A strip mall is a collection of several stores located in the same building that share a common parking lot. Typically strip malls contain stores like video rental stores, small grocery stores, fast food restaurants or small independent cafes. The strip mall is often located at major intersections in a town or city and is normally most easily accessed by car. Due to a typically high volume of traffic, bicycling or walking to a strip mall can be difficult.

Another type of strip mall or mini-mall, often called a power center, contains a "big box" store, like a Kmart, Wal-Mart, or Target. They usually have additional stores: perhaps a grocery store, bookstores, pet supply shops, electronics retailers, or a variety of other retail establishments and fast food or chain restaurants. Normally the power center is also located in a traffic-congested area, near a major highway or intersection, and like the smaller strip mall, may be difficult to access on foot.

Strip malls differ from the larger shopping mall because they usually contain fewer retail outlets and are open instead of closed structure. Early strip malls might be welcomed as convenient but were often considered eyesores. The earliest strip mall usually did not exhibit uniform architecture and was just a collection of buildings, making them unattractive spots.

With the rise of the big box store, a strip mall is now more likely to have uniform architecture, where all buildings have a central theme or resemble each other, making them more aesthetically pleasing. Yet it does not answer all concerns about their proliferation.

One of the primary concerns about strip malls is that in some areas, numerous ones exist side by side. A drive through certain streets in most large suburban cities can feature one strip mall after another. Further, the use and access of the strip mall primarily by car tends to increase traffic in areas that may already have heavy traffic congestion. This can mean more time spent in your car getting to different places in your city or town.

Since access to the strip mall by car is easiest, some are concerned about the transition from walking and use of public transportation to an overdependence on individual cars, resulting in added fuel consumption and pollution. This has led some architects to design live/work environments that often incorporate condominiums or apartments within a strip mall, or right next to one. The trouble is, that not many people would choose to live next to a strip mall, since they are so close to highways or traffic congested areas. Frequently, these living spaces are turned into low income housing, which is associated with a higher level of crime. This in turn may make the strip mall less safe. Some live/work spaces don’t rely on the strip mall and appear to be quite successful.

Despite the concerns about the strip mall as a city feature, its unlikely people will stop building them. They do pose a greater convenience than does mall shopping, since you can park near the store you want to visit, and not have to enter other structures to get to the one store you want. Even though people can find the strip mall convenient, they may also find them deplorable. It can be said that many people both love and hate the strip mall, and as long as negatives do not overwhelm convenience, strip malls will continue to be built.