Shops may disappear - but I like buying online T

THEY say you know you are getting older when policemen begin to look younger.

For many years now, freshfaced bobbies have looked to me as if they had just graduated from Mothercare. Let’s face it, most people are younger than me. Then I found a new gauge that reminds me of the passing of time; sporting heroes of the past who turn up on TV as commentators, analysts or pundits.

Like me, they are looking past their best. We are all getting older.

An exception is Gary Lineker who, I suspect, has it written into his substantial BBC contract that he has to keep his body Adonis-toned and never to eat more than one packet of crisps a day. Whatever his secret, it seems to be working.

I have attempted to keep old age at arm’s length by keeping my hair long, refusing to wear a flat cap and to reject offers of whippets or ferrets as pets.

But even this backfired recently when my friend Louise asked: “Have you lost weight?” with a hint of concern in her voice that caused me to worry in case I had some dire disease.

My wife reassured me that I looked slim because I was wearing a black shirt and jeans. Very fashionable black shirt and jeans. Perhaps I’m finally too old for that Milk Tray man look. Especially with all that climbing and my bad back.

But there will certainly be no flat cap or whippet. HE American shopping mall is in decline.

The US has 1,200 and less than half are expected to still be open in six years time.

Already, 9,000 jobs a month are being lost. Internet shopping and Amazon are being blamed.

Will British shopping habits follow the same trend?

Will the malls and retail centres we drive to, often for a day out, continue to hold their magic in the future? Will we care? Will we prefer to shop by laptop from the comfort of the sofa?

Back in the 1950s and 1960s, housewives enjoyed the Saturday experience of catching a bus into town and trailing from one shop to another for weekend supplies and never mind the weather. Not any more.

The modern mall was conceived in 1950s America and killed the US equivalent of downtown shopping.

People in the land of the automobile were happy to drive to the new retail parks that came complete with easy parking and undercover stores.

It began to change in the UK in the 1970s. Huddersfield got a taste of the future when Lodges opened their superstore in Birkby in 1975, which was a retail wonder of its time.

London’s opened the following year was the UK’s first real mall and others followed.

Meadowhall was accused of causing shop closures in Sheffield and Rotherham when it opened in 1990 with 280 stores under one roof.

People travelled from miles to pay homage and spend money. Even bigger malls followed.

The Metrocentre in Gateshead has 340 stores and services. Are they, too, under threat from the internet?

Will we in the near future order online and have that new blouse delivered by drone or a white van man on minimum wage?

Back in the US, the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota, has celebrated its 25th anniversary and is bucking the trend.

It’s open from early to late and has turned itself into a community and entertainment venue.

As well as shops and stores it is family friendly with a theme park, aquarium, food hall, restaurants, theatres and cinemas and puts on an evening light show.

Could this be the evolution of the retail experience? If it is, I won’t be going.

I doubt whether I’ll miss shopping for new clothes or browsing book stores either, because I’ve already adapted.

I shop more online than on the high street and download books straight on to my smartphone.

Is this the real future?