(Watching Modern Family and the History Channel)

Yes, I’m afraid Costco is a "big box store."

It's well run by upper management practicing enlightened self interest, so it's not a hellhole to work in.

It is, however, a big box store.

Then the Walmarts and the COSTCO/Sam's ate the malls. Now Amazon/eBay is eating the Big Boxes. Hopefully, the small local stores will make a bigger comeback.

as wages have lagged far behind inflation and greedheads aren't sharing the benefits of increased productivity with the people who increased it. Another factor was the megamerger which decreased the number of "anchor stores" like big department stores and bankruptcies of those that didn't merge. Smaller specialty stores were expected to keep the mall rent cash flow going, so they started to go under. 2008 hurt the malls badly. Covid pretty much finished them off. Oh, some are bravely hanging in there, but they're dinosaurs.

The big box stores weren't much of a substitute since they all have limited stock. People could simply no longer afford what they wanted and had to take what they could get for wages that are often shit.

I don't know what's going to happen to all the malls. My guess says they'll mostly be torn down, acres of rubble surrounded by even more acres of asphalt as silent reminders of what happens when a country fattens the rich at the expense of everybody else.