With this development and The Domain apartments at Chislom Creek is really going to add to consumer spending in that area.
Was at QS mall last Friday night around 7:30pm. It was unreal to see how empty the place was. Here it is a couple weeks before Christmas, on a Friday night, and only a smattering of people there. It feels like more vacancy from when I was there last. Not that many years ago, with two weeks before Christmas, the place would have been full, full with people. Now? Basically empty. Such a strange feeling. Felt like I had stepped into a possible horror movie where I was the only one left on earth.
Penn Square is a position where a simple, albeit not cheap, remodel would do wonders to keep the mall prestigious even though it is doing pretty well. Quail Springs is going to need something radical. I wouldn't be so quick to discount any future of it being an enclosed shopping mall but a really big, bold vision by someone with very deep pockets will to take a risk is needed for this mall. It might be more worthwhile to let the mall sit while Chisholm Creek develops and more houses/apartments continue to pop up to the north.
Yes. But it's almost shocking, to me, to see the huge population (houses/apartment) in and around Quail Springs...and yet...the mall has an odd feel to me. You'd think there would be a natural pull from the area population to bring vibrancy to the mall. Instead, it feels like its on life support.
Well not like this would dramatically affect mall attendance one way or the other but I will never cease to be baffled how there isn't a road connection to the apartments to the north. There's like 100ft. of roadbed needed to connect Quail Springs to the apartments to the north. Talk about dropping the ball.
^^ Especially with the Fitness Center there, it's absurd that there is no entrance there.
If there is momentum at QSprings....it's going the wrong way. IMHO
Quail Springs has tried to re-purpose itself outside of traditional retail. Blue Zoo, Round One, and Lifetime Fitness and to a certain point, it has worked in slowing a mass exodus. Shopping mall decline is not unique to Quail Springs Mall. Metro's like OKC, Tulsa, and Wichita in 2022 can support one "thriving" regional retail mall at this point. For OKC it's Penn Square, Tulsa has Woodland Hills, and Wichita has Towne East. All of the past regional malls in these metro's are being repurposed. Promenade in Tulsa is turning the old Macy's into a ice skating center and the old Eastland Mall in West Tulsa is an office park and call center. Crossroad's Mall is going through another attempt of repurposing it's space. Woodland Hills is adding a theme park like sporting goods store in the old Sears space.
Eskimo Joes has annually opened a holiday store in Quail Springs, and other malls across the state, vacating December 31st is not out of the ordinary, just like the holiday toy and calendar stores. Quail Springs AMC has probably taken a large hit in foot traffic from Flix Brewhouse and Showbiz Cinema opening in the last few years pulling in a lot of traffic from Edmond and North OKC that normally would go to AMC 24 in the past.
With nearly every online store offering some form of quick and free shipping, it really deters people physically going to a store, a few mouse clicks versus dealing with Penn and Memorial traffic.
Also, consumer taste have heavily shifted. Recent wedding invites have couples registered at Amazon or asking for Best Buy gift cards for tech items and large appliances versus going to a place like Dillards or JCPenny to select china and linens. Teenagers seem to want iPhones and gaming consoles, the clothing brand loyalty dominance of the early 2000's is nearly non-existent.
Over the next few years it will be interesting to see what happens to Quail Springs Mall. The corridor itself is strong with other retail and household income and density looks to remain strong.
Yup. Some young couples (around 25 years old) getting married and all they've asked for is store gift cards for places like Home Depot, Lowes, Ace, etc, for the purpose of buying an inexpensive starter/fixer-upper house.
Oh yeah, think twice before giving a Toilet Plunger as a gift. You'll be ostracized until they NEED one at 2:00 in the morning. Then you are a genius. Well, at least it's a practical gift.
Yesterday was my first time in Von Maur and I was very impressed! Reminded me of Lord & Taylor when I lived in Dallas. The Christmas decorations really made it special.
There should have definitely been a connection from the mall to Mezaluna Blvd (the n/s road to 145th St.), however, the apartment developers put 1st floor doors directly onto the street, like a townhome. That would be a traffic noise nightmare for residents. Its either very poor design planning by the apartments, or there was some assurance Mezaluna wouldn't be cut through.
Quail at the time had the space open with Sears going out. On paper it was a good fit with traffic counts, density, and income demographics, this was between 2008-2010?
I agree that with what Penn Square offers, Von Maur would have fit in better, especially with Macy's leaving Quail, and Dillard's Quail Springs still looking like the day it opened in most areas.
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