Prange Way - Labelscar: The Retail History Blog

Pekin Mall (East Court Village); Pekin, Illinois

This is one that started it all for us. During 1998 and 1999, Caldor and I took road trips on many weekends throughout the upper midwest. It started out by exploring various cities, often driving around aimlessly. Eventually we wanted to get out and stretch our legs, so we’d look for public places we could walk around, people watch, get food, and hang out. We weren’t terribly familiar with these cities and we were both teenagers at the time, so we didn’t really know where to go to get our feet wet. So, we turned to the places teenagers are known to flock and went to local malls in the cities we visited.

At first we didn’t really know what we were doing, but eventually it became systematic. We’d look at a map and go from mall to mall, driving around, looking at anything that looked interesting. Neither of us had more than very limited experience in the areas we explored: mostly the suburban and urban milleu of middle America. The experiences were simultaneously riveting, if not a little frightening. We encountered many different characters at the malls, saw malls in different physical as well as economic conditions, and got a taste of local flavor in every place we went. Without really categorizing them as such, we discovered what would later be categorized as a “dead” mall. We became amazed at the disparities we saw between large, successful, packed malls and old, dated, or for whatever reason emptier malls. We began to realize that many don’t even realize the differences or, if they do, they don’t really consider them. We found them fascinating, and started to contemplate the bigger picture. This blog is essentially the culmination of our explorations, our discoveries, our ruminations, and efforts in putting together a semblance of understanding in the retail puzzle of America.

Pekin Mall is the first remarkably dead mall we visited, in January of 1999. Located at the end of the commercial strip headed out of town on East Court/IL Route 9, Pekin Mall was an enclosed mall of about 500,000 square feet. It obviously opened sometime in the 1960s or early 1970s, but I’m not exactly sure. It was anchored by Bergner’s, JCPenney, Hobby Lobby, and Big Lots, and shaped like a carat. When we approached the mall from sad downtown Pekin on Court Street, it looked spectacularly dated on the outside, but nothing, I repeat, nothing could have prepared us for the inside.

We entered through Bergner’s on the east end of the mall and walked into the main mall and suddenly timewarped into someone’s psychadelic, drug-induced trip from 1972. The floor tiles were this shiny mix of off-white, deep blue, purple, and what can only be described as puke green. Horrifically, the tiles alternated colors so a striped pattern repeated the mismatched color scheme throughout the entire mall. I’ve never seen anything like it, and haven’t since (thankfully, I was born in the 80s). Strangely, the mall also seemed rather dimly lit, despite the manmade lighting and the very cool mod-70s windows carved into the ceiling for natural light.

However, I’m afraid that’s only the beginning. These 3 foot long, vertical rows of christmas lights (?!) hung down from the ceiling every so often, glistening against the visually assaulting, unholy kaleidoscope of colors on the floor. Every store, open or not, was horribly dated. Several stores had untreated wooden storefronts, which seemed to be popular in the 1960s or 1970s. The Fashion Bug’s font was very strange and old, and purple. The Deb shop’s sign was this neon green color, but you can be sure the store had the very deep purple carpeting and all the various trapeze-looking apparati which hung down from the ceiling to display all the latest fashions. The Waldenbooks, or should I say Walden Books, was one of their original mall store designs, built vaguely to look like an old bookstore on some urban street. It had the horrible dark green carpeting and the chandeliers common for Waldenbooks during this time. As an aside, I think these stores are more aesthetically pleasing (sans the carpeting and maybe the chandeliers) than their current bland design. In addition, one former vacant store was full of 2-3″ mod 70s green shag carpeting and another store was being used as a gymnastics studio. Imagine the disassociation therapy the kids will have to go through in order to enjoy gymnastics again!

I won’t ever forget the smell from that day either. During our visit was this bizarre fair in the mall, which consisted largely of card tables with various knick-knacks, Native American wares, and people. They were smoking pipes, cigars, incense burning. All mixed together with the musty old mall, it was a very strange, offensive smell.

As for the stores, I’d say well over half were vacant during our visit in 1999. The handful there weren’t dazzling or upscale by any means, as far as for actual shopping and utilitarian mall use. I’ve already mentioned most of them, actually. Add Payless, Radio Shack, GNC, and that about rounds out the major players that were in Pekin Mall in 1999-2000.

As for the mall’s entire history, I’m a little unclear. Like I said, the mall probably opened sometime about 1970. It had not received any sort of renovations, ever. As for its recent history, I know that a Sears once stood where Big Lots and Hobby Lobby are, but it closed in 1993. The Hobby Lobby didn’t have access to the mall either; it was walled off. The pictures featured with this entry were taken in the Summer of 2000 (They’re vintage!) but the mall is in mostly the same condition as it was when Caldor and I visited in 1999.

During 2001, the mall was sold and the development company announced huge plans to redo the mall as (what else?) an open air power center, read: strip mall. However, due mostly to lack of interest, an honest effort by the company to come through on their promised plans to redevelop the horrid mall failed. So the mall sat, and all the while the mall emptied out completely. During my last visit to the mall in January, 2002, the Hobby Lobby wing of the mall was entirely shuttered.

It was not until late Spring 2002 that the mall finally came down, in pieces. The original Bergner’s anchor remains, and the new development is called East Court Village. Surprisingly, few items exist on the internet to document the mall’s recent history and transition. East Court Village doesn’t even appear to have its own website. JCPenney announced it would be leaving the development and closed their doors in 2002. However, Goody’s Family Clothing appeared to take their place in 2004. Big Lots and Hobby Lobby still anchor the west end of the redeveloped strip mall. I’ve actually not been back in some time. How is it doing? Leave some comments or E-Mail me and let me know.

NEW: Check out a recreation of the Pekin Mall directory and site plan, put together by Kurt Schachner. (PDF)

Added 8/20/2006:

Aurora Mall; Aurora, Colorado

What better activity is there on a cold January day than going to the mall? That’s just what I did on a free day I had back in January, 2005, in the Denver area. My first stop was east suburban Aurora Mall, one of Aurora, Colorado’s two enclosed centers. It’s located at the interchange between I-225 and Alameda Avenue.

Aurora itself is both typical and atypical of American suburbs today. It’s similar to most American suburbs in that it lacks a strong, historical central business district like many cities, and it’s also very large and sprawly. It’s not typical because of its sheer size: Aurora has nearly 300,000 residents, over half of the city of Denver itself. It’s actually projected that in the next 25 years that Aurora will eventually surpass the city of Denver in population, making it a massive super-suburb like Anaheim, California or Scottsdale, Arizona. Notable people from Aurora include Home Improvement child actor Zachery Ty Bryan and former presidential hopeful John Kerry (yes, he was born here). There’s an Air Force Base, but other than that, Aurora’s your standard middle-of-the-road American suburb.

Aurora Mall, now called the Town Center at Aurora, was beginning a series of renovations which updated the dated center’s appearance in 2005, giving it new life for the new millenium, or something like that. In the past few years, Aurora Mall/Town Center at Aurora has been under some scrutiny for its management policies. An investigation by a local Denver TV station has stated the Aurora Mall’s leasing agents have official policies of discrimination and that they are attempting to oust minority shoppers in favor of getting more caucasian shoppers into the mall. Purposely. A leasing agent is actually quoted on tape as saying he wants to gear the mall more toward whites. This alarming controversy certanly paints a different picture of the kinds of unscrupulous, ruthless individuals and terrible policies and a framework of careless responsibility.

Aurora Mall as of my visit in January, 2005 was still mostly outdated. The two-level, straight shot center was anchored by Foley’s (two locations), Sears, and JCPenney. The decor of Aurora Mall was decidedly 80s: a pastel pink, purple and green combination dominated, with blond wooden railings throughout the center. The floor was being replaced with the typical drab, uber-modern white tiles that are on every mall everywhere today, so you can be sure it’s different now. I’m actually curious as to what became of all the renovations. Is Aurora Mall back on its feet? Pictures taken Jan. 2005.

Summit Place Mall; Waterford, Michigan

Dear readers, I’m back from my extended weekend in the Detroit area. Why Detroit, you ask? Well, the area has always fascinated me beyond belief. The way the entire city is this fallow wasteland, seeming as though it is sleeping, like some sort of urban garden that hasn’t been watered in a while. Juxtapose that with the booming, successful suburbs, which is where most of the commerce in the metro Detroit area takes place, and it makes for an interesting exploration. Not to mention all the abandoned neighborhoods that have been converted to this eerie urban prairie of overgrown grasses, trees, and weeds. And the malls. Nearly all of the malls in the metro Detroit area have some interesting design features about them, whether they’re extremely dated, nearly dead, or remarkably amazing and successful. Not surprisingly, Summit Place Mall in northwest suburban Waterford is no exception.

Summit Place Mall opened in 1962 along Telegraph Road in the midst of Oakland County’s suburban boom. While the mall is technically located in Waterford Township, across Telegraph is the city of Pontiac. Oakland county’s most urban city, Pontiac is definitely separate from the suburban millieu that sprawls across much of Oakland County; it is its own city, and grew up not only because of Detroit but in tandem with it as well. It should also be mentioned here that Oakland County is the richest county in the state of Michigan, and aside from the Grosse Pointe areas along the shores of Lake St. Clair, it houses the cities with the highest per-capita income. Essentially, when everything (and everyone) left the city of Detroit, it came to places like Oakland County, leaving behind massive swaths of wasteland in Detroit, but concurrently building up a sprawling infrastructure of suburbia: Interstate highways, subdivisions, commercial and industrial parks, and shopping malls.

When Summit Place Mall opened, it was much smaller than it is today. It had two anchor stores: Hudson’s and Montgomery Ward, and a row of stores along an enclosed hallway between them. In 1973, a Sears was attached to the north end of the mall; however, the mall portion was not extended to Sears. Instead, Sears was essentially a standalone store tacked onto the north side of the mall. Eventually, developers realized the potential with this burgeoning, successful property and opened a JCPenney store behind Wards on the west side of the mall in 1988. Also during 1988, the mall was extended to JCPenney from Ward’s and again extended to the north to Sears, making it mall accessible for the first time after 15 years. By 1990, the mall added a Mainstreet (later and currently Kohl’s) store between Wards and Sears and a new food court was built to accomodate trends and the massive shopping crowds. A Service Merchandise was also added to the Hudson’s (Marshall Field’s) end of the mall. During the 1990s, this mall was the place to be. Several large strip malls were built on the outlots or just across from the mall, including a Sam’s Club, Target, HQ, Builders Square, Circuit City, major grocery, Sports Authority, and Best Buy, with space for even more.

The pinnacle of success was breached in about 1995, with the closure of HQ in the plaza on the north outlot of the mall. Shockingly, and as a testament to the mall’s dramatically fast failure, the HQ stands vacant and preserved today. However, the mall continued to prosper into the late 1990s until a deafening blow came with the opening of Great Lakes Crossing, a major, outlet/hybrid (think the Mills malls) enclosed mall in Auburn Hills, just a few miles away. The grocery store (Farmer Jack) and Sports Authority closed up shop, leaving more vacancies in the outlots. In 2001, the mall saw more changes and another blow as Montgomery Ward closed up shop. Also in 2001, Hudson’s was rebranded Marshall Fields, though the store essentially remained the same aside from the name change. Many national brand retailers left the mall for greener pastures (Great Lakes Crossing) and also stores in the outlots left as well. From the late 90s to the early 2000s, the mall’s vacancy rate jumped from 20% to 50%. The mall was sold.

Today, there are talks about what can be done with this giant center to make it profitable again. In her Oakland Press article, Lara Mossa wrote that in November of 2005 there were plans to demolish approximately half of the center and replace it with housing, making the mall a mixed-use development. She also reported that the new owner Namco also wanted to put a water park in the mall, but was unable to find the financing to do so. The article also reports the dramatically fast downturn of the mall. As recently as 1998, the mall employed 1800 people; today it employs 400. Other reports from more unofficial sources have heard rumors that the entire mall will be torn down for a condo development.

The decor of Summit Place is also interesting. Since many stores abruptly left since the late 1990s, many storefronts which are vacant are quite dated. Some vacant storefronts have ads for other stores in the mall, notably for Marshall Field’s. A large child’s play area sits on the concourse with the most stores, the original concourse between Marshall Field’s and dead Montgomery Ward. Between Montgomery Ward and Sears the stores are sparse, and all the way down by the Kohl’s wing there is almost no activity whatsoever. The food court has one lone pretzel vendor. Between Montgomery Ward and Sears there is also a very strange display of plastic trees and stuffed animals that is almost disturbing.

What will become of Summit Place Mall? Only time will tell, but one thing is certain: the 1.5 million square foot center is far too large for its current demand. However sad the mall is, though, people still continue to shop there. The Marshall Field’s is slated to become a Macy’s in mid-2006 and will not close, at least right away. The Sears and Kohl’s at the mall do fine for themselves, it’s just the two dozen or so remaining tenants in the mall that are problematic. If anyone has any more info, contributions are always welcome. Pictures taken by me, July 2006.

2009 UPDATE: After protracted suffering, Summit Place Mall officially closed in September 2009.

Rolling Acres Mall; Akron, Ohio

Rolling Acres Mall is a sad, forgotten behemoth of a mall located in the southwest corner of Akron, Ohio. Due largely to renovations at other Akron-area malls, the nationwide trend away from enclosed dinosaur malls, and possibly the region’s downfall as a whole, Rolling Acres Mall has fallen on some very hard times recently.

Rolling Acres Mall opened with huge fanfare in August of 1975. During the grand opening, Sears opened with 21 other stores in its court on the north end of the mall. Before long, JCPenney and Montgomery Ward followed suit and opened their anchor stores onto the mall. Around this time, the mall featured typical mod 70s decor, a funky yellow “bubble elevator”, and a large aquarium in front of Wards. Sunken seating areas on the upper level would later be removed to give a more open feel to the center. It sounded like a great place to be, and it was. It quickly became the dominant center in Akron, which also boasted two previously-existing malls: Summit Mall and Chapel Hill Mall.

In 1978, a major expansion of the mall took place, adding a food court, in-line mall space on a new lower level at the south end of the mall, and O’Neil’s department store.

The mid 1980s saw continued success of Rolling Acres Mall through more popular national chains, and space in the mall was premium. Montgomery Ward closed, but it was replaced by Higbee’s which eventually became Dillards (and remains today). Also during this time the mall’s decor was updated, replacing some of the mod 70s colors with the pink and teal colors popular during the mid-1980s. The food court was renamed Picnic Place and remodeled with a vague Victorian-era look, which looks odd amid the rest of the mall’s design. It remains today.

During the late 80s and 1990s, a changing national retail landscape combined with extensive renovations and repositioning at other centers around Akron sealed the mall’s fate into the sad state it is today. Stores that once flanked Rolling Acres like Merry Go Round, County Seat, Petrie’s, and Chess King all folded at the national level, leaving holes at Rolling Acres. In 1997, Summit Mall in the now-booming retail area around northwest Akron got an extensive remodel and repositioned itself to receive the popular stores that would replace the ones that closed at Rolling Acres. It was around this time that the area around Rolling Acres experienced decline as well. Across the street are several dead plazas including one that was a Child World location. It was also around this time that JCPenney became JCPenney outlet, and Rolling Acres received its final addition: a Target store connected to a new, small wing off the food court in 1995.

Today, the mall’s condition is pretty bleak. Although the mall isn’t completely dead, I’d say it’s running with less than half a tank. In 2006, Target left the mall and opened in a new strip center 7 miles to the west in Wadsworth. The rest of the anchors remain; however, time will tell if Macy’s will keep the store during the conversion from Kaufmann’s, or for very long thereafter. As with many dead malls, a fan base has developed around the mall and its current condition. In fact, someone even created and maintains a myspace page as well as a fan site for the mall. This is, of course, not to be confused with the mall’s official website. All the pictures posted below are mine and were taken during the summer of 2005. As always, please leave comments about updates and/or corrections; they’re much appreciated.

UPDATE 1/28/07: The sale of the former Dillard’s and Target locations are underway. An auction will be held to sell the former 125,000 square-foot Dillard’s store on February 7, and the 98,000 square-foot former Target store will be purchased by Akron Commercial Development LLC by the end of this week. The Akron Beacon Journal reports that although speculation has emerged concerning the conversion of Rolling Acres Mall to a mixed-use hybridized retail/office center, these former anchors will be retail.

UPDATE 6/25/08: I just went to Rolling Acres on Sunday and it’s in really sad shape. All the info Mary has provided (in the comments) is accurate. None of the escalators are operating, so you have to take stairs between the lower and upper levels. Both JCPenney Outlet and Sears are open and have access into the mall during business hours (though JCPenney only opens to the upper level). The fountains are off, and the mall directories are at least a couple years out of date, though they indicate Macy’s as an anchor. Macy’s came to the mall in September 2006 when they ate Kaufmann’s, and then closed in February 2008. There are numerous issues with the degradation of the flooring, as many of the tiles have chipped off and have just been left as is. The ceiling has numerous leaks, as well as many spots on the floor beneath them. I thought this place was in bad shape when I first came here 3 years ago, but man, it’s incredible that the mall is even still open in this condition. Keep us posted on the deathwatch!

UPDATE 3/31/12: The Rolling Acres Mall is now closed permanently. The mall itself died with a whimper in October 2008 when the power company cut off electricity due to non-payment. Sears and the JCPenney Outlet Store continued to operate while the interior of the mall was sealed and left to rot. Three years later, in 2011, Sears and JCPenney Outlet both left the mall entirely, leaving the center 100% abandoned.

Western Plaza; Amarillo, Texas

I discovered this gem of a dead mall while on a road trip to California in July of 2004. Now, Amarillo was a strange place for me to begin with. Something about the flat, wide open spaces on the way into town, and the many signs along I-40 advertising the Big Texan Steak Ranch, where if you eat 4.5 pounds of steak in an hour it’s free. Something about the way I-40 seemed to be the main commercial corridor for Amarillo, and the rest of the city seemed to be locked in a mild slumber. Amarillo’s definitely unique.

When I first saw Western Plaza beneath I-40, I was immediately alarmed to the fact that this mall might no longer be open. Shockingly, it was open, so we went in. Inside were less than a handful (no, really) of stores open, including a Furr’s Cafeteria and a local dance club. The decor inside the mall was ancient. The mall had clearly not been renovated at any point in its history, and although I’m unsure as to the age of the mall I’d bet money that it’s at least from the early 1970s. However, as of my visit I’d say the mall was kept in good condition.

There are definitely some pieces missing to the mall’s story. From what I’ve gathered, the mall was interestingly the location of the first Hastings store in the chain, which opened in 1968. So, I’m guessing it’s about that old. Through the 1970s, the mall enjoyed a great deal of popularity, and had stores like Radio Shack, Orange Julius, Woolco, Montgomery Ward, and Dunlaps. In 1982, Amarillo’s successful, larger Westgate Mall opened just west of Western Plaza along I-40. This probably had a lot to do with the downfall of Western Plaza, as Westgate has all the typical mall stores that any major superregional center would have. In 1997, a tragedy occurred at the mall when a well-known local young man was murdered in the parking lot. An article from 1999 cited the mall as a clustering of hispanic stores serving that community. When I visited in 2004, even this was gone, and nothing was left to replace it. There were far more senior citizens walking the mall than stores for them to shop in. In 2005, it was reported that the mall was no longer heated in the winter and people could see their breath inside the mall. In June, 2006, the Western Plaza mall sign came down, and plans were in the works to eventually raze the entire center and build a new retail development. The Furr’s location has also closed. No word as to whether or not the center is in fact still open for walking.

Obviously there are some missing links in the history of Western Plaza. I’m interested in what exactly the mall’s anchors were, and did the mall fall down fast or was it a slow, gradual death? Maybe there are other factors that led to the mall’s failure. Have any more information? Please feel free to contact me or leave a comment. All photos taken July 2004.

Heritage Village Shops (formerly Beaver Dam Mall); Beaver Dam, Wisconsin

Beaver Dam Mall is a one-story, small enclosed shopping center located at the interchange of Hwy 151 and Business 151 North in Beaver Dam, WI (population: 15,000). Beaver Dam Mall opened in 1980, anchored by Woolco, Minnesota-based Herberger’s, and JCPenney. It was presumably built as part of the growing national trend for any decent sized city in America to have a shopping mall. The Hwy 151 bypass around Beaver Dam was slated for completion and the mall would be located on it, spurring a commercial strip along Business 151 leading north from downtown.

In 1983, the entire Woolco chain folded and that anchor closed. Not long after it was replaced with Wal-Mart. During the 1990s, Herberger’s was eventually acquired by the same company that operates Boston Store and Younkers. By the mid-2000s all the stores owned by this company (Boston Store, Carson Pirie Scott, Younkers, Herbergers, Bergners) would brand exactly the same. In August of 2004, Wal-Mart opened a brand new Supercenter across Highway 151 from the mall and closed their smaller mall store; the mall parcel remains empty today. In January of 2005, JCPenney decided to throw an axe chop into the efforts to kill the mall and made their swift departure as well. In the past few years the number of vacancies within the mall have also increased despite the fact that as recently as 2000, there were several ubiquitous mall chains such as Bath and Body Works still operating. Sadly, I would definitely classify this mall in its current state as almost beyond repair.

The floor plan of Beaver Dam Mall is shaped like a carat(^), with Herberger’s in the middle and JCPenney and Wal-Mart abutting the ends (before they closed). There are entrances on all sides, but the main entrance is in the middle in front of Herberger’s. The decor of the mall appears original (ca. 1980) with no large-scale renovations; however, planters and mall seating areas have been more recently updated. Some stores in the mall, such as Regis Hairstylists, were shockingly still using their early 1980s-era stained wooden storefront and logo. This Regis was in operation in April 2004. It has closed since. Also, the Aurora Pharmacy looked like it was once an Osco Drug, but I’m not certain.

Why is Beaver Dam Mall faltering? I would cite mismanagement along with the national trend away from enclosed malls and toward strip malls with outside-only access. We already know about that trend, so let’s focus on what’s happening in Beaver Dam specifically. For one, Beaver Dam was never really large enough to support this type of mall, which is much more typical of a city twice Beaver Dam’s size. Also, Beaver Dam is about a half hour of the 1 million square foot, recently renovated East Towne Mall and every big box store under the sun in Madison. Forest Mall and many stores in Fond du Lac are about the same distance. Beaver Dam Mall could have also attempted to make Kohl’s fill space in the mall vacated by Wal Mart, which left about the same time Kohl’s opened across the street from the mall. To that tune, they could have also wooed the stores opening in both strip malls attached to the new Wal-Mart and Kohl’s, respectively, to the mall.

What’s next for Beaver Dam Mall? In 2006, a Slumberland furniture will open in the former JCPenney space. However, there are still a very large number of vacancies in the mall as well as the dead Wal-Mart anchor. It’s obvious that they haven’t scrapped the idea of the mall entirely, allowing an anchor to add onto it, but why did they allow this to happen in the first place? The law of diminishing returns definitely applies to these types of situations, so does reinvesting in the mall by adding Slumberland as an anchor make any sense? Is really going to bring the type of traffic to the mall that the few stores that are open need to survive? The mall still has Herberger’s as its saving grace, but for how long? Only time will tell. Any updates and additions to the information I’ve posted would be greatly appreciated.

Photos: April, 2004. Full list of tenants, April 2004: Wal-Mart, Herberger’s, JCPenney, Aurora Pharmacy, Flamingo Bay, Sterling Optical, Floral Expressions, Regis Hairstylists, Freier’s Fine Jewelry, Wonder Nails, Alexandra Jewelers, Claire’s Boutique, GNC, Emerson’s Hallmark, China Palace, Carlson’s Travel, CR Communications, and many empty spaces. Tenant list, early 2006: Herbergers, Flamingo Bay, China Palace, Wonder Nails, Floral Expressions, Sterling Optical and Evenson’s Hallmark.

UPDATE 5/29/2008: A few interesting, significant changes have been afoot at the former Beaver Dam Mall since we first posted almost two years ago. First, the mall has been renamed to Heritage Village Shops and Professional Center. And, as one of our commenters posted last fall, ownership has changed hands. The new local ownership, consisting of Dick and Todd Hedberg, Dave Fister and Jeff Kitchen, has begun to woo retailers back to the center. In addition, the mall has a website for the first time. The new website for Heritage Village Shops indicates future plans for bringing in a mix of local and national retail chains, dining and recreation destinations, and office-y businesses. The website also focuses on an area in the mall where comfy chairs and furniture are available for relaxing, the mall walking program, the farmers market, floral shop, the Chinese buffet, and the fact that the mall is climate controlled – a selling point often overlooked for enclosed retail centers in extreme climates.

We think this is an excellent path for the mall and really the only way it could be reconstituted as viable without major renovations. Such a small mall in an equally small market can only survive with local ownership who are willing to monitor the mall and be there regularly to work on its progress. It was said that the former owner, who lived about 5 hours away in Minnesota, did not care about the mall and did little when it lost all its stores over the past several years. This new ownership, new name and new logo should inject a reinvigoration for the mall, and become an effective metaphor for the new owners and their readiness to fix things up.

Hopefully we will see Heritage Village prosper in time, or at least hold its own by providing an adequate tenant mix to keep people coming inside. But first, they need to get the ball rolling, because as of right now there are only a small handful of businesses operating inside, including anchors Herberger’s and Slumberland Furniture, which replaced the former JCPenney. Once one or two tenants are in, others may trickle in as well, like a retail domino effect, and hopefully people in the area won’t need to drive to Madison or Fond du Lac as much for their shopping.

One question I have for someone who has been to the mall recently: Does the Slumberland have access into the mall or just an exterior entrance? Is it even open? The mall’s website has a pdf which shows Slumberland, but the tenant roster does not indicate it at all. Hmmm.

Federated Sells Lord and Taylor for $1.2bil

Federated Department Stores played hot potato with the Lord and Taylor brand earlier today, selling it off almost immediately after acquiring it from May Company.

Federated Department Stores reported today that it would sell its Lord and Taylor division for $1.2 billion in cash. The Wall Street Journal had previously reported that the probable buyer was a partnership between Apollo and NRDC Real Estate Advisors. The buyer already owns the Linens ‘n Things chain as well as 14 million square feet of retail space across the country.

Lord and Taylor was recently acquired by Federated in a merger with May Company. L&T currently has 49 stores, mostly in upscale malls in larger cities in the eastern half of the country.

Now that Federated has divested itself of the Lord and Taylor brand, it can be speculated that they will focus entirely upon their burgeoning Macy’s division. Later this year, Federated plans to finalize the May stores acquisition, which will dissolve eleven regional department store chains (Robinsons-May, The Jones Store Company, Famous-Barr, Marshall Fields, LS Ayres, Filenes, Kaufmann’s, Hecht’s, Foley’s, Strawbridges, Meier and Frank) into the Macy’s name. After this, Macy’s will indeed be a nationwide chain as ubiquitous to malls as Sears and JCPenney. They will have stores from Hawaii to North Dakota to Florida. Because Lord and Taylor is an upscale brand, it is worthy of salvage from conversion to the Macy’s name. Also, converting the L&T stores would be redundant as many share anchor space in malls that will already have a Macy’s after the merger anyway. In addition, L&T is comparable to Bloomingdales, an upscale department store brand that Federated already owns.

Many wondered what might ultimately become of the L&T brand. It seems that, for now, it will be saved. As for the other eleven brands acquired by Macy’s in the May merger, you can kiss those goodbye; they’ll become Macy’s within a few months. So, if you haven’t already, you’ll soon get your Way to Shop….whatever that actually means.

Pearlridge Center; Aiea, Hawaii

We’re always eager for something a little different in the realm of retail. Whether it be a nonstandard site floorplan, dated or unique decor, uneven mix of stores, it catches our eye. The largest enclosed mall on the island of Oahu in Hawaii is one of these situations. Located just off the H1 freeway near the mouth of Pearl Harbor, Pearlridge Center sits on top of a hill, amid a long string of strip malls and big box along Highway 99.

So why’s the mall interesting? I can think of at least three ways. First, Pearlridge is split in two and the halves are discontiguous. They’re in two entirely separate buildings. The building closest to the highway is called Downtown and anchored by Sears on one end, and a two-level mall extends to the other end ending at a series of doors. A food court sits in the middle of this section, on a third level above the entire mall. It’s connected by escalator into the rest of the mall and the third level only exists for the food court. The other building’s mall is similar and called Uptown, though Uptown is anchored by Macy’s on one end and Price Busters (Think Family Dollar, Dollar General) on the other end.

What else? Well, the mall’s parking structure in the mall building closes to the highway, called Uptown if you were paying attention before, has a large parking structure attached to the FRONT of it. An entrance to the mall is inside, but instead of taking you right into the mall, it takes you into a basement court, BELOW the two-level mall. The basement court has Long’s Drugs, and some other services, but is not large at all. It mainly functions as the escalator to take you up into the actual mall. The parking structure extends to at least three levels away from the mall, too.

The third special design feature of Pearlridge Center is the Monorail connecting the two mall buildings, Uptown and Downtown. Yes, I saved the best for last. As far as I know, this is the only functioning monorail in a mall in the country, or even the world? I’m not sure. Anyway, this was a shocking, amazingly awesome design feature to find. The monorail connects the food court in Uptown with the food court in Downtown. It’s called Skycab, and it costs fifty cents for a one-way trip. I was kind of taken aback by the fact that they charge for this service, when the mall doesn’t even charge for parking, but I’m sure it’s pretty expensive to operate. It’s about a two minute ride (if that?) and the monorail snakes around the corner after leaving each station, crosses the canal made for the nearby watercress farm, and arrives at the other station. Not surprisingly, it’s used frequently by people who want to avoid the parking lot traffic, heat, and blazing sun walking between the two malls. It also effectively makes the two food courts one.

So what about the mall itself? Well, aside from the aforementioned anchors, Pearlridge Center is a pretty standard, modern decor. Being the largest enclosed mall on Oahu and the center of retail for all of western Honolulu, it has all the standard national stores and some local ones too. It’s very well kept up and always packed. This is a very popular place. However, the fact that the mall consists of two totally separate buildings and they connect by monorail makes this mall five stars. Go to the mall’s website for more info. Pics taken June, 2006 by me.

Windward Mall; Kaneohe, Hawaii

Imagine a place in paradise where you are minutes from verdant, lush rainforests, steep mountains, and some of the best beaches on the bluest water you’ve ever seen. The puffy clouds hide the bright blue sky, and the weather’s nearly always perfect. This can all be found in the cities of Kaneohe and Kailua, across the Ko’olau Mountains and about 15 minutes from Honolulu on the island of Oahu in Hawaii. The population on this side of the island is approximately one-fifth that of Oahu at large, or about 180,000 people. The retail on the windward side of the island is centered mainly along the Kamehameha Highway in Kaneohe, with several shopping centers along the road including the Windward Mall. The windward side’s only enclosed “traditional mall”, Windward Mall is anchored by Macy’s, Sears, and a 10-screen stadium seating theater. The mall also has over 100 stores on two levels, and a satellite city hall for Kaneohe.

Windward Mall is shaped like a wish-bone, with three major mallways intersecting at one main center court. Each mallway is anchored by either Macy’s, Sears, or the movie theatre at its end, and each is also two levels. The decor of the mall is amazing: think of the malls you shopped in as a kid, or however old you were in the 1970s or early 1980s. The entire floor on both levels is a very shiny maroon brick. The railings along the second level are dull and wooden with very thin, white slats. The mall opens up at center court and the ceiling is raised to expose a large, circular UFO-like skylight. Along at least one wing, giant elephant-earring like clear circular lights shone on the shiny floor from atop black posts. The stores in the mall were very mid-range, catering to a variety of demographics. More succinctly, the mall feels like your average typical suburban mall of middle America. From 1980. Despite the dated decor, the stores are current and represent most of the national as well as local chains. I was elated at the mall’s decor as well as its beautiful location in the shadow of the 3000-foot mountains, with the beach just minutes away.

According to an article posted by the mall’s owner, the Kamehameha Schools, in January, 2006, Windward Mall will soon be undergoing an extensive $23 million interior renovation. Likely, this means the days of the giant pearl lights and the shiny maroon floor are numbered. This will be the mall’s first renovation since it opened in 1982! In addition, General Growth Properties was retained to help the mall acquire a more national tenant mix and add more popular retailers to Windward Mall.

All pictures were taken by me in June, 2006.

Kahala Mall; Honolulu, Hawaii

Located next to the eastern terminus of Oahu’s H1 freeway and nestled close to the base of Diamond Head Crater, Kahala Mall is one of three suburban, enclosed malls on Hawaii’s most populous island. The mall is a two-level footprint in an ‘L’ shape, anchored by Macy’s, Star Markets, and Long’s Drugs. There is also a large movie theatre, the Kahala Theatres. The demographics surrounding the mall are decidedly upscale, and the mall mimics these trends with stores such as Banana Republic, Ann Taylor, Godiva, The Body Shop, and 90 other shops, services, and restaurants. Dining establishments include California Pizza Kitchen, Carl’s Jr, Chili, Pizza Hut, L&L Drive Inn, and several more counter service food-court style establishments. Outside the mall, a two-level parking deck surrounds the mall on several sides. On the second level of the parking deck are more shops and services, including a Barnes and Noble. Behind the mall are the Kahala Office Tower and Kahala Office Building, with dozens of professionals including doctors, dentists, and financial services.

The outside decor of Kahala Mall is fairly modern with a tropical twist. The colors on the outside of the mall are vibrant: the purple letters of the mall rise above the mall’s entrance with a brown stucco floral wall behind them. The inside portions of the mall are carpeted in portions with a sturdy gray commercial carpet; the remaining floor is covered in cream-colored tile. There are several skylights in the mall; however, the mall seemed a bit dark inside in places. The seating areas, planters, and some storefronts suggest the age of the mall, and it is not new. However, all areas of Kahala Mall were busy and the vacancy rate was low. This mall is definitely successful. According to the mall’s website, there’s even free Wi-Fi in center court for the astute traveller on the go. I didn’t use it on my recent visit, but it’s always nice to know I can get connected in one of my favorite venues: a mall.

All photos were taken by me in June, 2006.