C2 The BulleTin • Sunday, January 31, 2021
Lloyd Center
Continued from C1
“I have been at Lloyd Center
for almost 10 years, but I feel
like this mall is going down,”
Chorduky said.
With nearly all its big-name
tenants gone, Lloyd Center
is little more than a cavern-
ous shell. Ambitious plans to
re-envision the mall as an en-
tertainment destination haven’t
materialized or are on hold.
The mall appears at risk of be-
coming a 23-acre dead weight
in a neighborhood that has
struggled with crime for many
years, in a part of town where
redevelopment plans have fre-
quently come to naught.
The city’s economic develop-
ment agency says it has no in-
tention of intervening.
Even Cinnabon is gone
Lloyd Center was ahead of
its time when it opened in 1960
as a 100-store, open-air mall.
At the time, it was said to be
the largest mall in America and
its urban location and prox-
imity to downtown set it apart
from shopping centers else-
where. It was also walking dis-
tance from mass transit lines,
making it easily accessible to
shoppers throughout the Port-
land metro area.
In an effort to keep up with
the times, the mall, which an-
chors the Lloyd District, was
renovated into a multi-level,
enclosed shopping center with
a prominent food court in the
early 1990s. At the time, it re-
mained one of the most im-
portant shopping hubs in the
city.
In recent years, though,
Lloyd Center has faced similar
challenges to malls across the
country. They’ve struggled to
retain their allure with the ex-
plosion of online shopping and
have been pushed to adapt as
faded retails chains have down-
sized in efforts to save them-
selves.
But while Washington
Square and Clackamas Town
Center continue to draw shop-
pers to the suburbs, Lloyd Cen-
ter feels like a sterile wasteland.
At least 37 retail storefronts
sat empty on the first two floors
of the mall during a Jan. 15
visit, with security gates rolled
down over their doorways.
The third-floor food court,
which is surrounded mostly by
office space, and other stores
throughout the mall remained
closed due to the pandemic.
Those that were open were
mostly, if not completely, void
Jamie Goldberg/The Oregonian
Lloyd Center is facing an existential crisis that has only intensified during the pandemic as anchor tenants and signature businesses have departed.
of customers.
The ice skating rink at the
mall’s center remained closed
due to state health restric-
tions as well. The number
of shoppers that roamed the
halls could be counted on two
hands, the sound of their stac-
cato footsteps breaking an op-
pressive, eerie silence.
Nearly every store on the
east wing of the first floor was
gone, except for Old Navy. Its
corporate parent, Gap Inc.,
confirmed earlier this month
that the store will close at the
end of January. A man who
sat on a bench in front of the
empty storefronts that used
to be home to Sears and Mar-
shalls seemed surprised that
anyone else would venture to
that part of the mall.
Along with Old Navy, Gap,
which has a significant foot-
print on the second floor of the
mall, is set to close this month
as well and was advertising
closing sales of 40% to 80%.
Part of the store had already
been cleared out.
While Barnes & Noble, Ross,
H&M and Forever 21 remain
open, all four anchor spots at
the mall now sit empty with
the departure of Macy’s. Many
other stores have left as well,
including Charlotte Russe, Pay-
less Shoes and the Made in Or-
egon store.
Even Cinnabon is gone. A
sign at its former storefront
asks customers to seek their
toasty treats at Washington
Square or Clackamas Town
Center instead.
Allie Stewart who took over
Therapy
Continued from C1
“I usually don’t see a lot of
kids for neck or back pain, but
it’s starting to manifest. We
are not moving enough,” said
Kremer.
The pains of working from
home, or schooling from
home, could be alleviated if
Central Oregonians had more
outlets to exercise, say doctors
and physical therapists, but
COVID-19 restrictions have
closed or limited capacity at
gyms and indoor recreational
facilities.
“Gyms are an outlet for peo-
ple to get exercise, reduce stress
and manage their body weight,”
said Kremer. “Now it’s winter
again, and the last two to three
months we’ve seen a lot of the
chronic stuff settling in: people
working from home, shorter
days, it’s tougher to move and
walk, not everyone has the
home gym advantage.”
Carpal tunnel syndrome,
which occurs when wrists are
compressed, is another increas-
ing problem, said Zamboni.
If left untreated, it can lead to
numbness, tingling or weak-
We
hear
you.
Dean Guernsey/For The Bulletin
Jeni Roberts receives chiropractic
treatment from Jason Kremer at
the Wellness Doctor in Bend.
ness in the hands and arms.
The posture imbalances
don’t cause pain right away but
after a period of time, they can
occur without warning.
“After months of inactivity,
people are getting strained one
day just putting on their socks,”
said Kremer.
From the business point of
view, the increased number
of patients with ergonomic
problems has slightly offset a
as general manager at Lloyd
Center in Sept. 2019 quietly left
the position last year. Stewart
did not respond to an interview
request from The Oregonian/
OregonLive.
Lloyd Center management
declined an interview request
from The Oregonian/Oregon-
Live, too, and would not an-
swer questions via email about
the future of the mall beyond
saying that they were continu-
ing to support current tenants
and building community part-
nerships.
“These are challenging times
for many retail businesses,
but Lloyd Center is constantly
identifying new ways to re-
imagine the mall and provide
a vibrant space for Oregonians
to enjoy,” said Ann Grimmer,
marketing director for Lloyd
Center and the mall’s owner,
Cypress Equities. “We under-
stand that our community is
eagerly awaiting updates, but
right now our focus remains on
supporting current tenants and
expanding community part-
nership opportunities.”
Theft drove stores away
Bob Dye, the general man-
ager of Dimond Center in An-
chorage, Alaska, served as gen-
eral manager at Lloyd Center
from 2015 to 2019. Dye said
persistent and brazen shop-
lifting played a major role in
Lloyd Center’s struggles during
his time there. He said that
Marshalls, specifically, vacated
its space because it was losing
too much money to shoplifting.
A spokesman for Marshalls
general downturn in the num-
ber of patients coming in for
treatment at physical therapy
clinics.
“Patient numbers are hold-
ing steady now, but initially
there was a three-month dip
during the stay-home order,”
said Kremer.
A few factors contributed to
the downturn. These include
a fall in the number of elec-
tive surgeries, which is often
followed by physical therapy.
Sports injuries were also fewer
in number, as the lockdowns
have cut many organized
sports programs.
But while business was slow
at times, the pandemic closures
did open up new opportuni-
ties to help those with physical
ailments, specifically the use
of technology to improve rela-
tions with patients during the
pandemic. Some pain-relief
problems have been assessed
and corrected over Zoom calls.
“Virtual physical therapy
is available,” said Zamboni.
“It’s better than nothing, but
of course it’s not as good as
in-person physical therapy.”
e e
Reporter: 541-617-7818,
mkohn@bendbulletin.com
wouldn’t comment on whether
shoplifting played a role in the
store’s departure.
The Portland Police Bureau
received 1,546 reports regard-
ing shoplifting in the Lloyd
District from May 2015 to
November 2020 with 307 inci-
dents reported the year Mar-
shalls left in 2018. Only three
business districts, downtown
and the much larger Gateway
and Columbia Corridor dis-
tricts, reported more shoplift-
ing that year.
“Despite the best efforts of
the Portland Police Bureau, I
think the crime in and around
the Lloyd District, the physi-
cal assaults, auto thefts and the
gigantic shoplifting problem,
those were the big issues,” Dye
said.
Anthony Fell, who owned
Toys N More at Lloyd Center
from 2002 to 2017, said shop-
lifting played a major role in his
decision to leave.
Fell said the mall no longer
felt like a safe place for shop-
pers and merchants during
his final years at Lloyd Center.
He said management has also
consistently failed to deliver on
ambitious promises to bring in
new tenants and reinvent the
mall. Instead, the number of
empty storefronts continued to
increase as the mall was unable
to replace departing merchants
with new businesses.
“COVID put the death nail
in it,” Fell said, “but the mall
was already on the way down.”
Still, Dye believes that the
mall has the right components
to potentially reinvent itself.
Before the pandemic,
roughly 25,000 office workers
traveled to the Lloyd District
each day, Dye said. He added
that the mall’s proximity to the
MAX line and other public
transportation options, as well
as its large and mostly covered
parking lots make it easily ac-
cessible to visitors.
But to draw customers back,
Dye said Lloyd Center needs to
reposition itself as an entertain-
ment and restaurant destina-
tion. He said another option for
Lloyd Center could be to ded-
icate a portion of the mall to
residential apartments, which
in turn would bring more cus-
tomers to the district.
“I do think that Lloyd Center
still has a future, but not in its
present form,” Dye said. “Retail
will inevitably still populate the
center, but the main focus must
be on food and entertainment.”
Reinvention plans stall
As recently as 2019, Lloyd
Center did appear to be in the
process of repositioning itself
as an entertainment destina-
tion.
California-based Live Na-
tion Entertainment signed a
long-term lease with the mall
in 2018 and announced plans
to bring a new concert venue
to the top floor of the vacant
Nordstrom space. A proposal
filed with city development of-
ficials in January 2019 called
for converting retail space at
the mall into a Bowlero bowl-
ing alley with an arcade, bar
and restaurant.
Mall officials also announced
in 2018 that a new 14-screen
movie theater would be built in
the former Sears space.
That announcement came
two years after a Santa Moni-
ca-based developer announced
plans to convert the parking
lot of the Regal Lloyd Center
multiplex across the street into
1,100 apartment units. The
10-screen Regal theater was ex-
pected to close during the sec-
ond phase of that development.
But the ambitious plan fell
apart last October. The lender
pulled the plug on the project
known as 1400 Multnomah,
claiming that the developers
Bob Bisno and Dan Palm-
er’s operating company had
stopped making payments on
their loan.
At the same time, the new
14-screen theater hasn’t mate-
rialized. Neither has the bowl-
ing alley or concert venue. New
York-based Bowlero didn’t
respond to a request for com-
ment from The Oregonian/
OregonLive. Live Nation said
in a statement that plans for the
new concert venue are on hold.
“The developer is re-think-
ing the master plan and re-cap-
italization,” a spokesman said.
“We’re working with them
through this process in as
timely a fashion as possible.”
Lloyd Center occupies an
enormous footprint in one
of the city’s central neighbor-
hoods. Yet a spokesman for
Prosper Portland, the city’s eco-
nomic development agency,
said that it hasn’t talked with
the mall’s leadership about the
mall’s future and doesn’t an-
ticipate playing any role in its
future.
As more and more tenants
have departed Lloyd Center,
speculation about the mall has
only grown. Some have called
for it to be razed and repur-
posed. Over the last few years,
it’s been floated as a possible
location for a new ballpark by
those backing the longshot
effort to bring Major League
Baseball to Portland.
But while the pandemic has
created new challenges for
Lloyd Center and indoor shop-
ping hubs in general, Dye, the
mall’s former general manager,
said it would be a missed op-
portunity if the mall were torn
down.
“Lloyd Center is really a fix-
ture, it’s been in Portland since
1960,” Dye said. “I think it
would be a shame to see it torn
down. Repurposed? Certainly.
But I’d hate to see it torn down
because I think it has a tremen-
dous amount of potential.”
ANNIVERSARY
Bob and Joyce Vincik
Bob and Joyce (Taylor)
Vincik, of Bend, had their
55th wedding anniversary
Friday but will celebrate with
a tropical vacation post-
COVID-19.
The couple were married
Jan. 29, 1966, at St. Cather-
ine’s Church in Torrance,
California. They got married
during the war, after only
knowing each other for two
months. Three priests turned
them down prior to finding
one who agreed to marry
them. They said the marriage
would never last. They have
three children: Scott, of Ter-
rebonne; Tamara (and Dil-
lon) Mosnot, of Portland; and
Jill, of Xiamen, China; and
two grandchildren.
Mr. Vincik was a special
services technician for Qwest
Communications until re-
tiring in January 2000. He
is an avid fly fisherman and
fly tyer as well as a waterfowl
hunter.
Mrs. Vincik was an of-
fice assistant in Disability
Services at Central Oregon
Community College in Bend
until retiring in January 2009.
She enjoys sewing, reading,
family time and entertaining.
The couple have lived in
Central Oregon 42 years.
Submitted
Joyce and Bob Vincik.
OVER
100 YEARS
of service to our community
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