mallguy

Go to http://charlotte.bizjournals.com and search in the archives for Eastland Mall and there are plenty of stories about departing chains. From what I recall from an early '90s visit to Eastland, it was a normal mall like Carolina Place. I recall even going there with a group of people and relatives instead of SouthPark, probably at someone's recommendation. Wouldn't do that today! I'm surprised that so many stores have recently left Eastland; the mall appeared packed (albeit with a somewhat un-SouthPark-like crowd) during the holidays.

Eastland Mall is like Phipps Plaza or Tysons Galleria (ie, luxurious) compared to Tryon/Asian Corners Mall. Some of Eastland's stores, even if they are urban, are still newish-looking. That's why I think that Eastland has some years left on it. Any insights on that Dillard's- is the lower level entrance re-opening? Why were its hours pared back? Classic signs of a dying anchor, but if the store is closing, why was a new facade built instead of just having the doors closed and papered over? So sad.

Now Eastland had an apparently minor fire yesterday. Just what it needs.

Thanks for the clarification. I was wondering how sales at that center went from $200+ to $300+ so quickly! I did another quick visit to Eastland today and noticed that the Dillard's (clearance center?) is now open from only 11 to 7 on weekdays; this has been since 11/27/05. In addition, the lower level Dillard's entrance is blocked by unpainted drywall, although there is a new facade and a new sign on the entrance. I don't see why Dillard's would put up a new sign and facade if the store were closing, but what are Dillard's executives thinking by trimming the store's hours right as the holiday season starts and by blocking the lower level entrance (unless that's just work being done during a slow time)? At least Eastland's recently closed stores are now covered in drywall rather than left with their old entrances just closed.

I did a quick visit to Eastland in mid-December and it was packed; the parking lot was pretty full and the interior of the mall was very crowded. Plus, I read a recent article in which Glimcher stated, I think, that sales per sf were I think up in the $300s. I don't see Eastland dying anytime soon, even if it loses some non-urban tenants.

I've been reading an interesting book entitled, "Sprawl: A Compact History." The book's premise is that throughout history, many people have preferred to live in suburbs, and throughout history, and most recently since the late 1800s, suburbs have been spreading, although recently metropolitan areas have been becoming denser (that's what the book says, whether that's correct or not), although high-end jobs and residents have recently shifted to downtowns, with low-end uses shifting outwards. I don't live in a suburb and I don't want to (I used to live in the centers of two big Northeastern cities and now live in a downtown area in the South), but if people want to, fine. Why not focus on making suburbs better planned- mainly, walkable- rather than trying to stop them? I don't see that completely stopping suburban construction would be feasible, particularly as restricting development tends to drive up housing prices. What bugs me about suburbs is that they are built so that residents are completely car-dependent. The fact that people like living in detached houses is fine with me. Just require that streets be built as grids and have sidewalks, maximum lot sizes, concentrated commercial development, etc.

My parents live in a $1M+ house and my father shops for clothes, if at all, at Sears. To each his own. I don't understand those shopping patterns, but that's what he wants.

Any news re: Eastland, in particular the possible shuttering of the Dillard's?

Charlotte's bus system has marked bus stops and card readers. Norfolk Southern's predecessors and a lot of freight railroads had looked into electifying their main lines in the 1970s and ealier. They decided not to do it because of the major capital expenses necessary to do so, which were higher than the cost savings that they could have by running electrified lines. Electrification slightly reduces operating costs and allows locomotives for accelerate faster and run more quietly; thus some passenger lines in the US are electrified, since they benefit more from faster-accelerating locomotives than freight lines do. But given railroads' significant other capital needs, it would probably take government aid to electrify rail lines, and the government has been willing to do so only for high-density passenger lines in the Northeast.

North Carolina supports one Amtrak round trip between Charlotte and Raleigh, as well as a Charlotte to New York round trip, and the state is aiming to add a few more round trips between Charlotte and Raleigh. Has any thought been given to extending these trains south to Columbia or Greenville? It seems as if that would be a pretty inexpensive way to alleviate I-85 crowding (for Greenville trains), at least.

I agree with the above posts, and thanks for the information. Hopefully South Carolina will get on board with state funding of intercity trains, but I don't see that happening anytime soon. And hopefully North Carolina will promote its trains more heavily. Plenty of people I work with (in center-city Charlotte), at least, have no clue that a train goes to Raleigh.

Thanks for the info. Also, I noticed that the Piedmont gets to Charlotte at 10:14AM and leaves again at 5:30PM. With a Charlotte-Raleigh trip time of slightly over 3 hours, the train could head back to Raleigh and then again back to Charlotte in time for the 5:30 departure. Alternatively, the train could head down to Greenville, SC and back in time for the 5:30 departure. Any ideas if these extra trips have been considered? Since the equipment is otherwise sitting idle and is paid for regardless of how much it runs, it seems to make sense to at least have the equipment running somewhere, unless fare revenues are so low that they wouldn't cover the additional trips.

Does the NCDOT have any plans to buy new passenger cars anytime soon? I took the Piedmont today and liked it. I was surprised, though, that the cars are of the age (1950s, I'd assume) and type that Amtrak phased out of service on most routes by the 1990s.

That mall has been packed when I've gone there (opening and before Christmas- admittedly busy times). What's the problem with it? Maybe it's like Carolina Place- a slow start but growth over the long run as population around the mall increases. Eastland has been packed as well when I've gone, so maybe I just have a way of bringing crowds to malls when I go!

Eastland has a new mini-anchor: a store called Prime Time, in the old JC Penney space. I did not go inside so I do not know what it is. But, the mall was packed today and the parking lot was pretty full. Eastland is strange in that it still obviously has a market. But its market has changed. My advice to Eastland is just to adapt to that market in order to survive.