MILFORD, Conn. (WTNH) – With online shopping exploding, the number of shopping malls around the country that have closed their doors for good is growing, Just since the start of this year, 1500 retails store closings have been announced, a lot of them mall staples.

The closing list includes stores like Payless, The Limited, American Apparel, Macy’s and Sears. And with that there are predictions that more than 30 percent of the 1000 or so shopping malls remaining in this country could be on death’s door.

To keep people coming in, and to bring more back, a lot of shopping malls around the country are shifting their focus from just a place to shop, to a place to have an experience.

“Some of the malls that have lost their anchors have filled them in with areas that would provide expierience, everything from laser tag, to trampolines, to gyms, to health clinics” said Quinnipiac University Professor Emeritus David Cadden.

Just last week, The Connecticut Post Mall in Milford, which is losing anchor store JC Penney this summer, opened a partnership with Tesla to provide electric car charging in the parking lot.

Mall General Manager Dan Kiley says it is part of a new push to make going to the mall more “experience” focused.

“Our goal is to recapture that kind of enthusiam and passion that people had for the mall and kind of harken back to the days when the mall was the place you went and met your friends, socialized, and did more than just shop” Kiley said.

The JC Penney store in the Connecticut Post Mall will close in the coming weeks. Kiley says they are in talks to fill the store space, but wouldn’t say if it would be with another retail store or something more experience based.