The Slow Death of Park Road Shopping Center

If you are Charlotte native, you've come to accept change.

Park Road Shopping Center opened up on November 15, 1956 and was Charlotte's very first open area-type shopping mall. 

Over the years tenants have changed, the movie theaters downsized. But the main anchor tenants Harris Teeter, Walgreen's, Blackhawk Hardware and Michaels have managed to hold on.

Sir Edmond Halley's is still in the back lot and some of the newer restaurants are really pretty good.

And of course there's the crime. Reports of a senior being robbed at gunpoint seemed to be an outlier and the somewhat expected usual number of theft from autos.

But then Christmas last year the toy store Harper and Skyler Toys and Sweets was robbed in a brazen smash and grab just before Christmas. 

The usual idiot mindset of Charlotte of course was no big deal, they have insurance so its ok. But anyone in retail will tell you that insurance won't cover the loss of sales during during the busy Christmas shopping season. Surprising to CP that they are still in business.

While the Mayor and the property management company that runs the shopping center claim crime is no different at the Park Road Shopping Center than at other malls that has not been the perception.

Now people have noticed that the US Post Office lobby is locked except during the hours when the service window is attended. That means your post office box and the self-service postage machine are no longer available after hours.

No one is saying exactly what happened but the US Postal Service mentions the safety of their employees and acts of vandalism. And in the same statement they speak of unsafe and unsanitary conditions. (Read some homeless person dropped a deuce in the lobby).

Panhandlers are of course now a common sight at the intersection of Woodlawn Road and Park Road. This was not the case when Charlotte's Mayor Vi Lyles took office.

A quick check of crime stats for the shopping center shows 17 crimes reported in the last 30 days at the shopping center. Kept in mind this is from data released by the City of Charlotte and CMPD. A few weeks ago CMPD stopped providing data to Crime Mapping the on-line reporting service used by most of the nation's police departments. 

Let's face it the vibe at Park Road has changed. Post COVID Charlotte Uptown, SouthPark, Carolina Place and the Park Road Shopping Center are not the same. CMPD Officers in low crime areas like Ballantyne and Myers Park are basically nowhere to be found. Still reports of daily shootings and gun fire nearby are quietly dismissed by local media.

In fact this story hasn't been covered by the local media except The Charlotte Ledger. But what we really are starting to notice is that Charlotte's "wedge" of prosperity is shrinking and areas once considered safe are no more and that includes the Park Road Shopping Center.