This is a screenshot from the Holland Sentinel’s website this morning:
I’m not sure which is worse—the fact that the Sentinel’s web folks have gone down the route of using the overly-intrusive and user-abusive floating ads known as “shoshkeles”, or the fact that Westshore Mall is spending money on web advertising rather than facility improvements that would keep people coming back to the place.
While the mall was a popular place to go 10 years ago, recently it has lost major anchors such as Sears and Steketees while adding losers like Dunham Sports (sporting goods at twice the price). The hot spot for retailing in Holland is now north of the mall, where big box retailers like Best Buy, Target, and Meijers are locating. If it’s an enclosed mall you want, Crossroads in Grandville is 20 minutes up the road.
How bad is it? Westshore is dark, outdated and just generally slimy feeling. But here’s the real indicator—there hasn’t been a coffee shop there for at least 4-5 years.
A mall with no coffee? Westshore Mall is doomed.
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