We are all familiar with the fact that America is filled with thousands of shopping malls. Every now and again a new opportunity comes along, with a new way of crabbing people’s attention and keeping everyone entertained. This new American shopping mall is starting to look completely different from how it used to look, and this is cause by several reasons. Once anchor stores are closed down within shopping malls, it will definitely impact the overall effectiveness of the mall.
The New American Mall
This mall has been in exitance for nearly 50 years, since it was founded in 1970. This mall is called the Dayton Mall, and it has been the go-to for many residents from Dayton, Ohio since it opened. But the question now remains, is it still the go-to mall for consumers? Since, 2018 the mall encountered severe challenges due to the closing of two fan favourite stores.
The Dayton Mall has been an extremely successful mall, but more and more vacancies became available within the mall, including the closing of Sears, Macy’s, and Bon Ton. This effected the mall severely because these were its anchor stores. Now, the New American mall finds itself in a receivership. This is the process of when an organisation is placed within the ownership of another party or trustee, because the organisation cannot meet financial obligations.
The decline of the mall
There are many aspects that contributes to the fall of a mall, especially if a mall was so successful as the Dayton Mall. It was long been expected for the American Mall to fall because various factors need to be looked at. If malls are highlighted by its anchor malls and bustling food courts, like Dayton Mall and that are taken away, it could affect the mall. Hopefully, Americans can look forward to a new American mall.
Also, there were many fashioned retailers close to each other, but as time went on, many of these stores became vacant. This closeness of the retailers situated next to each other were the centrepiece of post-WWII suburbia for several generations. Now, so many things changed since then; for example, demographics, the shopping habits of consumers, online stores like Amazon and e-commerce are on the rise. For a mall to remain relevant it should show a competitive advantage to big names like Amazon.
The rebirth of the mall
The look of the mall is changing, slowing but surely, it is officially a new American mall. The space the Sears store used to occupy is now being replaced by a church. The space is a 162 000 square foot, and it was sold to a local church knows as Crossroads. The church has now transitioned the space into a place of worship, it is also a community hum now, with a traditional indoor entrance that gives access to the rest of the mall.
According to Rebecca Maguire, the Marketing Manager of the Dayton Mall, allowing a church to move it highlight the fact that the mall is dying. She further added that the Crossroads church has a massive following, which could be good for the mall. Also, the fact that the church is community driven would benefit any mall, it any mall should feel blessed to be partnered with it.
Moreover, many may ask if it is a good choice for a struggling mall to have a church in it. As stated by the pastor of the Crossroads church, Matt Castleman, the religious organisation has its own reservations about this new change. He alluded to the fact that the church services continue to draw thousands of people to the mall. This is good for both the church and for the mall. Therefore, it was decided to keep the church open whenever the mall is open, like during week hours as well.