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.
Same here, lived in a small town and the nearest mall was 80% parking lot. What's worse is it had 2 sections, divided by the highway. Each section had a separate parking lot. If you wanted to go to the separate section you'd have to go look for your car, drive out and park in the other side, then go do your business there. Absolutely horrible stuff.
In comparison some of the malls I've been to in Toronto or Pittsburgh were much better because they were connected to transport directly or you could just walk to them from the nearest stations/underground parking spaces (still not ideal but beats the sprawling parking lots).