Eastmont Mall

We have the most unusual shopping mall I've even visited right here in Oakland, CA. It's called Eastmont, a name it shares with the rather sketchy district surrounding it. East Oakland is notorious for being one of the most drug and gang infested neighborhoods in our great city, and this weird mall lies in the heart of it. Yet, in a way, it's thriving. You won't find a Macy's or Nordstrom there. Heck, there isn't even a Gap, Hot Topic or Starbucks. One finds none of the standard mall fare which makes all the other malls seem sickeningly similar. Instead, the marble floors connect 99 cent shops, beauty supply stores and the ubiquotous cellular phone dealers. The food court boasts soul food, authentic taquerias and Asian food in steam trays. Most unusual is the massive state presence there. Next to nail shops and check cashing places are outposts of the Dept of Health and Human Services, educational development organizations, child welfare agencies and the biggest police staion I've ever seen. Who ever heard of government organizations even at the mall, much less leasing half the available space to them? I was going there to drop off my cable box (we recently switched to satellite), as Comcast Cable is another of the unusual tennants to operate there.

I suppose it makes sense. Eastmont Mall is the dense commercial district (I've been playing a lot of SimCity lately) for East Oakland, and a mall reflects the economic needs of the community it serves. The difference being that these state organizations aren't out to make money, but to distribute it instead. In my retail industry head, this seems weird.

I've seen dying malls; places where there are more empty & deserted shops than open ones. There's one just south of San Francisco called Tanforan. Like Eastmont, much of the empty retail space has been absorbed by a big organization with financial stability. The highest volume Sears in the western USA makes its home at Tanforan, and they lease a lot more of the space than just the department store. That Sears is what keeps Tanforan alive. Whats different about Tanforan is that its been driven to the brink of closing by lots of new intense competition for the business of the more affluent community surrounding it. The space the government has absorbed at Eastmont, however, was created due to the poor economic environment of the area around it.

My question is whether its the actual crime or the perception of crime in the area which depresses the economic activity of Eastmont Mall? Based on the occasional comments I've heard from folks who are reluctant to visit my Sears store in Downtown Oakland, I suspect the latter to be more of a factor. A lot of ladies are reluctant to come Downtown because they're afraid, eventhough the nighborhood is actually quite tame. People come to Sears mostly because they have to. To get Kenmore and Craftsman, they gotta come to us. If we didn't have those advantages, it would be a lot harder to stick around. I suspect, however, if we suddenly moved eight miles south to Eastmont, we would not be able to draw the business we do now as a freestanding store, despite the addition of a mall surrounding us. Could Eastmont become Tanforan East? If I ran the place, thats what I'd shoot for.