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The closest mall to me is the Paddock mall in Ocala (north central Florida). The property itself is clean and well-maintained, but that's really the only positive in my opinion.
It's a fairly small mall, with a basic collection of department and clothing stores, a few jewelers, a video game store, mobile stores, footwear stores, and a couple of novelty shops. The staff working at those places seem reasonably honest and competent in my experience, aside from the Spencers Gifts and Verizon wireless stores. The food court has something like four places to eat; two of which I wouldn't treat my dog to, and then a sub shop and a Chick-Fil-A. The kiosk vendors are typically either lazy and unapproachable or they're nutty and obnoxious. The volume of shoppers has decreased over the years with the moving of certain retailers and the takeover of a lower class crowd.
During the earlier part of the day on weekdays the mall is nearly a ghost town, and senior citizens stare blankly into space from the seating areas in between their walking stints. After 4:00pm the mall becomes a de facto babysitting service for the community's young and/or undesirables. Most people who actually go to the mall with the intention of shopping seem to hit up whichever stores they need to and get out, and the earlier in the day they can do it the better.
Are you kidding? We are home to the largest outlet mall in the US, Sawgrass Mills which is packed every single day and the third largest mall, Aventura along with probably 50 other true malls.
Always busy.
Have no idea where all this money comes from.
South America. Heard lots of Spanish and Portuguese when we visited Sawgrass Mills. Nice high end outlet shops.
High end malls in Maryland/NoVa (Tyson's Corner, Columbia Mall) seem to be doing well...but lower tier malls are struggling as they lose flagship stores (JC Penny, Sears).
Southglenn is not an indoor mall anymore. The indoor mall that sat on the site lasted 32 years, but the last 8-10 years were spent circling the drain.
It was torn down and made into the Streets at Southglenn, one of the lifestyle centers mentioned earlier. Only a couple of stores remain from the original mall, and the shops are all accessible from the outside only.
Just went to Mall of Georgia yesterday and it was an absolute madhouse. They seem to be doing just fine.
Lol, yes... The Mall of GA is a busy place. And plus, you went on a Saturday during the summer.
Quote:
Originally Posted by SquareBetterThanAll
Not speaking to you specifically, but if you guys are cherry picking the best malls in your region, how is that indicative of how the malls (overall) are where you live? I would think anyone in a decent sized metro can cough up four or five malls that are still doing well.
What would one say on the state of Atlanta malls if one went on a tour of:
Southlake Mall
Gwinnett Place
Union Station Mall
Greenbriar Mall
North Dekalb Mall
South Dekalb Mall
Stonecrest Mall
Northlake Mall
or the parking lots where Cobb Center or Avondale Malls used to be?
I imagine their opinion on the state of metro Atlanta malls would be quite different than Pinkmani's "they're pretty good."
My closest mall is Town Center and it's an okay mall.
Southlake Mall -- never been, but nothing much goes on there
Gwinnett Place -- pretty active, very good
Union Station Mall -- never been, CLOSED
Greenbriar Mall -- is in the hood, you have to be careful if you go there.
North Dekalb Mall -- good
South Dekalb Mall -- be careful
Stonecrest Mall -- good
Northlake Mall -- good
I live in the Des Moines area, and there are 4 malls in the area.
Jordan Creek Mall is the newest mall. They actually call it a town center. It has a mall in addition to a village with Best Buy, Old Navy, and Costco, etc. It has a trail with a lake, and it's a destination mall for out-of-towners because it has a Cheesecake Factory and a bunch of other restaurants and stores that can only be find there in Iowa. It's usually busy, but I heard a few years back that shopping sales weren't as good as the owners anticipated. The restaurant sales, however, are very high.
Valley West Mall is the typical suburban mall and it seems to do alright. There are enough visitors and very few vacancies there.
Merle Hay Mall was struggling, but they totally revitalized the area. It seems busier today than it used to be, and it seems to have been resuscitated. This used to be the mall most out-of-towners went to until Jordan Creek opened.
Southridge Mall, on the other hand, is a dead mall. It only has 40 stores with diverse tenants not typically associated with malls such as a community college (where JcPenney used to be), Animal Rescue League (where dogs are barking nonstop), churches, small ethnic grocery stores, etc. The last time I went there it had a ghost-town feel with a plethora of cell phone places and jewelry stores and not much else. They do have a cool carousel in the entrance/food court, and Sears and Younkers are somehow still hanging on.
They've already begun revitalizing the area and hope to turn it into a shopping mecca again. I guess it's cool that Des Moines is able to do that. In some cities, dead malls lie vacant for years, and the available space isn't utilized. That seems like such a waste.
I live in the suburbs of Indianapolis. There are two "lifestyle centers" nearby that have stores you'd find in traditional malls. One is smaller than the other, but I haven't see any vacancies in either and both seem to have quite a bit of traffic. The other mall I'm familiar with is Castleton Square, a traditional indoor mall. I'm not a big fan of it, but the few times I've been there it's been a solid B.
I'm from east TN. There are three malls in the area - two of which have lost or will be losing at least one anchor, and have steadily gone downhill over the past ten years. The other one is fairly healthy and vibrant. Granted, this is a poor area where there is not much spare income.
Southglenn is not an indoor mall anymore. The indoor mall that sat on the site lasted 32 years, but the last 8-10 years were spent circling the drain.
It was torn down and made into the Streets at Southglenn, one of the lifestyle centers mentioned earlier. Only a couple of stores remain from the original mall, and the shops are all accessible from the outside only.
This is the future of retailing.
I was responding specifically to the poster who noted spending time at a mall with a library. I correctly guessed she was referring to Southglenn. I'm well aware of Southglenn's history, thanks. Many of us still consider it a mall, just an outdoor one.
The Garden State Plaza in my old neighborhood of Paramus, NJ seems to be doing fantastic, even growing. But of course, it's tax free shopping, so many new yorkers travel to NJ to shop.
I currently live in the Near North Side of Chicago and shops also seem to be doing well because of all the tourism the city attracts.
Me, I prefer online shopping in Chicago to avoid the heavy traffic. But when I take a trip back up to NJ in July, I'll be doing some tax free shopping at the GSP.
I hate going to the mall. The only time I go is if my sister wants me to go with her so I can help her out with my nephews, and then it's only to one store to get them some new shoes or outfits. I will go to the Target or the Macy's but I don't use the main mall entrance. Most people don't go to the mall and shop store to store. They know they need a pair of jeans, they go straight to the store that sells their jeans, and they are gone. Nobody has time for all of that anymore. The mall I usually go to when I have to go has had some store closures, now the McDonald's is gone. As busy as McDonald's is, if they can't keep up business in the mall, it is safe to say that mall may be on the decline. LOL. I would rather go to an outdoor strip mall, less people and more convenient parking.
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