America's Oldest Shopping Mall Is Now An Apartment Building

When the economy goes bust retail stores are often hit the hardest, because people who don't have a lot of extra money to spend tend to stay away from malls.

Couple that with the fact that online shopping is cheaper, easier and faster to deliver than ever and you've got the makings of a mall massacre.

But what is a town supposed to do with their giant, and often quite nice looking, mall carcasses?

Do like the Arcade Providence, America's oldest shopping mall, and turn a shopping center that would otherwise be abandoned into an apartment building.

The Arcade Providence in Rhode Island was in danger of being closed down for good when the Northeast Collaborative Architects decided to let some new life into the building by converting the top two floors into low cost apartments.

Each of the 48 one bedroom units in the Arcade Providence start at $550/month, and the seventeen stores on the ground floor get to stay open for business proving that, for some, shopping really is a lifestyle.