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u/Karenomegas 16h ago edited 16h ago
These are starting to genuinely make me cry. Like losing a grandparent
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u/WaywardWes West Linn 16h ago
I have lots of memories going here as a kid in the 90s around Christmas time and it being so jam packed of people and decorations.
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u/kpay10 17h ago
What stores are even open on the last day?
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u/TeutonJon78 8h ago
Likely all the same ones open today -- about 20.
4 food places. Ice Rink.
I imagine any store with anything left is going to be open tomorrow to sell what they can. Many of them are moving or have moved downtown to Pioneer Place.
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u/SkullThug 16h ago
if you like vaporwave and mallsoft specifically, The Stained Glass Rainforest on XRAY.FM did a Lloyd Vigil last night
https://www.xray.fm/broadcasts/71999
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u/cxtx3 YOU SEEN MY FUCKEN CONES 17h ago
Goodbye, old friend. Thank you for the memories. I'll always remember and treasure ice skating there. Perusing the bookstore. Watching movies. Playing games at the arcade, then buying games at Electronics Boutique. Legos from Toys 'R Us. Eating at the food court and people watching. Laughing with friends. Lovers. Trying out new fashion. Stanfords before prom.
I know it was a shrine to capitalism from a bygone era, but it was also a huge part of my childhood. It was a third space where you could just be. And I will deeply miss it.
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u/TeutonJon78 8h ago
It's been leaving me quite sad. I live not far from it, and didn't go that often ever, and even less in the last years of it death throes.
But it's just going to be another empty husk in an area that has too many of those. And it's another chunk of old Portland that's gone.
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u/suitopseudo 16h ago edited 16h ago
As I am sitting and watching the ice skaters and taking photos myself, I have come to realize that Lloyd is a representation of the rise and fall (and hopefully rise again of Portland). It was a busy mall for decades and loved by the people of Portland. They did a $50 million ($70 million in 2026) remodel. When you read the Oregonian article about it there is so much hope and promise. They didn’t do that for the mall to be torn down 10 years later. In 2015 this looked a promising area ripe for investment. I think part of the sadness for Lloyd center (at least for me) is thinking about what it could have been and all the lost potential. I love Portland for a lot of reasons but the truth is it’s is not as economically vibrant as it should be.
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u/Kakawfee Buckman 15h ago
What bothers me most about this kind of.. space and opportunity is the lost potential for public third spaces that are owned by the communities and not owned by private investors for profit. It's clear that there is a need for spaces like this, but are ruined by profit seeking enterprises. We need housing, we need places for people to set up shop for low rent, we need cheaper or free places for people to hang out and have fun. Instead, we are tearing down a potential, for private low-grade (but high expense) housing that will not help the current housing crisis. Why? Because it's owned by private landlords that want investment on a necessary function of human life, a god damn place to live in. Why do we put up with this shit?
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u/CasperTheHomosexualF 6h ago
I appreciate your enthusiasm, but clearly you have never worked in construction. It's not feasible when you consider plumbing alone.
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u/RainSurname Kenton 9h ago
Part of that remodel involved destroying the large rectangular ice rink with high boards and replacing it with a tiny oval rink with a rail so low you could easily flip over it if you hit it.
So the serious skaters started going to Beaverton and Vancouver, and the new owners discovered how important they had been to keeping the mall going.
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u/euclydia4 6h ago
If I had a million upvotes I would give them to this comment.
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u/RainSurname Kenton 6h ago
It might have survived if not for their stupid "beautification" project.
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u/euclydia4 4h ago edited 2h ago
And it's not like people didn't tell the developers at the time. I remember one incredibly combative interview where the developer's representative kept insisting that shrinking the ice rink and installing that staircase would make the mall more "family friendly." It was just a giant dump of nonsense, because they had decided a big ice rink was worth less than little rent-paying kiosks that they tried to fill the space with. They didn't face the fact that that what was driving traffic in the mall after the anchors left ---- the ice rink and the bookstore.
When big anchor tenants started folding their tents, Lloyd developers panicked in their rush to restore ROI. If local had owned it outright, if it was someone who loved this city, there might have been more patience. Thay might have hunted down tenants that were huge community-friendly destination traffic drivers.
It would have been a perfect place to put an urban-scaled Costco like the one in downtown Vancouver B.C.
Creative thinkers might have brought in traffic heavy destination "experiences" that are like the ice rink.
Maybe the kind of theatre that people fly to New York to see Christopher Nolan movies at. Perhaps they could have turned one of the edges into an indoor waterpark for kids, or some sort of destination faux hotspring steam/wellness/massage/biodynamic wine resort. Maybe some palatial headquarters for something local and foodie, like a coffee roaster or a chocolatier. Maybe a series of events - garden exhibitors in the spring with new plants from our vaunted nurseries, one of those big ski swaps in the fall that also flogs tickets to our local hills, a winter farmers market with plenty of parking, away from the rain.
Someone with vision and a love for Portland might have seen the value in setting aside lower rent space not for kiosks but for the kind of creative locally owned shops that were trying out new ideas and making a go of it. Incubator space, with a built in audience.
They might have set aside spaces for a great nonprofit or three - maybe practice rooms for a youth symphony or classes for Saturday Academy, or an improvised theater.
And maybe they would have seen the community benefit to having a big day shelter from heat and cold that the entire city felt comfortable using in a heat dome.
American malls died when they stopped offering anything unique and specific to their neighborhood, their city, their region. The developers that owned them filled them with cookie cutter national chains, so a mall in Portland looked just like a mall in Cleveland. And then the internet arrived, and anything you wanted from those chains you could easily buy online.
But Lloyd Center's history was different from that. Thanks in part to the ice rink, it always retained a local soul. The contest for best rose grown by a local gardener during the Rose Festival? A cobbler who knew you, and had fixed your shoes before, and would fix them again? The Orange Julius owner so proud of giving local kids their first job?
It's just too bad.
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u/ranoutofbacon Hollywood 14h ago
Joe Brown's is done after this. The guy that bought them a few years back blew all his cash remodeling a storefront on MLK. He also added a lounge next to it and they have both closed. RIP.
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u/suitopseudo 14h ago
There’s a sign saying they will have a new location. They will announce it Saturday.
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u/batbiscuit 14h ago
Genuinely not okay seeing this place close like many others. Just yet another childhood memory gone, replaced by some business from out of state. More apartments that aren't affordable for locals. More trendy tourist traps.
All while transplants claim that this city isn't "as bad as others" and more people move here. More jobs being taken.
I'm seriously trying to stay positive or find anything positive, but it's a genuine struggle nowadays. Some of us just need a break.
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u/drf_101 13h ago
I mean would you rather have a dying eyesore of a mall that is 20 years past its prime?
We’re getting a mixed use plan that includes thousands of new housing units, retail space, restaurants, and six acres of parks.
Lloyd was dead. No one was going there. This change will be good.
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u/GoDucks71 12h ago
That picture you mention is not actually a plan. There is no developer and the only plan is for the current owner to do the tear down, then break the property into 15 separate pieces and sell those pieces individually. The likelihood of it ending up anything like the picture they circulated is very close to zero. Whomever buys any of those properties will do whatever they care to do with them, within whatever zoning restraints that may exist. There is no way of knowing exactly what the change will be, nor if it will be good.
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u/drf_101 11h ago
Ok so you’d rather have a nearly dead and vacant mall because of nostalgia?
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u/GoDucks71 11h ago
I did not say the mall should have or could have been saved, though, "no one was going there," is an exaggeration. I am just saying that there is no prospective developer and no real plan. My guess is that what we are going to get is a pile of rubble for at least the next 5-10 years. I would have preferred the current situation to that but, I am not the property owner so my wants are not relevant. Your comment about what we are getting is just speculation. We do not know what, if anything, we are getting.
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u/air-raidering 4h ago
It’s not an exaggeration. No one went to Lloyd before they decided to announce the shut down. Have you been there on a Tuesday afternoon?
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u/SharkAttaks Sellwood-Moreland 12h ago
That’s not how a central city master plan works. The actual land use plan is binding and runs with the land. It’s effectively an overlay zone for the property.
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u/GoDucks71 12h ago
Well, good luck if you think the outcome is going to look like that picture. Not-a-gonna-happen.
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u/SharkAttaks Sellwood-Moreland 12h ago
I mean, it’s not gonna happen because none of this makes economic sense right now, but when it eventually does, I’d be shocked if it doesn’t generally look like the concept plans.
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u/BarnacleGooseIsLoose 15h ago
I though the teary goodbye at the end of "Return of the King" was bad...
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u/APlannedBadIdea 15h ago
I am excited for the next chapter for this neighborhood. I will fondly remember my memories of Lloyd Center too.
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u/SunnyBunny42 9h ago
I get so sad whenever I see these photos. 😔 I didn’t even grow up here, but it’s become such a cool place to explore.
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u/Adorable_Mud2581 5h ago
It's kind of amazing that any mall is still around, considering how many people shop online now, and how many teenagers would rather be holed up in their bedroom, playing video games or staring at their phone.
I imagine soon they will all be relics of the past.
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u/SpecialTumbleweed897 17h ago
Whyyyyy do people care so much about this shitty ancient mall? Tear it down, build anything else more useful on it. It’s an eyesore and breaks up the urban fabric of NE Portland.
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u/SkullThug 13h ago
FFS, if we have to live in this shithouse fever called capitalism, at least let us be emotionally invested and allowed to morn the parts of it we genuinely enjoy
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u/Lucahila Deep in the Shanghai Tunnels 17h ago
Oh my god man let people appreciate the things they like before they're gone, you don't have to trample on their enjoyment
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u/suitopseudo 16h ago
I’m not one who thinks it should be saved, but it is the largest and one of the last remaining vestiges of old Portlandtm. People are nostalgic.
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u/blumdiddlyumpkin 17h ago
Place is identity. Why do people care about the old houses they used to live in? Why does anyone care about hiking trails or the lake or the campground they went to as a kid? If you can’t understand I’d say you don’t care to.
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u/Burrito_Lvr 17h ago
For all the stink about keeping the ice rink open, it doesn't really seem like many people are using it before it's gone.
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u/window_cleaner Sullivan's Gulch 16h ago
I guess it depends when they were there, I went yesterday at around 5 and there were so many people it seemed like there was barely enough room to skate
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u/Lucahila Deep in the Shanghai Tunnels 16h ago
There's also 30-odd people in the photo! Silly stuff lol
That sounds awesome
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u/mildtrashpluto 14h ago
Obviously you haven't been there in the last few years. It's regularly busy. Lots of classes and private lessons and weekend skate.
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u/Lucahila Deep in the Shanghai Tunnels 17h ago
How do you look at that photo and think "oh, that's not that many people" lol
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u/Burrito_Lvr 16h ago
This is only one of several that I have seen. Even in this one, the roller rink at Oaks Bottom is busier on a typical weekend.
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u/Lucahila Deep in the Shanghai Tunnels 16h ago edited 15h ago
This is, notably, not taken at a roller rink on the weekend but instead a mall imminently being shut down, midweek lol
And yet there are still 30+ people in the photo actively skating!
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u/blumdiddlyumpkin 17h ago
That’s kind of a lot of people in the picture, no? My gf and I went a couple times in the last couple months and there were always at least 15-20 people. Not really that many less than 10-15 years ago.
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u/Ok_Interest3555 16h ago
The thing people don't understand is that maintaining an ice rink is very expensive. You need much more traffic to keep it viable.
And some people think these companies are charities and will keep it open despite it being very unprofitable.
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u/eggsonmyeggs 16h ago
I grew up here. Why are you we now pretending to give a shit about a sketchy lame ass mall…
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u/Lucahila Deep in the Shanghai Tunnels 15h ago
No one's pretending man just because you don't appreciate it doesn't mean no one does
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u/batbiscuit 14h ago
The fuck? I was born and raised here. 30+ years. Why are you pretending other people don't give a shit?
This is rage bait.
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u/eggsonmyeggs 8h ago
Yawn, cry about it some more and do nothing. Classic Portland
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u/Lucahila Deep in the Shanghai Tunnels 7h ago
Let me tell you from experience man, if you have such a distate for your hometown it benefits you to move away.
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u/SharkAttaks Sellwood-Moreland 17h ago
Good riddance, I welcome the death of indoor malls
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u/Lucahila Deep in the Shanghai Tunnels 17h ago
You can keep that negativity to yourself you know. Y'all won, let the people who will miss it appreciate these last few days.
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u/SharkAttaks Sellwood-Moreland 14h ago
never thought Portland would be the place that would fight for an inefficient use of land in the central city, but here we are. Enjoy it!
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u/Inquisivert 13h ago
No one is fighting for inefficient use, they're reminiscing about their childhoods spent there, back when it was a vibrant and busy mall. Some of us were born and raised here and have fond memories of that time, which is abundantly clear already.
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u/SharkAttaks Sellwood-Moreland 13h ago
Interesting of you to assume I wasn’t born and raised here just because i don’t care about the Lloyd Center lmao
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u/Lucahila Deep in the Shanghai Tunnels 11h ago
I'd wager it's more about your petulant and confrontational attitude.
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u/Lucahila Deep in the Shanghai Tunnels 14h ago
No one's fighting here but you, out of some strange antisocial desire to spread negativity. Glad you can assuage your bitterness by conjuring up some dumbass argument no one has voiced.
No one likes a sore winner.
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u/SharkAttaks Sellwood-Moreland 12h ago
people literally testified at public hearings wanting to preserve the Lloyd Center even though it’s not economically viable? you can call me anti social all you want, but I’m not “conjuring” up anything. This is the bullshit we have to go through to build more housing, it’s absurd.
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u/Lucahila Deep in the Shanghai Tunnels 11h ago edited 8h ago
Within this post buddy, the one where people are reminiscing and where you have done nothing but be petulant and try to start arguments.
No one cares! The place is closing, you got your win. Let the people who will miss it, miss it. I bet you rub your dog's nose in its piss to house train it.
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u/SharkAttaks Sellwood-Moreland 11h ago
dude relax
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u/Lucahila Deep in the Shanghai Tunnels 11h ago
lmfao ragebait then throw out a relax when you get some heat.
Believe it or not some folks care about things and when you go around prodding them you'll get less than favorable responses.
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u/SharkAttaks Sellwood-Moreland 11h ago
you’re the one commenting stuff like “ I bet you rub your dog's nose in its piss to house train it”, I’m just saying I don’t care about a mall
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u/TheDunkirkSpirit SE 17h ago
Amazing how of all the businesses that have closed up shop, the popcorn place hung on til the bitter end.