Everything Must Go

Dark times and dead malls.


Since January 2008, 221,000 retail stores nationwide have gone out of business. Here’s a partial list of store deaths within a one-block radius of MoJo’s San Francisco office: The New Balance store in our building quietly pulled up the stakes. So did a Gap, a Shoe Pavilion, a men’s clothing store, and a retailer of fancy writing accessories. Our favorite bento place closed overnight. And luggage retailer Malm one day posted this note on its door: “Thank you for your patronage. After 141 years we are now closed for business.” Photographer Brian Ulrich has been documenting the retail carnage across the nation as part of his larger project, Copia.

Chicago Place Mall, 2009
 

Circuit City, 2008, Chicago, IL
 

Days Hotel, 2009. Next to Randall Park Mall in Cleveland, OH, once owned by Ed DeBartolo (considered the ‘Father of the Shopping Mall’), formally a Holiday Inn.
 

Dominicks, 2008, Niles, IL
 

Richland Mall, 2009. In Mansfield, OH, former Lazarus store, photographed by Stephen Shore when the Mall opened in 1974, it appears in his book Uncommon Places.
 

Rolling Acres Mall, 2008, Akron, OH
 

Target, 2008, Riverside, IL
 

Powerhouse Gym, 2008, Saginaw, MI

 

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BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things they don’t like—which is most things that are true.

No one gets to tell Mother Jones what to publish or not publish, because no one owns our fiercely independent newsroom. But that also means we need to directly raise the resources it takes to keep our journalism alive. There’s only one way for that to happen, and it’s readers like you stepping up. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

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