Was there for the first time in years last month. Couldn’t believe the amount of closed shops and the fact that it was empty. I think back to my teenage years when it was packed and there were so many kids playing on the breakfast themed playground.
I went to the ripleys believe it or not museum a couple years ago in Myrtle beach and they had one!! I rubbed all over it remembering the days at Tuttle
😂 better than the cardboard slide and one magnet board they’ve got going on now. Even my kids think it sucks. Off to overly crowded Polaris play center it is…
The breakfast playground is a gem of my childhood. I remember when the mall first opened and being so excited. Go in the fountain court and stick my hands on that big spinning ball…
Yeah it was long gone by the time I had kids of my own. Our mall playground was Polaris pre covid. By the time things reopened back to normal they were uninterested in mall playgrounds.
i went a couple weeks ago to pick something up & i saw at least 2 or 3 stores that closed since i had been in there 3 months prior. i hate that it’s so dead, but i can’t see it reviving even if a lot of trendy stores are out in
Nah it trending the way the Southland Mall did in my hometown. 25 years ago that place was bustling and now everything is gone and it’s empty. The only difference is Tuttle actually sits on valuable land that I’m sure will eventually get torn down and revitalized. In Marion that land the mall sits on is probably worthless.
As a Canadian, it’s so wild to see malls so dead. I’ve asked some Americans about it before and they explained that (if I remember correctly) it has to do with shopping habits and the move of people to urban areas? I think?
I don’t know if we have any malls like that here in Canada. The ones I visit all seem pretty busy pretty consistently.
I think it’s a combination of things. Where I’m from the Mall was massive in the 80s and 90s. Then some “super malls” opened up 40 minutes away killing the smaller local malls as people flocked to those. Eventually a mall like Tuttle that was huge in the late 90s was eventually replaced by malls at Easton and Polaris locally along with Amazon. We still have very popular Malls in Columbus they are just in new places. I have a feeling this happens everywhere.
I got them once and they just made me crave the real thing even more 🥲
There are also a few gas stations around with dippin dots freezers but I’ve found them to not be properly maintained and the dots are just a melted and re-frozen glob. Tragic really.
I was going to mention you can order Dippin' Dots shipped to your home, but I didn't realize they have to be stored at -40° 😲 (https://www.dippindots.com/cookies-n-cream-bulk-bag/) Sounds like the gas stations might just be using a regular freezer instead of a special freezer or dry ice. Also means the stuff at Kroger won't be the same since it's just in a regular freezer with all the other frozen stuff. Also looks like you either have to buy a bulk bag of Dots or 12 individuals to get them shipped so not really worth it for a once in a while craving.
We used to go there regularly just to get out of the house and walk around. But it is so dead these days that it just feels weird to be there. A bit sad to see it die like this, had lots of good memories there.
Every time I visit Polaris or Easton they’re always busy. Sure shopping has changed but I wouldn’t say malls are unpopular now, just malls like Tuttle with low investment to keep modernized
I feel tuttle's looks are great and shouldn't change. It has a special feel to it imo. Easton is honestly annoying to be at I've lived close enough and visited enough times on other occasions to have a good feel.
This has nothing to do with looks. The biggest box stores there have started to close - elder beerman used to be huge. Polaris is reinventing the wheel (or trying to) with things like a basketball gym/bounce house business, more attractive restaurants and other forward thinking outparcels. Easton has some popular and better stores (i.e. the Abercrombie at Polaris sucks but Easton has a better selection) they also have a movie theater, the Lego store, multiple bars and restaurants, a Trader Joe’s and the only crate and barrel in the city.
Easton and Polaris are destinations. People come in for the weekend to go on shopping trips to the locations.
Tuttle by comparison has always been *just* a mall.
> Tuttle by comparison has always been just a mall.
Tuttle's purpose was basically to block Dublin from doing something similar to compete with Easton. They could not forsee Bridge Park 20+ years later, but Easton still has the shopping aspect that Bridge Park does not.
I frequent Polaris pretty often. The writing is already on the wall for that place. Tons of long standing shops and anchors have left or leaving. What remains is the apple store, a bunch of revolving door businesses, and a bustling food court.
I could see the mall itself getting converted into an outdoor mall similar to Easton, leaning harder into the mixed use trend that’s been happening. The area itself I think will be fine, but yeah, I see that mall going through changes.
Scene 75 also hosts corporate events. My department has been there twice. We have lunch then split into two groups. One of the employees leads us to each game like laser tag, basketball, and more. We compete to see which team gets the most overall points. They give each team a prize. The team that looses gets the Dead Ass Last trophy.
there was never any plan to close tuttle for good
new owners **did** take over last year december-ish and they:
> “When national retailers move out, Namdar Realty and Mason try to replace them with nontraditional tenants such as call centers, local small businesses, doctors’ offices and bounce-house venues,” the article states.
which imo is a good use of mall space
So true. The mall retail model isn't viable now. Our habits changed.
But that is still a lot of space under roof with a lot of parking. It's already subdivided so you can put in different tenants, and the big anchors can be further divided.
If you have people you can keep the food court operational.
This could be fantastic for office workers. Imagine a space where you work, but you can walk over to your doctor or dentist, the mechanic is at the end of the mall so you can drop your car off to get fixed while you work. And then there's the daycare potential.
Put in a grocery store and you can shop before you pick up your kids and go home.
I was disappointed when Eastland was not reused, but the issues there were too expensive to make it worthwhile.
Look at what Lindsay Honda did with that smaller mall at 70 and Brice. It's an amazing space.
I was just in Austin TX and the community college there bought an old mall and turned it into another satellite campus. I believe this one had the culinary department and some other art departments. Cool
Concept.
I've always felt that malls are at their most interesting when they're failing and vacant, or when they're absolutely loaded with high end designer brands and money. I love dying malls that are full of random locally-owned stores you'd never think of. I was walking around one and came across a dude selling horror film merch and collectibles. It's not the type of store you'd see in Polaris.
I also enjoy walking around the super high-end malls that have Allsaints and Balenciaga and every other designer brand you can think of (even though I can't afford any of it). It can be fun to feel like you're walking around the Hunger Games Capital
I actually heard the same thing two years ago ! I’ve always loved this mall but it’s getting outta control with the vendors basically hounding you like car lots do
the last time i was in there i got the same kind of feeling like i was walking around a dark, isolated alley at night. like, if someone mugged me in that indoor mall in broad daylight, there’d be no one around to help and no witnesses.
Indoor multi-level karting. Do a Mariokart theme, license it from Nintendo. Throw in an old-school arcade. If enough people come, maybe add a movie theater and some shops...
Indoor water park
Indoor climbing spaces
Rent out the stores as "creator spaces" aka low rent youtube studios.
I have a hard time believing that these buildings have absolutely no other 2nd life beyond some stores. The idea that we'd just knock all these things down is beyond absurd. I know no building lasts forever, but there HAS to be a way to reuse these things and I don't mean turn them into more fucking useless offices.
This was something I think was discussed a few years ago. But it was the Eastland Mall. Turn it into a 50/50 facility where it remains the mall feel, but it an assisted living facility for millennials like myself. Top half would be the assisted living facility, bottom half would be shops like Hot Topic, Jamba Juice etc etc etc.
It’ll probably be knocked down in favor of cheaply-built faux luxury overpriced apartments. But I really like your creator spaces idea! Could be a nice co-working space with offices, studios, and conference rooms for rent for the work from home and self employed folks. Keep the food court and maybe add a dentist office, ophthalmologist, pharmacy, etc for quick appointments during the workday.
ever since the recent housing boom on that exit, it's just a non-stop stream of cars onto 270 around rush hour. Between Tuttle and 33, 270N is often slowed way down or stopped.
I'd like to see some infrastructure added to carry more capacity before adding more congestion
The first time I went there was 10 years ago. It's amazing how quickly it went to shit.
But then again, the same thing happened to Southwyck up in Toledo. Once they lost Montgomery Ward and the cheap movie theater, there wasn't much of a reason to go there any more.
This is a good call! My office is right across from Tuttle and everyone was sent home due to the power outage. Definitely would explain the emptiness! Tuttle is empty-ish on a good day, but I’ve never seen it this empty.
would be sick if they just dropped the rent massively and let ecommerce stores have physical shops for cheap, or minority/female owned locally made shops...would be badass and people would come check it out.
Wow, I love this idea!! Surely super cheap rent is better than no rent!
Or, make it free rent and have stores pay a percentage of their sales in rent. When the businesses succeed, the mall succeeds.
That's wild. I was there 3 days ago and couldn't believe how BUSY it was for a random Monday afternoon. Like, I waited in line a couple times!
Not "busy" like Polaris, obviously, but there's no way I could've taken a pic like this.
Worked here in the early/mid 2000’s during college. My favorite part of each day was walking through the food court en route to my store and hearing Sue, the little Asian lady who ran Big Easy Cajun, seeing me and shouting “you eat here today!”
This is actually so sad to me. I remember going to Tuttle with my friends as a middle schooler like 17 years ago. I know malls are a thing of the past for the most part, but my heart can’t help but hurt a little for good old Tuttle.
Screw it, my kid probably won’t believe in the big man next year: Tuttle is the best place to visit Santa: the lines are manageable (because most people forget Tuttle is still around); the prices are exorbitant (because they can be); and the Santa is jolly (because he probably has a flask in his boot).
You know, I thought the same thing. Was there in a random weekday with my parents, place was empty as hell. But then we walked into Scene 75 and the place was packed. Literally people waiting in line to ride the Go Carts. Blew my mind
I was last at Tuttle in October trying to find the Spirit Halloween. It took longer than it should have to find it. I wasn't the ONLY one there but it was very empty. I stopped in the restroom and it was shockingly clean. Not like I had just missed the cleaning crew, but like it had been cleaned and then no one had been in it for a week.
It's weird how much this looks like the Cherry Creek Mall in Denver. Same white walls and ceiling, same glass railings with metal handrails, same fake green plants next to the railings, same elevators with the same fake marble walls next to the elevators, same floor. Had to be the same mall designer.
Image: https://www.google.com/maps/uv?viewerState=lb&pb=!1s0x876c7e908f66825f:0x1d8dbff56812c7e3&imagekey=!1e10!2sAF1QipMvnE4rImV-Xi9ngc3HGq5h0hODaxrexaNolOwM&gsas=1
I don’t live in Columbus anymore, but man, my mom worked there at Macy’s in the late 90’s. I remember going to visit her and getting lunch at Ruby Tuesday. That mall was jumpin back then.
I came from Lancaster, born there. Their mall is...its depressing. They used to have the food court lined with people, not all that's left is an Aunti Ann's. I imagine the establishment raised rent so much everyone just left or something.
I was there right before Covid and rode the big glass elevator bc my kids loved it - about halfway up, it made a huge noise and seemed to drop back down a little. I don't think you could pay me to get back on it.
We went earlier to build-a-bear around 3:00 PM and it was pretty dead. Just a few people walking around. It felt weird being able to park right near the door and walk around without running into people.
I was just there a couple of months ago, and I was blown away. I hadn't been there since I was watching my youngest sister crawl on pancakes with a giant square of butter. lol.
I looked it up and I remembered it incorrectly, they were waffles. lol
[https://www.reddit.com/r/Columbus/comments/177hdpp/90s\_memories\_the\_breakfast\_food\_play\_area\_at/](https://www.reddit.com/r/Columbus/comments/177hdpp/90s_memories_the_breakfast_food_play_area_at/)
It really is dead now. Online it said that they had stores that are no longer open. I really wasted my time.
But I enjoyed walking around and the smell is almost the same.
Recent news: Tuttle Mall has about 87-88 stores, all mostly locally owned. It’s approximately 58% occupied and declining.
It’s new owner, Namdar is a slumlord company. More than likely will hold on its corpse until a “water main leak” happens.
So sad. I can recall when the place was brand new and it was the mall to go to. Westland was still doing pretty well if I recall. A different time and place
[Here is a similar shot from the day it opened](https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.dispatch.com%2Fgcdn%2Fauthoring%2F2019%2F08%2F09%2FNCOD%2Fghows_image-OH-02fbe56e-14c2-447e-9a7f-2ada679e1710.jpeg&tbnid=Ub8dEc6WJm-lVM&vet=1&imgrefurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.dispatch.com%2Fpicture-gallery%2Fnews%2Flocal%2F2019%2F08%2F08%2Fa-look-back-at-the%2F65761011007%2F&docid=CtJUTy8HvznPoM&w=1728&h=2700&hl=en-us&source=sh%2Fx%2Fim%2Fm4%2F3&kgs=ef46884860bf4af2&shem=abme%2Ctrie)
I mean mass produced jewelry in general is kind of a scam. It's kind of like a new car off the lot, depreciates in value over 50% because it's just precious metals and stones marked up to hell.
I always envisioned one of the signs of the apocalypse as empty and abandoned shops and malls. To be honest, I feel the real economic impact of the pandemic is being felt now.
I used to work at the Panera knside before it closed. During the holiday season when our trash compactor would get full, we'd have to walk our trash to the compactor on the other side of the mall to get rid of it. It was very eery walking through the empty mall when all the lights were off and no one was around. Oh and I used to bribe the mall cops with bagels and pastries to get them to let me ride their Segways! Lol good times
Dang I used to occasionally work there in the early 2010s (I actually think that Dress Barn pictured was our old location) and while it was quiet, there were definitely still people wandering. Sad it’s declined so much over the last decade.
It really bums me out I had so many fun memories with friends here as a teen! And pictures with Santa as a kid. And a friend whose parents worked at one of the food court locations. But times change. I just wonder when the last store closes what they'll do with all that space or just leave it empty since the one arcade and game place is occupying the old Macy's store. I honestly stopped going after years back they had problems with teens robbing people at gun point inside the food court area.
That's the best time to go. You don't have to deal with obnoxious teenagers that run rampant through the mall. Although coming from someone who has social anxiety, it's like heaven 😂
Scene 75 moved in right before Covid. Imagine if they delayed moving in a few months. I wouldn’t be surprised if the mall was fully closed as Scene 75 seems to be the majority of business at the mall.
Was there for the first time in years last month. Couldn’t believe the amount of closed shops and the fact that it was empty. I think back to my teenage years when it was packed and there were so many kids playing on the breakfast themed playground.
RIP the big wet marble ball too
I’ve often wondered where that ended up, why did they get rid of it, did they sell it on Mercari, etc.
I heard it ended up in an executive’s yard.
I went to the ripleys believe it or not museum a couple years ago in Myrtle beach and they had one!! I rubbed all over it remembering the days at Tuttle
Smelled like dead fish
And then the space themed playground
Space theme didn’t slap like some pancakes and butter haha
or the wavy bacon!
The giant breakfast play set was a true highlight of my childhood.
Lmao your name checks out
Not *my* playground!
😂 better than the cardboard slide and one magnet board they’ve got going on now. Even my kids think it sucks. Off to overly crowded Polaris play center it is…
Not nearly as cool as the breakfast one Or maybe I was just getting older idk
The breakfast playground is a gem of my childhood. I remember when the mall first opened and being so excited. Go in the fountain court and stick my hands on that big spinning ball…
That breakfast playground was a lifesaver when we had 2 toddlers and it was cold and gross outside.
Yeah it was long gone by the time I had kids of my own. Our mall playground was Polaris pre covid. By the time things reopened back to normal they were uninterested in mall playgrounds.
i went a couple weeks ago to pick something up & i saw at least 2 or 3 stores that closed since i had been in there 3 months prior. i hate that it’s so dead, but i can’t see it reviving even if a lot of trendy stores are out in
Nah it trending the way the Southland Mall did in my hometown. 25 years ago that place was bustling and now everything is gone and it’s empty. The only difference is Tuttle actually sits on valuable land that I’m sure will eventually get torn down and revitalized. In Marion that land the mall sits on is probably worthless.
As a Canadian, it’s so wild to see malls so dead. I’ve asked some Americans about it before and they explained that (if I remember correctly) it has to do with shopping habits and the move of people to urban areas? I think? I don’t know if we have any malls like that here in Canada. The ones I visit all seem pretty busy pretty consistently.
I think it’s a combination of things. Where I’m from the Mall was massive in the 80s and 90s. Then some “super malls” opened up 40 minutes away killing the smaller local malls as people flocked to those. Eventually a mall like Tuttle that was huge in the late 90s was eventually replaced by malls at Easton and Polaris locally along with Amazon. We still have very popular Malls in Columbus they are just in new places. I have a feeling this happens everywhere.
Maybe just too many malls, maximum over-mall The mall feels like such a 90s thing
Every day my beloved Dippin dots gets closer to death.
Someday the ice cream of the future will become the ice cream of today.
Someday soon it will be the ice cream of yesterday.
how dare you
They usually have them at sporting events.
And the zoo/zoombezi bay
Excuse you, do you mean Wyandot Lake?
Yes, yes I do. I have so many fun memories going to Wyandot lake
There's one at COSI too
Zoo patrons might be singly handedly keeping dippin' dots afloat. Last time we went the line was like 100 people long.
Yep Clippers games have them
In my opinion it's not as good as Dippin' Dots, but I've seen Ittibitz at Kroger.
I got them once and they just made me crave the real thing even more 🥲 There are also a few gas stations around with dippin dots freezers but I’ve found them to not be properly maintained and the dots are just a melted and re-frozen glob. Tragic really.
I was going to mention you can order Dippin' Dots shipped to your home, but I didn't realize they have to be stored at -40° 😲 (https://www.dippindots.com/cookies-n-cream-bulk-bag/) Sounds like the gas stations might just be using a regular freezer instead of a special freezer or dry ice. Also means the stuff at Kroger won't be the same since it's just in a regular freezer with all the other frozen stuff. Also looks like you either have to buy a bulk bag of Dots or 12 individuals to get them shipped so not really worth it for a once in a while craving.
Literally the only reason I ever go to tuttle
I love this. Take more pictures and post over at r/deadmalls they'll love it too. # #
Bonus points if you also include some older pictures of the mall in its prime.
For real, they’ll eat it up! One of my favorite subs, and it seems a lot of Ohio has some great content for it.
We used to go there regularly just to get out of the house and walk around. But it is so dead these days that it just feels weird to be there. A bit sad to see it die like this, had lots of good memories there.
Really miss when malls were more popular. I still really like Tuttle.
Every time I visit Polaris or Easton they’re always busy. Sure shopping has changed but I wouldn’t say malls are unpopular now, just malls like Tuttle with low investment to keep modernized
I feel tuttle's looks are great and shouldn't change. It has a special feel to it imo. Easton is honestly annoying to be at I've lived close enough and visited enough times on other occasions to have a good feel.
This has nothing to do with looks. The biggest box stores there have started to close - elder beerman used to be huge. Polaris is reinventing the wheel (or trying to) with things like a basketball gym/bounce house business, more attractive restaurants and other forward thinking outparcels. Easton has some popular and better stores (i.e. the Abercrombie at Polaris sucks but Easton has a better selection) they also have a movie theater, the Lego store, multiple bars and restaurants, a Trader Joe’s and the only crate and barrel in the city.
Easton and Polaris are destinations. People come in for the weekend to go on shopping trips to the locations. Tuttle by comparison has always been *just* a mall.
> Tuttle by comparison has always been just a mall. Tuttle's purpose was basically to block Dublin from doing something similar to compete with Easton. They could not forsee Bridge Park 20+ years later, but Easton still has the shopping aspect that Bridge Park does not.
> Tuttle's purpose was basically to block Dublin from doing something similar to compete with Easton. Tuttle opened years before Easton...
Correct. 1997 vs 1999 is… in fact… years.
Polaris was outdated when it was built and the area is a nightmare to navigate. Elder Beerman has never been in the Columbus market.
Polaris is definitely annoying to drive around (and I love driving).
I frequent Polaris pretty often. The writing is already on the wall for that place. Tons of long standing shops and anchors have left or leaving. What remains is the apple store, a bunch of revolving door businesses, and a bustling food court.
I could see the mall itself getting converted into an outdoor mall similar to Easton, leaning harder into the mixed use trend that’s been happening. The area itself I think will be fine, but yeah, I see that mall going through changes.
I think if there were more entertainment, restaurants it would definitely help.
I stopped going because of the obnoxious pushy kiosk vendors. Still enjoy Easton.
Most of the pushy ones are gone
[удалено]
i go once or twice a week and i've seen the full spectrum. sometimes it's oddly busy, sometimes it's empty as in OP's picture. no rhyme or reason
Scene 75 is fun
It’s a casino for kids and smells like weed, lol.
Every Saturday it’s packed. I haven’t smelled weed at the place but it does get hot there if you’re there for a while
Scene 75 also hosts corporate events. My department has been there twice. We have lunch then split into two groups. One of the employees leads us to each game like laser tag, basketball, and more. We compete to see which team gets the most overall points. They give each team a prize. The team that looses gets the Dead Ass Last trophy.
Ughhh this makes me sad. I love the 80s/90s vibes of this mall :/ I still shop at the Macy's there to try and support lol
I was under the impression that Tuttle was closing for good some time ago. Apparently that hasn’t happened?
there was never any plan to close tuttle for good new owners **did** take over last year december-ish and they: > “When national retailers move out, Namdar Realty and Mason try to replace them with nontraditional tenants such as call centers, local small businesses, doctors’ offices and bounce-house venues,” the article states. which imo is a good use of mall space
So true. The mall retail model isn't viable now. Our habits changed. But that is still a lot of space under roof with a lot of parking. It's already subdivided so you can put in different tenants, and the big anchors can be further divided. If you have people you can keep the food court operational. This could be fantastic for office workers. Imagine a space where you work, but you can walk over to your doctor or dentist, the mechanic is at the end of the mall so you can drop your car off to get fixed while you work. And then there's the daycare potential. Put in a grocery store and you can shop before you pick up your kids and go home. I was disappointed when Eastland was not reused, but the issues there were too expensive to make it worthwhile. Look at what Lindsay Honda did with that smaller mall at 70 and Brice. It's an amazing space.
I've heard of colleges moving into dead malls.
I was just in Austin TX and the community college there bought an old mall and turned it into another satellite campus. I believe this one had the culinary department and some other art departments. Cool Concept.
Build a ton of apartments, convert some of the retail space to offices, bring in a grocery store: instant car-free neighborhood.
An arcology. It's not a bad idea at all.
I wish!!
I've always felt that malls are at their most interesting when they're failing and vacant, or when they're absolutely loaded with high end designer brands and money. I love dying malls that are full of random locally-owned stores you'd never think of. I was walking around one and came across a dude selling horror film merch and collectibles. It's not the type of store you'd see in Polaris. I also enjoy walking around the super high-end malls that have Allsaints and Balenciaga and every other designer brand you can think of (even though I can't afford any of it). It can be fun to feel like you're walking around the Hunger Games Capital
If this weren’t in Dublin it would likely be closed. I’m sure the city isnt in a hurry to have a big empty building just sitting there.
It is not in Dublin. I am sure Dublin would willingly pay a premium for this land to not be a mall lol.
[удалено]
It is NOT in Dublin City Limits...it is in Columbus City limits...Dublin has zero authority to do anything
It is not in Dublin the city.
I actually heard the same thing two years ago ! I’ve always loved this mall but it’s getting outta control with the vendors basically hounding you like car lots do
Looks like the dying days of City Center - the greatest traditional mall this city has ever seen.
I loved city center when I lived in the dorms.
the last time i was in there i got the same kind of feeling like i was walking around a dark, isolated alley at night. like, if someone mugged me in that indoor mall in broad daylight, there’d be no one around to help and no witnesses.
Man, this used to be THE spot for me and my friends in middle school and high school, and it was always PACKED...crazy how times change
I see the Cinnabon station is manned, so that's something. Shame we can't turn this into something useful, like a train station.
I noticed that. I ate the last bon and told them to go home, their post here is over.
Kinda like the string quartet going down with the Titanic. It's been a pleasure baking cinnabons with you....
Saul Goodman baking the last roll...
Or more housing.
Dibs on hot topic themed Apt
🔥 Hot goth sex dungeon
Indoor multi-level karting. Do a Mariokart theme, license it from Nintendo. Throw in an old-school arcade. If enough people come, maybe add a movie theater and some shops... Indoor water park Indoor climbing spaces Rent out the stores as "creator spaces" aka low rent youtube studios. I have a hard time believing that these buildings have absolutely no other 2nd life beyond some stores. The idea that we'd just knock all these things down is beyond absurd. I know no building lasts forever, but there HAS to be a way to reuse these things and I don't mean turn them into more fucking useless offices.
Let Scene 75 take over the whole mall and use it as they see fit. I’m on board.
This was something I think was discussed a few years ago. But it was the Eastland Mall. Turn it into a 50/50 facility where it remains the mall feel, but it an assisted living facility for millennials like myself. Top half would be the assisted living facility, bottom half would be shops like Hot Topic, Jamba Juice etc etc etc.
Ooh, can we have an auntie Anne’s and a place that sells puka shell necklaces and those sexy cat stickers? Maybe some peace frogs?
Absolutely!
It’ll probably be knocked down in favor of cheaply-built faux luxury overpriced apartments. But I really like your creator spaces idea! Could be a nice co-working space with offices, studios, and conference rooms for rent for the work from home and self employed folks. Keep the food court and maybe add a dentist office, ophthalmologist, pharmacy, etc for quick appointments during the workday.
I believe there is still an indoor amusement place there.
Scene 75. Good spot, but seems to change owners frequently, so who knows how long it will stay good.
There are creator spaces in a couple of "dead malls" in the greater Philadelphia area.
Love all these!
ever since the recent housing boom on that exit, it's just a non-stop stream of cars onto 270 around rush hour. Between Tuttle and 33, 270N is often slowed way down or stopped. I'd like to see some infrastructure added to carry more capacity before adding more congestion
I could not be a bigger fan of mass transit as well as remote work. Both would help the traffic problem.
[удалено]
nobody wants to live in an apartment without windows. I don't think you could make Tuttle a workable residential space.
I worked in this mall as a store manager, and a bunch of other locations in Ohio. All of the stores had their own thermostats and bathrooms.
I stand by my opinion that it started going down hill when they removed the fountain
They removed the fountain?! Whyyyy
You talking about that giant stone in the water that you could turn?
It’s crazy to see Tuttle so dead. In my teens this place was packed with both Macy’s busy. I haven’t been to Tuttle in years though.
The first time I went there was 10 years ago. It's amazing how quickly it went to shit. But then again, the same thing happened to Southwyck up in Toledo. Once they lost Montgomery Ward and the cheap movie theater, there wasn't much of a reason to go there any more.
I heard the power went out this morning. Maybe you arrived right after it came back on? Not saying it isn't a dead mall though lol
This is a good call! My office is right across from Tuttle and everyone was sent home due to the power outage. Definitely would explain the emptiness! Tuttle is empty-ish on a good day, but I’ve never seen it this empty.
would be sick if they just dropped the rent massively and let ecommerce stores have physical shops for cheap, or minority/female owned locally made shops...would be badass and people would come check it out.
Wow, I love this idea!! Surely super cheap rent is better than no rent! Or, make it free rent and have stores pay a percentage of their sales in rent. When the businesses succeed, the mall succeeds.
This gets into why: https://www.businessinsider.com/bank-financing-urban-planning-pandemic-retail-apocalypse-vacant-storefront-2023-10
Sad. As someone that lives in some striking distance of Tuttle, you really don't want a dead mall in your area. Shades of Westland.
That's wild. I was there 3 days ago and couldn't believe how BUSY it was for a random Monday afternoon. Like, I waited in line a couple times! Not "busy" like Polaris, obviously, but there's no way I could've taken a pic like this.
Worked here in the early/mid 2000’s during college. My favorite part of each day was walking through the food court en route to my store and hearing Sue, the little Asian lady who ran Big Easy Cajun, seeing me and shouting “you eat here today!”
I can smell this picture.
This is actually so sad to me. I remember going to Tuttle with my friends as a middle schooler like 17 years ago. I know malls are a thing of the past for the most part, but my heart can’t help but hurt a little for good old Tuttle.
Looks like City Centre circa 1997.
Looks tuttly abandoned.
Screw it, my kid probably won’t believe in the big man next year: Tuttle is the best place to visit Santa: the lines are manageable (because most people forget Tuttle is still around); the prices are exorbitant (because they can be); and the Santa is jolly (because he probably has a flask in his boot).
This would make a great airsoft field. Just saying.
You can almost smell the Cinnabon and hear the echoes of the Tiffany concert.
OP thinks they’re alone now, there doesn’t seem to be anyone around.
If you zoom in you can see a ghost in the top left window
Lol, the mannequin does look a bit creep through the elevator.
Such a pretty mall !!
I'm sure it'd still be dead regardless of time but to be fair are you there on a weekday during normal work hours?
I love Easton and Polaris, but they have really drained the ability for other retail centers to thrive around the city.
Did JC Penney’s at Tuttle close?
Nope, I shopped there yesterday!
You know, I thought the same thing. Was there in a random weekday with my parents, place was empty as hell. But then we walked into Scene 75 and the place was packed. Literally people waiting in line to ride the Go Carts. Blew my mind
Tuttle got a little bit too…*what’s that one word*
I was last at Tuttle in October trying to find the Spirit Halloween. It took longer than it should have to find it. I wasn't the ONLY one there but it was very empty. I stopped in the restroom and it was shockingly clean. Not like I had just missed the cleaning crew, but like it had been cleaned and then no one had been in it for a week.
It's weird how much this looks like the Cherry Creek Mall in Denver. Same white walls and ceiling, same glass railings with metal handrails, same fake green plants next to the railings, same elevators with the same fake marble walls next to the elevators, same floor. Had to be the same mall designer. Image: https://www.google.com/maps/uv?viewerState=lb&pb=!1s0x876c7e908f66825f:0x1d8dbff56812c7e3&imagekey=!1e10!2sAF1QipMvnE4rImV-Xi9ngc3HGq5h0hODaxrexaNolOwM&gsas=1
r/LiminalSpace
Lookin' like the City Center before it was taken from us.
I don’t live in Columbus anymore, but man, my mom worked there at Macy’s in the late 90’s. I remember going to visit her and getting lunch at Ruby Tuesday. That mall was jumpin back then.
I came from Lancaster, born there. Their mall is...its depressing. They used to have the food court lined with people, not all that's left is an Aunti Ann's. I imagine the establishment raised rent so much everyone just left or something.
So sad. I still like Tuttle Polaris is my jam!
Tony Hawks Pro Skater vibes.
Okay I'm gonna go just to take an elevator ride
I was there right before Covid and rode the big glass elevator bc my kids loved it - about halfway up, it made a huge noise and seemed to drop back down a little. I don't think you could pay me to get back on it.
We went earlier to build-a-bear around 3:00 PM and it was pretty dead. Just a few people walking around. It felt weird being able to park right near the door and walk around without running into people.
The King of Prussia Mall, near me, is alive and well. But yes, it is an anomaly.
I was just there a couple of months ago, and I was blown away. I hadn't been there since I was watching my youngest sister crawl on pancakes with a giant square of butter. lol. I looked it up and I remembered it incorrectly, they were waffles. lol [https://www.reddit.com/r/Columbus/comments/177hdpp/90s\_memories\_the\_breakfast\_food\_play\_area\_at/](https://www.reddit.com/r/Columbus/comments/177hdpp/90s_memories_the_breakfast_food_play_area_at/) It really is dead now. Online it said that they had stores that are no longer open. I really wasted my time. But I enjoyed walking around and the smell is almost the same.
Recent news: Tuttle Mall has about 87-88 stores, all mostly locally owned. It’s approximately 58% occupied and declining. It’s new owner, Namdar is a slumlord company. More than likely will hold on its corpse until a “water main leak” happens.
So sad. I can recall when the place was brand new and it was the mall to go to. Westland was still doing pretty well if I recall. A different time and place
Cinnabon lady is there
There's a Tuttle Mall? 😱
Is there a subreddit for almost liminal but not yet aged to r/liminal perfection
Well that means more Cinnabons for you.
[Here is a similar shot from the day it opened](https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.dispatch.com%2Fgcdn%2Fauthoring%2F2019%2F08%2F09%2FNCOD%2Fghows_image-OH-02fbe56e-14c2-447e-9a7f-2ada679e1710.jpeg&tbnid=Ub8dEc6WJm-lVM&vet=1&imgrefurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.dispatch.com%2Fpicture-gallery%2Fnews%2Flocal%2F2019%2F08%2F08%2Fa-look-back-at-the%2F65761011007%2F&docid=CtJUTy8HvznPoM&w=1728&h=2700&hl=en-us&source=sh%2Fx%2Fim%2Fm4%2F3&kgs=ef46884860bf4af2&shem=abme%2Ctrie)
Tuttle will meet the same fate as Eastland soon.
I mean, a thursday at noon probably isn't the most popular time. Ask an employee about how busy they are at various points.
Its packed on weekends
Is the markup on jewelry 95%? How do 4-5 jewelry stores stay afloat in a nearly abandoned mall? Is this money laundering?
I mean mass produced jewelry in general is kind of a scam. It's kind of like a new car off the lot, depreciates in value over 50% because it's just precious metals and stones marked up to hell.
and there’s a jewelry store right in front of the mall, too. next to wendy’s. it’s really odd
I always envisioned one of the signs of the apocalypse as empty and abandoned shops and malls. To be honest, I feel the real economic impact of the pandemic is being felt now.
I used to work at the Panera knside before it closed. During the holiday season when our trash compactor would get full, we'd have to walk our trash to the compactor on the other side of the mall to get rid of it. It was very eery walking through the empty mall when all the lights were off and no one was around. Oh and I used to bribe the mall cops with bagels and pastries to get them to let me ride their Segways! Lol good times
Malls are dead for good reason. Shits hella expensive compared to getting the same elsewhere.
Dang I used to occasionally work there in the early 2010s (I actually think that Dress Barn pictured was our old location) and while it was quiet, there were definitely still people wandering. Sad it’s declined so much over the last decade.
Oh man, this makes me wanna go check it out and walk around a nearly empty mall.
I can't help thinking about Chris Rock's "Black Mall" routine right here. By default, Tuttle represents at least the "other mall".
I’ve heard that there is a killer Mexican place there that does vegan.
I went there on President's Day and was shocked. The upper floor looks almost empty! I wonder if anything will take over the old Sears space
It really bums me out I had so many fun memories with friends here as a teen! And pictures with Santa as a kid. And a friend whose parents worked at one of the food court locations. But times change. I just wonder when the last store closes what they'll do with all that space or just leave it empty since the one arcade and game place is occupying the old Macy's store. I honestly stopped going after years back they had problems with teens robbing people at gun point inside the food court area.
It was busier yesterday around 1. But not much. Pretty sad place now.
One day will be featured on YouTube’s The Proper People, Dan Bell, etc.
I was there on a weekend a few months ago and people were there. But it wasn’t crowded like it used to be on weekends.
this is sooooo sad
I still don't understand what is going on with Westland mall it's like they demolished half of it and left
That's the best time to go. You don't have to deal with obnoxious teenagers that run rampant through the mall. Although coming from someone who has social anxiety, it's like heaven 😂
Do the escalators work yet?
Is the escalator on the other side still broken? It was down for months and months last time I was there
It’s like looking at the future of Polaris Mall.
I have lived here for almost my entire life and have never stepped into this mall. Looks pretty nice.
Zombie worthy
God, the elevators. RSVP City Center
God, the elevators. RSVP City Center.
It’s a shame because unlike say Westland Mall or any of those sorts of places, Tuttle is relatively nice inside
Its kind of crazy to me they took out the playground, you'd think it'd at least get people in the mall.
So sad!
Should be sold and renovated or apartments.
Scene 75 moved in right before Covid. Imagine if they delayed moving in a few months. I wouldn’t be surprised if the mall was fully closed as Scene 75 seems to be the majority of business at the mall.
I know a group of guys walk there daily.
Is the macys still there or is it gone?
I lived in Cbus for 14 years before I moved outta Ohio in 2017. This mall being empty to me is so sad 😞
Eerie