History Main / TheMall

* Robin's song [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GF1b1pf9DRY "Let's Go To the Mall"]][[note]]...Today![[/note]] on ''Series/HowIMetYourMother'', which she promoted by touring {{Canada|Eh}}'s malls (a reference to Tiffany; see below). [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U01hsTwtc-c She cites this]] as the reason she has an aversion to malls, mentioning how she spent a year living on a diet of Orange Julius and Wetzel's Pretzels.

* ''Fanfic/TheBoltChronicles'': Mittens is inadvertently abandoned in the title venue by Penny and her mom in “The Mall.” Other stories in the series reference Penny and her mother being away shopping at one.

* The DuelingMovies ''Film/ObserveAndReport'' and ''Film/PaulBlartMallCop'' were about mall security guards that took their job too seriously, but while ''Paul Blart'' has Blart as an EndearinglyDorky individual who [[RightManInTheWrongPlace has his day]], Donnie of ''Observe and Report'' is [[DarkerAndEdgier pretty much]] the ([[BlackComedy comedic]]) spiritual descendant of [[Film/TaxiDriver Travis Bickle]].

* The DuelingMovies ''Film/ObserveAndReport'' and ''Film/PaulBlartMallCop'' were about mall security guards.

* In Creator/SomtowSucharitkul's ''Mallworld'' stories, the barJulian family is insanely rich because they're descended from the man who held title to the region of space where Mallworld (a giant space station -cum- mall) was built. Most of the workers live in nearby space habitats and commute in, though there are semi-feral tribes of young people who live in the maintenance spaces of the mall itself. If it's not obvious already, most of the stories were written in the 1980s.
* ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'' short story "It's My Birthday, Too" takes place in a real-life UsefulNotes/{{Chicago}} suburban mall after closing hours. Harry visits Thomas, who's playing a vampire LARP game in a bistro with his employees, only to find them under attack by [[OurVampiresAreDifferent real vampires]]. By the time it's over, [[RunningGag one wing is up in flames]].
* In ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' novel ''Literature/ReaperMan'', a [[EldritchLocation nightmarish]] [[DarkWorld version]] of a mall appears as a parasitic [[GeniusLoci lifeform]] which preys upon cities.

* ''Creator/ChoiceOfGames'' has ''Choice of the Zombies,'' which is about a ZombieApocalypse. One of the places your group of survivors can hole up is, perhaps inevitably, in a shopping mall.

* Featured in one level of ''Skate or Die 2'', where your character makes "deliveries" of some kind from store to store to make money to build a skate ramp.

* In Creator/KimNewman's ''Literature/DiogenesClub'' novella "Seven Stars", chapter 5, set TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture reveals that Britain became so fed up of American tourists expecting [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pall_Mall,_London Pall Mall]] to be a shopping centre that they just made it into one.

The natural habitat of the ValleyGirl, [[ZombieApocalypse Zombies]] and, come Christmas time, the MallSanta, and the destination of choice for a ShoppingMontage. This setting is best portrayed in TheEighties, when malls were at their zenith, since many malls have since gotten rid of the neon and fountains that were featured in that decade. Although there are still plenty of successful malls that have undergone multi-million dollar renovations to stay on top of the heap, very many are in decline[[note]]A 2017 report by a Swiss banking firm reached the conclusion that up to 25% of the malls in the US are not financially stable and are likely to close within five years[[/note]] (so-called "dead malls") with competition from "[[WeSellEverything big box]]" [[UsefulNotes/{{Walmart}} stores]] and [[Creator/{{Amazon}} online]] [[Website/EBay shopping]] -- to say nothing of poor urban planning, a bad economy and a new generation moving back to the cities in droves. Regardless of their current state, the mall is increasingly looked upon with a sense of nostalgia, and as such, films that either focus on a mall setting, or feature a mall prominently, are beginning to be seen as [[TwoDecadesBehind period pieces]].

The natural habitat of the ValleyGirl, [[ZombieApocalypse Zombies]] and, come Christmas time, the MallSanta, and the destination of choice for a ShoppingMontage. This setting is best portrayed in TheEighties, when malls were at their zenith, since many malls have since gotten rid of the neon and fountains that were featured in that decade. Although there are still plenty of successful malls that have undergone multi-million dollar renovations to stay on top of the heap, very many are in decline[[note]]A 2017 report by a Swiss banking firm reached the conclusion that up to 25% of the malls in the US are not financially stable and are likely to close within five years[[/note]] (so-called "dead malls") with competition from "[[WeSellEverything big box]]" [[UsefulNotes/WalMart stores]] and [[Creator/{{Amazon}} online]] [[Website/EBay shopping]] -- to say nothing of poor urban planning, a bad economy and a new generation moving back to the cities in droves. Regardless of their current state, the mall is increasingly looked upon with a sense of nostalgia, and as such, films that either focus on a mall setting, or feature a mall prominently, are beginning to be seen as [[TwoDecadesBehind period pieces]].

* ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoViceCity'' (which is set in TheEighties) has two of them. Tommy Vercetti has to kill a French secret agent and get his MacGuffin in the smaller one, and [[TheMafia intimidates the shop owners]] of the bigger one of Vice City into paying him a tax. When they refuse to pay, he comes at them and destroys the glass of their storefronts. Later, he puts a bomb inside the mall's café.

The natural habitat of the ValleyGirl, [[ZombieApocalypse Zombies]] and, come Christmas time, the MallSanta, and the destination of choice for a ShoppingMontage. This setting is best portrayed in TheEighties, when malls were at their zenith, since many malls have since gotten rid of the neon and fountains that were featured in that decade. Although there are still plenty of successful malls that have undergone multi-million dollar renovations to stay on top of the heap, very many are in decline[[note]]A 2017 report by a Swiss banking firm reached the conclusion that up to 25% of the malls in the US are not financially stable and are likely to close within five years[[/note]] (so-called "dead malls") with competition from "[[WeSellEverything big box]]" [[UsefulNotes/WalMart stores]] and [[Creator/{{Amazon}} online]] [[Website/EBay shopping]] -- to say nothing of a bad economy and a new generation moving back to the cities in droves. Regardless of their current state, the mall is increasingly looked upon with a sense of nostalgia, and as such, films that either focus on a mall setting, or feature a mall prominently, are beginning to be seen as [[TwoDecadesBehind period pieces]].

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* ''VideoGame/KirbyAndTheForgottenLand'' has the Alivel Mall, which is an abandoned mall full of enemies and captured Waddle Dees. It's also where you fight Gorimondo. Another one appears in Originull Wastes.

-->-- '''Junes jingle''', ''VideoGame/Persona4''

* ''ComicBook/AmericanFlagg'' is set in the Chicago [=PlexMall=], a TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture Mall-turned-[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arcology Arcology.]]

* ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoViceCity'' (which is set in TheEighties) has two of them. Tommy Vercetti has to kill a French secret agent and get his MacGuffin in the smaller one, and [[TheMafia intimidates the shop owners]] of the bigger one of Vice City into paying him a tax. When they refuse pay, he comes at them and destroys their storefronts. Later, he puts a bomb inside the mall's café.

The natural habitat of the ValleyGirl, [[ZombieApocalypse Zombies]] and, come Christmas time, the MallSanta, and the destination of choice for a ShoppingMontage. This setting is best portrayed in TheEighties, when malls were at their zenith, since many malls have since gotten rid of the neon and fountains that were featured in that decade. Although there are still plenty of successful malls that have undergone multi-million dollar renovations to stay on top of the heap, very many are in decline[[note]]A 2017 report by a Swiss banking firm reached the conclusion that up to 25% of the malls in the US are not financially stable and are likely to close within five years[[/note]] (so-called "dead malls") with competition from "big box" stores and online shopping -- to say nothing of a bad economy and a new generation moving back to the cities in droves. Regardless of their current state, the mall is increasingly looked upon with a sense of nostalgia, and as such, films that either focus on a mall setting, or feature a mall prominently, are beginning to be seen as [[TwoDecadesBehind period pieces]].