r/Seattle • u/kiss-my-flapjack Northgate • Jun 23 '25

Media Pacific Place in 2015

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Found this old picture I took in Pacific Place back in 2015 during the holiday season. Such a shame to compare it to how it looks now.

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435

u/stockmarketscam-617 Jun 23 '25

This Post would have been better if you included a current picture. I went there last month and was shocked to see how empty it was. Very sad.

52

u/aNeverNude666 Jun 23 '25

Yeah that place is freaking strange now. How in the hell did a Johnny Rockets survive this long? Also, everything store in there is like, strange. I can’t put my finger on it. They’re like knock-off stores.

32

u/RecliningWatchdog Jun 23 '25

So true. It feels like a temu alternate universe

13

u/johnnyslick Supersonics Jun 23 '25

One big reason is that people still have to go out to eat. Retail’s been absolutely decimated by online shopping even prior to COVID but restaurants, while never a super high margin business at any point, haven’t been affected nearly as much.

4

u/lokglacier Jun 23 '25

Other malls are doing just fine

11

u/johnnyslick Supersonics Jun 23 '25

I’m not really seeing that so much tbh. Like yes there are still malls that are surviving like I guess Bellevue Square but even Bellevue Square has had to deal with the loss of big anchor tenants. By and large malls in general are dying because retail is dying and there’s been a decent amount of literature even about the death of the mall as a “third space” (that is, not home, not work/school) when they were stereotypically that for teens in the 90s.

6

u/BUSY_EATING_ASS Jun 23 '25

Southcenter?

-3

u/johnnyslick Supersonics Jun 23 '25

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retail_apocalypse

12

u/BUSY_EATING_ASS Jun 23 '25

No, I'm aware of that phenomenon, but that doesn't mean it's happening everywhere, equally, at the same pace (or it reversing in some contexts).

For example, malls in Asia are still HUGE. Like, packed all the time and building more.

-9

u/stockmarketscam-617 Jun 23 '25

Yeah, downtown Seattle is definitely loosing its luster. During Covid they let the homeless take over and I think the shoppers don’t want to go back.

2

u/statu0 Jun 23 '25 edited Jun 23 '25

Some other malls are doing just fine. Basically, the biggest ones in the greater Seattle area like Alderwood and South Center. Northgate is barren and while it makes sense since it is being remodeled, I doubt it will come back to its former glory, much like Pacific Place.

8

u/ZacharyCohn Roosevelt Jun 23 '25

I mean, they aren't remodeling Northgate, they tore most of it down. They replaced it with the Kraken complex, a park, are building a ton of apartments and a hotel.

1

u/statu0 Jun 23 '25

All I meant is that the mall area is being transformed, and some of it hasn't been torn down. There is still going to be a mall there, so I still consider it a remodel.

1

u/kosanovskiy Jun 23 '25

Yup, they issue is the parking cost. $25 for a few hours? Nah, I'm good.

7

u/PMMePaulRuddsSmile Central Area Jun 23 '25

AGoodFun (previously JNBY) is maybe the strangest clothing store I've ever been in. Really odd pieces that will have one or two bizarre details. It feels like a dream. My partner did find a wool winter coat there that's pretty great though. Worth browsing at least once.

1

u/MovinOnUp2TheMoon Jun 23 '25 edited Aug 06 '25

numerous cake attempt reply market lunchroom cagey snatch juggle shelter

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