Why is Lakeforest Mall dying? (Gaithersburg: buy, tenant, prices)

[Mr Beco]

Originally Posted by papichulo2

yah that mall is already dead. and all the stores suck for real!! like the whole parking lot is empty. they need to renovate

Renovate and bring in some tenants....more like. You need some out of the box thinking, I guess it makes sense to build apartments around the mall, but Westview in Bethesda is brining in Lucky Strike, for example. Draw people to the mall when tradtional tenants suchs as Nordrstrom or Boomingdales isnt doing that. Online shopping is changing malls. Barnes and Noble in Bethesda is closing replaced by NIKE.

What gets people off their couch and into a mall these days? That said, I've heard NO news on what they plan to do.

[Mr Beco]

https://blueprint.cbre.com/the-rise-...purposed-mall/

All around the U.S., hundreds of underutilized shopping malls are withering away. This doesn’t necessarily spell the end for these spaces, though, as many, like 100 Oaks, are being repurposed—turned into everything from mega-churches and paintball stadiums to hockey rinks and high schools.

[Mr Beco]

Surreal Photos Of Abandoned, Snow-Filled Malls Show The Death Of An Era In America | Co.Exist | ideas + impact

[inr123]

I don't think malls are dying. Tysons corner mall does really well, and so does Montgomery Mall just down the beltway from Lakeforest. Also I don't think it has to do with racism. When shops in a mall feature cheap tailoring and dresses that don't primarily serve white collar employees rise in number, the quality of the mall suffers. It follows that those clothes would be cheap because they're made poorly, and when you dress poorly and present poorly to the outside world, the employment opportunities that follow are inferior. The housing and safety of the area where you can live with that income level is also lower quality.
Wheaton Mall is ghetto. It features so many body con looking clothes and poorly made ones at that. It just so happens that lower income areas tend to have more black and Hispanic people because that's where they can afford to live, and culturally dressing that way is attractive for them. Office culture and dressing like that clash in a big way. Even people who dress in fitting dresses can at least afford to pay for well made dresses. So no, it isn't racism. It's about the quality of the products in the mall, and Lakeforest Mall has lost it. It went under new management in 2012, which is driving it into the ground.

[papichulo2]

The housing and safety of the area where you can live with that income level is also lower quality.
Wheaton Mall is ghetto. It features so many body con looking clothes and poorly made ones at that. It just so happens that lower income areas tend to have more black and Hispanic people because that's where they can afford to live, and culturally dressing that way is attractive for them. Office culture and dressing like that clash in a big way. Even people who dress in fitting dresses can at least afford to pay for well made dresses. So no, it isn't racism. It's about the quality of the products in the mall, and Lakeforest Mall has lost it. It went under new management in 2012, which is driving it into the ground.[/quote]

why does everybody think wheaton is ghetto?? its really not. but there some weirdos there. and ghetto would be pg plaza or iverson

[Mr Beco]

Originally Posted by inr123

I don't think malls are dying. Tysons corner mall does really well, and so does Montgomery Mall just down the beltway from Lakeforest. Also I don't think it has to do with racism. When shops in a mall feature cheap tailoring and dresses that don't primarily serve white collar employees rise in number, the quality of the mall suffers. It follows that those clothes would be cheap because they're made poorly, and when you dress poorly and present poorly to the outside world, the employment opportunities that follow are inferior. The housing and safety of the area where you can live with that income level is also lower quality.
Wheaton Mall is ghetto. It features so many body con looking clothes and poorly made ones at that. It just so happens that lower income areas tend to have more black and Hispanic people because that's where they can afford to live, and culturally dressing that way is attractive for them. Office culture and dressing like that clash in a big way. Even people who dress in fitting dresses can at least afford to pay for well made dresses. So no, it isn't racism. It's about the quality of the products in the mall, and Lakeforest Mall has lost it. It went under new management in 2012, which is driving it into the ground.

Who is crying racism? Fact is, Gaithersburg demographics are much different from Bethesda or Tysons. However, that does not stop Costco, that place is always busy…..

However, Tysons mall is the outlier. That place is packed; was there last Saturday and it was crowded ALL day and night. The restaurants had hour waiting times. Nevertheless, Tysons does not have a real town center, so the mall is it. But the mall has grown so large it has everything. Movies, food, restaurants, and every store imaginable. Westfield’s, to me, is not as crowded but its catching up to Tysons. The Galleria mall caters to the wealthy; I guess they made that decision years ago.

Malls need anchors, and if your anchors leave, the mall suffers. In White Flint, Bloomingdales left, Borders met the internet, and the mall died. They did try to reinvent themselves but its owner, same owner as Tysons, decided they would do better by creating a town center

Live, work, play is what is in......

[adelphi_sky]

Originally Posted by inr123

I don't think malls are dying. Tysons corner mall does really well, and so does Montgomery Mall just down the beltway from Lakeforest. Also I don't think it has to do with racism. When shops in a mall feature cheap tailoring and dresses that don't primarily serve white collar employees rise in number, the quality of the mall suffers. It follows that those clothes would be cheap because they're made poorly, and when you dress poorly and present poorly to the outside world, the employment opportunities that follow are inferior. The housing and safety of the area where you can live with that income level is also lower quality.
Wheaton Mall is ghetto. It features so many body con looking clothes and poorly made ones at that. It just so happens that lower income areas tend to have more black and Hispanic people because that's where they can afford to live, and culturally dressing that way is attractive for them. Office culture and dressing like that clash in a big way. Even people who dress in fitting dresses can at least afford to pay for well made dresses. So no, it isn't racism. It's about the quality of the products in the mall, and Lakeforest Mall has lost it. It went under new management in 2012, which is driving it into the ground.

Your entire post has racist undertones. Explain City Place Mall then? It is in a supposedly upper-middle income area and has about 90% discount stores. Outlier? The malls that you assume poor people go to because they are poor are actually in solid middle-class neighborhoods, not low-income poverty stricken ones.

Just because a lot of the stores in the lower-tier malls don't sell you overpriced cotton t-shirts at $60 a pop doesn't mean the quality is any less.

What many people today fail to realize is that communities east of Rock Creek can support a Tysons Mall. Where do you think most people of color in those malls come from anyway? People forget about Landover Mall which had Hecht's Garfinckles and Woodware & Lothrop and was very much a middle class mall in a middle class neighborhood before the gangs and crack epidemic of the 80s and 90s took over the neighborhoods.

The income levels have practically returned to the levels that used to support the type of stores that were there before. Look at the income supporting the new Woodmore Town Center. You don't have to make 6-figures to shop at Banana Republic, Ann Taylor, Brookstone, or Brooks Brothers.

And yes, people of color know how to dress and have a since of style. Who do you think drives the fashion trends in NYC and LA? Your comment about minorities culturally dressing "that way" is an ignorant statement.

And practically no one dresses up anymore for work or church for that matter. I'm in IT and white people and people of color come to work in shorts or jeans and t-shirts. So now who is dressing which way?

Thank you for your attempt at social and cultural observations. But your'e way off.

The whole west of Rock Creek / East of Rock Creek racial divide has a lot more to do about racism and red-lining than a lot of people want to admit. Neighborhoods don't have to be super wealthy to shop at malls you may think are only for the super wealthy.

The stores at Tysons can be found in states and counties with lower HHI's than the DC area. So, it's not always about income.

[greenday87]

Most malls are dying around the US. I think Tyson's and Montgomery mall are exceptions due to the high income area, which can support those businesses. I live in Silver Spring but am not a fan of the Wheaton mall due to the lack of stores of interest and would much rather drive to Montgomery or Tyson's for more variety.

[Mr Beco]

Silver Spring Mall was a dump, which I believe kept rents down. They are now working on it, adding varioius facade enhancements, etc. Its still a dump, if you ask me, because just around the corner if franchise row.....the mall suffers

[BBC99]

There was a plan to rebuild the area's surrounding Lakeforest Mall. Those plans have been put on hold due to Hogan's emtpty promises and inability to see the bigger picture.