The Mall Part V: The Decline of The Mall

Over Saturation
The first in a very long list of factors, is that as a nation, we are heavily over saturated. Here in the Philadelphia area, we have thirteen malls all just a short drive away. That is not including the hundreds of strip malls. They are all competing for the same customers.

Population/Proximity
Another reason Grunt gave was all about numbers. Notice I didn’t say dollars, but numbers. The numbers in question could be that the population is not there. While I don’t think that plays a factor in big cities such as Philadelphia, I can see how it would affect smaller towns.

The proximity to a larger city and/or mall is another factor. Malls that are too close to a major city could be a fatal mistake. You would think that because a mall is so close to a major city, it would bring those customers to it. That is true to a certain extent. That will only last until a bigger better mall is built nearby.

Woodhaven Mall was the perfect example. That was THEE place to be if you lived in Far Northeast Philadelphia and the Andalusia section of Bensalem. As I stated in my article, everyone in the area hung out there. The location was great because it was five minutes from the city line and placed on the corner of two major highways that intersected. This fact was not lost on the builders of Franklin Mills. In 1989, they placed this behemoth of a mall just about right across from the Woodhaven Mall. By 1993, Woodhaven had no choice but to re-structure as a strip mall just to save face. As a matter of fact, Woodhaven Mall built the first Home Depot in the area and put Franklin Mills’ Heckenger’s out of business. It was a small blow, but a vengeful one.

Ambition
When we walk into a mall we have to look around and ask who the mall was built FOR? Franklin Mills comes to mind on this one. Woodhaven Mall had a décor that was very dated and was great looking....for the 1970’s. When Franklin Mills was built, they had to draw in that younger crowd and give their mall a wow factor. At the time of opening, Franklin Mills was EXPLODING with wow factor. It had bright bold colors, exciting décor, and for the first time that I can remember, an entertainment complex inside the mall at The 49th Street Galleria. That ambition for Franklin Mills put Woodhaven Mall right out of business.

Lack Of Clientele
Because Franklin Mills was the latest and greatest thing in 1989, it put a major strain on malls throughout the area. Woodhaven Mall took the biggest hit, but Neshaminy Mall took a hit as well. Their decline was much slower and stretched out, but I assure you that Franklin Mills had a lot to do with it. Oxford Valley Mall also took a hit. They had a Hawaiian themed restaurant called Kahunaville. When the Rainforest Café opened in Franklin Mills, Kahunaville seemed to disappear.

Crime & Economic Decline
This becomes inevitable for most malls. As popularity dwindles, retailers begin to pull out, jobs are lost and the development in the area begins to slip. Without as many stores in the mall as when it first opened, budgets are cut and security is limited. Criminals know when and where they can get away with something.

Although I didn’t touch on it in this series, The Gallery Mall in Center City Philadelphia, had a number of factors that killed it. It was attached to a cross-connecting public transit system. You could take a train into Center City from anywhere, go shopping for the day and then head home on the train. In recent years, it became an after school hang out for local students. There were multiple incidents involving masses of students fighting and targeting strangers with random acts of violence as a game. The Gallery was shut down and re-branded as The Fashion District but it’s not the same.

Franklin Mills too, has become a victim to violence. Not long after its opening, cars began to be stolen. The history of this mall has been peppered with stolen vehicles and/or car jackings. Although they re-branded The Mall as Philadelphia Mills, the violence only increased. There have been multiple fights in the last several years and even a shooting that left one person dead. An early Black Friday sale turned into a brawl at 2:30 in the morning and even involved one person tasering the other. During the rising tensions of social unrest in the summer of 2020, “protesters” broke into the mall to get what they could. This resulted in The National Guard having to protect Philadelphia Mills around the clock. These are just the stories that are REPORTED. Much of the violence does not make it to the news.

When visiting a mall, today, that wow factor is long gone. There is nothing unique about a mall anymore. The giant corporations that own the malls today, seem to want to make them all look as generic as possible. Of the malls that I regularly travel to, not one of them has a unique feature that makes it stand out. Going to The Mall now a days is a very watered down and bland experience. The golden era of Woodhaven, Neshaminy and Franklin Mills Malls are long gone due to one or more of the reasons listed above. Their legendary stories and fond memories live on through the people that experienced it. I thank you for taking this journey with me. If I hope for one thing that this series had brought about, it’s fond memories. Not just my own, but yours as well.