Why do some shopping centres close down?

The ICSC entitled their seventh Annual Conference, held in Paris in the spring, The Way Ahead, and as usual most of it was given over to beautifully‐illustrated self‐congratulatory presentations, with speakers describing the total success, both in economic and aesthetic terms, of their shopping centres. For some reason there seems to be considerable resistance to the discussion of real problems in downtown or town centre shopping. It would be unrealistic to pretend that such problems don't arise, or that things always turn out as expected, but the only real certainty is the unwillingness of developers to admit them and discuss them for mutual benefit. There were two admirable exceptions to this rule. Professor B Falk, director of a West German marketing institute, spoke on the reasons why an ever‐increasing number of shopping centres in his country have closed down or been demolished, and why others have been redeveloped into warehouses. And M. Larose, of Grands Magasins Jelmoli, spoke of the difficulties which have dogged the Part‐Dieu centre in Lyon.