Lessons from Euclid Square Mall
January 3, 2009
When I was a kid, I remember shopping at a place near my home, the Euclid Square Mall. Like other suburban shopping centers, the mall is a single story building that contained typical corporate chain stores, a few fountains where you could toss pennies, and a parking lot that probably measures more square footage than the building itself. That was in the 1990s; nobody visits Euclid Square Mall anymore - it's dead, mostly abandoned, and might be an indication of what is yet to come elsewhere in suburbia.
There are perhaps a few reasons that Euclid Square Mall never made it; cannibalization of the retail market is one, a shrinking population in Euclid is another. But the simple reality behind suburban shopping malls is that they have to contain decent tenants; if the tenants disappear, the fate of the mall is not bright. Thus, anyone who loves the concept of the suburban shopping mall should be concerned with predictions for the coming year.
It has been long predicted that high energy prices would be the nail in the coffin for the suburban shopping mall; when it is no longer economically feasible to drive fifteen miles across town to buy a pair of Reeboks, people will quit going. Now it looks our current economic turmoil may expedite the process. The end result could be decay problems in suburbs and serious concerns over the sustainability of those suburbs at all.
Suburbs compete with each other for these shopping malls because they are major sources of tax revenue. Rather than cooperating or working out a revenue sharing agreement, many suburbs allowed new malls to go up at the expense of others. It isn't surprising then, that places like Euclid, whose mall is all but gone, have experienced major public school funding problems and slashed amenities that residents once came to expect. Will residents of other places be willing to directly foot the bill for these services through higher taxes? Or are the schools and services that many suburbanites now take for granted in a vulnerable position?
There are perhaps a few reasons that Euclid Square Mall never made it; cannibalization of the retail market is one, a shrinking population in Euclid is another. But the simple reality behind suburban shopping malls is that they have to contain decent tenants; if the tenants disappear, the fate of the mall is not bright. Thus, anyone who loves the concept of the suburban shopping mall should be concerned with predictions for the coming year.
Already, malls are in a considerable amount of trouble. Shopping centers on the block are selling for 25 percent to 35 percent less than they did just a year ago. Retail vacancies are on the rise; nationally, 6.6 percent of stores were empty in the third quarter of 2008, a 20 percent increase from the same quarter last year and the highest mark since 2002. Much of the pain is interwoven with the retail sector, where analysts estimate 148,000 stores will have been closed in 2008. And it will only get worse. Mall stalwarts like KB Toys, Steve & Barry's, and Linens 'n Things are all closing shop. The recession is expected to rage on through 2009, and retail chains will probably be looking at dismal holiday numbers. A mall's chief purpose these days is to be there come the holidays. Now that we're beyond that season, many stores will need to shutter in the new year.Granted, retail "analysts" are correct almost as often as they are wrong, and even if an entire mall doesn't close its doors, imagine walking through your favorite suburban shopping mall and seeing a quarter or more of stores shut down and boarded up. Would you be comfortable shopping in a place like this any more? Some malls will be hit harder than others, but I suspect that even those in the wealthiest of suburbs will see their share of board-ups (or at least downgrades to lower-quality stores).
It has been long predicted that high energy prices would be the nail in the coffin for the suburban shopping mall; when it is no longer economically feasible to drive fifteen miles across town to buy a pair of Reeboks, people will quit going. Now it looks our current economic turmoil may expedite the process. The end result could be decay problems in suburbs and serious concerns over the sustainability of those suburbs at all.
Suburbs compete with each other for these shopping malls because they are major sources of tax revenue. Rather than cooperating or working out a revenue sharing agreement, many suburbs allowed new malls to go up at the expense of others. It isn't surprising then, that places like Euclid, whose mall is all but gone, have experienced major public school funding problems and slashed amenities that residents once came to expect. Will residents of other places be willing to directly foot the bill for these services through higher taxes? Or are the schools and services that many suburbanites now take for granted in a vulnerable position?
We can probably look to places like South-Central LA to see how this plays out.
SCLA has long been a "ghetto avoided by corporate retail" so it's been progressively starved for basic retail and commercial businesses. This is documented in academic studies and basic census data.
Most of the familiar retail counted on by "White America" in the suburban setting are not present in SCLA.
In some cases even getting basics like groceries requires leaving the area to find a store.
Since there is 24% unemployment among the predominant population, having a car can be a luxury. Liquor stores often start carrying small amounts of regular grocery store items but alcohol is pervasively needed to cope by many so it's a poor subsitute.
SCLA also better models the geographic separation that suburban communities have than more compact ghetto areas on the east coast.
You can't get anywhere by foot (as the Missing Person's song goes "nobody walks in LA" but it's because you can't just like in many suburbs due to distance that makes car or bus essential.
myself having grown up in euclid, working the retail circuit from things remembered to merry-go-round, while in hight school in euclid, was saddened upon the site of the mall 6 years ago when i first move back to cleveland.
i mean, that mall suffered its fate LONG before the current economic hardships, which i tend to think has more to do with that particular neighborhood suffering as well as the concept of indoor mall itself.
These are difficult times to be analyzing the relevance of an indoor mall, because all figures will immediately be attributed to the economy, but i suspect that the concept of the indoor mall itself is sort of passé.
I am an independent retail shop owner, so of course, i try to shop independent, but i don't want any more malls closing their doors necessarily either. Giant abandoned monoliths are a blight on any neighborhood.
but when the economy bounces back, and i am confident in time it will, some things may not come back with it...
EUCLID NEEDS TO PROVIDE LEADERSHIP TO REPOSITION THE MALL AS A DYNAMIC PLACE TO DEVELOP THE RIGHT CONCEPT. CITIES POPPED UP AND GREW BECAUSE OF WATERWAYS - RIVERS AND LAKES. TODAY'S WATERWAY IS I-90. HOW MANY PEOPLE A DAY PASS THIS AREA.
PRESSURE NEEDS NEEDS TO BE BROUGHT BY CITY LEADERSHIP ELECTED OR OTHERWISE. DIALOG NEEDS TO TAKE PLACE AS TO WHAT WILL WORK. SOME CONSIDERATION SHOULD BE GIVE TO CONVENIENT RETAIL THAT PEOPLE TRAVELING TO AND FROM DOWNTOWN COULD USE LIKE: OFFICEMAX, COFFEE/DONUT SHOP, DENNY'S (BREAKFAST MEETING LOCATION), APPLEBEE'S (WITH DRIVE UP TAKE HOME DINNER). THIS CAN BE EXPANDED WITH 5 ENTITIES OF EACH KIND.
SOME IMAGINATION IS REQUIRED! THAT GIANT BUILDING MAY NO LONGER BE NEEDED BUT THE SITE IS VERY ATTRACTIVE SO CLOSE AND VISIBLE FROM THE FREEWAY AND ALL THAT TRAFFIC.
Euclid Square Mall has suffered because of the surrounding malls including Great Lakes, Richmond Town Sq., Beachwood Place, and Legacy Village. People see a new more exciting mall to shop at, and they start going there instead. Cleveland has been saturated with TOO MUCH MALL and obviously, not enough money to go around.
expect Great Lakes to be next. so many storefronts are mom n pop or vacant.
The first thing I remember as the downfall living in wickliffe were people getting robbed outside in the parking lot. Then the great lakes mall remodeled. Its a shame but whattya gonna do?
I agree with you that retailer shops greatly play a big part on the ongoing operation of a shopping mall. Without these retailer shop tenants, the mall could really go down like a sinking ship.