When was the last time you went to a mall?

I have an enclosed mall near me that has acres of 'strip-mall' buildup around it. I use the surrounding stores, but seldom into the mall proper, though the few times I have it appears to be doing okay; though I recently heard it had filed for bankruptcy protection. Another mall, some distance from me, but near where I work, is thriving and doing quite well, with virtually no empty space inside. Most of the enclosures in my area have either folded entirely, or been radically transformed into 'open-air' malls, or mixed residential and retail zones.

The era of the big, enclosed mall seems to be dead; and yet (oddly enough, as I could never have imagined myself saying this in their heyday, when their proliferation was helping to kill city centers) I sort of miss them. At their best they provided a unique environment that could be pleasant and enticing; and in areas like mine, with defined seasonal weather patterns, they definitely offered up a shopping venue that beat trekking around in the cold, wet and slush of winter. I don't know that I really wish for their return, but I can't deny that, in retrospect, they did have some good points about them.