Anonymous wrote:Why IS the Ballston mall so awful? Why can't they get some decent stores? So the houses nearby are "only" $700,000 instead of $1M. We can still afford to shop at the Gap.

We moved back after nearly a decade away and I was pretty shocked to discover that Ballston itself has built up tremendously, but the mall is as awful as ever. The Macy's has smelled like mold for 20 years now. This isn't some massive impact on my life, but given the dramatic build up immediately surrounding it, I'm stunned that the mall supports only the very bottom of the barrel.

Anonymous wrote:Why IS the Ballston mall so awful? Why can't they get some decent stores? So the houses nearby are "only" $700,000 instead of $1M. We can still afford to shop at the Gap.

Here's a whole article about Ballston from Arlington Magazine:

http://www.arlingtonmagazine.com/November-December-2012/Ballston-Stall/index.php?cparticle=1&siarticle=0#artanc

And an interesting quote from the article:

But that increase in sales may be part of the mall’s problem. The shops that occupy its retail space (including stores such as Bath & Body Works, Payless ShoeSource and Things Remembered) have enjoyed an uptick in business, while the ice rink and movie theater, along with restaurants such as Union Jack’s and Rock Bottom Brewery, continue to draw healthy crowds.

“One of the issues with the mall is that it’s doing well enough…it’s not failing,” Holzheimer says. “It’s kind of mid-level in terms of square-foot sales. The movie theater does okay, the mall does okay, Macy’s does okay, so there’s no emergency to do something drastic.”

If you want to shop undistracted by the poors, go to the other mall in Tysons, the Galleria. There's never a crowd there, unless you're waiting for dinner.

Malls are so 80s.

Anonymous wrote:Pentagon City is a normal mall but Ballston never has been. Not sure why they can't get it together there. Parkington was great but that was a lifetime ago.

But it has a great Hockey rink. My kids love to watch the Caps practice.

Why IS the Ballston mall so awful? Why can't they get some decent stores? So the houses nearby are "only" $700,000 instead of $1M. We can still afford to shop at the Gap.

Pentagon City is a normal mall but Ballston never has been. Not sure why they can't get it together there. Parkington was great but that was a lifetime ago.

Who goes to a Mall anymore?

We shop in Georgetown.

Tyson's Corner has a mall??? Does it have a Starbucks? I'm not leaving Arlington unless it has a Starbucks.

Ballston mall is third world

This is not the walk score I want.

Is this a Jedi mind-trick to convince those of us in Arlington to sell and move to the Mosaic District, thereby creating inventory in Arlington?

I consider myself burned.

Yes, they should be since Tysons Corner essentially IS a mall.

HAH