Editorial: Can Walmart roll back Monroeville Mall’s decline?
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What’s next for Monroeville Mall?
The 186-acre retail destination was sold by CBL Properties last week. The price tag? About $34 million.
That’s nothing compared with the $231 million CBL paid when it bought the mall more than 20 years ago. But the mall isn’t really the draw it was in 2004, either.
Traffic is down. Vacancies are up. But is that a reflection of problems with the property or simply a reality of the changing retail landscape? Malls across the country are struggling. For some, like Pittsburgh Mills, the issue seems to be one of management. For others, it might be more the search for a new identity.
Malls aren’t what they were in their neon, teen movie 1980s heyday. Born in the 1950s in Minnesota, the idea of a mall was an indoor marketplace that could act as a destination for more than just shopping. It was a meeting place, an entertainment venue and a community hub. The idea spread quickly, and the mall boom went hand in hand with the rise of many national and regional retailers.
But those retailers have seen plenty of closings and bankruptcies over the past 40 years. One might wonder whether it is failing malls killing stores with decreased traffic or shuttering shops gutting malls. Either way, it leads to large properties that need to find new ways to do business.
Walmart is the Monroeville Mall buyer, but this isn’t the first time the Arkansas-based powerhouse has stepped in to revamp a flagging area shopping center. The company redeveloped the former Greengate Mall property in Hempfield starting in 2003.
Today, two connected open-air shopping centers are anchored by Walton-owned retailers. Walmart Supercenter is the big dog at Greengate Centre, while Sam’s Club holds court at Hempfield Plaza. The locations buzz with business.
There is no confirmation of exactly what is planned in Monroeville, but, with Walmart having no locations there, it would seem a good bet adding one would be on the menu. Walmart also has worked on other projects with Cypress Equities that include broader, mixed-use objectives.
That kind of outside-the-big-box thinking might be exactly what is needed to keep a declining mall from becoming a dying one.