If you put one or more buildings together and form a complex of shops representing merchandisers, add to that interconnected walkways enabling visitors to walk from unit to unit, you get what is known as the great American shopping mall. 

1,500 malls were built in the US between 1956 and 2005, and their rate of growth often outpaced that of the population. They replaced main street and became the epicentre of communities, the foundation of retail economies, and the place for teenagers everywhere to see and be seen.

At the heart of these malls has been the main stays of American retail, the department stores. They have been come to be known as the "anchors." Every mall has them and it is these stores that make up a large portion of the retail space being dominated by one brand. Without them, there is a very large hole to fill. 

Malls became so popular over the years that everybody wanted in until the point where the market became saturated. "We are over retailed," according to Ronald Friedman, a partner at Marcum LLP, which researches consumer trends. There is an estimated 26 sq. ft. of retail for every person in the US, compared with about 2.5 sq. ft. per capita in Europe. Howard Davidowitz, famed retail analyst says, "the US has 5 times more retail space per capita than that of Japan, Canada, UK or France."   

Like anything else, the good times were bound to come to a halt. By the mid-2000s, the decline began slowly. The rise of the internet brought with it the rise of online shopping. The financial crisis of 2007 - 2008 brought a blow to retail that led to a drop in sales and foot traffic at big-brand retailers like Sears, JCPenney and Macy's that anchored many of the country's malls. Between 2010 and '13, mall visits during the holiday season, the busiest shopping time of the year, dropped by 50%. It is clear from the chart below that Sears was badly wounded in 2007 and never recovered, in spite of all the promises of Eddie Lampert to turn the struggling retail giant around.

When Sears merged with K-Mart in 2005, the two chains had a total of 3,500 US stores between them. As of May 5, 2018, Sears Holdings operates 894 retail locations under the mastheads of Sears (506 full-line and 23 specialty stores, for at total of 529 locations) and Kmart (365 locations), though after a round of closures announced on May 31, that number will drop to about 820.