I’ve noticed that liberal “urban planner” YouTubers love to hate strip malls.

Because I have lived in Paradise, Nevada, I have had some of the best moments of my life happen in strip malls...and I love them!

Paradise isn’t like any other census-designated place on earth. It’s got the most suburban “downtown” in America, and the high-rise buildings are almost all hotels (only one bank is represented in the skyline of Paradise).

If Paradise were to incorporate, it would automatically become the fifth-largest city in Nevada. Despite having most of the “Las Vegas strip” in town limits, the locals’ life in Paradise happens in strip malls, much more than in Las Vegas City proper.

Everything in Paradise that’s not a major resort or airport is in a strip mall.

Image by ImageFX.

The best restaurants, hippest bars, grocery stores, beauty shops, dentists, trade schools, laundromats, consulates of foreign countries, Asian banks, adult businesses, dispensaries, escape rooms, coffee shops, supper clubs, museums, DMV offices, funeral homes, Mexican grocery stores, places Sinatra once ate...all of it found exclusively in the many, many strip malls in Paradise.

The malls are decorated in various facades, and some date back decades, featuring the design trends of the time. Chinatown spans parts of Paradise and Spring Valley, and consists of strip malls heavily decorated with oriental facades and Chinese language signage.

Tourists often criticize Chinatown as being “fake” because “it’s just a bunch of facades on strip malls.”

Well, yes, that is true... but nothing about Chinatown is fake. It has Chinese-owned buildings, businesses, banks, restaurants, insurance agencies, grocery stores, travel agencies, etc., serving the Asian immigrant population...and good luck finding a parking spot (because it’s popular)!

If you go to a Chinese restaurant in Chinatown, don’t expect General Tso’s Chicken... Expect dinner to still have eyes and be looking at you while it’s served. It’s Chinese-Chinese food...not American-Chinese food that is served in Chinatown.

But why is Paradise, Nevada, so invested in strip malls?

Because they are the only retail space that makes sense anymore.

Malls are failing because they ultimately share the same critical design flaw as downtown: Parking proximity to limited entry points for the business makes it a more difficult shopping option for consumers, and a more difficult restocking option for retailers.

Strip malls don’t have this issue. You park in front of the store you want to go to, and enter and exit the store directly to your car. Meanwhile, the goods enter the store directly from the back and exit out the front.

When it comes to dealing with the things you buy, while ordering online and having the stuff delivered to your door is most convenient, the second most convenient option is a strip mall or power center. Other malls or downtown shopping require remote parking, and a bit of a walk to get to and from the retailer.

Convenience and parking proximity aren’t the only things that make strip malls amazing spaces for capitalism. As strip malls age, they offer incredibly low rents, flexible terms, and attract startup entrepreneurs.

Strip malls make people rich. If you’re familiar with Las Vegas, you might recall seeing billboards for Lee’s Discount Liquors, PT’s Taverns, or Dotty’s Casinos, strip mall businesses that made their owners into some of the wealthiest people in the state.

Most American business startups are home-based, and those that succeed eventually outgrow the home. For them, older strip malls often offer the best value and easiest rental terms. They also offer flexible space on one level. Plus...free parking!

Do you really think that you need to go to some cobblestone village in Bavaria to get awesome bread? Because there’s a German Bakery in a strip mall in Henderson, Nevada, that can help you get over that idea.

Americans love to be critical of strip malls, but there’s absolutely no reason for this! Strip malls are the brightest spot in commercial real estate (even more so than data centers). They contribute so much to our economy (taxes, rents, jobs, entrepreneurial opportunities), and they are a huge part of our daily lives.

James Howard Kunstler views strip malls as soulless, pedestrian nightmares surrounded by “parking lagoons,” and there is truth to that. Still, it’s still unfair because it misses something essential. How many business startups do you see in a quaint French village versus an American strip mall?

The American strip mall is the soul of American culture, with easy financial access to small and new businesses, and car access for consumers. They are basically cash registers in the purest sense...a pathway to profitability for a business by minimizing logistical bottlenecks found in downtown or mall settings.

Quaint French Villages are lovely, but be honest with yourself. If there were a quaint French Village within a 20-minute drive of your house, how often would you go there to shop? (Answer: only when out-of-town guests showed up because of tourists, traffic, parking, and prices.)

Strip malls are not a blight on our landscape; they are American opportunity! Maybe we should start viewing them as such!