Owings Mills Mall and Security Square Mall, Baltimore area

[mixedday]

I visited both the Owings Mills Mall and the Security Square Mall today after many years.

At Owings Mills Mall, only JCPenney is left from the mall, not including outparcels. I noted on the Granite Run Mall thread, that unlike Granite Run Mall which is fenced off partially, this mall is not fenced off anywhere. The JCPenney looks like a new building and it's centrally positioned. When I arrived into the mall, JCPenney was straight across. I do wonder if JCPenney has plans to close this location, relocate somewhere or stay as long as it can. It had customers so it wasn't dead.

However, from reports, Macy's closed just a couple of months ago even before the holiday season. I figured Macy's was content with it's position at Towson, White Marsh Mall and Columbia, and maybe this was an extraneous mall in Baltimore region. Ironically enough, I remember many years ago, that one had to go to Owings Mills to get to Macy's if they wanted to go to Macy's, as many malls like Columbia and Towson had Hecht's and other dept stores but not Macy's.

But I remembered that Security Square Mall was also nearby and worth a visit. In some way, Macy's chose to keep it's anchor at Security Square Mall open over sticking around in Owings Mills, given the two are close enough to pull from the same area. So, I went down to Security Square Mall. From the outside, this mall has ugly signage. But the mall looked like a regular mall. I even wondered if JCPenney could move back here to consolidate. The back parts of the mall look dated however.

And, I realized that once I went in this mall, it was a very urban mall, almost like a mall from the hood, sorry to say that. I don't think Philly has an equivalent of such an urban mall.

However, it got me thinking that I don't know if Macy's and Sears have great staying power in this mall either. The Sears wasn't very busy, and the Macy's looked quite old. There is also Burlington Coat Factory (not even changed to just Burlington) and Old Navy. Old Navy had no entrance to the outside and Burlington's entrance was rather weak. I do wonder if this mall at one point could be considered to be de-malled and made more big box style oriented.

[Ameskid]

I think the JCP at Owings Mills plans to stay, with the rest of the mall being demolished. Could be wrong about that, though.

[mixedday]

What is unfortunate is that Owings Mills Mall was built well, with upgrades like marble floors.

Perhaps Walmart will relocate here to build a Super Walmart and it could accompany JCPenney? I'm not familiar with the current Walmart store that is in Owings Mills, but it's not a super Walmart. A new Wegmans is slated for Owings Mills but elsewhere. Otherwise it would have been a better choice.