After: Car showrooms and event spaces

Mall atriums are wide-open spaces that can allow for events, like concerts or fashion shows, or serve as showrooms for cars — all of which generate revenue, Williamson says.

In 2000, the atrium at Penn-Can Mall in Syracuse, New York turned into a car dealership, called Driver's Village. Today, the only retail spaces in the mall are a café, a children's party space, an auto accessory store, and insurance companies.

Though not in the US, Toronto's largely abandoned Galleria Mall has come up with another clever use for its atrium: hosting dance parties. As Vice reports, the mall periodically turns itself into a club, called "Shoppers Dance Mart."