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mediamongrel

By mediamongrel
in The NC Triad

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StevenRocks City

StevenRocks

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If there is one mall that I think is dying slowly is Hanes Mall. It's mainly the Hecht's Corridor.

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At Hanes Mall, the Sears corridor has laways seemed deader to me than the Hecht's corridor.

For one thing, the Hecht's corridor still has name-brand stores. The Sears corridor has a lot of no-name stores that haven't been remodeled from when they were name-brand stores.

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Roadgeek Hamlet

Roadgeek

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Yeah, I haven't been to Hanes in over a year. Is the carousel still there?

PS: Great News! Sometime this week, I'll be going back to ccm to take some more video and pictures. This will be my first time being up close to ccm in about a month.

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StevenRocks City

StevenRocks

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Yeah, I haven't been to Hanes in over a year. Is the carousel still there?

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Yep, still there.

PS: Great News! Sometime this week, I'll be going back to ccm to take some more video and pictures. This will be my first time being up close to ccm in about a month.

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Get there fast! There's not much left. :(

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Roadgeek Hamlet

Roadgeek

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I am about to write the first few words in, "The Carolina Circle Mall Biography". Does anyone have any sugestions on what I should put in it?

I have now started chapter 1, "Life Before Carolina Circle Mall". It will talk about going downtown to shop and etc.

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Roadgeek Hamlet

Roadgeek

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The first part of the book has to mention downtown shopping and the first generation of suburban shopping from 1957-1976: Friendly Center, Golden Gate Shopping Center and Summit Shopping Center.

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I might have to do some more research on that. I have 2 books of pictures of Greensboro from the 1940's-1960's that includes some information. Including Hot Shoppes Car Hop Service, the Boar and Castle, the McDonald's on Summit Ave, and Dr. T. Edgar Sike's farm. The Dr. T. Edgar Sike's farm is what ccm was before it was ccm.

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ILoveCallingNCHome Hamlet

ILoveCallingNCHome

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Four Seasons is going to be with us for a while, though Belk's behavior concerns me.

The only weak link anchor-wise is Belk.  Belk is still a large and well-trafficed store, but it's obvious if you shop there regularally, that they're starting to pull back some, even with the recent partial remodeling.  That store hasn't been very special since Friendly Center trasformed its Belk from 'zero to hero' in 1997.  It's a sad shadow of its former self.  If anything big leaves that mall, it'll be Belk.

What does this have to do with Carolina Circle?  In my opinion, Belk is slowly pulling out of Four Seasons in a manner similar to how they pulled out of Carolina Circle.  When Four Seasons was remodeled, Carolina Circle began to eliminate depoartments and atrophy, first closing one floor, the cutting back the remaining floor, finally closing in a worn-out haze. 

Belk Four Seasons isn't that bad, but it's not that great anymore either and it's starting to affect all parts of the store.

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I guess I go with the thought all good things eventually die out and go by the wayside. FSM is not in it's heyday for sure...and probably not quite on it's deathbed...but one day as trends change and people go elsewhere...well...just opinion like many things :)

Anyway..I was thinking about the Belk at CCM...and had a few memories from there..

I remember they had a stationary department next to customer service. They sold Halmark brand I believe. They also had a fabric department there in that same spot. (not sure if the fabric department displaced the stationary or vice versa or if they were there at the same time...but I do remember both from the early days)Later, they got "into" selling Kingsdown Mattresses and had that and some other furniture things there by customer service. That was a big deal at the time (meaning I remember a big push being made for a while) After that, they started converting part of the LL of Belk to a Value Circle (If I remember the name right) Low to medium priced clothes..plus some returns, markdowns and damaged things. Eventually they changed over to all of downstairs being the discounted area. (this was before Dillards followed suit) (and...I dont know if China ever moved upstairs..of if they just quit selling it) I can still see the manager's faces that I worked with in that time period and what department they were over. I remember ticketron and the long lines there when concerts and wrestling would go on sale! It was a good fun place to work in the departments I was in.

There always could be what if's...What if Belk had just stuck to their normal merchandise...rather than trying to sell things uncommon to them. Would they have lasted longer? Would it have helped the mall last longer? No one really knows...but is interesting to ponder the choices they made...and perhaps still are making where the FSM (and perhaps other malls) are considered.

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ILoveCallingNCHome Hamlet

ILoveCallingNCHome

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Ch. 1 was a short preface.

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And that probably is good. Background...shortly written can give a good foundation to how this mall came to be. Too much information about other things and you loose folks that wanted to read your words about CCM mainly. From Downtown to shopping centers to CCM .... Sounds like it will be an interesting read...I wish you well on your venture there.

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mediamongrel Hamlet

mediamongrel

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Hanes Mall dying? Come on! If anything maybe the anchors are dying. About the Greensboro situation...people with money in Greensboro don't go the FS, they go to Friendly Centre. Nothing wrong with the asthetics of FS, I really just think there is an awful lot of loitering along with any mall. You don't get as much of that at Friendly Centre because it's not an enclosed mall. The days of enclosed malls being popular are slowly dwindling. It's pretty obvious that people want more open-air based strip malls with freestanding anchor stores. No one wants to be confined to a claustrophobic building anymore. The enclosed mall had it's hey day from ther late 50's- about 1990 or so. Interest in enclosed malls has been shrinking. Just look how many enclosed malls have closed and compare it to the strip mall centers that are being built. The trend is toward open air based malls. It's kinda obvious to me, don't know why most people haven't picked up on this phenomenon.

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ILoveCallingNCHome Hamlet

ILoveCallingNCHome

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About the Greensboro situation...people with money in Greensboro don't go the FS, they go to Friendly Centre.................  The days of enclosed malls being popular are slowly dwindling.  ........... The enclosed mall had it's hey day from ther late 50's- about 1990 or so.  The trend is toward open air based malls. 

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I agree...and is why I also think that SouthPoint works in this day and time...its a combination of both...the best of both worlds. (not to mention there are ample super nice shopping centers and food places around it (and that continue to be built)

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mediamongrel Hamlet

mediamongrel

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I agree...and is why I also think that SouthPoint works in this day and time...its a combination of both...the best of both worlds.  (not to mention there are ample super nice shopping centers and food places around it (and that continue to be built)

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Where's Southpoint again? Sorry haven't been to Greensboro except to look at CCM.

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cosmoboy Whistle-Stop

cosmoboy

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Anyway, I am going to really research as much as possible on ccm. This book will be the best ccm book ever. Soon after, I'll combine it to my other book on roads.

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Are, you thinking about publishing it? :) Just kiddding, but will this be a personal copy for yourself?

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ILoveCallingNCHome Hamlet

ILoveCallingNCHome

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I'm not publishing it. What if there was this person in California who wants to read about a mall? Would they want to read about one 2,000 miles away?

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Though...the Historical museum sometimes offers things of interest that are small local publications...as does the library. (public as well as university) You might have some small local interest if you ever decide to put it to print beyond your computer.

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StevenRocks City

StevenRocks

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I guess I go with the thought all good things eventually die out and go by the wayside.  FSM is not in it's heyday for sure...and probably not quite on it's deathbed...but one day as trends change and people go elsewhere...well...just opinion like many things :)

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I get where you're coming from. I have a stronger attachment to Belk Four Seasons than I do Belk Carolina Circle, so it really pains me to see them falling apart, ever so slowly.

Anyway..I was thinking about the Belk at CCM...and had a few memories from there..

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I remember fabric and mattresses and an electronics department that was selling ColecoVision stuff in my strongest memory at Belk Carolina Circle (that's been a while now :) ). Belk Four Seasons and Hanes Mall had electronics areas as well, and Four Seasons and Carolina Circle had garden centers

The ckearance area was called Value Circle. Good memory.

There always could be what if's...What if Belk had just stuck to their normal merchandise...rather than trying to sell things uncommon to them.  Would they have lasted longer?  Would it have helped the mall last longer?    No one really knows...but is interesting to ponder the choices they made...and perhaps still are making where the FSM (and perhaps other malls) are considered.

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Belk was interesting as a full-line store, and much less interesting as a typical department store of today. I think they need to bring some of those departments back and do it at enough stores to make people realize they carry stuff other than clothes.

IMO, that was the problem back in the day. Belk did a decent job at furniture and electronics, fabric, plants, etc. but didn't promote it very well or have it in enough stores to make it stick in people's heads to check them out.

The days of enclosed malls being popular are slowly dwindling...It's kinda obvious to me, don't know why most people haven't picked up on this phenomenon.

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mediamongrel, with all due respect, the roof don't mean jack to most people. Developers are running from one style of retail project to another like flipping channels, trying to figure out how to make people spend more money. They don't actually consult with people about what's wrong with shopping centers; they just hop on the next bandwagon with a good tune, leaving perfectly good malls by the wayside.

The reason malls are dying is because they don't sell relevant merchandise at affordable prices. In the old days everyone in the family could be accomodated merchandise-wise at the mall, now it's mostly teenagers and middle-aged women. Strip centers don't neccesarily function better, they just have more of what people are looking for from retail right now.

It's not the loitering (without jobs and responsible parenting or structured youth programs, what, pray tell, are the kids gonna do?)

It's not the "convenience' either. SouthPark and Tysons Corner Center, two of the more sucessful malls out there are byzantine and fortress-like in their construction, way more so than the average mall. What makes the difference is that the people who run these malls actually listen to their customers and market to them, leading to a sucessful project.

In GSO, today's Friendly Center is listening to their customers' need for quality retail. Four Seasons, under new ownership, has become unresponsive and is starting to fade some. That's the reverse from 20 years ago, when Four Seasons was king and listened to what consumers wanted. Back then, all the open-air ambiance and conveniece couldn't save Friendly from near obsolecence with its' crappy tenant mix.

I'm not publishing it. What if there was this person in California who wants to read about a mall? Would they want to read about one 2,000 miles away?

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My friend Mitch Glaser is from Southern California and loves to read about malls all over. So do I. There is appeal beyond Greensboro and, if you complete a project like this, it will appeal to a larger audience than you think if you publish it.

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mediamongrel Hamlet

mediamongrel

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mediamongrel, with all due respect, the roof don't mean jack to most people.  Developers are running from one style of retail project to another like flipping channels, trying to figure out how to make people spend more money.  They don't actually consult with people about what's wrong with shopping centers; they just hop on the next bandwagon with a good tune, leaving perfectly good malls by the wayside.

The reason malls are dying is because they don't sell relevant merchandise at affordable prices.  In the old days everyone in the family could be accomodated merchandise-wise at the mall, now it's mostly teenagers and middle-aged women.  Strip centers don't neccesarily function better, they just have more of what people are looking for from retail right now.

It's not the loitering (without jobs and responsible parenting or structured youth programs, what, pray tell, are the kids gonna do?)

It's not the "convenience' either.  SouthPark and Tysons Corner Center, two of the more sucessful malls out there are byzantine and fortress-like in their construction, way more so than the average mall.  What makes the difference is that the people who run these malls actually listen to their customers and market to them, leading to a sucessful project.

In GSO, today's Friendly Center is listening to their customers' need for quality retail.  Four Seasons, under new ownership, has become unresponsive and is starting to fade some.  That's the reverse from 20 years ago, when Four Seasons was king and listened to what consumers wanted.  Back then, all the open-air ambiance and conveniece couldn't save Friendly from near obsolecence with its' crappy tenant mix.

My friend Mitch Glaser is from Southern California and loves to read about malls all over.  So do I.  There is appeal beyond Greensboro and, if you complete a project like this, it will appeal to a larger audience than you think if you publish it.

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Sorry, I disagree...most people I talk to shop online and in strip malls.

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Roadgeek Hamlet

Roadgeek

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A few ccm updates:

1. I took a trip to ccm today and took some video and pictures. I have updated the Yahoo! Photos album. There is a surviving piece of Montgomery Ward in the rubble, tell me if you see the picture. It also still smells like Montgomery Ward out there. The smell is the same smell that was there when it was open

2. Once I settle down today, I will begin ch. 2 of my ccm book.

Oh yeah, here's the link: Carolina Circle Mall During Demolition

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mediamongrel Hamlet

mediamongrel

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Great Piece of shag there  :lol:

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Great video and pictures. For some reason I have emailed, called and asked politley for my own pictures an information on Carolina Circle to be posted on deadmalls.com

Whoever runs that site doesn't care about the CCM and has totally ignored my emails and even my calls. I would much rather host a private Yahoo Photo page then send anymore to that idiot. He doesn't even update the Carolina Circle link he has up there now. All he has about it is some link to another story on the CCM where some moron talks about having sex there or something. If he wants to neglect talking about one of the greatest mall stories ever, (only rivaled by Dixie Square in Harvey, IL) then that is his loss.

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