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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowThe long-ailing Washington Square Mall on the east side is taking another major hit with the planned closings this month of Dick’s Sporting Goods and Burlington.
Signs posted at Dick’s say the store’s last day will be Sunday. WTHR-TV Channel 13 and WRTV-TV Channel 6 say Burlington also is closing, with Channel 13 reporting its last day will be Jan. 24.
That will leave the sprawling property, which is northeast of Washington Street and Mitthoeffer Road, with just two anchors: Target and the AMC Washington Square 12 movie theater.
“Losing two anchor stores of that magnitude, yes, it will hurt,” property manager Keith Lee of Cincinnati-based Durga Property LLC told Channel 13.
Washington Square opened in 1974, an era when the east side was booming, fueled by thousands of well-paying manufacturing jobs at factories along Shadeland Avenue and elsewhere on the corridor.
As those plants closed, much of the manufacturing space was repurposed for distribution, an industry with far lower wages.
The Dick’s and Burlington closings will be the biggest blow to the mall since Sears shuttered its store and auto center on the property in 2014.
Several years earlier, Macy’s and JCPenney closed their Washington Square stores.
Lee told WTHR he’s determined to sign new tenants while holding on to key retailers such as Target. He said 62 of 80 storefronts currently are occupied.
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Until they get rid of the crime, this mall will continue to fail and no one will want to shop there.
“62 of 80 storefronts currently are occupied”. What percentage of gross rentable area do those 62 stores represent? That’s the big issue, not # of storefronts.