In recent years, the Puente Hills Mall has transformed into an almost vacant building with a need for an immediate resurgence.
The once lively mall changed for the worse after the surge of online shopping took over America. Big name stores such as Victoria’s Secret, Toys“R”Us, Forever 21, Sears, Cinnabon and more shut down rapidly as society adapted to its new form of materialism. Some might say that online shopping is one step ahead because it gives the consumer a better shopping experience and accelerates motivation in finding better prices and receiving personalized services compared to in-store shopping. But for stores with no access to a web platform, online shopping can be detrimental.
For smaller stores inside the Puente Hills Mall, losing customers can cause an influx of a loss of jobs and low sale revenue. This is not only true for our mall but for all malls and stores around the world.
People are giving in to the convenience of having something shipped to your house without having to go anywhere to the point where companies like Shein, Romwe and even Amazon have taken over the screens on cell phones today. Freshman Matthew Ibarra says, “Online shopping definitely did stop me from going [to the mall] since ordering something and having it delivered quickly was much faster than having to go there in person.”
Not only is E-commerce preventing the Puente Hills Mall from becoming popular among teens, but it also causes a lack of attraction to the building.
The bland building is one that many people would surprisingly miss as it does not draw the attention it so helplessly needs. The AMC Theater is one of the only recognizable portions of the property, which says a lot about how it is doing at the moment.
When asked what she thought about the current state of the mall, freshman Zelyn Garcia states, “I mean when all the stores started closing down I think that it was when things started going downhill. The only thing keeping it running at the moment is the AMC Theater and Round 1 inside. They also said that they were gonna turn the mall into an outlet a couple of years ago but I have not seen any change since then.”
Other shopping centers like Brea Mall and Outlets at Orange have maintained a variety of consumers who keep them lively and full of happiness. In order to restore the Puente Hills Mall to this state, better advertisements such as putting up posters around the city for events, making a new and improved sign for the cars who pass by on the 60 Freeway, or even creating a social media platform for it would garner a wider audience.
However, it will not be easy to bring the mall back to its once iconic self. Surrounding the mall, many stores including Target, Walmart, Old Navy, and Ulta take the spotlight. This means that if the mall is restored, big companies would have to make a comeback to grab locals’ curiosity once again. For example, a new food court is something teens could look forward to as well with more space to lounge after school and get a bite to eat with their friends.
The Puente Hills Mall clearly has a lot of potentials. There are many teens who would be willing to give it a second chance should it be renovated. It is no longer what it used to be and it would be sad to see our childhood mall close down so fast. I hope to see changes in the near future—maybe we will get our outlet back eventually.
