Westshore Mall In Holland Empty and Spooky [Video]

My first experience with Holland was at the Westshore Mall.

I had moved to Michigan's West Coast in 1992, and one of my first jobs was working in the Holland Township mall.

I was working part-time at 104.5 FM (which was in Muskegon back then) and was also working at Boardwalk Fries in the mall.

At that time, the mall, which is located at 12331 James St. on U.S. 31, was pretty busy.

Every town had a similar mall like Westshore: Sixty or so stores, a few food options, a drugstore and such.

I started in fall '92. And, it being fall, all the kids were back in school and the mall had slowed down.

But if you would have told me by 2015 the mall would be revamped because it was struggling, I would have been surprised.

But that is just what is happening with a $25 million project, WZZM-13 reports.

As WZZM-13 reports:

Inside the Westshore Mall, there are more mall walkers and fewer shoppers than in the past."

However, the Westshore Mall is taking steps in a new direction with its "de-malling."

General Manager Jean Ramirez told WZZM-13 the changes will make storefronts visible from U.S. 31 in a process similar to one which Centerpointe mall in Grand Rapids went through.

"We want to have easy access for people with their busy lives, so that there is parking right up in front of your store," Ramirez told WZZM-13. "We're going to be a very viable player in West Michigan once again, absolutely."

The Westshore Mall has been considering the changes since last fall, The Holland Sentinel reported.

At its peak, Westshore Mall had more than 60 stores. Ramirez says they are now just seven stores.

It's spooky how empty the mall is these days.

There is a website I have written about before chronicling the plight of dying malls in the U.S., Dead Malls.

This will be in there soon, if it isn't already. Sad.