Forest Fair Mall/Cincinnati Mills questions (fit in, purchases, tenants)

[Bigbluelandrover]

Originally Posted by Sarah Perry

There just isn't the business for enclosed malls there once was. People want store entrances directly off the parking lot, as you'll find at Rookwood and even Stone Creek Center just north of ailing Northgate. Yes, Kenwood Mall is thriving, but I'll bet research would show they're drawing their customers from a much larger geographic area than they were 20 years ago.

I miss the "enclosed" mall. I liked being able to linger 1/2 my day away. It was like going on a trip with my parents to Tri-County or Northgate. I used to love Tri County and remember when the Krogers was in there and it was only 1 story. Where else are the senior living places going to take the little vans full of seniors? It was cute to see them hang out on the benches : )
When I was dating my hubby I used to visit him at his job, we managed to have a LOT of fun at TC. That's when I saw first-hand how many of the suburbian kids were on drugs.

Last time I was in Ohio I was surprised to see Northgate dying but that side of town is going through some changes.

Forest Fair used to seem like a "magical" place when I was a kid. It was so big and fancy..lol loved going to the movies.

[high mileage]

Originally Posted by Bigbluelandrover

I miss the "enclosed" mall. I liked being able to linger 1/2 my day away. .

Females...I never understood how you guys can spend HOURS just looking around in a mall. Lol. My mom still does it now! Everytime my girlfriend and I go out of town, she always has to go to the local mall. Everytime we go to Cleveland, it's always Beachwood Mall, and when we go to Atlanta, it Lenox Square. I've seen quite a few celebs at Lenox btw...

Originally Posted by Sarah Perry

There just isn't the business for enclosed malls there once was. People want store entrances directly off the parking lot, as you'll find at Rookwood and even Stone Creek Center just north of ailing Northgate. Yes, Kenwood Mall is thriving, but I'll bet research would show they're drawing their customers from a much larger geographic area than they were 20 years ago.

Yep! Malls are dying everywhere. Whenever I visit my hometown, it's depressing to see how fast one of the main malls there is going downhill. I spent a lot of Friday nights there as an early teen just hanging out and playing in the arcade. Now the arcade room is closed, most of the jewelry stores are gone, and one of the main anchors, Dillard's closed. Once you lose an anchor store, that's basically one foot in the grave.

It seems like a lot of the people who go to Kenwood Mall are visitors. I rarely go to the mall, but whenever I do, I notice a lot of confused faces and 'swiveling' heads looking in all directions and in the air.

And if you notice, a large majority of people do not even 'shop' anymore when they go in malls. It's almost like a fashion just to show off. Just take note of how many empty hands you see come out of the mall.

[Bigbluelandrover]

Originally Posted by high mileage

Females...I never understood how you guys can spend HOURS just looking around in a mall. Lol. My mom still does it now! Everytime my girlfriend and I go out of town, she always has to go to the local mall. Everytime we go to Cleveland, it's always Beachwood Mall, and when we go to Atlanta, it Lenox Square. I've seen quite a few celebs at Lenox btw...

Not fair!--My husband can spend HOURS at the guitar shop, or at car lots ooogling at expensive sports cars. I used to 'walk' in the mall : ) it was great exercise. Something about the retail smell was just intoxicating to me. Plus on bad weather days the mall was air conditioned and shielded from rain and all that. Now the outdoor centers you have to deal with the weather and NO FOOD COURT! : (


Yep! Malls are dying everywhere. (NOT WHERE I NOW LIVE --THE DC REGION) The malls here are jammed packed on the weekends and pretty busy during the week. There is one near my husband's job and the traffic is unreal, and the stores there are uber expensive.


Whenever I visit my hometown, it's depressing to see how fast one of the main malls there is going downhill. I spent a lot of Friday nights there as an early teen just hanging out and playing in the arcade. Now the arcade room is closed, most of the jewelry stores are gone, and one of the main anchors, Dillard's closed. Once you lose an anchor store, that's basically one foot in the grave.


I did notice that Tri-County and Kenwood were less busy than I was used to. Then again there are more retail places that popped up. I honestly think Cincinnati is too 'retail-heavy'. I guess that is helping prop up the economy. New shopping in West Chester, New center by Northgate, New Outlet Mall in Middletown--really-all during a recession???


And if you notice, a large majority of people do not even 'shop' anymore when they go in malls. It's almost like a fashion just to show off. Just take note of how many empty hands you see come out of the mall.

Teens have always done this. Back in my fun-loving teen years I used to hang out with friends at the mall. It isn't like there were any beaches to go to. Plus it is free to go to the mall.

[deg1114]

Originally Posted by Bigbluelandrover

Teens have always done this. Back in my fun-loving teen years I used to hang out with friends at the mall. It isn't like there were any beaches to go to. Plus it is free to go to the mall.

Plus, it's hard to hang out in a bar when you are a teen!

[cher12]

Yeah the original food court was on the second floor, almost directly above the one on the bottom floor. I remember eating there a few times. I think Moores Fitness was there in part of it at a later date
Time Out was replaced by Wonderpark
The mall was a magical place to be in the late 80's - early 90's . Wish it could have retained that magic

[mike1003]

As stated earlier, Forrest Fair Mall was destined to fail from the start. Too large and too many very expensive stores. If it would have been built in Montgomery area it might have survived. But way too big to just run in and buy something.

What I don't understand is that with our high humidity and heat in summer and so many cold winter days, why are open malls (Rookwood Commons, Bridgewater Falls, etc) thriving today??

[kjbrill]

Because you do not feel captured. Quick in and quick out is the preference today. Now if there is not enough parking closeby the store you desire, they will lose and you will go elsewhere.

[Cincy-Rise]

Enclosed malls are and will continually to be on a downward spiral. We have a new breed of heavy shoppers coming up and their taste are completely different then say ... your baby boomers.

One thing is for sure ... remember how heated everyone was when Cincy decided to take down the Skywalks? My God ... what a difference that made ... when you "force" someone to walk along side a storefront, they want to go in. This didn't help a lot in regards to retail (as most Downtown shopping centers aren't destinations anymore - but that's a different discussion), but how many cafés, restaurants, bars, deli's, lounges have we seen open up since then? ... and can you remember what foot traffic was like in 2003 and 2004? It was non-existent!

[shyspider]

Funny thing about the skywalk system was, when it opened, it was touted as a way to get people off the sidewalks so they could enter buildings on the 2nd level, and could basically leave their hotel rooms and experience all of downtown's stores and Fountain Square without worrying about having to wait at crosswalks. Sometimes they didn't even have to leave the air conditioning.

Enclosed malls were all about "connecting everything". The thinking at the time was that American society had grown out of the old-world way of having isolated establishments...a bank on this corner, a general store across the street, a barbershop around the corner, and a saloon next door...and decided the wave of the future was to put it all in one place. You could do everything in one location, or at least feel like it was all in one location. "How convenient", was no doubt the reaction of many...particularly women, who did the majority of the errands. No doubt the skywalk system was an attempt to mimic that concept, only on a larger scale.

I personally didn't mind enclosed malls when I was younger if I was doing a lot of personal shopping for new clothes, or simply because I wanted to go on a spending spree. These days I'm more of a "get in, get it, and get out" type of guy. I prefer the old-world style of individual shops here and there if I'm on vacation. That's part of what makes it a memorable trip...exploring around at all the different places. For general shopping here at home, I don't mind lifestyle centers like Bridgewater Falls. But I'd just as soon not return to the days of enclosed malls.

[Cincy-Rise]

Don't get me wrong, I like Rookwood Commons and would rather shop there over other options, but that massive sea of parking lots, crossed-white painted lines, and automobiles is extremely unattractive.