Amazon is buying up dead malls–adaptive reuse, or just eating its prey?

Amazon continues to makes headlines with its labor issues, workers' rights, and headquarters expansion. However, that hasn't stopped the multi-billion-dollar company from growing, for better or for worse. A recent news report from NBC News shared Amazon's moves towards purchasing empty shopping malls into new fulfillment centers. According to Leticia Miranda, "Malls that buckled due to e-commerce or suffered during the pandemic are being given new life by the very entity that precipitated their decline — Amazon." Macy’s, 2018. Image © Jesse RieserFrom 2016 thru 2019, Amazon's abandoned mall transformations have resulted in 25 converted shopping malls to fulfillment centers. As malls and big box stores continue to experience the ongoing "retail apocalypse," mall owners needed to pivot and adapt. In July 2020, Archinect briefly dove into mall typology and the "the post-mall future of American commercial architecture." COVID-19 may have been the final nail in the coffin for most strugg...