Honestly, in my childhood opinion, it was fine, just trying out food and drinks (whether from shopping or restaurants), testing electronics and arcade games, maybe even buying some toys or going to indoor play areas.
Though the novelty of it soon worn out gradually, taking a walk and peek at around these areas for anything interesting is good once in a while, even if you're not buying anything.
Edit: on sec thoughts, should I place this in the urbanism community? And just so you know, I'm not an American, so I wouldn't know what butcherism might occur in the implementation of malls.
If you had, like, a mall in the middle of a bunch of neighborhoods with bus lines leading to it, it would be a really rational way to do a big shopping center that's protected from the elements and has public spaces for people to use. Some malls do this to various degrees, but most of them in my experience are just kind of plopped on the side of the highway and going to them is a big chore and it's no wonder that they're all dying out in the face of online shopping.
There's a mall near where I used to live that was just plopped down on an empty field next to a highway but the city had foresight to build a rail connection and bus terminal there too. It's now been there about 15 years and now it's surrounded by housing.
I can't really be mad at that kind to thing tbh.
Well, that's some planning, at least.