Martinsburg Mall - Depressing (amusement park, landscaping, buy)

[CTMountaineer]

The old enclosed Mall concept is basically disappearing in favor of large independent stores coupled with strip malls. That is cheaper to operate, and affords retailers more flexibility in operations.

In growing towns like Martinsburg, the trend seems to be for the older malls to gradually convert to mixed use buildings with offices replacing the stores and so forth. The malls seem to have a retail lifespan of 20 to 30 years before this happens. In Morgantown, the oldest mall now has a telemarketing firm taking space once occupied by an anchor store, Milan Pharma moved its accounting department into a section of it, GoodWill has an operation there, and there are various shops like fitness centers and the like. Small restaurants are actually reappearing there to serve the employees and clients of the new tenents.

In towns with static or declining population bases, the prospects are not as good. Some of these areas have tried to breathe new life into the malls by infusing money with limited success, but since the overall trend is away from these structures they are only prolonging the slow death in my opinion, and these towns generally have more than enough office space and the like anyway so optional uses are much more limited. The old mall at Fishkill, NY, for example, is basically dead on the hoof and they have even taken away the life support.

[Threerun]

Martinsburg Mall was in the beginning state of decline when my wife and I moved in to the Panhandle years ago. It was pretty much decimated by the time we left over 3 years ago.

Oddly, Bridgeport Mall seemed to fair a little better, but we only went there a few times in the two years we lived there.

I would have thought that Helena Montana would have a better chance for 'Mall Survival'. Having multiple stores under one roof when winter weather is -10 plus for weeks seems like a logical thing. Well- that is totally not the case either. Helena's mall is deader than a doornail. Over 70% vacancy, in bankruptcy and being slated for auction.

I think you're right CT. I also think that the on-line marketplace has had a pretty good impact as well. Those dollars have to come from somewhere else, and that may very well be the case.

I find that my family and I gravitate towards smaller stores for purchases like outdoor clothing and gear, casual wear and kitchen and bath supplies, and a lot of those stores are always crowded. There's a neat mix here. One small outfitter carries jeans, casual slacks, some pretty nice women's clothing, guns, ammo, reloading equipment, fishing and camping supplies, rafts, canoes, kayaks, scuba rentals- an odd assortment but something unique for everyone. And it is a small retailer. Usually 15+ people in the store every time I go there.

Maybe the small merchant comes out on top in this game.

[CTMountaineer]

I don't think the small merchant comes out on top with the new concept. Sure, the ones who can afford the higher tarrif to locate in the strip mall near the big retail stores might do well but in general there is less competition than you had under the old concept.

It's really hard to understand public behavior sometimes, but I think the thing that hurt the old mall concept as much as anything was having to totally shop indoors when the weather is nice outside. Just my hunch.

[Threerun]

I guess it's a little different here. The downtown seems a little more vibrant, a lot of smaller merchants. Some shops have closed up due to the recession. Tons of brewhouses and tons of coffee houses and little coffee huts all over the place. Definitely different than Clarksburg and Bridgeport, and totally different than Martinsburg and the EP. It's a little more reminiscent of Morgantown in a few ways. Lot's of folks on bikes in the summer..

There's some large retail stores here and there, then downtown there a number of small merchants. The small one's seem to do pretty well in Helena. Bozeman and Missoula have more shops than here. And of course Billings is a large market. But the mega mall in Helena is definitely dead. Missoula is hanging on and I don't know if Billings even has one.

I recall Bridgeport had most of it's activity in the strip malls though. The there was Dicks Sporting goods off by itself from the mall..

It is kind of neat going from one shopping culture to the next. Very casual atmosphere here. Some guys the most expensive piece of clothing you have are boots and a hat, others their fleece and outdoor gear. Hardly ever see a tie in these parts. It's kind of refreshing to see more antelope than people in suits, lol.

[CTMountaineer]

Here in Morgantown, our coffee shop and brew house businesses seem to do very well but we have the sort of population here that tends to support that sort of thing. It would not necessarily fly in a place like Martinsburg. Also, our more than 40 miles of biking/hiking trails supports that sort of activity like it does in Helena.

My daughter lives in Martinsburg. It is my impression that the population there is not really of the hiking/biking sort.

[Threerun]

Martinsburg is definately not an outdoor recreation mecca, except for hunting/fishing maybe. Ironically the AT and C&O canals are right there too. I used to hike the AT a lot, but most folks I met along the trail were from areas closer to the Beltway.

Yeah so Helena does cater to that crowd, very active outdoor sports folks. Helena's city park is Mt. Helena, which I believe is the 2nd largest city park next to Central Park NY. It's criss-crossed with hiking and biking trails, so not uncommon to see folks ride into town to the brewhouses and pubs after hitting the trails. Very fit folks, and very tough.

So the merchants tend to cater to this and they seem to do well. The city is surrounded by Helena Ntl Forest, roughly 1MM acres of access and the three big lakes so there's just tons and tons of outdoor stuff. People that move here expecting movie theatres, lively clubs etc often find it very boring. If you like to raft, kayak, bike, hike, hunt, fish, snowmachine, ski and snowshoe- this is a mecca.

But the shopping areas in this county are pretty much in Helena and that's it. I think there are 70,000 or so residents in the county, maybe 45-50,000 in and around the city area. County land mass is 3,460 square miles. In comparison that's like Preston, Mon, Wetzel, Doddridge, Harrison, Marion, Taylor and Lewis county's combined, and it's still a tad larger then that. I tried to explain the sheer size to my old neighbors and co-workers and if I recall that was the closest I could get, lol.

Pretty different out here. But ironically a dead mall, just like everywhere else, lol.

[nccolt60]

Martinsburg Mall has prospect interested in the former Sears location - herald-mail.com

Interesting article...I wonder what businesses/restaurants are coming?!?!

[venture2000]

If they want to revitalize the mall, they need to give shoppers a expierence they can't receive in Hagerstown or Winchester; i.e, they need to bring in stores that you can't find in either city.

• A Bass Pro Outlet would be nice.
• A BJ's Wholesale Club would also be nice.
• A IMAX movie theater would be a welcome addition.
• Dave and Busters
• Wegmans Supermarket.
• Apple Store
• LL Bean

Some ideas I am throwing out there. None of this will ever happen though.

[nccolt60]

I think Dave and Busters and BJ's would do great...I don't think the others would even think about coming to Martinsburg though because of the household income...but that's just my opinion

[cry_havoc]

Im not surprised the mall in Martinsburg is doing bad. Martinsburg isnt too far from the outlet mall in the outer edge of the DC metro area, and chic malls further into the DC metro area.