Dead Malls

[dvferyance]

Here is how I would rank the Wisconsin malls
Thriving Bay Park Square (Green Bay) Fox River (Appleton) Mayfair (Milwaukee area) Oakwood (Eau Claire) Southridge (Milwaukee area) Westowne (Madison)
Middle of the road Eastowne (Madison)
Dead Brookfield (Milwaukee area) Janesville Regency (Racine) Valley View (La Crosse)
Of the 4 dead ones Valley View is doing the best Regency is doing the worse. I am surprised that one is still open.

[formulanone]

[...] Bay Park Square in Ashwaubenon, the Green Bay area (lots of foot traffic when I was there a year ago, but only one 'anchor' department store, with the other three now serving heir second lives as a grocery store, furniture 'big box' and amusement arcade - very precarious).

Mike

At the height of malls' popularity, a grocery store as an anchor would have been a great idea for building traffic, impulse buying, while saving part of a trip. I feel that idea might have slowed some malls' decline but maybe that just didn't seem luxurious back when shopping malls were considered upscale.

[mgk920]

I remember some malls in the pre mid-1070s era having them, but the grocery stores went away after then.

Mike

[roadman65]

Livingston,  NJ is dead, but its lone anchor is to be closing soon. Macy's is going to close that location soon.

[Scott5114]

At the height of malls' popularity, a grocery store as an anchor would have been a great idea for building traffic, impulse buying, while saving part of a trip. I feel that idea might have slowed some malls' decline but maybe that just didn't seem luxurious back when shopping malls were considered upscale.

On the other hand, that might have been bad for the grocery store. I could see myself avoiding the mall-attached grocery store because I didn't want to deal with the mall traffic, especially around the holidays.

I remember some malls in the pre mid-1070s era having them, but the grocery stores went away after then.

Other popular anchor tenants during that time period would have been chain mail outfitters, archery supply stores, and hardware and lumber stores (for the initial construction of Bergen, Norway).

[LilianaUwU]

I remember some malls in the pre mid-1070s era having them, but the grocery stores went away after then.

Wow, you're old.

[TheCatalyst31]

[...] Bay Park Square in Ashwaubenon, the Green Bay area (lots of foot traffic when I was there a year ago, but only one 'anchor' department store, with the other three now serving heir second lives as a grocery store, furniture 'big box' and amusement arcade - very precarious).

Mike

At the height of malls' popularity, a grocery store as an anchor would have been a great idea for building traffic, impulse buying, while saving part of a trip. I feel that idea might have slowed some malls' decline but maybe that just didn't seem luxurious back when shopping malls were considered upscale.

The Dixie Square Mall, of Blues Brothers fame, had both a Jewel and a Walgreen's as anchor stores. Neither saved the mall from going under, but the Jewel made it into the car chase scene after it closed. (The Walgreen's was repurposed as a Toys R Us, a store the mall never actually had.)

[mgk920]

I remember some malls in the pre mid-1070s era having them, but the grocery stores went away after then.

Wow, you're old.

Well, stick around long enough . . .

Mike

[mgk920]

I have it on good authority (sorry, no links immediately handy ) that Westfield Mall (or whatever its called now) in San Francisco, CA closed this past weekend.

 

Mike

[roadman65]

I remember when Menlo Park in Edison, NJ was anchored by Pathmark and Big Buy which are both defunct grocery chains.

It still had Macy's and Montgomery Ward ( later Alexanders) and JC Penney, but in addition the supermarkets.   Back when Sunday Blue Laws prevailed, only the Pathmark Wing was open as the rest of the mall was blocked off.  Some stores had outside entrances for those who sold legal merchandise not bound by the laws.  Walgreens was one, though not an official anchor, had its own entrance to be accesed on Sundays when the mall was closed.

[dvferyance]

[...] Bay Park Square in Ashwaubenon, the Green Bay area (lots of foot traffic when I was there a year ago, but only one 'anchor' department store, with the other three now serving heir second lives as a grocery store, furniture 'big box' and amusement arcade - very precarious).

Mike

At the height of malls' popularity, a grocery store as an anchor would have been a great idea for building traffic, impulse buying, while saving part of a trip. I feel that idea might have slowed some malls' decline but maybe that just didn't seem luxurious back when shopping malls were considered upscale.

I would be ok with some grocery stores in malls. The malls in Australia will sometimes have even 2 of them in a mall.

[kphoger]

I would be ok with some grocery stores in malls.

I could see a Super Target in place of JCPenney or something.  I think it would fit right in.

[GaryV]

If I was going out to get groceries, I might visit another store that was in that mall before getting the groceries. Certainly not afterward, and certainly I wouldn't take my groceries down the concourse.

It could be a good fit for having something in the space - anything is better than nothing. It wouldn't necessarily be a draw to get shoppers to go to more than one store.

Anchor stores in most malls I've been to have had multiple levels. I know there are some multi-level groceries, but that just seems awkward to me. And if there was more than one entrance/exit to the grocery store, they'd have to have multiple checkout areas. In any case, a former department store anchor would have to be majorly renovated for the grocery.

[Takumi]

The town my wife grew up in in South Africa had two small malls that both had grocery stores. One had a Pick & Pay and the other had a Checkers and a Woolworth's. The concourses were small enough that transporting your groceries from the store to the parking lot wasn't much of a hassle.

[Revive 755]

Multiple online news stores indicate the Lincolnwood Town Center Mall in Lincolnwood, IL (aerial image from Google) closes tomorrow (May 1) with demolition shortly thereafter.

[roadman65]

Menlo Park Mall in Edison, NJ used to have a Pathmark and a Buy Rite in it back in the seventies.

Pathmark had one entrance through the mall itself with only the typical row of check outs.  It was at the Mall's end near the parking lot and two automatic doors to allow shopping carts in or out.  Plus it was the only part of the mall open on Sundays during the Sunday Blue Laws.  A barrier stood beyond the store to block shoppers from going in further.

Buy Rite was outside the enclosed facility and had only one entrance from the parking lot.