Poughkeepsie: South Hills Mall

My first idea for a landmark building in Poughkeepsie was to cover the Luckey Platt Building, a rundown department store that is being turned into an apartment complex. When interviews didn't lead anywhere, I decided to check out the South Hills Mall, which is next to the Galleria. The mall is being torn down to create a strip mall, while a few major stores are staying open in their existing locations, parking lots to be built right at their entrances. When I went and walked around the mall I went in an entrance that was closed off and ended up sneaking beneath roped off sections. The mall looks completely dead inside, it is hard to tell that a few stores are even open still. I ended up talking to a lot of employees and the few customers at stores like Burlington Coat Factory, Kmart and Silver Cinemas. I thought this story would be interesting because South Hills is Poughkeepsie's oldest mall and it is a landmark that has had to cope with the expanding commercialization on route 9. Everyone I talked to was very friendly and gave me as much information as they knew, but I found that even employees were not sure what stores were coming to the strip or if their business would change significantly. I think the mall is a good example of changes within Poughkeepsie and even though consumers don't seem too upset about the mall's closing the future of the strip is still up in the air. Overall it was a good experience, full of fruitful interviews and devoid of any preaching homeless men.