Two Saturdays ago while visiting relatives in the Fairfax County suburbs of Washington DC, we went to Tysons Corner Mall. It was raining so it was quite crowded. The racial and ethnic diversity of the people visiting the mall was about as complete as it could possibly be, but everyone appeared well fed and well if casually dressed. The mall skews to high end stores, and the LEGO and Apple outlets had lines out the doors. The range of cuisine being offered was wide, with many SW Asian stands in the food court. I didn't notice a single security guard. The only empty store fronts were ones being switched over to another store. So retail in the DC area is booming, but of course they print the money there.