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I've noticed that most newer malls are either open air malls or incorporate a mixed use component such as office and residential. Either that or there are just big box stores with smaller retail stores in a plaza or "town center". I'm not too sure of anywhere in the country that Is building new malls based on the old standard. (Closed in, within a sea of surface parking, etc.).
Well, one thing is for certain, the old traditional mall with a few anchors and smaller stores won't cut it. These type of malls certainly are not being built today. The anchors are not there, and the population wants nothing of it.
Malls today need to offer great restaurants, outdoor entrances, easy parking near those entrances of not major stores, but specialty stores. It really is a simple formula. Forget the indoor malls, instead offer malls that offer popular stores that can be accessed from the outside with parking.
These malls already exist today (Algonquin Town Center, outside of Chicago), and this is the prototype for future development. Actually it is beyond prototype, as these are popping up everywhere.
Well, one thing is for certain, the old traditional mall with a few anchors and smaller stores won't cut it. These type of malls certainly are not being built today. The anchors are not there, and the population wants nothing of it.
Malls today need to offer great restaurants, outdoor entrances, easy parking near those entrances of not major stores, but specialty stores. It really is a simple formula. Forget the indoor malls, instead offer malls that offer popular stores that can be accessed from the outside with parking.
These malls already exist today (Algonquin Town Center, outside of Chicago), and this is the prototype for future development. Actually it is beyond prototype, as these are popping up everywhere.
I looked up Algonquin Town Center, and it just looks to be a strip mall no different than 10s of 1000s of other strip malls. I don't get it. That may be fine in a moderate climate. But in a cold climate people also like to be able to go from store to store in comfort. That's why indoor malls will never die. They just need to adapt with the times.
While malls will change, the stereotype about them being a huge building with a moat of parking lots with several department store anchors connected by corridors of chain stores with plastic plants and a food court with more chains and a few fountains won't change for awhile. True, the low-to some mid-end malls will continue to struggle due to competition from chains/online, but there is still nothing like trying on the clothes to see if it fits, checking to see if the jewelry doesn't have any scratches, buying the newest Apple product without waiting for delivery, and even price comparison via mobile devices while shopping to bargain around.
Still, the malls that exist keep evolving by either add/converting outdoor sections, making the perimeter surrounding the mall more pedestrian friendly, adding/expanding transit, adding offices/residences as others have described, or even other community/civic tenants such as religious places. As long as malls are successful in urban areas (Milan's Galleria is often cited as the world's oldest shopping mall, built in the 1860s and 1870s), they will continue to exist in some form or another around the world.
I looked up Algonquin Town Center, and it just looks to be a strip mall no different than 10s of 1000s of other strip malls. I don't get it. That may be fine in a moderate climate. But in a cold climate people also like to be able to go from store to store in comfort. That's why indoor malls will never die. They just need to adapt with the times.
Algonquin Town Center is not a strip mall. It actually takes up as much space as a major mall would. The difference is users can drive right up to the store of their choice. (I am not saying this is necessarily a good thing, as most in the US could use a little exercise...but I digress). Algonquin is the future, like it or not. They don't have any major anchors, and they offer good eateries all around. This "lifestyle center" works in Chicago, so it could probably work in most climates.
Algonquin Town Center is not a strip mall. It actually takes up as much space as a major mall would. The difference is users can drive right up to the store of their choice. (I am not saying this is necessarily a good thing, as most in the US could use a little exercise...but I digress). Algonquin is the future, like it or not. They don't have any major anchors, and they offer good eateries all around. This "lifestyle center" works in Chicago, so it could probably work in most climates.
Yeah I must be missing something too. I looked Algonquin Town Center up and it looks no different than the hundreds of strip malls I pass by everyday with stores and restaurants in them. There are a ton of strip malls that take up as much room as a mall (some used to be real malls). Driving up to the store with other stores connected to it facing a big parking lot is the definition of a strip mall.
For outdoor malls... I prefer the open-air malls that have pedestrian strips like Partridge Creek in Detroit for example. It has anchors like Nordstrom, Carson's, and a movie theater along with stores and restaurants along the pedestrian strip. Good for pet lovers too.
Algonquin Town Center is not a strip mall. It actually takes up as much space as a major mall would. The difference is users can drive right up to the store of their choice. (I am not saying this is necessarily a good thing, as most in the US could use a little exercise...but I digress). Algonquin is the future, like it or not. They don't have any major anchors, and they offer good eateries all around. This "lifestyle center" works in Chicago, so it could probably work in most climates.
Well, I just found a couple pics of it, and it looked like a strip mall. If it takes up as much space as a major mall would, why can't I find a website for it? Even small, crappy malls have websites.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by OhTheUrbanity
Well, I just found a couple pics of it, and it looked like a strip mall. If it takes up as much space as a major mall would, why can't I find a website for it? Even small, crappy malls have websites.
Yea, I don't know what he's talking about, either. Just googled it and street mapped it, and that's a strip mall if I ever saw one (and not particularly attractive, either). Nothing progressive or futuristic about it whatsoever.
Well, one thing is for certain, the old traditional mall with a few anchors and smaller stores won't cut it. These type of malls certainly are not being built today. The anchors are not there, and the population wants nothing of it.
Malls today need to offer great restaurants, outdoor entrances, easy parking near those entrances of not major stores, but specialty stores. It really is a simple formula. Forget the indoor malls, instead offer malls that offer popular stores that can be accessed from the outside with parking.
These malls already exist today (Algonquin Town Center, outside of Chicago), and this is the prototype for future development. Actually it is beyond prototype, as these are popping up everywhere.
I'm sure there are examples in the Chicago area, but Patriot Place, MarketStreet Lynnfield, Derby Street Shoppes, Hingham Shipyard, and Legacy Place here in MA seem to be more like what you're talking about (I believe the term "Lifestyle Center" has been used). Still- they're just fancier strip malls. The trend I've noticed in these newer places is that in addition to a variety of stores, they offer entertainment venues like Dave and Buster's, Kings, etc. and updated, modern movie theaters with premium offerings and more destination restaurants (as opposed to food courts and popular chains). The emphasis on dining and entertainment in addition to select stores (nowhere near the number or square footage of retail as the mega malls of days past) makes them viable and popular. They're "recreating" the downtown shopping experience. Sort of. It's also no coincidence that old, walkable downtown areas in many places are seeing more investment than they have in decades. I think these places are the new malls, and I say "new" because they're newish to colder climates (though we've had outlet centers forever) but they've been around in more temperate climates for some time. I also think they represent a cultural shift in the way people today like to shop.
Sorry, I misidentified this retail mall. It is Algonquin Commons, (not Town Center). It has been years since I've been back there. Here is the website:
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