Springfield Mall

I had occasion to visit Springfield Mall (N.B.: the web site is seriously misleading: 200 stores and eateries? Where?) the other day (I had mistakenly presumed that Springfield Mall would be vacant on the Saturday before Memorial Day -- the mall was, but the DMV office, my sole reason for visiting the mall, wasn't). With the line for the mall's DMV office stretching out the door (out the DMV's door, and nearly out the mall's door!), I took the opportunity to do a little shopping while the line got a bit shorter.

Springfield Mall has come on hard times -- really hard times. I don't shop there, but I don't really shop at any malls (competition is better on the World Wide Web, and I don't have to deal with traffic, parking, ....). Much of what I buy comes to me from on-line retailers; the rest comes from speciality retailers who aren't mall denizens (Best Buy, Borders, Petsmart, ...).

On a lark, I did a little on-line searching this afternoon to see if anyone else has noticed the sharp decline at Springfield Mall and lo, other people have. In fact, there's been some real discussion about redeveloping Springfield Mall. As recently as last November, Vornado Realty Trust (who also owns the Charles E Smith brand) announced a fall 2010 opening for at least a portion of the redeveloped mall (more recent news here). Since fall 2010 is only two years away, I'm surprised there's no evidence of construction. Surprisingly (and suspiciously), there's nary a peep about this Springfield Mall redevelopment at Vornado's web site.