Remember when malls gave you something to look at? A place to sit? Fountains? Indoor landscaping? You don't see any of that anymore, and you wonder why nobody wants to go to Franklin Park. We're human beings, not cattle with credit cards. A mall use to be a destination, not anymore.
The Cinemas at Southwyck Mall in south Toledo rose and fell along with the fortunes of the mall itself. AMC opened its first seven-plex at Southwyck, inside the mall, when it opened in 1972. An eighth screen was added in 1976. Later, AMC opened a three-screen addition, with a separate exterior entrance in 1985, originally to feature art and independent films. In 1996, as the mall began to decline, AMC closed the interior, eight-screen section and National Amusements took over the three-screen section with the exterior entrance, closing it in 2001. The entire mall closed in 2008 and was demolished in 2009.
Southwyck regular back in the day. Although I grew up all over the world, Southwyck Mall was a special place for me. Employment, entertainment, fine clothes, and even love.
I'm telling you I still think it was a conspiracy to shut down all the other malls by WestField Franklin Park. You noticed how when Franklin Park mall was first going on with renovations I think they hired company's to buy out North-Town and Southwyck malls and jack up prices in owners in retail space. Scare business to Franklin Park. It's terribly sad to see these malls go such great memories.
I know not the "conspiracy" aspect though I can say that the Woodville & North-Town Malls were owned by the same property management company. What I can say is the cleaners knew all the dirt on what was going on, and for those two malls it was a pump (suck out all the value they could) & Dump. All the Grand plans to renovate those two (like Franklin) was a scam to try to keep the local governments from them shutting down earlier.
franklin park mall starting having same problems these malls had stores closing inside and having empty places now but starting to turn into more of a big food court as some food places started to take over some of the empty business areas. Even the disney store closed in the mall. It always been a big thing that malls will soon no longer exist in far future due to online stores.
i remember when we took my young nephew to Northtowne Mall in the early 80s during the Christmas season...they had this train ride set up for kids but it suddenly stopped running...found out my nephew had pulled out the power cord-lol
Doubtful .... they are very well placed to thrive for decades. If anything you will see them expand, especially Levis Commons. It has every bit of that town center feeling and has just about everything you need for shopping, entertainment and restaurants. If they put in a Kroger (move it over to Levis) it would be that much more packed.
Guess again amigo. Fallen Timbers cost over $100 MILLION to build in 2007; it just sold for a paltry $21 MILLION. Since 2007 the surrounding area has remained the same....nothing built up in 10 years. There's not even a gas station nearby let alone a grocery or any big box retailers. No fast food either. Levis Commons is a different story however.
I may say true to Fallen Timbers sooner than that, though to those that think not to Levin's Commons might take longer. I find it funny that the Southwyck mall was suppose to be made into a "Commons" like shopping center (Original "Okay" for the demo of was with the plans for that course of development), though Woodville Mall's proposal was nixed by the community around it to have the same.
Darrel Ice cream.... wow what great memories we had there as a family when I was a kid.. its to bad those good times are all gone never to be seen again....
My lady friend worked at Circuit City (not sure if these malls had one as we're not from Toledo) from 1984 to 2001 and it was the best job she ever had (they made good money due to commissions) When she left, the then-management was a wrecking ball that took down the company in less that 8 years. We had a good mall in Phoenix called Metrocenter that closed in 2020 after 47 years. For most of those years it was THE place to go for shopping and being with your friends.
Panda Express is still hanging on. I still hear the echos of the Chinese lady chopping away at the veggies and the music of Billy Ocean playing in the main area of the mall.
Remember when malls gave you something to look at? A place to sit? Fountains? Indoor landscaping?
You don't see any of that anymore, and you wonder why nobody wants to go to Franklin Park. We're human beings, not cattle with credit cards. A mall use to be a destination, not anymore.
The Cinemas at Southwyck Mall in south Toledo rose and fell along with the fortunes of the mall itself. AMC opened its first seven-plex at Southwyck, inside the mall, when it opened in 1972. An eighth screen was added in 1976.
Later, AMC opened a three-screen addition, with a separate exterior entrance in 1985, originally to feature art and independent films. In 1996, as the mall began to decline, AMC closed the interior, eight-screen section and National Amusements took over the three-screen section with the exterior entrance, closing it in 2001. The entire mall closed in 2008 and was demolished in 2009.
I would love to see more Northtowne footage. So hard to find.
Southwyck regular back in the day. Although I grew up all over the world, Southwyck Mall was a special place for me. Employment, entertainment, fine clothes, and even love.
I'm telling you I still think it was a conspiracy to shut down all the other malls by WestField Franklin Park. You noticed how when Franklin Park mall was first going on with renovations I think they hired company's to buy out North-Town and Southwyck malls and jack up prices in owners in retail space. Scare business to Franklin Park. It's terribly sad to see these malls go such great memories.
I know not the "conspiracy" aspect though I can say that the Woodville & North-Town Malls were owned by the same property management company.
What I can say is the cleaners knew all the dirt on what was going on, and for those two malls it was a pump (suck out all the value they could) & Dump.
All the Grand plans to renovate those two (like Franklin) was a scam to try to keep the local governments from them shutting down earlier.
franklin park mall starting having same problems these malls had stores closing inside and having empty places now but starting to turn into more of a big food court as some food places started to take over some of the empty business areas. Even the disney store closed in the mall. It always been a big thing that malls will soon no longer exist in far future due to online stores.
I worked at Franklin Park Mall for about 2 years in the 80s. It was nice then. I loved to eat at Olga's and the little French bakery place. 😋
The only one left in Toledo is Franklin park. So sad. The malls years ago in Toledo were always a good time.
i remember when we took my young nephew to Northtowne Mall in the early 80s during the Christmas season...they had this train ride set up for kids but it suddenly stopped running...found out my nephew had pulled out the power cord-lol
People should remember the scenes in this video because Levins Commons and Falling Timbers will look like this in about 10 to 15 years.
Doubtful .... they are very well placed to thrive for decades. If anything you will see them expand, especially Levis Commons. It has every bit of that town center feeling and has just about everything you need for shopping, entertainment and restaurants. If they put in a Kroger (move it over to Levis) it would be that much more packed.
Guess again amigo. Fallen Timbers cost over $100 MILLION to build in 2007; it just sold for a paltry $21 MILLION. Since 2007 the surrounding area has remained the same....nothing built up in 10 years. There's not even a gas station nearby let alone a grocery or any big box retailers. No fast food either. Levis Commons is a different story however.
I may say true to Fallen Timbers sooner than that, though to those that think not to Levin's Commons might take longer.
I find it funny that the Southwyck mall was suppose to be made into a "Commons" like shopping center (Original "Okay" for the demo of was with the plans for that course of development), though Woodville Mall's proposal was nixed by the community around it to have the same.
It Levis Commons and Fallen Timbers.
Darrel Ice cream.... wow what great memories we had there as a family when I was a kid.. its to bad those good times are all gone never to be seen again....
I worked on North Towne Mall before it opened up in 1980. I stayed on in maintenance until the start of school in Sept 1980.
Gangs of kids. Crime. A failing middle class. Home delivery. Yea, our worlds have become small.
My lady friend worked at Circuit City (not sure if these malls had one as we're not from Toledo) from 1984 to 2001 and it was the best job she ever had (they made good money due to commissions) When she left, the then-management was a wrecking ball that took down the company in less that 8 years.
We had a good mall in Phoenix called Metrocenter that closed in 2020 after 47 years. For most of those years it was THE place to go for shopping and being with your friends.
Panda Express is still hanging on. I still hear the echos of the Chinese lady chopping away at the veggies and the music of Billy Ocean playing in the main area of the mall.
Southwyck Mall; My local hangout in the late 70's. Now its a open concrete field the last time I was in Toledo 8 years ago.
It’s an Amazon delivery station now
We used to know what a MALL was back then...