[niwell]

Great pictures! I'd always heard about downtown NF being in a bad way, but have never seen it myself.

As for my take on downtown abandonment: the mall may play a factor, but I'd imagine the primary reason is simply one of location. The Clifton Hill area a couple km to the south is just simply too strong of a retail draw in a city the size of NF. This is coupled with the fact that the city's transportation grid seems geared towards getting people towards that area and the border crossings. If downtown had been located across from the falls instead of downriver I'd imagine things would be a bit different.