These photos show even the oldest mall in America isn't immune to the 'retail apocalypse'

Harrison Jacobs/Business Insider

• Mall traffic across the country has declined by as much as 50% in recent years.
• We visited Seattle's Northgate Mall, which is considered the first modern shopping mall in America.
• Northgate is competing with online retail and adding amenities like couches and virtual reality experiences.

The holiday shopping season was a big win for retailers.

But it wasn't because Americans headed out to the mall in droves. Online sales were up 18.1% this year, driving much of the growth in consumer spending.

Visits to the mall, meanwhile, have declined by as much as 50% in recent years, according to an estimate from real estate research firm Cushman & Wakefield.

Like all malls today, America's first modern shopping mall, Northgate Mall, faces tremendous headwinds as American consumers shift their spending patterns. Northgate opened in 1950 in the outer neighborhoods of Seattle, Washington, and has so far survived for nearly 70 years as a hub of commerce.

Simon Property Group, Northgate's owner, has added amenities like couches, phone charging stations, virtual reality experiences, and massage chairs to draw shoppers to the mall - and keep them there.

We visited recently to see how one mall is trying to buck the "retail apocalypse."

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