Gwinnett Place Mall gets remodeled to look like the 80s again (video). Keep it as a permanent attraction?

[Born 2 Roll]

Originally Posted by bryantm3

i'm sorry but this is just a bad argument, i don't know why you are defending it. there's nothing about the design scheme of the mall that's changed that has affected retail size slots, square footage, anything to do with the stores or their ability to compete better with online retailers; it's the mall part that's been redesigned over and over again needlessly. we have viable buildings in this city with interiors that were designed 50, 70, 100 years old or more. the difference is that when they need maintenance, improvement, or an addition, they don't strip off all of the ornamentation and change the fundamental parts of the design that make the building what it is. for some reason this makes sense to people if the building is old enough but the idea of saving a piece of significant architecture and culture for a future generation is just lost on people for some reason if it's anything postwar. the problem is the cutthroat business environment of the current era that sees people, places, and the natural environment as raw materials to produce wealth. there's no room for history, sentimentality, or personality. we're squeezing the blood out of everything.

I'm not "defending" anything.

I am just pointing out that the reality of the situation is that the retail marketplace does not stay static, but constantly evolves and changes at least every few years and sometimes even more frequently.

When Lenox Square Mall opened in 1959, it opened as an open-air shopping mall, but due to increasing competition in a changing national retail marketplace that favored a move towards enclosed shopping at regional shopping malls, Lenox Square was enclosed during an expansion and renovation in the early 1970's.

In the '80's a food court was added to the mall when the marketplace moved towards food courts and expanded food offerings in enclosed regional shopping malls.

The reality is that a generally successful retail facility like Lenox Square Mall has not stayed successful by staying stuck in any one particular era out of a sense of deep sentimentality for a particular era.

A retail facility like Lenox Square Mall has stayed successful by keeping up and even staying ahead of the retail competition by constantly renovating and expanding its physical premises to meet the demands of the current retail marketplace.

And while an establishment like Lenox Square Mall was a reasonably upscale retail development when it opened in 1959, the mall found that it could be even more competitive and successful it if became even more upscale as it has done over the 6 decades of its existence.

It is unreasonable to expect that a retail establishment like Lenox Square Mall (which has to stay attuned with whatever current retail and fashion trends may be in vogue at any given time) can stay viable in the current marketplace without having to change its visual look.

Does it seem shallow? Yes it does seem and can be very shallow to discard visual design and aesthetic elements seemingly (and sometimes literally) every few years, but that often can be the nature of upscale and high-end retail.

[Newsboy]

I wish I could find a copy of the TV commercials that aired in the Atlanta market when Gwinnett Place opened in 1984. That happened to be the year I graduated high school and the mall opening was a HUGE deal. Gwinnett’s population was barely 250,000 at the time (maybe less) and the mall was far and away the most far-flung (and luxurious) from the city.

I still remember the commercial jingle (1980s thumping disco beat)

Gwinnett Place is the PLACE! PLACE! PLACE!
The place you want to BEEEEE!
The place to SHOP!
The place to MEET!
The place to GO!
The place to EAT!
It’s here ... it’s grand!
Shimmering ... glimmering ... ENCHANTING!
Gwinnett Place is the place ... THE PLACE!!!

[Born 2 Roll]

Originally Posted by toll_booth

I wonder what makes malls such as Lenox and Perimeter continue on while Gwinnett Place and North DeKalb die off?

That is an excellent question.

Socioeconomic demographics are the reason first and foremost why malls like Lenox and Perimeter continue to thrive while malls like Gwinnett Place Mall die-off.

Lenox and Perimeter malls are located in (and are the geographical and developmental centerpieces of) two upscale retail and business districts with very large concentrations of affluent residents in Buckhead and Perimeter Center (Dunwoody/Sandy Springs), respectively.

Meanwhile, Gwinnett Place and North DeKalb malls are in areas where the immediate local demographics have shifted dramatically in over the last few decades from relatively affluent to much more transient and lower-income.

Gwinnett Place Mall has also been hurt by the opening of two other large enclosed malls nearby (the Mall of Georgia and Sugarloaf Mills) that sucked away its customer base along with smaller open-air 'lifestyle centers' in the Peachtree Corners and Snellville areas (The Forum on Peachtree Parkway and The Shoppes at Webb Gin, respectively).

A mall like Lenox Square has also been helped by its status as a popular and iconic gathering spot for being seen and celebrity-watching that gets frequent mentions in popular culture.

Basically, not only is Lenox Square Mall a popular spot for being seen and celebrity-watching, but Lenox Square Mall itself has become a pop-culture celebrity as Atlanta's celebrity status has grown (with the meteoric rise of Atlanta's music and TV/Film production scenes) to become competitive with Los Angeles and New York over the past two decades.

[bryantm3]

it's not good in the long term, a redesign is really only a short-term benefit that wears off quickly. long term significance is all about placemaking. the only way brick-and-mortar can compete going into the future is to create a place that means something to people that goes beyond what they can get at the stores. completely restyling the mall is counter intuitive to good urban design because it doesn't create a consistent "place" in people's minds that they return to, just a perpetually stark "new" place with a series of rotating façades, almost like a website. if for some reason lenox meets the fate of other malls, there won't be anything interesting left to save.

[Born 2 Roll]

Originally Posted by bryantm3

it's not good in the long term, a redesign is really only a short-term benefit that wears off quickly. long term significance is all about placemaking. the only way brick-and-mortar can compete going into the future is to create a place that means something to people that goes beyond what they can get at the stores. completely restyling the mall is counter intuitive to good urban design because it doesn't create a consistent "place" in people's minds that they return to, just a perpetually stark "new" place with a series of rotating façades, almost like a website. if for some reason lenox meets the fate of other malls, there won't be anything interesting left to save.

Those are good points, but something to keep in mind is that the retail marketplace (in particular) does not stay the same... So why should a retail establishment like Lenox Square Mall (that is trying to stay ahead of the pack in an ultracompetitive retail industry) be expected to stay the same physically and aesthetically in a retail marketplace that is constantly changing and evolving?

The intensely competitive nature of the retail business is what motivates an establishment like a Lenox Square Mall (a facility that prides itself in being at and staying at the forefront of retail trends) to constantly redesign and restyle its physical structure seemingly (and often literally) every few years.

Since Lenox Square Mall opened its doors in 1959, about 20 enclosed shopping malls and numerous other large-scale outdoor shopping establishments (strip malls, big-box stores and centers, lifestyle centers, etc.) have opened, making the metro Atlanta retail marketplace an intensely competitive retail scene... An intensely competitive retail scene that an establishment like Lenox Square Mall has had to thrive to stay ahead of and at the front of.

"Long-term significance" and "placemaking" goes out the window when the object is to survive (and thrive) in a cutthroat/'survival-of-the-fittest' retail industry that seemingly (and often literally) changes every few years at the most.

There is no way that a facility like Lenox Square would have been able to survive (and thrive) if it had kept and stubbornly held-on to its 1959-era design features and layout through the 1970's, '80's, '90's, 2000's and 2010's.

That's just the reality of the situation.