The Westwood Mall- Today and… Tomorrow?
I admit… I have an obsession with the Westwood Mall. Its history, and where it is today. And where is that exactly? Back in the news, and this time, no surprise, not in a good way.
Due to a lot of wet snow accumulating on a flat roof, and what were clearly the foreseeable consequences of that, the mall is closed. At least for now.
Apparently a few hundred pounds of the white stuff brought the roof down over the mall’s Bargain Barn, as well as the empty space historically used by the Halloween Superstore. As a result, with the exception of Kohl’s and Dunham’s, the place is shut down… for now. (You know it’s been a rough winter when you’re referring to the amount of snow in pounds.)
Here’s the thing about the Westwood Mall. What could still be a thriving retail destination has slowly, but steadily, succumbed to both the trend away from malls, and poor management.
More Questions than Answers
Though you could put what I know about running a mall in a thimble, I firmly believe if one could survive, it would be in a place with five months of winter. What’s not to like? It’s warm, dry, and the parking is plentiful and free.
So, what happened? First of all, you have to remember… we used to have two malls. Our original one, the Marquette Mall, was everything you’d want in a mall, with a theater, places to eat, and a nice mix of retail outlets. So, seeing the success of that mall, someone had the great idea of building another one.
What happened next was entirely predictable. As the Westwood Mall thrived, stores began going dark in the original Marquette Mall and interest in shopping there waned. It eventually closed down for good and was demolished in 2019. (For those new to the area, the Marquette Mall was located just west of the Holiday Inn, in the general area where O’Reilly Auto Parts is now. Good location. Didn’t matter.)
A Modest Beginning
The Westwood Mall actually began back in 1974 as a simple strip mall with just a handful of stores lined up between Kmart and Prange’s. Kmart was where Kohl’s is now while Prange’s gave way to Younkers and eventually Dunham’s.
Then, in 1989, the mall expanded to what it is today, and added JC Penney as another anchor store. Businesses flocked to the new mall, just up the road from the old one. At its peak, the Westwood Mall hosted as many as 40 different stores.
The new mall was poised to be the go-to place to shop, or just hang. You know… mall stuff. Unfortunately, as downtown made a comeback and big box stores popped up, mall stuff was no longer enough, and the Westwood Mall yielded to a slow but unrelenting slog to irrelevance. Stores and businesses came and went, and now… mostly went. The mall’s website, surprisingly well-done, lists less than 10 businesses currently posting a mall address.
Yes, the nationwide shift away from the mall experience, for whatever reason, has been a factor. But, I still believe better management could have kept the Westwood Mall a destination for shoppers from all over the central U.P. For one thing, it’s smack dab in the middle of Marquette Township’s retail district. Have you driven through there lately? There’s no shortage of traffic.
Certainly, some things have been beyond the control of the mall ownership. There probably wasn’t much they could do to save JC Penney. But c’mon. When stores start leaving, maybe you have to be a little proactive to hold on to those already there, while trying to attract new ones.
Business 101
Again, I’m no expert in mall management, but just like any other business… when your product isn’t selling, maybe it’s priced too high. Unless there are some tax advantages I’m not aware of, it seems you’d be better off cutting the rent a little in order to keep the place full.
The problem is, when stores leave, it makes the mall a less desirable location for those left behind. When that happens, no pun intended, it has a snowball effect.
Telltale Signs
Anyone who has frequented the mall over the years has probably seen this coming. For me, it was when RadioShack left. When you lose RadioShack, the writing is on the wall.
When MC Sports moved in a few years ago and took a huge chunk of the square footage, it looked like there might be a resurgence. Alas, the company went bankrupt and closed all stores in 2017.
I never thought the ax throwing business or something called the Rage Room would signal a new era, and I was right. And when they took down the nice Westwood Mall sign out front and replaced it with a broken, obsolete sign from their early days, I decided it was time to sell my stock, if I had any.
Still Standing
Through ownership and management changes, the Westwood Mall has survived… barely. The electricity has been shut off a couple times for lack of payment, although I understand that situation may have been rectified. One of their current anchor stores, Dunham’s, sealed up the wall between their store and the mall, fundamentally defeating the purpose of the mall concept. Really? And it’s not a sure thing the new church in development where JC Penney was will have direct access to the mall either.
You’ve got to feel for the stores still there, but my sources indicate most are making a go of it. Or… were making a go of it. Right now they’re scrambling to keep the revenue flowing, however they can.
So, is this closing of the mall temporary, while they repair the roof? Or is this the straw that breaks the camel’s back? Are the dark clouds hanging over the hole in their roof a sign of what’s to come? Or will the skies clear and the mall reopen for business as usual, sooner rather than later?
Since it’s hard to get info from the Kohan Investment Group, the company out of New York that owns and operates the mall, I’ll just be keeping an eye on things from street level. And I’ll be hoping for the best. Whatever that ends up being.
A Proliferation of F-Bombs
As long as I’m going through my archives, AKA the leftover bin, I’ll reprise my rap on the use of the f-word… in public.
There’s a time and a place for everything, and that includes profanity, particularly the f-word. But societal standards change, and not always for the better.
I don’t know exactly when casual use of the f-word became such an acceptable practice. I remember Big Papi addressing the Fenway Park crowd after the Boston Marathon bombing and declaring, “This is our f——g city!” That was thirteen years ago.
Is that the moment the seal was broken on letting f-bombs fly in the public sphere? Prior to that, we had been easing into the more profane of the profanities, starting with Clark Gable dropping the d-word. Heck, I remember when fart was a bad word. If only.
What’s to Blame?
Most of our exposure to the word, whether we want it or not, comes from media, both social and electronic. Is that just a reflection of current trends, or a result of them? I’m afraid it’s more of the latter. Is family viewing time even a thing anymore?
Anyway, I bring this up again because I was recently dining at one of our local eateries when some doorknob at the next table kept loudly including the f-word in his colorful commentary.
F-bombs between friends are none of my business. But when they spill over into my earspace, they become my business, whether I want them or not. And I, like many other people sensitive to acceptable public behavior, don’t want them.
It’s not that hard. If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all. Keep your f-bombs to yourself. OK? TIA.