Old Summit Place Mall.

[Bham1982]

I heard somewhere that this was originally going to feature some sort of indoor ski hill-am I wrong? Also, I believe the company who originally started constructing this more than ten years ago got the concept after constructing a similar-scale mall in Spain-that one was actually completed and opened in 2003.

Yes, it will have an artificial ski slope. It's actually happening now, after two bankruptcies and a couple billion spent/wasted.

[313WX]

I use to work in that area, believe it nowere how it was even 10 years ago, the huge furniture store on 14 j east of john r, gone , the restaurant across the street Atleast 5 different restaurants in the 12 yearS worked in that area, toy r us plaza is run down, they are finally building a new strip plaza @ 14 and john r. sams club gone to 12 and john r, a lot of the industrial is for lease in that area.

There will be vacant properties and shuttered retailers in even relatively healthy areas when we're coming off the heels of the worst recession since The Great Depression.

[Cliffy]

Actually that area around 14 mile and John R just had a Qdoba built and a few other shops. They are also building something else. Its not dead by any means. The internet has done a lot of damage too. I mean I rarely go into a big box store myself. I order everything on Amazon.

[motz]

14/John R and Oakland Mall isn't going to die, the retail in and around the mall is just changing to cater to a different audience. I've been going there [[and worked there for a couple of years) for my entire life and while I thought in the mid 2000s it might finally die, it's still kicking. It's just not a mirror image of Somerset, which is quite alright.

To get on the kick of old malls, I remember going to Winchester Mall up at Avon and Rochester to get my picture taken with Santa as a kid. It was always a lot less crowded, and my mom/grandma enjoyed going to a few stores there.

[Hypestyles]

Too bad that some ‘destination mall/entertainment’ complex can’t be built within Detroit proper. Alas…

[TheUsualSuspect]

As the concept of outdoor mall has been mentioned, I grew up in Livonia, and recall fondly shopping with my mommy [[I was THAT young) at Wonderland.

I've always thought it was a place ahead of it's time.

Long gone now, but hardly forgotten.

[Danny]

Oakland Mall area has most definitely gone downhill.

Oakland Mall Hudsons was the highest grossing Hudsons in Michigan during the 1980's and 1990's. Oakland Mall was the highest grossing mall in Metro Detroit.

Now the current Macys struggles, the mall has lots of vacancies [[and tons of low end stores- dollar stores, cash for gold and a puppy mill). Somerset North killed Oakland Mall.

Just to illustrate how bad things have fallen, Lord & Taylor signed a lease for a new store, as part of a mall expansion, around 15 years ago. They later cancelled, and project was scrapped. Can you imagine such a proposal now?

I'm agreeing with dtownlover. Oakland Mall is not going downhill. It's not a ghetto mall like Northland or Eastland. I go there myself and I haven't see empty storefronts and closed up anchors. Lot's a Asians and East Indian love to hang out there along with the middle class white folks from Troy and Birmingham and other areas. It's still booming today like it did back in the 1970s.

[Danny]

I just read in the news that somebody wants to put a bunch of money into Macomb mall.

Yes, Macomb Mall is getting a makeover. It's to compete with Partridge Creek, Lakeside and all of those big box retailers next to and up to Hall Rd.

[DetroitPlanner]

Just to illustrate how bad things have fallen, Lord & Taylor signed a lease for a new store, as part of a mall expansion, around 15 years ago. They later cancelled, and project was scrapped. Can you imagine such a proposal now?

L&T also was owned by May who briefly owned then sold Marshall Fields to Macy's. It was during Marshall Field ownership at that time they abandoned any expansion of stores in the Detroit market as they were already well stored. A lot of people assume that L&T was closed at Fairlane due to the issue with the rent a cop murdering the thief, but it was actually the first of many divestments that May found themselves with when they realized that they had many stores competing against each other for the same market share.

Frankly, I am surprised at you Bham. You typically know your stuff. I may not agree with it all the time, but you typically base your positions on more than just what the rah-rah-sis-boom-bah crowd says.

[Hermod]

1. Lord & Taylor really contracted their presence in a lot of markets [[they closed three stores in prestigious malls in the Ft Lauderdale area).

2. The opening of Lakeside Mall took more customers away from Oakland Mall than did the opening of Somerset.

[Khorasaurus]

A big part of this trend of declining malls is the current trend in retailing. Indoor malls are in a distant fifth place behind the internet, big box power centers, outdoor "lifestyle centers," and traditional urban business districts.

Only the fanciest malls [[Somerset) are full of fancy chain stores these days. Others are re-orienting to smaller businesses or dying [[which are two different things).

[TheUsualSuspect]

I was just a 20-something kid at the time, but in the late 80's I viewed Oakland as an upscale Mall.

I grew up in Livonia, frequenting the Livonia Mall, Wonderland and make the occasional jaunt to the far reaches of Westland Mall.

Oakland Mall was newer, cleaner, and [[I think) a little ritzier than any of those places.

It's aged reasonably well, but it's not the place that it had been.

The stores have changed, the customer-base has changed. I honestly don't feel quite as safe there as I did 25 years ago, but that may be just me getting older.

There are other options, and I more often go other places then visit there anymore.

[sirrealone]

I was just a kid, around 10-12 or so, but I remember that Oakland Mall went through a huge renovation in the mid-80's or so.

Hudson's did a full remodel, and though it looks a little run down now, I thought and still think it was a great look. The men's department in the basement was broken up into shops, along the central 'walkway'. The first floor was pretty elegant with marble and chandeliers.

It was, as far as I know, the first major remodel by Hudson's. I am only guessing but I'm thinking that the Oakland store was maybe a pilot for what the stores were to look like across the chain. Though they started renovating other stores after that, it seemed that they made the renovations very bland compared to the Oakland store.

As far as the mall goes, they also must have stipulated that all stores renovate or start in a new spot, as there was a 3-5 year period where every store was redone. They also redid the central fountain, and also put in the overhead windows along the concourses to bring in more natural lighting through the mall. They redid the front entrance, where I still think they have valet, and also created the food court right there.

I used to make my dad take me to the mall as often as I could during that time, because the work fascinated me. I always felt that they could have transformed the mall and made it more upscale by putting marble floors throughout, but they only did it in the center court.

I haven't been to Oakland Mall in awhile, we don't live that close, but it does look like they haven't really done anything to refresh it in the 25 years since the major remodel. That's a long time and it's gone from fresh to stale. The Hudson's store hasn't been touched by anything since the renovations. Macy's does not put money into the upkeep of their stores. Even the Somerset store, which you'd think would be well kept considering the area, the reputation, suffers from what my dad would call 'Chinese Restaurant Syndrome' that being that most Chinese restaurants look the same as they day they opened for business.

In terms of Summit Place, Universal, and the rest, just remember that at one point those were considered 'new' and 'flashy' and I'm sure one day people will be lamenting about the decline of Somerset/Twelve Oaks/Partridge Creek/Great Lakes, but will already have 'the next best thing' lined up.

[rb336]

you were right about the Hudson's remodel being a prototype.

No, they haven't really renovated in a while, but it doesn't look anywhere near decrepit. There aren't a lot of vacancies, the place is always busy.

[Bham1982]

you were right about the Hudson's remodel being a prototype.

No, they haven't really renovated in a while, but it doesn't look anywhere near decrepit. There aren't a lot of vacancies, the place is always busy.

I see plenty of vacancies, and have never seen the place busy in recent years.

Have you seen the second level lately? It seems half the floor is vacant and the other half is "Dollar Explosionz" or temporary junk stores.

[GUSHI]

Rip oakland mall

[hortonz]

Tecumseh Mall, on Windsor's east end, used to be a pretty decent place to hang out back in the 1970's and 1980's. It had a K-mart, Zellers and Dominion grocery store. Too bad the mall was owned by the same company that owned Devonshire Mall and the owners let the place go downhill while investing serious money into Devonshire. That, plus the closure of GM's trim plant and the flight of middle-class autoworkers into LaSalle and Tecumseh town pretty much killed the place. Now the mall is a half-empty and hardly anybody goes there.

[rb336]

I see plenty of vacancies, and have never seen the place busy in recent years.

Have you seen the second level lately? It seems half the floor is vacant and the other half is "Dollar Explosionz" or temporary junk stores.

last I checked, it was a national maternity clothing store, NY & Co., Spencer's, Claire, the eastern decor place that has been there forever, a cell company, payless, FYE , a pretzel place, an arcade and a couple of others I don't recall. maybe two small empty spaces

[motz]

last I checked, it was a national maternity clothing store, NY & Co., Spencer's, Claire, the eastern decor place that has been there forever, a cell company, payless, FYE , a pretzel place, an arcade and a couple of others I don't recall. maybe two small empty spaces

Well they don't sell $200 jeans like this place in Birmingham, and the food doesn't cost $35 a plate, so it doesn't count rb336. Duh.

[DetroitPlanner]

Well they don't sell $200 jeans like this place in Birmingham, and the food doesn't cost $35 a plate, so it doesn't count rb336. Duh.

I doubt you can find anything at Pontiac Mall/Summit Place... is the Dunkin Donuts still open in the parking lot?

[Mikie]

The Dunkin Donuts is open, there's actully one store still open in the mall, Sears. It's weird shopping there the store goes on like every thing is normal except everything around it is closed up.

[motz]

The Dunkin Donuts is open, there's actully one store still open in the mall, Sears. It's weird shopping there the store goes on like every thing is normal except everything around it is closed up.

I actually got the chance a few years back to go into Summit Place prior to the entrance/exits being totally closed off. It was wayyyy eerie and was something I wish I would've had my camera for. The guts of the mall were in decent shape, nothing was broken, the planters weren't overrun, storefronts that didn't have extremely weird, out-of-place businesses in them were simply locked up, and most of the lights were out. I really wish I could go back now and see it, as that had to have been at least 5 years ago.

[DetroitPlanner]

The Dunkin Donuts is open, there's actully one store still open in the mall, Sears. It's weird shopping there the store goes on like every thing is normal except everything around it is closed up.

First time I went to that Sears it was far from the mall. Had to be about 1978-79. I was surprised that someone connected it to the main mall. I doubt that entire wing had any successful stores in it. 1.4 million sq ft made it as big as Northland or Fairlane, but its market area was much less and its buying power on a per person basis was not significantly different.

[mtburb]

First time I went to that Sears it was far from the mall. Had to be about 1978-79. I was surprised that someone connected it to the main mall.

This particular Sears wasn't physically connected to the mall until the great expansion of the late 1980's.

[yaktown]

The Dunkin Donuts is open, there's actully one store still open in the mall, Sears. It's weird shopping there the store goes on like every thing is normal except everything around it is closed up.

The Dunkin' Donuts has been closed for a while now. It did not have frontage on Telegraph Road but rather one had to drive into an abandoned mall parking lot to get your caffeine fix. I'm honestly surprised the Sears is still open. How long can it last?