Here is another mall that came in, killed it's older rival-mall (The Rutland Mall) in a city small enough that it didn't need or could support two malls, and then started tanking itself. It's such a common story that, as it may, I never managed to even put this mall on the site despite watching it crumble, lose anchors, and lose tenants that moved down to the plazas on Merchant's Row.
Even the outparcel restaurant was always a doomed chains -- Ponderosa was there for as long as I could remember. It sat empty for years then reopened as a, can you guess, Ground Round. If an interesting, nostalgic, and iconic Howard Johnson's child-from-the-past restaurant couldn't hold on, you know there's a problem with the mall and decisions being made up on the hill. Yes, that is a pun, as the Diamond Run mall sits atop a huge hill directly across the terminus of the (almost if not for a railroad crossing) interstate grade Route 4 expressway. (It actually would have been the expressway continuing to New Hampshire, probably interstate 92, but that's another web site's story.)
Doing some research on the web site www.diamondrunmall.com, apparently they let it go and domain scalpers own it now, but before they did and a couple years before the mall closed, the web site pretty much was only one front page with the malls hours on it and announcements about Santa -- not even a directory listing. After the closure in 2019, the page then listed information about an auction taking place on Saturday November 23, 2019. "TWO LARGE REMOVABLE BRICK FIRE PIZZA OVENS, LARGE FOUNTAIN, MANY HARDWOOD BENCHES, MANY FOOD COURT TABLES & CHAIRS, FOOD COURT BOOTHS, HUGE BATTERY OPERATED GENERATOR (SEARS), DISPLAY CASES, DIRECTORY BOARDS, LARGE XMAS DECORATIONS, MUCH MORE" could be yours!
After that, it only shows "Under Redevelopment" with the address "46 Diamond Run Mall Pl, Rutland, VT 05701" and the name of the developer A2Z Real Estate. "[email protected] 814-254-4004" until as recently as Jan 20, 2026. Look at the live page today March 13, 2026, and it's domain scalpers. They let it expire and didn't renew...
I will be posting pictures I have taken of this mall very soon, including the delapadated condition of the exterior that I took in summer 2025, and interior shots at various times of the mall's openness in the 2010's.
Also digging through 25 years of submissions received, a lot of Rutland Mall emails reference Diamond Run, but no one talked specifically about it. It's as if the locals were always displeased with the fact that Diamond Run came in and killed their favorite mall. Even with the turmoil of the Diamond Run Mall's last gasps for air, no one commented. Some others on Reddit have some information about this mall which I have posted below, courtesy of Reddit users whose names have unfortunately been deleted. If you are an author of this material and wish to be credited, please contact us to get your name added.
[User Deleted]'s Commentary:
Posted Sometime in 2025 to Reddit
I grew up in Rutland and was at the Diamond Run for the ribbon cutting when it opened. The Diamond Run replaced the “Great Rutland Mall” further north on Route 4, which opened in the 70s (I believe a Home Depot was built on the site where it once sat). Back in the early 90s that mall was already dying, and we would often drive across the state line into Queensbury NY to spend a day at the Aviation Mall. The Diamond Run opening was surrounded by a lot of excitement and hype.
Back in ‘95 it was booming and bustling. It provided many jobs in Rutland. My middle school hosted a project called “Marsville” inside the mall in early ‘96, where we set up a mock sustainable Martian society along the hallways, made of plastic pods. I remember shopping for school clothes at County Seat and Sears and dress outfits at Cherry & Webb, playing pinball with my dad at that little arcade, perusing books at Lauriat’s and eating many slices from Sbarro in that food court. There was a super cool store called “Boomers” which was similar to Spencers…it was blacklit and they sold a variety of unique and gag gifts.
The dissonance between my memories of how it was and how it looks now is overwhelming. I’m disappointed that it’s becoming a Super Walmart…so what are they doing with the Walmart in the Rutland Plaza?
[Another Deleted User]'s Commentary:
Posted Sometime in 2025 to Reddit
I've heard from a few people that this mall was basically screwed over by the local government. The owners wanted to revitalize the mall and add a movie theater. The town blocked the movie theater deal and saddled the owners with outrageous impact fees. At the time, more and more small businesses were taking up shop in the mall and were essentially displaced. The local government even had the audacity to go up to the business owners on their last days open and advertise more expensive spaces downtown.
Katie Dutton's Commentary:
User Submitted August 15, 2015 (the only one we received)
The first anchor store to go was Sears in 2014. As of early 2015 the second anchor store, JcPenney's, is now also closed. The Diamond Run Mall now currently (summer 2015) only has one open anchor store, K-Mart, which I believe will be closed within the next year or two. In actuality, I will be surprised if the entire mall itself is still in existence after 2016.
On my most recent trip the only store fronts being used are as follows. The former DEB'S is a now a dance studio, as is the former American Eagle space. There are 2 nail salons open also in the mall; as well as a small handful of other stores including Old Navy, Victoria's Secret, Olympia Sports, Christopher Banks, The Shoe Department, Claire's, Maurice's, Eastern Mtn. Sports and LensCrafters. Additionally, the former Dollar Tree space is used as an auction house twice monthly.
With that being said, approximately 75% of the store fronts are empty and the only occupied food court space is a Chinese take out restaurant. Mentionable also is there are no kiosks open, the last one being closed a few years ago. The mall seldom has more than 5 shoppers throughout it at any given time and generally speaking feels like a ghost town or more appropriately perhaps, the setting of a cheesy, scary movie!
Overall, it is sad to see the mall go down this path. I know there were numerous financial problems plagued throughout the years for the Diamond Run Mall, but I was one of the few people that were hoping the tides would change and the mall would survive. However, it is quite obvious the opposite is actually happening.
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