RIP, Brookdale

Before the Mall of America, the main malls in the Twin Cities area were the "Dales," each of them taking one quadrant of the metropolis. Southdale, in the south quarter of the Cities, is the first fully-enclosed mall in the United States. There is also Rosedale, which takes the eastern portion, and Ridgedale, which gets the western part.

In the North there is Brookdale, but from the looks of it the last two times I went there, not for long. I went there to see if I could get a bite to eat a couple months ago and I was shocked at how empty it was. I needed a second visit this afternoon to confirm, and believe it or not it was even emptier.

The directory is a joke; 90% of the stores listed there are gone. This reminds me of another visit to a ghost mall, Apache Plaza, I took about 15-20 years ago. I never thought I'd see another place so huge fail in attracting any business. But now there's Brookdale.

It's not a bad-looking place; major renovations were made in six years ago. But there is no one, and I mean no one, taking advantage of it. Walking back and forth from one end to the other, I counted, get this, eight stores in the mall. Total. Of those, the GNC was packing up their inventory right in front of me; Payless Shoes and one mom-and-pop jewelry store were having huge clearance sales, meaning they're gone very soon; and the in-store photo place had a sign announcing it was moving to Northtown, soon to be the only viable mall in the North Metro.

That means there are only four stores that, as far as I can tell, aren't getting the fuck out of Dodge immediately. One of them is a clothing store that doesn't even have a sign up, so I don't know what the fuck's going on with them. If not for the Champs Sports, Foot Locker and, of all things, the only Sears within miles of my house, Brookdale would be completely dead. For now, it's in a long-term coma.

It's sad. When I was young, going to this mall was pretty special, as opposed to going to Northtown, which my brother and I were taken to so many times. When I got my license, an early goal of mine was trying to get to Brookdale by myself. I had gone there regularly as a high schooler, and I would enter through the same entrance when we were taken there by Grandmother and our aunt: The Dayton's anchor store, where we'd breeze through and look for jeans but never buy them. Several years ago there was a Greek restaurant that had these very salty but to-die-for french fries I would eat, and there was a Barnes & Noble I would go to when I was burned out at the one closest to my house.

I don't know why exactly, but the exodus began with the departure of Mervyn's and JC Penney 6, 7 years ago and it has accelerated since. The presence of the Megamall is not an issue because they're on opposite sides of the metro area. There are newer suburbs and white flight going on, but that's in areas about 15-20 minutes away. The area is getting a little poorer and shadier, but there are still people who live in the area. That it could be seen as transforming into an urban enclave in the suburbs, and thus not a desirable place to put a chain store within the city's strip mall, is the only reason I can think for Brookdale dying.

But dying it is, and like I say, it's breathtaking. With the close of the Vietnamese restaurant, there is nothing in the food court -- nothing. And not only is the Dayton's store gone, the entire wing of Dayton's -- which comprises half the damn mall -- is completely vacant. There were huge signs on walls fronting some wings of the mall that said "More Shopping Ahead" -- uh, I don't think so.

I was virtually alone in this empty wing. Around where there used to be a play area now stands a pair of forlorn benches. For a second I thought of sitting down for a bit and reflecting on a life wasted, but I concluded that would be redundant. Nevertheless, a stroll through here was as empty as my soul.

It really is a shame. I could see the mom-and-pop clothing store, Champs and Foot Locker all closing. And since there has to be a satellite building somewhere, Sears could easily move out. Leaving Brookdale, a mall that opened 48 years ago, a place I once saw teeming with wonder and humanity, officially, instead of virtually, extinct.