Dead Malls dot Com: Feature: Denton Factory Stores: Denton, Texas

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DENTON FACTORY STORES: DENTON, TX

Zach Peterson's Commentary

Posted November 14, 2008 (user submitted)

This mall has been dead for most of my eighteen-year-old life. I think it was built in the early 90's. By it's location, look, and feel, the Denton Outlet Stores complex was probably dreamed up by a man fresh out of real estate school, trying to make his fortune. He failed miserably.

I remember making a few visits to this mall over the years, mostly as a young child, when the mall actually had a few tenants. The stores I can remember included a Levi Jeans outlet, a linen store, a bridal outlet, a Dress Barn, Famous Footwear, and an Old London outlet. Now all that remains are two mediocre antique malls, a town history museum that looks closed most of the time, a costume shop, and the bridal outlet. This is all spread thinly along two sides of the U-shaped mall, with one side completely vacant except for what appears to be an office (probably got a killer rate on rent) and a Jazzercise studio that doesn't appear to be open. This may seem like quite a few stores, but trust me, this place can hold a lot more.

This whole mall was built in a loud spanish theme, with terra-cotta roofs and light yellow stucco. The signs at the entrances of the mall used to have a seal on top, with the name "Exposition Mills" written on them in very small font. I don't think this name was ever really publicized, with billboards during the mall's "hey-day" calling it the "Denton Factory Stores".

Even though my mom took me just about every school year to the Famous Footwear to get shoes for school, we never went for much else, usually passing it over for the Golden Triangle Mall, now trying to fend off it's own competitors, on the other side of town. I think the main reason for this mall's demise is how hard it is to get into. Despite it being a stone's throw away from Interstate 35 and Loop 288, there is no easy entrance into the mall. The perfect highway frontage property, without the perfect highway.

The only really successful part of this whole development is a detached restaurant on a hill right next to the street which still racks up big business.

Links

http://www.flickr.com/photos/zachp/sets/72157606529312811/ - Zach Peterson's photos

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