I've been a resident of Indianapolis my entire life. I remember when Washington Square Mall was a Simon mall. I remember when it was a vibrant, busy mall with a unique design that made it a rather fun place to shop. While one could possibly argue it's always been one of the lesser malls in Indy, for many years it held its own and served Indy's Far-Eastside pretty well.
I'd been to Washington Square maybe 3-4 years ago, partly because I wanted to visit the adjacent Target and partly because I was just a little bit curious about a mall that had a reputation for having gone way downhill.
What did I find? It was clearly deteriorating, but it still had a little bit of charm to it. It was probably about half full with locally owned businesses, but you couldn't help but wonder if it had any hope of surviving.
I was in the area today and wanted to do a little bit of wheeling for exercise. I figured "Why not check out the mall?"
Oy vey.
Washington Square Mall is officially a dump.
I mean it. Seriously. There's officially no legit reason to ever go near it, despite the fact that a handful of national chains continue to keep their shops open including Target (though the entrance from the mall is now closed), Burlington Coat Factory (I'd check the coats for lice here), Bed, Bath & Beyond (It's more like Bed, Bath, & Be Careful), and Victoria's Secret (The Secret is shame and low self-esteem).
I believe there may be a Dick's Sporting Goods in here, though it may have actually closed. Truthfully, it was hard to tell with the handful of customers who seemed to be more meandering about than actually shopping.
The vast majority of the stores seem to either be variations of nail salons, hair styling, small gift shops, a handful of ethnic restaurants, and at least a couple churches including longtime mall establishment Movie Theater Church.
There are at least a couple of entire wings that seem to be shut down, though in some cases it's simply true that the stores open for select hours such as evenings only or weekends only. Judging from the complete lack of customers, the notion of being open 40 hours a week here is kind of silly.
While this mall has experienced crime, fairly regularly, the truth is I never actually felt unsafe except for one particularly unusual wing of the mall where almost everything was closed and people kept coming out of one particular spot. They didn't bother me. I didn't bother them.
However, it's also worth noting that the lighting in the mall is haphazard at best, the automated doors are in disrepair, any notion of decor has gone way out the window (much worse than Eastgate before it finally closed), and, at the risk of coming off the wrong way, at least 2/3 of these stores gave off the kind of aura that made you think better than using a credit card because you weren't quite sure who would end up with the numbers.
Unfair? Perhaps, but the vibe was undeniable.
The truth is that I love dives. I live in a rough area. I'm not hesitant to go anywhere, but I truly can't fathom a reason I will now ever go back to this run down retail outlet that is in serious, and I'd dare say unsafe, disrepair from the parking lot to the hallways to a good majority of the stores.
You know how you kind of laugh at the Segway riding, completely unarmed mall cops in other malls? At Washington Square, mall security is packin' (but actually rather friendly!).
The Far Eastside seriously needs this mall to work or to give way to some sort of different retail outlet. As is? For the handful of stores you might like, it's worth driving out of your way to go to safer, cleaner, and more customer friendly locations in other parts of the city. read more
