Could Southland die next?

[mtburb]

I was just there earlier today. Even though I was there just to shop at their JCPenney store [[in there, everything was switched around and there are a few areas on the ground level that were closed off for construction in there, I heard it was because of new ownership), I found out I had missed the bus home, so I decided to walk into the mall itself to pass some time. [[FYI, I took another DYer's advice and took SMART route #160.)

While doing so, I noticed four stores that were there last time I was in Southland had closed: 5-7-9 and a gift shop called Blue Hippo Novelty [[the latter was short-lived, it opened back in early April) [[both were between JCPenney and Macy's), the Sprint cell phone store next to Macy's and another gift shop which was called Hodge Podge [[which was were I was going to) next to Subway near Macy's. Strangely enough, the Sprint store and Hodge Podge are still listed on Southland's site.

And Beautiful Eyebrows [[which is some sort of salon) moved from next to Macy's to just two storefronts from where BHN used to be, between the two is a Detroit-themed clothing store [[which is still open).

But, while I was walking past the CJ Banks store [[which is across the hallway from the former BHN, the Detroit store and the newly-relocated Beautiful Eyebrows), they had some sort of semi-annual clearance sale going on, however I didn't see any mention of it closing soon.

However, I noticed that there were still a fair amount of other shoppers [[like what you would expect in a normal mall) and many of the stores are still open. So could that mean that Southland could soon become another dead mall? Is it's current state probably even worse than two of it's sisters, Eastland and Northland? I am slightly worried about this, because back in January the Big Boy restaurant in Southland [[which is oddly enough also still on the mall's site) closed and we all know Borders closed all their stores last year [[including Southland).

[Hypestyles]

curious. I'll have to visit and see what's there.. I remember universal mall before the big tear-down and renovation to what it is now..

[313WX]

If any mall's going to die next, it's going to be Macomb Mall or Eastland Center.

Try visiting either one of them on a typical weekday.

[Hermod]

Most JC Penney stores have construction going on. They are building a "Sephora" cosmetics store in all of the JC Penney stores.

5-7-9 has been closing quite a few stores in malls across the country. I think they are cleaning up their balance sheet by closing low performing stores.

[mtburb]

curious. I'll have to visit and see what's there.. I remember universal mall before the big tear-down and renovation to what it is now..

If you are going there, are you going anywhere near the stores I mentioned? If so, you may want to refer to this map on the owner's site [[which is actually a site plan, but it's more detailed than what Southland has on their site [[which oddly enough still mentions Borders)), which includes the names of all the stores, a list of all the departments in Macy's and JCPenney and even the length and width of the stores! However, the site plan hasn't been updated since March. Here's the link to the site plan:

http://rouseproperties.com/sites/rou...67_lp1_nsf.pdf

[DetroitPlanner]

I'm surprised you did not mention the closed Mervyn's. The closing of stores in traditional malls are not surprising. These have been hit a lot by people shifting thier discretionary dollars to free-standing big-box stores and internet purchases.

Southland is no different than many malls you find today. Technology and economics are killing these places off. That said, Southland is certainly better off than many malls. There are no large malls nearby, with the closest one being Fairlane and the next closest probably being in Monroe/Frenchtown. For those looking to do mall shopping they have little alternatives if they live in a downriver community.

One of the big questions that planners are grappling with is how to re-purpose these malls. This is a difficult chore considering these are owned and operated by a single developer who is mostly familiar with only one land use... a mall surrounded by parking!

[Parkguy]

Malls have gotten pretty bland. When they first started building them, they were "the new Main Street." The stores were mostly local. I worked at Westland a couple of times in my younger days, in the first decade that the mall was open. Anchor: Hudson's. Other stores: Himelhoch's, United Shirt Distributors, Ross Music, Englander Triangle Furniture, National Coney Island, Hughes-Hatcher-Suffrin, National Bank of Detroit. I think there were some small national or midwest chains, like Tie Rack or 5-7-9 Shop. The stores were mostly the same stores you found downtown. Now? Virtually every mall in the USA is identical to every other mall targeted to a particular demographic. Why bother? And don't tell me that Macy's is just like Hudson's. Macy's is NOTHING like Hudson's. I don't know what in the heck Sears is now, and neither does anyone else. Maybe that's why their parking lots are always empty.

[Hermod]

One of the big questions that planners are grappling with is how to re-purpose these malls. This is a difficult chore considering these are owned and operated by a single developer who is mostly familiar with only one land use... a mall surrounded by parking!

Usually the anchor stores [[Macy's, Sears, Penney's, Dillard's) own their facility and the mall owns the stuff in between.

[DetroitPlanner]

Usually the anchor stores [[Macy's, Sears, Penney's, Dillard's) own their facility and the mall owns the stuff in between.

Not in all cases. Both Sears and Kmart were good with this, thats why they became odd bedfellows. Dillards is as well. Many of the malls built in the last 30 years this has been less common. If you notice, most of the Kmart and Sears stores left are 30 years or older. The linked article tells how Dillards is leveraging its unique position as owning so many stores to its advantage.

[Bham1982]

Are there any healthy traditional malls in the area outside of Somerset, Twelve Oaks, and Great Lakes crossing? I can't think of any.

I guess if you want to throw in the "new urbanist" strip mall/fake downtown thingees, you can add in Partridge Creek and Village at Rochester Hills.

[Hermod]

Are there any healthy traditional malls in the area outside of Somerset, Twelve Oaks, and Great Lakes crossing? I can't think of any.

I guess if you want to throw in the "new urbanist" strip mall/fake downtown thingees, you can add in Partridge Creek and Village at Rochester Hills.

Great Lakes Crossing is not a "traditional mall". It is a "destination center".

When I was in Lakeside earlier this year, it did not look too bad considering the crappy economy.l

[Wheels]

Westland still has Sears, Macy's, Penny's, and Kohl's and all the inner stores are occupied. It is run down but still well populated for the most part. Laurel Park is small but still nice with a lot of traffic.

[narnarnar]

If any mall's going to die next, it's going to be Macomb Mall or Eastland Center. Try visiting either one of them on a typical weekday.

I was at Eastland Center a couple of weeks ago and was impressed by the full parking lots, the high merchant occupancy and the crowds, although admittedly this was a Saturday afternoon.

[JohnR101]

If any mall's going to die next, it's going to be Macomb Mall or Eastland Center.

Try visiting either one of them on a typical weekday.

A friend of mine owns Charley's Grilled Subs in Macomb Mall and said the mall is not doing too bad and that a tenant has been secured for the former Crowley's/Value City space, and that will be announced in the coming months.

[muskie1]

At least at Southland they have a nail spa with massages. Happy endings included.

[BEEAH]

I only go into Southland a small handfull times a year but every time I'm there its got a ton of people in it. The parking lots are always busy and the Best Buy there is out of g-damn control every day of the year.

[hudkina]

I know. Southland is always full of people, and it seems to have a relatively full compliment of stores. While obviously it doesn't cater to upscale shoppers, it has a decent mix of the low and mid-price options. The central "U" around Macy's and the link to Best Buy are obviously the most desirable locations as that is where the biggest chains are found. The link to J.C. Penny is a bit on the lower end of the scale and contains the local and novelty stores. There aren't all that many empty locations save for the old Mervyn's and a few stores in the small link to Mervin's. Borders is empty because Borders went bankrupt, which has nothing to do with Southland. The Borders location is highly desirable and will no doubt find something.

[DetroitPlanner]

I'd be interested to see what is going to happen with the Best Buy location. Best Buy has changed its strategy and is now going for smaller stores. It has to change in order to survive as the Warehouse Clubs, Discount Stores, and Online shopping are taking away its base.

This is analogous to what happened in Fairlane several years back. Shortly after Lord and Taylor was closed due to May Co. owning both L&T and Marshall Fields, one side of the L&T wing was emptied out to provide space for a single retailer known as MediaPlay. MediaPlay was out of business totally before they could open the store. Bottom line is that retail changes fast. It leaves a lot of reminders of its failures through empty stores. Short of being more careful about adding retail space, I don't know what can be done to avoid this because it is getting hit hard from competition, technology, and changes in distribution chains.

[BEEAH]

I would guess that the Southland Best Buy is not going anywhere. Even if the corp is looking to make their stores smaller that Southland Best Buy, even before it moved from the corner of Eureka and Dix, was always very busy. It has to be one of the top selling Best Buys in the country?

[mtburb]

I would guess that the Southland Best Buy is not going anywhere. Even if the corp is looking to make their stores smaller that Southland Best Buy, even before it moved from the corner of Eureka and Dix, was always very busy. It has to be one of the top selling Best Buys in the country?

I don't know what to say on that. Do you remember what the final food court restaurants were before Best Buy moved in? I remember some: McDonald's, Sawa Family Restaurant [[an independent restaurant), Dairy Queen and Subway. I think East Bay Cafe [[another indie) was there too in it's final days. I do know that three of the restaurants [[Subway, DQ and Sawa) moved to other areas of the mall. I know that Subway is now where the corridor leading to the old Mervyn's branches off from the "U" around Macy's [[next to one of the recently-closed stores I mentioned) and that DQ is now a kiosk in the east end of the "U", but I don't know where Sawa moved. I think it moved to the corridor leading to JCPenney.

Could you also just imagine what Southland would've been like if Best Buy instead moved into the old Mervyn's, saving the food court?

[middetres]

I guess this puts the speculation to rest...

http://www.freep.com/article/2012081...text|FRONTPAGE

Long live Southland!

[hudkina]

LOL. That's kind of strange that the news article appeared not long after this thread.

95% occupancy is pretty good considering the economy. It's a little disappointing knowing that the old Border's location will now be occupied by Forever 21. It seems that the location would have been much better suited for something more marquee.

I hope they don't put a fitness center or grocery store in the Mervyn's location. I always thought something like a Dave & Busters could go in there, or at least a portion of the store. The average D&B store is in the 35,000-40,000 sq. ft. range and I'm sure the old Mervyn's is a bit bigger than that. I wonder if they would ever think about splitting the Mervyn's location into two smaller pieces to broaden the prospective retailers.

[mtburb]

LOL. That's kind of strange that the news article appeared not long after this thread.

95% occupancy is pretty good considering the economy. It's a little disappointing knowing that the old Border's location will now be occupied by Forever 21. It seems that the location would have been much better suited for something more marquee.

I hope they don't put a fitness center or grocery store in the Mervyn's location. I always thought something like a Dave & Busters could go in there, or at least a portion of the store. The average D&B store is in the 35,000-40,000 sq. ft. range and I'm sure the old Mervyn's is a bit bigger than that. I wonder if they would ever think about splitting the Mervyn's location into two smaller pieces to broaden the prospective retailers.

What do you think will go into the old Forever 21 space [[after they move) and into the old Mervyn's?

[Danny]

Southland Mall is not dying. It's managment can think of many ways to keep their main anchor stores from closing. There's still of lot of young kids [[especially from Wyandotte a.k.a. South Richville) going there on weekends and be mallrats. They're bringing in the money and blowing it clothes, cell phones, pizza and video games.

[mtburb]

Just checked the mall's site and in the directory section I found out that a Taco Bell is "coming soon". And I also noticed the logo changed, now it's just a blue square with the words "Southland Center". Have you noticed these two and where do you think will Taco Bell be put in? I heard it's going to be somewhere on the west end of the mall.