Here in Schuylkill County, where the trees even look sad lately, there is an aura of depression.. an aura of sadness, perhaps the raping of the land by coal barons has finally hit, now that the generations are changing ..
The Schuylkill Mall in Frackville, PA, is a symbol of this.. It stands nearly vacant, a few stores peppered about and maybe a handful of people shopping. A new movie theater with an awesome bar has livened things up. And just when you thought there was hope that the giant mall could survive to die another day, this news comes: A SUBWAY is coming to the mall.
How I loathe Subway and its processed meat.. how I despise that smell of the restaurant, which somehow can stick on your clothing for days.. How i disdain their bread—though they removed the rubber, I suppose.
Subway?
Seriously? This is the best that a dying mall can do?
My idea for this mall—and any other mall across this nation where shopping is going down hill in favor of online retail: Let the people have their malls back.
Rent is too damn high—yes a candidate for office in New York said that, but when it comes to malls, he was right. The rent in malls in too high.. it’s impossible to sustain your dream of having your own business when you get little traffic in a dying mall but still pay through the roof to have it.
So why not this: Lower rent for a year—maybe even do rent-free for six months. Advertise to ANY PERSON IN THE AREA who has a dream about owning their own store and their own business. How about getting a farmer’s market of fresh food once a week? A grand experiment to buy local—imagine the idea of NO BIG CHAIN STORES, and no big chain restaurants ?? Instead fresh and locally made, locally sold, and locally grown.. It would be amazing and cool.
And perhaps reinvigorate malls.. Not only in Frackville PA but everywhere else a dying mall threatens to blight the landscape with a giant vacant shell..
