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The shopping mall

SlaveToTheGrind

SlaveToTheGrind

Cyburbian
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Report out today that Foot Locker and BBB will be closing up to 800 stores in total and that the backfiling of the FL space will much more difficult than the BBB space. One is located primarily in malls while the other is located primarily as freestanding or a strip mall element. Malls are dying. My wife and I went to a special screening of Casablanca on the big screen a few weeks ago and the mall was dead. Several empty storefronts or not open on the day we went. Owner is trying to bring new life to this particular mall by Target taking over the vacated Dillard's space. Another nearby mall several years ago backfilled the space vacated by Nordstrom (and lured Dillard's from the other mall to backfill Macy's) by bringing in the regional furniture store. This mall is more successful than the soon to be Target-anchored mall, which now houses JCP as an anchor and used to have Sears. Will be interesting to see how Target affects the tenant and customer numbers. Unless malls reinvent themselves by becoming a destination with uses other than traditional retail mall elements, I see the wilting and fading away of this commercial element at least in the suburban environment. Downtown malls may be a difference animal. Wiki (with a link) points out that "in 2022, the United States had an average of 24.5 square feet of retail space per capita (in contrast to 4.5 square feet per capita in Europe)."
 
The mall closest to me (Hulen Mall, Fort Worth, TX) is doing very well. I went there recently on a non-holiday weekend and it was pretty much packed which surprised me. The other mall near me, La Gran Plaza, has been converted from the Fort Worth Town Center to pretty much a Mexican mercado. It's very successful in that role, serving as an anchor for the hispanic community on the south side of town.

A bit further away, Rigmar Mall is swirling around the drain. It is dead in there. The demise of Ridgmar is probably helping Hulen. The recently opened Shops at Clearfork is an outdoor shopping/dining area anchored by Neiman Marcus, which closed the Ridgmar store as part of the deal, dealing a blow to Ridgmar that may ultimately prove fatal.
 
We have a couple malls still running strong, but closing foot locker will be tough to fill in. They're just starting to get those not so mall stores like a shooting gallery or a real estate office.
 
The Ocean County Mall was swirling the drain, but Simon purchased it a couple of years ago so it's had a bit of a turnaround. There is way too much parking at the mall and Simon has been able to build outbuildings on it which have been successful. The new part has an LA Fitness, BJ's Brewhouse restaurant, Home Sense, Ulta, a local dance school, and 5 Below. They've added new restaurants to the actual mall but made them so they are facing outward so you don't have to walk through the mall; they include Turning Point (local breakfast/lunch chain), Sweetwaters Coffee & Tea, PF Chang and On the Border. Macy's, JC Penney, and Boscov's are the three anchor stores.

While not a traditional mall there is a retail destination across from the Ocean County Mall called the Seacourt Pavilion which I think will end up being redeveloped. Pier 1 went under so that standalone store is empty except for when Spirit Halloween is open, Regal cinemas recently closed and now its Marshall's, Home Goods, and Ashley Furniture plus other low rent business like nail/tanning salons, a kidney dialysis center, and a bunch of vacancies. There's a large apartment complex being built on an adjacent site so I think it's ripe for redevelopment.
 
Malls closing everywhere here too. I read a local MBA student's masters thesis that attempted to identify historic commercial buildings. The paper noted widespread mall closures and labeled the newest commercial center layout as "corporate megastrip". Corporate megastrip is much the same as the old cheapo ugly strip mall except for some trees and shrubs planted in islands, some musak piped into the outside setting, and in the case of one I have visited some cheesy bronze statues of children in play arrangements.

Of course almost all the occupants are outlets of corporate retail along with a few professional offices.

I think the burden of heating and cooling covered malls is what killed them as viable operations. When malls began to operate in our area 40 yrs ago there were lots of urban legends about nutcase parking lot predators. One described a man dressed as a woman that sat in a car with a hatchet between his legs. He would watch for chances to spring suddenly and attack the unsuspecting.
 
fringe said:
Corporate megastrip is much the same as the old cheapo ugly strip mall except for some trees and shrubs planted in islands, some musak piped into the outside setting, and in the case of one I have visited some cheesy bronze statues of children in play arrangements.
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So you've been to one of the Avenues? :ha:
 
Bubba said:
So you've been to one of the Avenues? :ha:
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I have family near one of those, and stopped in the megastrip incidentally. You may have seen the cheesy bronze line of statues. Don't know the artist name but his stuff is very popular among institutions and megastrip.

3-D Norman Rockwell, cloying to say the least.
 
But do yours include the official statue of mansplaining like Mesa included in their downtown?

87d4d7cba41d83cdede2eb11acc70503.jpg


Ladies, mansplaining is when a man explains terms you already know in much simpler terms.
 
fringe said:
I have family near one of those, and stopped in the megastrip incidentally. You may have seen the cheesy bronze line of statues. Don't know the artist name but his stuff is very popular among institutions and megastrip.

3-D Norman Rockwell, cloying to say the least.
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Those status are a staple at libraries in Illinois for some reason. Might not be a bad thing to document, offhand I'm not sure if they are all unique, or all the same, or a handful of varieties floating around.
 
jsk1983 said:
Those status are a staple at libraries in Illinois for some reason. Might not be a bad thing to document, offhand I'm not sure if they are all unique, or all the same, or a handful of varieties floating around.
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They are so disturbingly widespread. I feel like they are actually a relic of the erasure of children from public spaces by sterile, car-centric environments (since kids can't get there in the first place) and lawsuit-averse municipalities who don't want to encourage idling. As the kids are chased away, nostalgic adults seek to fill the space with what they remember being able to do before they shut that play down.

And hence the plethora of children at play statues.
 
bribribike said:
They are so disturbingly widespread. I feel like they are actually a relic of the erasure of children from public spaces by sterile, car-centric environments (since kids can't get there in the first place) and lawsuit-averse municipalities who don't want to encourage idling. As the kids are chased away, nostalgic adults seek to fill the space with what they remember being able to do before they shut that play down.

And hence the plethora of children at play statues.
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Yes, as metaphor only. Just like the famous Flannery O'Connor short story, "The Artificial Negro (sic)".
 
jsk1983 said:
Those status are a staple at libraries in Illinois for some reason. Might not be a bad thing to document, offhand I'm not sure if they are all unique, or all the same, or a handful of varieties floating around.
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Local vendor shows up in various cities around the county selling aluminum yard art. This is about 5% of what is typically out for display.

1680703318788.png
 
fringe said:
I have family near one of those, and stopped in the megastrip incidentally. You may have seen the cheesy bronze line of statues. Don't know the artist name but his stuff is very popular among institutions and megastrip.
Click to expand...
We grabbed Easter brunch at one of the restaurants in the East Cobb version - I just chuckled at the statues.
 
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