Morgantown Mall - Raw & Real Retail
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- Опубликовано: 6 сен 2024
- This is our walkthrough of the Morgantown Mall in Morgantown, WV from July 3, 2020. This is the mall that spelled the end for the classic Mountaineer Mall, just a few minutes down the road. Morgantown Mall was situated in a spot that served both the northern West Virgina market, but also drew business away from formerly successful malls in Pennsylvania, like the shuttered Washington Mall or the Franklin Mall (now called Washington Crown Center). Originally developed by the Glimcher Co., it's seen its fair share of tribulations these last couple of years, with 3 of its anchor spaces closing in fairly rapid succession. Belk closed towards the end of 2017 and is currently being changed over into an Ollie's Bargain Outlet. Elder Beerman closed in August 2018 along with its parent company, The Bon-Ton and has been since changed over to a Dunham's Sports. Sears closed in October 2018 and has not been filled with a new tenant yet. From this scenario we can get a picture of the current owners, Washington Prime Group (a subsidiary of Simon Property Group), trying to get a handle on this exodus by smartly replacing these vacant anchor spots with stores that are suited to the demographic for the area. It appears to be a successful tactic, because the mall is still pretty active and thriving, despite its problems, and especially with a comparison to the other formerly more successful mall down the road, Meadowbrook Mall. Meadowbrook Mall was a quite sleepy place later that same day...
Songs used in this video (in order):
The Rippingtons - She Likes to Watch
Steve Gray - Wonder Groove
Steve Gray - Reach Out
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I'd like to say a few words about being an ambassador to your local malls. We have been taking the time to visit all the malls within a reasonable driving distance to check up on them and see how they are doing. Also filming an updated video every year or so, regardless of the lack of many changes, just so there is a video record of the health over time. We think this is an important thing to keep tabs on, especially in these wildly turbulent times. The current health emergency has accelerated the impending Retail Apocalypse we've all been talking about these last several years. This was already a big problem, but the shutdowns and restrictions have made the issue 5x worse and likely hastened the death of the enclosed shopping mall.
I know we've all been on pins and needles wondering how bad the fallout is going to be from all of this.
There really is no way to know exactly unless we ALL go and do our small part to make it known how it turns out. I implore you, if you have the means to pick an area you would like to be an ambassador for, and go document your local malls. Whatever your medium, it doesn't matter, any and all documentation is necessary and vital in this day and age. Whether it be on Social Media, Flickr, RUclips, any platform gets it out there and preserves it for posterity. We can't paint this picture unless we all grab a brush...
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Morgantown Mall is located near the intersection of US 19 and Interstate 79, several miles from downtown Morgantown and West Virginia University. Being located near to north-south Interstate 79 the mall can be reached via I-79 from places in Pennsylvania to the north and West Virginia to the south. It appears that Morgantown Mall has found its niche in the retail landscape of the region in which it is located. Hopefully they will be able to find a tenant for the recently closed Sears store. Fortunately from reading the notes, they have been able to replace the other department stores which have left with replacement retailers. Hopefully Morgantown Mall can continue to remain prosperous.
A nice looking mall. Pretty skakey occupancy rate. It does show signs of stores leaving. It’s also unfortunate that it has had issues with securing anchors. That makes it challenging. On the positive side the interior is quite nice. I like the ceilings. They make the mall bright along with ths skylights. I do think this mall is on the bring of bad things to come. It’s unfortunate that the place is in decline. It will interesting to see what the place will be like a year by now. That will best to see if it can survive. II hope so,.
Didn't know Garfield had a restaurant there. Bet there was a bunch of lasagna lol
Sucks they left the mall. That place was AWESOME. Had the best restaurant food around at the best prices. I think there's only 1 left south of morgantown.
It's really sad when you have a Sporting Goods and Discount/Bargain Stores occupying 2 of the anchors. Honestly, this mall makes me depressed everytime I visit it.
Doomie Grunt sighting, at 5:04? I kinda wondered if that was him, considering he had the Solo Cup 'Jazz' t-shirt.
Anyway, nice mall. I hope this mall doesn't die, since I like how it looks for a 1 level mall. It does have those signs like you say, where I worry long term if it may be vulnerable. Hopefully it hangs on, for years to come.
Yup, good eye! We're good friends with Doomie and try to meet up a couple times a year.
When was this video taken? That closed store at @6:22 has been a comic and gaming shop for a good while.
From the description:
"This is our walkthrough of the Morgantown Mall in Morgantown, WV from July 3, 2020"