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  #181  
Old Posted Jan 18, 2021, 5:05 PM
Sigaven Sigaven is offline
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I would love to see an indoor mall downtown maybe at the base of one of our skyscrapers. It could have a small footprint but take up several stories like those malls you see in Asia. It would make downtown a shopping destination again which it isn't much anymore.
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  #182  
Old Posted Jan 18, 2021, 11:14 PM
chinchaaa chinchaaa is offline
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Malls are over. Young people and millennials don’t want malls with corporate crap. I hope we start seeing more stuff like the upcoming St. Elmo Market pop up around the country.
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  #183  
Old Posted Jan 19, 2021, 2:47 AM
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ahealy ahealy is offline
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Malls are over. Young people and millennials don’t want malls with corporate crap. I hope we start seeing more stuff like the upcoming St. Elmo Market pop up around the country.
I don't knowwww. Have you seen the public reaction to anything announced that resembles the Domain or some mixed-use massive project? ...It's not kind.

Also, what about those who aren't a millennial or young?? La Rinascente in Italy is a great example of dense shopping without a huge foot print. You'd be surprised at how many malls outside of Austin are thriving and supported by regular folks. Note: Crystals Vegas is NOT a good example of regular shopping

Developments like St. Elmo are fun and all, but they serve zero purpose for full service shopping that you might find at a mall--to me that's more about nightlife. Personally, I hate walking around sweating my balls off at the domain in the summer.

Malls will comeback here, just as everything does.

La Rinascente in Rome
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  #184  
Old Posted Jan 19, 2021, 3:02 AM
sammyk sammyk is offline
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Malls will probably come back when there are new anchor stores. All the current ones are going bankrupt.
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  #185  
Old Posted Jan 19, 2021, 3:16 AM
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the Genral the Genral is offline
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Malls will probably come back when there are new anchor stores. All the current ones are going bankrupt.
Soooo, malls aren't coming back then...
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  #186  
Old Posted Jan 19, 2021, 4:21 AM
sammyk sammyk is offline
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Soooo, malls aren't coming back then...
Yep. Unless those anchors are big box stores which in some malls they are.
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  #187  
Old Posted Jan 19, 2021, 2:35 PM
drummer drummer is offline
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Malls can work if they have everyday things in them that people need. I've mentioned it before, but in Asia many of the malls have office supply stores, clothing, banks, restaurants, government offices, tutor centers for kids, gyms, etc., etc., etc.... Some have large or small convention spaces, hotels, office buildings, etc., attached to them as well.

Can't just be the typical suburban mall solution. Transit connectivity and mixed-use density helps also, of course.
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  #188  
Old Posted Jan 19, 2021, 2:58 PM
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Shopping is a feeling

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  #189  
Old Posted Jan 19, 2021, 3:12 PM
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MallRat2020 MallRat2020 is offline
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AHEALY - that is a gorgeous mall in Vegas and Rome. I'd love to visit someplace like that!

CORVAIRKEITH - I wonder if that same design was a trend way back when. Years ago a friend of mine said he saw something similar in Oklahoma. I always like that geometric design, and at night it would light up.

Jdawgboy - Indeed, I have mixed feelings about that. You're right, some of the malls are sterile, with some of the same big box stores in them. They feel more like a generic "I'm going to Target / Walmart" day out. The novelty of the little shops, Food Courts, arcades, and other specialized stores are going away. I do try and take my kids to Lakeline Mall whenever I can though, so they can still experience the "mall" feel. They have their stores at Lakeline they like to visit and bounce houses / rides. Obviously with COVID running around this is a huge challenge and we only visited once over the past 6 months, but I did manage to mask up and take a few pics of Lakeline in early December. They decorated as usual for the holidays. A few pics below just for kicks:









I'm so-so on the Domain. Although I can appreciate the architecture and inclusion of local businesses too, the parking is terrible and at times it feels like a glorified strip center. Now, that's not to say that it doesn't have good stores because it certainly does. Restaurants are nice too. But it has lots of high end stores which again are nice, but the "everyday" feel just isn't there. Again, just my silly opinion. It's still a nice place.
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  #190  
Old Posted Jan 19, 2021, 5:17 PM
We vs us We vs us is offline
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I mean, what's a mall, really? A collection of retail establishments and restaurants and activities, all under one roof? Or . . . maybe not even under a single roof? Maybe somewhat outdoors, too? Maybe it needs to be driven to . . . but maybe not?

Depending on how far you zoom out, there's still a pretty robust demand for that idea (a centralized grouping of retail options). The trad American model of the late 20th century is clearly on its way out, but that doesn't mean it can't succeed with a different approach. There're plenty of ideas out there in the world that, with diametrically different branding and reconceptualization, catch on like wildfire with millenials and Zers and younger. This one should be no different.
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  #191  
Old Posted Jan 19, 2021, 5:30 PM
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MallRat2020 MallRat2020 is offline
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The trad American model of the late 20th century is clearly on its way out, but that doesn't mean it can't succeed with a different approach. There're plenty of ideas out there in the world that, with diametrically different branding and reconceptualization, catch on like wildfire with millenials and Zers and younger. This one should be no different.
I like that !!!
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  #192  
Old Posted Jan 19, 2021, 6:36 PM
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the Genral the Genral is offline
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My take on malls fwiw...
As anchor big box stores go by the wayside, and no reason to believe there are replacements waiting to take over the space left behind, and all the little stores within that are relying on the big boxes to draw people in since they are mostly invisible with little to no external signage, and a large percentage of people attracted to the malls are kids with no place else to go with little cash value, not nearly enough to sustain a retail business, and businesses which very well could be a mile away from where customers parked, and food courts of mixed smells which rarely smell good in fast food combination, and promenades that resemble shopping courts on cruise ships, skylights, plants and water features in an attempt to bring the outside into a man made cavern of steel, glass, and stone, but always just an imitation and never all that luminous, and where the escalators always seem to go in the opposite direction of where you need to go at the furthest ends of the mall, where finding the entrance you used to get into the mall is an unwelcomed adventure after walking five miles and leaving with a lousy scented candle you bought as trophy for all the effort you made while shopping at the mall, or worse yet, lugging around the vastness with a huge floor lamp, and ten pound cement owl until you finally find where the hell you parked. Shampoo, rinse, repeat. Yep, I was a regular. My how times they are a changing. The ones that are still around still serve a major purpose...a daycare center for teenagers. But today we demand convenience, we want to pull up to their front door as close as possible with our vehicles, businesses demand exposure, signage where passing vehicle can see their stores 24 / 7. I no longer go to the malls except the Barton Creek Mall, and then only to catch a view of downtown from the edge of their parking lots. Sad to say, my love of the malls ended years ago, shortly after the demise of the North Cross and Highland malls.
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  #193  
Old Posted Jan 19, 2021, 6:44 PM
lonewolf lonewolf is offline
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there are bazaars in the Mediterranean and ME that have been running continuously for thousands of years. "malls" are lindy. I agree the way we have been building them the past almost 100 years will basically completely die out. looks like incorporating them into high pop. centers and MUDs as well as famers mkt/first thursdays pop up style events will be the foreseeable future.
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  #194  
Old Posted Jan 19, 2021, 8:44 PM
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looks like incorporating them into high pop. centers and MUDs as well as famers mkt/first thursdays pop up style events will be the foreseeable future.
That makes me actually depressed

Mallrat: You're my new favorite member lol (I love Lakeline as well)

Genral: Let's get our steps in AT Lakeline. I'll buy you Auntie Anne's pretzel....or Wetzel. Your choice.

Wonderland of the America's (or Crossroads to some) has been my absolute fav in SA since I was little. It's been around since the 60's and has been slowly rebirthing into a sort of geek hive with small vendors called the "little shops at wonderland" who sell VHS, vinyl, comics, games, etc. There's an arthouse movie theatre in the basement as well--it just all together has that weirdo San Antonio vibe.

They have also mixed in medical offices in some of the less appealing spots on the first floors. I would be very happy to see this type of change for some of the dying malls in America.

Oh yeah, and the mall has hosted the Balcones Heights Jazz Fest for the past 27 or so years in the gorgeous OUTDOOR pond

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  #195  
Old Posted Jan 19, 2021, 9:09 PM
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the Genral the Genral is offline
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That makes me actually depressed

Genral: Let's get our steps in AT Lakeline. I'll buy you Auntie Anne's pretzel....or Wetzel.
I worked at the Sears a while back at Lakeline. Good pretzels btw. They had a train station right in front of our entrance. Lakeline is OK I suppose. After a year, I knew my way around. That was over 5 years ago and I haven't been back. Good farmers market on Saturdays. I may go back for that if they are still doing that. One thing good and perhaps a sustainable reason for Lakeline is the businesses around it, not in it, including a theater, a trampoline place, Best Buy, restaurants and others.
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  #196  
Old Posted Jan 20, 2021, 2:25 AM
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ahealy ahealy is offline
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Originally Posted by the Genral View Post
I worked at the Sears a while back at Lakeline. Good pretzels btw. They had a train station right in front of our entrance. Lakeline is OK I suppose. After a year, I knew my way around. That was over 5 years ago and I haven't been back. Good farmers market on Saturdays. I may go back for that if they are still doing that. One thing good and perhaps a sustainable reason for Lakeline is the businesses around it, not in it, including a theater, a trampoline place, Best Buy, restaurants and others.
You never cease to amaze me, Gen. You get extra street cred for having worked at LL AND Sears. Not sure about farmer's market, I usually like to go when there are very few people....even prior to the pandemic. Train is still running inside, "cool and eclectic" is still weird as shit, and trampoline is ready to go!

Ps. here's a great article on Wonderland. Perhaps something that LL could entertain someday...although our commercial market is quite different...

https://www.expressnews.com/business...photo-18462022
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  #197  
Old Posted Jan 20, 2021, 4:22 AM
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Mopacs Mopacs is offline
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Originally Posted by ahealy View Post
You never cease to amaze me, Gen. You get extra street cred for having worked at LL AND Sears. Not sure about farmer's market, I usually like to go when there are very few people....even prior to the pandemic. Train is still running inside, "cool and eclectic" is still weird as shit, and trampoline is ready to go!

Ps. here's a great article on Wonderland. Perhaps something that LL could entertain someday...although our commercial market is quite different...

https://www.expressnews.com/business...photo-18462022

Lakeline was my childhood neighborhood mall. Watched it go up from groundbreaking to the grand opening in 1995. There was a huge fireworks display and concert grand opening week. Some country singer I had never heard of was performing. Turned out it was Faith Hill.
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  #198  
Old Posted Jan 20, 2021, 2:34 PM
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ahealy ahealy is offline
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Lakeline was my childhood neighborhood mall. Watched it go up from groundbreaking to the grand opening in 1995. There was a huge fireworks display and concert grand opening week. Some country singer I had never heard of was performing. Turned out it was Faith Hill.
Oh wow! LOL. I had no idea it got that kind of fanfare!

See, that's what I'm talking about for the future of malls. Indoor/outdoor music events, mixed-use businesses, farmer's markets, viable big brands, etc. Not very different from what you'd find at a car-centric version of a mall like Hill Country Galleria/Domain--I just happen to enjoy a roof and no cars.
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  #199  
Old Posted Jan 20, 2021, 6:36 PM
Armybrat Armybrat is offline
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Well phooey! It looks like the Texas Store is closed!
That was our go-to place to get tourist crap to send to our out of state & foreign friends.
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  #200  
Old Posted Jan 20, 2021, 7:16 PM
StoOgE StoOgE is offline
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Wasn't Lakeline a massive financial disaster? It opened waaaayyy too late in the lifespan of the indoor mall.

Still, they had a Sega City when it opened and a cool multistory movie theater, so I loved it.

Lacked ice skating rink so it was definitely not as good a hang as Northcross, but better than Highland or Barton Creek. Especially since Aladdin's Castle went bankrupt before Sega City or Tilt.
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