What is it about NTs ...

I’d generally be wary of generalising (about any topic) from “this is overwhelming for me as an autistic person” to “NTs seem to need it”.

In this case, some autistic people actively seek out loud, rhythmic sounds as part of sensory-seeking, and could actually enjoy that aspect of your shopping centre experience.

Autism-related sensory processing can differ in more than one direction (hyper- or hypo-sensitive), and it can also be mixed and context-dependent (for example, enjoying loud music, but not other loud sounds). 

Also, plenty of neurotypical and, more broadly, allistic (not autistic) people also dislike loud music in shops.

Noise aside, shopping centres can, of course, still be very difficult for lots of us for other reasons, too - like the examples here:

NAS - Autism and sensory processing 

Practically, you could try headphones or earplugs to help, but perhaps you could also consider asking whether the shopping centre runs - or would be willing to trial - quiet sessions?

For example, the Metrocentre in Gateshead offers quiet sessions twice a week with adjustments including dimmed lighting and reduced noise from in-store music and announcements:

Metrocentre - quiet hours

Our quiet time is 8am on an a saturday morning until 10am, none of the deliveries will have arrived by then, so another visit later in the day will be needed or another day. Our tesco is being refitted and it's total chaos, they've got huge new fridges, many of which have nothing in them, those that do only have half the stuff in them, they other half being in thier old ones in the original place, so half the plant based stuff in on one side of the shop and the rest on the other side, the same with the fish. Stuff has been moved to totally irrational places, like tinned tomatoes and soup opposite the stinky laundry aisle, bread is spread around the shop. No one, not even the staff know where anything is.

I guess we will end up with more space for produce, but will it be things that people actually want to buy and will they get rid of stuff that people do want? It sounds like a stupid question, but its what they've done before.

Our quiet time is 8am on an a saturday morning until 10am, none of the deliveries will have arrived by then, so another visit later in the day will be needed or another day. Our tesco is being refitted and it's total chaos, they've got huge new fridges, many of which have nothing in them, those that do only have half the stuff in them, they other half being in thier old ones in the original place, so half the plant based stuff in on one side of the shop and the rest on the other side, the same with the fish. Stuff has been moved to totally irrational places, like tinned tomatoes and soup opposite the stinky laundry aisle, bread is spread around the shop. No one, not even the staff know where anything is.

I guess we will end up with more space for produce, but will it be things that people actually want to buy and will they get rid of stuff that people do want? It sounds like a stupid question, but its what they've done before.