Tuesday, August 2, 2016

Mall Woes in Wilmington, N.C.

From the July 24, 2016, Wilmington (NC) Star-News "Mall makeover?" by Ashley Morris.

Like many indoor shopping malls across the United States, Wilmington's Independence Mall is hurting.  Business is way off as shoppers go to Big Box stores and online.  Right now, there are 24 vacant store fronts.

And, there are the continuing problems being faced by their anchor stores: Dillard's, J.C. Penney, Sears and Belk.

It opened in 1979, prime time for indoor malls, but in October 2015 the first foreclosure sale was delayed.  It still hasn't happened.

I know Berkeley Mall in Goldsboro, N.C., faces a similar problem.  The one by Waukegan, Illinois, Lakehurst, closed as well as my all-time favorite one, Randhurst, in Mt. Prospect, Illinois.  They both were torn down.  Back in my high school days in the late 1960s, Randhurst was a major hangout for us in Palatine as well as all the other students in Chicago's Northwest suburbs.

Other than Randhurst, I have never been a big mall fan, but still I hate to see them go.

Never a Mall Rat Was I.  --CootMall

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