However, the problem back then was an, overall, outdated appearance (woodframe storefronts, old store logos/signs, et al). LOTS of them, especially in my 1994 visit. It just looked a little tired (though nowadays I’d probably relish in taking in such a setting).

Much of that outdatedness was dealt with by 1996, since a lot of the chains that had outdated looks all went belly up by then.

Nowadays, their problem is tenant mix. Recently they’ve really gone downscale….I mean, Steve & Barry’s? Old Navy? Then most of the vacant storefronts are filled by specialty shops that sell a lot of junk. Although the mall did get some remodeling done in 1990 (to blend it into the ‘then’ new food court), then again in 2000 to eliminate fountains and give the place a fresh coat of paint….it’s due for a full-scale top-to-bottom renovation to bring back softer variants of neutral color schemes it may have had in the 1970s, and reinstate seating areas it lost to kiosks throughout the 1990s.

I think in terms of ‘overall’ square footage, Mayfair takes the claim, followed by Fox River Mall in the Appleton area in second.

And as for Milwaukee-area malls(despite that I’m nowhere near being a great expert on Milwaukee), it’s interesting to see that Southridge still doesn’t have a future renovation plan on their drawing board, yet that Brookfield is about to get one, Bayshore already got one, and I imagine Mayfair already underwent one years ago, especially if it’s the most successful mall in the Milwakee area. Hopefully Southridge will get one soon enough, especially since it’s the last of the 2 ‘-ridge’ malls to still exist in the Milwaukee area, and since both were built by Taubman.

But Nordstrom does not even care about the Milwaukee market. Lord and Taylor still have to work on the effects that the May Department Stores . But anything could happen in the future.

Also, Bon Ton would not open stores here under their own banner. They would go under the Boston Store name in the region.

Considering all their ‘original’ suburban locations (not locations taken over from former Gimbles stores in Milwaukee or Pranges in Madison) are all rather dated on the exteriors, a fresh new box would be something to see.

I do think people in the Fox Valley (Appleton) region have been a bit more receptive to the Macys locatoin at Fox River Mall, but everyone I talk to around this part of the state where I live, still fondly recall Pranges and misses them. For our region and the rest of the state pretty much, they were our department store….something we could call our own. Just like Chicago with its Marshall Field Co.

VERY hard to shake that out of people and get them to change. Customer loyalty is a very strong thing, and if a chain loses that, they’re toast.

Milwaukee cannot support another Macy’s. The existing one is despised by the locals as it took away their only high-end store, that being Marshall Field’s. Heck, even Chicago can’t support another Macy’s due to that debacle. I give Macy’s five years before they close up or sell out the Chicago, Milwaukee, Detroit, and Twin Cities markets to someone else. That’s five years from 9/9/2006.

Now, a Von Maur or a Nordstrom, or dare I say, a Lord & Taylor, that market could easily support.