What's with all the hate for brutalist architecture in this thread?
Are Malls Over?
181–190 of 242 posts
Re: Are Malls Over?
#182Earlier quoted context omitted.
>One advantage from most of the US malls...is that cars are parked under the malls, not around them... Thanks for bringing this up. Dealing with parking is a much more complex problem than was assumed for the last 50 years or so. Better modeling should improve the situation going forward though, and could help effectively redevelop some of these megamall wastelands too.
I imagine that big part of that is the large percentage of the US population that leaves on or near a coast. Major underground excavation isn't really possible when ground level is only 10m or so above sea level/the water table.
Some malls in Spain use attached parking buildings instead. They aren't pretty, but they do allow the mall to remain inside the city.
Re: Are Malls Over?
#183Earlier quoted context omitted.
I know some people have a rather low opinion about SFU academics, but maybe calling it a college is a little harsh ;) U of T did you one better: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Robarts_Library.JPG
I swear only Canada makes this distinction between "university" and "college". In the US they call what we call college "community college". And.. holy crap, that library is freaking awesome. Although, I think the Geisel Library at UCSD takes the cake: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Geisel-Library.jpg
And the UK, and much of the rest of the world. In the UK, college usually refers to either sixth form or Further Education college, between secondary school and university.
Re: Are Malls Over?
#184I'd like to mention three malls that don't purely fit the "greybox" model and may point to a likely future for malls in general. - West Edmonton Mall (Edmonton, AB). In one sense, it is the mother of all greybox malls, surrounded by an asphalt moat. But: it's accessible via local transit, and it's very much in the model of an artificial downtown: it contains hotels, apartments, a hockey rink, an aquarium, and a varie…
I grew up in Calgary. In my opinion, West Edmonton Mall has been dying over the years. There are several corners of the mall that feel really gross to be in. They got rid of the submarines that I enjoyed as a kid. And it no longer feels new. I don't know if the recent renovations have changed anything, but it would be great to hear someone from Edmonton chime in.
>And it no longer feels new.
I lived in Edmonton for a few years. I left in 2010. Before I moved there from Ontario, the West Edmonton Mall was legendary.
I remember going to the West Ed. for the first time; it felt like a mall just like any other, anywhere. Outside of the sheer size, I wasn't impressed.
Re: Are Malls Over?
#185Earlier quoted context omitted.
The funny thing is, I've never lived near there, and I've only been there once on the way to DC, but your description was spot on. As soon as I read "...leaving the mall a grotesque enlarged gangrenous tumor hanging off of the attached Walmart.", I knew it had to be that mall.
I hadn't been there in years, and went back recently and really found it depressing. The city, Manassas, has a bigger population than ever, but can't sustain the mall. The mall is in a death spiral. Nobody goes there because it's a dump with no place to shop, and they can't get businesses there because nobody goes there and it's a dump. People from Manassas don't even go there, they just go to other nearby malls for…
Manassas is an example of white flight (which is a big theme of the communities in NoVA period). Mike O'Meara refers to it as "deviltown" for a reason: it's pretty much been abandoned by its residents.
Though many communities in that region suffer from it, I think Manassas has had very very bad urban planning. Very little is walkable, there's no character to the town, and you see very little green space. It's a case of suburban decay.
Re: Are Malls Over?
#186This is really an important question as malls are usually massive holders of lots of valuable real estate in many towns. Where I live, there are...maybe around a dozen proper stereotypical malls within an hour drive. Of those, the two malls I literally grew up in have had very different trajectories. The one next to my highschool is a veritable empty shell. I think it sits at 40% occupancy, with entire wings boarded…
I think you hit the nail on the head and this is really region specific. There was a mall next to me when I was growing up and it was dingy, just poorly maintained. Then the area became hot, Whole Foods moved in. Then Target. Then a bevy of smaller upscale retailers. Now that dingy mall is unrecognizable and filled to the brim. Not a single vacancy. Not a single open parking spot either. Malls aren't dying. Some mall…
Great point.
The article's example of the Apple store as a model of a retailer that "just plunks a glass cube on busy shopping streets" is pretty clueless. Most Apple stores are in malls!
I think the issue with Malls is that in 1980-something, your choices were dying downtowns, department stores or the Sears/LL Bean/whatever catalog. For food it was local places, McDonalds/Burger King/Wendy's. The mall offered more choice for food and retail.
Nowadays, the traditional mall retailers are all consolidated and offer similar stuff. Why hang out in a food court when you have a dozen fast casual restaurant choices outside the mall?
Re: Are Malls Over?
#187Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Malls aren't dying. Some malls are, but that has nothing to do with the mall paradigm and has more to do with the local population. A mall can't get up and move. It's like a tree. It is where it is and it either thrives or dies. I would argue this is exactly why malls are dying, that they can't keep up with more and more rapidly evolving socio-economic trends and shifting demographics across geographies. Another by…
Ehhh... it really depends on where the mall is located. Back home (podunk Rockford IL) malls are indeed dying. They are dilapidated and/or ghost towns. Ten years ago this was not the case. Where I currently live (La Jolla CA) the opposite is true. Of course, the malls are filled with stores like Saks, Nordstrom, a Tesla show floor, etc. These places are packed. I know I'm not going to buy a $1200+ jacket online any t…
Houston is a weird mix of both, perhaps as a result of its impressive sprawl. There are dozens of abandoned malls, and dozens of thriving ones. Perhaps land is so cheap that it's just easier to build a new one than to renovate an older one. Gives a weird feeling: by the numbers Houston's economy is booming, but experientially it feels sort of post-industrial, with abandoned properties dotting the landscape.
Re: Are Malls Over?
#188Earlier quoted context omitted.
I know some people have a rather low opinion about SFU academics, but maybe calling it a college is a little harsh ;) U of T did you one better: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Robarts_Library.JPG
I swear only Canada makes this distinction between "university" and "college". In the US they call what we call college "community college". And.. holy crap, that library is freaking awesome. Although, I think the Geisel Library at UCSD takes the cake: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Geisel-Library.jpg
Even in America, there was a distinction, or at least there used to be. If it was a "college" then that meant there was limited to no opportunity for graduate studies. On the other hand, a "university" offered full undergraduate as well as graduate programs for most subjects. In highschool, I remember noting that some colleges where quite prestigious, such as Dartmouth and Harvey Mudd College.
Re: Are Malls Over?
#189The US is lucky to have its malls. TFA mentions growth coming from Asia, where pretty much every new development - and there are a lot - is a luxury mall that positions itself as an 'integrated' destination i.e. retail, entertainment, lifestyle, office space and residential. The problem is worst in Hong Kong where MTR Corporation, which owns the underground network, also owns the land that its stations sit underneath. It makes more money from the malls it builds on top of them than from running public transit.
The luxury part is a problem too in that Chanel, Gucci etc are given free/low-cost storefronts to up the image of the mall which not only raises prices for normal tenants but means they put their goods prices up too so they look like a serious alternative to the luxury brands. Chinese malls in particular have a lot of made-up Chinese-owned store brands with foreign sounding names, selling utter rubbish at wildly inflated prices.
I wish the 'high end' here was JC Penney or Sears. And forget a reasonably priced Kung Pao chicken; I hope you enjoy chicken feet and birds nest.
Re: Are Malls Over?
#190Earlier quoted context omitted.
In Europe, malls are still constructed in many places and they have the advantage of being built a few decades after many of the US malls. Where I live summers are a bit too warm and winters a bit too cold to make outdoor shopping joyful. Also, streets are noisy and full of aggressive drivers and the sidewalks are full of holes and broken tiles. So in the last few years this 1.5M population city has seen the construc…
There is no such thing as "Europe". I don't know of any malls being constructed in the Netherlands.
This actually isn't true. Europe is a real place, unlike Middle Earth or Narnia or Canada. It's just west of Asia and north of Africa, if you can believe it!