If you do not pay workers enough that they can afford what you/they are making, you got real trouble, duuuuh. Lawn mowers made by .30/hour workers, then shipped here, where underemployed/unemployed apartment dwellers do not need them, is one sad example.

Haven't gone to one in years

I like malls. It's the only place I can go to watch people. I hardly ever buy anything there.

The bit that sticks out - to me, anyway - is the movement of income away from the middle of society to the top 10%. Any one individual has a limit to his needs, so if spare purchasing power is limited to 10% of the population, sales have to drop.
The "bottom line" is that a remedy is needed for the income drift.

Yes, and its not just the Malls or in the US, here in the UK the same factors are eating away at the high streets too.

Malls were a place encouraging rampant consumerism or "conspicuous consumption."