"Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth." (Mark 9:23)
THE FOLLOWING PIECE WAS WRITTEN BY MY 23-YEAR-OLD SON JON BARIL SEVERAL MONTHS AGO. HE SUBMITTED IT TO THE LOCAL PAPER WHO DID NOT PUBLISH IT. I THINK IT'S A GREAT PIECE ABOUT THE NATICK MALL/NATICK COLLECTION, SO I'M POSTING IT HERE. YOU CAN E-MAIL JON AT trekbeattk@aol.com
HERE IS JON'S UNEDITED PIECE:
Week after week and year after year it seemed I could read nothing but praise for the new Natick Mall and all of it’s “renovations.” I quickly grew tired of seeing everyone pat themselves on the back, wondering if they could possibly be talking about the same mall I used to know and love. I feel it my duty voice my observations and opinions on this supposedly new and improved Natick Mall.
The changes began slowly; a store goes away here, a different one pops up over there. Seemingly innocuous at first, these changes grew exponentially with the “expansion”, and the status of the mall as I knew it was changed forever. The first major blow to commerce was the loss of Sam Goody and Suncoast Video. Eventually, FYE returned to the mall (after an absence of nearly a year if I recall) and they gave it the old Sam Goody location. Well, almost. Actually for reasons that don’t exist, they split the old Sam Goody location into two stores, so FYE now exists in a space that is far too small for merchandise that used to have twice the space, and needs it. Shopping at FYE is now far too claustrophobic an experience.
The insanity did not stop there. If I thought there were too many clothing stores before, I had no idea how good I had it. For months we have seen the steady decline of the mall we used to know. Hammett’s Teacher Store is gone. Having been once removed from the old Shopper’s World in the name of progress, Hammett’s suffered again as history repeated. Kay-B-Toys is gone. There is no longer any toy store in the “new improved” Natick Mall. The Discovery Store cannot hope to cater to both of these markets; it is a completely different entity. Some would argue that Build-a-Bear or the Lego Store qualify as toy stores. While Build-a-Bear is nice for a special event or a one-time visit, the limited merchandise (it’s all bears, after all), and the fact that even a simple bear with a modest outfit will set you back thirty dollars, makes it irrelevant to this conversation. The Lego Store, though useful for getting as many of that one color brick you want, is ridiculously overpriced. A giant Star Wars lego set will set you back 300 quatloos, when you’d pay half that at a normal store like Target (or less on the day of a crazy sale). That leaves only the GameStop for the child consumer, and this is only video games. Which also makes me wonder why it has never been moved when it’s trying to cram in games for at least six game systems and is even more claustrophobic than FYE. They were nice enough to move Claire’s to a larger and much nicer location, they were nice enough to move Spencer’s (twice!); I think GameStop has served it’s time in Purgatory.
Some other notable losses to the Mall include Chesapeake Knife and Tool (which was briefly replaced by a different sword outfit, which was open even more briefly), and just recently the WaldenBooks. It’s final week before closing, I told the cashier that without the WaldenBooks I had no reason to shop at the mall anymore, and sadly it is true. The construction nightmares not only lost us valuable parking for a significant period of time, but no doubt contributed to the lack of human traffic by Johnny Rocket’s. I have no doubt this was a prime contributor to Johnny Rocket’s closing. Meanwhile, there is an overabundance of clothing stores, as well as two Sunglass Huts — if you forget to get shades on the first floor, you can get them on the second! — and a recruiting office for the Army National Guard. I don’t care how American our capitalist commerce is; the National Guard has no business being in a mall. Neither do the plethora of cellular phone venders who harass you from kiosks literally every twenty feet. On both floors.
This is not to say every change has been abysmal. The widening of the walkways on the upper level was a needed and very good change, however all the new tiling was not and the “hardwood floor” look upstairs is just stupid. The food court was completely and unnecessarily redesigned so it appears there is actually less seating. Half the seating now is along these stupid curved “booth wall” things. The whole area in the middle of the Mall where the elevator was had been carpeted for no apparent reason and a Customer Service desk put in. I used to like being able to sit down there. Still, even a Customer Service desk is not a totally unwelcome change, but the chairs are so low, you have to literally talk down to anyone who would give you service. I recently walked through to find the elevator also will soon be no more, and a sign directs you to another elevator at the other end of the Mall. Never mind the fact that in all these renovations no one bothered to put a staircase in. When you have to walk halfway across the mall to go up or down because an escalator is broken, it cries out for a staircase.
The outdoor construction has been no better, or frankly worse. The redirected traffic nightmares have been horrible, especially during the holidays. Besides basically forcing Johnny Rocket’s to close its doors, the outdoor construction made it impossible to take a very direct and very sensible route to the cinema; I wonder if it contributed to a drop in movie attendance last year. And after all that headache of them ripping up a parking lot and tearing out a whole parking garage, they erect — drum roll — a parking garage! They even bothered to rip out the sidewalk (a sidewalk I frequented often), only to put in — drum roll — another sidewalk! A slightly wider sidewalk. Why did it need to be wider? So for months on end we had no parking all so that they could give us parking. What then was the point? It wasn’t broke, why fix it? Furthermore, with the loss of the “B” lot, what will the new lot be called? Will we forever be missing a letter? Now I see signs advertising the new luxury condominiums thinking who would want to live off a mall anyway? They even advertise valet parking. I say it’s too high a price to sacrifice our parking, including handicapped parking, so that some rich young ruler can have his car parked for him.
Space would fail me to tell of all the rest, such as how one can’t go five feet without being accosted from a cell phone kiosk. I cannot speak for everyone, but as for myself I am sick to death of the Natick snobbery. And if “Natick Collection” doesn’t roll off the tongue, I’ve got a great name for it: how about the Blight? “It’s bright, it’s right, it’s the Blight!” Short of an occasional meal, I will not set foot in the Blight anymore. I feel literally sick inside just walking through it. Regretfully, should someone ask me if I know of a mall that provides both a great shopping experience and a variety of stores, a place that caters to people of all classes and ages, I will have to tell them I know of no such place. If however they are looking for a limitless array of slutty overpriced underclothes, I will point them to the Natick Blight.
THE FOLLOWING PIECE WAS WRITTEN BY MY 23-YEAR-OLD SON JON BARIL SEVERAL MONTHS AGO. HE SUBMITTED IT TO THE LOCAL PAPER WHO DID NOT PUBLISH IT. I THINK IT'S A GREAT PIECE ABOUT THE NATICK MALL/NATICK COLLECTION, SO I'M POSTING IT HERE. YOU CAN E-MAIL JON AT trekbeattk@aol.com
HERE IS JON'S UNEDITED PIECE:
Week after week and year after year it seemed I could read nothing but praise for the new Natick Mall and all of it’s “renovations.” I quickly grew tired of seeing everyone pat themselves on the back, wondering if they could possibly be talking about the same mall I used to know and love. I feel it my duty voice my observations and opinions on this supposedly new and improved Natick Mall.
The changes began slowly; a store goes away here, a different one pops up over there. Seemingly innocuous at first, these changes grew exponentially with the “expansion”, and the status of the mall as I knew it was changed forever. The first major blow to commerce was the loss of Sam Goody and Suncoast Video. Eventually, FYE returned to the mall (after an absence of nearly a year if I recall) and they gave it the old Sam Goody location. Well, almost. Actually for reasons that don’t exist, they split the old Sam Goody location into two stores, so FYE now exists in a space that is far too small for merchandise that used to have twice the space, and needs it. Shopping at FYE is now far too claustrophobic an experience.
The insanity did not stop there. If I thought there were too many clothing stores before, I had no idea how good I had it. For months we have seen the steady decline of the mall we used to know. Hammett’s Teacher Store is gone. Having been once removed from the old Shopper’s World in the name of progress, Hammett’s suffered again as history repeated. Kay-B-Toys is gone. There is no longer any toy store in the “new improved” Natick Mall. The Discovery Store cannot hope to cater to both of these markets; it is a completely different entity. Some would argue that Build-a-Bear or the Lego Store qualify as toy stores. While Build-a-Bear is nice for a special event or a one-time visit, the limited merchandise (it’s all bears, after all), and the fact that even a simple bear with a modest outfit will set you back thirty dollars, makes it irrelevant to this conversation. The Lego Store, though useful for getting as many of that one color brick you want, is ridiculously overpriced. A giant Star Wars lego set will set you back 300 quatloos, when you’d pay half that at a normal store like Target (or less on the day of a crazy sale). That leaves only the GameStop for the child consumer, and this is only video games. Which also makes me wonder why it has never been moved when it’s trying to cram in games for at least six game systems and is even more claustrophobic than FYE. They were nice enough to move Claire’s to a larger and much nicer location, they were nice enough to move Spencer’s (twice!); I think GameStop has served it’s time in Purgatory.
Some other notable losses to the Mall include Chesapeake Knife and Tool (which was briefly replaced by a different sword outfit, which was open even more briefly), and just recently the WaldenBooks. It’s final week before closing, I told the cashier that without the WaldenBooks I had no reason to shop at the mall anymore, and sadly it is true. The construction nightmares not only lost us valuable parking for a significant period of time, but no doubt contributed to the lack of human traffic by Johnny Rocket’s. I have no doubt this was a prime contributor to Johnny Rocket’s closing. Meanwhile, there is an overabundance of clothing stores, as well as two Sunglass Huts — if you forget to get shades on the first floor, you can get them on the second! — and a recruiting office for the Army National Guard. I don’t care how American our capitalist commerce is; the National Guard has no business being in a mall. Neither do the plethora of cellular phone venders who harass you from kiosks literally every twenty feet. On both floors.
This is not to say every change has been abysmal. The widening of the walkways on the upper level was a needed and very good change, however all the new tiling was not and the “hardwood floor” look upstairs is just stupid. The food court was completely and unnecessarily redesigned so it appears there is actually less seating. Half the seating now is along these stupid curved “booth wall” things. The whole area in the middle of the Mall where the elevator was had been carpeted for no apparent reason and a Customer Service desk put in. I used to like being able to sit down there. Still, even a Customer Service desk is not a totally unwelcome change, but the chairs are so low, you have to literally talk down to anyone who would give you service. I recently walked through to find the elevator also will soon be no more, and a sign directs you to another elevator at the other end of the Mall. Never mind the fact that in all these renovations no one bothered to put a staircase in. When you have to walk halfway across the mall to go up or down because an escalator is broken, it cries out for a staircase.
The outdoor construction has been no better, or frankly worse. The redirected traffic nightmares have been horrible, especially during the holidays. Besides basically forcing Johnny Rocket’s to close its doors, the outdoor construction made it impossible to take a very direct and very sensible route to the cinema; I wonder if it contributed to a drop in movie attendance last year. And after all that headache of them ripping up a parking lot and tearing out a whole parking garage, they erect — drum roll — a parking garage! They even bothered to rip out the sidewalk (a sidewalk I frequented often), only to put in — drum roll — another sidewalk! A slightly wider sidewalk. Why did it need to be wider? So for months on end we had no parking all so that they could give us parking. What then was the point? It wasn’t broke, why fix it? Furthermore, with the loss of the “B” lot, what will the new lot be called? Will we forever be missing a letter? Now I see signs advertising the new luxury condominiums thinking who would want to live off a mall anyway? They even advertise valet parking. I say it’s too high a price to sacrifice our parking, including handicapped parking, so that some rich young ruler can have his car parked for him.
Space would fail me to tell of all the rest, such as how one can’t go five feet without being accosted from a cell phone kiosk. I cannot speak for everyone, but as for myself I am sick to death of the Natick snobbery. And if “Natick Collection” doesn’t roll off the tongue, I’ve got a great name for it: how about the Blight? “It’s bright, it’s right, it’s the Blight!” Short of an occasional meal, I will not set foot in the Blight anymore. I feel literally sick inside just walking through it. Regretfully, should someone ask me if I know of a mall that provides both a great shopping experience and a variety of stores, a place that caters to people of all classes and ages, I will have to tell them I know of no such place. If however they are looking for a limitless array of slutty overpriced underclothes, I will point them to the Natick Blight.
2 comments:
Great blog Jon. I agree with everything you said. I discovered on the second floor there are no benches for weary bodies to rest except for the food court. I also think the old Shopper's World was better.
I realize, rereading this, that when I last edited it, I neglected to delete something. Sorry to anyone who noticed I mentioned the cellphone kiosks twice! It was not intentional!
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