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.
Malls are cool as an accompaniment to cities, but not as a replacement for them. Also, malls are great socialist distribution centers as someone else pointed out. No reason why malls shouldn't get all of their freight delivered by train either.
There's also something concerning about the privatization of public space and consumerism within, and the hyper-capitalism of it all, but I don't think that's the mall's sole appeal. I think there is very much a future for socialist malls as a kind of arcology more resilient to climate change. Malls with good public transit to them (see: many canadian cities
) are a good start.
...I also just really like indoor plants