What's up with Southridge? (Des Moines, Lincoln: new home, neighborhood, closing)

[JoeisSweet]

I went to Southridge Mall on the SouthSide of Des Moines last weekend and was so...shocked!

It seems like half the stores are closed all the time and now Steve & Barey's the "new store" is going out of business! It just opened a couple of monthes ago!

It seems hard to imagine a time when Southridge was a good competative mall, like Jordan Creek. What happened?

I know this may be a dumb post, but I love Southridge and the Southside of Des Moines in general- it hurts to see Southridge like this.

[SharpHawkeye]

Originally Posted by JoeisSweet

I went to Southridge Mall on the SouthSide of Des Moines last weekend and was so...shocked!

It seems like half the stores are closed all the time and now Steve & Barey's the "new store" is going out of business! It just opened a couple of monthes ago!

It seems hard to imagine a time when Southridge was a good competative mall, like Jordan Creek. What happened?

I know this may be a dumb post, but I love Southridge and the Southside of Des Moines in general- it hurts to see Southridge like this.

You answered your own question. Jordan Creek happened. Jordan Creek opened, and the Highway 5 bypass made it so easy to get over there...

[pepe1]

Southridge was in bad shape, even before Jordan Creek. Neighborhood demographics are just not favorable to their retail selection.

For what it's worth, Steve and Barry's is in bankrupcy and closing all their stores...

[Stevie]

I haven't been to Southridge in years, but I was never really impressed by it. I used to live on the south side of DSM back in 98-99 and had been to Southridge many times, only because it was the closest mall to where I lived. It just didn't seem big enough or didn't have enough variety of stores to choose from, unlike Merle Hay or Valley West.

[El Rhino]

When I was a kid, Southridge used to be a happening place. No store vacancies, lots of people and well maintained. Other than GNC and Target, there's not many reasons to get me in there. Even Younkers seems to have gone down hill a little bit. I guess Waldenbooks can be kind of cool.

They've got some sort of plan to revitalize the place, but I would imagine it's more of a hail mary play than anything. I always try to spend my money there first if possible, I'd rather see the place thriving like it used to.

[El Rhino]

Oh, and to show what's become of Southridge over the past couple of years, there are two Mexican cowboy stores and there was a stripper store that closed recently. This store sold outfits and stuff for strippers.

[Northern Traveler]

Originally Posted by El Rhino

Oh, and to show what's become of Southridge over the past couple of years, there are two Mexican cowboy stores and there was a stripper store that closed recently. This store sold outfits and stuff for strippers.

haha never been to this mall but I might have to find it now.

[Luke9686]

I agree, Southridge was in trouble long before Jordan Creek. Growing up it used to be a good place to shop, with lots of variety and a decent atmosphere. It seems the south side has been left out in all the metro DSM revitlizations.

[mofford]

They need to remove the empty decaying auto parts store that sits between APR and Target. As a south sider, I really hate to see Southridge in such a state of decline. Perhaps the Blank Park Zoo expansion project might help the area. But they need to get rid of the jail birds at Ft. Des Moines (an aging halfway house facility), and the new homeless shelter also sits right off SW 9th by the zoo......a bad idea to begin with.

They have made alot of street repairs and road improvements on the south side during the past decade, more so than any other part of town. The area in close proximity to Fluer Drive is nice, in most cities the airport is near the dumpy part of town, but not here, its the best part of the south side, IMHO. Especially with the Grays Lake and the WW park/trail network along there too, Im happy to live closer to Fluer, and drive over to SE 14th for inexpensive shopping needs. I want the Burger King that used to be on Fluer by the airport back over here again. We have 3 McDonalds on the SW side, but no BK.

Love to ride my bicycle up SW 12th to McCrea Park behind Lincoln High to get to the trail network. The south side has such a nice mixture of homes from newer to older, In my area, there are a very even mixture of homes built from every decade from the 40's up to the 00's, I think that variety of housing can't be found so easy in other parts of town because the southside was built up slowly. It makes for a healthy mix of people with different incomes, unlike many areas where everyone's house and income is the same size, and the houses all look similar. Not the south side, at least it isn't boring that way.

[capitalcityguy]

Southridge Mall is simply not located in an area that is logistically as easy to get to for a large portion of the metro as all the other shopping malls.