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Sandy Hausman
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RadioIQ
The first shopping mall in America opened in 1956 – promising plenty of free parking, and from that time until 2002, 800 more malls were built. It was an alarming trend for many downtown businesses, and some cities responded with a radical new approach to retail. They would close their main streets to traffic and turn them into park-like places to eat, drink, stroll and shop. This summer, Charlottesville marks the 50th anniversary of its Downtown Mall – inviting people from all over the state to celebrate, as Sandy Hausman reports.
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