Add this one to the changing landscape of retail shopping. After more than 50 years, the Village at Orange Mall is closing its doors.
Long-time business owners and shoppers shared their trips down memory lane Monday, including Randy Woltz, a piano technician, who was tuning pianos at the Piano Empire Megastore before the store closure.
“Well. like everything in life we move on to other things,” said Woltz, as he sang a nostalgic tune.
Shop owners got a letter in September stating their last day would be Jan. 31, according to Joseph Zeeb, whose jewelry repair shop, J&C Creative Designs, has been in the same back corner of the mall for more than three decades.
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“It feels sad because you leave a place, I consider it a second home to me,” said Zeeb. “It’s sentimental, always jewelry is part of your body. When you wear it so long, it becomes part of you.”
Briana Martinez, a long time shopper, and her boyfriend took a stroll down memory lane.
“That used to be Hot Topic, I used to wait there and get the new movies, Twilight and all that,” Martinez said. “Coming back in here is nostalgic, a sad type of nostalgic not seeing it thrive how it used to.”
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It’s a sign of the times.
The Village said in a statement that "the retail industry has evolved, customer shopping preferences have changed, and large regional malls like the Village at Orange are no longer viable"
The statement goes onto explain: "We will soon submit an application to the City of Orange for the removal of only the interior portion of the existing mall following the January 31, 2024 closure."
“It’s been very emotional every day I walk past these doors, another memory. Before you know it's going to be gone,” Servie Culverwell, an employee, said.
There is something this mall provides that the online space cannot.
“It's kind of nice to walk around a mall how we used to as kids,” Martinez said.
Something shoppers and longtime employees are savoring for the last few days.
“I feel something of me is going to be left in this place,” Zeeb said.
He and several other business owners already have new locations, but others are still looking.
As for what's to come, the statement from The Village at Orange said, "We are in the process of planning for the revitalization of the remaining exterior storefronts at the Village at Orange to reposition the shopping center for long-term success in this new retail environment."
