Listen 11 min MORE The Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Mall has been declining for a while, and the coronavirus pandemic accelerated that downward trend. There is zero traffic in the mall now. May 3, 2021. Photo by Amy Ta. If you walk around the Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Mall these days, especially during the week, you can see that many of its businesses are struggling. “There is no traffic in this mall. This is not how a mall right now should be looking,” says Malik Muhammad, who has owned and operated Malik’s Books at the Crenshaw Mall since the early 1990s. Malik Muhammad standing inside his bookstore at the Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Mall. He’s been at this location since the early 1990s. Photo by Benjamin Gottlieb.