Thriving Malls

[doorknob60]

Boise Towne Square is a traditional indoor mall in Boise that's doing just fine. The Village at Meridian is an outdoor "lifestyle center" that also seems to be doing very well.

On the contrary, Karcher Mall has been a prime candidate for the "Dead Malls" thread for many years now. Though they've done some major remodeling there so I'm not really sure what it looks like now (I think it's less of a mall and more of a strip mall now).

Nampa Gateway Center is also barely hanging on, and that one never was thriving. It's similar in design to The Village in Meridian (outdoor), but worse, and everyone is willing to just drive to Meridian so Gateway Center has no real market. JC Penney is still open but I don't know if that will last (Macys closed a few years ago; both stores have Boise Towne Square locations people can visit if they need), and that's the only notable retail presence. The Regal Edwards Theater is the only major draw there, and I see that sticking around, but not much else.

Also, the Boise Outlet Mall is a literal complete ghost town, so not all outlet malls are doing well as suggested earlier in this thread. It's also in a weird location on the outskirts of town to be fair.

The current state of malls seems to be, metro areas can support maybe 1-3 successful malls (depending on the size), but that number is like 50% of what it was 20 years ago. So half the malls are doing okay, and the other half are basically dead. People will just drive a little farther if they have to to get to the non-dead ones.

Smaller cities' malls (eg. Twin Falls) are just barely hanging on and aren't really financially viable, except the only competition there is Target and Walmart, as cities like that don't support a large enough market for a mall anymore.

[ftballfan]

In the Grand Rapids area, both RiverTown and Woodland seem to be doing fairly decent. Several years ago, RiverTown was far and away the better mall. Now, Woodland has closed the gap, if it hasn't passed RiverTown by now. Over the last several years, Woodland has added Von Maur and Cheesecake Factory among other additions.

[bing101]

In the Philippines I seen malls in the San Fernando/Angeles City,/Clark areas get crowded. In Manila I seen malls get huge crowds. But my sample was biased given that I went there in 2019 around the New Years week timeframe.
The major mall chains in that country are Ayala, Robinsons and SM. In these cases the malls get viewed in the same way here in America we think of Wal-Mart, Amazon and Target are today as Big Box  outlets.

[SkyPesos]

In the Philippines I seen malls in the San Fernando/Angeles City,/Clark areas get crowded. In Manila I seen malls get huge crowds. But my sample was biased given that I went there in 2019 around the New Years week timeframe.
The major mall chains in that country are Ayala, Robinsons and SM. In these cases the malls get viewed in the same way here in America we think of Wal-Mart, Amazon and Target are today as Big Box operations.

Aren't malls in East Asia in general much more common and much more visited than their US counterparts? Like I see a mall about every 2-3 subway stations in cities like Singapore, Shanghai and Hong Kong. Though something worth noting is that most malls in Asia I visited have a supermarket as one of its anchors, and a whole floor for restaurants, which may contribute to foot traffic compared to a generic "˜fast food' food court as the main dining option in US malls.

[bing101]

In the Philippines I seen malls in the San Fernando/Angeles City,/Clark areas get crowded. In Manila I seen malls get huge crowds. But my sample was biased given that I went there in 2019 around the New Years week timeframe.
The major mall chains in that country are Ayala, Robinsons and SM. In these cases the malls get viewed in the same way here in America we think of Wal-Mart, Amazon and Target are today as Big Box operations.

Aren't malls in East Asia in general much more common and much more visited than their US counterparts? Like I see a mall about every 2-3 subway stations in cities like Singapore, Shanghai and Hong Kong. Though something worth noting is that most malls in Asia I visited have a supermarket as one of its anchors, and a whole floor for restaurants, which may contribute to foot traffic compared to a generic "˜fast food' food court as the main dining option in US malls.

I knew of malls having higher visitor/customer counts in the Philippines but that was pre-pandemic. Also I knew of two rival malls in the Philippines that is across the street from each other in San Fernando, Pampanga near North Luzon Expressway. Yes there are supermarkets in the malls too in the case of the Philippines and they carry the name of the mall owners such as Robinsons Supermarkets, SM Supermarket. From what I can gather Malls in the Philippines are big box operations.

[Flint1979]

In the Grand Rapids area, both RiverTown and Woodland seem to be doing fairly decent. Several years ago, RiverTown was far and away the better mall. Now, Woodland has closed the gap, if it hasn't passed RiverTown by now. Over the last several years, Woodland has added Von Maur and Cheesecake Factory among other additions.

I made a comment on it in the Dead Malls thread too but Detroit is losing another mall, Eastland is a goner.

[Rothman]

Makes me wonder how the Holyoke Mall is surviving in MA.

[ftballfan]

In the Grand Rapids area, both RiverTown and Woodland seem to be doing fairly decent. Several years ago, RiverTown was far and away the better mall. Now, Woodland has closed the gap, if it hasn't passed RiverTown by now. Over the last several years, Woodland has added Von Maur and Cheesecake Factory among other additions.

I made a comment on it in the Dead Malls thread too but Detroit is losing another mall, Eastland is a goner.

Of Detroit metro area malls, the following seem to be doing decent:
Briarwood
Fairlane
Great Lakes Crossing
Lakeside
Macomb
Partridge Creek (despite having no traditional anchors; outdoor mall)
Somerset
Southland
Twelve Oaks

[Flint1979]

From what I've seen the one's that are doing the best are

Somerset, 12 Oaks, Lakeside, Southland

I was in Westland about two weeks ago and only went in there so I could go through the Sears store one last time before it closes forever and I walked out into the mall and it had a very low population with several vacant storefronts it seems to be doing about the same as Northland did in it's last few years but it's doing better than Eastland.

Somerset is fine even though there are some vacancies I don't see that one going anywhere.

Last time I was in the area around Lakeside was also about two weeks ago and it seems like that whole corridor along M-59 is doing fine.

12 Oaks is about the same as Somerset.

Now Oakland Mall is doing so-so I haven't been in there in awhile so I haven't had a good idea of how it's going.

Macomb Mall seems to be doing better than it was.

Fairlane is another one I haven't been to in awhile but last time I was there it was ok. I think that was last summer if I remember right.

Southland is fine. Out of all the directional land malls in Detroit this one is doing the best. Northland is gone, Eastland is dead, Westland is on it's way down.

[dvferyance]

As far as the Milwaukee area malls go at was at Southridge last week. And I will say it's still doing fine. Does as some vacancies but almost all malls do have some. It would be nice if they can get at least some of the fmr Kohl's space filled. As far as Brookfield Square goes not doing as well. Most of the mall is still doing ok although it has seen better days but the food court is over half vacant and that is not good. The loss of Boston Store back in 2018 did hurt this mall a bit. Haven't been to Mayfair in a while but as far as I know that mall is still doing well despite a shooting there last fall. Miraculously everyone shot survived.

[RobbieL2415]

Makes me wonder how the Holyoke Mall at Ingleside is surviving in MA.

Title corrected.

[SP Cook]

Around here, I would say that the Huntington Mall (WV) is doing very well.  It clearly has a future, while the other malls in the Tri-State region and certainly Charleston's crime infested Town Center are soon to be goners.    Those collapses just make the H-Mall's service area bigger

The mall has well over a 95% occupancy rate, and all the traditional stores, unlike a lot of malls that fill up with lesser type stores that can now afford the lower rent.  Dealt with its Sears problem very well.  Sold the space to the school board which will move the vocational high school into the space, which already has an auto shop and beauty shop and is three times the size of the current building.

[hbelkins]

Around here, I would say that the Huntington Mall (WV) is doing very well.  It clearly has a future, while the other malls in the Tri-State region and certainly Charleston's crime infested Town Center are soon to be goners.    Those collapses just make the H-Mall's service area bigger

The mall has well over a 95% occupancy rate, and all the traditional stores, unlike a lot of malls that fill up with lesser type stores that can now afford the lower rent.  Dealt with its Sears problem very well.  Sold the space to the school board which will move the vocational high school into the space, which already has an auto shop and beauty shop and is three times the size of the current building.

That's certainly an innovative way to deal with that vacancy.

Across the Big Sandy, Ashland Town Center seems to be doing OK. Kyova, on the other hand, didn't do well at all. Saw a news headline earlier this week that renovations are getting started on that facility, but I neglected to read the story to see what's going to become of the property. I presume it was a WSAZ story that got picked up by WYMT's social media folks.

(Emily Bennett, the new reporter/anchor at WSAZ, was in Hazard two years prior and is a friend of mine. Had several interviews with her, including a bunch remotely during the last year, but got to see her in person at an event the last week she was in Hazard. She's originally from Pennsylvania so this gets her a little closer to home. She's also getting married pretty soon, if the ceremony hasn't already taken place.)

[SP Cook]

The KYOVA Mall is supposedly being reworked as the "Camp Landing Entertainment District" .  Which is supposed to be a combination of hotel, indoor amusement park, farmer's market, "upscale"  residential area, a distillery (Ashland is well east of the pure limestone water needed to make proper whisky) and "niche retail" .  All framed around a "convention center" . 

All government $$, of course.  I'm doubtful.

[Rothman]

The KYOVA Mall is supposedly being reworked as the "Camp Landing Entertainment District" .  Which is supposed to be a combination of hotel, indoor amusement park, farmer's market, "upscale"  residential area, a distillery (Ashland is well east of the pure limestone water needed to make proper whisky) and "niche retail" .  All framed around a "convention center" . 

All government $$, of course.  I'm doubtful.

Well...American Rescue Plan federal funding and then bonds, it looks like.

Every major development demands subsidies.

[tolbs17]

If any mall had go-karts.

[CoreySamson]

The Galleria in Houston and Brazos Mall in Lake Jackson are doing really well (at least prior to the pandemic). The Brazos Mall recently got rid of its Sears anchor and redesigned that space into a HomeGoods, TJMaxx, Ulta, and Ashley Furniture. They also added an Urban Air trampoline park around the back and did some sprucing up around the place.

[bing101]

Woah here is an active mall in the Philippines as of this posting. The clip is outside of Christmas and New Years timeframe and yes supermarkets are inside these malls

[KCRoadFan]

Here in the KC area (Overland Park), Oak Park Mall is doing pretty well.

[US 89]

City Creek in downtown SLC has always had plenty of people every time I've been there.

[Pink Jazz]

Scottsdale Fashion Square in Scottsdale, AZ

[Rothman]

City Creek in downtown SLC has always had plenty of people every time I've been there.

Hm.  I do wonder how it's doing financially, since it was initially propped up by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

[DandyDan]

Jordan Creek Town Center in West Des Moines and Coral Ridge in Coralville are the 2 Iowa malls which are thriving, although I am only taking my coworkers word for it for Coral Ridge.

[hbelkins]

The Richmond Mall in Kentucky, opened in the late 1980s (or possibly early 90s) is about dead.

Meanwhile, an open-air shopping center (Richmond Center) opened not too far away in recent years. It's basically a strip mall with a bunch of separate structures scattered about. It's not walkable at all; you pretty much have to drive from store to store. Some of the stores that used to be in Richmond Mall are now in Richmond Center (JC Penney and a cineplex) and other stores similar to those in the mall are in the new shopping center (JoAnn's Fabrics was in the mall; Michael's is in the new center). Why it's more desirable to spread things out like that is beyond me.

[snowc]

Not Destiny USA.  Some major losses over the pandemic.

How dare you diss my Destiny?!