Regency's Unrelated Sibling :: Aiken Mall, Aiken

     "If you build it, they will come," only rings true to an extent. What you build can't have numerous flaws. It has to be at least partially necessary. It can't be vulnerable and not be managed well. It needs to be in the scope of the community. Lastly, and maybe most importantly, the project can't be oversized, pointless, and have little reason to exist. However, the Aiken Mall broke pretty much every rule in the book. It was pointless, unnecessary, and had little reason to exist. And because of this, it's on life support and is irrelevant in the Midland retail scene.

Here's an unspectacular main entrance for the mall.

Entering the main entrance with Dillard's straight ahead. With two Dillard's locations, the mall was in a worse position. The stores are like Siamese twins ; if one dies, the other one does the same.

Seeing the old Belk logo on a directory isn't exactly making me optimistic. With a directory like this, you would have a pretty nice mall. That is far from the case though. 

     Before getting into the specifics of everything, I'll go over a brief history. Built in 1989, the mall boasted anchors Belk, Brendles (catalog store), Phar-Mor, Sears, and JCPenney. This anchor setup didn't last long, but perhaps for the better. Presumably during their first bankruptcy, Phar-Mor shut its doors at the mall. Brendle's fell in 1996 with the rest of the Elkin, NC company. With two anchors dead, the mall began to face financial struggles. A foreclosure and court case later, ownership switched from Zamias to Urban Retail Properties. With financial and vacancy problems in the mall's adolescence, the outlook wasn't looking as bright for the mall. It was likely that Aiken would be left without a mall as early as 10 years.

The only color that comes from the mall comes from these food establishments. You need a renovation when it gets that bad.

The Belk corridor remains bright thanks to having an open store. It's one of two pockets of life in the mall.

To the left of the entrance is this dark, long, flavorless hallway. That's pretty symbolic.

     Luckily, an unlikely hero came to the rescue in the form of Dillard's in 2000. Dillard's occupied the former Phar-Mor and Brendle's locations, giving the mall a full anchor roster again and improving the fortunes. With this newfound stability, the mall prospered well into the 2000's. Traditional mid-market stores filled the corridors. Aiken's mall finally appeared to be a place to hangout, shop, and have a good time. Yet one of the largest financial events in world history was on the horizon. In 2008, at the head of the Great Recession, Aiken, its mall, and its economy, began to flounder. Gap, an original tenant, was one of the first stores out. The creek became a flood though, and key tenants like Kirkland's, Belk Home, Dollar Tree, and FYE shuttered their locations from 2008 to 2011. The only real good news that came in that time span was the addition of Books-A-Million in 2008. In 2007, the mall had a promising, bright future ahead, following the mess in the 90's. In 2011, the mall was at 45% occupancy and on life support. The shopping center was in an odd phase where the mall was dead, but the anchors vibrant. However, the knockout punch wasn't far away.

Detail of a seating area between the food court and JCPenney. This looks like a toss salad in mall form. You just put benches and planters there and hope it works. You put little character in it and make it look like it was made in all of five minutes. Probably because it was made in five minutes.

I detailed some store fronts in the mall for vintage's sake. I'd imagine that most storefronts are original.

More stores. The odd-fonted store in view says Authentiks. There is a photo of an alive one at another mall I photographed on this trip. 

       Depleted and injured, the Aiken Mall pushed ahead as a shell of what it once was. This obviously wasn't sustainable for retailing success. And everyone's doubts were confirmed in 2016. Anchors and anything else feeding on dying dreams dropped like flies. Sears died. Penney's questioned their existence at the mall and left. Then Dillard's looked at the other anchors and called it quits. Whatever survived the store exodus woke up in the dumpsters of the zombified mall filled with elderly mall walkers. Maybe that wasn't really how it happened, but something of that variety occurred. Five stores remain today, giving out a whopping 12% occupancy rate. I don't know who is paying the bills at this point, but they wait not much longer.

Any ideas for this bubble-sided, two entrance store?

Looking back to Belk. The lighting looks both cavernous and psychedelic, which is a weird mix.

JCPenney rocks a plain, 90's look. Not much to say here.

     On November 21, 2017, major developments came out of the Aiken Mall. Owners Southeastern announced the demolition of the mall, as soon as February 2018. The mall is slated to become a lifestyle center similar to that of the Shelter Cove project on Hilton Head. Belk will anchor with possible big-box tenants joining alongside. Developers cite sales tax revenue as a benefit from the new retail center. Not much else is known on the mall's new life at the moment.

The Dillard's mall corridor is very spooky. The random green light gives off kind of abandoned vibes to the mall. It reminds me of the flickering lights you see in the parking lots of asylums.

I took a photo of RadioShack for all the wrong reasons.

By Sears and BAM is this mall entrance.

This is by far the most unique Sears entrance I've seen. No tiled look here. This is full blown 90's, asymmetrical aesthetic.

     I have mixed feelings over this redevelopment. There are some factors worth mentioning that pushed the Shelter Cove project. Hilton Head keeps a year-long influx of wealthy tourists and people who have vacation homes there. Thanks to this, the island has a steady economy that is pretty safe and secure. Aiken is a city that has seen low growth and lacks a major economic sector. It lacks even a sliver of wealth and anything a bit more upscale than Belk would struggle. Anything built would immediately have competition. Augusta boasts a major mall that has suppressed Aiken's mall for years. The Augusta Mall is full of life and has a full anchor lineup. To the east of Aiken is Columbia, with its own set of retailing options. Columbia has a strong economy and population that easily beats out Aiken. I've taken the stretch between Aiken and Columbia many a times, and it's not a long drive at all. Thanks to this, Southeastern will have to attract stores that can survive in such an environment. Most of these stores would have experience in the Aiken market, and perhaps its mall. If these stores left the market because of its health, why would they come back?

Looking back from BAM/Sears to the Belk. The bland architecture blends together and becomes something of an ugly tunnel. 

Detail of the entrance near BAM. The developers went to town with those green lights. 

This part of the mall has the most life. I can imagine BAM attracts a decent crowd. 

     The reasons for the mall's death are eerily similar to that of Augusta's Regency Mall. Both malls were probably screwed from the start. Some similar problems killed the malls : poor anchors, bad location, and careless owners. If you have lived in Aiken for a while, say since the mall's opening, and can't remember Brendles or Phar-Mor, I can't blame you. Drug stores (Phar-Mor) and magazine floors (Brendles) are never strong anchors. Thanks to bankruptcy and weak management, both stores vacated their locations early. These spots were empty for too long, already hurting the vulnerable mall. The savior was Dillard's but in two places. Splitting the merchandise and traffic, both stores are as good as one. This means that essentially one anchor was still vacant. But the two mall's similarities don't end there. What happened in 1986 at Regency happened in 2007 at Aiken ; a teenage girl was abducted and raped, showing need for security. Management also slipped up with the rapid closing of stores. There was no backup plan, and with one anchor remaining, the writing was on the wall. The mall was dead. I won't speak much on the location. A simple trip to Google Maps does the trick. The mall is not close to the interstate, and the task of driving here from I-20 was tough enough for me.

A dead Hibbett Sports occupies part of the mall.

And I'm not guessing here. Here's proof.

Bath and Body Works doesn't actually need shoppers to exist.

The JCPenney court remains bright with no stores.

     In all, it's no wonder that the Aiken Mall died. The only good news we can take from this is the future. I'm no fan of lifestyle and power centers leading the shopping options of a fair-sized towns, but it's better than nothing. Honestly, I hope the best for what new comes out of this. A dead mall isn't helping anyone, but maybe something that does help takes its place. Maybe the citizens of Aiken won't need to drive for shopping. They can simply find it a short drive away. And maybe citizens can happily shop away the days, for once and for all.

Belk's entrance looks normal, but I'm not a fan of the horizontal stripes.

JCPenney decided to blend in rather than stand out.

Belk looks like a Dillard's.

North DeKalb Mall, Decatur (Atlanta), GA

     When a mall is under construction, it was probably conceived as a good idea, being that said mall presumably saw its planning in the mall era. The conditions were ripe at the time, including good demographics, low competition, and a nice list of stores to choose from. Over time, pretty much everything has taken a shot at the mall, and it's pretty much nothing today. This was never thought of at all at the beginning, but this can't really be blamed on the original owners. Of course, stuff changes over time, and this couldn't be stopped. This rings perfectly true for the ever-forgotten North DeKalb Mall, located in Decatur, Georgia, one of Atlanta's wealthiest, biggest, and major suburbs. To elaborate, in Decatur's small city limits are 25,000 people and two colleges : Agnes Scott College and prestigious Emory. So why doesn't it have a top-tier mall?

Here we have an outdated directory. What is with these dead malls not fixing these? You know someone's going to actually think there is a Macy's.

     The history of the mall reveals its pretty much underdog status. The mall opened up in 1965, with only two anchors. A Rich's bookended one side with a Woolworth anchoring the other. This was actually unique, with Woolworth more commonly taking a space on the side. Taking the sides of Woolworth was the Atlanta grocer Colonial, and a theatre. All of this added up to Atlanta's first enclosed mall, where you could "leave your umbrella at home." It wouldn't be long before others joined the ranks, and didn't help much.

This big clock is pretty much the centerpiece here. About ten years back, this area looked much better, with no vacant spots and lots of greenery. Following the closure of Macy's, this area pretty much died.

     It didn't take long before the mall had competitors. Just up I-285, both the Northlake and Perimeter Mall opened up in 1971. If you find it at North DeKalb, you could find it there. One difference : it was all closer for a huge population. Not much was done to begin with, so North DeKalb began its decline. The movie theatre was twinned in 1976. The owners woke up in 1986, when a major expansion was completed, along with the name change to The Market Square at North DeKalb. In the large expansion was a new Lechmere, Mervyn's, and a food court. While these anchors never truly had a day, they were vastly different from the anchors at competing malls. This expansion wasn't done in the traditional fashion however. What was once a simple, dumbbell mall was now a pretty complicated diamond shape, with all corners leading to anchors.

Clock from a different angle. It is 8:53 somewhere, and that somewhere is the North DeKalb Mall.

Sterling Organization partially owns the mall, and they must be happy to know there is a store for them too. Wendy's is part of the food court. 

     Unfortunately, this wasn't the complete solution to a successful mall, and bankruptcies pretty much pushed the mall back to the pit. Lechmere closed and became Phar-Mor, which never really was a strong anchor. Part of the dead Lechmere also became an AMC 16 theatre. Not much longer, in 1997, Mervyn's said goodbye, which Upton's Furniture took up briefly for two years, and lastly turning into a Burlington Coat Factory. Lechmere would change the most, becoming a revolving door for furniture stores and eventually turning into a Marshalls in 2010. Rich's stayed pretty much static in its life, only becoming Macy's in 2005 and the latter would close in 2016, along with the mall's Ross store. This pretty much killed off a large section of the mall as usual and is now a hulking, decaying white box. And we definitely mean white box. Renters, anyone?

First is the mall entrance, second is the outside, third is the old Rich's auto center. I am beating myself for not looking inside the glass.

      So what made the North go south? An overlooked factor in its death can be the anchors. While Rich's was no slacker, Lechmere and Mervyn's never attracted die-hard fans and were never the saviors. This was before the store spaces became tons of other things, which isn't very useful. And today, while Marshalls is something of a draw, Burlington just gives vibes of a dying mall (just for fun, the most successful mall a Burlington is in is probably the Crossgates Mall in Albany, NY, but who really cares) and is pretty low on the store chain. It was never in a bad location or had the competition flu (the two main historic battlers of the mall aren't feeling so hot either). North DeKalb probably could have fallen into some niche-type center, but didn't. Yes, Buckhead, Perimeter, or the Mall of Georgia are quite the malls, but aren't the type to completely squash a mall not in the same trade area. Said malls are more or less "destinations." 

Food court photos, including on the second one a direct look at an old Applebee's.

This is a wing that runs from the food court to Burlington. I realize that the architecture is very consistent, almost too consistent, in this mall.

     So where does NDM go from here? In my eyes, there is a solution to keeping things out of the rain. For thirteen years there has been talk of bringing Costco to the mall and finishing its days of enclosure, but nothing has come to fruition. What I would do is snatch an advantage from the competitors. Kohl's at Northlake closed recently, so I would demolish the old Macy's and place Kohl's there. This would rejuvenate the whole wing and bring back a traditional department store. The old Applebee's could become a bookstore, and the whole mall would be given a renovation. The latest facelift is showing its age and is very 80's. A small big-box renovation could also be done, along with finding a replacement for the old Ross. NDM wouldn't be some massive sterile supermall, but would better cater to those nearby and supplement an area. The community garden, installed in 2012, has already begun this change. 

From the clock to the old Macy's. The light waaay down on the left is the most sadistic looking Foot Locker I've ever seen. You could probably score some decent deals there.

Looking down to Burlington's.

Here is the mall entrance entering the food court from the inside.

      I would say visit NDM while you still can. It's a pretty cool vintage mall with no shortage of dead retail, but a shortage of climate control. If you like the retailing underdog (and humid mall corridors) you won't be disappointed. If you came to shop, well, too bad. But, they have a Bath and Body Works, so soap maybe? Oh, of course you'd just visit all the dead malls for soap. Atlanta has no shortage of business failure, so you're in good hands. Well, never mind.

Stale candy, anyone?

Play It Again won't be shopping again. 

Various court shots. I'm getting oddly sick of this mall look somehow....On second glance, WHERE ARE THE FOUNTAINS AND PLANTERS?! There's the problem...