It's a bit odd to see discarded cardboard just sitting out in the open like this, especially at a fairly nice mall. I'm surprised Sears wouldn't have gotten in trouble for this, though I'm not sure how much control Westfield really has since Sears owns their building. Since this is Sears we're talking about, I have to wonder if they failed to pay the bill to whoever picks this stuff up...
Ha, around here, Sears did what they wanted with their properties even at nicer malls which wouldn't allow such a thing of a lease-paying tenant did something similar. The situation was even worse here because many of our better, more successful malls in modern times were actually developed by Sears/Homart and so Sears gave themselves the most prominent anchor spots at these malls.
ReplyDeleteAn example of this is my local mall where Sears permanently docked an old, rusty trailer to the loading docks some 10 years or more before the store closed in 2020. In addition to that rusty trailer being prominently visible, Sears would store cardboard like this under the trailer. Link: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVNOsPem4anM0vrI_GlLiOfJW36Y72D90lup0C64FdueXFvsVW_7e5fu2KT2KEM0nR7YYt9BbgAU0H1f06YA0T0cqh2F8yTMchyHlKwA5xjNlzZHQ4W9wPbX6jTtCzkvCYBYYCS9UogR4yBiEO1NAu2N7AoGZFpTtLSUTIvZFJKXOmDXYRNyYhDI_5/s4032/20200206_164729.jpg
Je of the Louisiana & Texas Retail Blog recently did an extensive blog post about my former local Sears which includes a lot of commentary I wrote in 2020 when it was announced that the store was closing. You may not want to read my lengthy commentary from five years ago about my beloved local Sears, but Je's pictures are quite good at least and maybe you can get some taste for where I spent a whole lot of time over many decades! Link: https://southernretail.blogspot.com/2025/05/willowbrook-mall-sears-february-6-2020.html
Anyway, it should be said that Safeway is known for keeping a lot of trash, broken carts, etc. behind their stores, though at least here with Randall's, the back of stores are generally hidden from view unless someone really wants to go behind one so nobody really says much about it. Things might be different in areas where the back of stores are more visible.
Yeah, considering that this is Sears we're talking about, that doesn't really surprise me! I am a little surprised that malls don't have control over the separately-owned anchor pads in an HOA type of arrangement, but I suppose back in their heyday, department stores like Sears probably wouldn't have done this sort of thing.
DeleteYeah, I'm used to grocery stores keeping trash and junk behind their stores, but the difference is that those stores have a defined back that's mostly out of sight for customers. Mall stores don't really have that!