As malls across the country struggle to remain open, Delaware’s Concord Mall may be the next to close. The mall’s owners filed paperwork on Aug. 12, 2026, with a potential plan to keep the still open Boscov’s store and long closed Sears store standing, while demolishing the remainder of th e mall’s structures. In the mall’s place, its owners plan to rebuild a much smaller retail building. These plans come after many of the popular brand’s left the mall, with the most recent stores being HM and Macy’s Home Store. Much of the mall is now filled with generic stores. Concord Mall, located on Concord Pike just south of the Pennsylvania line, was opened in the late 1960s. A popular destination for Delaware and Pennsylvania residents, shoppers could visit for tax-free retail shopping. Larger malls in Delaware and Pennsylvania have found methods of maintaining foot traffic. In Delaware, the Christiana Mall has bigger brands and additional amenities. In Pennsylvania, King of Prussia Mall has attractions like the Netflix House experience. University of Delaware Fashion and Apparel Studies professor Jahee Jung believes, in order for malls to survive, they need to be more than a place to shop, as online retailers grow in popularity. “Malls need to draw younger customers like Gen Z and millennials and they don’t like this outdated look,” said Jung. Malls across the country are struggling, not just Concord Mall. Capital One Shopping says over 14,000 malls closed in America between 2016 and 2025. They predict that nearly 87% of all malls will likely close in the next 10 years. As of 2023, about 1,200 true malls remained in America, and that number will likely reduce to 900 by 2028, Capital One says. This story uses functionality that may not work in our app. Click here to open the story in your web browser. ...read more read less