Dead Malls

[Dreamstalker]

http://www.deadmalls.com/ (kind of like Dark Passage for retail)

Nationwide coverage of dead and dying indoor shopping malls (some with photos). Very cool site; lots of malls I didn't even know ever existed and a few I've actually been to (there are also a few I've seen that should be on the site but aren't).

The site reminded me of the book Call of the Mall, which has a chapter or two on why the traditional shopping mall model is on its way out.

[Ljt09863]

the mall in my city is there! it is about time they tore it down

[Shacky Whacky]

I hate hate hate malls. I avoid them like the plague. I do all my giftmas shopping online or by supporting our downtown stores.

The Mall of America sounds cool though. Is that the one with the indoor water park? Now that is something I'd go for.

[Mr. Rager!]

The Mall of America sounds cool though. Is that the one with the indoor water park? Now that is something I'd go for.

The Mall of America does not have an indoor waterpark. But they do have Underwater Adventure, it's pretty cool. They also have Camp Snoopy in the middle of the mall.

I <3 the Mall of America. I used to go there a lot, but I've been busy. I should go there sometime soon, I need to stop at Nordstrom's.

[Ryu]

ahh good ol' Chatham Mall... it is missed

[Cia]

When I went to the Sioux City, Iowa mall I got confused because it looked exactly like the mall in Rapid. Same architects I guess.

[protege]

Several malls near me are on there. I hate to say it, but I think that site is wrong. I don't think Century III is dying at all. Sure, there are some vacancies, but retail in the area has been struggling for years. Things weren't helped with the Waterfront development on the former mill site in Homestead. I do know one thing...the Macy's sign on the former Kaufmann's store just looks *wrong!*

Two malls that *should* be on the list are Mountaineer Mall (near Morgantown, WV) and Washington Mall. Both are mostly vacant. In the case of Washington, that one is vacant simply because of owner stupidity. What happened, was that the owner wanted to remodel the mall into a strip mall. During that (still unfinished) mess a few years ago, he forced out all the tenants except for Staples and JC Penny. 3 years on, most of the stores are boarded up and vacant. And no, the "strip mall project" never happened--after all the tenants left, there wasn't enough cash to do it. They'd all left for their own buildings, Crown Center off I-70, or the various Trinity shopping centers on Route 19.

Mountaineer Mall was a different story. Their location just sucks. There's not much on that end of town...and when a new mall was built towards WVU, quite a few tenants said "screw this" and moved. Things weren't helped when Walmart moved away from the mall a few years back either.

[Banrion]

When I went to the Sioux City, Iowa mall I got confused because it looked exactly like the mall in Rapid. Same architects I guess.

You know I said the same thing when I went to Rapid City. They are nearly identical!! Maybe it was a package deal, you know, buy one get one half off! Weren't they both done in the late 80's early 90's? Looks like I'll be visiting Sioux City again in April to see my g'ma.

[Mr. Rager!]

So... apparently I suck because I was talking to one of my coworkers because he's going to the Mall of American next week.

Underwater Adventure or world or whatever is supposedly shut down and there IS apparently a water park. It's been a while for me!

[Argabarga]

I remember going to the Station Mall in Altoona as a kid, I was a train nut and what was better than a mall right next to the railroad tracks (the Eastern end of Horseshoe Curve, that's like Times Square for railfans) so there was always trains of some kind sitting outside. Plus, they had a hobby shop inside that sold HO trains and stuff, which I collected at the time, and an arcade right next to that, it was heaven for a kid.

I wasn't surprised it died in retrospect, it was in a less-than-glamorus neighborhood, accross the street from some industrial land and the city's shuttered dead downtown, and just smacked of a redevelopment project that didn't pan out, and the much larger and closer-to-the-freeway Logan Valley Mall just outclassed it and outsold it, even when Logan Valley burned to the ground my Senior year of High School, Station Mall remained dead.

Logan Valley was rebuilt, remodeled, a parking garage was added, and that was the end of Station Mall.....

[Crazyredhead]

The Mall of America does not have an indoor waterpark.

It will have an indoor roller coaster by 2008.r