Walpole Mall, Walpole, MA

Walpole Mall is a strange sad little mall just south of Boston that if you drove by you would just think it is a busy plaza but you would be extremely wrong. Since the interior of the mall is so small and forgotten the mall doesn’t have much written history but here is what I know. Walpole Mall opened in the 70’s with a Bradlee’s and is a dumbell type of mall which is pretty common in New England. In 1997 the mall was given a facelift which is not what it looks like now but in this renovation they added many big box stores. In 1998 the mall was given one of New England first Old Navy’s which is really funny that it was here because now they are in what feels like every mall around here. Around the recession the mall was given another renovation which was pointless because since the recession this place has lost all of the national brands on the inside and has even been de-malled a all the way from Kohl’s to the former Old Country Buffet.

The Walpole Mall had many different stores such as Bath & Body Works, Claires, and Gap. So clearly the renovation didn’t help much considering a few days ago GNC closed which was the last national store in the interior of the mall. It’s really crazy how malls can have every store it feels like five years ago to basically nothing now. I mean just take Arsenal Mall in Watertown, MA for example. I know this place is pretty bland and sad so I’m going to wrap it up but I do have pictures.

Here are my photos of Walpole Mall from July 3, 2020 at around mid day.

2020

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Greendale Mall, Worcester, MA

As my return post to the blog, I decided the best mall to write about is the now-demolished Greendale Mall in Worcester, Massachusetts. Greendale Mall was a very different place in design, department stores, and its tiny footprint. However, this small footprint was a key marketing tactic that the mall used in its earlier years and was proven to have worked because of how successful the mall was up until the 2010s. I can see what was so appealing about this mall before it died and it is unfortunate that I never got to see it at that stage of its life. Greendale Mall opened in 1987 and was a product of New England Development also developed the Arsenal Mall in Watertown which was one of my childhood malls I have many memories there in its final years. I am very familiar with the now-shuttered mall and can tell you firsthand that Arsenal and Greendale are very similar architecturally and in many other ways as well. At Greendale's opening, it was the second mall in the city of Worce

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Woburn Mall, Woburn, MA

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