Taking The "Mall" Out Of The Thunderbird Mall

You can read the article that inspired me to write this week's blog post right here.  Happy Reading! ~ DJ Rollie D

At a City Council Meeting in Virginia, MN on Monday, a plan was re-introduced to "re-vitalize" the town's mall.  For those of you who don't know, the town has a really tiny mall called the Thunderbird Mall.  It only has about 20-30 spaces and is currently sitting at a 33% vacancy rate due to many recent store leavings, including Kmart, Payless Shoe Source, Z Wireless (Verizon Retailer), and a little mom and pop jeweler named Suzanne's.  Even the Hallmark store has left, and this was all within the past ten months, meaning the vacancy rate has spiked.

Now, several things have moved in to replace old stores over the years.  The area's local gymnastics shop moved into a space where Fashion Bug once stood last year, and a dog training academy has been sitting in a space near Kmart for around ten years.  That being said though, a lot of the stores still sit empty, including a prime restaurant space that once housed two very popular delis with great food.  I can still taste the memories.

So it sounds like a really bad situation, and it is.  The Thunderbird Mall is joining the Irongate Plaza in neighboring community Hibbing in helping to bring the number of thriving malls in the US crashing down.  Unless you're the Mall of America or perhaps a very popular urban mall with an attached hotel like the mall attached to Florida Hotel in Orlando, you seem to be losing a lot of business.  It's a sad trend, as back in the day it used to be where the cool kids hung out before it became the basement with the video games or the garage with the adults.  There seems to be no stopping this downward retail spiral.

Fortunately, there is a light at the end of the tunnel for Thunderbird Mall, but is it the best option possible?  An article for the Mesabi Daily News that will roll out in today's paper highlights the plan created by Andy Weiner and the gang over at Rock Step Capital in Houston, TX to fix up the mall and make it more attractive to the community it sits in.  The plan was unveiled at last night's meeting in two phases, and the basic plans are listed out below

Phase I (2017)

1.  Part of the Kmart building will be demolished and the area will be re-styled to fit in three national and regional tenants who cannot be named at this time.  However, 50 new jobs will come out of this project alone.
2.  An "out-parcel" with a national coffee shop and several other tenants will be constructed in the parking lot.  

Phase II (2018)

1. The south side of the mall will be demolished and replaced with a new facade where the stores on the northern side will face outward towards the roadway.  I'm not sure what this means for Herbergers, which currently occupies both sides of the mall, but we shall see.....

Neither of these plans have been given the go-ahead just yet, but they seem like very real prospects should they get the greenlight, and it would be something new to look at and see while driving down Highway 53 in a few years.

No matter which way you look, the mall needs some youth put into it, but I'm wondering if having half the mall face the wrecking ball is truly the best idea.....?  If you think about it, having so many stores interested in moving into the mall and the new signage to take advantage of could mean that the group could save the money of demolishing Kmart and constructing the outlot building and save by incorporating everything back into the mall.  But would it be the most cost-effective option....?

If they update the Thunderbird Mall, I think it's also time we paid some attention to Plaza 53 West as well, which sits right across the street.  While not in need of a remodel the parking lot could use a makeover and it would be nice to lower it's vacancy rate as well wouldn't it?  Even the Dollar Tree could use a good sprucing.  What if we found a way to come together and raise funds for that?  It just doesn't happen overnight....

I'm not sure if this re-do of the Thunderbird Mall is something that will work out, but if it does, kudos to Rock Step Capital for finding an idea that works.  In the meantime though, we'll just have to wait and see.  Virginia just keeps changing doesn't it?

What are your thoughts on Thunderbird Mall?  Is there room for improvement or do you like what you see?  Speak up in the comments!