Saturday, February 4, 2023

Don't Count Us Out

We could call it the Miracle of Oakdale Commons but perhaps that would be too strong a phrase.

As I blogged about back in December, our area's one indoor shopping mall is recovering and growing.  

Back in 2019, I never would have believed it would recover.

Part of the mall was torn down for a two story restaurant and brewery.  One of the anchor stores that deserted the mall was turned into a health club, and next to it is a walk in clinic.  There are some government offices in a corner of the mall now.   

What may be the largest Dick's Sporting Goods in the country (after all, the chain started in Binghamton, New York although the offices are no longer located here) is being built in the space formerly occupied by a Macy's.

An entire wing of the mall has been emptied in the last couple of months. Some businesses relocated to vacant storefronts in other parts of the mall, and a couple closed.   There are rumors about the tenant that will go in - it will be (if true) a national warehouse membership club. One of the displaced tenants, a T-Mobile store, was being disassembled and I got a laugh over the sign that remained. (It was gone a few minutes after I took this picture). Other signs are sadder signs of the times, though.

This local business opened in 2020, during the pandemic.

Alas, it closed the end of last year.

Meanwhile, a sign of the times at another local business in the mall.  I hope Sandy is doing well.

One thing that remains the same, though, is a historic marker that people pass each day without glancing at.  I learned about the USS Monitor in grade school in New York City.  You'd be surprised where you find history - sometimes right in a local mall.

It will be interesting to see the continuing changes in this mall.  

Fortunately, the current owners haven't counted it out, like so many of the now closed malls in our country.

7 comments:

  1. ...there is huge footage of mall space here that needs to find new life.

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  2. Malls are changing, aren’t they? Restaurants, gyms, indoor amusement activities are replacing stores.

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  3. It has been so tough on business. Most shops just get shut down as a result. Good to have the sole shopping mall reopened again.

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  4. I have not shopped in a Mall in years. Online shopping is so much easier.

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  5. It's good to know that there are some mall companies that are doing everything they can to keep their mall open for business. There have been so many across the country that have been shut down and gone to seed.

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  6. Old office buildings here are being converted to residential space. Perhaps malls are next!

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  7. The malls have to adjust or die. With online shopping, people don't need to go out to malls that much anymore, so they don't. But destination things, like bowling alleys and arcades, can pull people in. (That's what the local malls that still remain have done.)

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