Picture this: shopping bag handles dig into your palms, a sheen of sweat coats your body from the jacket you don’t have the hands to take off and carry and the tiled floors seem to stretch for mile upon endless mile.

This purgatory-like landscape has a name: a shopping mall. The once loved teenage hangout has been pushed into thoughtless oblivion since the emergence of the internet.

Even though my previous description may sound hellish, I do believe that shopping malls played an important role in American culture, and I hate to see them go away.

Taking away an opportunity for people to walk around and burn some calories, even though they may burn their credit card in the process, is not beneficial whatsoever. Especially considering the increasing obesity crisis America is facing.

Now, instead of having to search in several stores for a coveted dress or pair of shoes, people can open their cell phones and have an item same-day shipped to them within three clicks of a button.

There are many aspects of malls that actually benefited the world as a whole. The obvious one being it cut down on single-use plastic that is used to individually wrap every item that people buy online and have delivered to their house.

Also, malls are a place for small businesses to get started up in high traffic areas where they would be frequented by possible customers.

In an era marked by the rise of digital platforms, the relevance of shopping malls lies not just in their economic significance, but in their ability to create a sense of belonging.

Gone are the days where you would see gaggles of teenagers perusing the local Macy’s, but the allure of shared experiences still endures.

Now, kids flock to Target or Starbucks to try to glean an ounce of the community they would have once had at a shopping mall.

As we say goodbye to these gleaming halls and bustling shops, we must acknowledge the role shopping malls played in shaping our American culture and embrace the timeless glamor of these monuments to capitalism.