Westminster Mall; Westminster, Colorado
Our third Denver-area post comes to us from reader Jacob Doherty. The following commentary, as well as the photos here, are his. Thanks for the contribution, Jacob, and the multitude of pictures! Maybe some of our commenters can help us label some of the “unknown” dead stores? (mouseover for the photo tags)
Westminster is a large suburb immediately northwest of Denver. Like many of the suburbs in the Denver metro area, the city is relatively new, and has no old town or downtown area to speak of. In these suburbs, like many similar suburbs around the nation, the mall was the town center. Unfortunately, because of how densely packed the Denver Metro area is, each mall that went up in each suburb leeched the shoppers from the mall in the adjacent suburbs. This, combined with the falling fortunes of certain suburbs, as well as a series of recessions, has killed a majority of the Denver Metro area’s malls. There are now at least eleven “lost malls” in the Denver Metro area that have either razed or demolished and transformed into lifestyle centers, according to the Mall Hall of Fame, from the gargantuan Cinderella City, to the high concept Villa Italia, to the family-friendly Buckingham Square. If nothing changes, it looks as if the Westminster Mall may become the twelfth.
Westminster Mall is special for me because it was the mall my family went to when I was young, from when I was born until I was about six when we moved. Westminster Mall, combined with Buckingham Square in Aurora, my grandparents’ local mall, was my first concept of what a mall is. I remember quite clearly walking around the mall with my folks, and marveling at the quartet of hot air balloons that ascended and descended in the main court of the mall. These were the glory days of the mall, the early and mid-eighties, and Westminster Mall was a powerhouse, providing jobs and revenue for the burgeoning city of Westminster.
I am unsure of the complete history, but what follows is compiled from several sources, including the Mall Hall of Fame, Deadmalls.com, and several news articles from local papers. Westminster Mall was built in 1977. At that time, its only anchor was a two-level Joslin’s department store, and the mall featured only thirty other shops. However, it quickly became one of the most popular malls in the Denver Metro Area. In 1986, the mall expanded, gaining three more anchors: May D&F, Mervyn’s, and Broadway-Southwest. It added JC Penny in 1987. During this time Sears moved its Northglenn Mall store into the now abandoned Broadway-Southwest Building at Westminster Mall. At this point, the mall plan was like a cross with one crooked arm in the north. JC Penny anchored the smallest arm, May D& F and Joslin’s anchored two other prominent arms, and Sears and Mervyn’s anchored the extra long crooked arm, with the arm kinking at Sears and then trailing down to Mervyn’s at the end. During this time, the mall’s symbol was a series of hot-air balloons floating amongst the clouds: a reference to its center court feature which was a water fountain flanked by four real hot air balloons that rose and fell on air vents. In the mid-eighties, the city of Westminster was on the up, and the mall’s location, on Sheridan, and just off US-36, the main pipeline to Boulder and the northern suburbs, made the mall a huge success.
Perhaps too much of a success. The enormity of the mall started bringing in shoppers from all over the north suburbs, including as far away as Boulder. These shoppers stopped going to their local malls, and instead came to the new Westminster. The Westminster Mall contributed to the downfall of at least three other malls and the crippling of a third. Crossroads Mall in Boulder (now the lifestyle center Twenty-Ninth Street), North Valley Mall in Adams County (now filled with offices), and Northglenn Mall in Northglenn (now the open-air strip mall called the Marketplace at Northglenn) all could list Westminster Mall as a contributing factor to their deaths, either by stealing customers or stores. The Thornton Town Center was hit badly by Westminster Mall, but has recovered and transformed into a more open-air mall.
Having killed off its competitors, Westminster Mall reigned supreme in Northern Denver through the 1990’s. In 1993 May D&F became Foley’s and in 1997 Montgomery Ward opened one of the last Ward’s in the nation in the mall between Sears and Mervyn’s. This made for a huge number of anchors: six, and all of them giant. There were hundreds of smaller stores and even a small food court near Mervyn’s. Restaurants flocked in as outparcels, such as Traildust Steakhouse, the Olive Garden, and Steak & Ale. Finally, a six-plex theater opened inside the mall near Foley’s, and this same theater had an outparcel eleven-plex building with even more space, and both were known for having the latest in digital sound. A US Bank opened as an outparcel during this period as well.
However, during the late 1990’s competition reared its head as the planned upscale combination mega-mall and lifestyle center, Flatiron Crossing, was being built a scant fifteen miles northwest in Broomfield along US-36. This spooked Westminster management enough to arrange for a $10 million renovation and overhaul, with $7 million contributed by the City of Westminster itself, about the same time Flatirons opened up in all of its glory in 2000. Gone was the old balloon logo, and in was a new, hip “WM” logo, as well as a litany of color changes in the decor. The balloons themselves persisted however, and the old logo can still be found on the mall directories.
Even with the competition, Westminster was holding its own, especially with its new $10 million facelift. However, as anyone familiar with retail will attest, this was when things started to go south. Montgomery Ward’s went under in 2001, taking its anchor with it. No one wanted the space, as every major department store already had a space at Westminster, so Westminster covered the entrance. They left the building vacant and intact, and used its secondary entrance as an overflow entrance during the holidays. Sears took over the Ward’s Auto Center. Joslin’s was taken over at this time and became Dillard’s.
When Mervyn’s closed in 2005, this was the beginning of the end. The north wing, the crooked arm of the cross, lost Mervyn’s at its end. Now having lost Ward’s and Mervyn’s the farthest part of the north wing was all but dead, its food court languishing in a sea of closed, darkened shops. Though Sears stayed, shops closed all along the north wing, leaving Sears virtually alone. This is where I can step in again and recount from firsthand experience.
When I moved back to the Denver Metro Area as an adult in 2006, the Westminster mall was coincidentally the closest mall to me. I was eager to go and check out the mall of my early youth. I was dismayed and saddened by what I found.
By 2006, Foley’s had become Macy’s, but Macy’s looked at the Westminster location, surrounded by closed shops, and the Flatirons location, new and vibrant, and decided that the Westminster location would be closed as they made their recession cuts in 2008. Macy’s closed in 2009, and its wing died with it, including the 6 and 11-plex theaters. Traildust Steakhouse closed its outparcel, leaving so quickly it forgot to take its signage and décor. Steak & Ale went under as its parent company died.
The mall is now a ghost town. Utilized mostly by rowdy teenagers and elderly mallwalkers (everyone who wants to actually shop goes up to Flatirons), it seems that every time I go, at least two to five stores have closed since the last time I went. Most stores have been closed and stripped of their branding, but a few are still recognizable. In quite a few, mall management has set up cutsey little displays or art which make little sense, and contribute to the dead nature of the place.
It’s sad. This was my mall, and now it’s in its death throes, and there is little I can do about it. Still, the mall hosts small conventions and events, but these attempts to bring people in seem pathetic, especially because no one shows up. My fiancée and I call it the “zombie mall,” as it is both lurching on past its death, and eerily quiet and dark, like the shopping malls in each iteration of “Day of the Dead.”
This feeling of helplessness is compounded by the fact that no one knows what will happen to the mall. Oddly, everything surrounding the mall is thriving, and most are strip malls and small shopping centers that sprouted up to capitalize on the success of Westminster Mall. But now the mall seems to detract from the environment rather than add to it. Rumors abounded that the mall was to be reworked and razed to create a lifestyle center to capitalize upon the upcoming light rail Fasttracks train system that was to be built along US-36 as it was along I-25 and the existing RTD (bus) park and ride. Mall management even went to court to keep Burlington Coat Factory out of the Mervyn’s location so they would have no one standing in the way of demolishing the mall. However, with the souring economy, it looks as though the light rail will not be built along US-36 for a long while, and all the financing that could overhaul the site has dried up. Westminster management seems to be mum about what is happening and their website acts as though nothing is wrong (showing no photographs, of course). In fact, rumors are that management is paranoid about photographs of the premises being published, and forbids staff from photographing their places of work. Security will stop patrons if they are noticed taking pictures and demand they delete them.
The most recent news, reported by the Denver Post on April 30, 2009, is that the City of Westminster had Westminster Mall declared blighted, after it was inspected and found to be wanting in a variety of different safety areas. Why this was necessary, beyond allowing for taxes to help refurbish the mall, I’m not sure, but local bloggers think it may be to push the management into taking some steps towards doing something with the mall, as the move will let the City of Westminster threaten to take over the property from mall management or store owners through eminent domain. Otherwise, it seems the mall will become more and more dead as we keep hearing about the planned “remodel” that never seems to come.
I do sincerely hope something can be done, though I would prefer that the option of a lifestyle center be taken off the table. Most of the lost malls of Denver are now lifestyle centers, and though they can be fun, this is Colorado. It gets cold and windy, and open air shopping is not enjoyable for everyone when it is bitterly cold and precipitating. Wasn’t protection from the elements the whole point of the shopping mall in the first place? However, I would prefer anything over the nearly vacant building that stands there now.
So here are the photographs, a record of a mall that will soon be no more, and a record of my earliest shopping memories. I’m glad I took the time to preserve the mall photographically, even if the pictures are not stellar. Thanks for the inspiration.
As usual, feel free to leave your comments on Westminster Mall and retail in the Denver area in general, and thanks again Jacob!
Jeff L.
June 27th, 2009 at 7:12 pm
Too bad to hear about another dead mall in the Denver area. I went to DU in the late 90s and made it up to Westminster a couple of times…I remember that it was big, but fairly generic. Even then, the food court was struggling. When the newer, flashier Flatiron Crossing opened just up the highway, that was pretty much it for Westminster. Any other malls there struggling? I remember hearing Southwest Plaza wasn’t doing so well…
[Reply]
BonRegisKetin
June 27th, 2009 at 9:17 pm
Westminster’s plight is certainly awful, but its fate is rooted in the nature of competition — that Flatiron Crossing has some NICE touches!. In a healthier economy, the mall’s site would be transformed into a stable mixed-use development, giving the suburb in which it resides a quality town center.
[Reply]
Pseudo3D
June 27th, 2009 at 10:06 pm
Well! I’ve been reading this on Deadmalls. One of the writers of it is the 17-year-old manager of Pet City. What I didn’t see was the “gaping black hole” of Macy’s. It had black tiles. Are sure it was the Macy’s pictured?
I also wanted to see the food court as a whole, the arcade in the food court, and so on. Oh well, it’s cool.
[Reply]
mallguy
June 27th, 2009 at 10:07 pm
I visisted the Denver area in 2005 and the thing that struck me most is that the malls (indoor and lifestyle) have a noticeable “Colorado Outdoor Theme.” I did not visit Westminster Mall, but did drive past it on the Boulder Turnpike and noticed that the area around Westminster Mall seems vibrant (home to the 2nd Dave and Busters in the Denver Metro Area).
It does not surprise me that Flatiron Crossing did a number on Westminster as it’s closer to Boulder, slightly more upscale and has an incredible amount of surrounding stores and hotels. Did I hear correctly that Flatiron is also suffering as a result of the extreme vacancies in the outdoor lifestyle area and the vacant former Lord and Taylor?
Continuing with the theme of Colorado Outdoor, I was also very impressed with Park Meadows! Nice mall, great stores, easy access and the theme is all over the mall. I hear they now have an incredible otudoor lifestyle center.
Cherry Creek (since it’s owned by Taubman) is a clone of Short Hills, Fair Oaks and Stamford Town Center is also a very nice place to shop.
I would hope that Westminster could do something to save itself, but it doesn’t look very likely.
[Reply]
JDoherty Reply:
June 28th, 2009 at 12:32 pm
@mallguy,
The outdoor portion of Flatirons has a few vacancies, but is overall doing well. The Lord & Taylor’s just in the last month or so has become a Container Store.
[Reply]
JT
June 28th, 2009 at 2:37 am
I tend to agree with other posters here that there’s not much to like about this mall. It doesn’t even have history on its side considering that the original 1977 mall was one of those mini-malls that never survived in their original form: today either dead or mutated into monolithic white elephants. I can’t see what’s special about it. Maybe when they start building shopping centers that are all unique and eye-catching they might be able to compete. Flatiron apparently has the style, this mall just has the substance. I bet they would be doing a lot better if the mall had not had been allowed to get so huge.
[Reply]
Johnme
June 28th, 2009 at 5:34 am
This mall must have been abandoned very quickly. It is very strange that the mall has all of the lights on in the abandoned stores. Usually malls do not want to showcase their closed stores, but the management here must really want shoppers to know the place is dying. The mall design is clean and new but the majority of the store fronts are dated. That is not a good combination to keep a mall looking fresh. With three dead anchors and tons of empty storefronts this mall will not survive; especially if there is a newer lifestyle center nearby. Unfortunately, in this slow economy many malls will empty out quickly just as this one appears to have.
[Reply]
Rich
June 28th, 2009 at 8:16 am
Interesting that it’s demise wasn’t based on changing demographics, but rather on having a glitzier mall 15 miles away. Historically, mall developers tried to pace malls about 10 miles from each other, so a far distance like this is striking, even in the West. Although many malls grew over time, like this one, they really don’t have the organic tie to the development of a place in the same way as traditional downtowns or even classic strips of strips (like Rockville Pike in the DC area) and you get stuck with a white elephant if the thing dies, whereas a lot of suburban downtowns have been reinvented strip-lands with decent demographics also tend to refresh themselves with new merchants.
[Reply]
SEAN Reply:
June 28th, 2009 at 1:05 pm
@Rich,
A few weeks ago there was a program on PBS that profiled three cities & there traffic congestion issues.
First up was Portland Oregon & there success with growing from within via there use of the MAX lightrail system.
Third was the South Bronx & there desire to remove a lightly used expressway to improve a neighborhood where azma rates are amung the highest in the US.
In between was Denver & there sprawl problem. In denver the way to solve the congestion issue in the eyes of several polititions is to build more roads like completeing of the 470 beltway & build more sprawling developments. This is just one factor in Westminster Mall’s decline.
Along those lines AMC built a 24-screen Theatre on Westminster Boulevard a few years ago & opened another theatre on Orchard Parkway with 12-screens last year. It is things like this that make me scratch my head & wonder who is getting payed off with all this sprawl development. There’s no real reason that this mall is in such bad shape. Meanwhile the strip centers around the mall are thriving. I don’t get it.
[Reply]
Pseudo3D Reply:
June 28th, 2009 at 10:17 pm
Denver DOES have a light rail system which probably doesn’t do that much, but still!
[Reply]
SEAN Reply:
June 29th, 2009 at 8:04 pm
@Pseudo3D,
Denver like several metro areas had a massive increase of transit riders over the past few years. However news outlets only picked up the story when gas prices rose to the point when driving just a short distence became a hardship & crimpt retail & auto sales. They never explored the sprawl problem because a fair amount of media revenue comes from the real estate sector & were not about to bite the hand that feeds them. As we have sene over the past three years the real estate industry was in line for some kind of a correction, but we as a society just didn’t have a clue in what we were in for.
Cities like Westminster may not be in the same league as Las Vegas in the forclosure fallout, but the lack of a central downtown will make it harder to give Westminster, Littleton & cities like them some kind of an identity other then just another sprawlburg.
Without rapid transit how will these communities keep growing when gas at the pump crosses $5 pg? We already saw what happend at the $4 mark. Transit systems were bursting & even when fuel prices dropped by half, most of those people still were on transit.
So here is a chance for Westminster Mall to be redeveloped into a showcase for smart development for the future, or the mall will just rot away. Lonetree, Littleton & other cities are in the same boat even if they aren’t aware of it. I’m sure they are aware but just think this is not a big problem. This mall is a microcosm of ecconomic forces at work that most people haven’t rapped there brains around yet, but they’ll need to to move foward.
[Reply]
Gary
June 28th, 2009 at 12:30 pm
This appeared to be an A-class mall very recently. Some of the vacant stores such as the Disney Store, PacSun and Motherhood Maternity still have the old storefronts at the time of their closure. Other stores still open like Hot Topic and GNC are still sporting their vintage storefronts as well. I think this mall might succeed if they move Sears to the vacant Foley’s, relocate all the stores from the former Mervyn’s and Montgomery Ward wing and then subsequently demolish the entire wing, building a megaplex theater anchored strip mall in the entire parking lot north of the mall.
[Reply]
Sandra
June 28th, 2009 at 3:47 pm
I can’t tell you how glad I am that some pictures of the place will survive.
A few of the former stores in the pictures:
Not sure about the shoe store, but if I had to guess I would say Easy Spirit. I’m also unsure about the cell phone store. I seem to remember it being called something like Spring Communication, but again I can’t be sure.
The pizza joint was called Big Papa’s.
The coffee shop was Gloria Jean’s until around 2001, after that it was a sports memorabilia store of some kind.
The Fresh Grill was once Los Panchos Mexican Grill.
Riviera was once Gadzooks.
The red tiled food court stall (the picture is tagged Even More Food Court) was The Great American Cookie Company. Unsure about the other, greenish one, (tagged Dead Food Court Stall) it might have been a food court tenant listed as Hot Dogs and More in the 2000 mall directory.
The jewelry store (tagged Dead Diamond Store) was JC Diamonds. Unfortunately, I have no idea what the other one (tagged Dead Jewelry Store) might have been, as there were around ten such stores in the mall as late as 2006.
The Jewelfire Cafe (tagged Dead Cafe) was Mrs. Fields until around 2007. The cafe only lasted around a year.
To answer a few other questions in the comments:
That is, in fact, Macy’s in the picture tagged Dead Macy’s, they’ve just papered over the “gaping black hole.”
The Southwest Plaza mall was struggling, but has recently started to make a comeback. I would guess it’s now at about 95% occupation. It’s still pretty quiet and dated-looking, but is slowly returning to health as an alternative to the open-air center Aspen Grove.
Flatirons is hardly suffering, but the outdoor lifestyle center known as The Village certainly is, due in part to rumored problems with its structural integrity (a massive crack can be seen in the sidewalk around the former Il Fornaio restaurant) and former Village tenants moving into the enclosed portion of the mall. A two-story structure there was recently demolished and replaced with a small playground. The Lord and Taylor shell did indeed sit vacant for close to five years, but was filled this summer, with half the space taken over by The Container Store and the other half by a Forever 21 slated to open in September.
[Reply]
Pseudo3D Reply:
June 28th, 2009 at 10:16 pm
@Sandra,
1) Are you the one who wrote the DeadMalls summary?
2) Gee, the “structural problems” sound sort of like Cinderella City. Is it possible the entire Village will be torn down soon?
3) Are there any pictures of What-Knots and the arcade there?
[Reply]
Sandra Reply:
June 29th, 2009 at 1:55 pm
Yes, I did write the DeadMalls piece. There is a shot of the food court arcade. (it’s tagged Food Court Gumball Super Fun Zone) You can sort of make out Bert and Ernie sitting in the firetruck, and I think that creepy laugh comes from them. There are no shots of What-Knots in the bunch. (It’s tricky to photograph because it’s within sight of a mall office).
As for the Village, it doesn’t seem terribly likely that it would be torn down, as it’s clearly their show pony and they’ve been shoving the concept down shopper’s throats from day one. I’m not sure of the extent of the foundation shifts, or even if there’s any truth to that story, but it looks to be confined to the very front of the complex. Tearing down the building that they did seems to have been a cosmetic decision; with that particular building gone the Village is now visible from the parking lot and the place as a whole looks nicer with a bit more open space.
[Reply]
JDoherty Reply:
June 29th, 2009 at 2:16 pm
@Sandra,
That’s exactly why I didn’t take a picture of WhatKnots- there was a security guard milling about. On the same topic, that is also why I do not have many photographs of the exterior of the mall. I once had photographs of the entire exterior, as well as close-ups of Steak & Ale and Traildust, but I was caught by roving Mall Security. I did not want trouble, so I complied and deleted a few outdoor pictures, but was able to keep all my interior shots. It was only after that I found out I technically did not have to comply with anything, and the worst they could do was escort me off the property. Oh well…
[Reply]
Pseudo3D Reply:
June 29th, 2009 at 2:20 pm
Are there TWO Gumball Super Fun Zones? Bizarre.
[Reply]
Sandra Reply:
June 29th, 2009 at 2:29 pm
There are more than that, maybe as many as four or five by now. They keep creeping into vacant spaces.
[Reply]
Jonah Norason (Pseudo3D) Reply:
June 30th, 2009 at 5:43 pm
I kind of imagined a dark, dreary arcade with a life-sized statue, made of plastic, that let out a monotone and equally chilling laugh. Maybe like this, maybe creepier.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XlWG7VS74SM
[Reply]
Sandra Reply:
June 30th, 2009 at 11:09 pm
Bert and Ernie make more of a shrill cackle (but that certainly would be unsettling).
[Reply]
Jeremy
June 28th, 2009 at 7:33 pm
Beautifully written, and beautiful mall, I could feel the emotion coming from the writer.
Unfortunately, not every story will have a happy ending,
and I predict the same for this.
[Reply]
Bobby
June 29th, 2009 at 10:36 am
Isn’t this mall owned by notable slumlord Sherman Dreiseszun?
[Reply]
Pseudo3D Reply:
June 29th, 2009 at 1:27 pm
@Bobby,
Yes, I believe it is.
[Reply]
GregW Reply:
October 27th, 2009 at 1:23 am
@Pseudo3D,
Dreiseszun died in 2007; his family still owns the company (MD Management) from what I can tell. He also owned the former Buckingham Square in Denver, as well as the current zombie malls Metcalf South and Metro North in the Kansas City area. Metro North even had hot air balloons, it seems!
[Reply]
Pseudo3D
June 29th, 2009 at 1:28 pm
I can’t believe neither Orange Julius stores (yes, there are two) were caught in the photos!
[Reply]
JDoherty Reply:
June 29th, 2009 at 1:40 pm
@Pseudo3D,
I attempted to take pictures of both, but neither picture came out well, nor could you tell that they were different.
[Reply]
Sandra Reply:
July 1st, 2009 at 5:12 pm
Actually, one of them is visible in the shot called Looking Out From JC Penney. What always struck me as odd about the twin Juliuses is that they are not a symptom of the mall’s deadness; they’ve both been there all along. I remember being baffled by them when I was seven, and my mother swears to me that they were there in the 80s. The mall also had two Sam Goodys around 2001.
Also, after having looked at the photos again, you can actually see part of the What Knots counter off to the left in the shot called Corridor Outside Food Court.
[Reply]
Pseudo3D
June 29th, 2009 at 2:09 pm
Eh, it happens. On my Sunrise Mall post, there was a model railroader’s club with the complete lights-and-crossbucks installed on the wooden facade. But the picture came out blurry. Ah well.
[Reply]
Bobby
June 29th, 2009 at 10:01 pm
This mall once had a Fashion Bar. Where was it?
[Reply]
Sandra Reply:
June 30th, 2009 at 11:07 pm
According to everyone I’ve asked, it was near the Macy’s (which would have been called May D&F in the Fashion Bar era). The truly iconic Fashion Bar, however, was at Buckingham Square Mall, which was under the same ownership as Westminster. (Buckingham Square was unfortunately torn down last year.)
Unknown Dead Store Update:
The store in the photo tagged “Dead Jewelry Store” turned out to be Brendan Jewelers.
[Reply]
Chris
June 30th, 2009 at 12:09 am
Just a small correction to this passage:
“Finally, a six-plex theater opened inside the mall near Foley’s, and this same theater had an outparcel eleven-plex building with even more space, and both were known for having the latest in digital sound.”
I’m not sure of the exact date the theaters were built, but I do know that they were around as far back as 1980. The first movies I remember seeing were “The Empire Strikes Back” and “Superman II” in the outdoor (Westminster Five) theater when they first came out, and the indoor theater was open at the same time. I still have a ticket stub from 1988 when “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” came out in the outside theater ($1.25 for a kid’s ticket!!!) They were probably contemporary with the Buckingham Square and Northglenn Mall models of having theaters either inside or adjacent to the mall complex.
I grew up in and near Westiminster, so watching this mall decline has been extremely painful, from a nostalgia perspective. This is the first mall I remember visiting, when it had the Circus World toy store in the Joslin’s wing. I don’t know how much money I pumped into video games in the arcade across from the six-plex, but I could probably pay off my credit card bills with the amount. It was definitely THE place to go in the NW Denver area for about a 15-year stretch from 1985-2000. If you were from the age of 10-25 during this period, you found a way, by hook or by crook, to spend time there on the weekends.
During the late 1980s, the Olive Garden was a California beach-grill-style restaurant, with an outdoor sand volleyball court to boot; I think it closed around 1991 or 1992.
It’s going to break my heart if they tear it down, but I’m sure the people who visited Northglenn Mall in the 1970s felt the same way when that place deteriorated and was finally torn down. All these things come to an end, eventually.
[Reply]
Allan (M.)
June 30th, 2009 at 2:36 am
Damn, I’m amazed how many older-looking storefronts are left in this mall. The Zumiez one really stands out to me, since I’ve very rarely(if ever) seen that store design.
Mirrored JCPenney love!
[Reply]
M.C.
July 1st, 2009 at 9:27 am
This is a sad looking place, and very bizarre as well. Particularly pitiful are the stores with banners just tacked up over the signs of old tennants, and the out of business stores with pointless displays set up inside. There seems to be very little effort on the part of the ownership/management to conceal this mall’s “deadness”, with several former tennants’ signs still being displayed above empty storefronts, and the aparrent spread of dead space between occupied stores. I can’t imagine why they wouldn’t, as someone else mentioned above, attempt to compress existing tennants into one end of the mall -including anchors if possible- and either seal off the other end, find alternative solutions (Church in the mall, anyone?), or call in the bulldozers. Seeing the state of this place, I wouldn’t be drawn back to it for any purpose other than to gawk at its utter sadness. Or maybe to pick up a blanket and an ATV because it’s just so convenient to do all at once! This place makes me a little sad, and I’ve never even been.
[Reply]
Sandra Reply:
July 3rd, 2009 at 9:09 pm
I think that much of this laissez-faire treatment can be blamed on distance. For some reason, Westminster Mall Co. (the entity that apparently owns the mall) is based in Kansas City. It seems to me that the key to successfully repositioning the mall is understanding the specific demographics of the surrounding neighborhood, so this creates problems.
I agree that consolidation is in order. The mall could really do without the Macy’s wing in particular. The Dillard’s, Sears, and JCPenney wings are well populated enough (admittedly not with the most A-class of tenants) and the deadness of the Mervyn’s wing isn’t as problematic because it isn’t visible from the center court. Because the Macy’s wing is one of the more long and prominent corridors, its utter emptiness except for Pet City makes it positively scream, “This right here, is a dead mall.” Also, the arcade in the lobby of the former theater (Gumball Zone #3 for those of you keeping score at home) is becoming more and more of a focal point for the “riff-raff”.
If consolidation is for some reason impossible (some tenants, such as Pet City, couldn’t be relocated without considerable renovation of the new space) I can maybe see this place being used temporarily (until the worst of the recession is over) as an informal “overstock” mall. I suppose what I’m suggesting is that chain stores take over the dead storefronts without really transforming them and use them as places to sell their clearance/excess merchandise. I say this mostly because the Dillard’s is already being used this way and appears busier than it has in years, and the Disney store has recently re-appeared directly across the street from the mall selling overstock merchandise at a discount of 85%, which seems almost silly to me given that their original mall location is unoccupied with all the original decor and fixtures still intact.
[Reply]
Pseudo3D Reply:
July 4th, 2009 at 11:10 am
Why not convert Westminster Mall into something like a discount/marketplace center not unlike Colorado Mills? (without the “bad feeling” Mills malls seem to pick up)
That would be cool and it would complement Flatiron Crossing.
[Reply]
Sandra Reply:
July 5th, 2009 at 9:18 pm
It seems perfectly sensible to me (they could formalize the “outlet” model once things are less grim economically). Of the mall’s two “competitors”, the Mills is definitely the one to target. Westminster isn’t connected to the Mills by any highways the way it is to Flatirons, and Westminster would be much easier to transform into a Mills-esque mall than a Flatirons/ Park Meadows type place. (The balloons are already somewhat Mills-like.) Also, outlet stores have always been held in high esteem around here (before Colorado Mills, it was not unheard of to drive out to Loveland) and people would appreciate having them nearby.
[Reply]
Prange Way
July 2nd, 2009 at 6:57 pm
I’m actually at Westminster now posting on my iPhone. The mall isn’t as dead as I thought, but it’s definitely in big trouble. As you can see in the pics, a lot of national chains have closed to be replaced by local stores. There are a fair number of people walking around, and the number of totally vacant stores isn’t as high as I thought either, in certain parts of the mall. The Dillards wing and the area around center court has the most activity, and the parts of the mall nearest the dead anchors are very troubled and mostly vacant. The LensCrafters customers must be annoyed the store is at a dead end by the former mervyns. I am also kind of surprised nothing ever took the dead Wards, now closed over 8 years. In addition, i dont think the pictures covvey the huge size of this mall. The smaller hallway between Dillards and Macys would be a decent sized mall in itself, and the longer cross hallway is about twice that length! Overall, the place is pretty clean too. Ok, walking and typing is making me dizzy, so I’ll end here.
[Reply]
Rich
July 4th, 2009 at 8:26 am
It sounds like the inflexibility of the mall space (not to mention the owner’s lack of imagination) and the size seem to be part of the death spiral of this mall. A non-enclosed mall setup would be easier to re-purpose. It’s a good example of why, even in the absence of a recession, developers practically quit building enclosed malls. They were a no-brainer investment 30-40 years ago, now they’re a big risk with enormous downsides.
[Reply]
sally
July 5th, 2009 at 10:27 am
Nice writeup, Jacob. My childhood mall is very much dying, too, and I know how it feels. I don’t know exactly why it’s so disconcerting, but it is…
That said, these pictures are very striking, because it looks like almost 2 completely different malls! It seems like the stores that are open have at least some strong names (Victoria’s Secret, Claire’s), and they look very nice, clean, inviting, etc. But the stores that are closed are so desolate and chilling, especially with the lights still on in half of them.
[Reply]
Paul Cain
August 22nd, 2009 at 3:43 pm
The “Dead Jewelry Store” looks like a former Gordon’s.
[Reply]
John T.
August 30th, 2009 at 12:36 am
The Dillard’s is closing.
[Reply]
Goaltender66
September 15th, 2009 at 10:53 am
Kind of sad. I worked at this mall in the late 80s and early 90s…first at WaldenSoftware and a couple of years later at Joslyn’s, both on the same wing. I remember sneaking out of work to grab a Cinnabon when I had a few minutes.
One of my best memories is the trick-or-treat WM would host for kids during Halloween. We’d stand out in front of our stores and pass out candy and such. I also greatly enjoyed the car shows that would take place on the occasional weekend. I was in charge of opening the store on Saturday mornings and was sometimes astonished to look out my storefront and see antique automobiles driving by.
Even as a young kid my mom would take me for ice cream and we’d sit and watch the balloons. Even throughout my teens I have lots of memories of wandering around the mall, seeing movies, playing arcade games, cruising around the food court (anyone remember Big Al’s?), and just plain having fun. Odd that a mall would be a venue for growing up, but that’s kind of what it was for me.
[Reply]
J.D.
September 26th, 2009 at 4:44 am
I just visited this mall today and I was really surprised. One of my friends works in the mall between JCP and Dillards and I just had to see the deadness for myself. I recently moved here from Illinois where my childhood mall (Randhurst) just died. Unfortunately I didn’t get to see it in the last 6 or so years before it finally got torn down this year so I wanted to see what a dead mall looked like.
First off, it really is weird seeing two Orange Julius places so close to each other. Second there are three or so gumball stores. One in the entrance of the old theater which contains some classic arcade games that have auction tags on them (Lethal Enforcers anyone?) near the Macy’s wing. One is a couple stores south of the food court, and one is in the food court.
The mall really is in a sad state. Except for the space between Dillards and JCP, and a few stores north of the main area, you can probably count the stores on one hand. In the Macy’s wing there is the pet store. After Sears the only store is a Lidz until the food court. Then north of the food court which only contains a Teriyaki place, subway, and What Knots, is a lens crafters and a place you can make dog tags. In the same wing (dont know what the anchor was) are two stores that creeped me out. One has a huge train set in it and the colorado themed kids play area pictured above. Both were closed and I was there around 4 o’clock. It’s Your Turn is also pretty eerie with the blue lighting and chess setup. I’ll probably be back in a few years when the place is totally closed and you have to sneak in.
[Reply]
Jason
September 30th, 2009 at 10:15 pm
This mall did not fail because of economic factors. In some cases they were merely a victim of circumstances.
During the late 90’s-early 2000’s:
The Montgomery Wards was rank #1 in the country.
Suncoast, Sam Goody and Musicland were all ranked at the top of their company. in the mid-90’s Musicland was consistently a top performer. Then all 3 companies were bought by Best Buy and subsequently closed.
KB Toys was the #1 store in the nation. Sleep Number (formerly Select Comfort) was top in it’s company.
And those are just the stores I have direct knowledge of.
Countless others closed on a corporate level and had nothing to do with the performance of the Westminster Mall location.
The rest of the downfall of this mall can be placed squarely on its ownership.
Part of the problem is an impotent management. The manager is a old lazy dinosaur that has been around for decades. When you look at successful malls, they are normally managed my young and ambitious types. I think due to their success, they were so used to tenants falling in their lap, that they never went out a recruited stores once the leases declined.
Other terrible decisions have been made.
During its heyday, ownership refused to allow major nationals in the food court. Can you imagine? They wanted local independents. The logic behind that is just absurd.
Also, when a store would close, rather that work to fill the space, the mall would be content on letting it sit empty and collect the rent that was due to them. Stores would leave with 3 years on a lease, and the mall wouldn’t allow a new store to occupy it until the lease was complete.
I sincerely hope they do not turn Westminster into an outdoor mall. Those just don’t work. All over Colorado, the new lifestyle centers are struggling. Hopefully they just knock down the entire Macy’s wing as well as anything beyond Sears. The parking lot is a asphalt jungle. They could turn that into a strip mall, movie theater or even residential.
Very sad to see what Westy Mall has become.
[Reply]