Rhode Island Mall

[dayville81]

This mall in Warwick, RI proves that strong anchor stores do not always help the smaller ones. The mall's original anchors were Sears and G. Fox. G. Fox became Filene's but there was already a Filene's at the nearby Warwick Mall. Filene's closed its doors and many small retailers left since they had a store in Warwick Mall. Wal-Mart took over the lower level of Filene's and Kohl's took over the upper level. Neither have mall entrances and require one to exit the mall and walk down the sidewalk. Rhode Island Mall is WORSE each year. Remaining tenants include: Dollar Tree, EB Games, Toy Game store, a museum store, Payless, Kay Jewelry, Silver Dragon, GNC, a couple independent stores, and Champ Sports. It is weird walking down a mall corridor walking past closed stores, most of which havent even been dry walled over. The old food court and 1/4 of the original mall was demolished when they put in the Kohl's and Walmart.

PEDESTRIAN TRAFFIC FLOW
When they put in Kohl's and Walmart they should have made it so the stores had mall entrances. They are both so very close to the mall itself, they just should have rearranged a couple things and forced people to enter the store via the mall and have no outdoor entrance. This would have gotten people in the mall thereby helping other tennants. People could always use the side corridors to go back to their cars.
CART VALET
Some malls who feature big anchor stores where people buy a lot of items should have a cart valet. Often discount store shoppers have a cart full of merchandise they must go to their car for and dont feel like going back in the mall.
MURALS
They do have nice murals on the wall of Providence even though the mall is in Warwick.

[dayville81]

Wood doors with a padlock cover over the small hallway on the lower level that used to go to the mall restrooms. Apparently it became obvious that it was too expensive to maintain the restrooms for so few people. Of course people now just go over to Wal-Mart or Kohl's or Sears and use the restrooms over there.

[d_fife]

I went to that mall last summer and only 10 stores were left in the enclosed part! Saturday matene was vacant. When I went there wal-mart was at the bottom and Kohl's was above wal-mart. tjey did not have an indoor entrance. they way to get in the indoor part was confusing.

[Caldor1999]

thats sad they should have replaced the old filenenes with a macys or something uslay when wal mart is in a mall it uslay means its teh end of a mall

[d_fife]

Originally posted by Caldor1999
thats sad they should have replaced the old filenenes with a macys or something uslay when wal mart is in a mall it uslay means its teh end of a mall

did Wal-mart and Kohl's expand into some of the mall, ie reduce the indoor mall space. I heard the mall had a food court.

[Crawford]

It is too bad what happpened at the Rhode Island Mall. If you are from around here it was called the Midland Mall and was the first two level mall in the state (not including Providence's Arcade). In the 80's this place was very very busy and the Warwick mall up the road was the dead one.  I would  think the lack of mall access from the Kohl's and the Wal-mart was the final nail in the coffin. Not sure why they don't have it. Swansea Mall's Wal-mart does and that saved Swansea from becoming another dead mall. This mall had a great food court and a glass elevator smack in the middle of the place. Soon to be all gone. I heard a rumor that Stop and Shop might take over the entire interior of the mall and convert it.

[d_fife]

Originally posted by Crawford
It is too bad what happpened at the Rhode Island Mall. If you are from around here it was called the Midland Mall and was the first two level mall in the state (not including Providence's Arcade). In the 80's this place was very very busy and the Warwick mall up the road was the dead one.  I would  think the lack of mall access from the Kohl's and the Wal-mart was the final nail in the coffin. Not sure why they don't have it. Swansea Mall's Wal-mart does and that saved Swansea from becoming another dead mall. This mall had a great food court and a glass elevator smack in the middle of the place. Soon to be all gone. I heard a rumor that Stop and Shop might take over the entire interior of the mall and convert it.

I have heard rumors of Stop and shop taking over the interior, rumors said it maybe to block wal-mart from becoming a supercenter. I heard the Rhode island mall was built in 1967 and I bet once it reaches 40 yeras old, the whole indoor part will be closed. I think one of the things that hurt these malls was providence place. it was silly having 2 filene's.

[dayville81]

Originally posted by d_fife

Originally posted by Caldor1999
thats sad they should have replaced the old filenenes with a macys or something uslay when wal mart is in a mall it uslay means its teh end of a mall

did Wal-mart and Kohl's expand into some of the mall, ie reduce the indoor mall space. I heard the mall had a food court.

It did have a food court with Sbarro's and a few other eateries that are in the food court at Warwick Mall now. Macy's already had a store at the Warwick Mall and the old Filene's lay vacant for a good while.

[dayville81]

BTW, Wish I had a camera to take pics of the Mall Directory sign outside Sears on the Upper Level which list only ten stores and the mall's layout. Going into the mall from the side hallways is confusing. Easiest to just park at Sears and go in the mall that way.

[dayville81]

Originally posted by d_fife
I went to that mall last summer and only 10 stores were left in the enclosed part! Saturday matene was vacant. When I went there wal-mart was at the bottom and Kohl's was above wal-mart. tjey did not have an indoor entrance. they way to get in the indoor part was confusing.

Funny, Walmart has 2 stores in Warwick. At this one they state: "Thank you for shopping your Rhode Island Mall Wal-Mart" yet they have no physical connection to the mall.

[d_fife]

The main thing in the indoor part is the DMV REgistery. articles said the vacany rate dropped from 40 percent to 12 percent by fall 2002 and that trend changed after wal-mart built. Again I visited this mall 6 months ago and 10 or 12 stores were left out of 60, and the toy vault was left and dollar tree was left. the mall had clothing stores warwick mall had and the mall had Spencer gifts and KB TOYS and radio shack. I saw a vacant store what appeared to be Saturday matenie and I was told they had a pet store in this mall. I was disguisted when I went in this mall. The vacany rate is like 80 to 90 percent from what it seems. WHEN DID THIS MALL Start to die? someone I know from my colelge from warwick said when they were in junior high, late 1994-early 1997, one said as long as they could remember and one said ever since providence place mall opened. an article dated 1997 called the mall the ailing mall. Why did it start dying? Filene's closed in 1997 and modernized and expanded their warwick mall store. you all have a point about no indoor entrance to kohl's and wal-mart. yeras ago rumors were to purchase this mall for CCRI property, but this mall is headed the same direction as most dead malls are, to evolve from an enclosed retail center to an outdoor power center.

The mall is 531,000 square feet and on the junctions of Rts 2 and 113 off 295 and 95, from 295 it is off the same exit as the warwick mall and from 95 it is off exit 12. The anchors are sears that is 216,000 squrae feet and kohl's is 86,000 square feet and wal-mart is 136,000 squrae feet. G. Fox may have been like 136,000 square feet and became Filene's. How old did the filene's lok? the mall is 2 levels and has been sold many times and the sign looks modern, I wonder what the old mall sign looked like they have 2 signs and a sears sign on the Rt.113 part. outside are a 41,000 squre foot toys r us built in maybe 1977 and remodeled in 1997, Wendy's and Chuck E cheese.

this http://www.projo.com/westbay/content/projo_20051223_rimall23.14c3e614.html


01:43 AM EST on Friday, December 23, 2005
BY DANIEL BARBARISI
Journal Staff Writer
 


WARWICK -- There is no holiday cheer in the near-empty Rhode Island Mall and the future of the once mighty retail venue looks bleak, but small business owners with niche stores are cashing in on the cheap rent.

 
Journal photo / Bill Murphy

Santa Claus - Jim Clarke, of Warwick - passes the time reading a brochure at the mall. He says the smaller crowds have a benefit: more time and personal attention with each child.
'Twas three days before Christmas, and Santa Claus sat alone in his sled at the Rhode Island Mall. There were no children waiting in line to sit on his lap, and few shoppers to talk to; at times, he reads a book to stay busy.

Such is the holiday season at a dead mall.

While less than a mile away, the Warwick Mall is chaotic and bustling with holiday shoppers, the Rhode Island Mall, the state's first modern mall and once a commercial mecca, is nearly empty.

There are barely 10 stores open, and while mall officials would not comment on the vacancy rate, a quick glance at the rows and rows of steel-shuttered empty storefronts leaves no question that it is well over 50 percent.

What traffic there is comes from customers waiting their turn at the Registry of Motor Vehicles, or passing through from one of the three anchor stores, Kohl's, Sears, and Wal-Mart.

"This place is hurting. There's nothing here. The whole second floor is dead," said Matthew Aubin of Warwick, waiting by the Registry office.

"It feels like the Depression, that's what it feels like. I've never seen anything like it," he said.

Barring a Christmas miracle, the future of the mall is bleak, muddied by ownership issues, and perhaps by a turf war between Wal-Mart and Stop & Shop. Rumors have the inner sections of retailers being torn down, or the large anchor stores expanding, or other large tenants coming in -- the only certainty is that no one knows what will happen to the property.

"It seems that the Rhode Island Mall has drifted off into a place where the people come in to go to Sears, or Kohl's, and leave," said Warwick Mayor Scott Avedisian. "There just isn't that mix of stores at the Rhode Island Mall anymore."

With the future unclear, the tenants are all on month-to-month leases, and it's near-impossible to get new tenants to move in on a monthly lease with so much uncertainty, said Suzanne Viner, the on-site manager for Eastern Development LLC, the Woburn, Mass.-based property manager.

Viner referred all questions about the future of the property to her superiors at Eastern Development, who did not return a call seeking comment yesterday.

The fate of the mall may depend on the plans of two retail giants: Wal-Mart and Stop & Shop. In the winter of 2003, The Stop & Shop Supermarket Company bought the center core of the mall, containing most of the small retail businesses -- but has done nothing with it since then. Meanwhile, construction is under way on another Stop & Shop less than a mile away, at the site of the former Apex Department Store on Greenwich Avenue.

Business analysts have said that this move may have been intended to block Wal-Mart from expanding into a larger facility, with a full supermarket inside. Stop & Shop spokesman Rob Keane said yesterday that he could not comment on that, but said his company is "exploring several types of possibilities for development or remodeling" at the site, and that they may have a decision on what to do with the property sometime in 2006.

The Rhode Island Mall, formerly the Midland Mall, is prominent in state lore. Opened in 1967, it was the first enclosed mall in the state outside of Providence's Arcade. Located on 23 acres just off Route 95 at the corner of Route 113 and Route 2, it was integral in Warwick becoming the state's retail capital.

Its glory days are recalled fondly on the Web site deadmalls.com, which speaks reverently of the days when the G. Fox department store anchored the property and the food court existed.

But in the early 1990s, G. Fox converted to Filene's, and some of the smaller stores began leaving for the larger Warwick Mall, which had a multiplex movie theater, and aggressive advertising. Competition from exploding development on Bald Hill Road also sapped the mall, with huge complexes of box stores such as Home Depot and Best Buy popping up along the crowded road.

When Providence Place opened in 1999, the Warwick Mall put on an aggressive marketing campaign to keep pace, while the Rhode Island Mall fell further and further behind, Avedisian said.

Filene's then moved to the Warwick Mall and gave way to Kohl's and Wal-Mart, which split its old space. Wal-Mart's arrival gave a brief flicker of hope to the property, and the vacancy rate dropped from from 40 percent to 12 percent by the fall of 2000.

But Wal-Mart and Kohl's -- while successful -- are built as independent stores that do not have direct access into the mall, limiting the foot traffic they bring to the mall.

Avedisian said this is because the companies' owners have determined that their customers come to their stores directly, and do not intend to stroll and shop.

In March 2003, Eastern Development bought the property from the Whitehall Street Real Estate Fund, operated by Goldman Sachs, for what was believed to be $20 million.

Then in September 2004, the mall was purchased for $36.6 million by a Munich, Germany company that manages and invests funds on behalf of unnamed European Investors. The company, GLL Real Estate Partners, said it represented one of Europe's largest pension funds.

GLL has not made any public comment about its intentions for the mall, and Avedisian said he has not heard from them since they took ownership.

BUT EVEN amid the turmoil the mall has become a boon to small business owners with specialty or niche stores, looking for cheap rent and a convenient space.

Ruby Ann DeFusco moved her Bear Village shop, which does ceramic bears and Christmas decorations, from the Warwick Mall to the Rhode Island Mall in November, and watched her rent immediately fall from $14,000 a month to $1,000, she said.

With such low overhead, her profits shot through the roof.

"This might be the best Christmas I've had in 15 years of doing this," DeFusco said. "I didn't think it was going to be this good."

"You don't need a lot of traffic to make money," she said. "Foot traffic doesn't mean anything. It's the serious shoppers, the ones who come in and walk the mall, that buy."

Silver Dragon sells novelty items such as replica swords from the Lord of the Rings films, and sterling silver Wiccan jewelry. As a destination store with a niche clientele, the store has done well -- as well or better, said district manager Jeff Yuettner, as its counterpart in North Attleboro's far busier Emerald Square mall.

"People like coming to this mall. It's easy-on, easy-off, with no traffic," Yuettner said.

Even Santa Claus -- Jim Clarke -- said there are benefits to the slower flow of traffic. With no lines until the afternoon and evening, he can spend more time with each child, and give them more personal attention. Many people come back year after year for the slower, more attentive experience with him, said Terri Brooks, who helps arrange the Santa photos for Melino Photo.

Even if it's not as busy as the other malls, the human connection -- and Clark's real "Santa" beard -- bring back enough repeat customers that they stay in the black.

"It doesn't bring in much as far as profit goes, because it's a dead mall, but we make ends meet," she said.

And while it may not be the clientele that mall management or the tenants are looking for, the Rhode Island Mall has become the ideal haven for one group of shoppers that doesn't want crowds, traffic, sales, or good business: mall walkers.

"It's easier here. It's empty, there's not people," said West Warwick's Sue Laundry, before she and her elderly mother, Lorraine LaPrade, took another lap around the spacious, well-lit, warm, empty Rhode Island Mall.

[dayville81]

If the mall closes what will happen to its existing tenants? Warwick Mall seems to be almost at capacity level. It seems there is less and less truly independent stores. Rhode Island Mall should market itself as a mall attracting independent stores - though not sure whether there are enough of those out there to keep the mall profitable. Anyone know whether Wal-Mart, Kohl's and Sears own their buildings or pay rent? If they pay rent I bet they get a really good deal.

[d_fife]

Originally posted by dayville81
If the mall closes what will happen to its existing tenants? Warwick Mall seems to be almost at capacity level. It seems there is less and less truly independent stores. Rhode Island Mall should market itself as a mall attracting independent stores - though not sure whether there are enough of those out there to keep the mall profitable. Anyone know whether Wal-Mart, Kohl's and Sears own their buildings or pay rent? If they pay rent I bet they get a really good deal.

they will probably move to other locations in warwick or in the warwick mall, if possible. the kb toys location is still vacant in the warwick mall last i saw 6 months ago. the ri mall had payless shoe source too.

see this picture of deadmalls

from kevin clarke of http://www.deadmalls.com/malls/rhode_island_mall.html

[d_fife]

Originally posted by d_fife

Originally posted by dayville81
If the mall closes what will happen to its existing tenants? Warwick Mall seems to be almost at capacity level. It seems there is less and less truly independent stores. Rhode Island Mall should market itself as a mall attracting independent stores - though not sure whether there are enough of those out there to keep the mall profitable. Anyone know whether Wal-Mart, Kohl's and Sears own their buildings or pay rent? If they pay rent I bet they get a really good deal.

they will probably move to other locations in warwick or in the warwick mall, if possible. the kb toys location is still vacant in the warwick mall last i saw 6 months ago. the ri mall had payless shoe source too.

see this picture of deadmalls

from kevin clarke of http://www.deadmalls.com/malls/rhode_island_mall.html

here is the mall's logo. do not say if the mall closes, with that many stores left there is a very very high chance it will be gone. only a few people besides me where in the indoor cooridors.
from KEvin clarke of http://www.deadmalls.com/malls/rhode_island_mall.html

[d_fife]

Originally posted by d_fife

Originally posted by d_fife

Originally posted by dayville81
If the mall closes what will happen to its existing tenants? Warwick Mall seems to be almost at capacity level. It seems there is less and less truly independent stores. Rhode Island Mall should market itself as a mall attracting independent stores - though not sure whether there are enough of those out there to keep the mall profitable. Anyone know whether Wal-Mart, Kohl's and Sears own their buildings or pay rent? If they pay rent I bet they get a really good deal.

they will probably move to other locations in warwick or in the warwick mall, if possible. the kb toys location is still vacant in the warwick mall last i saw 6 months ago. the ri mall had payless shoe source too.

see this picture of deadmalls

from kevin clarke of http://www.deadmalls.com/malls/rhode_island_mall.html

here is the mall's logo. do not say if the mall closes, with that many stores left there is a very very high chance it will be gone. only a few people besides me where in the indoor cooridors.
from KEvin clarke of http://www.deadmalls.com/malls/rhode_island_mall.html

the DMV registry. The mall also had lenscrafters when I was there. we know this mall was the first indoor mall in RI. it said the mall was called midland mall and the gap was there and tape world was a part of saturday matinee (which I saaw vacant in the mall) warwick mall oonly opened 3-4 years after.

from kevin clarke http://www.deadmalls.com/malls/rhode_island_mall.html

[dayville81]

The mall at one time had a Cherry & Webb clothing store on the lower level. It also had an arcade on the long hallway next to Sears on the lower level. It is the same arcade as in the Warwick Mall. I am surprised that they dont move all the current stores in a row on the lower level outside Sears and just close off the upper level of the mall completely. Also am surprised that Dollar Tree is so small in this mall because some Dollar Trees I have been to have been five times the size. With such cheap rent you would think more small stores at Warwick Mall would move here especially since there is more room for the small stores to expand while at Warwick they are pretty much locked into the space they have.

[frameguy2704]

I went there today to see what it looked like, I should have brought my camera, I was afraid of someone saying something about pics but I had my cell phone and took one pic on the way into the mall.. there was about 5 people in the mall and about 8 stores total in the mall that were open, all the rest closed down or moved,  how sad...

[Crawford]

It's sad what happened here. This mall had everything, good stores, 2 levels, it is right across the street from the community college.

I came here a few years back just to browse, there was a comics/collectible shop inside that actually took up several vacant stores. I browsed, looked prices that would make even the Comic Book Guy from the Simpsons blush, took the recent issue of the Hulk from the stand, looked at the cover and put it back. The rather large and I mean large owner of the store started hollering at me that I had to buy the comic. I kept my cool and said, I didn't even open it, I just looked at the cover. He actually called for security. It was taking awhile for them to show up so I stuck around to enjoy the show. Barney Fife and Gomer Pyle arrive and the owner starts telling them how I "pawed" all his books, ripped a few magazines and insulted him. I started laughing, said he was not telling the truth and they could call Warwick's finest and dust everything in the place for my fingerprints. Security must have had problems with this guy cause they told me to leave. owner shouts "I see prison in your future" I turned back, smiled and said "I see a massive coronary in yours" then went home

Never went back. I heard the store closed not long after that.