That does look really desolate. It's sad to see the same story playing out around the world. Here we've got a few "new urbanist" shopping centers cropping up, but they're really just artificial towns, like malls turned inside out - still all chain stores and real estate owned by one big company.
And now even the malls that killed Main Streets are being hit by the superstores and online shopping. A strange comeuppance.
I try to support small business whenever I can. Especially if it is the old guy selling bags of tomatoes on the side of the road to supplement his pension. Times are really tough for people.