I’ve shown you this old A&J cartoon from 10 years ago, but it reminds me of an article I read last week: now, it seems, shopping malls are in trouble all over the country. I’ve never been a big fan of malls myself. In reality they seldom contain anything as useful as a wine and cheese boutique. Still, the passing of malls would have to be another significant milestone on the path to wherever it is we’re going. There are many pressures on mall retailers that account for their situation, chief among them the loss of big “anchor” stores that are closing because of the competition of online shopping. Another is, tastes change; the malls just aren’t as popular as they once were. Yet another pressure would be the loss of all those jobs at all those the mills.