Providence Place Mall in Flux — Another Store Closing, New Restaurant Coming, and More Changes
Friday, March 24, 2023
Providence Place Mall is in a state of change once again.
Retailer Gap announced this week it is closing its store at the mall.
“Get it before it’s gone — this location is closing,” states a sign in the store window.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTThere will now be two Gap locations in Rhode Island, in Garden City in Cranston and in Newport.
As GoLocal also reported this week, Massachusetts-based brewery Night Shift Brewing is slated to open its first Rhode Island location at the mall in the fall of 2023.
Also on tap to open at Providence Place is Level 99, a “first-of-its-kind destination for challenge-based entertainment, craft drinks, and elevated dining.”
Currently, there is a Night Shift-Level 99 combination at Natick Mall in Massachusetts.
The changes comes as malls across the country are in a state of upheaval.
“The decline of the American mall has left just 700 still standing. Soon there may be just 150 left,” reported Business Insider in October 2022.
Business Insider continued:
"In 2020, Coresight Research projected that 25% of the country's approximately 1,000 malls would close shop in the following 3-5 years. In April, analysts at UBS projected that 40,000-50,000 American retail stores would shut down by 2027. They said traditional shopping malls are at particularly high risk because shoppers now prefer to make quick trips to close-by stores, per CNBC.
According to [Nick Egelanian, president of retail consulting firm SiteWorks], the malls that will weather the storm will be premium locations with entertainment, dining, and luxury stores."
Latest in PPM Openings and Closings
Brazilian steakhouse chain Fogo de Chão is also opening its first Rhode Island location at Providence Place Mall.
It is slated to go in the space where Joe’s American Bar and Grill was located, with an entrance on Francis Street.
The space has been vacant since Joe’s closed in 2016.
Earlier in 2023, women’s clothing store Talbots announced its departure from the mall.
The changes come as the owners of the mall sought a new tax deal with the City of Providence in 2022 — and issues of crime and safety continue to be a challenge for the location.
GoLocal reported in 2022, Another Mini Crime Wave Hits Providence Place - What Is Mall’s Future?
Providence Place Mall opened in the late 1990s with a black-tie event packed with dignitaries and featuring top-level retailers.
In the past ten days, episodes of violence and a robbery are just the latest incidents raising concerns about the safety of the mall.
The Mall used to house top-tier retailers like Nordstrom, Lord & Taylor, and Tiffany & Co.
A 1996 New York Times article reviewing the yet-to-be-built mall reported, “[Providence Place Mall] will bring retail back to southeast New England and jobs to Providence -- 3,000 construction jobs and 2,800 permanent jobs," said Mayor Vincent A. Cianci Jr. ‘This is the linchpin in the downtown redevelopment we started 15 years ago.’”
Those days are long gone.
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