>I'd expect shopping malls to be more popular in the US

What you may be missing is how much retail shopping space the US has. It's something like 10x the sq/ft that Germany does for example. This leads to massive amount of cannibalization as trends shift. The entire mall has to be able to generate enough revenue which is much easier with luxury complexes.

So, while malls are popular, the costs of indoor air conditioning and massive competition with online shopping and strip malls between the shopper and the indoor mall make it a difficult market.

And we have giant "big box" stores and overnight delivery that together are good enough for a lot of purchases. Some huge portion of the American public belongs to Amazon Prime and/or Walmart+ and/or Costco.

A lot of malls are basically surrounded by discount box stores like Walmart and Target, along with specialized ones like Barnes & Noble, Old Navy, Homegoods, DSW (shoes), and dozens of others at various price points. Even though walking through a mall is more arguably pleasant than driving around an arterial road and sprawling parking lots, you'll find better selection and often better prices at the box stores than the smaller mall storefronts. Sometimes you will find local independent stores setting up in malls, but I think rents make that hard.

And then thanks in part to obsolescence and disinvestment, going to the mall as an outing also doesn't really make sense anymore except as a rare novelty. The food options are typically pretty bad and overpriced by today's standards, restrooms are usually down a long and dirty hallway, etc.