I was looking through some archived Cyburbia threads that dealt with shopping centers. Noticed quite a few rants concerning the design and placement of shopping centers, big boxes, etc.
Thought it might be interesting and fun to post some info about the big centers near you......and what is right or wrong with them.
Toledo:
The Colony - This was Toledo's first shopping center. It was really just a line of stores in what was considered the suburbs back in the 1950's, with a big parking lot in the back. In addition to the stores it had a movie theater and a basement bowling alley. It was close to this Bear's home. It's gone now, gobbled up by an aggressive Toledo Hospital.
Great Eastern, Miracle Mile, Southland - These shopping centers were built in the 1950's and all had the same design. Basic near-horseshoe pattern with a BMF parking lot in the front and a major department store as an anchor.
Westgate - L-shaped center with an anchor at the junction of the two legs. The anchor was originally The Lion Store, a 2-story building. They added a third story in the 1960's. Eventually The Lion Store became part of Dillard's and this store is now empty.
Woodville Mall, Greenwood Mall, Franklin Park Mall, Southwyck Mall, North Towne Mall - These first-generation malls were built during the "great mall building craze" in the 1970's. Greenwood is long gone. North Towne has converted itself to some sort of office building. Woodville Mall and Southwyck are dying.
Only the Franklin Park Mall, purchased a couple years ago by an Australian company, is alive and kicking.....with a new name: Westfield. This BMF is in the process of adding more stores, new movie theaters, and parking garages. It is the only successful shopping mall in the metro.
Traffic in the Westfield area is horrible. Hundreds of other retail, taverns, restaurants, are all around the Westfield area.
Bear At The Fountain, Looking At The Pennies