North Grand Mall

When was the last time you tried driving that route? That takes a half hour plus under ordinary driving conditions. It should never take you half an hour to drive across a city the size of Ames. Part of that is horrible infrastructure, part of it is the mall is in a really bad location. Here's another thing you're missing - any mall in Ames should be serving the region, not just the city of Ames. NGM is so horribly located (and has such a poor choice of stores) that people would rather just drive to Des Moines and shop there. Ames is losing $$$ to Des Moines because it couldn't close the deal to get the mall built on 13th and I-35. And until that happens Ames is going to continue losing business to Des Moines.
Not counting construction, which is a necessity, driving between any two points in Ames takes no more than 10 minutes.
only if you speed.
 
I don't know about "big" recruiting detriment. I'm sure recruits wouldn't mind having more options around town, including shopping, but the metro is 35 minutes away. I don't think the first priority in most recruits' mind is how the clothing shopping is in town.

I know I speak for students like me back in the day, and many students today, we usually get our clothes at home when mom buys. Being from more urban area, I wanted to shop at the cool stores like "Merry-Go-Round" in the mega malls anyway. I've got no idea where kids like to shop today, but I couldn't wait to get home to KC or go to Minneapolis, or Chicago to shop.

malls are not a "cool" hangout for college students anyway, they are for junior high kids. The other population that trends at malls is Latinos.

And no stores in Iowa, NONE, are going to appeal to black athletes from Florida, Chicago, Texas, California, NONE. Perhaps some stores in Des Moines might, but I say might.

What is even a greater travesty, is North Grand used to be this magnificent oak tree lined street, that was decimated to become a 4-lane road for the mall. Whoever thought that location was good for a mall long-term was not thinking smart back then.

Kohl's will be popular, don't know about TJ Max. My wife and I love the Max, but the clothes products they carry are definitely more Urban than MidWestern.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Angie
I know I speak for students like me back in the day, and many students today, we usually get our clothes at home when mom buys. Being from more urban area, I wanted to shop at the cool stores like "Merry-Go-Round" in the mega malls anyway. I've got no idea where kids like to shop today, but I couldn't wait to get home to KC or go to Minneapolis, or Chicago to shop.

malls are not a "cool" hangout for college students anyway, they are for junior high kids. The other population that trends at malls is Latinos.

And no stores in Iowa, NONE, are going to appeal to black athletes from Florida, Chicago, Texas, California, NONE. Perhaps some stores in Des Moines might, but I say might.

What is even a greater travesty, is North Grand used to be this magnificent oak tree lined street, that was decimated to become a 4-lane road for the mall. Whoever thought that location was good for a mall long-term was not thinking smart back then.

Kohl's will be popular, don't know about TJ Max. My wife and I love the Max, but the clothes products they carry are definitely more Urban than MidWestern.

You are probably right about most athletes and students from urban centers not bothering to do much shopping in Iowa, but i guess more than the actual shopping is just the look of the mall in general. Having rundown property, especially large properties like the mall doesn't help the overall look of the city and who knows could have some effect on recruiting both athletes and good students.
 
Haven't been to the NGM since Hardee's closed.

Hehe. That was the SLOWEST, the DIRTIEST fast food joint in town. And that's sayin' somthing.

Someone mentioned the restaurant near the theaters that had the smoothies...they also served hours old, room temperature pizza that had been sitting on the counter all afternoon. It was...gross.
 
I know I speak for students like me back in the day, and many students today, we usually get our clothes at home when mom buys. Being from more urban area, I wanted to shop at the cool stores like "Merry-Go-Round" in the mega malls anyway. I've got no idea where kids like to shop today, but I couldn't wait to get home to KC or go to Minneapolis, or Chicago to shop.

malls are not a "cool" hangout for college students anyway, they are for junior high kids. The other population that trends at malls is Latinos.

And no stores in Iowa, NONE, are going to appeal to black athletes from Florida, Chicago, Texas, California, NONE. Perhaps some stores in Des Moines might, but I say might.

What is even a greater travesty, is North Grand used to be this magnificent oak tree lined street, that was decimated to become a 4-lane road for the mall. Whoever thought that location was good for a mall long-term was not thinking smart back then.

Kohl's will be popular, don't know about TJ Max. My wife and I love the Max, but the clothes products they carry are definitely more Urban than MidWestern.


This is one of the funniest statements I've read in a while. Bravo red bird.
 
Last edited:
Heard about this last week. I think it's going in part of the old Sears. Not my thing either but I agree with you.

Nevermind, looking at the plans, it isn't.

Is it going in where the indoor mini golf used to be, can't quite tell from the plans?
 
Last edited:
My wife and I like to play a game every so often we go walking at NGM. It's called, "How many vacancies are there today?" I think last count was around 10. It's really gone down hill the past 2 years or so.

If Kohl's and TJ Maxx come in, that will certainly help especially if it means the entire parking lot on the south end gets redone. Seriously, what a disaster. It's a borderline third world country kind of parking lot. A food court would be nice too.

I also like the plans for Grand and Bloomington. Will things much easier. However, I didn't just buy a house in Ames for it to turn into Ankeny. I like its walkability and public transit. Plus, I don't want my wife to have to get a car to get to places. Big box stores may be convenient, but they can also be quite ugly especially in large quantities.

Lastly, as much as the growth on South Duff is nice, it kinda seems like the existing businesses are getting the shaft when it floods again. With new businesses being built higher, more existing businesses will get flooded. It probably wouldn't have hurt to try and do some wetlands reclamation projects to soak up future floods in addition to new businesses.
 
Lastly, as much as the growth on South Duff is nice, it kinda seems like the existing businesses are getting the shaft when it floods again. With new businesses being built higher, more existing businesses will get flooded. It probably wouldn't have hurt to try and do some wetlands reclamation projects to soak up future floods in addition to new businesses.

That inch higher the water will go is really going to cause problems. :jimlad:

Every single business that built there knew the risks and they did it anyways. I feel little to no sympathy when they flood.
 
If it is the store that is currently by Fuji...it looks like teenage/college girl type stuff..

But I could be wrong.

I believe the store by Fuji is a local store (not a chain), I think it might be called Ayden Lee or something similar to that. Rue21 is a pretty common mall chain store.

rue21: Home
 

Help Support Us

Become a patron