Lincoln Mall; Lincoln, Rhode Island
Prologue: Like all of the enclosed shopping malls in the state where I grew up, Lincoln Mall holds a special place in my heart. It was an accidental trip there in January 1998 that began my modern fascination with malls, and–quite literally–how the “other half” lives. When I say “other half,” I’m talking about a geographic (not economic) disparity. I lived in the suburbs south of Providence, and Lincoln Mall existed in the northern suburbs. As such, I very rarely had cause to go there, and it was during one leisurely visit spent people-watching on a rainy day that the whole mall obsession really dug its claws in. This was the other side of my city, with totally different people shopping in a totally different shopping mall, yet I didn’t know it or them. From then on, I’ve always had (in every way) to know what’s around the next bend.
Rhode Island’s Lincoln Mall was built in the mid-1970s at the junction of routes 116, 146, and I-295 in Lincoln, Rhode Island. At a little over half a million square feet, the mall was mid-sized, and its design–one long hallway with a 45 degree crook in the center and anchors at each end–was relatively standard for the time. The mall was initially anchored by Zayre and Woolco, with three junior anchors: Cherry & Webb, Peerless, and a movie theatre.
Tenants would shuffle about over the years, and by the mid-1980s, Caldor would replace the Woolco and Kmart would build a rather shiny and attractive store in the former Zayre space. Despite these decidedly mid-market tenants, the Lincoln Mall did quite well and courted a large roster of standard mall tenants such as The Gap and Lerner. One long-time fixture was the Christmastime presence of “Randy the Talking Reindeer,” a Santa Claus-like attraction that was advertised heavily on Providente television every year.
The mall was also the only mall serving the relatively populous Woonsocket trade area, and is located near the sprawling CVS Pharmacy Headquarters, the Amica Insurance Headquarters, and a large Fidelity Investments office campus, all of which would bring well-paying jobs into the area for many years. There is very little other chain retail located around the mall, which likely served it well in its earlier years but hurt it in later years as it was impossible to cross-shop with other big box chains, all of which were 15 minutes away.
Like many malls of its type, Lincoln Mall took many hard hits through the years. Built as one of the first wave of enclosed malls constructed around Providence, it was the lone mall in the city’s northern suburbs until the late 1980s and had no immediate competition. In 1989, the massive Emerald Square Mall (with 170 or so stores spread across three levels) would open a few miles away just over the Massachusetts border, but the mall would be relatively unaffected by its presence, continuing its operations prosperously for another decade. In 1999, Lincoln Mall was hit with twin challenges: the even larger (and very upscale) Providence Place Mall opened up, also about ten minutes away, and the mall lost Caldor when the entire chain folded. For awhile, the mall limped a bit, but was given a major boost with an extensive (mainly exterior) renovation in 2000. Despite the loss of many of its junior anchors, the mall rebounded by replacing them: Pay/Half moved into the Cherry & Webb space, HomeGoods took the long-underused Peerless space, and the movie theatres were taken over by a medical center. The Caldor anchor was mostly demolished and replaced by a Stop & Shop, which (for obvious reasons) did not open into the mall. It did, however, drive traffic, and the mall continued on. Eventually, Marshalls took the remainder of the former Caldor space and a tiny bit of the old mall and acted as the mall’s eastern anchor. As recently as January 2003, the mall was almost fully leased.
Also, in 2002, another major contender opened just a few exits away at US-44 and I-295. Smithfield Crossing is a large outdoor shopping center that hosts many traditional mall tenants and wooed some tenants (such as The Gap) away from Lincoln Mall. It would have more of an impact on the Lincoln Mall than either Emerald Square Mall or Providence Place.
Unfortunately Kmart would close their 110,000 square foot Lincoln Mall store as part of a round of closings in 2003, and the loss would impact the mall severely. Stores began emptying out at an alarming pace and by February 2004 the mall was over 50% vacant. The still newly-opened Marshalls also shut their mall entrance, dooming the mall. The center was sold to WP Realty at about this time, and they announced plans to demolish much of the mall and replace it with an outward-facing plaza. Demolition began in mid to late 2004.
Now, the mall is an extremely strange mall and plaza hybrid. The majority of the western Kmart wing was demolished in 2004 and has been replaced by an outdoor strip plaza anchored by a Target. The eastern wing was also largely big-boxed, with Marshalls, Home Goods, and a party store having exterior entrances only.
Strangely, two pieces of the mall interior remain. The cross hallway (and eastern entrance) closest to Marshalls (former Caldor) has remained in place–and remained open–seemingly so patrons can access a nail salon hidden deep inside of the old mall. Notice that the Marshalls sign above their shuttered interior entrance actually remains! I recorded this anomaly with this picture:
Similarly, most of the center court area of the mall was not big boxed and in fact remains today exactly as it always has been. There is a mall entrance in the front to access the center court, and there remains room for about 20 stores in the mall’s interior. Many of them (well over half) are vacant. Despite having frontage with the side of the Target store, it does not open into the mall, and the other end of the mall faces Career Education Institute, a job training school that’s long been a tenant at the mall even when it was successful. They moved to this larger space, taking up much of the interior of the old hallway (and separating this part of the mall from the dead area near the Marshalls, shown above).
In addition, a rather large “Cinema World” movie theatre was added to the back of the mall as a part of this renovation. It seems that the center court of the Lincoln Mall is now acting as a de-facto movie theatre lobby, and in fact the only new tenant to open inside of the enclosed portion of the mall during this time has been a Subway.
I’m not sure why the enclosed portion of the Lincoln Mall was kept, but I’m grateful for it. It does raise some false hopes; if Target would knock down the wall separating them from the mall, and if the CEI space was removed, then about 66% of the original mall from Target to Marshalls could be reopened and could again function as the enclosed mall it always was. Will this happen? Sadly, almost certainly not. But is this one of the stranger repositionings that I’ve seen? Absolutely. It’s puzzling as to why WP Realty would keep the center court yet not have mall access to abutting anchors, such as Target. There’s enough of the mall remaining to have a substantial enclosed center still, but as it is now its doomed to be a low-rent haven with little visibility.
I took all these pictures a couple weeks ago, and in the time since that the Lincoln Mall was recently sold again.
Prangeway: I visited Lincoln Mall on August 25, 2001 and took the following pictures. It’s interesting how mostly successful the mall was when I visited and how many changes it has gone through to become the “Frankenmall” it is today. Hopefully the new owners have a long-term vision for the mall and aren’t essentially just winging it with this fragile little mall.
on July 9th, 2006 at 7:12 am
Lincoln Mall used to be so much fun years ago. I remember going with my friends to the Dream Machine and the movie theatre (used to be a showcase there) and wandering around. I think there was a Brigham’s there too…but I could be wrong. Sucks how much it has changed! Love your site by the way!
on July 11th, 2006 at 12:55 pm
It really wasn’t a bad mall. I definitely miss it.
on November 13th, 2006 at 12:35 am
The former layout of this mall looks uncannily similar to the forrmer Naugatuck Valley Mall’s layout in Waterbury,CT.
(right down to the main entrance located in the middle and bent building angle.
http://terraserver.microsoft.com/image.aspx?T=1&S=10&Z=18&X=3331&Y=23016&W=1&qs=%7cwaterbury%7cconnecticut%7c
seems that large malls built around the 1970s and 1960s had certain standard designs.
on November 24th, 2006 at 10:59 pm
The Lincoln Mall opened in 1975. The original anchors were the Outlet Department Store and Woolco. Cherry and Webb also opned there .
on December 14th, 2006 at 12:52 am
I remember spending many a friday night at the Lincoln Mall in the early 90’s. Such great times. Chowing down on the best bacon pizza ever at Papa Gino’s, gawking the puppies in the “Pet Store with the pointy sign” as we used to call it, or being forced to eat at the Roast House by my mom (Like any pre-teen mallrat, I preferred the burgers and fries at the McDonalds located at the other end of the parking lot.) or wondering if the trapeze-like clothing racks at “DEB” could support my weight so I could swing around on them.
I think my fondest memories were going to the Dream Machine and playing Street Fighter II on the weekends, and even participating in some of the tournaments Dream Machine held (something I still do to this day some 14-15 years later.) In 1994, my family moved from the area, making getting to Lincoln Mall difficult. a few years later (either 1997 or 1998), after finally getting my drivers license, I took a trip back to the Lincoln Mall and was heartbroken to see most of the storefronts empty and that the 4-screen cinema had closed down. Sorrow quickly turned into joy, however when I saw that the Dream Machine was still open in all its dual level, red-painted, overzealously-laden-with-mirrors glory. True to its nature, it had all the latest games I had been dying to play. It was just like being 13 again.
I must’ve spent a good 3 hours there that day. I left with a huge smile on my face, my old hang out was still alive and kicking and I was already making plans to start going there regularly with some freinds. However that would be the last time I’d ever set foot in the Dream Machine. I went back 2 weeks later and its doors were shut and locked and the place was completly empty. I remember just staring at the empty store front for 5 minutes in utter disbelief. I walked back to the lot, got in my car, and proceeded to cry my eyes out. I know it’s sort of silly to get so emotional over the closing of some arcade in a dying mall, but it felt like a part of me died. To this day, whenever I go to a tournament, I always keep a Dream Machine token in my shirt pocket for luck.
On a good note, I returned to the Lincoln Mall about 3 months ago and saw that it was once again bustling, at least on the outside. They had just added Target as an anchor and Ocean State Job Lot where the old Almacs used to be. I’m glad to see that Lincoln Mall evaded the fate the other area malls have suffered.
on July 22nd, 2007 at 10:48 pm
How many record stores can anyone remember from those days?? There was one called NRM Records just down from Zales, and another bigger store: it was down the hall from Fanny Farmer, 1 or 2 stores after Waldenbooks on the same side. What was that called?
on August 2nd, 2007 at 8:07 pm
Good grief, I move out of the state in 1999, and all of my favorite places are now torn down and/or unrecognizable!!! I miss the Lincoln Mall!!!
on November 2nd, 2007 at 12:27 am
Lincoln Mall was also a great place during the 80s as young person. I, too, loved the Dream Machine. Does anyone remember it before the remod in the early 80s? When you first walked in through the rear entrance near the cinema, to the immediate left, was Women’s World, a small health club that couldn’t have been there long. I remember one of my cousins going there about 1980. The Dream Machine was tiny and dark as I remember it, but had awesome oldschool games.
Across the way was the General Cinema that I saw ET, Mister Mom, and a lot of other 80s films. On a Friday night, my gramp would drop me and my first girlfriend off there. We would walk around a little, check out the record store, Spencer, have a pizza, and play a few games, and grab a movie. Friday night for the Cumberland kids was mall night.
As you walked down that corridor, there was the smaller Papa Gino’s on the left, not to be confused with the one with the larger one with the bar located near Continental Ltd. As a side note, I got a pair a Cotler breakdancing parachute pants with the long vertical zippers down the sides. I didn’t break, but thought they were cool back in ‘84. Still further down the Dream Machine Corridor was Hallmark and T.W. Rounds on left, on the right was a fabric store that you could access from that corridor or through the front by that organ store off the center corridor. Remember those cheesy organ demonstrations? To the left was Woolco, where my grandfather purchased this monster of a snow blower in ‘78 after The Blizzard. I loved the toy section in Woolco. When that store became Caldor, it wasn’t the same. To me it was overpriced junk. Ann & Hope or Zayre was much better than Caldor.
I remember towards the front there was Anderson Little, a pet shop, and even a dentist.
My mom was a single parent, and one time we were browsing in Fanny Farmer, and this old lady overheard my mom saying that she really didn’t have any money for candy, and she bought us those chocolate coins wrapped in foil. Another time during the Easter season, I entered a raffle and won a huge chocolate bunny. Great memories that I haved thought of in ages.
I always thought the center of the mall where Santa and the Easter Bunny was situated was beyond words during the holidays.
As you headed towards the the other end of the mall there was Spencer on the left, the Roast House (think awesome turkey, Thanksgiving style or on bread), Kaybee toys, Newport Creamery, CVS, etc. Across the way was Waldens, a record store that I can’t remember the name that was there until I moved to CA in ‘87.
How about Almacs in the parking lot where Job Lot is? Good old Almacs market. Remember Asia, with the black ceiling tiles and the Bamboo lounge? I have to say they have the best wings with the sticky sauce that I have ever had. There was also Fayva Shoes right next to it.
I enjoyed the walk down memory lane.
on November 10th, 2007 at 8:15 pm
Just a small correction, when Lincoln Mall was young, the anchors were Woolco and The Outlet Department Store… Michaels Jewelers, The Pipe Den….
on January 25th, 2008 at 9:25 pm
Curent links to Lincoln Mall, RI
http://www.discoverlincolnmall.com/new.htm
http://www.inlandgroup.com/american/center_detail.asp?bldg=400144555
on February 5th, 2008 at 6:50 pm
“strolling the bright, cheery interior stores?” Those do not cheery.
on February 20th, 2008 at 11:20 am
I have to say, taking this stroll brought tears to my eyes. I’ve lived in Woonsocket all my life and have spent much of my pre-teen and teen years in the Lincoln Mall with my friends. As pre-teens (OK, and teens!), sporting our higher-than-the-sky-hair, we would sneak into Spencers to check out all the funny, inappropriate merchandise before we would be escorted out by the cashier who knew that our parents wouldn’t approve!
We would visit the fountain in the middle of the mall and throw in a penny while making our wish for the “perfect boyfriend”. That fountain is mostly dry now…so much for wishes!
We’d hit the Hickory Farms storefront for the free samples - YUM! - and then head over to the infamous cassette tapes store that, apparently, no one can remember the name of!!! How infamous is that!!!
I remember going into Deb to look at the great clothes they had, especially around prom season. We would try on the dresses for fun and for future reference.
I bought my first pair of colored flats at Fayva with my babysitting money. My mom hated those shoes, so of course, I would wear them everyday, making sure that my outfits revolved around the color of bright aqua! (You see, back then, that wasn’t hard!)
Seeing a movie at the cinema would be a special family treat to a family that couldn’t afford to do it too often. Ah! I remember those days fondly.
Thanks so much for the trip down memory lane!