Mallsoleum (mall + mausoleum)
“Mallsoleum” (mall + mausoleum) is a portmanteau word meaning a mall that is dead or dying, or a mall that destroys surrounding businesses. “Monster of the Mall-soleum Monlight Madness Sale” was printed in the Monrow (LA) News-Star on October 25, 1974 (just before Halloween). “Business and property owners on Virginia Street, fearing a mall would turn the area into a ‘mall-soleum,’ killed the latest plan with lawsuits” was printed in the Reno (NV) Gazette-Journal on March 25, 1985. A 1995 short film was titled Mallsoleum.
Online shopping began to kill many shopping malls in the 2000s, and the term “mallsoleum” has been cited more frequently.
Newspapers.com
25 October 1974, Monrow (LA) News-Star, pg. 1-B, col. 2 ad:
Spooktacular discounts are throughout Twin City Mall Shopping Center during the Monster of the Mall-soleum Monlight Madness Sale this Saturday, 6:00 p.m. - 11 p.m. only.
Newspapers.com
25 March 1985, Reno (NV) Gazette-Journal, “Lots of renovation talk, but no show” by Morgan Cartwright, pg. 8A, col. 4:
Business and property owners on Virginia Street, fearing a mall would turn the area into a “mall-soleum,” killed the latest plan with lawsuits.
IMDb (The Internet Movie Database)
Mallsoleum (1995)
11min | Short | 2 December 1995 (USA)
Director: Michael Lauter
Writer: Michael Lauter
Star: Dave Creadeau
Newspapers.com
13 August 2005, The Daily Times (Salisbury, MD), “Grapevine,” pg. 9, col. 3:
GRASS AND CONCRETE. As I drove past the “Mall-soleum” today I received a wonderful message. I saw so much grass growing through the old asphalt and I realized this is the creator’s great message to us: We were given a paradise, and asphalt and concrete are simply man’s folly. Even the gentle grass can break it up and continue to grow. If you listen, you are spoken to in quiet ways. Only if you fail to listen will thunderbolts fly.
Twitter
karensutter
@karensutter
Heard a story on WETA about a mausoleum opening a location in a mall. I think they should call it a Mallsoleum
10:05 PM · Apr 16, 2009·Twitter Web Client
Twitter
Denny Weinman
@DennyWeinman
At the Galleria to walk around a bit and it’s kind of like a mausoleum. Or a Mallsoleum..am I… https://instagram.com/p/BRwf5QGBW7A/
7:32 PM · Mar 17, 2017 from Tysons Corner, VA·Instagram
Twitter
Seven Days
@sevendaysvt
Mallsoleum? Vermont’s largest retail complex, the University Mall in South Burlington, faces an uncertain future http://7dvt.co/2B6OlGX
6:05 AM · Dec 22, 2017·Buffer
Twitter
Quite Studios
@QuiteStudios
Mountaineer Mall, Morgantown, WV - Mallsoleum for 70’s and 80’s Retail - Expedition Log # 19: http://youtu.be/2NXELcEo3AQ?a via
@YouTube
1:13 AM · May 27, 2018·Google
New York (NY) Post
NYC real estate Gold Brick Awards for the decade
By Lois WeissJanuary 2, 2020 | 11:49pm | Updated
(...)
‘MALLSOLEUM’: The Santiago Calatrava-designed Oculus at the World Trade Center may not be the best design for shopping or traipsing to the trains, but it sure makes for a nice selfie — and those wings! But as the performing arts center rises and as The Post’s Steve Cuozzo warned, Calatrava’s elegant but costly design stalled the rebuilding of St. Nicholas Church, which luckily, just got a jumpstart from Gov. Andrew Cuomo.