New Mall adjacent to River City Marketplace planned for 2012

[fsujax]

You know I heard from a local developer that two of our area malls RCMP and the SJTC are among tops in the country for sales in newer retail centers.

[copperfiend]

So what makes something a "mall"? Is a collection of stores not a mall?

[Jason]

My understanding of the basic definition of a mall is a collection of stores under a continuous roof.  It can be enclosed or open.

[thelakelander]

According to Webster:

mall 
Pronunciation: \ˈmȯl, especially British & for 1 ˈmal\
Function: noun
Etymology: short for obsolete pall-mall mallet used in pall-mall
Date: 1644

1: an alley used for pall-mall

2 [The Mall, promenade in London, originally a pall-mall alley] a: a usually public area often set with shade trees and designed as a promenade or as a pedestrian walk b: a usually paved or grassy strip between two roadways

3 a: an urban shopping area featuring a variety of shops surrounding a usually open-air concourse reserved for pedestrian traffic b: a usually large suburban building or group of buildings containing various shops with associated passageways

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mall