Christmas Past...Christmas Future...
...The snow was swirling all around me as the winds kicked up. It was barely a week away from Christmas and winter had set in for real. The icy temperatures made the snow turn into twinkling diamonds being scattered across the landscape. This has always been a time of reflection for me as the memories of my past Christmases visit me like the Christmas ghosts from the "The Christmas Carole" story. The ghost of Christmas Past was always an easy one to visit. My past Christmas memories are good ones. It was a time in my life when I was surrounded with family. There were many presents that came my way. We all had a good time in each other's company and there was plenty of wonderful food to be shared. My father and uncles all went to the local turkey shoots to see if they could make sure everyone in the family had a turkey for their holiday table. My dad was the best shot of them all, which made it a guaranteed thing that there were turkeys for all. The times and the memories were rich.
When I was in my mid-twenties, I had worked for J.C. Penney's at the then new Rolling Acres Mall in Akron Ohio. The mall was shiny and new. There were multitudes of shoppers strolling in the mall with shopping bags full of wonderful holiday treasures. Seasonal music and Santa ringing a bell for holiday donations sounded out in the mall. Sometimes Santa even strolled up and down the concourse of the mall handing out candy canes and listening to any little person's Christmas gift requests with rapt attention. It was Christmas Past, and the times were good.
In the last several years the economy in the Akron area has been harshly depressed. There have been many companies who moved their business out of the area leaving increased unemployment in their wake. Fewer and fewer people shopped at Rolling Acres Mall. Increasingly crime crept into the mall scene. The public became afraid to frequent the mall, and it eventually became a virtual ghost town. One by one businesses left the mall as their leases ended. Eventually the mall closed itself to the public. The parking areas began to show the neglect on the property when potholes began to take on sizes large enough to swallow an entire vehicle. Weeds grew everywhere.
About a week ago I thought I would go to the Penney's outlet one last time for a deal on some blue jeans. During a recent Thanksgiving visit a friend had remarked that maybe the mall was trying to revive. She was sure that there were some other outlets on the backside of the mall. Though it had been a very long time since I had ventured to the backside of Rolling Acres, I thought the friend was wrong about her information. I said nothing at the time about my doubts. As I travelled to the mall for my prospective jeans, I decided to enter the area from the backside of the mall. What I encountered nearly stole my breath. I had known the mall was in bad shape, bur what I saw horrified me. There were no outlets as I had suspected. As I drove gingerly through the parking lot I encountered roughly eight old sofas that had been unceremoniously dumped around the back areas of the mall. The potholes that looked like bomb craters were so numerous and huge that I could barely pick my way around to the front side of the mall. Old abandoned tires were littered everywhere. I nearly cried when I looked up at what was once the Kaufman store, to see the entire mirrored exterior shattered and fallen from the building's façade. All the doors were covered with large black barrier materials. For the first time, I understood the real meaning of the word derelict. Tall weeds grew everywhere, and because it was now winter, even they were dead and desolate. I kept thinking about the Chinese island city that had been abandoned, and after many years, studies had been done to measure the effects of having been left to decay. The memories of that city were still fresh in my mind as the site had been used as one of the filming locations in the last James Bond movie.
In "The Christmas Carole", the Ghost of Christmas Future was always portrayed as faceless, appearing much like the Grim Reaper. Who would have expected that ghost to be residing at Rolling Acres Mall? I had still hoped that somehow the mall structure could be saved, but now I see it is beyond saving. The only hope there is for the area is to bulldoze the buildings and wait for a new vision for that land. It will take money, and lots of it, to make anything of the area again. It will take a lot to overcome the fear of that place. I hope that the future of that area takes on a living face once again.
Did I buy my jeans? That would be a no answer. I was so upset by the time I reached the front side of the mall and the outlet that I just couldn't go into the outlet. It felt like vultures were picking over the dead bones of some sad and long deceased animal. I knew that store when it was new and wonderful. I'll stick with my memories of Christmas Past for now...
When I was in my mid-twenties, I had worked for J.C. Penney's at the then new Rolling Acres Mall in Akron Ohio. The mall was shiny and new. There were multitudes of shoppers strolling in the mall with shopping bags full of wonderful holiday treasures. Seasonal music and Santa ringing a bell for holiday donations sounded out in the mall. Sometimes Santa even strolled up and down the concourse of the mall handing out candy canes and listening to any little person's Christmas gift requests with rapt attention. It was Christmas Past, and the times were good.
In the last several years the economy in the Akron area has been harshly depressed. There have been many companies who moved their business out of the area leaving increased unemployment in their wake. Fewer and fewer people shopped at Rolling Acres Mall. Increasingly crime crept into the mall scene. The public became afraid to frequent the mall, and it eventually became a virtual ghost town. One by one businesses left the mall as their leases ended. Eventually the mall closed itself to the public. The parking areas began to show the neglect on the property when potholes began to take on sizes large enough to swallow an entire vehicle. Weeds grew everywhere.
About a week ago I thought I would go to the Penney's outlet one last time for a deal on some blue jeans. During a recent Thanksgiving visit a friend had remarked that maybe the mall was trying to revive. She was sure that there were some other outlets on the backside of the mall. Though it had been a very long time since I had ventured to the backside of Rolling Acres, I thought the friend was wrong about her information. I said nothing at the time about my doubts. As I travelled to the mall for my prospective jeans, I decided to enter the area from the backside of the mall. What I encountered nearly stole my breath. I had known the mall was in bad shape, bur what I saw horrified me. There were no outlets as I had suspected. As I drove gingerly through the parking lot I encountered roughly eight old sofas that had been unceremoniously dumped around the back areas of the mall. The potholes that looked like bomb craters were so numerous and huge that I could barely pick my way around to the front side of the mall. Old abandoned tires were littered everywhere. I nearly cried when I looked up at what was once the Kaufman store, to see the entire mirrored exterior shattered and fallen from the building's façade. All the doors were covered with large black barrier materials. For the first time, I understood the real meaning of the word derelict. Tall weeds grew everywhere, and because it was now winter, even they were dead and desolate. I kept thinking about the Chinese island city that had been abandoned, and after many years, studies had been done to measure the effects of having been left to decay. The memories of that city were still fresh in my mind as the site had been used as one of the filming locations in the last James Bond movie.
In "The Christmas Carole", the Ghost of Christmas Future was always portrayed as faceless, appearing much like the Grim Reaper. Who would have expected that ghost to be residing at Rolling Acres Mall? I had still hoped that somehow the mall structure could be saved, but now I see it is beyond saving. The only hope there is for the area is to bulldoze the buildings and wait for a new vision for that land. It will take money, and lots of it, to make anything of the area again. It will take a lot to overcome the fear of that place. I hope that the future of that area takes on a living face once again.
Did I buy my jeans? That would be a no answer. I was so upset by the time I reached the front side of the mall and the outlet that I just couldn't go into the outlet. It felt like vultures were picking over the dead bones of some sad and long deceased animal. I knew that store when it was new and wonderful. I'll stick with my memories of Christmas Past for now...
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