The Beginning of the End for Regency and Arlington.

[stephendare]

Today's Times Union announced the following tidbit:

Regency Dillard’s switches to clearance center
Posted: Monday, May 5th, 2008 at 5:56 pm

By LIZ FLAISIG
The Times-Union

National department store retailer Dillard’s has added its Regency Square Mall store to a handful of locations designated as clearance centers.

Dillard’s Inc. spokeswoman Julie Bull confirmed today the Regency store would sell discounted merchandise from full-line stores in the Florida region, including St. Johns Town Center and The Avenues.

The Little Rock, Ark.-based chain has made fewer than 10 of its 330 stores clearance centers, Bull said.

See jacksonville.com for updates and Tuesday’s Times-Union.

Consider that other well known Regency Anchors, such as CompUSA, Lowe's and several other stores have already announced closings and retractions nationally.

The conversion over to discount centers was also the first step of Downtown's decay.

It has been noted for some while that Arlington seems to be on a downswing, and with the economy in free fall, this would pretty much be the bell tolling.

[JeffreyS]

I hope Arlington will not slip it really does have nice neighborhoods.

[thelakelander]

Regency needs a make over.  Its developers need to take a look at the lifestyle center concept, before its too late.

[reednavy]

That way it doesn't wind up like Gateway Mall, or worse, Normandy Mall!

[adamh0903]

I would think the SJTC hurts the Regency mall a little.

CompUSA opened back up btw, same name, new ownership

[second_pancake]

Guys, let's be realistic here.  Arlington is going downhill not because the retail market is pulling out or making changes.  The retail market is pulling out and making changes because Arlington has gone down hill.

The housing prices in that area have always been affordable if not downright cheap in areas (see Arlington Rd./Cesery Blvd.) which attracts those with limited income.  While some of these households are new families buying into their first home to start to make a life for themselves, many of them are also those that just need a cheap place to stay.  There are very few neighborhoods with HOAs which makes it a prime place for those who don't want to keep up the appearance of their homes or who prefer to work on their vehicles in their front lawn.  This, of course, detracts from anyone who could make a difference, financially speaking, from buying into the area.  Who, after all, wants to buy and maintain a big beautiful home next to a 900 sq ft. cinder block home with peeling paint, broken windows and a broken-down chevy in the front 'yard'?

Then, of course, when something looks impoverished, the derelects take over. The neighborhoods are overrun with youngsters that grew up learning no sense of responsibility with too much time on their hands, so they hang out in the streets getting into trouble...or, they go to the mall to get into trouble.

If the prior residents had been more active and concerned about their neighborhoods at the first sign of a declining environment, Arlington wouldn't be the area it is now. But the fact of the matter is they didn't see a value there so they packed up and moved toward the beaches to places like Hampton Glen and The Woods.

Every city has to have a 'bad part of town'.  I'd rather it be one of the first neighborhoods built as a result of urban sprawl than a neighborhood that was built as a result of a new city being formed.

[second_pancake]

I would think the SJTC hurts the Regency mall a little.

CompUSA opened back up btw, same name, new ownership

Totally different class of people.  The people that shop at Town Center were former Avenues folks (if that), not Regency.  Hell, there are places at SJTC that are segregated by class.  Have you been down to the 'new' side?  Funny how up at Ted's Montana Grill you'll see the Smart car and some Honda's or a Lexus parked on the sidewalk (dealer cars), but the further you go up, the cars start becoming Porches and Jaguars, and the stores go from The Gap to Louis Vuitton.

[Joe]

I must be missing something here ... Arlington has been going seriously downhill for the better part of 15 years!!

The "neighborhood" includes a huge land area, so some areas are still very nice, and even growing rapidly. But the original Arlington started going to hell a long time ago! Even as a kid, I remember the Regency area being a dump compared to the rest of the Southside.

[adamh0903]

Thats the thing, it doesnt have so much to do with different classes of people than it does with Regency being a dump.

[JeffreyS]

Went to a mall in St. Louis that had I Believe a discount Dillards and it seemed like a normal mall.  My wife told me it had at one time been the fancy mall but it certainly hadn't become the Normandy mall.  We really need to avoid Regency slipping into a blight on the way from downtown to the beach.

[FLA_DAWG]

I'm new to the board, but as a Regency area ( Monument Rd) resident I must chime in on this one.  Some people tend to paint the whole Arlington area with a broad stoke and the media doesn't help Arlington's image. There are plenty of area from Southside Blvd, Monument Rd, Merrill Rd, Ft Caroline that are nice healthy middle to high income areas. I admit the "old" Arlington area (ie Xpressway, Cesery, Justina) have gone to hell (can you say HUD) and this does bleed over into the nicer areas give the whole area a bad identity.  Anyone notice the correlation between the cleanup of Springfield and the Arlington getting worse. You're cleaning up Springfield but driving the bad element into Arlington, But I'm happy for the Springfield area.

As for the Mall, it started going down hill in the late 90's early 2000's because of two things 1-Avenues Mall and 2- it started attracting a bad thug element and your average shopper was scared away.  SJTC DEFINITELY  hurt the mall.  A lot shoppers( including me)  that would normally go to Regency mall now go SJTC instead.  This "decline" is really only at the mall.  There is a difference between Regency "mall" and Regency the shopping area, as far as I know other shopping centers in the Regency area do well, haven't heard of any closings. They actually keep adding new shopping area and stores.. H.H Gregg just opened a brand new store.  CompUsa changed owners. You still have Best Buy, circuit City, Target, World Market, Bed Bath and Beyond, Barnes and Noble and a tons of other shopping in the area.  Haven't heard anything about Lowes closing. I was there Sunday and no sign of closing to me where did you get this info?   

I agree this may be the end of Regency Mall, unless the Mall owners decide to do something to change course, but I really don't see that happening anytime soon.... Thats my rant ....  Have a nice day.

[adamh0903]

As for the Mall, it started going down hill in the late 90's early 2000's because of two things 1-Avenues Mall and 2- it started attracting a bad thug element and your average shopper was scared away.  SJTC DEFINITELY  hurt the mall.  A lot shoppers( including me)  that would normally go to Regency mall now go SJTC instead.  This "decline" is really only at the mall. 

This is kinda what I was trying to say, but didnt know how to say it, I used to go to Regency Mall every friday and Saturday Night when I was in High School. I remember being at the AMC 24 the night it opened, there is deffinately a thug element to the mall. Now,10 years later,  coming from Callahan I drive right past Regency, straight to the Town Center. I do still shop quite a bit at Guitar Center, and the others new shops in that area.

[JeffreyS]

Image is everything I find it just as easy to shop at Regency as anywhere else I would go to a department store.

[stephenc]

I tend to stay away from Regency. Traffic sucks and i always see people getting arrested. Last time I was there, I visiting a buddy of mine who is a CSO and was working overtime on a Saturday. The was a large crowd inside Dillards fighting and a few people were stabbed. Then as you see the police head over there, I saw about 8 or 9 people head for the hills. They caught some inside the mall, some by Target and Home Depot and a couple more by the Southside Connector. Image is EVERYTHING and that the kind of image of get from that area.

[stephenc]

how does it reverse?

Let me ask you this. How did Springfield reverse? What were all the factors involved in it? Granted it's not done yet.