Group 1 - Mall foot traffic rebounded sharply in October 2025, with significant year-over-year (YoY) and month-over-month (MoM) increases, indicating potential consumer enthusiasm for the holiday season [1][2] - All mall formats experienced YoY visit gains in October 2025, with indoor malls leading the growth, while open-air shopping centers and outlet malls returned to positive territory after four months of declines [2] - Despite increased foot traffic, it does not guarantee higher sales, as evidenced by the store closures of major retailers like Macy's and JCPenney [3] Group 2 - Dillard's reported a sales increase for the first time in a while, with a focus on controlling inventory, which ended up 2% compared to 6% at the end of the first quarter [6] - Several retailers are closing stores in 2025, including Forever 21, which is shutting down all 350 U.S. stores, and Claire's, which is closing 291 stores as part of restructuring [7] - Macy's plans to close 66 underperforming stores in 2025 as part of a larger strategy to reduce its footprint, with a total of approximately 150 stores set to close by 2026 [7]