A contemporary view of Greater Pittsburgh's SOUTH HILLS VILLAGE. As has been the case with nearly every mid-20th century mall, the interior has undergone several renovations over the years. An unwritten law in retail states that any shopping mall must be physically updated at least every 10 years...else it will loose favor with the (fickle) buying public.
Photo from Wikipedia / Jim Henderson

Over the years, Atlanta's LENOX SQUARE has grown from a modest 800,000 square feet into a whopping 1,545,000! There are now over 240 tenants. Needless to say, today's complex has NO 5 & 10, supermarket or cafeteria. Nowadays, all that is "there" at Lenox Square is anything but middle-market. The present roster of tony tenants includes Louis Vuitton, Bloomingdale's, Williams-Sonoma, Cartier, Hermes and Restoration Hardware. 

A collection of logos from the typical "Grade A" shopping mall of the recent past. As its classification would imply, this type of shopping hub is populated by exclusive boutiques and stores catering to the more affluent shopper.

Barneys New York, a so-called "luxury department store," originated in Manhattan in 1923. Above, we see the chain's ill-fated NORTHPARK CENTER store, in Dallas, Texas. It opened, with much fanfare, in September 2006 and closed for good in April 2013. 
Photo from Wikipedia / "020808"

Bath & Body Works, based in New Albany, Ohio (a Columbus suburb), has been in business since 1990. This women's bath and beauty retailer has locations in many of America's Grade A malls. However, there are also several "Grade B" mall branches. The snapshot above was taken in Rapid City, South, Dakota's RUSHMORE MALL (which was renamed UPTOWN RAPID in 2022).

Photo from Wikipedia / "Mr. Satterly"

The typical Grade B mall might have several of the stores depicted above, but it is not uncommon to see a few of these nameplates at a high-end Grade A mall.

The very first Sunglass Hut, a kiosk-type store, was located in Miami's DADELAND MALL and began business in 1971. Today, the chain, a division of Italy's Luxottica Group, operates stores around the world. The NATICK MALL location, outside of Boston, is seen above.
Photo from Wikipedia / John Phelan

The Finish Line chain originated, in 1976, with a franchised Athlete's Foot store in Downtown Indianapolis. In 1981, the first Finish Line locations were established. In the 2020s, this Indy-based retailer operated over 600 stores. The photo above shows the NORTHSHORE CENTER location, also outside of Boston.
Photo from Wikipedia / John Phelan 

Today, with all of the unwelcoming atmosphere created by so-called "codes of conduct" and camera-grabbing security guards, one might get the impression that they are only welcome in a mall for as long as the charge or debit card is in use. When the spending spree is over, one is -apparently- expected to make tracks. This is in opposition to the old-fashioned concept of a mall, where great lengths were taken to try and keep you in the place for as long as possible, whether you were buying anything or not.

During the 1970s and '80s, America was in a full-throttle shopping-mall-building boom. New retail square footage hit its peak in 1985. However, between 1989 and 1993, shopping center construction starts dropped by seventy percent. By the late 1990s, the notorious "dead mall" syndrome had appeared.

There have been several explanations for this phenomenon, where once-vibrant retail hubs become virtually vacant ghost towns devoid of tenants and shoppers. The most obvious reasons for the proliferation of moribund malls in the United States are the advent of televised home shopping channels, in 1982, and introduction of online retailing, in the 1990s. 

However, as I see it, the primary reason for many of the dead, dying -or redeveloped- malls is simply this...there were too many built in the United States during the 1970s and '80s. It doesn't take rocket science to figure out that a medium-sized American city such as Toledo, Ohio could only -realistically- support one large fully-enclosed shopping mall. FOUR opened in the metropolitan area between 1969 and 1980, making it inevitable that some would eventually fail. Just one -FRANKLIN PARK MALL- remains in business today.

This shopping mall malaise, a hangover from the nation's overbuilding binge, has been repeated in over-malled cities and towns from coast to coast over the past two decades.

Along with all of the over development of the 1970s and '80s, a few other dead mall generators might be mentioned. There has been a precipitous drop in our buying power since 1970. The end result was that the typical American did not have as much disposable income as they did during the halcyon years of the nation's shopping mall development.

With less discretionary income, John Q. Public could no longer afford to shop at the typical mall, where prices for merchandise were higher due to "common area fees" levied on all tenants. These surcharges paid for mallway maintenance and heating and cooling of the areas. In the 1950s, '60s and early '70s, electric power was plentiful and cheap.

This changed drastically during the mid-1970s, when monthly power bills began to escalate (and never stopped!). This inevitably caused the prices for mall-bought merchandise to rise, while -at the same time- the purchasing power of the general public was shrinking. In essence, the underpinnings of the dead mall syndrome were being established, although they would not manifest themselves for several years.

After some 20 years of over development and market saturation, "Grade C" and "D" shopping malls in America were dead and dying. By the late 1990s, demolition crews -ripping down once-vibrant centers of commerce- were being seen more and more.
Photo from Mike Cohen

As mentioned, the standard American mall went through various changes during the 1980s, with a marked shift toward more upscale stores and services. As some malls began to decline in the 1990s, a new manifestation of retail was emerging. Known as the "lifestyle center," it first appeared in the spring of 1987, under the auspices of Greater Memphis' THE SHOPS OF SADDLE CREEK.

http://shoppingmallmuseum.blogspot.com/search/label/America%27s%20First%20Lifestyle%20Center

The lifestyle center dispensed with the fully-enclosed, weather-protected ("perpetual springtime") mall concept that had been popularized during the 1960s and '70s. Lifestyle centers were open-air and fully upscale. The "huge shopping center in the middle of a sea of parking" model from the mid-20th century was now obsolete...or so it was told.

The "new & improved" lifestyle center often had a substantially smaller footprint than a standard mall and was configured so shoppers could (supposedly) park directly in front of a particular store.  Heaven help it if one had to actually walk any distance while shopping!

In the brave new -new millennium- world, nobody has the time to walk, peruse or people watch, as they would have done years before. Now it is rush, rush, rush! In other words, get in the store, buy whatever and hurry off to some other appointment or obligation, all the while driving and texting (simultaneously) on a smart phone.

Due to its compact footprint and lack of a heated and cooled common area, the lifestyle center cost less to build and operate. It supposedly produced higher sales per-square-foot figures than the traditional mall...although one wouldn't be able to tell by the prices of the merchandise! 

A  site plan of Memphis' THE SHOPS OF SADDLE CREEK shows the typical layout of a lifestyle-type complex. Inline stores are small (in the 1,000 to 7,000 square foot range). The entire -three-structure- complex encompasses only 137,500 leasable square feet.

Minnesota's SHOPPES AT ARBOR LAKES lifestyler center typifies the genre with its lush landscaping, tony tenants and trendy architecture.
Photo from Wikipedia / "MgWiki"

In a nutshell, the quaint, "old timey downtown" lifestyle center was IN, while the gargantuan, "obsolete" shopping mall was OUT. The word "mall" even became something of a 4-letter word in segments of the retail industry. Throughout the industry, new lifestyle developments poured on the pretense with snazzy-sounding names, such as shopPES, centRE or pointE.

No, we didn't mess up and post a blank image, lol. Amidst all of the hooplah and hyperbole surrounding the lifestyle center phenomenon, one aspect seems to be (purposely) ignored; mainly, that shoppers are out in the rain or any other inclement weather when going from store to store. Of course, at the standard "obsolete" shopping mall, this is not the case. We had a hunch and did several Google searches to try and find even ONE photo of a snowed-in -or rain-soaked- lifestyle center. There were none to be found, as represented by the non-photo above.

The evolution of the retail industry during the 1980s brought forth another new concept in shopping facilities; the "power center." 280 METRO CENTER, one of America's first, began business, in the San Mateo County suburbs of San Francisco, in 1986.

http://shoppingmallmuseum.blogspot.com/search/label/America%27s%20First%20Power%20Center

Like the lifestyle center, the power center was open-air. The big difference was that the power center was not filled with small, exclusive, boutique-type shoppes and bistros, but with large big box stores and smaller inline tenants.

In essence, a power center was a discount-oriented hodgepodge of retailers, usually surrounding a large parking area. The power center shopper could, and probably did, drive directly to the front of each store they wanted to shop at and would get in the car, and endure parking lot pandemonium, to drive directly to another store at the other end of the complex. Walking between destinations, as one would do in a conventional mall, was strictly out!

Stores in Greater San Francisco's 280 METRO CENTER surround its central parking area. In essence, the typical mall in a sea of parking has been turned inside out. Big box-type stores in the complex encompassed between 13,000 and 30,000 square feet, with inline stores ranging in size from 2,000 to 7,000. 

A collection of logos for some of the best-known big box stores. All are still in business, except for Sports Authority, which shut down in August of 2016.

WESTGATE, a power center outside of Cleveland, was built from the remains of a demolished WESTGATE MALL. Stores in the 618,900 square foot "power plaza" were dedicated in 2007 and 2008.
Photo from http://www.westgateohio.com

Sources:

hyyp://www.encyclopedia.com

http://www.icsc.org/srch/about/impactofshoppingcenters/briefhistory.html

Retail Traffic website

http://www.answers.com

http://money.usnews.com/money/business-economy/slideshows/americas-most-endangered-malls/8

US News & World Report "America's Most Endangered Malls"

"Home Shopping Network", "Online Retailing" and "Dot Com Bubble" articles on Wikipedia 

Lathrop Douglass (1907-1981) was one of the founding fathers of the American shopping mall. His first mall-type complex opened in 1954. By 1976, he had designed over 100 shopping malls and centers, thirty department stores and fifty office buildings.
Photo from The Annual Obituary 1981 / St. Martin's Press

Lathrop Douglass, Senior was born, in Kansas City, Missouri, on September 5, 1907.  He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree from Connecticut's Yale University in 1929 and attended classes at Ecole des Beaux Arts, in Fontainebleau, France. In 1932, he received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Yale.

EARLY ENDEAVORS

Douglass was employed as an architect at the Housing Board of the State of New York (1938-1941). He was a consulting engineer at the War Department (1943-1944), was employed as Assistant Chief Engineer at the Johnson, Drake & Piper firm (1941-1943) and was Chief Architect at the John W. Harris Associates firm (1943-1946). Douglass founded his own business, Lathrop Douglass Architects, in 1946.

An early Douglass design concept was for the Skytel, an air field terminal building, hotel and restaurant complex.
Drawing from Lathrop Douglass Architects

One of Douglass' first commissions was for the design of the A.G. Spalding & Brothers plant, in Willimansett, Massachusetts. In 1948, he drafted plans for the Esso Standard Oil Building, in Baton Rouge. Commissions for several Esso office buildings followed. Douglass was made a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects (FAIA) in March 1960.

DOUGLASS DESIGN

Plans for the first of many shopping centers were drawn, in 1950, for the NORTH SHORE SHOPPING MART, in Nassua County, New York. The first Douglass-designed mall, Yonkers, New York's CROSS COUNTY CENTER, opened in April 1954. Subsequent mall projects included PRINCE GEORGES PLAZA, Hyattsville, Maryland (1959), CONNECTICUT POST CENTER, Milford, Connecticut (1960) and TYSONS CORNER CENTER, Fairfax County, Virginia (1968). 

Like fellow architect Victor Gruen, Lathrop Douglass was a proponent of urban renewal. This concept advocated that the declining downtowns of American and Canadian cities could be revitalized with mall-type shopping centers. Several Douglass-designed downtown redevelopment projects followed, with the more noteworthy being CHAPEL SQUARE, New Haven, Connecticut (1967) and LAFAYETTE PLAZA, Bridgeport, Connecticut (1968).

EMINENT EPILOGUE

In the end, the center city mall concept failed to curtail the decline of the Central Business District in North America. Douglass designed downtown malls for cities such as Trenton, New Jersey, New Bedford, Massachusetts and Niagara Falls, New York. These were never built. Following a celebrated, decade-spanning career in architecture and urban planning, Lathrop Douglass, Senior passed away on January 21, 1981.

DOUGLASS-DESIGNED MALLS:

A list of  shopping malls designed by Lathrop Douglass, Senior between the early 1950s and mid-1970s. Those indicated in green have been inducted into the Mall Hall of Fame. Those in blue are on exhibit at the Shopping Mall Museum site.

1. NORTH SHORE SHOPPING MART-THE GARDENS AT GREAT NECK, Nassau County, NY (May 1951)
2. LEVITTOWN SHOP-A-RAMA, Bucks County, PA (October 1953-January 2000) *
3. CROSS COUNTY CENTER, Yonkers, NY (April 1954)
4. MID-ISLAND PLAZA-PLAZA AT MID-ISLAND-BROADWAY MALL-BROADWAY COMMONS, Nassau County, NY (October 1956)
5. BLUE RIDGE CENTER-BLUE RIDGE MALL, Kansas City & Independence, MO (October 1958-January 2003) *
6. PRINCE GEORGES PLAZA-MALL AT PRINCE GEORGES, Hyattsville, MD (November 1958) *
7. CORTEZ PLAZA, Manatee County, FL (February 1959-October 1987) *
8. TOWSON PLAZA, Baltimore County, MD (May 1959) *
9. ROCKLAND CENTRE, Mount Royal, QU (November 1959)
10. WHEATON PLAZA-WESTFIELD SHOPPINGTOWN WHEATON-WESTFIELD WHEATON, Montgomery County, MD (February 1960) *
11. MENLO PARK CENTER-MENLO PARK MALL, Middlesex County, NJ (April 1960)
12. COLONIAL PARK PLAZA-COLONIAL PARK MALL, Dauphin County, PA (June 1960)
13. CONNECTICUT POST CENTER-CONNECTICUT POST MALL-WESTFIELD SHOPPINGTOWN CONNECTICUT POST-WESTFIELD CONNECTICUT POST-CONNECTICUT POST MALL, Milford, Connecticut (September 1960)
14. PHILLIPS HIGHWAY PLAZA-PHILLIPS MALL-MARKET SQUARE-METRO SQUARE OFFICE PARK, Duval County (Jacksonville), FL (November 1960)
15. PARKWAY PLAZA, Orlando, FL (May 1961)
16. REISTERSTOWN ROAD PLAZA-THE PLAZA, Baltimore, MD (March 1962) *
17. EUDOWOOD PLAZA-TOWSON MARKETPLACE-TOWSON PLACE, Baltimore County, MD (August 1962)
18. BOULEVARD MALL, Erie County, NY (November 1962)
19. VESTAL PLAZA-U CLUB BINGHAMTON, Broome County, NY (August 1962)
20. BELTWAY PLAZA-BELTWAY PLAZA MALL, Greenbelt, MD (October 1963)
21. CEDARBROOK MALL-CEDARBROOK PLAZA, Montgomery County, PA (October 1964)
22. FASHION CENTER-FASHION CENTER PARAMUS, Paramus, NJ (February 1967)
23. SOUTHROADS MALL-SOUTHROADS CENTER, Tulsa OK (February 1967) *
24. CHAPEL SQUARE-RESIDENCE COURT (CHAPEL SQUARE MALL), New Haven, CT (March 1967)
25. CHAPEL HILL MALL, Cuyahoga Falls, OH (October 1967-April 2021)
26. LAFAYETTE PLAZA-HI-LO CENTER, Bridgeport, CT (March 1968) *
27. TYSONS CORNER CENTER, Fairfax County, VA (July 1968)
28. PLAZA LAS AMERICAS, San Juan, Puerto Rico (September 1968)
29. MAIN PLACE MALL, Buffalo. NY (October 1968)
30. NORTH MALL-THE CROSSROADS, York County, PA (April 1969)
31. PARLY 2, Le Chesnay, France (November 1969)
32. NORTHWAY MALL-NORTHWAY CENTER, Albany County, NY (October 1970-December 1998)
33. CENTRE COMMERCIAL BELLE EPINE, Thiais, France (September  1971)
34. PARK CITY CENTER, Lancaster, PA (September 1971)
35. EASTVIEW MALL, Ontario County, NY (October 1971) *
36. SUNRISE MALL-WESTFIELD SHOPPINGTOWN SUNRISE-WESTFIELD SUNRISE-SUNRISE MALL, Suffolk County, NY (August 1973-August 2023)
37. CEDONIA MALL, Baltimore, MD (August 1973)
38. OGDENSBURG MALL (open-air pedestrian concourse), Ogdensburg, NY (October 1974)

* Consulting Architect 

 

The Esso Standard Oil Building, in Baton Rouge, was completed in 1950. Douglass-designed Esso office buildings were subsequently built in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Paris, France and Bogata, Columbia.
Photo from Library of Congress

Another international Lathrop Douglass project was the design for Edificio de la Creole, in Caracas, Venezuela. For said design, Douglass won the First Medal Award from the Festival International d'Architecture, in Paris.
Photo from Caracas Cuéntame / Caracas History

One of many freestanding department stores drafted by Lathrop Douglass was the Gimbels Upper Darby unit, at South 69th and Walnut Streets, in Philadelphia. The store and adjacent parking garage were dedicated in September 1957.
Drawing from Gimbels Brothers

In addition to department stores, factories, office buildings and shopping centers, Lathrop Douglass also designed movie theaters; case in point, the Menlo Park Cinema. It opened -in Middlesex County, New Jersey- in October 1961.
Photo from the General Cinema Corporation

The Menlo Park Cinema was an outparcel of the Douglass-designed MENLO PARK CENTER. This open-air mall was officially dedicated in April 1960.
Drawing from Menlo Park Shopping Center, Incorporated

The most celebrated of Lathrop Douglass' Urban Renewal projects redeveloped three city blocks in downtown New Haven. Stores in the CHAPEL SQUARE mall opened in October 1967.

 

 

Another Douglass-designed downtown mall was built in Buffalo. Forty MAIN PLACE MALL stores opened their doors in October 1968.
Graphic from the H F & A Development Corporation of New York

Stores in Long Island's SUNRISE MALL opened for business between August and October of 1973. The dual-level, fully-enclosed complex featured four anchor stores and over 100 inline tenant spaces.
Graphic from the Muss-Tankoos Corporation

Sources:

The New York Times
The Kansas City Times (Kansas City, MO)
The Daily Record (Long Branch, NJ)
The Buffalo Courier-Express
The Medina Daily Journal (Medina, NY)
The Farmingdale Observer (Farmingdale, NY)
The Journal (Ogdensburg, NY)
The Herald Mail (Fairport, NY)
The Niagara Falls Gazette
The Transcript-Telegram (Holyoke, MA)
The Reporter Dispatch (White Plains, New York)
The Bridgeport Post (Bridgeport, CT)
Newsday (Nassau Edition)(Hempstead, NY)
Newsday (Suffolk Edition)(Melville, NY)
The Daily Item (Port Chester, NY)
https://antiquarianauctions.com
https://sah-archipedia.org / SAH Archipedia / Karen Kingsley
https://findingaids.library.columbia.edu / Columbia University Archival Collections / "Lathrop Douglass Architectural Drawings, 1955-1973"
ttps://aiahistoricaldirectory / American Institute of Architects / Directory Biographical Section / 1956
https://cinematreasures.org

 

DOUGLASS MALLS: