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Ferfuxache t1_ja4pdzh wrote

I feel for Bruce. He’s probably not getting paid next week. Sucks.

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YayforFriday t1_ja4ulxh wrote

Their Wikipedia page is quite a trip. Looks like not paying the bills is part of the business model.

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WikiSummarizerBot t1_ja4unbk wrote

Kohan Retail Investment Group

>Kohan Retail Investment Group is a shopping mall investment company based in Great Neck, New York. They primarily purchase endangered/troubled shopping malls.

^([ )^(F.A.Q)^( | )^(Opt Out)^( | )^(Opt Out Of Subreddit)^( | )^(GitHub)^( ] Downvote to remove | v1.5)

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RealMainer t1_ja7u5c5 wrote

They are probably trying to scare off what remaining tenants are in the building so they can convert it to some other use.

Either that or they are just out of business. Buying dead malls does not seem like a great investment.

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GrowFreeFood t1_ja7wgnt wrote

Doesn't the government just bail out all these scummy businesses? I thought that was the business model used by Walmart, banks, manufacturers and many other companies

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Munrowo t1_ja8tnyp wrote

i saw an idea someone had about converting dead malls into low income housing/groceries and whatnot, like a mini town. could be worth looking into!

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Kai_Emery t1_ja5vvi5 wrote

This reminds me of the investment group that bought up Hahanemann Hospital in Philly just to let it go under and turn it into luxury? housing.

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MothNomLamp t1_ja6r8ql wrote

And the owner of the company seems to have 6+ different aliases too (see wikipedia notes section)

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Squidworth89 t1_ja4k8pd wrote

How can they not? The tenants there have rights. They should’ve been all over this before now.

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zrad603 t1_ja5sjc4 wrote

Commercial real estate laws are very different from residential real estate. Commercial real estate is often: "You're boiler blew up? Tough shit"

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PoorInCT t1_ja6mooh wrote

Once you declare bankruptcy its the wild west. The judge can even seize the past 90 days of payments to the utility from the utility to redistribute it to creditors with higher standing.

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gordielaboom t1_ja4t21v wrote

I was just talking to my brother (small business owner in PI) about this, and he said he went last weekend and it was a ghost town inside. I’m gonna miss that awesome Chinese food! I love that family there, they’re awesome.

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diaryofsnow t1_ja5iwuh wrote

As someone who grew up in PI and left, Chopsticks was literally the only reason to ever visit my home town.

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xach t1_ja71kfd wrote

There’s a KFC, a fantastic and huge Walmart, a good Deere dealership, and don’t forget the fireworks store. And a good Mardens. PI is great! RIP to the Burger King.

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joysef99 t1_ja7hc65 wrote

This right here. Well, and Mardens. 😉

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BeatNick5384 t1_ja8fqex wrote

That place was pretty gross when I worked for the mall. Ate there all the time anyway, whatever they were doing was working 🤣

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sentient-meatball t1_ja5hgwv wrote

I grew up in the County. It was a ghost town when I was in high school in 2009. Not sure how it's still open.

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gordielaboom t1_ja5qq30 wrote

I worked at that Ruby Tuesday’s for a long time. Used to steal the coverless paperback books Borders threw away in the dumpsters when we were tossing the trash!

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CletusVanDamnit t1_ja8ln7b wrote

>Used to steal

I mean, they threw them away. Fair game at that point...

r/DumpsterDiving is proud of you.

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gordielaboom t1_ja8lve0 wrote

Aw thanks! I’m a huge book nerd. It was like free gold for me.

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historywhiz63 t1_ja5fwrl wrote

That’s all I talked about with my parents— I only come home once a year but we always go to the mall to get Chopsticks!

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WildlyUnprepared4___ t1_ja5wdve wrote

The town would find a way to keep them open. I’m honestly shocked they didn’t search out a stand alone location years ago.

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gordielaboom t1_ja5wpj5 wrote

Yeah, whenever I come up to visit, they’re the only reason I go in the mall.

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WildlyUnprepared4___ t1_ja5yi61 wrote

I wish I’d had more notice I would have gone up just for some of those beef wontons and their teriyaki chicken

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gordielaboom t1_ja5yv1x wrote

Right?! I would have had my brother get 2 #31s and eat one for me. That used to be our thing - I’d come up to hang out with him at his music store, and go get 2 of them, and we’d hang out and chow down. I hope they get a stand-alone place!

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Alfond378 t1_ja5mt4q wrote

That mall opening in the 90's was a huge event! Not having to go to Bangor for a mall experience was like the greatest thing ever! Very sad to see it go, but that's the mall trend these days everywhere.

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-DIL- t1_ja4ywpx wrote

Word is that a few of the stores that pay their own utilities will remain open (Harbor Freight, Dollar Tree, maybe a few others).

While there's only a handful of stores and businesses in there it's still quite a few jobs being lost relative to the population of the area. Hopefully it's short term, but it doesn't seem like the owner has a good track record.

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sarahenglund t1_ja7dpp8 wrote

Harbor Freight and JCPenney’s are staying open. Unsure about Dollar Tree, I read someone called yesterday and they “couldn’t tell what the future holds”

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Adventurous_Gap_2092 t1_ja4smmm wrote

Wow. Who are their anchors? ( big stores) They are about to find out that legal fees are more than utilities. Bet they are filing for Ch.11. If they owe back taxes. Y'all could snatch it up.

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DonkeyKongsVet t1_ja5fjcx wrote

JC Penney is one of them but ironically it appears they pay their own electricity. Who knows if they can even open alone.

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Adventurous_Gap_2092 t1_ja5jlc9 wrote

They can but the mall closing cuts into revenue they would have received from mall shoppers... AND if the mall failed to pay their maintenance and no one plowed it will get hairy . If water is included in the rental agreement and there is no water, the salon can't open. Even if they plow that part of the mall and take it off their future rent. They are already losing money my the mall being closed.and they should not pay future rent until the mall reopens. It will be up to corporate. They should sue. All of the stores should. I'm not a lawyer.

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hike_me t1_ja68pau wrote

> and there is no water, the salon can't open.

It’s not just the salon that can’t open without water. The people that work there need to be able to use the toilet.

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Adventurous_Gap_2092 t1_ja69k4o wrote

Good point! Well. This is going to hurt a lot of people and the community. I hope that the anchors & smaller stores start litigation promptly.

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BeatNick5384 t1_ja8g8tc wrote

Porteous, Sears, Kmart and JC Penney were the original anchors and all but JC Penney closed now. Staples ended up closing after they moved in much later, and Harbor Freight and VIP took up half of an anchor store each. Building isn't I bad shape either. It's a shame.

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historywhiz63 t1_ja5g2tc wrote

Grew up in the town next to PI (Fort Fairfield) and I watched this mall die. It makes me so sad, my friends and I used to love going on mall dates here. Still go back every Christmas just to get Chopsticks, the Chinese place in the food court. Knew it would happen eventually, but what a shame.

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sicilianrogue t1_ja5ialy wrote

I grew up in the Caribou area, and worked in Fort for a while, so I spent a lot of time there. Last time I was there visiting, I stopped in and it was so empty, but good old Chopsticks was hanging on strong.

Remember when there was a Houlton Farms and a Tim's in the food court??

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omg_choosealready t1_ja5nhvh wrote

Was it a Houlton Farms? I think it was a Dairy Queen.

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sicilianrogue t1_ja5nt55 wrote

I remember a Houlton Farms distinctly, but that doesn't mean they didn't fill a vacated DQ spot. That was a long long time ago, in a land far far away. XD

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historywhiz63 t1_ja5nzno wrote

It was actually an Orange Julius before it was a Houston Farms :)

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AthenianThief OP t1_ja5r9a6 wrote

Username checks out.

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ruralgaming t1_ja6wa7p wrote

There was also a Sbarro's Pizza there incredibly briefly... A B. Dalton's bookstore and a KB Toy's.

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onzie9 t1_ja8av6y wrote

People are actually from fort Fairfield? I grew up in caribou and fort Fairfield was like another planet. I'm pretty sure i never knew anyone from there.

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historywhiz63 t1_ja8ef90 wrote

I wish I wasn’t from there. I call it fort dumpfield lol

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onzie9 t1_ja8fyvi wrote

Oh, don't feel so bad, it had some good things. There was .... that fort. And it had a store. And like... a bank?

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HailtbeWhale t1_ja5phw9 wrote

Bangor Mall is not happy to hear this.

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78FANGIRL t1_ja5rfs5 wrote

As a former mallrat, this makes me wonder about the Bangor Mall. That building has no more than a dozen stores now? It's not being maintained very well. The parking lot has craters the depth of a small child.

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HailtbeWhale t1_ja5rjyy wrote

I never thought I'd see the Bangor Mall and the Airport mall in similar levels.

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78FANGIRL t1_ja5t8kl wrote

Tru dat! I actually take pictures whenever I'm there and send them to my best friend who worked at the Bangor Mall in his teens and twenties.

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HailtbeWhale t1_ja8hwqv wrote

Honestly, if you include Hannafords and Marshalls, the Airport Mall is almost definitely doing more business these days.

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WalkerBRiley t1_ja7nkal wrote

The last time I was in the Bangor Mall was a few years ago during the Christmas season and it was just totally dead inside. Like, zero people. I stood at the center court and took pics down all three halls and not a single shopper in any of them.

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hike_me t1_ja6993a wrote

I just went for the first time in a very long time because I was in Bangor near the mall. It was insanely depressing.

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200Dachshunds t1_ja5r37j wrote

Bangor Mall is owned by Namdar Realty group, which while also a shady commercial real estate aggregator, seems to at least be functional. For now, anyway.

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HeyJudeWhat t1_ja6gbwg wrote

I went to MSSM from ‘04 to ‘06. First we had mall/movie trips on Friday nights then the movie theater closed so they were just mall trips. It was incredibly hard to fill 2 hours at that mall. I remember the people there being nice though! Debs was a hoot for trying on prom dresses

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onzie9 t1_ja8ble5 wrote

How was your experience after MSSM? One of my biggest regrets in life was deciding not to go. Being local, I knew how the kids were treated by the students at the regular high school, and I let my social fear get the best of me.

I always wondered how different things would have gone if I'd gone.

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HeyJudeWhat t1_jab4141 wrote

Honestly it was awesome. My senior year prom theme was Jones soda. Pictures that had been taken the year were blown up in black and white and different color neon lights were everywhere. The LCSers made fun of us a little but honestly we were a little too stuck up and dismissing of them the way teenagers can be. I think one local kid was there when I was.

I have some classmates that are high up in Google/Microsoft/Apple but a lot of us are in normal jobs, I’m a database admin for a nonprofit. Many life long friends.

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lipsticknic3 t1_ja5qe30 wrote

Are there contacts in place?? Can the tenants take any legal action? This is such a terrible thing for this company to do if they're breaking contracts. These are people's livelihoods, the ones that are there. Wow.

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MontEcola t1_ja6o4nh wrote

Malls across the country are going broke. Perhaps its one company?

In Washington State, one mall now has a school, library and office space. Half of the food court is closed.

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Bismuth941 t1_ja6yubj wrote

I came up here from Florida last year and the nearby mall had been essentially barren of stores on the inside for at least a year when I left, probably more. Even he Macys there closed which was fortunate for me since I was able to get a suit for my brothers wedding way cheaper. I think that was probably the last thing that set up the mall to be dead. Because the year after that right, before I moved, the mall went up for auction and was bought for only $100k. Me and my brother joked about how cheap that was and how we could just have this big ass space to ourselves if we had been able to get to that.

Had to check. Apparently the owners went bankrupt and their creditors bought it at auction. Which all makes sense with what I was thinking. Doesn't say the price paid, but I distinctly recall hearing $100k. 6 or so months after that they got hit by hurricane Ian too. Looks like a lot of their stores are still empty. Port Charlotte Town Center for those that are curious.

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sentient-meatball t1_ja8hmdw wrote

I live in Lubbock, TX now and had to go to the mall the past 2 weekends in a row. The mall was PACKED both times. Like they are thriving for sure and I wondered why... Then I remembered I'm in Lubbock, TX and it made sense. This place is still living in the 90s.

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CletusVanDamnit t1_ja8mcvl wrote

>Perhaps its one company?

Well, there are a few major mall companies around. Simon malls is a big one here on the East Coast. I don't know how far they stretch, but for a while most of the malls that were still functioning that I would see were all Simon malls.

Edit:Looks like they are all over the world, actually. If they aren't the biggest, they must be one of them.

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WalkerBRiley t1_ja7nttp wrote

The era of the shopping mall has been over for awhile. They're hanging on by threads, supported by nostalgia. Honestly speaking its about time to let them die off. Maybe it's about time to let nature take back some land. These concrete and tar playgrounds could be turned into some pretty nice nature parks.

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WildlyUnprepared4___ t1_ja5wp86 wrote

It’s a huge bummer for sure … I think it’s the smaller businesses that will be hit it looks like the larger stores pay their own utilities … awful stuff

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SnooPuppers5953 t1_ja7bvq6 wrote

I’m 6 hours away but it’s the last day. That sucks

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Tribute2Johnny t1_ja7mwri wrote

I remember that place place being the BEST in the 90s. I hung out in Van Gough's Ear and Record Town a TOOOOOOONNNNN.

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bigtencopy t1_ja7h3l3 wrote

It’s been shit for 15 years, people only use it to get their exercise in.

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whitlink t1_ja7xvqf wrote

He wrote that like he thinks they care about them. They want to rip down the mall and put up apartments. They will make more money off the community charging you 1500-2000 for a studio apartment then you going to the mall.

−1

Tricky-Ad8731 t1_ja4r1r9 wrote

Why don't you just pay them yourself? "Poor Me, someone else won't pay my bills" is no way to run a business.

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Adventurous_Gap_2092 t1_ja4sylh wrote

Do you not know how malls work? The stores are tenants. The building owners pay for maintenance and utilities in the general mall. This guy works for the company that owns the mall.

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biggestofbears t1_ja4w338 wrote

You can just admit you don't understand how malls work and not contribute to the conversation. It's not hard.

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Tricky-Ad8731 t1_ja4wisv wrote

The harsh reality is that this dude probably won't have a job if the Mall's utilities aren't paid. It doesn't matter how embarrassed or sorry he is.

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biggestofbears t1_ja4wwzw wrote

Right, but the general manager doesn't pay utilities? The company does. An employee of a company should never be paying for utility expenses out of their own pocket unless the company is their company. That's not how jobs work.

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OriginalGordol t1_ja4ug2g wrote

Um, because he's not the owner or the one with the checkbook?

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hike_me t1_ja5ipi4 wrote

This guy works for the company that owns the mall you dip shit. You think he should pay to keep the lights and water on himself? I’m sure his next paycheck isn’t going to show up either.

Do you pay your employer’s bills?

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Lieutenant_Joe t1_ja7hih1 wrote

I’m sorry, I never do this, but I just have to point out the irony of your last two posts being on r/NoStupidQuestions.

2