01 March 2010 | Death Watch, Minnesota | Prange Way

Located in Brooklyn Center, an inner-ring suburb 10 miles northwest of Minneapolis, Brookdale Center is a behemoth of a mall living on borrowed time. Opened in 1962, Brookdale debuted to a new, sprawling post-war building boom which eventually levelled off as the area became built out. Over time, many original residents serving the mall’s purpose moved up and out to newer and better suburbs, and were slowly replaced by those with a different socioeconomic status. Today, Brookdale is in serious decline, existing as as an ever-dwindling collection of stores inside the husk of a super-regional mall on the precipice of closure.

8 Comments

12 April 2009 | Death Watch, Retail News, Retail Stores | Caldor

Isn’t it obvious it would turn out this way?

On March 30, Gottschalks announced they were going to liquidate, extinguishing any hope the 105-year-old chain would continue to operate. We noted a few months ago that Gottschalks existed in a weird place–kind of a dowdy combo of Kohls and Macy’s, with mostly mall-based locations–and that their [...]

15 Comments

27 January 2009 | Death Watch, Texas | Prange Way

Midway Mall, located in Sherman, Texas, is the only major shopping mall for a section of Texoma comprised of the cities Sherman and Denison, Texas, and Durant, Oklahoma.  With a population of about 150,000, Midway Mall’s trade area is located approximately 70 miles northeast of downtown Dallas; however, the mall itself as well as the Texas side of its trade area are technically located [...]

21 Comments

21 January 2009 | Death Watch, Retail News, Retail Stores | Caldor

Yikes. They only just announced a Chapter 11 filing last week, but Gottschalks is on the fast track to oblivion. Inside Bay Area notes that Gottschalks needs a buyer now “or else:”

Gottschalks Inc. intends to find a buyer by mid-March or it might proceed with a complete liquidation of its assets, according to court papers [...]

18 Comments

08 January 2009 | Death Watch, Retail News, Retail Stores | Prange Way

Macy’s, like many other stores in the country, didn’t make it through the holiday season with a surplus of cash; in fact, Macy’s has emerged from the holiday season – a time when many stores report up to 50 percent of annual sales – badly beaten and in need to purge some of its stores.  [...]

59 Comments