Malls, once symbols of American consumer culture, are splitting. Some are dying as others thrive

By  ANNE D’INNOCENZIO

I wasn’t a mall rat. Growing up in the 1970s, I didn’t hang out much with my friends at my local mall in New Jersey.

The Livingston Mall, which opened in 1972 with stores including Bamberger’s, Sears and Hahne & Co., may have been a bustling social scene for my peers.

But my mother’s trips to the mall were mission-driven: to buy me clothes she called “classic” — loafers and plaid dresses. I called them nerdy. So forget about the era’s hottest fads: leather platform wedge sandals, Candie’s slide sandals and Puma sneakers.

One hot trend my mom let me have? Straight-leg corduroy pants. As a teen, I had them in an array of colors including burgundy, brown, teal blue and forest green. And I bought them at The Gap, which at the time sold Levi’s.`

I thought of these shopping hauls on a recent Saturday as I