Maybe this question is a bit too niche, but I work in a department store inside a mall and there’s always people in there getting their speed walking in. Some of them I see every single day. And I don’t mean they’re shopping fast, I mean they’re just getting their exercise, doing laps around the store or the mall as a whole. And I know this isn’t specific to my mall because I’ve seen it in multiple other malls when I’m shopping myself. I just don’t understand why a mall seems like the ideal space for that sort of thing to them, especially when that’s their only reason for being there. I never see them do even as much as buying a snack or drink, they always bring their own, and they always have headphones in or are talking on the phone so they’re not disturbed. There seems like 1000 other better, more peaceful, less crowded and overall better suited places for this, yet I’ve seen so many people doing it at the mall.
Edit: y’all have made some very good points. The best of which concerning elderly people. While it’s not all, I will say most of the people I see doing it are definitely older, and I can see why the mall would be a much more ideal place to get exercise especially for them. I never meant this to be hostile to judgey lol I hope it didn’t come off that way. Just as an employee of a department store it felt odd and at times annoying, but I can definitely recognize the benefits and draw of that sort of setting more
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seems like a decent spot thats safe and warm. lots of america doesnt really have good walkable parks, so its the next best thing
Lots of free accessable parking, open areas to walk, climate controlled, safe, with shopping/restaurants around if needed, ample bathrooms, seating if needed.
I don’t know for sure, but I think these are people who like to feel that “there are people around me”, rather than those who are more comfortable with nature.
To be fair, I didn’t even know this was still a thing. I thought malls died when I stopped shopping them in 1996.
So what do I know? LoL.
Mall walking is liminal-space cardio.
Flat floors. Climate control. No squirrels or social expectations. Just you, your demons, and the scent of Auntie Anne’s Pretzels on loop.
It’s not fitness, it’s coping but with background music and free HVAC.
Yea, that was me at some point of my life.
Its not exercise. I just walk to peruse for something that might catch my eye while actually planning to buy a small little preplanned thing. Feel free and fresh in climate controlled environment listening to some kind of high BMP music. Im flying through that store, nothing crazy but also visiting a lot of places without stopping much for closer look at something specific. I dont know what i might want, im just looking, and feeling fresh doing it.
Without any actual intent to use it as a walking track, I just maintain the rhythm, having fun. breezing through.
. . .
Well i did before that leg injury..
Here you go, a random cliffhanger you did not asked or cared for.
Its a place you can walk in a straight line for a long time that’s a) indoors so hopefully not too hot or too cold and b) indoors so probably safer than walking around a random neighborhood
I do this tbh. My local mall is very dead, I HATE the treadmill, and I HATE the heat. It’s safe, filled with fresh AC, and just convenient overall. I can climb stairs, or just walk back and forth and no one is gonna bother me 🤷♀️
Ususally bc weather..it not cold or hot sunny or rainy
Personally, I prefer to walk outside. However, as a 60 year old disabled person, I have been harassed multiple times. I think, especially for older women, it’s just safer to do it at the mall.
My city has a mall that opens early to let the mall walkers in before most of the shops open, I assume all that foot traffic is good for business
For me, I can’t walk comfortably outside because of knee and feet issues. Flat floors are great for that, I can sit if needed, and in hot humid summers the only cool place to walk. When you get older, this is important.
Our local mall is nearly dead – except the movies and driver’s license place.
Senior groups would go to malls to shop and get seniors out, and then some would walk. People have been doing this for decades.
There is no traffic, exhaust, there are other people, it can be a social event and you could possibly get food too. There is a lot going on at a mall, if it gets people walking that is a good thing.
Think of it as a fun place to go exercise.
Similar reason to going to a gym just to use the treadmill
It’s safe and clean, and they often will spend money there like in coffee shops that usually open before the rest of the shops. It’s good for the mall and good for the mall walkers.
It all started when the malls invited the walkers in. The idea was that the walkers would become regular customers. Some did, most didn’t. Back when the malls were filled with stores, walkers would have entitlement attitudes. They would get upset at the workers while we were unlocking the gates, because they had to walk around us.
I love walking outside, but as a woman, I’m not always comfortable being by myself so mallwalking seems like it would be a good alternative
It’s just an air conditioned place to get steps in.
I lived in a bad area for a year. If things had been a little too hot I’d occasionally go to a big Wal Mart or a big department store or mall and wander around there. It was temperature controlled and it was safe. You could eat or drink there and just kind of be there. I think those are major factors with the old people. It’s a good temp, it’s safe, and anything you might need (bathroom, pharmacy, water) is right there.
Gyms are expensive and its nice to walk and look at stuff
This has been a thing for a long time. I worked at the mall in the late 1980s and we had mall walkers then too.
I’m in my 30s, so obviously not elderly, but sometimes I find myself doing several laps around the mall, especially in the summer when it’s as hot as satan’s armpit out and I need to get out and move my body around. “But you could walk on a treadmill!” No! I get too bored! Mentally I need to move from point A to point B!
Most malls are pretty empty now, so it’s not like mall walkers will be in anyone’s way.
A lot of malls actually promote it. Keeps the regulars coming back.
It’s spacious, climate controlled, and typically not crowded. There is also security, bathrooms, and other people for some amount of safety. It’s far from the worst place to get your steps in
I for one welcome the mall walkers.
At my mall it’s mostly groups of elderly and disabled peoples who otherwise can’t go outside. When I say disabled I mean like severe autism and other mental physical illnesses.
It gives them somewhere to go that’s safe and they can’t wander off into cars.
There was a whole thing with the rise of malls called mall walking. They walk like it’s a track but they don’t have to walk outside on cracked sidewalks or join a gym. It’s secure. There are bathrooms. It’s always the same temperature, and when you’re done, you get a pretzel.
Mall walking has been a thing for decades. Most malls even know the distance around each level. The temperature is always perfect and its level, unlike streets. It’s also safer if neighborhoods don’t have sidewalks, or for women in general.
i live in Ohio, it’s cold and gross outside in the winter, and malls are good for walking around in when the weather is bad.
Malls promote this.
Safety, not only as far as from being attached, but they’re usually older people and having a flat surface to walk on reduces the risk of falling. You never have to worry about the weather mating the walk slippery or sweating/freezing out in the elements.
As many have mentioned, the floors are flat and the climate is controlled. I can’t think of anywhere else you can go for a long walk inside that doesn’t expect you to buy something.
Whether it is to hot, cold, humid, rainy, or whatever else, many people don’t want to walk outside. Especially the elderly.
Also, malls use to encourage it as a way to drive up foot traffic in the malls. Sure most days most of the walkers won’t buy anything. But from time to time the idea is they will stop in the stores and buy things. And they aren’t costing the malls any money.
Some malls in Asia will have tracks and routes painted on the floors with 2-way traffic. Specifically for this purpose. If you follow it, it ends at the supermarket and food court in the basement.
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Mall walking is enough of an established thing to have its own Wikipedia entry: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mall_walking
Malls encourage walkers because a lot of people who walk in the mall stay to visit with friends, buy a coffee or soda and window shop. When they need to buy something, they’re more likely to buy it at the mall since it’s a part of their normal routine versus making a special trip.
Reliable climate, no traffic crossings, flat and large enough that doing a few laps won’t be insanely boring.
I get it…even though I’m like 30 years too young to actually do it.
Our mall opens the doors early for the mall walkers. And a lot of them do get coffee afterwards so I don’t think anyone minds them.
I’d like to know where the best 1000 other places are to get a couple miles in walking are? Especially when the weather sucks.
Because we don’t have any third spaces and that’s the best third space we’ve got. It’s well lit, climate controlled, generally flat, and secure.
I was heavily pregnant during the coldest winter months, but I needed to try to be as active as possible. I live in a place where the air hurts my face. Slipping and falling in ice and snow is really bad for pregnancy. The mall was warm and mostly empty, but enough people were around in case an emergency happened and I needed help.
I probably would’ve mall walked if I had been gravid in the summer months as well because of air conditioning. Also due to the fact that I live in a place where the air hurts my face in the winter, the sun also burns any exposed skin I have, such as my face, and I immediately lobster up.
My wife and I were training for a fall hike in England. There was a summer heatwave. The mall was a great place to get climate controlled miles in.
It’s climate controlled, flat dry surfaces to walk on and there’s plenty of people about so you can people watch as you walk. The building I work at a farmer’s market in if you do 10 laps of it you’ve walked a mile, so we see a lot of seniors taking a stroll. There’s an older dude that always has a different sassy comment for us each time.
I like going to the mall to just people watch some days and just walk around. It helps that I live close to the largest mall in North America, but it’s just nice to walk around, sometimes.
Decreased chance of getting murdered if you live in my city
Several months out of the year are too hot for me to go outside (because of several chronic illnesses). Walking is basically all I’m supposed to do on a regular basis. Gyms are expensive, especially if you’re only using a treadmill. Plus the nature of how you walk on one vs. on flat ground is different.
A mall has things to see, reliable central heating/cooling, and are typically low pressure because people don’t (normally) care what they’re doing. If I speed walk around my grocery store without nothing to buy it looks a lot more conspicuous.
What is wrong with people using those spaces for walking?
Big, safe, climate controlled, and social. Why would people not walk in there?
My elderly mother stays with me during the winter and we go to the mall early in the morning to do some walking. It is safer for her: flat terrain, climate controlled, and well lit (she has advanced macular degeneration so almost blind)
She cannot do much and moves slowly but she benefits from the exercise. I am really glad to have that option
I’ve seen a few malls that encourage this with signs and mile markers.
It’s great, air conditioned, dry and you can window shop all at the same time.
I imagine if you had a medical incident your chances of help arriving in a timely manner area greater in a mall than in the woods.
Elderly who can’t exercise outside bc of weather conditions.
Malls were the only place I could get a senior with serious dementia to walk around for exercise. I was a private caregiver for her and we would spend 2-4 hours 3x a week walking different malls. She hated doing any sort of exercise otherwise but at the mall with he memory, I could get her moving to find the ice cream shop 😅
When my oldest was born, it was May in Louisiana and our a/c was spotty. Walking him around the mall all that summer saved my sanity; it kept us cool, gave him new things to look at, and got me out of the house.
(Also, I’m a child of the 80s/90s, so malls are kind of my natural habitat).
When I was a kid the mall is where parents would dump the kids if it was really hot and they didn’t have AC. I know people walk there for the same reason.
my grandparents love to talk walks around the their local (very dead) mall every week for all the reasons others have listed so far
Our (recently demolished) mall had a tile in the floor for the “mall walkers club” that said one lap was 1/3rd of a mile. That thing was so dead for decades, guess that was a significant amount of their foot traffic.
Mall Walking has been a thing with seniors for at least 40 years.
Where else are you gonna walk in the USA? Your neighborhood? 🤣
My 80 year old mom uses her local Super Walmart to walk for timing and safety – it’s 1/4 mile if you walk the interior walls. It’s air conditioned and open at 5am and god forbid her artificial knee or hip decide to give her a thrill, it’ll be more likely someone might hear her because gawd forbid she ever carry her cell phone…
I work at a mall, I notice these people are usually connected to a store some how (like a worker) and they do it in between clients, store opening etc. but I also notice when it’s really cold out then old people or moms and babies start walking arojnf
Because it’s a free country (for now)
lol it’s called “mall walking” and it was an popular exercise fad back in the 80’s-90’s when malls, and American consumerism were at their peaks due to a period of strong economic prosperity.
Malls are air conditioned, big, and used to have decent stores so women (and some men) would hit the local malls to power walk while window shopping and find inspo for loosing weight in the latest fashions of the season.
Indoors so climate controlled, security, free. Typically ads compliant. Bathroom nearby as needed. Benches etc. it’s an indoor park for old folks
I’ve been to Alcoholics Anonymous.
They recommend people walk in malls if they need to get outside of the house.
It’s safe, it’s warm, it’s good exercise. Good place to stay sober and get some steps in.
Why not? Free and air conditioning.
Our mall opens early just for this. Phoenix is too hot for most of the year.
Weather and variation in scenery.
Our mall advertises to walkers and invites them to come walk. So….
This has been happening since the 80s. There would be groups of older women in their track suits, speed walking around the mall if you went around opening time.
I think it’s just a safe, convenient place to meet. It’s big. There is plenty of space for them to walk. And when they’re done, they can stop and have something to eat or drink, or do a bit of shopping.
Why not though? Crowds build crowds and at the rate malls going dead isn’t this a good thing?
So my story is a girl doing her walk close to where i was bra shopping. She collapsed and her friend said she had blood sugar issues. She was in her mid twenties. If she had not had a medical emergency no one would have known that she had a medical condition – it is invisible to onlookers seeing her get her cardio in. I had honey packets in my purse because I have a few hypoglycemic teen brothers who forget to eat and was able to help her while someone ran to the food courts for orange juice and a cookie or something. The medical for the mall also arrived about 15-20 minutes after she collapsed. Hypoglycemia can be scary as heck so it is understandable that a lot of people with many medical issues onlookers can’t see would choose a place to walk with air conditioning, seating, food courts, medical, and many many onlookers to help you get help if you have medical problems.
Just a story for some perspective.
If you want to get in some miles every single day. Rain or shone, having a roof and climate control makes it a lot easier to do.
Funny to see this question as I rest after taking a lap around the mall.
I am in my 30’s.
Nothing else to do there.
The mall I go to literally encourages this. They have signage about how it’s all at the mall and encourages indoor track walking inside the mall.
Many malls actually have official walking clubs and stuff.
The mall has always been a hangout place, walk place. I have bought multiple things just because I went with friends to hang out. Also..
let’s go to the mall music video
In high school cross country we had a challenge every year to run a mile inside of one of those big mills malls. We always got chased by security, but we were running 4:40 miles and there really wasn’t anything they could do to stop us. It was hilarious.
A lot of people do that even here in the UK though we don’t have too many malls there ar a few that people use.
It’s all good at least until you fall into the backrooms.
Must be wop whacking time in Brooklyn
It’s been going on for decades. Indoor malls are generally safe and climate controlled and there is security and other people around. So no worries about the weather outside not being conducive to exercising or if they fell and got hurt or had another type of medical emergency and no one is around. Plus, lots of places to rest, get food and go to the bathroom.
Climate controlled and easy access to clean bathrooms/water fountains.
i like long walks but i hate looking for a place to pee when I really have to go and I’m an hour from my house.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mall_walking
https://cea.rutgers.edu/research?catid=45&id=147&view=article
This has been going on for years. Literally was pointed out to me about 15, 20-ish?? years ago by a co-worker when I started working at a store in the mall.
Safe, free, cool in the summer, warm in the winter, clean(ish) bathrooms, conveniently located, a place to stop for coffee and no ticks.
Two major groups. One was the older walkers. The other group were the moms with the baby strollers. Both groups would meet up either before or after at the coffee shop nearby.
The third group is the emerging middle age millennials getting their steps in. I like that it’s safe, free, cool in the summer, warm in the winter, clean(ish) bathroom, conveniently located, a place to stop for coffee, and no ticks.
My husband’s aunt used to go to her local mall to walk. They opened early for people who wanted to walk.
Malls are temperature controlled. Walkers don’t have to worry about heat, cold, rain, etc.
Parking is free.
The floors are level and maintained. This reduces the risk of falling.
I’m WAY too young for the stereotypical “mall walker” but myself and my similarly aged friends (early 30s) have already basically become mall walkers. And the answer is: bc it’s FUN!
I always love shopping at the mall because it’s indoors and you can just walk store to store regardless of the weather. I’d imagine it’s the same for the mall walkers – sheltered and climate controlled.
It’s safe, temp controlled and free
Window shopping to see what’s interesting, usually air conditioned/heated to perfection, there’s usually a food court spot to get something to eat and drink, there are sanitary-ish, bathrooms. For people who prefer to socialize, there’s random strangers who will strike up conversations sometimes.
Because it has security, is cleaned, and no homeless.
It’s been that way since the 80s. They were limited to mornings back then I don’t know if malls each have different rules or something. It is warm, dry, cheap, and a great way for older people to get exercise. The idea in the mornings was that nobody was really there anyway, often they were there before stores opened.
In wimter it is a safe place to walks here; well-lit, warm, no falling on ice, no vehicles losing control.
At least someone is putting all the empty space to use
Weather, safety and no obstacles
It’s a good time to walk on a lunch break. In the AC and I won’t be stinking the sweat after I finish.
Some additional reasons are that in some places, they get free shuttle service to the mall (depending on which place they live) and don’t even have to pay extra. The walking path there is quite secure and not uneven like a random sidewalk that could have uneven blocks or cracks.
“Mall walking” has been a thing for my entire life, and I’m 45… 🤷🏼♀️
I worked in a mall in the early 2000s and it brought me so much joy seeing the moms and elderly get their laps in. It was a way for them to socialize and exercise in a safe space. That is awesome people still do it! 🙂
So I grew up in a very rural area, the biggest store was a walmart. When it is over 90 degrees outside, it becomes uncomfortable. In comes walmart. they can go in walk around, get their exercise in, they are sheltered from the weather, and they can buy a treat to walk and talk with friends.
It’s safe, secure, and climate controlled.
It’s not a treadmill and allows for “real” walking.
It has accessible, clean, safe, stocked bathrooms.
It has water fountains and/or other means to hydrate and get sugars if needed.
It has lots of places to sit.
It has other people in it, so that helps with safety, too.
There’s no rain or oppressive sun/heat or snow/cold inside a mall.
it’s a third space for some people, and for seniors, it can be a very safe place to get their walking exercise in without risk of getting hit by a car or assaulted by some rando.
The weather is always amenable, and the surfaces smooth. Also, you don’t have to go too far to turn around if you get tired. Good for older people.
Even, flat walking surfaces. A lot of sidewalks are slanted and or bumpy which is painful for people with pain and those who use a cane. Also, malls are dry and heated or air conditioned.
When my father was still living, he walked the local mall several times a week. He was out of any inclement weather, he met other like minded seniors and most of the time when they were done with their walks they’d hit the food court or the cafeteria inside the mall.
Honestly seems smart to me. I like being around people and not by the street. If my mall wasn’t expensive to park at I’d consider doing that
Air conditioning.
And thinking about inclement weather, not only does the mall let them exercise when it’s raining outside but here in Houston it is very hot and humid so that’s another plus.
Weather.
Mostly weather.
I used to work in a city that had a smallish mall that was close to going out of business. A co-worker and I walked there on our lunch breaks. It was so peaceful and quiet because over half of the stores were closed. Obviously this wouldn’t be the same atmosphere for a busy mall but the concept and reasoning are the same. Safe from the weather and other potential dangers.
Theoretically it’s safer than some parks. And some people need to be around other people while walking. They don’t necessarily want to talk to someone but they like “people watching” while they walk.
In some countries people hang out in the malls because that’s where the air conditioning and security/safety are.
This seriously kept me sane during Covid. Everything was closed, no one wanted to hang out, so I walked around the mall for fun. GREAT for Pokemon go lol
It’s climate controlled, there are no hills to climb, it’s a smooth surface that’s easy to walk on, there are bathrooms, and there are usually security guards so you don’t worry about being harassed.
Mall-walkers.
“Mall walking” was a big thing in the 80s, malls would invite old people from the community to exercise by walking around the mall, Richard Simmons recorded “Sweatin’ to the Oldies” in a lot of malls as part of this “come to the mall to exercise!” promotion.
They were desperately trying to get people to view malls as a hangout/recreation spot for adults, in the hopes they’d spend money while they were there. (Because kids hung out at malls all day, but didn’t spend money.)
Every mall had armies of old women speed-walking around everywhere.
I forgot this died down, but apparently it didn’t in your area and the mall-walkers are still there.
My mother is older and she and her friends love to mall-walk.
It’s temperature controlled, it’s well lit, the floor is generally kept free of trip hazards, and there’s air tight security. Cameras everywhere. Shoppers everywhere. If something goes amiss it would be minutes if not seconds before someone came to their aid.
I would much rather she walk in the mall than almost anywhere else she can reasonably get to in our area.
Plus she and her friends enjoy looking at the clothes and things for sale. Keeps the exercise light and fun.
The weather in a mall tends to be a bit more consistent than outdoors
Why not?
My local mall actually has plaques letting the customers know how far they’ve walked from the main entrance. I think it’s becoming encouraged because it at least brings in some regular foot traffic and foot traffic helps encourage other people to hang around a bit longer too.
I was watching American Dad and they had episode where Stan was doing ‘mall cardio’ and honestly… not a bad idea at all. window shopping is so fun
Environmentally controlled. I lived in a city with a crappy mall but some local residents would come to the Lowe’s I worked at and walk there first thing in the morning.
I need to get my steps in and it’s 100F+ outside. I’m walking in the mall.
No 3rd spaces?
Not too hot. Not too old. Can’t get lost. Safe. Places to sit down when tired. Usually can buy something to drink and/or eat. Meet new people. See old friends. People watching keeps it from being boring.
Its because the secured, heated, and open space is preferable to the unwalkable concrete hellscape that we have outside! If there are no parks that are safe to walk at, wouldn’t you rather go to the mall?
They’re not walking, they’re flexing on gym memberships with free AC and zero sweat.
It’s flat, it’s climate controlled, there’s easy access to food and drink, you can easily park and get to and from your car. As an outside walker, I DO appreciate having a mall around on precipitation days.
Because it’s safe and temp regulated. Mallwalkers have beena thing since forever
There’s a mall I frequent that a lot of people genuinely do use it for fitness, as it’s a gigantic mega mall with, like, 100 different stores in it. They even have a morning class for moms of newborns to get some exercise to get rid of pregnancy fat.
Another mall nearby me actually has a Gold’s Gym as one of the main anchor stores, especially given how most of their other anchor stores closed down.
It’s climate controlled (which is great in and of itself, but it also means that year round the schedule and opportunities don’t change). It has security. It is flat and has no stairs and steps . And it has wide open spaces. It’s exactly what elderly people need to get their steps.
Now I wanna do this! Whenever I go to a mall I end up tripling my daily step count without even noticing. It’s a good idea to do it intentionally!
Climate control.
It’s indoors, well lit, with smooth floors, has security guards, it’s open to the public, and it’s free.
They literally advertise them as such. I’ve been to malls in 3 different states that have had signs on the wall denoting distance for walking, etc. The mall encourages people who want to walk for exercise in comfort to do so in the mall because they’ll often spend money there while they’re there as well, even if they just buy drinks from a restaurant in the food court. Or they’ll see when sales are & pass info along or see things in store windows & when it comes time to shop for a new coat for themselves or a gift for someone, they have what they’ve seen in their mind.
When I hit the mall with some extra time, I’ll walk the entire thing. Even if I only need one store. Easy, cool/warm with no weather to worry about.
If you’re interested in mall architecture and its place in our culture, I recommend the book, Meet Me by the Fountain by Alexandra Lange.
Because a mall is climate controlled, full of interest, ample safe space to meet up or go solo.
Smooth weather friendly area to walk especially in mornings. It’s free and fun to shop and look around. If I could, I’d love to Rollerblade in mall, that smooth pavement would be fun.
Because it is air-conditioned with flat floors plus security guards. A very good place to walk. As well as a place to buy a tea or coffee afterwards.
I live in Texas and we have about 6 weeks total of nice outdoor weather.
I go to my local dying mall and walk as I play Pokemon go. It’s too hot it cold or stormy most of the time here and there aren’t a lot of sidewalks near me.
Concord Mills in North Charlotte is great for this because it’s shaped like the NASCAR raceway. Just do loops. Lots of parking, decent spots to rest, what’s not to like?
Man this actually makes me sad. So many malls are gone now and everything is online. My first job was at the mall at Hollister in 2015, the malls really died out a few years later.
I used to work in a mall too, with lots of elderly walkers. It’s indoors so they don’t need to worry about the weather was the biggest reason. There’s security usually, and less threats from things like unleashed dogs. And other people guaranteed to be around in case something happens.
I live in Phoenix AZ. It’s routinely 100 degrees or higher for a third of the year.
Malls are air conditioned spaces that my pregnant and geriatric patients can go to in order to get their morning mile or two walk in, but also have benches, water fountains, and rest rooms. The mall loves increased traffic, as folks are more likely to buy random things, and people get a safe place to do their relative workouts.
I use a department store in this way. I have a pinched nerve in my back that is not severe enough for surgery, but does cause some gait issues. I feel more comfortable walking with a cart. I do buy things when I go (which is why my kiddo likes to join me lol) but the pace is slow and the trip takes a lot of time. My walking is not bad for short distances, but becomes worse with time on my feet. It’s good for me to walk in places that are familiar, populated, smooth, and air conditioned.
It’s safe, warm, away from the weather, and free. There is parking, nice bathrooms, and you can usually sit down if you need to. There is the option of buying drinks or food, and if something happens to you on a walk around the mall, there are people around. You aren’t gonna have a heart attack and then be found 3 days later by a hiker and their dog like the beginning of a CSI episode.
Because it’s safe ( no traffic ) and the weather won’t matter .
I’ve just repeating what other people have said. I’m in my late ’50s. People were doing this back in the early ’80s and earlier. Nothing new. And yeah it tends to be an older crowd although it can be mixed. It’s safer for them, easier if you live in a cold or hot environment. And in the hopefully unlikely event they may have something happen medically, there is certainly a lot more people around there to help them than if they were walking in a neighborhood.
The mall I used to go to actually had distance markers on the floor for the walkers.
I think it’s a good idea for people who might be afraid to walk outside. Not everywhere is safe for walking
Stable temperatures and easy on those geriatric feet
I like in the uk and I watch modern family. Are “mall walkers” real? Wow
It’s climate controlled, safe, level, clean, and you can grab a coffee or go for a snack afterwards.
Air conditioning.
Easy indoor walking in all weather conditions. I wish there was more community based things happening in malls. Retail is down.
Where I live, it’s because a gym is 20 bucks a month minimum. The mall is free.