A hadith says: Copy Arabic text "The worst of all places is the marketplace." (Sahih Muslim 671) 
Why did the Prophet say so? There is great wisdom in this. 
The Prophet meant that shopping centres are the worst places. Shopping centres are worst places on the globe. I believe this is a matter of disorientation. Your thinking or attention gets diverted. God has created a world which is full of divine products. Shopping centre is a place of human products. God wants to you to think about divine products. Grass, trees, flowers, rivers are all divine products. Mountains, the sun and the moon, planets and stars are also divine products. 
The universe is full of God's creation. We must reflect on them. We get inspiration and wisdom by reflecting on God's creation. You attain intellectual development. You get food for your spiritual development. The entire universe is provision for your soul. What does shopping centre do? It cuts you off from God. Instead of thinking about God, you think about human products. You then reduce yourself to an animal. What is an animal? An animal's thinking is limited to grass and leaves. The ability given to the human mind is for thinking about higher matters, make big discoveries, and discover God's blessings and miracles. Then an individual's personality will develop to an extent that he will be granted entry to Paradise.