Rumours about the impending death of the shopping mall have been circling for years. Between 2018 and 2019, even before the COVID-19 pandemic, foot traffic to Canada’s top 10 malls — as measured by revenue per square foot — declined by 22 per cent, according to research from Deloitte Canada. But as COVID-19 restrictions across the country loosen up amid soaring vaccination rates, some experts believe the pandemic may have given shopping malls — or at least some of them — a new lease on life.