the subdivisions).