As a young teen, my friends and I went to the mall every weekend. A parent would drop us off and we could safely hang-out for hours often buying only a pretzel. We stopped going when we got our driver's license.

I recently went to a mall for the first time in years to return something that I had ordered online. It was depressing. As you said, few customers, no energy, no real draw anymore. It's a little sad since the mall was such a big part of my early teens years.