I remember growing up, this mall was the place to be. There was a wide selection of stores and everything you needed was there; whether it be party supplies, a dressy/trendy new outfit, that book you were looking for, decent lunch, a good cup of coffee, a sit-down/eat-in restaurant, or to watch a movie with your friends in a comfortable, clean environment, Dover Mall supplied it.
But now? Now it's an absolute hot mess. Nothing has been truly updated. It's become quite sad to see somewhere that used to be really nice in its current run-down, worn out state. Half the stores have cleared out, new, mostly worthless stores have come in with outdated/overpriced merchandise, the food court contains worse than your average food court fare, the movie theater looks, feels, and smells like the color brown. The restrooms are filthier than a train station bathroom. Want to use the main entrance? Well, you've got to survive it first! There's always a nearly unbearable haze of cigarette smoke obscuring the entrance because the Dover mall allows patrons to smoke directly in front of it -- SUPER appetizing while you're walking into the food court, because who doesn't want emphysema with their knockoff Chick-Fil-A? Once you've gotten your lifetime's worth of secondhand smoke, you can make your way through the corridors full of half-empty storefronts and sketchy looking cliques of college kids while you attempt to find an open store that holds any semblance of what you're attempting to find. It's like walking through an active drug deal now (which, most times, you probably are).
In summary, the place has gone to pot. We only go there if absolutely every other store in the Dover area doesn't carry what we're looking for -- 99% of the time, we still leave empty handed. I'm almost hoping that the place shuts down so that someone better can come in, take it over, and fix this dump. A Dick's and a Forever 21? Really? That was Dover Mall's "big" renovation. Oof.
Don't waste your time and hard earned money in the hood. The beach is a little further of a drive, but they have just about everything at the outlets in Rehoboth with restaurants and well-maintained facilities all around. read more