Dead Malls dot Com: Feature: Forum 303 Mall: Arlington, Texas

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FORUM 303 MALL: ARLINGTON, TX

Son H. Mai's Commentary

Posted (user submitted) December 17, 2005

I have a suggestion for a dead mall to report on: The Forum 303 Mall in Arlington, Texas. This mall was built in 1970 and did fairly well. It was anchored by a Dillard's, Wards, and Wilson's (later Service Merchandise). The Parks at Arlington Mall was built on the other side of town around 1988. Afterwards, Forum 303 fell into decline.

In 1998, the Forum mall was converted into Festival Marketplace, an indoor flea-market/bazaar type of venue. That flopped as well, as Traders' Village, a nationally (and possibly internationally) reknowned flea market was only a couple miles away. What kept the mall limping for a few more years was actually the Dillard's--which converted to a "clearance center" around the same time. The Dillard's Clearance Center relocated to nearby Six Flags Mall and things went downhill for Festival from there. (Six Flags Mall is another dying mall--but there's still hope for that place, as the new Dallas Cowboys stadium will be built nor far from there)

Last summer, Forum 303/Festival Marketplace Mall abruptly shut its doors. Apparently the air conditioning system broke and the owners felt that the mall isn't worth putting more money into. So instead of fixing the AC, they just told tenants to pack up and get out!

I frequented the Forum Mall while growing up in the area and have memories of its heyday. I don't have any photos of the mall, but there are a couple 'blogs about it that may give you an idea of the place:
http://paulmills.net/?p=225
http://www.deniseinglis.com/archives/000493.html
http://www.dallashistory.org/cgi-bin/webbbs_config.pl?read=30369

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