Southridge mall hurting

**4Cyclones** · 05-05-2011, 10:22 AM

Originally Posted by drmwevr08

Its sad but inevitable. There are indeed too many malls. I grew up going to SR and worked there for a number of years so watching it go to hell just reminds me I'm getting old!

LOL. Working at Happy Joes and driving their delivery cars like rental cars is a very fond memory of my high school days. Yes, about 1982 or 1983, they supplied the delivery vehicle. Crazy now to think of that for high school kids.

**4Cyclones** · 05-05-2011, 10:24 AM

Originally Posted by BryceC

Merle Hay has batting cages in it? That baby just rocketed to the top of my local malls list.

+1

**The_Architect** · 05-05-2011, 10:35 AM

Originally Posted by Al_4_State

They need to turn Southridge into some kind of paintball urban assault training facility.

Fixed it for you.

**4Cyclones** · 05-05-2011, 10:57 AM

Originally Posted by The_Architect

Fixed it for you.

My son went to a B-day party at ICU Paintball in east Des Moines, at an old roller skating rink. It was pretty nice. Additional levels would have been cool though.

**atcarey** · 05-05-2011, 11:04 AM

Where are the batting cages at Merle Hay Mall?

**cyclone87** · 05-05-2011, 11:15 AM

Originally Posted by CyBroncos

That would be a great idea. Ankeny is growing plus you'd get the Des Moines and Altoona people who don't want to drive out to Jordan Creek. Ames is only 20 minutes away with basically no mall so you'd have that market too. I could see this happening in the next 5-10 years.

I hope this doesn't happen, Ames needs a good mall. This would definitely prevent that from happening, they should either renovate North Grand or build a new one.

**capitalcityguy** · 05-05-2011, 11:15 AM

The demise of Merle Hay has been greatly overaggerated.

They just redid the entire mall's facade facing Merle Hay Road. There are several new stores. There's a developer that controls three of the intersections at Douglas and Merle Hay Rd that has plans for each corner. You have two cities with a vested interest (DM and Urbandale) since the boudaries split the mall and both cities have created incentives for the mall and neighboring businesses to upgrade.

Granted, MH will never go back to its hay days, but there are too many rooftops in the area with good demographics for it to go by the way of Southridge.

**The_Architect** · 05-05-2011, 11:19 AM

Originally Posted by capitalcityguy

The demise of Merle Hay has been greatly overaggerated.

They just redid the entire mall's facade facing Merle Hay Road. There are several new stores. There's a developer that controls three of the intersections at Douglas and Merle Hay Rd that has plans for each corner. You have two cities with a vested interest (DM and Urbandale) since the boudaries split the mall and both cities have created incentives for the mall and neighboring businesses to upgrade.

Granted, MH will never go back to its hay days, but there are too many rooftops in the area with good demographics for it to go by the way of Southridge.

There's not a lot of money in the area anymore though. Most of the wealthier people have moved west. That area of Urbandale isn't what it used to be demographically speaking.

**capitalcityguy** · 05-05-2011, 11:21 AM

Originally Posted by CyBroncos

That would be a great idea. Ankeny is growing plus you'd get the Des Moines and Altoona people who don't want to drive out to Jordan Creek. Ames is only 20 minutes away with basically no mall so you'd have that market too. I could see this happening in the next 5-10 years.

Malls in general are a dying bred and I can imagine thinking DM metro needs yet another? Prairie Trial in Ankeny (assuming they build it as originally planned) will offer additional shopping that is more in-line with thrends that go away from enclosed malls.

Altoona is already developing a big shopping district next to Bass Pro. There is ton's of available retail bays now throughout the metro.

Yeah...another mall....it's not gonna happen.

**capitalcityguy** · 05-05-2011, 11:28 AM

Originally Posted by The_Architect

There's not a lot of money in the area anymore though. Most of the wealthier people have moved west. That area of Urbandale isn't what it used to be demographically speaking.

That is a broad generalization that simply isn't true. Secondly, you need middle class people to support a mall. There was never much "wealth" in Urbandale to begin with (even if there is any truth to the statement they've all fled west).

Additionally, the best demographics for DM proper are its west and northwest side (which include Beaverdale). Believe it or not, there are people that perfer to support shopping in their city (and their county) whenever possible.

**Al_4_State** · 05-05-2011, 11:36 AM

I live in Beaverdale and don't go to Merle Hay that often.

That said, I don't go to malls in general that often. I don't have much need for things you can't get at grocery stores/supply stores. I get most of my groceries/supplies at a combo of BeaverDahls (close but expensive), Johnston Hy-Vee (GF likes this place), Trader Joe's (wine and specialty items) or Windsor Heights Sam's Club (the things I can buy in bulk). I don't really go shopping at all outside of this kind of stuff. Just when emergency type things pop up.

**Clonefan32** · 05-05-2011, 11:50 AM

It's funny how Southridge has not even become an option for my wife and I anymore. To get to Jordan Creek we have to drive to within about 3 miles of Southridge, but we don't even consider Southridge even if we could get whatever we are shopping for there rather than Jordan Creek. The place is a complete afterthought.

**Boxerdaddy** · 05-05-2011, 11:51 AM

Originally Posted by jdoggivjc

Perhaps developers can do to Southridge Mall like they did with the old Duck Creek Plaza in Bettendorf - bulldoze the place and turn it into a new-style shopping center where the stores have their own exterior entrance (much like a strip mall, but for whatever reason it's different). As part of the redevelopment, big time boxes such as Home Depot and Schnucks came in to anchor the center, and completely revitalized that Kimberly Rd/Middle Rd/I-74 block of land. That parcel of land was far too valuable just to have a dead mall sitting on it.

Problem is...just north on 14 is a Best Buy, Home Depot, Menards, and Walmart. That Target is an anchor but not many other options. And while it's easy to get to on the 5 now...so is Jordan Creek. I didn't grow up here so I never saw it in its hayday but I really like the design of that mall. Too bad there are no stores in it. That t-shirt store used to rock though. Can't remember the name of it but it had 2 names in the title I think.

**capitalcityguy** · 05-05-2011, 12:03 PM

Originally Posted by Boxerdaddy

Problem is...just north on 14 is a Best Buy, Home Depot, Menards, and Walmart. That Target is an anchor but not many other options. And while it's easy to get to on the 5 now...so is Jordan Creek. I didn't grow up here so I never saw it in its hayday but I really like the design of that mall. Too bad there are no stores in it. That t-shirt store used to rock though. Can't remember the name of it but it had 2 names in the title I think.

You hit on it. Location is a problem that I don't know how SR overcomes. Of the four malls, it is the least convenient to drive to from the most affluent areas of the metro (west, northwest, north). SR sits in the SE portion of the metro.

I think switching to a full-blown outlet mall is its only chance to re-invent and survive.

**PerkyForHerky** · 05-05-2011, 12:03 PM

Originally Posted by capitalcityguy

The demise of Merle Hay has been greatly overaggerated...will never go back to its hay days

We see what you did there.

Southridge used to be pretty nice but is just trash now.. actually it's a pretty good reflection of the south side of Des Moines tbh