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Dead Malls

Started by The Premier, January 25, 2011, 05:38:18 PM

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sbeaver44

West Manchester Mall in York PA was torn down in 2015 (maybe 2014?) and turned into a town center.  Much of the business seemed to have been stolen by the York Galleria across town.  However, the new West Manchester Town Center put in its place seems to be doing well so far.

Likewise, the Camp Hill mall was converted in the early 2000s into an outdoor shopping area.  It is always rather busy as it sits on US 11/15 just north of the PA 581 interchange.  Giant, a regional grocery chain, chose the shopping center to prototype a larger store concept to compete with Wegmans.

Some similarities here:  I think there is techincally one tiny area still remaining of each mall, W Manchester for the movie theatre, and Camp Hill for Boscov's.

I also spent a good amount of my childhood at each mall.  Camp Hill was a better mall IMO than neighboring Capital City but for some reason was converted.  I think West Manchester started to decline when the Walmart was sealed off from the rest of the mall.


thenetwork

With the news of the JCPenny Closures, the Cleveland area is preparing for the death of another mall, Richmond Town Center (nee Richmond Mall).  Other anchors Macy's & Sears had left in the last few years.

Richmond had survived and outlasted nearby Euclid Square Mall a few miles away and had a renaissance of sorts when that mall went downhill (technically it's still "open", but there are only a few tenants -- mostly small religious organizations -- which remain).

What ultimately is doing Richmond Mall in is the lack of reasonable connections to the area freeways, and the overabundance of retail areas within a 1-3 mile range (Beachwood Place, an indoor mall, and the outdoor centers Legacy Place, Golden Gate and Eastgate Centers) -- all with much easier access to the freeways. 

Off the top of my head, that makes Great Lakes Mall the only mall in all of Cleveland's East Side with a JCPenneys...And a Sears, for that matter.  Then again, a good chunk of the east side is wealthier and wouldn't shop at at a Sears or Penney's.  Saks and Nordstroms, yes.

bing101


inkyatari

Apparently Lincoln Mall in Matteson, IL is being torn down, after two years of remaining vacant.
I'm never wrong, just wildly inaccurate.

Brandon

Quote from: inkyatari on March 22, 2017, 09:57:30 AM
Apparently Lincoln Mall in Matteson, IL is being torn down, after two years of remaining vacant.

Major mismanagement, IMHO.  When Target wanted to build by the mall, they should've been given the former Montgomery Ward location.  When Penney's came back, they should've gotten their old location.  But, it was easier, I guess to build on the periphery of the mall instead of in the mall.  Had the mall added Target and re-added Penney's, it would probably be alive and well now, with a need just to fill the Sears/Wieboldt's location.
"If you think this has a happy ending, you haven't been paying attention." - Ramsay Bolton

"Symbolic of his struggle against reality." - Reg

ColossalBlocks

I ventured into the Jamestown Mall up in St Louis (with permission along with a few other urban explorers.) Honestly, it saddens me to see something so nostalgic close it's doors, and I would much rather go to a physical mall than have unmanned machines deliver it to me.
I am inactive for a while now my dudes. Good associating with y'all.

US Highways: 36, 49, 61, 412.

Interstates: 22, 24, 44, 55, 57, 59, 72, 74 (West).

sparker

Oakridge Mall here in south San Jose (actually Almaden) has managed to survive by tweaking their business model -- rather than simply being an omnibus shopping location (which, by and large, only functions optimally during holiday shopping season) it's also a "one-off" destination -- they attracted several upscale restaurants (Morton's, Buca di Beppo, and even the Cheesecake Factory [not a "bargain" eatery]) into the mall itself rather than on the periphery.  They had to endure the objections of the food-court franchisers, some of whom pulled out, but now they have an alternate idiom -- come down to eat, and do some casual shopping on the side.  This seemed to have worked -- the anchor stores are intact, and the mall's parking lots and garages, except for the northern periphery, which was a bit superfluous to begin with, are usually full on most evenings, even weekdays.  With this one, the Westfield folks hit a solid double if not a home run -- but being located at the junction of the 85 & 87 freeways doesn't hurt!

epzik8

Somebody has to have mentioned the Blue Hen Corporate Center in Dover, Delaware next to Dover Downs. I parked there for a NASCAR event last May.
From the land of red, white, yellow and black.
____________________________

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dvferyance

#159
Quote from: ColossalBlocks on March 27, 2017, 12:36:23 PM
I ventured into the Jamestown Mall up in St Louis (with permission along with a few other urban explorers.) Honestly, it saddens me to see something so nostalgic close it's doors, and I would much rather go to a physical mall than have unmanned machines deliver it to me.
The problem with Jamestown Mall it was in a remote location and far from any freeway. There really wasn't any major retail around it just mostly a residential area.

roadman65

http://deadmalls.com/
Is a great site to list those shopping centers that once were are now no more.

BTW, Hutchinson Mall in Hutchinson, KS is among the dead.  Did not see it personally, but a traveling companion did when I passed through there last Fall and posted on his FB page the emptiness of the mall that apparently never was.
Every day is a winding road, you just got to get used to it.

Sheryl Crowe

cpzilliacus

Washington Post: The place where old-fashioned malls are beating Amazon: Small-town America

QuoteHair freshly done from the beauty parlor on a recent Friday morning, Ada Clark, 93, and her daughter Carol, 63, met in front of the J.C. Penney in the Pueblo Mall, about 100 miles south of Denver. Their afternoon plan: a walk around the mall, followed by lunch at Red Lobster.

QuoteWhen the mall was built in 1976, Pueblo was a booming steel town. The Colorado Fuel and Iron Co. was the city's largest employer, and a now-empty meatpacking plant also offered good wages. The mall – with its 1,100 retail jobs – has outlasted them both. It's also the social hub for the city – and for the many small towns east to Kansas and south to New Mexico.

Quote"Any time I get out of town to go to the mall and maybe to Sam's Club, I guarantee that within an hour or so, I'm going to run into someone I know,"  said Steve Francis, 60, of Lamar, a town of nearly 8,000 people 120 miles east of Pueblo near the Kansas border. "You take your family, your neighbors, and you make a day of it. The Pueblo Mall isn't just the only game in town two hours away, it's the only game in town for three counties."

QuoteThe Pueblo Mall is an outlier in the age of Amazon.com, when socks and laundry detergent and televisions – nearly anything you can think of – can be delivered to your front stoop within hours. The rise of online shopping has summoned a death knell for some of the old standard-bearers of retail. (Jeffrey P. Bezos, the chief executive of Amazon, owns The Washington Post.)
Opinions expressed here on AAROADS are strictly personal and mine alone, and do not reflect policies or positions of MWCOG, NCRTPB or their member federal, state, county and municipal governments or any other agency.

Roadgeekteen

I don't know why anyone would go to a mall. It is boring and you could just buy all that stuff on amazon.
God-emperor of Alanland, king of all the goats and goat-like creatures

Current Interstate map I am making:

https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/edit?hl=en&mid=1PEDVyNb1skhnkPkgXi8JMaaudM2zI-Y&ll=29.05778059819179%2C-82.48856825&z=5

Stephane Dumas

Quote from: Roadgeekteen on May 21, 2017, 04:12:27 PM
I don't know why anyone would go to a mall. It is boring and you could just buy all that stuff on amazon.

And to think, a time not that far way, kids meet at the mall or work at the mall like in the cartoon 6teen.
https://youtu.be/Rg4ylbIdO_8

roadgeek01

Quote from: Roadgeekteen on May 21, 2017, 04:12:27 PM
I don't know why anyone would go to a mall. It is boring and you could just buy all that stuff on amazon.

Well, remember that 30 years ago, there was no Amazon.  You had to either go to the mall, or order it in a magazine.
pork bork my hork

idk what it means either

Roadgeekteen

Quote from: roadgeek01 on May 21, 2017, 04:25:42 PM
Quote from: Roadgeekteen on May 21, 2017, 04:12:27 PM
I don't know why anyone would go to a mall. It is boring and you could just buy all that stuff on amazon.

Well, remember that 30 years ago, there was no Amazon.  You had to either go to the mall, or order it in a magazine.
Well amazon makes malls obsolete.
God-emperor of Alanland, king of all the goats and goat-like creatures

Current Interstate map I am making:

https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/edit?hl=en&mid=1PEDVyNb1skhnkPkgXi8JMaaudM2zI-Y&ll=29.05778059819179%2C-82.48856825&z=5

Brandon

Quote from: Roadgeekteen on May 21, 2017, 04:47:06 PM
Quote from: roadgeek01 on May 21, 2017, 04:25:42 PM
Quote from: Roadgeekteen on May 21, 2017, 04:12:27 PM
I don't know why anyone would go to a mall. It is boring and you could just buy all that stuff on amazon.

Well, remember that 30 years ago, there was no Amazon.  You had to either go to the mall, or order it in a magazine.
Well amazon makes malls obsolete.

Until you need to buy something you'd rather see in person first.  What's funny is that Amazon is starting to build brick and mortar stores.
"If you think this has a happy ending, you haven't been paying attention." - Ramsay Bolton

"Symbolic of his struggle against reality." - Reg

Roadgeekteen

Quote from: Brandon on May 21, 2017, 05:14:24 PM
Quote from: Roadgeekteen on May 21, 2017, 04:47:06 PM
Quote from: roadgeek01 on May 21, 2017, 04:25:42 PM
Quote from: Roadgeekteen on May 21, 2017, 04:12:27 PM
I don't know why anyone would go to a mall. It is boring and you could just buy all that stuff on amazon.

Well, remember that 30 years ago, there was no Amazon.  You had to either go to the mall, or order it in a magazine.
Well amazon makes malls obsolete.

Until you need to buy something you'd rather see in person first.  What's funny is that Amazon is starting to build brick and mortar stores.
Just look up an image of it on google.
God-emperor of Alanland, king of all the goats and goat-like creatures

Current Interstate map I am making:

https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/edit?hl=en&mid=1PEDVyNb1skhnkPkgXi8JMaaudM2zI-Y&ll=29.05778059819179%2C-82.48856825&z=5

vdeane

Quote from: Roadgeekteen on May 21, 2017, 04:12:27 PM
I don't know why anyone would go to a mall. It is boring and you could just buy all that stuff on amazon.
Talk to some girls about women's clothing sizes and you'll quickly understand why malls are still needed (just maybe not to as large a degree).  I refuse to buy clothing online unless it's another item of something I already own or I have no choice.
Please note: All comments here represent my own personal opinion and do not reflect the official position of NYSDOT or its affiliates.

D-Dey65

Quote from: roadgeek01 on May 21, 2017, 04:25:42 PM
Quote from: Roadgeekteen on May 21, 2017, 04:12:27 PM
I don't know why anyone would go to a mall. It is boring and you could just buy all that stuff on amazon.

Well, remember that 30 years ago, there was no Amazon.  You had to either go to the mall, or order it in a magazine.
This is true. When I was up north two months ago, I went to the Wal-Mart in Green Acres Mall, hoping to get my oil changed, on my way to see other relatives. As it turned out that branch of Wal-Mart didn't have a garage, but while I was there it was crowded as hell and most of the kids were crying to their parents and anxious to leave. If stores are trying to convince todays generation of the benefits of shopping at a mall, I would've found it hard to believe it was working.

PS, I ended up getting the oil changed at a Shell station on Francis Lewis Boulevard a day or two later.


briantroutman

Quote from: cpzilliacus on May 20, 2017, 08:01:46 PM
Washington Post: The place where old-fashioned malls are beating Amazon: Small-town America

So the author cherrypicks one healthy mall in a city of 100,000 (plus a throwaway mention of a second mall) and wants readers to believe this is representative of shopping malls "beating Amazon"  across small-town America? I can name dozens of dying malls in small towns all over the country that demonstrate otherwise.

7/8

Quote from: Stephane Dumas on May 21, 2017, 04:24:19 PM
Quote from: Roadgeekteen on May 21, 2017, 04:12:27 PM
I don't know why anyone would go to a mall. It is boring and you could just buy all that stuff on amazon.

And to think, a time not that far way, kids meet at the mall or work at the mall like in the cartoon 6teen.
https://youtu.be/Rg4ylbIdO_8

What a throwback to my childhood :-D! It's crazy to think that kids now-a-days might find the concept of this show outdated. I know Amazon has had a strong affect on malls, but I still like going to the mall occassionally.

DaBigE

Quote from: Roadgeekteen on May 21, 2017, 05:15:41 PM
Quote from: Brandon on May 21, 2017, 05:14:24 PM
Quote from: Roadgeekteen on May 21, 2017, 04:47:06 PM
Quote from: roadgeek01 on May 21, 2017, 04:25:42 PM
Quote from: Roadgeekteen on May 21, 2017, 04:12:27 PM
I don't know why anyone would go to a mall. It is boring and you could just buy all that stuff on amazon.

Well, remember that 30 years ago, there was no Amazon.  You had to either go to the mall, or order it in a magazine.
Well amazon makes malls obsolete.

Until you need to buy something you'd rather see in person first.  What's funny is that Amazon is starting to build brick and mortar stores.
Just look up an image of it on google.

It's not the same thing. Images online may not always be the most up-to-date and tend to be retouched to hide flaws. While online images have gotten more reliable, there are times when the wrong images get linked up with an item, or the manufacturer recycles an image for a similar item. Online is great for buying a replacement part or a duplicate for something, but until you know a brand or manufacturer well, clothing for instance, you don't know if they run large or small.
"We gotta find this road, it's like Bob's road!" - Rabbit, Twister

D-Dey65

Quote from: vdeane on May 21, 2017, 06:11:27 PM
Talk to some girls about women's clothing sizes and you'll quickly understand why malls are still needed (just maybe not to as large a degree).
Since you mentioned girls at the mall, there's also the issue with girls having to walk past the cosmetics counter and being hassled by saleswomen trying to push the latest colors on them. Hell, I'm a guy and I've been hassled by cosmetics saleswomen. Are they really that clueless that they can't tell men from women?


Lady, I'm not a girl, not a cross-dresser, and not trans-gendered. And that shade of lipstick is ugly anyway.
:-P

DTComposer

Quote from: Roadgeekteen on May 21, 2017, 05:15:41 PM
Quote from: Brandon on May 21, 2017, 05:14:24 PM
Quote from: Roadgeekteen on May 21, 2017, 04:47:06 PM
Quote from: roadgeek01 on May 21, 2017, 04:25:42 PM
Quote from: Roadgeekteen on May 21, 2017, 04:12:27 PM
I don't know why anyone would go to a mall. It is boring and you could just buy all that stuff on amazon.

Well, remember that 30 years ago, there was no Amazon.  You had to either go to the mall, or order it in a magazine.
Well amazon makes malls obsolete.

Until you need to buy something you'd rather see in person first.  What's funny is that Amazon is starting to build brick and mortar stores.
Just look up an image of it on google.
Except for clothes that need to fit correctly, or anything that requires a nuanced tactile interaction (musical instruments, personal electronics, cooking equipment), or other personal "test" by the senses (furniture, speakers, televisions), or comparing similar items that need in-person comparison.

Don't get me wrong, we do about half our shopping online, and for much of our in-person shopping we try to frequent walkable downtowns and local merchants. But it should be noted that one of the tech-savviest areas in the country (Silicon Valley) also features two of the most successful traditional shopping malls in the country (Stanford Shopping Center, which just underwent a major expansion, and Valley Fair, which is in the middle of a $1 billion expansion).



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