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The mall for which I have the fondest memories is the now-gone Mall of Memphis, probably the largest shopping mall in the United States to be abandoned and demolished. This two-story mall opened in southeast Memphis in the early 1980s and did well for a decade. But the 1990s brought trouble - white flight to suburbs east of Memphis and some highly-publicized murders either on or near mall property. By the year 2000, the Wolfchase Galleria was open on the northeast corner of Memphis and the M of M sank like a lead balloon. It closed on Christmas Eve 2003 and was demolished the following year. Now it is a vacant lot.
The Hickory Ridge Mall, a one-story mall a few miles southeast of the M of M, opened about the same time and also suffered from changing demographics. A few years ago, it was seriously damaged by a tornado. A church bought it but I don't know what they have done with it. God bless.
I think Malls in general are dead or dying. They don't seem to be building new ones, do they? People do a lot of shopping online nowadays. Also, I've noticed strip malls coming back into popularity. Lets face it, climate control ---AC and heat, + lighting---inside those mega malls is becoming simply way too expensive. Well, everything has its day.....way back in the day, my Dad was a construction supervisor for a new Mall, Eastland, in Detroit. It was originally built as an open-air mall, then later became enclosed. Well, I believe its shut down now, it turned into a cesspool of crime, etc. Sad.....it was the place to be back in the day.....
There is a whole website devoted to dead malls. For a while, I worked at a theatre in the Eastwood Mall in Birmingham, which was the first major indoor mall. Malls do have a lifespan, and that is often surprisingly short.
FWIW, the property owner almost never paid for the climate control. That was part of the CAM, divided amongst the tenant stores.
Location: Huntersville/Charlotte, NC and Washington, DC
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Landmark Mall in Alexandria, VA. When I first moved to the area in 04, it was a decent mall with a solid occupancy rate. Now in 2013, approx. 25% of stores are occupied and it is probably the biggest eyesore inside the Capital Beltway. You could also say the same for Springfield Mall in Springfield, VA.
Landmark Mall in Alexandria, VA. When I first moved to the area in 04, it was a decent mall with a solid occupancy rate. Now in 2013, approx. 25% of stores are occupied and it is probably the biggest eyesore inside the Capital Beltway. You could also say the same for Springfield Mall in Springfield, VA.
Since you mentioned Landmark, I'd also like to add Landover Mall. Around Baltimore, Owings Mills and Security Square are just about dead; there are only a handful of stores in both malls IIRC. Golden Ring Mall closed, as well as the mall in Hunt Valley. Both of those malls were replaced with big box stores, although Sears still operates at Hunt Valley.
Lincoln Mall is Matteson, Illinois is pretty much dead. The stores that are gone: Montgomery Wards, Sears, JC Penneys, Old Navy and a bunch of stores inside of the mall. The only anchor store that remains is Carson Pirie Scott. The mall is filled with cheap jewelry stores, dollar stores and shoe stores. there is no food court or movie theater. Back in the 80's and 90's, that mall was a very busy place. I still have memories of my father taking my sister and I there to see the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus and having our pictures taken with them.
I know the mall I loved as a kid has now changed to more upscale (= expensive) stores, and the one near me is slowly doing the same thing
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That's because average working class people, the consumers that populated the malls of the '70's and '80's no longer have any disposable income. We're all shopping at the local Goodwills now.
northridge mall, north side of Milwaukee. I believe the abandoned building is still there.
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