The Change Mariner

Changing Shopping Patterns at The Malls

San Francisco Chronicle:

Some of the biggest fans [of malls] are visiting less. In 1996, 14- to 17-year-olds visited malls 54 times on average, for 90 minutes per visit. In 2002, they visited malls 52 times, at 84 minutes per visit. In 1996, seniors 65 visited malls 50 times on average, at 85 minutes per visit. In 2002, they visited malls 45 times, for 81 minutes per visit.

For young people, this equates to a six-hour per person per year (10%) reduction in time spent in malls. Could the same phenomena that is driving the mysterious fall off in television viewership amongst 18-34 year-old male viewers also be driving the reduction of time in malls?

-Tim