This is a good read for those of you that have an attention span beyond 30 seconds. It predicts, in a vague way, what has happened in retail since it was written back in 1991. It also refers to most of the local malls in the area.
One can't help but see Cindy Williams' (at the time, Rolling Acres Marketing Director) logic about Romig Road not being oversaturated with retail. Unfortunately, that was the wrong assumption! ---
A HYBRID CHALLENGES THE MALLS ' POWER CENTERS' ARRIVE Akron Beacon Journal (OH) February 4, 1991 Author: Yalinda Rhoden, Beacon Journal business writer
When Summit Mall opened in 1965 as the Akron area's first enclosed shopping center, it was hailed as a futuristic concept allowing consumers to buy almost anything under one roof.
During the next decade, four other malls were built in the Akron-Canton area. It wasn't long before observers began to wonder if the malls would kill or substantially depress their much smaller, less glitzy forebears -- the strip shopping centers like Akron Square and Wooster-Hawkins Plaza.
But what goes around comes around. Now the dominance of the malls appears to be challenged by the newest retail concept, the so-called `power centers,' which combine the well-known anchor stores of malls with the convenience of strip centers. Are the mall operators nervous? Is there enough business to go around?
Posted by Rolling Acres on Monday 13 November 2006 - 00:41:10 |Comments are turned off for this item |
Sunday 22 October 2006
I Was in the Beacon - if you haven't seen it already
I'm sure anybody that was going to see the article has already seen it, so for the benefit of you that haven't seen it I'll post the link. My friend at the Beacon, Dave Giffels, had some nice things to say about your favorite mall and the MySpace page and website. Feel free to check out the article at When it comes to Akron, MySpace is virtually fake. And just for your information, Dave still hasn't brought me any water yet. You might want to e-mail him and berate him for that, and tell him that I still want it. And make it Dasani.
The only true, standalone White Castle in Akron has closed.
The White Castle at 1375 V. Odom Blvd, rarely (if ever) advertised. I personally think that had they spent more than $10 a year on advertising, they could have made it. Even Church's Chicken advertises occasionally!
Of course, White Castle didn't even have location going for it - true, the address says V. Odom (Wooster), but in actuality its parking lot faced Wooster. White Castle actually faced a side street - and stared directly at the side of Church's.
The whole situation is just retarded, and I'm surprised they made it this long.
White Castle is an urban institution in other locales, and there is no reason they couldn't have at least survived here. True, there's that half-assed White Castle / Church's on Arlington... but it's not the same.
What's even more odd is that White Castle is based in Columbus. White Castle is a thing of lore on the East Coast, but barely a peep out here in its stomping ground. What?
Of course, hey, Akron picked up a new Popeye's on Howard a little while back... so maybe it balances out.
