A RE-IMAGINED SUBURBAN CITY CENTER: Redeveloping Greyfield Sites
Shopping Mall Development The Decline 8,600 retail stores closed their doors in 2019 according to a study conducted by Business Insider and its projected that more will continue to close due to the continued transition of on-line shopping. Economists attribute the decline of this model to a change in attitude towards consumption as a result of the 2008 global financial crisis.1 Businesses like Amazon have changed the way retailers perceive the necessity of a brick and mortar locations. The mall, relying on long shopping trips, is no longer a sustainable retail format. Online shopping has no closing time, customers can shop all hours of the day and night.
The Urban Land Institute (ULI) writes that ‘customers are now seeing authenticity and a deeper dense of connection to their community, culture, climate and daily lives. A more authentic main street and outdoors experience is warranted, contrary to the synthetic and often ‘idealized’ environment of the enclosed shopping mall originally conceived by Gruen.’ Greyfield sites that were once home to a busy and successful mall (originally conceived during the building of the neighborhood) are in now established neighborhoods like Ocoee, Florida. Scharoun believes that the ‘current economic climate is making it difficult to rehabilitate greyfields as viable retail space. A new anchor tenant or a redesigned or renovated interior is no longer the answer.2
1 Scharoun, Lisa. America at the Mall: The Cultural Role of Retail Utopia. North Carolina: McFarland and Company. 2012. P. 105. 2 I. bid, 110
Figure 1.13: Marquee sign with closed store names blacked out
24 | Shopping Mall Development
Figure 1.14: Rolling Acres Shopping Mall - Dan Bell
The Decline
