I’ve been on a tear about stores over the last few months, and I thought I would take a break from the topic this week – until I saw this discussion on Retail Wire about the potential death of malls.

Malls, like the stores they house, are struggling. And sure, there are malls that are doing fantastically well and malls that are not – there is ever a variety of performance. But it seems to me that more and more malls are anchored by either a grocery store or a super-sized general merchandise retailer like Target or Walmart, or they are anchored by things like movie theaters – the types of retail that either generate a lot of high frequency traffic, or bring in a lot of people who usually have some extra time on their hands between dinner and that movie. And that does not bode well for the future of the mall as a shopping destination.

Think about it. What can you get from mall-as-shopping-destination that you can’t get from online? The way I shop for school clothes is a perfect example of how much that has changed. First of all, I can’t even shop for my son at a mall because no store carries his pants size (if anyone has a line in on how to get size 28×36 pants that aren’t custom-made with a custom-made price tag, let me know!).

And for my daughter, who has at the tender age of 12 decided that Justice is so little-kid (sorry, Justice – I think you might have a branding problem there), I drag her to Target to try on a few clothes to get an idea of fit, and then we go home and buy it all online. Kohl’s, JCPenney, Target, Amazon, all from the comfort of my computer, and even better where more often than not I can filter by her size so that she doesn’t fall in love with something that I then have to talk her out of because it doesn’t come in her size.

For our family, the mall has gone from a half-day of fighting for parking, fighting for a table at lunch, arguing with recalcitrant children in an aisle while other parents duck their heads clearly thinking, “Thank God that’s not me. ” We barely ever go – pretty much once or twice a year, and usually only to check fit for rapidly growing children, or because we need something specific right now.

Now, I know I’m not “every shopper “, but I get the sense from talking to friends and relatives that I shop more like a Millennial and less like the Gen X that I am. And if there are 70 million more people who increasingly shop like me, then retailers and malls need to pay attention.

But here’s where people start saying things like “The mall is not dead! My mall is super-busy. It has no problem and all the anchors are doing just fine. ” And things like “Shopping is not dead. There are plenty of Millennials who believe that shopping is an experience and enjoy shopping with friends as an activity. “

That’s great that those things still happen. That’s wonderful that your local mall is doing just fine. Does that mean that the bigger trends in play are irrelevant? That retail in general is not going to feel any impact from changing shopper behavior that ultimate is a drag on retail traffic and sales? Do you really believe that shopper behavior is not changing? That consumers are not finding online shopping increasingly more convenient than the physical experience? That department stores and malls are not organized by how people increasingly want to shop?

Here’s the danger in making statements like “the retail store will never die! ” It’s true, I believe too that the retail store will never die. That my grandchildren will know what it’s like to be a mall rat possibly just as much I ever did. But it’s not going to be the same experience I had as a teen, or even as a mother of young children, or even today as the mother of teenagers. It’s not going to be the same experience. Which means that while it may be true that the mall will never die, it could still be your mall, or your retail store that depends on that mall, that will die.

When people say that physical shopping will be around forever, that is not a pass for you to say “My stores do not need to change. ” Or “The mall is just fine the way it is. ” If your defense of a status quo store strategy is “Shoppers will still shop ” then I personally believe your stores won’t be around for too much longer.

It’s a scary thought. No one likes change. But it’s irritating to hear people smugly say that the mall will be around forever, as if there are no forces out there fundamentally impacting the way people shop. And it’s even scarier to hear anyone pick up that mantra of “everything’s fine ” – because mostly what they’re using it for is as a way to justify sticking their heads back into the sand.

Shopping is changing. Consumers and what they want and how they engage with retailers is changing. And that means physical retail – for however expensive and scary it may be – will have to change too. Yes, the mall won’t die. But your mall, and your store in that mall, very well could.