The Logan Valley Mall has been a staple in Altoona since 1965. However, since the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, local businesses have been on the decline, and the mall is no exception to this. Many stores in the mall are closing due to high rent prices and low foot traffic between the periods of Christmas and back to school shopping.
“There’s not much to do there anymore,” junior Maleah Koch said. “There aren’t any stores. All you’re going to do is go to the two stores that you like, sit down, get pretzels and leave.”
With the mall in a slump, many people are concerned about losing “third places”, or places outside of work (or school) and home. Third places are meant to build community, and a lack of those as well as the rise in social media, may be causing socialization problems amongst teens. Examples of third places include gyms, churches, cafes and anywhere that promotes socialization. There aren’t many third places with an appeal to teens, and the mall was one of the few places where high schoolers could connect before its downfall.
“[The lack of a third space] absolutely is a problem, it always has been a problem,” local business owner William Mort said. “When [authority figures] would chase kids out of the mall or out of Denny’s, [teenagers] find other places to hang out and they’re not always safe. They hang out outside, or in the woods, and it’s a lot less safe.”
Currently, not only is the mall not popular amongst high school students, but it’s not inviting either. There are broken escalators along with many closed stores and unused spaces. Many students apply to work at stores in the mall, only to be met with a very slow paced job and low pay.
“[The mall] is honestly awful, and it’s dirtier than a lot of people think,” former employee at R&A Cafe in the food court at the mall, junior Archie Glover said.
This decline may be in part because of Covid-19. The economy was heavily affected by the mandatory shut-downs and many local businesses suffered because of price increases.
“For businesses after the pandemic things really took a turn for the worse,” Mort said. “It was really hard to find essentials that you needed. Hours also changed a lot, and the lingering price hikes are really bad.”
Penn Highlands Community College is one of the businesses with a location in the Logan Valley Mall.
“We’re kind of isolated on the end [of the mall] we’re at,” an anonymous representative from Penn Highlands said. “[It’s hard for businesses because] the rent is too high, and I don’t think the mall owners are too concerned about the tenants.”
When asked if the college would be expanding further into the mall, the representative gave a resounding no.
This may not be surprising, as the combination of the rise in online shopping and the aftershocks of Covid-19 have left the Logan Valley Mall at a standstill.
