Carson Horton's Commentary

I would like to suggest that you look in to the Ridgmar Mall in Ft. Worth, TX. If it is not yet completely dead it is certainly dying a painful death. If not now, within the very near future it will need to be enshrined on your most excellent website as yet another relic of a bygone era in American history.

As the deleterious effects of climate change continue to tighten their grip and the vast suburban landscape in places like Texas, begins to shrink, malls like Ridgmar will begin to float to the surface like a bloated fish.

At one time this mall was an icon of affluence for the denizens of Ft. Worth's trendy "west side." Constructed in the mid-1970s it was at one time the flagship, destination mall in all of Tarrant County. Home to such iconic '70s establishments as the Chelsea Street Pub, Neiman Marcus and Dillard's Department Store it is now firmly on it's last legs. With the recent closing of the Sear's store earlier this fall the only remaining legacy tenant of original vintage will be JC Penney.

The Dillard's Dept. Store location, which proudly anchored the west end of the mall for more than 40 years, has been reduced to a clearance center for the chain which is half the size of the original footprint of the store. What remains are the usual mix of chain food court offerings and flash in the pan mall retailers whose target market is the under-25 crowd. Gone is the Starbucks's, which at one time was the busiest in the city. Gone is the storied Dallas retailer Neiman Marcus. What remains is JCP and its diminishing consumer appeal.

What remains is an aging facility of sprawling proportions that shows signs of neglect and deferred maintenance all along the cracks and crevices. The vast expanse of asphalt parking lot now bleached as white as the brick that was used to construct the mall itself, thanks to the unrelenting Texas sun. Soon to be offered up as yet another sacrifice to the gods of consumer capitalism in all its wasted glory.

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