The mall is dead- long live the mall
Found a particularly interesting website devoted to dead malls and the shifting of cultural gathering places.
http://deadmalls.com
I am a bit fascinated by suburban decay and enclosed malls certainly have claim to be the dinosaurs of the rot. My other favorite is the repurposed fast food joints.
Back where I grew up in the Grove, there were 2 malls- Grove Plaza and Cottage Square. Grove Plaza still exists- although it certainly has waned in the last decade. It went through a mid-life crisis in the early 80s when one anchor left. In the 90s it saw the K-Mart leave and the movie theater waver from existence to existence but it still had high occupancy. The fast food in on one end of the parking lot went from KFC to Burger King to destroyed. The café on the other side of the parking lot started out as a Sambos and then became locally owned Jerry's and then destroyed and rebuilt as a video store of some kind.
Cottage Square was a more modern enclosed style mall. It had a central hall with skylights. It was anchored on one side by a hardware store and on the other a Synder's drug store. Conco shoes was also a central anchor of sorts in earlier times but became bingo parlor later. The mall also had a few restaurants in addition to a plethora of little specialty stores and the Bulletin License center. The mall met its demise in the last decade. It was razed and Norris Square, a senior living facility was built on the site. What plagued Cottage Square was it was on the wrong side of town. Most of the new growth in the city was on the other side of 61 on the south side of the Jamaica corridor. If the Square were built where the Target stands today- it would probably still be around.
http://deadmalls.com
I am a bit fascinated by suburban decay and enclosed malls certainly have claim to be the dinosaurs of the rot. My other favorite is the repurposed fast food joints.
Back where I grew up in the Grove, there were 2 malls- Grove Plaza and Cottage Square. Grove Plaza still exists- although it certainly has waned in the last decade. It went through a mid-life crisis in the early 80s when one anchor left. In the 90s it saw the K-Mart leave and the movie theater waver from existence to existence but it still had high occupancy. The fast food in on one end of the parking lot went from KFC to Burger King to destroyed. The café on the other side of the parking lot started out as a Sambos and then became locally owned Jerry's and then destroyed and rebuilt as a video store of some kind.
Cottage Square was a more modern enclosed style mall. It had a central hall with skylights. It was anchored on one side by a hardware store and on the other a Synder's drug store. Conco shoes was also a central anchor of sorts in earlier times but became bingo parlor later. The mall also had a few restaurants in addition to a plethora of little specialty stores and the Bulletin License center. The mall met its demise in the last decade. It was razed and Norris Square, a senior living facility was built on the site. What plagued Cottage Square was it was on the wrong side of town. Most of the new growth in the city was on the other side of 61 on the south side of the Jamaica corridor. If the Square were built where the Target stands today- it would probably still be around.
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