The two DC-area malls mentioned in the article, White Flint and Landover, failed because of a change in demographics. White Flint is now too close to illegal sanctuary towns and surrounded by crowded roads, and Landover, where the Redskins play, used to be isolated with interstate access but is now surrounded by Sec 8 housing.
I remember when Landover Mall went downhill. It was mostly due to gang presence who scared off other shoppers, as I recall.
I remember activists complained to the Lerner Corporation that they let the mall fall apart due to not.providing adequate security. But they had nothing to say about the youth gangs who created the big need for security in the first place.
Anecdotal evidence about Landover Mall is that stores there didn’t carry the same merchandise as other stores in the same retail chain. This issue caused some people I know to shop elsewhere, as it seemed the stores were gearing merchandise to other ethnic groups.
And I recall activists saying that Lerner didn’t do enough to recruit high end stores to Landover Mall. Sad to say, major retailers pulled out of that mall one by one. And decision makers of major chains decided to locate elsewhere.
When we hear so much about mall violence in recent weeks, it makes me think of why Landover Mall went under. There were critical numbers of menacing youth at Landover whose presence intimidated shoppers.
There were other indicators of crime as well. I remember the movie theaters seats there were frequently ripped up with all of the stuffing torn out of the seats. Entire rows of seats rocked back and forth because the bolts attaching the seats to the floor had been sheared off. Such experience in a movie theater makes one think twice about ever going back to that place.
Yeah, the demographics are tough at White Flint. You’ve got all those Georgeown Prep teenagers nearby, and gangs of Stone Ridge girls a short bus ride away. And then the after-hours gangs from NIH show up ....