As numerous shopping malls face vacancies, what stores might remain? One suburban Chicago mall might provide some hints:

Like other regional malls, Spring Hill Mall’s popularity has waned in recent years as large anchors, such as Sears or Macy’s, have closed, and online shopping has expanded.

Spring Hill Mall General Manager Denise Richardson said only six national chains — Hibbitt Sports, Bath & Body Works, Sbarro, Journey, Hot Topic and Shoe Encore — have spots in the mall. In all, she said the mall has about 45 tenants.

News of the pending sale surprised at least one mall tenant, who opened shop in July.

Alexandra Godinez said her parents relocated their shop, Dulces Clara, from the Elgin Mall to Spring Hill Mall in July. At the time, they were offered a one-year lease but then switched to a month-to-month lease a short time later…

The family’s store is among eight new businesses that have opened inside the Carpentersville side of the mall since May. West Dundee has not issued any occupancy permits for the portion of the mall within its boundaries.

We know that malls have lost anchor stores. These larger department stores have left in droves as they face online competition and declining prospects for malls. Americans still purchase clothes, housewares, and other items found at these anchors but they do not do so as often at these kinds of stores.

Some national chains are still in malls. Looking at the list above, it is rare to find these stores in other settings. Sbarro is not known for stand alone locations or being in strip malls. The same is true of Bath & Body Works and Hot Topic. There are stores that developed their business models around being in malls. Without malls, they hardly exist.

But, there are other stores still in this mall (45 as noted above). The one other example provided in the story is that of a local business. The candy shop is a family store that has now been located in at least two malls. How many of the other 30+ retailers are also local business owners looking for an opportunity? A less vibrant mall could provide a good value for an indoor location where additional customers could come through visiting the mall for another purpose.

In other words, the future of shopping malls overall appears bleak. Yet, there are still some stores in shopping malls even surrounded by empty stores and limited foot traffic.