Oh lord, yes! The Great Mall of The Great Plains should be shown to every interior design student as an example of what not to do! The carpet in that place gives me a headache.

I wouldn't really say Vista Ridge is middle tier...it's pretty good.

Northpark is really good.
Irving Mall is kinda yuck.
Golden Triangle up in Denton SUCKS!!!!!

Otherwise I agree with your Dallas ratings. Dallas is sort of my second home. I went to school there for a while and my entire extended family lives there, my parents lived there until I was born, etc. I think that as a rule, Dallas malls are better than Houston malls, however, the Houston Galleria is better than the Dallas Galleria.

I will have to agree that the malls in San Francisco are awesome!

I have also been to one mall in Providence (Providence Place) and it was surprisingly good.

There's all kinds of good malls by my house... the one like 5 minutes down the road, Orland Square, has Jcrew, Banana Rep, Gap, Ann Taylor Loft, Express, Arden B, Rampage, A&F, AE, Charolette Russe, Marshall Fields...

Like 20 minutes away there's Oakbrook - one of my favorite malls - its all outdoors and there's fountains and flowers everywhere in the spring and summer - goregous. It has the likes of Tiffany & Co, Sephora, Nordstrom, Saks Fifth Avenue, Lord and Taylor, Neiman Marcus, Nine West, Crabtree & Evelyn.... plus they have a Maggianos Italian Restaurant here (if youre from chicago you know what i'm talking about)

within a decent drive from me i have Woodfield Mall, Gurnee Mills, Old Orchard, watertower, and of course the Magnificent mile :)

Bad malls around me = Chicago Ridge mall, Ford City - theyre just dead and don't have any good stores...

Re: Nice & Yucky Malls- New Orleans and North Dallas
 

ROFL. The Plaza is just downright scary. Calling it ghetto would be a COMPLIMENT. When I was little, we'd go there all the time, but then Slidell (a 'burb of NOLA) got a mall (which sucks now, incidentally) and now no one goes to the Plaza. The only department store left is Dillards. I think there are a few "urban wear" boutiques and that's about it. In its day, it rocked. Had an ice skating rink and everything. Now people are damn afraid of that area.

Lakeside was starting to get kinda gross and then they got major upscale. Added Bebe, Nicole Miller, expanded the Mignon Faget to 10 times its old size, Sharper Image. It rocks.

The best, and most upscale mall shopping in New Orleans is The Shops at Canal Place. They've got Saks, either Gucci or Chanel (can't remember which one), Pottery Barn, White House/Black Market, Mignon Faget.

I gotta agree with you about Baton Rouge's malls juniorgrrl. Cortana used to be the place to go when I was in like junior high. Now I try to avoid it at all costs. Most of the stores in there are really picked over and kinda trashy.

OH...and I love the Shops at Canal Place. Too bad I can't afford a damn thing there! :D

Allison

Re: Re: Nice & Yucky Malls- New Orleans and North Dallas
 

We use to live in the East, so we'd always shop at the Plaza. But now that we live Uptown, we shop at Lakeside. I haven't been to Lakeside in ages, so I wasn't aware of the changes

[QUOTE]Originally posted by dzsaigirl
[B]I wouldn't really say Vista Ridge is middle tier...it's pretty good.

Northpark is really good.
Irving Mall is kinda yuck.
Golden Triangle up in Denton SUCKS!!!!!

I based my ratings on malls that were on my side of 635 :D I've never been to Northpark cause it's in the Greenville area. I don't get to that side of 635 that often. I wouldn't go to Irving if you paid me. If I ever get into grad school at UNT, then I'll have to take a trip to Golden Triangle

I shouldn't say Vista Ridge is middle tier. I just don't like driving on 35 to get there. Out of all the malls that I named, Vista Ridge is actually the closest one to me,but I always find myself going to Collin Creek or Stonebriar

Ohhh LORDY I love Oakbrook. Takes about 40 minutes to get there from my parents' house (in the Near Northwest suburbs), but it's worth it. Great stores, but I have to wonder who came up with the idea of building an outdoor mall in Illinois??

Ahhhh, Woodfield. My little came to visit me over Thanksgiving one year and I took her there and she just about had to be dragged out. Did you know it has more stores than the Mall of America? Water Tower is great, too, but Gurnee Mills doesn't impress me. Old Orchard is the closest decent mall to where I grew up, about 20 minutes up Golf Road...gosh, I remember that mall BEFORE it was remodeled. By far, the ickiest mall around there is Golf Mill, in Niles. I go there to pay my Express bill and that's about it. It's tiny and teenybopper. Blech.

33girl, I miss the Ross Park Mall. I used to go there and then afterwards I would go to the Mad Mex in the North Hills for curry chicken burritos. Then I would feel the need to walk back to my apartment in Squirrel Hill. :)

There are two really great malls near me, about 15 minutes drive in opposite directions. The South Coast Plaza, in Costa Mesa, is from what I understand the top moneymaking mall in the nation. I feel like I have to dress up when I go there. They're known for all their designer shops: Prada, Chanel, CD, Gucci, Armani, Cartier, Dolce and Gabbana, the list goes on. There's also stores for those of us that don't make six figures: J Crew, Banana, Origins, and a HUGE Victoria's Secret. They kinda fall down on department stores, though. That's where Fashion Island, in Newport Beach, picks up. They have a Bloomie's, Neiman's, Macy's, Robinson's-May, etc. Oh, and neither mall has enough bathrooms. Do native SoCal's pee less than the average person??

Even though I live in the midst of southern California consumer culture, my favorite mall in the entire world is the King of Prussia Mall in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania. It's enormous, bright and well-lit, they have all kinds of stores and restaurants AND...you can practically eat off the floor. Every time you turn around there's someone cleaning something.

What about the Michigan Ave stores? Or is that too far of a drive ;)

Michigan Avenue is part of the Magnificent Mile ;) and no - its only like 30 minutes away (chicago thing - we measure distance in minutes not miles :D)

33 Girl: See, that's what I mean about time changing the malls! I remember when Century III opened when I was a little kid and everyone thought it was the greatest. LOL, it was the first time anyone in Pittsburgh had ever seen a foodcourt! I agree that Ross Park Mall is awesome, though. Plus, it was the mall closest to my parents' house so it was where I would go whenever I needed anything. I still go there when I'm home and stock up on clothes; no clothing sales tax in Penna :D

This is going to be a stretch of the imagination, but do you know Allegheny Center Mall on the North Side? Now I understand that it's mostly empty storefronts, the stores that are there are yucky and the mall itself has sailed merrily past "ghetto" all the way to "you're taking your life in your hands in the parking garage". When I was little, I used to look forward to my grandma taking me to ride the Easter train and to get my picture taken with the Easter bunny and Santa Claus there!


IowaHawkeye: Ooooooh, I know Maggiano's! The nearest one to me is at Tyson's Corner Mall in Virginia (The ultimate in mall luxury:) ) and when I'm doing a day of serious shopping there I always stop in for lunch. Yummmmmm!

DFW Metro Malls
 

You Dallasites are making me laugh. I moved to a much smaller town from Cedar Hill/Duncanville almost 2 years ago. We have ONE mall, and it doesn't even have a Foley's (but we have a Bealls, a Sears AND a Mervyns!!! Classy...). Big change from rating malls geographically based on I-635! I used to eat lunch at the Galleria or Northpark every day!!! How I miss Nordy's (Thank God the Dillard's in Lubbock at least has a M.A.C. counter!).

Living in D'ville, you had to travel to go to a mall because all we had was SOUTHWEST CENTER MALL (formerly Red Bird Mall), and we never really felt like taking our lives into our own hands just to go to a Dillards that was full of junk, and see a bunch of jewelry kiosks with gigantic gold medallions for sale!!! My step-mom was carjacked there once (she was not harmed), and we had 3 cars stolen from that parking lot...and that was only on the edge of the hood! Wheee!

We ended up at the Parks in Arlington most of the time--I'd say top of the middle tier. Willow Bend & Stonebriar didn't open up until after we were gone, but I liked Stonebriar when I visited...Willow Bend was a ghost town & way too snooty. Of course, I remember the days when Prestonwood was the top-tier mall (have they torn that place down yet?)

What a funny thing to reminisce about...I guess I never really thought about the malls while I was there! Ooh-I just remembered the Festival Marketplace mall! yikes.

::Sniff sniff:: I miss Woodfield whether I'm two hours away in "Chambana" or 13 hours away right now...Gosh, I love that place! It is truely a great thing. :D I need a Woodfield out here.

Are you talking about the 900 North Michigan Stores? That can be a hike to something like the State Street Marshall Field's.

We have so fricking many malls around here....fortunately there are quite a few good ones. My favorite is Beachwood mall, which has a Saks, a Nordstrom, J. Crew, Sephora, BCBG, Dillard's, Abercrombie, Neiman Marcus Gallery, all the Gaps, Banana Republic, etc etc. Yeah there are some REALLY BAD malls here but they are generally in the really bad areas where you just don't go unless you want to get carjacked.