A change in our way of life

If you're of a certain age, say 30-50, shopping malls and the big department stores that anchor them have always been a part of your life. Having lived in Southern Maryland for the first 20-some years of my life, I distinctly recall when Landover Mall, which sits hard on the Capital Beltway, opened in the early 1970's. For a kid my age and with my curiosity, Landover Mall was a wonderland, with big stores, like Sears, Hecht's, Garfinkles and Woodward and Lothrop, on each end, and seemingly a million little stores in between.
Eventually, Garfinkles and Woodies (as Woodward and Lothrop was affectionately known in the Washington area) folded, Hecht's eventually became part of the Macy's chain, leaving Sears as the only major tenant. The rest of the mall, which is a really long walk from FedEx Field, closed, and the Redskins supposedly wanted to buy the property to raze it for parking. Remarkably, Sears stayed open, and still operates to this day, alone in a mall that no longer exists.
Landover Mall, like a ton of malls across the country, has become a victim to radical changes in our culture. The indoor shopping mall, once a staple of suburban American life, has morphed into the "town center" concept, where shops and stores are arranged to look like a little village of commerce.
I say all that to mourn the imminent departure of Boscov's from the Baltimore area. The Pennsylvania-based, family owned chain came here a couple of years ago, ironically, to fill the holes left when Macy's took over Hecht's. Boscov's, where you can get terrific fudge, among other things, will close locally within the next month, save for one store in the far western suburbs. The closing will put 400 people out of work, and may put another nail in the coffin of at least two local malls.
Ah, commerce.