The Shops at Riverside - Raw & Real Retail

This is our walkthrough of The Shops at Riverside mall in Hackensack, NJ from September 10, 2020. This is an upscale fashion mall recently renovated beyond recognition by Simon Property Group. I had no idea about the property when going in, and totally figured the mall was built in the last 10 years. The mall is 43 years old and has just been remodeled to that extent. Simon Property Group decided to try to make this their King of Prussia, Part 2 mall and it doesn't look like a huge success. About half the mall sits vacant, mostly upstairs. The businesses that are there are super high end and out of range for most Americans. There aren't many colors to be found outside of grey, silver, and white, and varying shades of such outside of the impressive bulb display in the center of the main concourse. One of the highlights of the mall is the interesting water feature by the main entrance, a fountain of sorts with swirling water over rocks falling into little eddys where the drains reside. Unfortunately this was the most heavily patrolled area, so footage had to be brief glances where we could afford them. The mall doesn't look to be doing so hot, with half the mall empty. We're not sure if this is because of the current health crisis or a shift in the economy, probably both honestly. We hope this situation can bounce back, but it looks like a foolhardy project from Simon Property Group if you ask us.
Songs used in this video (in order):
Ronnie Price - Riviera Dreams
Francis Monkman - Lingerie
Patrizia Calvi - Dressed in Red
Keith Mansfield - Night Bird
David Marriott, Jr. - On the Seventh Day
Steve Gray - Wonder Groove
Steve Gray - Reach Out
Here is a link to the rather sparse Wiki article:
en.wikipedia.o...
---------------------
I'd like to say a few words about being an ambassador to your local malls. We have been taking the time to visit all the malls within a reasonable driving distance to check up on them and see how they are doing. Also filming an updated video every year or so, regardless of the lack of many changes, just so there is a video record of the health over time. We think this is an important thing to keep tabs on, especially in these wildly turbulent times. The current health emergency has accelerated the impending Retail Apocalypse we've all been talking about these last several years. This was already a big problem, but the shutdowns and restrictions have made the issue 5x worse and likely hastened the death of the enclosed shopping mall.
I know we've all been on pins and needles wondering how bad the fallout is going to be from all of this.
There really is no way to know exactly unless we ALL go and do our small part to make it known how it turns out. I implore you, if you have the means to pick an area you would like to be an ambassador for, and go document your local malls. Whatever your medium, it doesn't matter, any and all documentation is necessary and vital in this day and age. Whether it be on Social Media, Flickr, TH-cam, any platform gets it out there and preserves it for posterity. We can't paint this picture unless we all grab a brush...
----------------------------------
We utilize the value-for-value model here at RRR. Our product is free, and we're not asking you to pay for it. If you received value in any way from watching RRR, you can help us by donating, if you feel like it. Any little bit helps us to keep corporations and advertisers out of the decision making process. Your donation will keep us ad-free, and in turn, it will give us the opportunity to get to more far-flung locations to help tell this tale of retail instability.
This is a non-profit project and every penny will go back into the gas tank for future trips!
/ rawandrealretail
ITM