You don't go to the mall to pick up girls, you go to the mall because you want to buy something. If you see a girl you like then go for the approach, otherwise buy what you need and leave.
That's not realistic. Most mall approachers need to linger around for a time to find approach targets. It's ideal to find women who can be approached while you're buying something, but it doesn't always work out that way.
When I've done mall approach sessions, I've lingered in certain stores and lingered in corridors looking for approach targets.
A good mall approach session usually takes at least 1 hour, and is more like 2-3 hours. That's the time commitment it takes to the right quantity of approaches and arrange at least one date.
Mall approaching is not very efficient in general.
imo it's been awful lately, and for day-game I am straight up looking for different situations. could be given all the recent news about constant looting everywhere, but malls have REALLY upped their security lately and no longer can you just be chilling for a few hours their (and not buying anything) without feeling scrutinized or paranoid. just my experience lately and I've definitely noticed a shift in last 1-2 months or so.
I guess other options are just finding events/large group clubs (not nightclubs lol) to go to, since I am getting super frustrated by the lack of opportunities lately and such.
so where do you day-game then? malls have generally in past been pretty good
It takes a very different breed of man to do mall approaching. Even in the early 2010s when I first got into daygame, mall approaching was a niche activity. In 2023, even fewer men want to do mall approaching.
You say you feel scrutinized or paranoid in malls. That's you. Never once have I felt scrutinized by security in malls. I've done 1-2 hour game sessions in malls and never once thought about security. Security has bigger problems to deal with than me doing approaches. If a man does socially uncalibrated approaching in malls, he might attract the attention of security. I have good enough social skills to blend in when doing mall approaching.
I don't enjoy mall approaching that much. Even when it is effective, it is highly inefficient, as are all forms of daygame.
The majority of mall conversations will fizzle out in 30-60 seconds, as most of the approach targets will already be in relationships. They won't be out with their boyfriends. Most of the time, they aren't interested because of the boyfriends, but in 30-60 seconds, they typically won't mention the boyfriend. The socially calibrated daygaming approacher typically doesn't know why his approaches are failing because of this. He doesn't know if his conversations aren't progressing due to boyfriends. The probability is highest that women he approaches have boyfriends as most women are in some sort of relationship at any given time. Some of these soft rejections are from unattached women.
I would recommend taking a quick glance at women's hands before making the effort to approach. This is a good tactic in malls as malls draw from all walks of life. In grocery stores, this is also a good practice but less necessary for approachers who tend to go to grocery stores in areas with mainly unmarried people. I have saved myself many approaches over time by checking for rings prior to making approaches.
In daygame, your other options are the gym, fitness classes, and outdoor approaching. On the general gym floor and outdoors, you'll be fighting a battle with earbuds/headphones, which you don't have to fight in the malls. At fitness classes, you'll get some of the best ratios you can possibly get. The ratios are often meaningless as a lot of women aren't very sociable at the end of fitness classes. Despite the great ratios, arranging dates at fitness classes is a challenge.