For a certain stretch of my life, the Concord Mall felt like a constant. It was one of those places so woven into the background of growing up that you never imagine it could disappear. The mall rose from open fields outside Elkhart, evolved with the region and the retail world around it, and eventually became something else without entirely letting go of what it had been. Here’s some of its story. 

A few days ago, my friend Dylan sent me a link to a social media post announcing that the Richmond Bargain Outlet on National Road East would be closing soon. His message was short and to the point: “Former Roberds.” I’d never heard of Roberds before, but with a trip to Richmond already on my calendar, his offhand comment sent me down a rabbit hole. 

Marsh Supermarkets made waves around the midwest in 1966 when it entered the fast-growing segment of convenience stores. By the time it was sold to a private equity firm forty years later, Marsh operated 154 Village Pantries around Indiana and Ohio! The oldest have been repurposed, and I try to take pictures when I run across them.

Despite America’s reputation abroad as a country that tears everything down, lots of our buildings have been repurposed. Some get such flawless makeovers that you’d never guess their former lives, while others wear their past loud and proud. Muncie has a perfect example in its Baymont Inn. Its massive porte-cochère immediately identifies the motel as an old Signature Inn. 

About halfway down Anderson’s busiest commercial corridor, the abandoned Mounds Mall looms as a relic from another era. Silent and sealed, the clearest symbol of its lost past is the old Carson’s department store. The building’s facade still dominates Scatterfield Road as a reminder of just how quickly the retail landscape can change.