Fulton Mall ‘Mallification’ Inevitable?

I read this yesterday. I think I'm the rare white guy (married, co-op owner, good salary, suit job) who LOVES the Fulton Mall. Seriously, I do shop there.

I am not against progress, but I do hope that most of the mom & pops (or Fatima's and Ahmed's) stay.

I go there for Sneakers. You can get a good deal and find lots of limited edition kicks there. That is what I get there. And my baseball caps.

I do like that if I'm in the market for fronts, I can go there.

I do greatly miss Beat Street. I loved going there for my music.

Posted by: guest at December 24, 2007 10:51 AM

Uh oh, here comes the onslaught of “save the ghetto mall” posts from a bunch whiny white folks. Seriously Mister B, have you ever shopped there? Let’s face it, your progeny it not tooling around CH with kicks from Cookie’s.

Posted by: guest at December 24, 2007 10:54 AM

Whitey dosnt like Bed-Sty - racist

Whitey likes Fulton St Mall - phoney

Give Whitey a chance

Posted by: guest at December 24, 2007 11:02 AM

I was unaware that there were adults afflicted with sneaker fetishism. I thought it was just adolescents.

Posted by: guest at December 24, 2007 11:07 AM

11:07 AM
You are obviously a very old adult.

They also like comic books, video games and hip hop. A lot

Posted by: guest at December 24, 2007 11:26 AM

Leave Macy's and gut the entire place. Thats it.

Posted by: guest at December 24, 2007 11:49 AM

i am white
i own a house
i buy clothes for my kids at cookies - and goodwill right off the mall.
i like the mall- it reminds me of europe

Posted by: guest at December 24, 2007 11:51 AM

agreed, 11.49. The mall is a headache and needs upgrading. It's old, outdated and always dirty - garbage is constantly blowing everywhere and the entire street is an eye-sore.

Posted by: guest at December 24, 2007 11:51 AM

The "ghetto mall" is making money, and serving the needs of people who have shopped there for generations. While I would love a Pot, BB&B and Pier 1, I hope those can be incorporated within suitable spaces as they become available, and no one is shoved out unless they choose to leave. There is room for everyone.

The Fulton Mall didn't become what it now is overnight, or by itself. It was always a working and middleclass shopping area. The "complexion" changed as white people fled to the burbs, and neighborhing Bklyn Hts, Carroll Gardens, Cobble Hill, etc, etc residents stopped going there. The stores changed, reflecting the economic situation and tastes of their customers. Why wouldn't they, it's in an excellent commuting and commercial hub.

I personally thing they overdo most of the merchandise there, with too much repetition and not enough imagination as to what they think will sell, and have dumbed down to teenage hip hop dominated merchandise. There are still a couple of stores I frequent for bargain goodies. If I need better, I know where to get it in Manhattan or elsewhere, so it's never bothered me that they don't have what I want. I don't expect the world to cater to me, but I am also not a huge shopper.

I have to say, I do miss McCrory's, Woolworth's and A&S, especially their restaurant. They had the best lunch in downtown Brooklyn.

Preservationista

Posted by: guest at December 24, 2007 11:54 AM

I am white, middle class and I used to buy my children clothing at the stores at the mall. It was when A&S was still there before Macy's - which is not very nice.

Posted by: guest at December 24, 2007 11:56 AM

"i like the mall- it reminds me of europe"

How? Seriously, what part of Fulton Mall reminds you of what part of Europe?

Posted by: guest at December 24, 2007 12:07 PM

"'With all the housing stock that we have now and the demographics in the communities that surround Downtown Brooklyn, the fact that there’s not a Bed Bath & Beyond, a Pottery Barn, a Pier 1 in the downtown of a city of 2.5 million people is odd,' says Chan."

I think this is a pretty unfortunate thing to say and is teeming with not-so-implicit racism and classism. The three chain stores he mentions are actually pretty shitty, and anything that they sell can be purchased online via their websites. Why these three stores are considered progress, I can't understand.

Posted by: guest at December 24, 2007 12:14 PM

So glad to see the parking garage come down. It's all great news for DB. Can't wait.

Posted by: guest at December 24, 2007 12:27 PM

To the ghetto drivers: I hope this will curb your cruising instincts driving a crowded Fulton Mall in your crackie SUVs. Wait, stop violating the 'No U-turn" sign please on Flatbush/Willoughby nr the garage where the cops turn a blind eye on.

Posted by: guest at December 24, 2007 12:34 PM

Bring back the Albee Square Mall! I want downtown Brooklyn to be a squalid mess that no one wants to visit!

Posted by: guest at December 24, 2007 12:36 PM

Fulton Mall, althought not everones cup of tea, is very successful. I think Fulton Mall should remain the way it is and those new not so authentic New York type stores can make a home on Livingston street - it would be a win win... Macy's fronts both streets and Livingston street is ripe for the pickings.

To hell with the homogenization of things that are unique to New York.

Posted by: guest at December 24, 2007 1:21 PM

12:14's spot on.

Posted by: guest at December 24, 2007 1:22 PM

What "Tear-em Down" Chan doesn't say is that all of those chain stores can (and to some extent do) exist in Atlantic Terrminal to serve the same population he is trying to attract to Fulton Mall. C'mon Joe! AT (sucky as it is) is three blocks away!

Posted by: guest at December 24, 2007 2:11 PM

AY = D-O-N-E-D-E-A-L!!!

Posted by: guest at December 24, 2007 5:03 PM

Atlantic Ctr and Fulton Mall development are the mallization of Brookyln. Can't you design a less suburban looking mecca? The plan is nothing but a poor conceptualization by developers and architects who care only about the dollar return. We can have a better Fulton Mall that is useful positive for every customer in and around the city.

Posted by: guest at December 24, 2007 5:10 PM

Put me down as someone in the "if it ain't broke don't fix it" camp. Those big box stores are nothing special or in any way unique, just big traffic magnets. They can't duplicate the volume on Fulton as it is. They are generally a poor use of commercial space and have only symbolic "suburb in the city" value.

Fortunately, the transition from ghetto bazaar to suburban mall in the city is tough to project. How do you throw out high rent paying tenants in favor of future gentrified mall strategies? So you put in a Bed Bath in part of the Fulton Mall, how do the new shoppers mix with the old? Its a tough transition which maybe explains why it hasn't been made.

I'm thinking this will remain ghetto fabulous long after Ratner and Magic Johnson have moved in. Fulton may stay black longer than Harlem does. Ghetto is profitable.

Posted by: guest at December 24, 2007 5:12 PM

fresh mozzarella balls, anyone?

Posted by: guest at December 24, 2007 7:20 PM

Dont worry about Fulton Mall - if it is replaced just go to Fordham Road in the Bronx- West of Webster Ave - EXACT same thing

Posted by: guest at December 24, 2007 7:34 PM

"i like the mall- it reminds me of europe"

My parents are from Europe and they love the Fulton Mall, just like the dollar stores on 5th Avenue in the South Slope and Brighton Beach. Me too for that matter. We go to Cookies to buy crazy fun clothes for my white yuppie niece in Holland and my mom loves the Goodwill store.

It's where the 'real' people shop, sorry working-class minorities. I don't understand how you can dismiss African-American Brooklyn as a minority. Brownstoner's words or the papers'?

Posted by: guest at December 25, 2007 9:14 AM

"I like the mall...it reminds me of Europe"

Yep, the northern suburbs of Paris, South London, parts of Rotterdam, Palermo...I could go on.

Posted by: guest at December 25, 2007 9:38 AM

From ghetto to suburban mall. Which is better?

Posted by: guest at December 25, 2007 10:59 AM

cell phone stores and black people does not make a place "ghetto".

the mall they shut down on fulton street was a shithole however and needed some work.

Posted by: guest at December 25, 2007 12:25 PM

Only in America. Love the ABC stores and mix of Macys and Conway. Great deals at the mall just don't think of cheap child labor practices in countries where these merchandise are made in. Evryone shops here so I hope it stays more or less the same.

Posted by: guest at December 25, 2007 5:25 PM

I STILL need a place for gold teefs and hair extensions. If they cracker-up Fulton, where am I gonna go?

Posted by: guest at December 25, 2007 10:53 PM

12:25 It's ghetto own up to it. Guys who hawk cellphone plans on the sidewalk and holler at women, they're ghetto. Peeps who drop potato chip wrappers on the streets after leaving McDs or White castle, that's ghetto. Gimps who go to IHOP with cow look on their faces after leaving McD's are morbidly ghetto. Sad that's all it is.

Posted by: guest at December 25, 2007 11:27 PM

@ 11:27 pm

What you're describing also reminds me of 34th street in Manhattan; own up to it.

Posted by: guest at December 26, 2007 9:17 AM

No matter how much people don't like it, Bklyn will change considerably and not recognizable with the next 10 years. This is called progress, change is always inevitable and there is nothing you can do about it. Like the past article said. Brooklyn will be the new manhattan. Besides I like Pier 1 and BB B we need them close by, although ones opening just N of Battery Park. Bklyn would be the 4th largest city in the country if it was not part of NYC. So we need lots of things. Ever notice that when things change, crime goes way down. Thats a good thing.

Posted by: guest at December 26, 2007 9:50 AM

All this might be true, but people will reach a limit to what they'll spend to buy in Brooklyn if the amenities don't change as quickly as the demographics are changing.

Besides, if you're talking about what is more authentic to Brooklyn, that should mean big nice department stores coming back to Brooklyn. Up until the 70's, Brooklyn had all those stores. Nice ones, not crappy versions of them. If the big stores return, and these shopping areas improve, THAT is what's more authentic to Brooklyn historically.

Posted by: guest at December 26, 2007 3:22 PM

My only problem with the FM is that all of those gorgeous buildings are boarded or dark from the second floor up. Is it the zoning or do the businesses make so much money property owners can afford to leave so much space shuttered--or is there just a lack of imagination? For example, I'd prefer a loft overlooking FM to any of the new construction on Livingston. I don't shop FM, but I think it's charming and needs a decent restaurant--one of which I understand is opening soon--rather than BB&B or PB. The chains can take their places between Applebee's and McD's on Flatbush.

And since the convention here seems to be some self-aggrandizing pretense toward disclosure, I'll qualify my comments by saying that I make a pretty good salary. I wear a sport jacket, jeans and Rod Lavers to work. I'm black (not latino or immigrant), and do not own a car. And I live in Bed Stuy with my wife and kids. Beeatch.

Posted by: guest at December 26, 2007 8:14 PM

8:14 I googled Rod Lavers shoes and it cost $45.95 so no need to disclose that. Am not surprised you don't shop at FM coz Dr Jays and Footlocker charges 2X. What's the western fries like at applebees?

Posted by: guest at December 26, 2007 8:32 PM

i want a crack house on the strip. It would fit in nicely with the pimps and ho's that shop there

Posted by: guest at December 26, 2007 10:33 PM

Well, my friend (8:14), I was trying to make several points with that comment. First, I was challenging the idea that the disclosure of whiteness, however well-intentioned, somehow validates one's opinion of the economic culture of FM. Second, I hoped to complicate your idea of what "black people"--often (and oddly) presumed to be a "them" on this blog--like to spend "their" money on. And finally, no, one can't buy Rod Lavers at FM. That's why I don't shop there; it's not because, as apparently you would assume, I'm not black.

Did you really have to google Rod Lavers? Am I that much of an enigma to you? Is Brooklyn really that confusing?? They're made by Adidas for goodness sake...

Posted by: guest at December 26, 2007 10:48 PM

Some people have less than zero interest in sneakers, or the names of the companies making sneakers. Thats why they'd have to google it. To me "rod lavers" sounds like some kind of soap you hang from the shower curtain rod.

Theres a whole bunch of people who wouldn't be seen dead wearing something thats identifiable by a name or a logo. Vive la difference.

Posted by: guest at December 27, 2007 9:53 AM