Tri-County Mall: What’s left?

Screen Shot 2020-01-20 at 9.44.48 PMMain entrance of the mall. (Pic definitely not screenshotted from Google Maps street view.)

Intro:

Once a thriving mall in the northern suburbs of Cincinnati, Tri-County Mall has fallen by the wayside and its future is already written. It’s tough to watch the demise of a place that you’ve known and attended your entire life, but with the rapid decline of retail in the past 15 years, the death of this once prosperous mall is inevitable. I remember being a kid and walking through this place with my mom and there were people everywhere, stores were occupied and all the anchors were filled too. The times surely are a changing and whether it’s for the better or worse, it’s interesting to watch these relics of the 20th century fade away as if Thanos snapped his fingers.

Mall Information:

Opened in 1960, Tri-County Mall was the first enclosed shopping center in the Cincinnati area. The mall is still the second largest mall in all of greater Cincinnati with 3 anchors (2 vacant) and a whopping 1,300,000 square feet of retail space. The name Tri-County represents the mall being at the intersection of Hamilton, Butler and Warren Counties. Let’s delve into this place.

Tour:

“Kenwood Towne Centre I don’t feel so good.” -Tri-County Mall

**Disclaimer** Due to the amount of wonderful pictures I have of this gorgeous place I’m going to let the pictures tell the story as I feel they speak louder than words.20191222_171935The food court still screams late ’80s (the malls most recent renovation). I think El could fight a shadow monster in here. According to signs around the mall they claim that they’re “moving” the food court but let’s be real, they just can’t get anyone in here anymore.20191222_170327Same chairs since the late ’80s too. These probably haven’t been sat in in years.20191222_170322All the storefronts in the food court have been completely blocked off and all that remains are the dated chairs, beautiful skylight, and some creepy kids rides.20191222_171504CRT T.V.’s still exist outside of Goodwill. I love it.20191222_172425The owners can’t fill space so why not add a “Relax and Recharge room?” Well that’s kind of a nice idea if there were, you know, maybe some T.V.’s or games and not just a weird wall of chairs. Oh, and there’s one other problem…20191222_172431Yeah, so the whole room is a moot point.20191222_170918The directory. I haven’t read all the names but I guarantee half these stores don’t exist here anymore.20191222_170618I remember this storefront being a very cool Gameworks-esque arcade.20191222_172352Fake plants: check. Pink marble: check. More ’80s: check.20191222_170646The elevator on the right is glass and you can view the corridor from inside of it. Also check out the old Disney store on the left.20191222_172653View is leaving the Macy’s entrance. I believe there’s this strange half-level only here in the mall where you either go up a mini flight of stairs to the second floor or down a mini flight to the first. This is due to the anchor being built before the late ’80s renovation and them having to figure out how to connect the two.20191222_170333Former Suncoast in the background featuring my brother.20191222_170804Center gathering area of the mall where there once was an attractive marble fountain, now there’s just more empty open space. Why do malls hate fountains nowadays?20191222_170552Everything must go!20191222_172348Unnecessary but cool ’80s Lucite square artwork.20191222_170605Looking down an empty corridor, there’s eerie music and you can hear the drop of a pin.20191222_170542I hope you don’t have to use the restroom here.20191222_170329Walking through a dead mall is the closest thing you’ll get to time travel. Maybe that’s why I love it so much.20191222_165401Just an awesome picture.

Conclusion:

I leave it on this note, as you look up to the sky beyond the flickering neon lights, do you see a future as bright as that same sky for malls? or do you see a future where the only light is your phone screen buying clothes off the internet? Whatever you see, you shape that future.

Mall Maniac Rating:

Shopping: 2/10

Food: 0/10 no food

Charm: 10/10 excellent

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