Changing shopping habits are transforming America’s malls

Department stores are becoming schools, clinics and even cannabis farms

BURLINGTON - MARCH 16: Burlington High Ninth-grader takes a break while attending the Succeed, a program that offers support for 9th-grade students who struggle in the first stages of their high school career, at Burlington High School's new campus in Burlington, VT on March 16, 2021. "Downtown BHS" opened its doors to students on March 4, with the campus having been transformed from an old Macy's department store into a school. Though students were scheduled to go back to in-person learning in September, the plan was pushed back and the school was closed after elevated levels of cancer-causing polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) were detected in several buildings. The faculty at BHS got creative and chose to renovate the department store rather than rent trailers for returning students. The 150,000 square-foot space reportedly underwent a $3.5 million renovation over 10 weeks to install a cafeteria, library, music, art and physical education rooms, as well as dozens of classrooms. (Photo by Erin Clark/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)

Jun 2nd 2022|Washington, DC

In 2018, like many other department stores, Macy’s in Burlington, Vermont, closed its doors. In 2021 it reopened as a school. Toxic chemicals had been found at Burlington High, and the empty Macy’s offered an airy stopgap until a new building could be ready in 2025. Pupils have grown used to studying in a library created out of the china department, where books sit on backlit display shelves, and eating lunch below a Michael Kors sign (a teacher has stuck a “café” sign next to the designer’s name). They especially like riding on the vast glass escalators, says Lauren McBride, the principal.

Across America empty shops in malls, notably the “anchor” spaces once filled by department stores like Macy’s, are being put to new use. As people spend more on dining out and holidays and less on clothes, such stores’ sales have shrunk. The pandemic, which drove shoppers online, accelerated that decline. Macy’s in Burlington was one of 100 or so closures announced by the retail chain in 2016; more followed. JCPenney has shut 175 shops since 2020. Lord & Taylor has gone online-only.

This article appeared in the United States section of the print edition under the headline "Mall makeovers"