Why can't COS support a real mall? (Colorado Springs, Center: low income, apartment)

[orngkat]

After a year and a half, I am still trying to figure out the lay of the land. I guess it's the development codes here, but strip centers seem to have wonky traffic flows in and out. They are also at odd angles (and even behind each other) but don't connect to each other. I made one trip to the mall off Academy up north and found the entrances and exits very confusing. If you have a shopping bug, I highly recommend all the various thrift stores here. I have made some amazing finds.

[davidv]

A few things:

As a general rule, indoor regional malls are dying or dead. This is due to a variety of reasons including loss/consolidation of traditional anchors, online sales, traffic problems, etc. The exception to this is malls/outlet malls in affluent areas that have stores not found elsewhere (eg. Park Meadows, Cherry Creek, Flatirons, Castle Rock).

The older suburban mall is being razed for the new outdoor lifestyle center mall that typically has mixed use development (commercial, business, and residential). Examples of this include: Bel Mar (Villa Italia mall site), The Streets at Southglenn (old Southglenn mall site), the Gardens on Havana (Buckingham Square Mall), Westminster Mall site and more.

Some malls are being repurposed in their buildings. Southwest Plaza in Jefferson County is being remade into a retail/dining/entertainment venue that transcends retail-only malls. It has attracted standalone restaurants like Cheesecake Factory, Bad Daddy Burgers and a few others that act as destination places, not snack or food-court types of eateries. It has brought in entertainment like the (controversial) SeaQuest Aquarium, a bowling alley/arcade, and an escape room place.

As for other uses for malls, around the country malls have been turned into office space (Dish TV's Riverfront Center is an example of this), churches, apartments, government offices, and schools.

[Vision67]

https://gazette.com/business/burling...1a67ca340.html

Burlington closes store at Chapel Hills Mall in Colorado Springs

"Burlington has become the latest anchor to close at the Chapel Hills Mall in northern Colorado Springs.

The department store shut its doors in late January, said Jill Lais, regional marketing director for the Chapel Hills and Citadel malls, which are owned by Namdar Realty Group and Mason Asset Management of New York.

While the roughly 41,000-square-foot space that Burlington occupied is part of the Chapel Hills Mall, it’s owned separately by Phoenix Tears, a limited liability company based in New York, El Paso County land records show.

Burlington closed after the retailer and Phoenix Tears failed to reach a deal on a new lease, Lais said.

“Burlington was in negotiations with the owner of the building, and they couldn’t come to an agreement based on the square footage that Burlington was seeking,” she said. “So Burlington (and the owner), they parted ways.”

Representatives of Phoenix Tears and Burlington didn’t return calls seeking comment.

It’s unknown if Burlington will seek another location in Colorado Springs; it continues to operate stores at The Citadel in the central part of town and at the Powers Pointe retail center on the northeast side.

The New Jersey-based retailer, formerly known as Burlington Coat Factory, bills itself as a “leading off-price retailer.” It sells discounted men’s, women’s and children’s clothing, along with shoes, furniture, baby accessories, home décor items, jewelry, toys and gifts.

Burlington’s departure came less than a year after another key loss for the mall; Sears closed its Chapel Hills store last March. The closing of Sears at Chapel Hills and of a second store on the city’s south side were part of a wave of downsizings by the retailer last year.

J.C. Penney, Gordmans, Old Navy and Borders, Books & Music are among retailers who also left Chapel Hills in recent years either because of store closings, financial troubles or a desire to seek different locations.

But the mall still counts Dick’s Sporting Goods, Dillard’s and Macy’s as anchors, although Macy’s announced this week it will close 125 stores nationwide over the next three years. The mall also is home to the AMC Chapel Hills 13 movie theater complex.

Lais, the mall’s marketing director, said Chapel Hills also continues to add retailers and restaurants. Among them: Roy Boy’s Barbecue, a Southern-style restaurant; the I.C. Bing Cafe, which offers gluten-free sandwiches, bakery items, soups and salads; and Hidemasters, an Old Colorado City leather store that added a second location at the mall where it sells belts, wallets and accessories, among other items.

The upper floor of the old Borders, Books & Music, meanwhile, is being leased by Work Time Athletic Performance, a fitness center.

And women’s clothier Charlotte Russe, which closed its store at the mall after filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in early 2019, will return to its original location in the mall between March and April, Lais said. The retailer said late last year it planned to reopen some of its stores.

Chapel Hills also hopes for a new tenant in the old Burlington space, Lais said.

“Anytime you have a department store that closes, it does have an effect on sales and traffic, initially,” Lais said of Burlington’s closing. “But the owner of that building is very eager to find a new tenant.”"

[rochester_veteran]

The same thing was happening in Rochester, NY when I lived there. Efforts are being made to repurpose empty mall space but with mixed results. The University of Rochester Medical Center is buying out the old Sears portion of Marketplace Mall and transform it into an orthopaedic center. I'm not a shopper and avoid malls like the plague , but I have a friend who recently went to Marketplace Mall and he said it was depressing, empty store outnumber occupied stores and things were in a state of general disrepair. The URMC project is still awaiting approval. With Amazon and online shopping booming, brick and mortar retail is being squeezed out of business.

[Vision67]

I visited the Chapel Hills mall last week for the first time in several years. At 11:00 AM, most of the people in the mall were old people like myself who were there just to have a climate controlled place for taking a long walk.

[rochester_veteran]

Originally Posted by Vision67

I visited the Chapel Hills mall last week for the first time in several years. At 11:00 AM, most of the people in the mall were old people like myself who were there just to have a climate controlled place for taking a long walk.

I did that after I retired last year and mall walked at Greece Ridge Mall in Rochester. That mall was hanging in there, although the Sears wing of it was vacant, the rest of the place seemed to be doing OK and there were only a few vacancies.

I've been to Chapel Hills to the AMC 13 to see a movie.

[orca17]

Malls are a dying breed. With the advent of Amazon and other online retailers, people don't have to leave the house to buy whatever they need. It's the big mall anchor store chains (Sears, JC Penney, Macy's etc.) that are collapsing and closing stores. Without the draw of those stores, the smaller specialty stores don't get nearly as much traffic. Many malls that were buzzing with activity 20 years ago are virtual ghost towns now.

[Wittgenstein's Ghost]

Originally Posted by orngkat

After a year and a half, I am still trying to figure out the lay of the land. I guess it's the development codes here, but strip centers seem to have wonky traffic flows in and out. They are also at odd angles (and even behind each other) but don't connect to each other.

Ah, I see you've been to the King Soopers area at Austin Bluffs and Academy.

[Wittgenstein's Ghost]

Originally Posted by Vision67

Burlington Coat Factory, bills itself as a “leading off-price retailer.”

Some marketer should be fired for coming up with such a nonsense tag line.

[Marcy1210]

When we moved to Pinecliff in 1991 from Teller County, the King Soopers at Austin Bluffs was the closest grocery store. A couple years later, the Albertson's at Centennial and GOG opened, and a lot of GOG became developed. Then, Fillmore and Centennial became developed. We moved back to Divide in the 2000's, and eventually to Tucson in 2010.
Here in Tucson, malls are closing. Applebee's closed two restaurants near malls, and Sears is closing at the Tucson Mall, but Macy's, Penney's and Dick's are still there as well as The Container Store and many other restaurants. The two malls anchored by Wal-Mart are shells with the exception of movie complexes and restaurants.
Amazon is a lot of the reason. With Prime membership and overnight delivery, families can get whatever they need online in the evening and have it delivered the next day without the hassle of loading up the kids, going to the mall or Wal-Mart or Target and spending time shopping. It's all about convenience, driven by young families where everyone's busy. Most grocery stores, Target and Wal-Mart even have online grocery shopping and you can pick up your groceries two hours later at the store already bagged and paid for. Amazon does the same with Whole Foods. Everything is done from the comfort of your home. Brick and mortar is going away except for specialty stores like Michaels, or Hobby Lobby, and others where you can't get what you need online.