It's hard to believe that Valley View Center opened 35 years ago; of course, this comes from someone who has been in Dallas for 28 years now. Valley View was the absolute hot-spot back in the day; sometimes, in a fit of boredom, we'd drive up there simply to eat at the seemingly elaborate food court.
But now, after undergoing several "transformations" and a couple of owners, the mall faces a turning point: With Macy's pulling out and Sears on the ropes, and with the remaining other large-scale department stores nationwide seeming to be a dying breed, what's a mall manager to do? The Morning News offers an interesting perspective on Valley View, and on malls throughout the country, in Sunday's paper.
The consensus seems to be that Valley View has a great location, so it "might" be all right, but a lot depends on what direction the owners take. From the high-end mall status it achieved when first built, today the center is more of the "affordable" variety, according to the DMN, with "immigrants and young families that filled area apartments and neighborhoods ... among Valley View's core shoppers." Another developer, Icon Partners, just presented a $1 billion mixed-use plan to fill the gap between Valley View and the Galleria to the west (sucking up the land formerly housing a car dealership across from the Galleria at the Tollway and LBJ), so there's money planning to be spent in the area. But will it wind up in Valley View or not?
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