Taunton: Silver City Galleria will be losing JC Penney in April (Boston: property tax, live)

[GeoffD]

Originally Posted by lrfox

It's trickier for people in Dartmouth, Mattapoisett, Acushnet, etc. to drive to another place because they're all a bit further. Swansea is in a similar boat to Silver City - it's way too close to Providence Place and the Seekonk retail corridor.

From my Dartmouth-centric view, the Silver City Galleria was/is invisible. It is "Oh yeah, there's a mall here" taking the DATTCO commuter bus to South Station and a few moron drivers in your way as you approach the 140/24 interchange. It offered nothing you couldn't find at Route 6/Faunce Corner Road North Dartmouth Mall Hell including the impoverished 3rd world ambiance. If you want an A store, you go to Providence Place or you drive up to the 128 belt where prosperous people live to support A stores. Other than Yankee Spirits across the street, Swansea is also totally off my radar screen.

[massnative71]

Originally Posted by GeoffD

It offered nothing you couldn't find at Route 6/Faunce Corner Road North Dartmouth Mall Hell including the impoverished 3rd world ambiance. If you want an A store, you go to Providence Place or you drive up to the 128 belt where prosperous people live to support A stores.

The scariest part, is I think the sarcasm feature wasn't even turned ON.

[lrfox]

Originally Posted by massnative71

But if you asked me 20 years ago, I would have bet on Westgate or Dartmouth falling first due to being older/smaller and Silver City sucking people away from the Brockton and FR/NB areas. It's a very easy drive up 140 or 24. I guess a big part of it might be due to the Taunton are just being less populated than those others. It was suitable for a big weekend shopping expedition, but less so as a place to run out on a Tuesday night after work for a large population of people.


IDK it's just hard to fathom, remembering back when the place was so new and hopping it seems like yesterday. Emerald Square is hurting as well, also once a big "destination". I don't see that lasting forever.

Absolutely. Dartmouth has actually improved over the years. It used to be a pit. Taunton was bigger, had easier parking and was more accessible being right on the convergence of 24/140 (no dealing with Faunce Corner or route 6). So it's weird to see the shift, but I do get it. I never remember Swansea being great.

I am right there with you. I'm not old (or THAT old depending on who you're talking to) being in my early 30s, but I remember having to park in the satellite lot during the holiday season and take a shuttle because it was so busy. I do think you're on to something about the location. People used to come on weekends from a good distance because it was a destination. Now with nothing there, they're not going to come, and the local population can't sustain a 1+ million square foot mall. I've heard Emerald Square is in bad shape too.

[CaseyB]

I don't know that Emerald Square will fail anytime soon, but it's certainly not as successful as it once was.

[GeoffD]

Originally Posted by lrfox

Absolutely. Dartmouth has actually improved over the years. It used to be a pit.

The movie theater was remodeled with large fully reclining chairs. I saw the latest Mission Impossible movie there a couple of weeks ago. I wonder about the subliminal Scientology messages. I now have the uncontrolled urge to stream Top Gun.



When it opened, Zayre and Sears were the anchor stores at either end. They ruined a perfectly good 9 hole golf course in the name of bad retail. The retail area on Route 6 and Faunce Corner Road is one of the worst examples of suburban traffic planning on the planet. They're moving the police station a block from it since that's where most of the crime in town happens.

[massnative71]

Originally Posted by GeoffD

When it opened, Zayre and Sears were the anchor stores at either end. They ruined a perfectly good 9 hole golf course in the name of bad retail. The retail area on Route 6 and Faunce Corner Road is one of the worst examples of suburban traffic planning on the planet. They're moving the police station a block from it since that's where most of the crime in town happens.

Both those stores had pretty good runs (particularly Sears), don't know how you can call them "bad" retail when they certainly drew the people in all those years. The location was too valuable to other forms of commerce to stay as a golf course. Sucks, but that happens when you have a dense population nearby and good access to roads and other infrastructure.


I don't see the traffic planning there as particularly bad compared to other similar retail meccas. Worse than Rte. 6/114A in Seekonk? Or Rte. 1/1A in the Attleboros? Been to Bald Hill Rd. in Warwick???

[lrfox]

Originally Posted by massnative71

I don't see the traffic planning there as particularly bad compared to other similar retail meccas. Worse than Rte. 6/114A in Seekonk? Or Rte. 1/1A in the Attleboros? Been to Bald Hill Rd. in Warwick???

I lived in that area relatively recently (during the dark days I was commuting Dartmouth-Boston), and I think it's worse than the others you mention with the exception of Bald Hill which is a mess and one of my least favorite suburban mall hell holes (the other in New England being the Burlington Mall area).

Relative to its size (Bald Hill, Emerald Square, Burlington, South Shore, etc. are all bigger retail areas), Dartmouth feels the most congested with the fewest alternate methods to to get to the center of the strip. Unless you're coming from Dartmouth, you basically only have the Faunce Corner access point. Reed Road works for some, but it wasn't designed for the traffic volume it sees, and it gets very backed up. What's worse, is that the mall and the bulk of the retail is almost a mile (or more) off the highway, so all of that traffic is funneled on surface roads for a longer distance. The Faunce Corner/Route 6 intersection has never seemed to get the timing down. And Route 6 between Hathaway Rd. and Cross Rd. is a mess of awkward intersections, lights, and traffic. If the mall itself was right off the highway (like the Warwick Mall, Galleria, Emerald Square, etc.) where the 99 is, I think it would be better. But the fact that all of that traffic has to go a mile or more on surface roads makes it a mess. The Fall River/New Bedford area drivers don't help. They're the worst.

[jayrandom]

Originally Posted by 9162

How has JC Penney been "priced out" at Providence Place? JC Penney is the cheapest store of the three anchors. A better question is, how is an upscale mall surviving in Providence, when even the Atrium Mall couldn't survive in Chestnut Hill, when Chestnut Hill is an exceptionally wealthier area.

The real problem is, Providence Place is too close to the Warwick Mall (home to the original JC Penney anchor in the New England area) and the Emerald Square Mall. I'd be interested to know which other stores want to locate where the current JC Penney is currently at in Prov Place? BTW, it is absurd that a grocery store would go in to PP, this would be equivalent to putting a grocery store as an anchor at South Shore Plaza or Natick Mall.

This old thread made me laugh a bit.

https://www.wcvb.com/article/new-weg...urant/20083688

[massnative71]

Originally Posted by lrfox

I lived in that area relatively recently (during the dark days I was commuting Dartmouth-Boston), and I think it's worse than the others you mention with the exception of Bald Hill which is a mess and one of my least favorite suburban mall hell holes (the other in New England being the Burlington Mall area).

Relative to its size (Bald Hill, Emerald Square, Burlington, South Shore, etc. are all bigger retail areas), Dartmouth feels the most congested with the fewest alternate methods to to get to the center of the strip. Unless you're coming from Dartmouth, you basically only have the Faunce Corner access point. Reed Road works for some, but it wasn't designed for the traffic volume it sees, and it gets very backed up. What's worse, is that the mall and the bulk of the retail is almost a mile (or more) off the highway, so all of that traffic is funneled on surface roads for a longer distance. The Faunce Corner/Route 6 intersection has never seemed to get the timing down. And Route 6 between Hathaway Rd. and Cross Rd. is a mess of awkward intersections, lights, and traffic. If the mall itself was right off the highway (like the Warwick Mall, Galleria, Emerald Square, etc.) where the 99 is, I think it would be better. But the fact that all of that traffic has to go a mile or more on surface roads makes it a mess. The Fall River/New Bedford area drivers don't help. They're the worst.

I guess it's been a long time for me, but the only place I really ever recall getting stuck is at the Faunce Corner/Rte. 6 intersection (like trying to go Rte. 6 East to Faunce Corner back to the highway). For a few months back in the 2000s I worked on the west side of NB, and during my lunch I would zip up Rte. 6 for errands with little sweat.


Rte. 6/114A in Seekonk is VERY bad, probably comparable in the volume of retail (despite not having an actual "mall") and despite the short distance to 195 that intersection (accompanied by the same sort of cramped roads and close together lights) has always been a s#$%show and they have tried many fixes to limited success. Emerald Square might be right off the highway, but if you go Rte. 1 South between there and the nightmare 1/1A/123 intersection (where much of the retail is located, and likewise very limited access points unless you live on the west side of N.A.)...just forget it on a weekend. I can't imagine Rte. 6 being that bad.

[MMS02760]

Originally Posted by lrfox

I've heard Emerald Square is in bad shape too.

Emerald Square, as the present case with many malls, has several spaces unoccupied. No large former department store spaces are however yet vacant. Macy's (with two large spaces), JC Penney, and for the moment Sears still remain open. A new shopping plaza directly across from the mall is being built with a rumored possible tenant being a Whole Foods. New plazas and renovation of an existing plaza has been going on at the Routes 1/1A/123 junction. The former KMart store at Bristol Place (95/1A) is being renovated with a majority portion of it being outfitted for a new store. There is still a lot of retail existing on the stretch of the Attleboros between Routes 95 and 295 along Route 1/1A. I think this will help Emerald Square remain viable.