Comments on: Westland Mall; Hialeah, Florida

By: Brian

Brian — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 14:50:26 +0000

Does anyone remember “The Door Store”? Before Ikea came along, they were the source for your cheap “retro” looking furniture, And if memory serves me, there was a Door Store at Westland for a while.

By: Jose

Jose — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 22:02:54 +0000

You know, back in the early 80’s my most prominent memory of the mall as a 4 year old–more or less–were always the retro fountains they used to have (cube formations, and tall verticals). The fountains shown in the pictures aren’t the originals. If I remember correctly, they really matched the architecture of the ceiling. The one thing that has always bugged me about Hialeah/Cuban (and latino in general) remodeling is that there is never any appreciation/respect for what was/is there and renovations are never better than the original (this goes for homes as well, for those not from Miami you should see the columns and fountains people in stick in front of their homes). God forbid they touch that roof lol They’ll probably fill it with spanish arches with columns that use palm tree capitals. **shudders**

By: Daine

Daine — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 04:03:02 +0000

It basically remains the same they got rid of the fountains to make way for a cofee shop and small playgrounds, besides that and a few changes in the tiny stores nothing has changed. I go there almost every week and let me tell you it is nothing special

By: Jayne

Jayne — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 03:05:38 +0000

I waited for Westland mall to be built. It was going to be air conditioned and where we usually went to shop,Northside shopping center was not. Before the mall was even built I went to Hialeah I went with my Mom when I was a kid, they showed free movies every Tuesday in the day time. All up and down 103rd street there was shopping that we always went to. I couldn’t hardly wait for the mall to be built. After getting married my husband and I bought a house right behind Westland mall it was 1975. A bunch of new modern houses had been built in west Hialeah, and were bought up almost all at once by cuban immigrants. In 1975 when I found myself in need of a job, I decided to go to Westland mall for sure I could get a job there. Wrong, I went into practically every store there and I got the same reason at each for not hiring me. I didn’t speak Spanish. This was in 1975. Hialeah definately didn’t have 92% Cuban residents. It was American operated stores that wanted their business. That’s how it became 92% hispanic. That and the loans they got from our government to buy up all of those houses. Not to mention the loans to start up businesses that catered only to Cubans. The success of Hialeah was already there before the Cuban immigrants arrived. They just took over a city that was already doing well.

By: Eddie C.

Eddie C. — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 18:18:46 +0000

@Julian,

Yeah, I miss the central platfrom in front of JCPenney! And you’re right, that spot does look a bit empty now. I used to meet people there all the time and would see some live entertainment once in a while.

By: Julian

Julian — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 05:28:08 +0000

This mall is here to stay till the end of humanity.
Hialeah is the 5th largest city in the State of Florida, and one of the most dense cities in the country. Westland Mall has been an institution for nearly 4 decades now and gone through generations of families. For your average day of shopping for clothes or a quick hangout for the teenagers this mall has mantained that use and nothing can really change that.
I don’t get the “Wasteland” comment, during the work week its as busy as a mall gets but during the weekends and the shopping holidays (now during school shopping) the traffic is epic. Theres a famous arial picture from last year where every single parking space is taken and snakes of cars are riding around.
Shoppers come anywhere from Pembroke Pines/Miramar area down to the Opa-Locka/Carol City/Miami Gardens area and then theres the Hialeah/Hialeah Gardens/Miami Springs area. People from Broward County show up mainly because of cheaper prices than the Pembroke Lakes mall. For certian higher end shopping, Westland is not your mall. But the whole Northwest Dade/ I-75 region is Westland’s solid base that will not go away anythime soon.

The mall can certianly use some sort of revamp. Right now the parking lot has gtten lots of new trees and little aethetic touch. The exterior was painted some grayish/white color. Inside they have gutted all the fountains and the central platform that held some concerts and events in the past and some trees that surrounded them have also gone. I have no idea what they are planning but it feels a bit empty right now without the seating area with the fountains and stage, hopefully they’re planning something.

By: Miss V.

Miss V. — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 06:24:58 +0000

While not quite a dead mall, the old Mayfair mall with the fountains in every possible area, was my favorite mall. The remodel upset me. I wish pictures of the original mall would surface.

By: Eddie C.

Eddie C. — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 04:54:46 +0000

Here is the actual link for the Omni:

http://www.deadmalls.com/malls/omni_international_mall.html

I wanted to make some changes to it, since I had some info that needed clarifying/ updating but the website never posted it!

Anyway, back to original topic, It was interesting to see Westland on here. There are so many shopping centers in south FL worthy of being on Labelscar, but I’ve only found a few.

By: Eddie C.

Eddie C. — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 04:18:37 +0000

@Jonah Norason (Pseudo3D),

Yes, I was speaking of DeadMalls.com and yes the summary was written by me.

Thanks for your reply! )

By: Jonah Norason (Pseudo3D)

Jonah Norason (Pseudo3D) — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 18:14:05 +0000

@Eddie Corser(?)

You can mention DeadMalls.com here…the summary came from you…correct?