Blake Hutchison's Commentary

Not exactly a completely dead mall, but not exactly a completely living mall, either.

The Southwyck Mall in Toledo, Ohio is an excellent sample for "dead mall museum." Opened in 1972 on the south side of Toledo, this mall is now an ideal "dead mall museum," at least for now.

Dillards is the only anchor left here. In November 2005, that will no longer be the case. Dillards will pull out and move to the Fallen Timbers shopping center in Maumee, leaving Southwyck anchorless.

The closed anchor spaces (2 of 3) were occupied by Montgomery Ward and LaSalle's, which later became Dillards Home Store, according to a mall janitor I asked when I was near the LaSalle's space.

The abandoned Montgomery Ward even has its signs still up. If I hadn't known Montgomery Ward was completely out of business, I would have thought it was still open, had there been cars near the dead anchor space.

The fountains are STILL RUNNING as of September 2005, which actually makes the mall a nice, peaceful and quiet place to study for my classes at the University of Toledo.

Dave Frania's Commentary

At long last, Southwyck Mall is coming down! After sitting idle for months and months following it's official closure, demolition began on Monday, March 23, 2009. First on the agenda is asbestos removal, which will take several months to complete. Following that, the structure itsef will be demolished. The city has announced that it will take approximately seven months to complete the entire process. Developer Larry Dillin has said this long-awaited progress will finally make it much easier for him to market this site in order to bring new life to this high-traffic South Toledo location. Current plans call for a mix of retail, office & residential development in a mixed-use lifestyle center.

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