What happened to Northridge Mall? (Glendale, Brown Deer: hair salon, for rent, condominiums)

[michelle29]

Theft.

A LOT of stealing of items in the stores and hold ups in the parking lot. Happened to a friend of mine there once. That's crime.

[Red Flame]

I loved the old Metrolink. I used to ride it all the way downtown to work every day. Things have changed so much.

[BACBRC]

Unfortunately Northridge went down. Some say it was the neighborhood, some say the anchors got greedy. It was a nice mall, food court and all. Just needed more security and RULES. (and someone to enforce them.) Went there alot year's ago, now there isn't a Mall persay near the Northern Milwaukee area. Bay Shore isn't far, but it's all outside walking. In Wisconsin???

[Jay F]

I have such fond memories of Northridge mall when I lived in Milwaukee in the 1970s that it's hard for me to imagine it being gone. I used to shop there, eat there, see movies, and play pinball machines at the Aladdin Castle arcade. Northridge was booming back then and when you were in the parking lot crime was the last thing on your mind. I think back to Northridge as a shopping utopia. I'm sorry things had to change.

A few blocks east of Northridge there was a Treasure Island store. We used to shop there all the time and I have many wonderful memories of it. Does anybody know what's there now?

[quijote]

What kind of store was Treasure Island? There's a local, upscale, chain grocery in Chicago called Treasure Island, but my guess is that it has nothing to do with your Treasure Island.

About what cross-street was the store on? There are quite a few strip malls east of Northridge now, so what used to be T.I. is now probably some pharmacy or check cashing store.

[Jay F]

Treasue Island was a large discount store that was owned by JC Penney. It was a step above K-Mart. If I remember correctly (thankfully I have an excellent memory because this is going back over 30 years ago) the store was located on Brown Deer Road and a street named Green Bay. It was on the Northeast section of the intersection.

Is there still a Red Lobster on Brown Deer road by where Northridge used to be? I ate there a few nights after it opened in 1976.

You mentioned there are check cashing businesses around there. Do they have payday loans? Those are huge here in Las Vegas with all the gambleholics, there are multiple payday loan shops on just about every intersection here, by far the fastest growing business.

[quijote]

Originally Posted by Jay F

Treasue Island was a large discount store that was owned by JC Penney. It was a step above K-Mart. If I remember correctly (thankfully I have an excellent memory because this is going back over 30 years ago) the store was located on Brown Deer Road and a street named Green Bay. It was on the Northeast section of the intersection.

Is there still a Red Lobster on Brown Deer road by where Northridge used to be? I ate there a few nights after it opened in 1976.

You mentioned there are check cashing businesses around there. Do they have payday loans? Those are huge here in Las Vegas with all the gambleholics, there are multiple payday loan shops on just about every intersection here, by far the fastest growing business.

Ah, Brown Deer Rd. and Green Bay Ave.... The northeast section is now occupied by a couple of strip malls. The strip mall closest to the intersection has about seven smallish businesses, including a Mexican restaurant. A little farther to the north and east of that intersection is a strip mall with midscale stores such as TJ Maxx, Marshalls, Burlington Coat Factory, Pic-n-Save (grocery), and various others. In between the first strip mall I mentioned and this strip mall is a very expansive parking lot. To the east of the first strip mall (and south of the eastern leg of the larger strip mall) is a hotel, and north of the first strip mall, all along that segment of Green Bay, are other businesses--mostly free-standing--such as Applebee's, McDonalds, etc. It's pretty much like one, giant square-shaped strip mall with parking in the middle.

There is no Red Lobster anywhere in that area, though I've often thought one would do well there. Now I know they've tried it! There is an Olive Garden on the other side of the street around 84th or so.

There are quite a few payday loan shops along BDR. There are also several tanning and nail salons....

[Jay F]

Originally Posted by quijote

Ah, Brown Deer Rd. and Green Bay Ave.... The northeast section is now occupied by a couple of strip malls. The strip mall closest to the intersection has about seven smallish businesses, including a Mexican restaurant. A little farther to the north and east of that intersection is a strip mall with midscale stores such as TJ Maxx, Marshalls, Burlington Coat Factory, Pic-n-Save (grocery), and various others. In between the first strip mall I mentioned and this strip mall is a very expansive parking lot. To the east of the first strip mall (and south of the eastern leg of the larger strip mall) is a hotel, and north of the first strip mall, all along that segment of Green Bay, are other businesses--mostly free-standing--such as Applebee's, McDonalds, etc. It's pretty much like one, giant square-shaped strip mall with parking in the middle.

There is no Red Lobster anywhere in that area, though I've often thought one would do well there. Now I know they've tried it! There is an Olive Garden on the other side of the street around 84th or so.

There are quite a few payday loan shops along BDR. There are also several tanning and nail salons....

Wow! I don't remember anything besides Treasure Island being on that intersection. The McDonalds I went to was west of there..pretty much on the Northridge parking lot.

I will have to visit Milwaukee, rent a car and drive around all the areas I remember. That would be a most interesting trip.

I found some interesting articles on Northridge:

deadmalls.com/malls/northridge_mall.html

[sunderlund]

My last visit to the Northridge mall , just minutes from my house , involved a very large "gentleman" chasing me on foot across the car lot from Sears.He had followed me through the mall. I drove off with my door open and one leg out of the car. That was just before they closed the place.
I see that the "we hate whitey" and "hey you honky" non sense is still available at no charge over there at the current stores which replaced the mall.
I stopped going there altogether when a crack addict begging outside of Walgreens actually laid his filthy hands on me.
Never went back.

[EnjoyEP]

Originally Posted by Milwaukee Ronnie

At any rate, most people take it at face value that the crime problems (or at least the perception of crime) is what brought down Northridge. I actually believe that without the crime issues Northridge would have faded away regardless, much like Southgate Mall did on the South Side. Northridge was in an awkward location, far from any major freeways, in a very low-density part of the metro area, hard to get to from anywhere except the city's northwest side and some northern suburbs.

In the grand scheme of things, Northridge simply would not have been able to keep up with Mayfair, Bayshore or Brookfield Square due to its location off the beaten path.

I actually kind of respectfully disagree with this theory. While it is true it didn't have as ideal of a location as say Mayfair does (right in the heart of the metro off of Hwy 100 / Mayfair Rd.), N. 76th Street was always one of the more popular thoroughfares in the city, connecting Milwaukee to access to northern (and affluent) suburbs like Cedarburg and Mequon. Furthermore, a major suburb like Menomonee Falls had great, quick access to Northridge.

Back in its heyday, Northridge was one of the absolute premier malls here, and people flocked to it. There have always been fairly affluent shoppers living in northern suburbs like Menomonee Falls, Brown Deer, Mequon, Cedarburg, Germantown, etc., and while Northridge wasn't right next door to them, it was a much more convenient option than going to places like Mayfair or even Bayshore. Truly, Northridge being on the northern fringes of the city off of N. 76th St. was a good counter-balance to Southridge being on the southern fringes of the city on S. 76th St.

I witnessed the heart of the history of Northridge very well, as I grew up in the 80s and early 90s in the Northwest side of Milwaukee and spent tons of time all the time at Northridge, back when it was still very popular, busy, and thriving. Then, in the late 90s near the end of my college tenure I worked in management at a popular national retailer that was housed at Northridge. Finally, as a 2nd job after college when I was a professional by day, I worked at the Northridge customer service desk around 2001, 2002, etc. So I spent many a day at Northridge through a wide array of its history.

Here is what led to its demise: Affluent shoppers slowly stopped shopping there. People looking to spend $$ stopped coming. Why? Three main reasons: 1) The perception of crime scared them off, 2) Legitimate crime scared them off, and 3) Other malls such as Mayfair started doing a better job of adding appealing stores and a more appealing retail mall shopping experience. Thus, as a result, with less money coming into Northridge, stores gradually started to pull out / shut down / change area locations. Then, the snowball effect took off. Less stores, less people with $$ to spend came, so the more kids stood out (folks that were there just to loiter / hang out, not to spend $$). That of course then continued the increase in the perception that Northridge was a scary place to go and undesirable to shop at, so less people continued to come. Of course, stores continued to close then because no money was being spent, and the death knell was on.

The funny thing I observe here in a discussion like this is that somehow race enters the issue. Retailers - I promise everyone here - could care less. If black, white, Asian, Mexican, heck, animals or plants are spending money in their stores, they could care less who it is doing the spending. 1) Profit and 2) Revenue is the bottom line pretty much solely when it comes to determining the health of a mall. Ultimately, that was the case at Northridge.

It is too bad...Northridge kind of was "my mall" in nostalgia all along and I still kind of fondly glance the area over now whenever I go past it. I really always rooted for Northridge and was sad to see it go.