The malls here have re-invented themselves by turning abandoned Sears or other big department store anchors that have left into entertainment complexes with a movie theater and go carts and a bunch of chain restaurants (often times these dining places are built with separate entrances only accessible from the outside of the mall or even in the parking lot to make them standalone). So while the mall itself has low traffic inside and the food court is 2/3 empty and about 1/3 of the inner mall storefronts are empty, the parking lots are full from the people eating or recreating.

The new thing I'm seeing is where they'll knock down a 200,000 square foot Boston store and then build 700 apartments or condos in its place.