Midland Mall
Warwick, Rhode Island - Early '70s
Love this cozy looking shot inside Midland Mall. Midland was Rhode Island's first enclosed shopping mall. Vibrant in its early years, it fell on harder and harder times when, in 1970, the larger and much slicker, Warwick Mall, opened right across the expressway, almost a stone's throw, to the East. Many stores (and shoppers) made the slow exodus over the next several years, from Midland to Warwick Mall.
Midland eventually (haven't pinpointed exactly when yet) changed its name to, Rhode Island Mall (anyone know when?), and underwent some cosmetic updates and renovations in the 1980's, thus effectivley killing off what had been "Midland Mall", forever.
Mall history: 1968 - ? (dead)
posted by Keith @ 4/26/2006
23 Comments:
I think the mall should have made sure SEARS replaced its lightbulbs before taking the picture. LOL
I've seen that mall picture before, but I never knew what mall it was from.
LOL, before I read your post, Anonymous, I was thinking "What kind of store is 'ARS'"? I've never heard of that one...Thanks for pointing that out!!
I find it odd the old SEARS (or should that be 'ARS" in this case. :) ) logo here is in red. All the times I've seen it (before the huge chain-wide renovation program that started in 1995, eliminating all of these old signs), most were in blue, and I've seen it in white and pink colors as well.
I think it all depended upon the mall's overall color scheme & decor. I'm not sure.
The Taco Maker chick was hot.
Thanks for the additional notes and updates here, guys! :)
I miss the old-fashion "SEARS" signs myself. The Toledo location at Westgate Village Shopping Center used to have that sign up to some point in the '90s when they had to modernize.
The Sears store in Hollywood still has this Logo. Another Sears in East LA has the old 60's script still. Both havent been remodeled in ages
Jeff said...
The Sears store in Hollywood still has this Logo. Another Sears in East LA has the old 60's script still. Both havent been remodeled in ages
Glad to hear of that! Just seems funny at times when they do get around to finally doing something. The Taco Bell near my house still has the '80s logo on their signs and not the present-day type (others have already made the change).
I actually grew up in Rhode Island and shopped at the Rhode Island Mall frequently as a kid. The mall was renovated (slightly) and renamed around 1984 or so. Contrary to popular belief, the two malls enjoyed a symbiotic relationship for about a decade after that. While Warwick was larger, it had room for only about 70 stores, leaving Rhode Island--its neighbor--with a lot of other stores to fill its roster. Sears and G. Fox were the anchors until sometime in the mid-1990s, when the May Company acquired G. Fox and re-bannered them as Filenes. Since there was already a Filenes at Warwick Mall, this was somewhat redundant and they closed the smaller RI Mall store soon thereafter. The mall went into a very prolonged and very slow death spiral thereafter, beginning in 1996 or 1997. In 2000, they demolished the former G. Fox and about 1/3 of the mall (including the food court) and replaced it with a Wal-Mart (on level 1) and a Kohl's (on level 2) but neither had mall access. The interior of the mall was never renovated, and since it was now obvious that there would NEVER be an anchor at the end opposite Sears, most of the remaining stores left. It's about 90% empty now, but remains open.
I've actually heard that Royal Ahold (parent company of supermarket chain Stop and Shop) leased much of the interior of the mall to prevent Wal-Mart from expanding into a supercenter there. This also unfortunately has prevented anything from being done to the mall, or prevented any other stores from moving into the vacancies.
I remember my Friday and Saturday nights at RI Mall fondly. Going to the food court (Now a part of Kohl's) and Alladins Castle (Became another arcade called 'Big Top', and is now vacant) then going down the street to D.G.'s arcade (Now a Town Fair Tire.) Those were the days.
I went to RI Mall a few months ago and was horrified to find all but 4 or 5 store fronts were vacant and that, besides employees and a mall security guard, I was the only one in the mall.
It's so sad to see this once great hang out/shopping center dying a such a slow and horrible death.
A very sad article about the current state of the mall as of last christmas (now the Rhode Island Mall) http://www.projo.com/westbay/content/projo_20051223_rimall23.14c3e614.html
There's some good info about the mall here.
I think this poor mall is on its way out. Even Warwick Mall next door is pretty tiny, all the action is up the street at the Emerald Square mall in Attleboro (which is very large) and the Providence Place Mall in Providence.
I grew up in warwick and we hung out at warwick plaza, and also at "midland mall" lol not funny one of the guys that painted the tower fell! He is long gone,I am 50 I grew up and had good times in these foolish places
Midland Mall was my favorite. I remember spending hours there every week during the late 70s and early 80s.
I will never forget the precious memories I have of my late grandparents taking me there. They were so cool taking me to pick out my own Christmas gifts at KB Toys and going to Papa Gino's Pizza. I had the best grandparents.
Remember the big water tower in the front parking lot or the movie theater by the upper level Sears entrance that was there until the early 80s. As I child it was my heaven. Toys R Us, the next store up the road, and ChildWorld in Garden City, what memories.
I moved to Rhode Island in 1998, and I remember thinking to myself, "Why would they put the only two malls in Rhode Island right next door to one another?" Warwick Mall was much more happening, and probably still is... in spite of it being smaller than the RI Mall (and only one story). The Rhode Island Mall reminds me a lot of the Plymouth Meeting Mall in Plymouth Meeting, PA. They look identical, only the RI Mall is much more desolate.
wood like to no some stores at the rhode island mall in the early 80's. above cherry & web
Does anyone have any archive photos of the Midland Mall in Rhode Island? Photos from the 60's or 70s. I have tried to find as many archive photos of this mall for a while. I'm sure that there are many. Thank you!
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Hi Keith, I am working on a research paper concerning the 20th century history of Providence, Rhode Island, and I was hoping to use your image of the 'Midland Mall.' With attribution, of course. Kindly let me know if that is okay, and thanks very much for a great site!
Sam Coren
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Not sure if you are still monitoring this blog. Was raised in RI and went to Midland Mall when it first opened. The original anchor stores were Sears (the first actual Sears STORE in RI; previously you went to the Sears facility on North Main Street and ordered Sears products from the catalog--there was no actual store) and Shepard's, a downtown Providence fixture store for years. G. Fox only took over the other anchor after Shepard's went out of business in 1974. They also had a CVS in the mall, and, next door to it, a funky little store that sold "glass" (plastic) flowers and other "mod" 60s stuff. (Later in the 1970s and 1980s this was "Impulse," a store that sold only Panasonic products. My folks bought me a cassette recorder for graduation in 1974, and I bought my first VCR there in 1980.) On one side of the store opposite the escalators was a book store (not a chain) and across from it was a country store type business with peppermint sticks and horehound drops, etc. At the entrance to the mall at the downstairs level near Sears was a Doktor pet shop.
Back in the 80's, the best mens clothing store was The Casual Male! Second floor near Sears.
G. Fox
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