Holaaaaaaaaa! Ladies and Gentlemen we gather here today to remember the Saddest Mall in America. At one time the Fashion Center Mall in Redneckville, Arkansas was a pretty nice little small town mall. There was a Penny’s, an Alco, a few locally owned clothing stores, a Maurices, a Goody’s a Hastings Records and Books, a Mall Twin Movie Theater, Betty’s Hair Salon, a children’s clothing store and Ye Old Ice Cream Parlor.
Over the last decade or so though, stores began leaving the mall. Some store owners simply retired and closed down. Others just weren’t profitable enough and became victims of corporate downsizing. As stores moved out, there just wasn’t anyone waiting to move in. So stores started papering over their windows and the mall got sadder and sadder over time. Anyone who ever read my old blog will remember that I declared The Fashion Center Mall “The Saddest Mall in America.” Here’s a little video I shot from inside the mall a few years ago…
Well, now that mall is all locked up. The Penny’s is still there, located in the very front of the building so the only entrance to the store is from the front parking lot. Over on the north side of the building you can still find Little Caesar’s Pizza, the barber shop I frequent and the Shelter Insurance office that has been there since I was a little kid. Those are all accessed from the north parking lot though. All of the interior stores (as of five years ago I think there were only four left) are gone.
Worst of all it’s no longer open for mall walkers. I don’t know where all the old people are going to go now to get their walking done. Oh sure, they could go walk around the lake, but it’s very hot and humid here in the summer. Walking inside the mall is a much nicer experience. The A/C helps keep people from overheating and the benches and water fountains allow people the chance to take a little break and sit and shoot the breeze for a couple of minutes before finishing their walk. Management appears to have no intention of reopening or doing anything to recruit new tenants.
Goodbye sad little mall. You will be missed.
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