(Image courtesy of Wikipedia)
In October of 2025, the California mall, Westminster Mall, was suddenly closed, after being a staple of the area since August 1974.
Despite its “closed” status, people have found their way to get past their borders and cover the place with graffiti art.
Various news websites have claimed that the footage that has been published shows how “shocking” and “terrible” the vandalism is, but I beg to differ.
As someone that grew up going to this mall, kinda seeing it’s inevitable demise from a mile away, I think it’s nice to see art come out of the wreckage. Is it technically illegal? Sure, but I doubt that anyone is going to buy it out, because what else can they do with it? Make another mall? Then why close it in the first place?
And that’s also another thing. In a roundabout way, it’s like the death of mall culture, an omen for space like the Westminster Mall.
Could it just be that Westminster lost customers and partners to host their stores in their space? Yes. However, Westminster isn’t the only mall that has gone down like this, being turned into a vandalized landscape, like something out of an apocalypse movie.
In fact, it’s only the most recent addition, as there is a whole website dedicated to the dead malls of America’s past. Westminster is yet to be added, but I’m sure it will with time.
(A mention of note, there is another dead mall that just happens to be called Westminster Mall as well, but it was based out of Colorado, founded by a different company, and it closed back in 2011. For clarity’s sake, I’m talking about the Westminster Mall in California.)
So, dead malls are something of a novelty, as many people do still have an interest in going, seeing, and going as far as to vandalize the places, as businesses have all moved out. However, this may be a symptom of a greater issue.
I’ve gone on before about mall culture in specific, but not the third space at large. That is a big fish I have to fry, so to speak, but one that I’m passionate about.
If you want to learn more about mall culture as a whole, I have an article specifically about that that you can also check out that was from a few years ago. Consider this the long awaited sequel to that article.
Now, what is a third space?
The third space (according to Wikipedia) is described as “social surroundings that are separate from the two usual social environments of home (“first place”) and workplace (“second place”).”
Simply put, it’s sociology speak for “a place that isn’t work/school and your own home.”
Think the mall example, or restaurants or various activity courts, like parks or playgrounds. Even places of worship count as “third spaces.” Places people can go out to relax and socialize, or in the case of malls, spend money and shop.
However, there has been a recent decline of the “third space,” one that I have also seen personally.
There does exist discussion on how third places still technically exist, but if you were to compare it to the third spaces of the 1980’s or 1990’s, or even the 2000’s, the comparison is night and day.
Back then, arcades were a thing, a popular, profitable thing. Same thing with cafes and small local restaurants to hang out in. Parks also usually had tennis courts, skateboard areas, or designated roller skating rinks.
Now? I barely see any of that, at least one that is both local and affordable.
Location and affordability, I’d say, is the key to any third space. Whether that be malls, parks, or otherwise.
Another factor is the ability to socialize without pressure.
A study posted by the National Library of Medicine describes the third space as “integral parts of neighborhood landscapes and associated with quality of life, wellbeing, and health.”
Value is placed on the ability to socialize in these controlled settings, where people can comfortably dine and socialize as a way to foster a sense of community.
The study also discusses the role of the patrons that work there at these third spaces, such as bartenders and baristas that host places like bars (or restaurants that have bars) and coffee shops. By association, they are “thus important sites to critically consider and investigate through mechanisms of stimulation, support, protection, and care.”
Third spaces aren’t just another kind of location that people can go to, but rather like a community project, where everyone has to work towards building a safe and welcoming space for everyone, to provide good services, and be a place to socialize without pressure or discomfort.
Now, the NLM article I have linked was written back in November of 2019. Meaning that there was a concern for the death of the third space even before the new decade. And what came with that new decade of the 2020’s?
COVID-19.
This was what killed a lot of secular spaces, not just the average coffee shop or dining area, whole department stores and grocery stores closed, even just for a short while.
Even just a momentary stop in the flow of the economy killed a lot of the third spaces that were around at this point. Around 700,000 businesses had to close during the pandemic, yet only 400,000 were actually able to open themselves back up.
Not to mention, the impact that services like online delivery with the likes of Amazon have had on the shopping landscape, not just digitally. It has almost effectively removed the usage of places like the department store, or even the pharmaceutical business.
So, if the basic acts of shopping for pharmaceutical products and groceries have been replaced by online convenience, does that go for the third space as well?
Yes, and no.
Physical department stores like Walmart and Target, of course, are still alive and going strong. Alongside malls and places like coffee shops and restaurants. However, the environment is different.
Let’s put two malls together: South Coast Plaza and Westminster Mall. Yes, it’s closed now, but it’ll provide for a good example.
Looking at their respective directories, the difference is night and day. South Coast Plaza, while being a very local establishment, I wouldn’t call it “consumer friendly.” What I mean is, it is choked to the brim with various expensive stores, some with designer names, like Pandora, Lululemon, and PRADA.
Westminster? More consumer friendly. Sure, it was also right next to a Target store, so traffic could’ve also been tied to that, but Westminster had more variety in the stores they hosted. Hot Topic, Spencer’s Gifts, KidLocker, and many more accessible stores. I remembered the most luxury place that was in the Westminster Mall was not only that Target, but a Macy’s as well.
Notice the difference in stores? The variety? Expensive stores don’t exactly appeal to the wider public, mostly just the people rich enough to buy those products. Westminster was more consumer friendly, having stores that didn’t strictly comply or cater to the upper class.
And that depresses me.
Sure, there do still exist malls, especially locally and also accessible. However, it can be a bit of a drive to go to these places. Think of the Outlets of Orange as an example. That’s all the way in the Garden Grove area. The average Costa Mesa resident might not want to make the (roughly) 7.8 mile long drive just for a mall that has a very few stores that people would want to go to. A similar case exist for the Bella Terra and Fashion Island as well; Spaces supposed to be made for the wider public in theory, yet caters to to the upperclass in practice.
And that’s another thing, some stores only really exist to be licensed in malls. I’ve personally yet to see a single Spencer’s Gifts store that wasn’t in a mall, and the only stand-alone Hot Topic in this area is in Huntington Beach. Sometimes, the best way to go to these stores is if they’re in a mall.
However, if the biggest, closest ones are only there to cater to the upper class, it defeats the purpose of the mall itself. It’s meant to be a place for people to hang out, to socialize without pressure. If anything, we need more of that in the digital age.
It made sense when COVID-19 struck, when people physically couldn’t leave their house. Now, there’s some room to open up third spaces for the public. The key is to just make it local and affordable, and sadly, there isn’t a lot.
Is the title of this article hyperbolic? To an extent. Again, third spaces still exist. However, I feel like the closure of the Westminster Mall is only a symptom of a greater issue in regards to the accessibility and affordability of the third space that is dying.
The moment a space made to the wider public only caters to the upper class, it’s not for the public anymore.
