Opening Letters

Back Against the Mall

our local shopping mall just isn’t what it used to be. or is it?

Eric Rasmussen |

Quick question – how many of you have been to the mall lately? I have to admit, despite a summer of bustling outdoor activities, I’ve made it out to the mall a few times this summer. My 2 year-old loves the model train set-up in the Sears wing (which is currently out of order – and seriously, mall big-wigs, if you could see the teary, quivering bottom lip look on his face every time he puts a quarter in the slot and nothing happens, you would fix that thing lickety-split). Whether you’ve been there or not, let me fill you in on the current state of the Oakwood retail mecca.

It’s a little depressing. There are several vacant store spots, many of which are growing weeds in the corners and attracting wolves. A lot of the formerly dazzling fluorescent lights are flickering and buzzing. A rough gang of biker-looking transients has taken over the Younkers wing, so if you need to visit Radio Shack, you have to pay a pretty hefty “protection” fee. Groups of small children without any shoes, mostly Sbarro employees, follow you around the whole time, begging for spare change in exchange for slices of calzone.

I’m kidding! The mall is just as bright and clean as it has always been, except there are a few more vacant stores than in recent years, and fewer customers than I ever remember there being, even in off-season summer months. And even if I’m wrong (the vacancy rate is normal for this depressed economy, and I just keep showing up during low-traffic times), I do experience guilt each time I’m there.

This guilt stems from the trend (both locally and nationally) over the past decade of hating “the mall.” I have a slightly more difficult time working up the smug mall hatred that seems so trendy because I have a history with the mall, having worked there for about seven years in high school and college.

The value placed on buying local is something I believe in, and for some people, the mall is the enemy of all that is local. Plus, I also agree with urban development trends towards minimizing a city’s footprint and reigning in suburban sprawl. In some people’s minds, malls killed downtowns across America, and nothing will be sweeter than watching them slowly suffocate.


    But the problem is, I have lived in Eau Claire since my family moved here when I was in the 4th grade, and all the people that enjoyed a delicious Arby’s roast beef sandwich or purchased footwear from Tradehome Shoes or Scheel’s from the mid 90s to the early 2000s were supporting local – me. Whenever I head over to Oakwood, I am reminded that I did a whole lot of growing up in the mall. I remember on slow summer nights at Arby’s when the entire three-person evening staff was bored teenagers with access to copious foodstuffs and an industrial deep fryer. Or the mornings at Tradehome Shoes where we killed the time between customers stopping in by making shockingly high-powered weapons out of rubber bands and the plastic pieces that were packed into the new shoes, and the one time I rolled under a table to dodge a ruthless shot from Brian, the assistant manager, and when I rolled out again I ran into this old lady that I didn’t notice had come in, and she flipped out. And the parties, the coworkers, the paychecks, the dates, the jerky managers, all of it. Am I supposed to feel bad about these memories because they took place at the mall?

Another way I assuaged my guilt was by talking to Scott Rodgers, owner of the Gloria Jeans franchise at the mall. Scott is an active local business owner, as much as anyone could be. He’s involved in the Chamber of Commerce and co-chairs the West Central Wisconsin Rail Commission. His business supports the Chippewa Valley Symphony, the Family Resource Center, and Visit Eau Claire (full disclosure – he is also a regular Volume One advertiser). He strikes me as exactly the type of local entrepreneur that deserves my business, but am I supposed to feel guilty because his store is at the mall? He explained to me that a healthy downtown and a thriving mall do not have to be mutually exclusive goals. He’s right.

There are a ton of economics, transportation factors, arguments, and exceptions surrounding a discussion of local business, city planning, downtown, and the mall, and I really don’t have any expertise to address any of it. But from now on, I will be letting go of my mall guilt. If the buy local movement needs a bad guy, why don’t we all start hating shopping online? That only creates exactly ONE local job (sorry, Fed-Ex guy). Plus, this new mall attitude will allow me to enjoy a delicious, salty, and entirely guilt-free pretzel. I’ll be scarfing them down in front of the hopefully repaired trains.