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The future of Salem, Oregon's Lancaster Mall

Posted: November 13th, 2016, 9:53 am
by Super S
Lancaster Mall seems to have hung on for a while. Montgomery Ward had a big space to fill when they closed, and Burlington Coat Factory took the space over. At that end of the mall is also the only full-line Sears in Salem.

At the other end of the mall is a Macy's, which started life as a Bon Marche. This store is closing next year. Also, a Sports Authority store recently closed, which was in a space previously occupied by Emporium, situated towards the middle of the mall.

Despite the fact that they did do a bit of updating to the inside of the mall in the past 10-15 years, pretty soon it will have only one traditional mall anchor store left, Sears, whose future is questionable at best right now. But there is a pretty long corridor between Sears and Macy's where foot traffic could be considerably impacted.
Burlington does create some foot traffic, but is basically situated across the hall from Sears.

Meanwhile, Downtown's Salem Center seems to be doing just fine, despite the fact that the anchor stores are mostly older, it does have JCPenney, Macy's, Kohl's, and Nordstrom and seems to draw more foot traffic.

There are outparcel stores such as Best Buy, but unless they can get a new anchor store or two lined up, we could be seeing this mall making changes soon. Time will tell.

Re: The future of Salem, Oregon's Lancaster Mall

Posted: November 13th, 2016, 5:51 pm
by SamSpade
Lancaster Mall seems to be suffering a lot as the mid-Willamette Valley retail has splintered or loses shoppers to nearby Portland-area malls and lifestyle centers. I think it's strained by being owned by local owners at this point and managed by a real estate company out of Vancouver, Wash. rather than one of the larger national mall owners and/or leasing agents.
Starbucks Closes in Lancaster Mall
The Heritage Mall in Albany has also struggled, but it seems to be improving under new ownership.

I-5 has:
Keizer Station - a "big box" lifestyle center that won a new Old Navy location away from Lancaster Mall in 2013. Along with that, it contains pretty generic national box retailers in a variety of categories [6 miles north]

Woodburn Premium Outlets - an outlet mall that has consistently received traffic from both local and international (B.C.) shoppers [Woodburn is about 15 miles north of this part of Salem]

Bridgeport Village (higher end mall and dining options), Tualatin, Oregon

I-205:
Clackamas Town Center (large traditional regional shopping mall)

Downtown's retail scene has seen some ups and downs but the "Nordstrom Mall" and the other block of the Salem Center seem to be doing OK. They were lucky that Kohl's took over the former Mervyn's space in the bankruptcy and it's even open very late on weekends. Downstairs from that, they managed to secure Ross to rent a large portion of the first floor (TJ Maxx is nearby). The other building seems to be going through some retail cycling but is in good physical shape and has a good tenant mix. JCPenney likely owns its store and land as it was there before the center was constructed. It's a good sized store with 3 levels. Macy's likely also owns its land (and adjacent parking structure) as the old Meier & Frank is a solid space. It does have some weird quirks- for example, you go to use the restrooms and are clearly by either a) the former restaurant or b) the former hair salon walled off on the 2nd floor. This mall is owned by/managed by GGP.

Re: The future of Salem, Oregon's Lancaster Mall

Posted: January 10th, 2018, 8:54 pm
by Super S
Looks like changes are taking place, including a new name: Willamette Town Center

http://www.statesmanjournal.com/story/m ... 733776001/

At least they are bringing some new stores in.

Re: The future of Salem, Oregon's Lancaster Mall

Posted: August 28th, 2018, 10:33 pm
by Super S
I was in Salem today and decided to visit the mall, now called Willamette Town Center. The new tenants are open: Hobby Lobby, HomeGoods, and ULTA. They are outside access only though. The inside corridor has shrunk considerably. Basically the entire former Macy's wing is now walled off.

As for the inside tenants, Sears is still limping along and has made no major changes. Burlington has refreshed the store a bit. Worth noting is that they have now closed off the second level which was in use previously.

There wasn't much foot traffic inside the mall. It looks like they are making an effort though to keep spaces filled, although the inside mall is shrinking.

Re: The future of Salem, Oregon's Lancaster Mall

Posted: December 29th, 2018, 7:33 am
by Super S
The Sears is now one of many closing. I could see Burlington moving to an outside entrance only and what's left of the inside mall being redeveloped, much like what happened in the final days of the enclosed mall at Jantzen Beach.