The Death of Malls

Instead of reading bullshit articles with less than questionable sources and assumptions why not figure out which public holding companies own which malls and hit the streets.

Find out what storefronts they house in their malls and since most are public you'll be able to scour their 10k's to see which companies have profitable storefronts. Start connection the dots from there by asking which holding companies house the highest concentration of losers. Other variables to consider are region, the cyclical aspect of some stores, and how diversified said holding company is. 

Does their retail space have high turnover? 

What percentage of their storefronts are unoccupied and for how long? 

I guess from there if you find anything conclusive you could start building a short position. 

But that's a lot of work for a long shot. I don't think malls are going down fast enough to make a play.