On 12/27/2019 at 4:19 PM, Terdolph said:

This isn't that new.  I remember seeing gangs of roving teens flash fighting at Euclid Beach Park (the amusement park, not the nature park) in the late '60's just before it closed. 

 

That's a big part of why it closed.  

 

Enclosed malls can't control loitering gracefully.  But we were discussing the status of Chapel Hill (#2 or 3 on my mall memories list, oddly enough)  on one of my Facebook pages and a friend who is retired OSP commented that South Park in Strongsville is still more or less problem free.   He attributes it to Strongsville not allowing close in RTA access, I haven't verified if that's true or not.   Great Lakes Mall has also done okay as far as keeping disturbances to a minimum.

 

 

 

 

Edited January 6, 20205 yr by E Rocc

15 hours ago, jmecklenborg said:

 

Forest Fair Mall's first major tenant was Bigg's and it was one of the last to leave before the complete collapse of the mall. In fact I think it was still there in the early and mid-2000s, so at least a 15-year run, if not 20. I remember how much more excited the news and people in general seemed to be about a gigantic grocery store as opposed to the original high-end stores that anchored the mall. 

 

 

 

It occurs to me more recently that anchor stores off malls have their own entrances/exits and parking, so carrying things a distance should not be an issue.  Even Pinecrest isn't that way, though it has a very heavy police presence as well as being outdoors.

Here's a gallery of photos I took in 2015 at what is now officially known as "Forest Fair Village," although there is no signage that displays that name. All of the signage still displays the previous name, "Cincinnati Mall." Very little has changed since these 2015 photos except that even more tenants have left, the exterior is even more faded, the inside is even more leaky, and a big portion of the parking lot has been rented by Amazon for parking their delivery vehicles. It blows my mind that they continue to keep this massive mall open to the public despite the fact that there is 1 business left inside other than the 2 remaining anchors which can be accessed from the outside.

1 hour ago, E Rocc said:

 

That's a big part of why it closed.  

 

Enclosed malls can't control loitering gracefully.  But we were discussing the status of Chapel Hill (#2 or 3 on my mall memories list, oddly enough)  on one of my Facebook pages and a friend who is retired OSP commented that South Park in Strongsville is still more or less problem free.   He attributes it to Strongsville not allowing close in RTA access, I haven't verified if that's true or not.   Great Lakes Mall has also done okay as far as keeping disturbances to a minimum.

 

 

 

 

?

I hear the same thing regarding Beachwood Place on the eastern suburbs of Cleveland. There have been a disturbing number of incidents in recent years - shootings, mass mobs, etc. in what is supposed to be -the- upscale mall of Cleveland, and it's a short bus ride away from the worst neighborhoods in the area.

 

Pinecrest is also sapping a lot of that energy from Beachwood, but the violent incidents aren't doing it any favors.

Edited January 6, 20205 yr by seicer

On 1/4/2020 at 12:14 PM, seicer said:

Quick drone shots of Westland Mall in Columbus edited on my phone from the other day:

 

 

 

 

 

 

whoa that's pretty cool to see -- maybe they can make an osaka stadium use out of it?

 

On 1/6/2020 at 7:16 AM, E Rocc said:

 

That's a big part of why it closed.  

 

Enclosed malls can't control loitering gracefully.  But we were discussing the status of Chapel Hill (#2 or 3 on my mall memories list, oddly enough)  on one of my Facebook pages and a friend who is retired OSP commented that South Park in Strongsville is still more or less problem free.   He attributes it to Strongsville not allowing close in RTA access, I haven't verified if that's true or not.   Great Lakes Mall has also done okay as far as keeping disturbances to a minimum.

 

 

 

 

 

If true about South Park, I'm surprised civil rights leaders haven't gone to court over bus access.   Up in Buffalo, Johnny Cochran successfully argued a case against the owners of the Walden Galleria a couple decades back to get bus stops returned after the mall fought to have them removed.  

50 minutes ago, Cleburger said:

 

If true about South Park, I'm surprised civil rights leaders haven't gone to court over bus access.   Up in Buffalo, Johnny Cochran successfully argued a case against the owners of the Walden Galleria a couple decades back to get bus stops returned after the mall fought to have them removed.  

 

The 51 goes past it but does not enter the parking lot, as per the RTA schedule site.  There's a good chance they were never on site to begin with.

3 hours ago, E Rocc said:

 

The 51 goes past it but does not enter the parking lot, as per the RTA schedule site.  There's a good chance they were never on site to begin with.

 

In the Buffalo case, I believe a young African American girl was hit and killed by a car while walking to the further bus stop from her mall job.   

 

You may be right however--if there has never been a stop, then no uproar will be generated.  

6 hours ago, Cleburger said:

 

In the Buffalo case, I believe a young African American girl was hit and killed by a car while walking to the further bus stop from her mall job.   

 

You may be right however--if there has never been a stop, then no uproar will be generated.  

 

Uproars can happen to malls that never had bus service.  Ask Beavercreek.

And they can totally not happen at ones that are bus hubs like Dayton Mall and Florence Mall. I've never heard of any major violence at either.

Edited January 9, 20205 yr by GCrites80s

13 hours ago, Cleburger said:

 

In the Buffalo case, I believe a young African American girl was hit and killed by a car while walking to the further bus stop from her mall job.   

 

You may be right however--if there has never been a stop, then no uproar will be generated.  

 

Strongsville's not exactly a place with a lot of RTA activity in any case, and the mall didn't open until 1996.

Maybe there's data that proves otherwise, but I just don't see how public transportation has any real correlation to the violence/tensions that Beachwood Place has experienced in recent years. Despite a few RTA stops along Cedar, I would imagine most people, including those participating in these incidents, travel there by car, save for some employees. The shoplifters in Dillards, the drug dealing/shootings in the parking lot, the maniacs running throughout the mall... do the creeps then flee to the 32x like it's a getaway car?

 

Now Tower City may be a different case, and correct me if I'm wrong, as in the early 90s CPS started busing kids there, and there were enough bad apples to cause real frictions and concerns. 

Edited January 9, 20205 yr by TBideon
deleted 'as'

more Macy's closings--3 in Ohio (I didn't even know where St. Clairsville is, and was surprised that it even had a mall, much less a Macy's):

 

https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2020/01/07/macys-store-closings-2020-list-more-than-dozen-stores-shutter/2829013001/

 

Greater Cincinnati: Northgate Mall

St. Clairsville: Ohio Valley Mall

Stow: Stow-Kent Plaza

4 hours ago, eastvillagedon said:

more Macy's closings--3 in Ohio (I didn't even know where St. Clairsville is, and was surprised that it even had a mall, much less a Macy's):

 

 

I didn't know about St. Clairsville either.  I Google streetviewed and that is a gorgeous little town!  Great buildings and a mostly intact street wall and a beautiful courthouse.  A very nice surprise. 

10 hours ago, jeremyck01 said:

 

I didn't know about St. Clairsville either.  I Google streetviewed and that is a gorgeous little town!  Great buildings and a mostly intact street wall and a beautiful courthouse.  A very nice surprise. 

 

The mall is outside of town, kind of a small town for that.  Clearly it didn't walmart the city center.   It seems to be doing okay, but not great.   Lots of turnover.   Marshalls and Dunham's are anchors, what does that say?

St. Clairsville is a satellite city for Wheeling.  That mall is basically Wheeling's (only) mall.

Yeah it's weird, lots of other things claim to be Wheeling's "mall" but aren't malls really.

3 hours ago, E Rocc said:

The mall is outside of town, kind of a small town for that.  Clearly it didn't walmart the city center.   It seems to be doing okay, but not great.   Lots of turnover.   Marshalls and Dunham's are anchors, what does that say?

 

Just looked at Google Maps and saw that it has a Sam Goody. Apparently one of the two Sam Goody stores still in existence.

14 hours ago, jeremyck01 said:

 

I didn't know about St. Clairsville either.  I Google streetviewed and that is a gorgeous little town!  Great buildings and a mostly intact street wall and a beautiful courthouse.  A very nice surprise. 

Most of the towns in Appalachian Ohio have fairly intact downtowns, contrary to what you'd expect for that region. Barnesville has a great business district, too. 

I guess not all malls are dying. In fact, a new upscale one recently opened in Norwalk, CT. But, as you can see from the second video, not everyone is happy about it? (who has not been tempted to do this?)

 

 

^ don't forget the chi chi brand new hudson yards mall lol.

 

but seriously, the new empire outlets mall is very nice and off to a good start i think.

 

also, the new-ish utilitarian steelyard commons type malls around nyc, like gateway bx by yankee stadium, atlantic yards in brooklyn and the one in harlem, are all doing very well.

 

and at least the run amuck kids above aren't dropping shopping carts off the parking garage and killing people, like in harlem. ugh.

6 minutes ago, mrnyc said:

^ don't forget the chi chi brand new hudson yards mall lol.

 

but seriously, the new empire outlets mall is very nice and off to a good start i think.

 

also, the new-ish utilitarian steelyard commons type malls around nyc, like gateway bx by yankee stadium, atlantic yards in brooklyn and the one in harlem, are all doing very well.

 

and at least the run amuck kids above aren't dropping shopping carts off the parking garage and killing people, like in harlem. ugh.

 

I know, I remember that Harlem incident. I don't think the woman was killed though, right? She was severely injured and even forgave the person who did it, if I'm remembering the story correctly.

 

Have you been to Empire Outlets yet? 

23 hours ago, eastvillagedon said:

 

I know, I remember that Harlem incident. I don't think the woman was killed though, right? She was severely injured and even forgave the person who did it, if I'm remembering the story correctly.

 

Have you been to Empire Outlets yet? 

 

 

i think you are right, she lived.

 

i work all over the city, including staten sometimes, so yep i have been to empire a few times.

 

i like it, i bought some things  --- it's off to a nice start and the tourists are starting to figure it out.

 

and you know those touristas love their usa outlet shopping, so empire outlets will steal back those folks from the infamous woodbury commons outlet bus trips they take.

 

also, empire advertizes in the manhattan ferry station, which i bet helps catch the strays. it's something for the casual tourist ferry riders to do on staten island at long last.

7 minutes ago, mrnyc said:

 

 

i think you are right, she lived.

 

i work all over the city, including staten sometimes, so yep i have been to empire a few times.

 

i like it, i bought some things  --- it's off to a nice start and the tourists are starting to figure it out.

 

and you know those touristas love their usa outlet shopping, so empire outlets will steal back those folks from the infamous woodbury commons outlet bus trips they take.

 

also, empire advertizes in the manhattan ferry station, which i bet helps catch the strays. it's something for the casual tourist ferry riders to do on staten island at long last.

 

I'm going to have to get there soon. It looks nicely designed. I had read that it's something like 300+K sq ft, which is similar in size to the planned Cleveland one, I think. But I don't think all the stores are in place yet (?)

Photos of an Abandoned & Decaying Ohio Mall, Once the World’s Largest

posted by Jason Kottke   Mar 04, 2020

 

 

When it opened in 1977, Randall Park Mall in Ohio was (briefly) the largest shopping mall in the world. But the place was never a huge success and was finally closed in 2009 in the wake of the financial crisis. For six years it lay abandoned and during that time, photographer Michael Christopher captured the decaying building inside and out for his book, Abandoned America.

 

https://kottke.org/20/03/photos-of-an-abandoned-decaying-ohio-mall

^ my biggest memories of randall park mall are in the early days after it opened seeing all the old jewish guys hanging out in there wearing short sleeves and rather purposefully rocking their concentration camp tattoos so all could see. it always made a hell of an impression. of course all those world war two involved people are mostly long deceased by now. i didn't go to that mall too often later on.