As malls empty, an old Macy's becomes a homeless shelter. - Sensationalist Headlines

https://www.washingtonpost.com/resizer/hFWQ3soW2NLDbmIIhYsxkgNvBOE=/1484x0/arc-anglerfish-washpost-prod-washpost.s3.amazonaws.com/public/3LHOGU3CJI6P5NRZWPVIDDIFAI.jpg Everyone at first thought it was a joke. It was the summer of 2015, and Carpenter’s Shelter was facing a big dilemma. A developer had offered to remake the Alexandria shelter, housed in an old Department of Motor Vehicles building on North Henry Street, into a modern space that would not only have the capacity to shelter more homeless people, but also offer affordable housing. The shelter’s board of directors wanted to move forward, but it could not get past the most important issue of all: What would happen to the homeless people already there? Carpenter’s needed 18 months for the renovation. In the meantime, where would the homeless go? Where would they live? “How about Landmark Mall,” somebody suddenly suggested at a task-force meeting to discuss the issue, and everyone laughed at the thought of a shelter at a shopping mall. What began as a joke, however, soon became a plan, and then a construction site and, finally, inside a vacant Macy’s, a homeless shelter, where Carpenter’s executive director Shannon Steene has his office in a corner that had until recently been home to women’s active apparel RIP Retail

I remember going to my local mall as a kid, pretty sure every lot was rented out and there were always tons of people around. Skip forward to modern day and I think there's only one or two shops left, and it's honestly dead even on the weekends. Granted, I've never really been a fan of going to the mall, but seeing anything from your childhood disappear with time is still kinda upsetting.

Online stores > Retail. Simple fact. Thankfully, us is now going to enforce sales tax collection regardless of state, consumer will pay their states sale tax if bought online.

It feels really weird to see these huge places die. There's a mall not far from my place, literally Michigan's first, I used to go to it as a kid, but it's now been completely empty for four years with the county and owners fighting tooth and nail over whether to sell or demolish the place. I sweat that whole lot looks like something from a postapocalyptic game, even most of the satellite properties and parking lot shops are empty too.

Turning those big old buildings into shelters is a great idea. There's certainly plenty of space in them.

Reminds me of this strip mall plaza that had several stores connected to a large Sears building. Growing up they had everything, small clothing and shoe stores, some electronic stores and even a KB Toys. Now all that stands is the Sears building which I'm pretty sure is only used for the drivers Ed since they offer for a decent price and one lone Big Boys that stood the test of time while literally every other building on that lot closed down and is currently being torn down. It's honestly depressing to look at.

The mall were I grew up went empty years ago except for the lingering Sears. Before they demolished it, I explored in and around it. It was a really cool place to urbex for a time.

I noticed all the big malls in Orange County are adding more entertainment things like Laser tag, food, etc... instead of retail shops.

NY or California? (@Orange County)

I live in Orange County, CA and I can attest to that. The local westminster mall added one of those jump zones a year ago and very recently a arcade/pizza place

It's weird. My local mall has been going down and down over the years (food court has, like, 2 or 3 options), but meanwhile, a mall about an hour away is thriving. Don't get me wrong, it's a lot bigger and nicer. But still, the local one got worse because it got deader and deader. Lost a movie theatre, lost resteraunts... Now it has a steak house built which is confusing because I don't know why you'd put a high end resteraunt in a dying mall.

I loved my local mall as a kid. To me, christmas began when they put up the lights at the mall, and one of my favorite restaurants is a little Chinese kiosk at the mall that's been there for 20 years

From New York and didn’t even know there was an Orange County in NY. OC California. For example the Laguna Hills Mall’s JC Penny and Macy’s are shutting down, and they’re opening up a new hip cool “Entertainment Zone” to the mall. Irvine Spectrum is adding more food and entertainment but not as many shops to their newer sections. we have the Kaleidscope in Mission viejo that is literally an Entertainment mall with Laser Tag, Playground, Sports(like rock climbing, and Howies Game shack to play games and use VR. Etc...

Ye it's where Orange County Choppers was based out of. I thought originally they were out of California but I was shocked to find out it was only an hour away from me. Also, theres a mall or two in the area down there so I wasn't sure.

I remember only going to my mall for the arcade. It had that sweet Star Wars Trilogy cabinet.

I seem to be at a weird crossroads, there's 4 malls within a short driving distance of each other and they all tell vastly different stories. the one closest to me was the big mall in my area until the mid 2000's, it was always packed and had 5 anchor stores, but it was not to be as it spiraled into practically nothing as the population growth moved elsewhere in the county, the dynamics changed and then the recession hit. there's still shockingly a few stores in the food court but only 1 anchor store remains and it only nominally has a mall entrance. the stores that are there are more storage spaces than retail venues, in fact there is a card shop that's only open 4 hours a week, it just sits there to house the guy's collection. then there's the mall closer to cleveland, it was by my accounts dying going up to the recession. the interior was empty the food court had no restaurants and the mall was dragging itself along. Then suddenly, it got redeveloped. they rearranged the interior, built a movie theatre in the old food court's space, moved around the interior layout and shockingly it came back. the mall is filled today and there's restaurants and things being built in the parking lot just because there isn't any space. then the mall to the east of me was rather small and underpopulated but in the last 10 years the area around it has substantially exploded in size filling the place up, its parking lot is always filled then the mall about an hour away from me is a weird one. its like the mall closest to me, having seen a long decline from its heydays in the 80s, but thanks to seasonal traffic its managed to stay afloat. the inside still has a lot of empty stores and an empty anchor store that killed its side of the mall, but its still staying alive by attracting a lot of smaller independant businesses. malls aren't dead as a rule, there's a lot about the local demographics and management that seems to determine their existence as much as anything else

Gotta wonder if Homefront's depiction of empty shopping centers/warehouses becoming car parking lots will become a thing.

Large part of a mall around here in Michigan got turned into a weeb arcade. It's a dream come true for me.

I wouldn't be surprised. They turned the old Michigan Theatre in Detroit into a parking garage. https://i.huffpost.com/gen/1943236/original.jpg https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5205/5348865023_3cdcd36deb_b.jpg

I don't know why, but I always really liked the idea of converting abandoned malls and such into usable areas again. I occasionally think about what it would look like if a strip mall was turned into condo-style apartments or something.

Call me crazy, but I think an empty mall would be a great place for airsofting, provided it was safe.

Bruh, that book off is amazing. Found copies of ace combat 4,5 AND 0 for $5 each.