Half light, half dark.
If you could stretch those circles out into a longer shape,
That is essentially what the Regency Square Mall looks like right now.
When it opened in 1967, it only existed as what is now the "east wing"
part between JcPenney and Belk,
where the food court is now.
In 1981, the long west wing was added on.
What is ironic is that present day, the original part is what is populated.
The west wing is not.
The mall has been falling into decline for years now,
but a new owner has high hopes of giving it another chance.
It went into this new ownership in February of this year.
So far, there has been success.... in just the east wing.
Here are most of the national chains that still exist in Regency Square:
anchors JcPenney, Belk and a Dillard's Clearance store.
smaller inline stores Champs, foot locker, journey's, claire's boutique, Aeropostale,
Rainbow fashions, Kay Jeweler, Victoria's Secret, Torrid...
The other empty spaces have been mostly filled in with family-owned ventures in retail such
as Modern Furnishings by Matisse, Stag (menswear), Brow Art, a discount store not unlike a Dollar Tree (but with wine for sale up front), several cheap fashion stores, health foods, vitamins and an art class studio and glow-in-the-dark mini golf.
This shows creative use of vacant space, much like the Orlando Fashion Square.
Lunar Golf took over the large Old Navy space that vacated around 2008 or 2009.
There are still other spaces that belonged very recently to well-known national brands like
American Eagle (the "A" and "E" still on the old doors) and Express (identifiable by its red trim)
that reside in the east wing that need something to come and fill them in so
that portion of the mall can go from about 75% occupied to more like 90%.
The food court, which has room for about 10 restaurants was down to only
a handful but is now gaining some new ones.
What makes this mall such a bizarre case, however, is the dead West wing.
I remember it from 2006 when I visited the first time.
and at that point, it was suffering but there were still stores taking up
about half of it.
I would visit this mall maybe twice a year.
One by one, the lights went out.
When I stopped in for a visit of its Forever XXI store in 2010
(just before Avenues Mall got their massive two-story one)
There were considerably less stores open by then.
Many family owned stores offering discount
men's, ladies and juniors hip-hop fashions had given up.
A shoe store was down to its last few days,
so I got a pair very inexpensively.
Some furniture stores were going out of business.
A store that sold African-American home furnishings
and art was leaving or had left by then.
I remember my friend renting a tuxedo for a formal work event at
a tiny prom rentals store that is now vacant.
The other west wing anchor store has been empty for awhile.
It's creepy to walk into.
You come out of the bright, noisy and perfumed Belk and walk
into a "ghost town".
The only light comes from the skylights.
Somehow, there has been no luck filling this side at all.
Possibly because for one to make it,
there need to be several more to draw a crowd there.
The Dillard's Clearance can be accessed from outside,
so being at the far end of the vacant corridor hasn't
brought on it's demise yet.
Despite there being nothing but a clearance department store
at the other end,
there were plenty of mall walkers in the darkened corridor.
Walking fast, laughing with their friends.
Maybe it is good exercise.
There has been talk of the owners finding a way to fill that half
with clinics and law offices.
At least they will be making use of a pre-eqisting facility!
It may not be shopaholic heaven right now,
but it is a somewhat historic structure.
If they don't tear it down and replace it with a Wal-Mart,
that will be very "green" of them.
Trouble ahead:
There is talk that Belk may vacate it's middle-mall space
because of a new Belk being constructed nearby.
This could occur early next year.
What will the owners do with this new
very large vacancy?
Will Dillard's move up?
Or will someone else move in?
Updates as I find them,
coming 2015.
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