The future of Salem, Oregon's Lancaster Mall
Posted: November 13th, 2016, 9:53 am
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.
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.