Shopping in America Since the 1950s, American shoppers have been spending their money in suburban malls instead of in downtown business districts. This is even true of shoppers who have to go out of their way to shop in the malls; they will bypass downtown stores (which they might have gotten to by convenient bus) to drive to the brightly colored stores of shopper-heaven. The result, some people claim, is the collapse of the central urban commercial district, Downtown, a process leading inevitably toward more widespread urban disease. But why are Americans are so easily lured to shop in malls in the first place? First, Americans don