The picture above was taken this morning. This is all that is left of the once beautiful Eastfield Mall. We are left with the front wall of the 99 restaurant and the back wall of Old Navy. The Sears entrance still stands and with it the only remaining mall entrance sign. After months of demolition, it is almost gone. I can’t begin to wrap my head around it. How could decades of history be gone? The historic architecture of Forbes and Wallace has been lost forever. It was the last Forbes and Wallace building still standing after going out of business 50 years ago. Over the years, the other locations were demolished including the grand flagship store on Main Street in Springfield, Ma.

  How could the grand dressing windows of Steiger’s be gone? How could the beautiful court entrance be gone? How could the Steiger’s court be gone? After so many years of affectionally being called the Steiger’s court? I bought Metallica cassettes and threw change in the fountain. In the end, the court could be seen from Boston Road, its bright, white light fixtures acting like a beacon amongst the wreckage of the mall. The former Steiger’s building at the Enfield Square Mall is the last standing of the Steiger’s mall locations. Once they’re gone, they’re gone forever. That kind of retail will never exist again. Enclosed, climate-controlled malls will never be built again. Those stores and malls were driven by a sense of excess that society doesn’t feel today.

  

  Here is what is left of the mall as of today:

Pay attention to the yellow banner hanging in the upcoming pictures:

Even in the end, the grand old lady still gives us a special glimpse:

I believe it is the first set of planters you would walk down coming from Sears and just before the Steiger’s court. I could be wrong too; I’m shooting from the fence on Boston Road with my camera zoomed all the way out. Often it is quite difficult to see what’s really left from that far away.

Thank you for visiting! Check back soon, I will start posting my pictures of the mall starting from July 2023. I might try to post them in chronological order along with my thoughts and see how that goes. I will also start posting my other projects as well as artifacts and ephemera. Please feel free to comment, Take care!