Rhode Island Mall: Warwick, Rhode Island on DeadMalls.com

RHODE ISLAND MALL: WARWICK, RI

Barry Rosenbaum's Commentary:

Posted January 7, 2013

The mall (other than the big box anchors, which can operate individually) closed fully in April 2011, shortly after a significant flood of the nearby Pawtuxet River that put the entire mall under more than a foot of water for about a day. (Picture: ) With only four stores remaining inside the building, the owners chose to close down the entire mall indefinitely for a full remodel. The remaining stores were asked to find a new home in the nearby Warwick Mall or another storefront in the meantime.

In November 2012, a few owner was announced (Winstanley Enterprises, LLC. of Concord, MA and Surrey Equities, LLC. of New York, NY) and they have claimed to be working on a remodel, with no mention of the supposed remodel announced by the previous owner in 2011, and said they will be working on a new design over the next 6-9 months. It is anyone's guess how long it will take for this to happen, but the mall is effectively dead until further notice.

Kevin Clarke's Commentary:

Posted March 6, 2005 (user submitted May 20, 2004)

2 Levels
Anchored by Sears, Walmart, Kohls

I'm not sure why, but Rhode Island Mall is possibly one of my favorite dead malls. Opened in 1968 as the Midland Mall, this center was the first enclosed mall (other than the Arcade) in Rhode Island. It is located at the intersection of Rte 2, I-95, and I-295, in the city of Warwick (which has earned the nickname the "Retail Capital of the World") Years later, the mall changed its name to Rhode Island Mall.

This mall probably received it's first hit when the Warwick Mall opened it's doors right next door on Rte 2. While both malls seemed to co-exist rather nicely, it was becoming clear that Warwick Mall would have the upper hand. The mall sat on a huge plot of land and had a movie theatre outparcel. While the Rhode Island Mall was two levels, it was squeezed into a small footprint leaving little room to grow.

In the early 90's, the Rhode Island Mall was starting to slide. It had still retained strong anchors Sears and G.Fox, the store selection was limited. The mall only had 60 stores, and stores with locations in both malls began to close their doors in favor of the bigger Warwick Mall. May company converted the G.Fox store to a Filene's, and then in the late 90's opened a HUGE Filene's store at Warwick Mall. I remember passing between the two malls and laughing at the difference: Warwick Mall had a giant fancy location, while the Filene's at Rhode Island Mall was tiny and sparse.

Filene's soon after closed their doors at Rhode Island Mall. At this point, stores began leaving in droves. Gap, Spencer Gifts, and Tape World/Matinee were some of the last remaining national chains. The only reason people came to this mall now was for Sears, or the Dept of Motor Vehicles.

A few years later, some life was breathed into the Rhode Island Mall. Kohl's Department store and Wal-Mart both announced that they planned toopen locations there. They were going to each take a floor of the old Filene's space. I'm positive that both stores open into the mall. I have read plans of converting the whole mall into a big-box center, however I don't see the need for one since all of Rte 2 is big box and sprawl. I have also heard unreliable rumors that Community College of RI (whoch is located accross the street) is interested in the space. This was probably before the Walmart/Kohl's addition.

It looks like efforts had been made in the 80's to modernize the mall's interior. This street signs look modern, and while the mall only has small skylights, it is kind of airy. The overall design of the building is dated, however. All design notes aside, Rhode Island Mall is a true piece of RI history and will always be one of my favorites.

Liam Gray's Commentary:

Posted March 15, 2005 (user submitted March 11, 2005)

the writer in your story states that Walmart and Kohls open into the mall when in fact they do not. When they tore down Filenes they tore down the food court and about 1/4 of the main part of the mall. They built Walmart and Kohls and everyone assumed they would open into the mall and rejuvenate things. Instead they remained walled off and the mall is still just a desolate shell with a handfull of mom and pop stores. I thought it was a bad sign when the comic book shop expanded to 3 storefronts :-) This was my favorite mall when I was a kid and had a good selection of stores. I still goto sears once in a while and usually take a walk around for nostalgias sake.

Bing Bird's Eye View:

The Rhode Island Mall, aerial photograph - (You can also see the Warwick Mall just north of it.)

Links:

http://www.marketprop.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=4&newsletter=5 - Big Box Conversion

Mister Forth’s Commentary:

User submitted Mar 2014

The photo of the mall flooded is actually the nearby Warwick Mall. Which was able to renovate as a result.

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Paul Aitkenhead’s Commentary:

User submitted Dec 2013

Begin forwarded message:

I made the following comment on your published phone hotline some days ago.

The aerial photo of the flooded mall is Warwick mall (not Rhode Island Mall), and it occurred in the early spring of 2010. The waters of the Patuxent River filled it almost to the ceiling of the first floor. The expressway seen at upper left is Interstate 295, and the cloverleaf is from R.I. Route 2 northbound to I 295 northbound. Rhode Island mall would be out of picture a bit more to the left (to the due south, on the other side of I-295).

When I was a child in the 60s, a trip to Rhode Island Mall, then Midland Mall, was a huge occasion, easily supplanting the old-school, outdoor, windswept Garden City Shopping Center about 3 miles closer to Providence further north on Route 2... which has survived.

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Matt Watkins’s Commentary:

User submitted Nov 2012

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Matt Watkins

November 15, 2012 Watkins Strategies

(617) 571-4582 (cell)

Historic Rhode Island Mall Gets New Life

Winstanley Enterprises, LLC and Surrey Equities, LLC acquire property for $38M

WARWICK, RI – New Englanders who have fond memories of the Rhode Island Mall now have more than nostalgic moments to look back on, they have future memories to create.

Winstanley Enterprises, LLC. of Concord, MA and Surrey Equities, LLC. of New York, NY have acquired the historic 450,000 square-foot Warwick, RI mall for $38 million. The seller was GLL Real Estate Partners from Orlando, FL.

The Rhode Island Mall originally opened as the Midland Mall in 1967 as the first two-level en-closed shopping mall in New England. The mall portion of the property, totaling 225,000 square-feet, has been vacant since closing in April of 2011. The remaining stand-alone retail space is currently anchored by Sears, Wal-Mart, and Kohls.

“There is a rich history with this property, and we are very excited to breathe new life into the development by putting together a plan that will once again position the mall as a vibrant part of Warwick’s retail hub,” said Adam Winstanley, a Principal of Winstanley Enterprises.

A detailed plan and renderings are premature at this time, but the development team of Winstan-ley Enterprises and Surrey Equities intends to renovate the interior and exterior sections of the mall. The project goal would create larger tenant spaces that cater to anchor tenants.

“We look forward to working with the business and local community as well as city officials to create new jobs as this project moves forward,” said Edward Silvera, president and principal of Surrey Equities. “We are eager to revitalize the vacant portion of the mall into a thriving retail space.”

The project is anticipated to bring about 225 construction jobs to Warwick and about 150 perma-nent and part time jobs once the stores open. Preliminary concept design work and permitting is scheduled to continue throughout the next six to nine months.

The Rhode Island Mall is located at 650 Bald Hill Road in Rhode Island’s retail capital of War-wick. The mall is conveniently positioned at the intersection of Route 2, I-95 and I-295.

Cushman & Wakefield represented the seller on the transaction and Eastern Retail Properties represented the buyers.

Winstanley Enterprises, LLC. currently owns and operates 43 buildings totaling approximately 5.5 million square feet throughout New England. Since the early 1990s, Winstanley has acquired in excess of 80 properties exceeding 10 million square feet of real estate throughout the eastern United States. The portfolio currently consists of a wide variety of commercial properties, in-cluding industrial/warehouse, R&D, office, Biotech, and retail.

Winstanley has completed several successful RI projects including acquisition and redevelopment of the former Hasbro Warehouse in Pawtucket, RI, and the acquisition and redevelopment of 10 Risho and 70 Catamore Blvd in the East Providence, RI industrial park.

Surrey Equities, LLC. is a real estate investment and management firm. Surrey Equities’ mission is to acquire value-added investment opportunities throughout the eastern half of the United States and create a tailored strategy to achieve goals. In conjunction with their affiliate firm, Sil-vera Asset Group, LLC, Surry Equities own over 1,500,000 square feet. Their portfolio consists of retail, office and flex properties.

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Mike’s Commentary:

User submitted Jul 2010

Hey, I was at RI Mall this afternoon and took some footage on my iphone:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ea4JayTsjVM

Whether you use it or not, thanks for the site! I love dead malls.

-Mike

Al Flores’s Commentary:

User submitted Nov 2008

There's a mall in central Rhode Island which was once THE place to shop in the state. A a child growing up in the late 60's - early 70's, the Midland Mall (now Rhode Island Mall) was the place to shop, see, and be seen. It opened around 1967 and was the first "modern" mall to be built in the region [on a side note, some historians consider The Arcade in Providence, a shopping structure built in 1828, to be the first indoor mall ever built in the United States]. It has two levels, and was anchored by a red brick Sears at one end and a Shepards department store at the other end. It had a small single cinema, the Midland Cinema, located in a corner off of Shepards - I saw the movie Patton there! Its first years were very successful - many popular stores, such as St. Onge's clothing store, moved or opened stores in the mall from downtown locations to remain competitive. Midland Mall's free parking and easy access to I-95 would quickly eclipse the do
wntown shopping districts in Providence and West Warwick to become the premier shopping destination for the state.

I remember how Shepards had their trademark pedestal clock on the first floor ("meet me at the Shepards clock" was a common refrain in these parts) with signs identifying all 39 RI towns lining the main aisle of the store. As a child, I always looked forward to going to Sears to get the hot candied peanuts from the booth in the middle of the main store aisle there (the smell would waft over the shoppers). Since this was way before food courts, this was one of only a few places where you could get anything quick to eat (the Newport Creamery restaurant was always busy, as was Orange Julius, and the cart vendors). Midland Mall itself had a huge water tower in a corner of the parking lot with a stylized "M" that was used by everyone as a landmark.

When the Shepards chain folded in the late 70s, its space was taken by G. Fox, a department store chain out of Hartford. Around the mid 80s, mall owners decided to update the interior by adding an area for a food court (down a side hall, the space always reflected the fact that it was an afterthought) and a glass elevator in the center.

In the early 90's, G. Fox's parent the May Company decided to merge the G. Fox and Filenes subsidiaries together and eliminate the G. Fox name (which created a major problem, because the newer Warwick Mall already had a Filenes). I remember reading how the new owners of the mall wanted to upscale the place (by then looking really dated). The name was changed from Midland to Rhode Island, and the exterior painted some sort of neutral beige (including the natural red brick of Sears). Longtime stores that didn't fit the image of the "upscale shopper" were given the boot.

Unfortunately, the image change really didn't take hold. Shoppers did not flock to the mall as they had in the 70s and 80s. The Warwick Mall, built next door to Midland in the late 70's, had attracted most of the upscale stores, and regional malls emerged in nearby Lincoln and Seekonk. The super-sized competition came as large malls opened in North Attleboro, MA (Emerald Square Mall) and finally, Providence Place Mall in Downtown Providence. Store space started to go unfilled. After Filenes closed their Rhode Island Mall store (mid 90s) to concentrate on the one they had at Warwick Mall, the exodus began. An effort to become a "value priced" mall in the mid to late 90s resulted in many upscale and moderate-price shoppers fleeing, and more store closings.

In the late 90s, the mall announced that Wal-Mart would take the ground floor of the space vacated by Filenes. I, like many others, assumed one would be able to shop at Wal-Mart and then cruise into the mall. However, when Wal-Mart opened, the food court was eliminated and access to the rest of the mall was left cut off (nobody seems to know why). A new Kohls store, built on top of the Wal-Mart and seemly accessible to the upper level of the mall, is also cut off from the rest of the mall.

So many stores have vacated the mall that most of the bottom floor space stands empty, as does a good part of the upper floor. When stores first pulled out, the mall used to put white plywood over the storefront with a "watch for something new - coming soon" or something similar on it. Now, they don't even bother. Some spaces are occupied by what I would call "non-traditional-mall" vendors - a comic book trader, a fundraising office for a ship museum. A local office for the DMV was supposed to attract shoppers inside but did not.

The food court is long gone, and on recent visits, the place was eerily quiet, with few shoppers or activity. Wal-Mart and Kohls are getting great traffic, but the newly remodeled Sears store seemed to be doing minimal business the night I was there. The overall feeling I get from the mall was depressing, like waiting for the other shoe to drop (e.g. closing the mall). There have been rumors that the local community college was thinking of converting the center of the mall into classroom space, but nothing has taken place yet. However, this mall has definitely seen better days.

Roger P.’s Commentary:

User submitted Mar 2008

I remember when Lincoln mall was almost dead. It has had an incredible comeback. Now there is a new Target, along with a whole new string of restaurants and other stores, such as Sleepys, Chili's, and a Famous Footwear. The new movie theatres have breathed the life back into the mall. Also, a school moved into the mall. What once was a dead mall is now a mall full of life. Here is the webpage: http://www.discoverlincolnmall.com/index.htm

IT LIVES!!!

Joe’s Commentary:

User submitted Sep 2007

looking though the dead mall website, I noticed the RI mall, with only a circa 1980 photo. Not long after I decided to take a now photo (facing towards sears). I think to would be a nice contribution to the article on the Rhode Island Mall

The link to see the Photo is:
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y93/KB1KOI/RIMall2007.jpg

Kevin Henderson’s Commentary:

User submitted Jul 2007

I grew up near Rhode Island Mall and thought I'd share some facts and impressions. The notion that RI Mall was smaller than Warwick Mall isnt quite right. Warwick Mall had only one level while RI Mall had 2 levels. RI Mall tended to have smaller-sized stores but many of these were national franchises like Radio Shack and Electronics Boutique and many other popular stores of that sort. Indeed RI Mall and Warwick Mall were both very profitable malls for 2 decades (the 70's and 80's) until Providence Mall opened. That's when many stores slowly began to move out of RI Mall to open a store in Providence Mall. So, The opening of Warwick Mall just a few years after the opening of RI Mall had no me
aningful economic effect on RI Mall.

On the nostalgic side of things, I remember RI Mall had an escalator that had no steps -- it was instead a gigantic flat rubber moving ramp. I loved that as a kid and I dont think I have ever seen an escalator like that anywhere else. There was also large iron Shepard's clock about 7 feet high that stood in front of Filene's 2nd floor indoor entrance. That clock was I believe from the old Shepard's store in Providence before that went out of business sometime in the 70's. Folks older than me would know more about that. Throughout all of the 70's there was a large round fountain in the middle of the mall that had underwater lights in a variety of "groovy" colors and the colors would alternate on and off all of time. The effect was fun to watch as a kid.

Chris Heaney’s Commentary:

User submitted Jun 2007

I grew up in Warwick. My family made the great exodus from the city, Providence, to the 'burbs, Warwick, late in '65. And we lived on the second floor of a three family house in Providence and the building's owner lived on the ground floor and he was an architect who actually worked on the mall.

So I was living in Warwick in '68 when Midland Mall (at it was then called) opened. I turned 10 in 1968. I moved of Rhode Island in '80 after I graduated college, but still have relatives in Warwick so I have been back regularly in the intervening years. The most distinctive feature of the Mall to me was the water tower on the property.

And I can never get straight what store was in what mall, but I believe Shepards and Outlet, both which still had downtown Providence department stores, opened in the Mall. I can't remember if Outlet was in the nearby Warwick Mall, but I'm pretty sure Shepards was in the Midland Mall and it was in the space where G Fox moved in.

I remember going to the single-screen Midland Cinema often as a kid. It closed long ago. I remember seeing that 3-D film with Vincent Price (name escapes me) when it was revived there. I also remember, in the late 1970s, seeing "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" there. They used to also show art films there, odd for Warwick, and remember a Bergman film playing there.

I remember as a kid I thought Spencer's Gifts was the coolest store in the world. And there was a country store place that had barrels of penny candy and other stuff you could scoop up. And don't forget the Orange Julius franchise, the only one I knew of in Rhode Island. I would go to the mall just for one of those. I still crave them. There was a record shop right across from Orange Julius.

And there was a restaurant in there which was cafeteria style. I think Sears ran it. And I actually worked in the restaurant inside the Sears store (long gone) in 1974. I was only 15 and the people who hired me overlooked the fact that I wasn't 16 and after a week they caught their mistake, called me, and told me I couldn't work there anymore.

Gloria Martin’s Commentary:

User submitted Jun 2007

From 1983 through 1988, my friends and I knew THE place to be for
shopping, getting a bite to eat, and plain old walking & talking was
the RI Mall, aka Midland Mall. We were teens, with style and money
to burn, especially once we entered college at URI, because those credit
card vendors showed up on campus to give us our first charge cards:
G Fox, Weathervane, Cherry & Webb, and of course, Visa /
Mastercard! Our favorite drink was the Orange Julius, found next to
the Papa Gino's in a side wing. We would get our kicks at
Spencer's, looking for any kind of R-rated games and gadgets to goof
on. We had big hair (from Cranston, ya know) and all kinds of
mini-skirts and different colored shoes, bought at Fayva. And no
trip was complete without a trip to the pet shop! One time, a snake
had escaped into Sears!

By the 90's, I was married with kids, so I went to RI Mall for Maternity
wear, but it was no longer the same. That was also when I
discovered that Warwick Mall had The Stroller Club, so of course, I had
to go there more often.

I guess as I grew up, so did Warwick Mall, while RI Mall simply vanished,
just like my carefree youthful past. *sigh*
Memories!

Jocelyn Rzewuski’s Commentary:

User submitted Jan 2007

I was looking up info on the now-defunct (nearly-obliterated) Rocky Point amusement park in Rhode Island not too long ago, and stumbled upon your site. The Rhode Island Mall has a large mural at one of its entrances, with a large section dedicated to Rocky Point. Seeing that I could find no pictures of this mural online anywhere, I took some with my camera phone the last time that I went there. I don't know if they'll be of any interest, especially being such poor quality, but I did want to send them off to you in any case.

An overall view of the mural:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v239/Sylvanscion/etc/RPMural1.jpg

Closeup of the lower right corner and recipe for Rocky Point Chowder:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v239/Sylvanscion/etc/RPMural2.jpg

Closeup of continuing text at bottom of mural:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v239/Sylvanscion/etc/RPMural3.jpg

Closeup of end of text at bottom:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v239/Sylvanscion/etc/RPMural4.jpg

Detail:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v239/Sylvanscion/etc/RPMural5.jpg

Detail:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v239/Sylvanscion/etc/RPMural6.jpg

Detail:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v239/Sylvanscion/etc/RPMural7.jpg

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Candie Vermeulen’s Commentary:

User submitted in 2021

now its no longer a mall they gutted the whole inside out a whileago and now all the stores have outside acsses only

Linsey Mello’s Commentary:

User submitted in 2019

Sears is now closed and mostly renovated. At Home is currently in the old Sears' space while Dick's Sporting Goods and Planet Fitness have also moved in next to Kohl's. They have yet to touch the other entrance near the Wal-Mart & Burlington Coat Factory but I suspect that will happen soon. The old Sears' Auto has also already been converted into BJ's Brewhouse and one other resturant.

Brian Swann’s Commentary:

User submitted in 2018

The photo that's attached to Barry Rosenbaum's Commentary shows the Warwick Mall, not Rhode Island Mall. The latter was not flooded, only the Warwick Mall, which was repaired and reopened.