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Zombie shopping malls, what are your experiences?

SDET

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I will start by mentioning Valleyview Mall in Dallas. It happens to be at a very accessible and high traffic location.

https://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/...r-dinosaur-carcass-last-walk-valley-view-mall

The rumors of it closing apparently are false. The cinema is still open, but many of the movies are subtitled in Spanish. Sears has been dead for more than a year. The mall isn't being maintained much and no one seems to care. More and more Mexican oriented business are renting space on the cheap. With each passing month, it's starting to resemble more and more Mercado Juarez in Monterrey, Mexico.
 
Well from what I understand in the states, more and more malls are closing, there were simply too many built in the 70s and 80s as tons were constructed in what were thought of safe investments.

Many now sit either completely abandoned, demolished, or some of the anchor stores and maybe a movie theatre only accessible from the outside clinging on for dear life.

But I don’t think the mall itself as a concept will disappear anytime soon, there’s just gonna be fewer of them.
 
It was Chris Rock who did a bit on malls almost two decades ago. He sagely talked about how they built these malls for upscale white folks and then they went to the white working class and then whites abandoned them and now they are half occupied with stores selling sneakers, baby stuff, fake nails and wigs and fake leather to African Americans who know the place is soon to close.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80Hke7PrdmA

That seems to be the cycle.

Obviously two things happened at the same time...... they overbuilt and then the internet shopping revolution took over. Not a good recipe for mall success.
 
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I will start by mentioning Valleyview Mall in Dallas. It happens to be at a very accessible and high traffic location.

https://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/...r-dinosaur-carcass-last-walk-valley-view-mall

The rumors of it closing apparently are false. The cinema is still open, but many of the movies are subtitled in Spanish. Sears has been dead for more than a year. The mall isn't being maintained much and no one seems to care. More and more Mexican oriented business are renting space on the cheap. With each passing month, it's starting to resemble more and more Mercado Juarez in Monterrey, Mexico.

This one in NE San Antonio, TX suffered a similar fate:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windsor_Park_Mall
 
I will start by mentioning Valleyview Mall in Dallas. It happens to be at a very accessible and high traffic location.

https://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/...r-dinosaur-carcass-last-walk-valley-view-mall

The rumors of it closing apparently are false. The cinema is still open, but many of the movies are subtitled in Spanish. Sears has been dead for more than a year. The mall isn't being maintained much and no one seems to care. More and more Mexican oriented business are renting space on the cheap. With each passing month, it's starting to resemble more and more Mercado Juarez in Monterrey, Mexico.

I think the bigger problem is government zoning policies, as more of these malls close it would make sense to repurpose them into housing, but for a developer to do that would violate zoning, so they sit vacant and thusly businesses that need a storefront can get cheap rent. Of course the problem is large buildings with few low rent tenants and low maintenance quickly become magnets for crime.


I know of several “zombie malls” in my area. One of them is in my hometown. One of the reasons though is that Wal-Mart and Kroger now have massive full service stores and so you don’t need to go to the mall anymore. The only mall I go to I go only because it has a total wine and more and in Washington I can’t order liquor online.
 
I can remember this going on some 30 years ago. Same story, different locations.
Valleyview use to have a Thirsty's smoothie place, only reason I use to go there back in the day.
 
Also, communities are being designed to be locally self sufficient regarding retail. It's less of a 'blocks added' and more of an 'areas developed with sustainability in mind' approach.
 
i visited this one a few years ago.

Dead and Dying retail: Marquette Mall - Guest post by Ryan Sobecki

i went with my buddy from college. there were a lot of empty stores, and the whole thing was a bit surreal. it was like we had time traveled back to our college days in the 1990s to find that the 1990s were falling apart from neglect. there was an arcade, and a few of the games worked. i played one, and then we went to a department store. i bought cufflinks as a souvenir or maybe to convince myself that the whole thing wasn't a dream. i still have them.
 
The 1950's era mall that we did most of our shopping at when I was a kid has been dead for over a decade.....Colonial Village. We went to Weise's and JCPenny's mostly. In 1976 the three screen movie theater opened along with additional space for 4 more stores, one of which was a Christian supply store. There was a fountain in the middle that people tossed pennies into which were collected for charity, that was fun for little kids.

We have an unhealthy mall in Olympia that I end up at every few years....to watch a movie. I have not purchased anything there since at least 2008.
 
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I think the bigger problem is government zoning policies, as more of these malls close it would make sense to repurpose them into housing, but for a developer to do that would violate zoning, so they sit vacant and thusly businesses that need a storefront can get cheap rent. Of course the problem is large buildings with few low rent tenants and low maintenance quickly become magnets for crime.


I know of several “zombie malls” in my area. One of them is in my hometown. One of the reasons though is that Wal-Mart and Kroger now have massive full service stores and so you don’t need to go to the mall anymore. The only mall I go to I go only because it has a total wine and more and in Washington I can’t order liquor online.

That more than anything is probably gonna be the death of malls. Online shopping. For a long time, well, most of my life anyway, the mall has been the North American version of the public market. It wasn;t just a place to go to shop for what you need, it was where you went to socialize, to see and be seen. Where you bumped into people you wouldn't see otherwise and where you interact with your community. A community that was pretty local, relatively local. Now it's being replaced by world-wide faceless access to stuff being made nobody knows where by nobody knows who and delivered by strangers before you've even touched it.
It's different. Definitely.
 
The 1950's era mall that we did most of our shopping at when I was a kid has been dead for over a decade.....Colonial Village. We went to Weise's and JCPenny's mostly. In 1976 the three screen movie theater opened along with additional space for 4 more stores, one of which was a Christian supply store. There was a fountain in the middle that people tossed pennies into which were collected for charity, that was fun for little kids.

We have an unhealthy mall in Olympia that I end up at every few years....to watch a movie. I have not purchased anything there since at least 2008.

Malls were the last connection to the old village market square where peope went to get what they need for dinner, to access whatever trades and crafts they needed and to socialize with other community members. That's gone now, or going, being replaced by faceless online commerce. Stuff you never touched delivered by people you never see and paid for to people who don't smile and thank you.
I regret the inevitability.
 
Malls were the last connection to the old village market square where peope went to get what they need for dinner, to access whatever trades and crafts they needed and to socialize with other community members. That's gone now, or going, being replaced by faceless online commerce. Stuff you never touched delivered by people you never see and paid for to people who don't smile and thank you.
I regret the inevitability.

I was born 1962 so I am just barely old enough to remember when Rockford had a reasonably healthy functioning downtown. When Charryvale Mall opened in 1973 it was an instant hit, and what was left of downtown collapsed, never to recover from what I know, though some folks will tell you different.

I liked downtowns, I was never much a a fan of malls though my first job was at the Manor Restaurant in CherryVale. I did not like how the communal space control by the people (downtown) was replaced by a private place controlled by and at the whims of the wealthy for one thing. Yes the mall was faster and easier but even as a kid I felt that fast and easy was not the great advance in civilization that it was cracked up to be, and I say that time has proven me right as we have watched the quality of the people decline.
 
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Malls were the last connection to the old village market square where peope went to get what they need for dinner, to access whatever trades and crafts they needed and to socialize with other community members. That's gone now, or going, being replaced by faceless online commerce. Stuff you never touched delivered by people you never see and paid for to people who don't smile and thank you.
I regret the inevitability.

Society is simply less personable, but it’s not just the market, no one attends church anymore, men don’t join fraternal groups, community events almost never occur, and North American sprawling communities means that there is no set neighborhood or gathering place, bemoaning the end of shopping malls seems like you’ve noticed the horse was missing not just after he left the barn door, but has already left the neighborhood, been captured and sold for glue

I make it a point to attend mass every Sunday and on holidays and I almost feel counterculture doing it. It’s the only place I get mass interaction (pun not intended although pretty cool) anymore.

No one wants to be bothered in public too. Before smart phones as a kid I’d take the ferry to Seattle and people would talk to each other and interact, and now everyone has the phone out


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
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Wheaton Plaza, Wheaton, Maryland (DC suburbs) circa 1962 or 63.
It opened in 1960.

WheatonP.jpg

WheatonPlazaconcourse1.jpg

I remember going with my brothers to watch the live closed circuit televised fight between Cassius Clay and Sonny Liston, and of course I probably burned hundreds of hours in that same movie theater, with buddies or with dates, watching whatever. My first real kiss happened in that theater.
She was wearing patchouli oil, so from there on out, that scent brings fond memories.
Ahhhh, hippie chicks, they're so awesome. :D

I shopped at SEARS for clothing and tools, probably went to Hechinger's for other hardware and Woodward and Lothrop to get Christmas gifts for family, etc.

Strangely enough, Wheaton Plaza is still in operation.
It's an enclosed indoor mall now.
 
Society is simply less personable, but it’s not just the market, no one attends church anymore, men don’t join fraternal groups, community events almost never occur, and North American sprawling communities means that there is no set neighborhood or gathering place, bemoaning the end of shopping malls seems like you’ve noticed the horse was missing not just after he left the barn door, but has already left the neighborhood, been captured and sold for glue

I make it a point to attend mass every Sunday and on holidays and I almost feel counterculture doing it. It’s the only place I get mass interaction (pun not intended although pretty cool) anymore.

No one wants to be bothered in public too. Before smart phones as a kid I’d take the ferry to Seattle and people would talk to each other and interact, and now everyone has the phone out


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

We are very atomized now....

I have been following some people who work with young people, up to and including those at university, they claim that these people have done so little interacting with humans off of tech that they have extremely poor social skills....they could not socialize successfully even if they got a wild hair and decided that they want to.
 
I will start by mentioning Valleyview Mall in Dallas. It happens to be at a very accessible and high traffic location.

https://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/...r-dinosaur-carcass-last-walk-valley-view-mall

The rumors of it closing apparently are false. The cinema is still open, but many of the movies are subtitled in Spanish. Sears has been dead for more than a year. The mall isn't being maintained much and no one seems to care. More and more Mexican oriented business are renting space on the cheap. With each passing month, it's starting to resemble more and more Mercado Juarez in Monterrey, Mexico.

Deadmalls.com, where you can read the obituaries of hundreds of US shopping malls, including ValleyView.

DeadMalls.com: Valley View Mall: Dallas, Texas

Its an interesting read and a tribute to one of the inefficient aspects of the American economic system.... we are fundamentally poor planners. We tend to overbuild things..... keep milking an old formula up to and past the point the formula no longer works. The last money in is called the "greater fool". They get burned, along with their bankers.

DeadMalls.com: Stories

Malls were the last connection to the old village market square where peope went to get what they need for dinner, to access whatever trades and crafts they needed and to socialize with other community members. That's gone now, or going, being replaced by faceless online commerce. Stuff you never touched delivered by people you never see and paid for to people who don't smile and thank you.
I regret the inevitability.

Now that is a little pessimistic the other way..... here in Denver we have had four shopping malls from the 70's / 80's redeveloped into mini-urban ("lifestyle") centers with shopping / restaurants / bars / movie theatres / offices / apartments. They are much nicer than the non-description, devoid of character shopping malls they replaced. They have turned out well, benefiting from a very fast growing and robust local economy.

Before: DeadMalls.com: Southglenn Mall: Denver, Colorado
After: https://www.shopsouthglenn.com/ ... https://www.yelp.com/biz/the-streets-at-southglenn-centennial?page_src=best_of_yelp
 
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When I saw the thread zombie malls, I thought of this:


 
I will start by mentioning Valleyview Mall in Dallas. It happens to be at a very accessible and high traffic location.

https://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/...r-dinosaur-carcass-last-walk-valley-view-mall

The rumors of it closing apparently are false. The cinema is still open, but many of the movies are subtitled in Spanish. Sears has been dead for more than a year. The mall isn't being maintained much and no one seems to care. More and more Mexican oriented business are renting space on the cheap. With each passing month, it's starting to resemble more and more Mercado Juarez in Monterrey, Mexico.

So zombies = Mexicans in your world view?
 
So zombies = Mexicans in your world view?

Oh great, we have one of "those kind" that look for ways to be offended.

Are you nuts? Mexicans have a higher tolerance for crumbling infrastructure. I like the visit the place myself every now and then. It has an eerie charm about it.
 
Oh great, we have one of "those kind" that look for ways to be offended.

Are you nuts? Mexicans have a higher tolerance for crumbling infrastructure. I like the visit the place myself every now and then. It has an eerie charm about it.

Not offended, it's your OP. You called them "Zombie shopping malls" in the title, then said they were places where Mexicans were buying spaces on the cheap.

Again, your words, not mine.
 
Not offended, it's your OP. You called them "Zombie shopping malls" in the title, then said they were places where Mexicans were buying spaces on the cheap.

Again, your words, not mine.

Don't be a pain in the ass. Some might be Guatemalan. I guess I could ask next time I'm there. The mall is a zombie because it's partially demolished and has a low occupancy rate.
 
Don't be a pain in the ass. Some might be Guatemalan. I guess I could ask next time I'm there. The mall is a zombie because it's partially demolished and has a low occupancy rate.

I'm sorry I triggered you.
 
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