Today marks the unofficial beginning of the Christmas shopping season. With retailers rebounding from last year’s pandemic-induced slowdown, and with worries about supply chains and increasing prices, there is an air of unpredictability surrounding the season.
Lloyd Center to reopen after electrical fire kgw.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from kgw.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Mall Rats Photo: Jason E. Kaplan Foot traffic has plunged during the pandemic at Portland s Lloyd Center Mall
Driven by bankruptcies, redundancies and the rise of e-commerce, the retail sector has been in flux for years. COVID-19 accelerated the shift. Oregon’s malls can either reinvent themselves to stay vital or they can fail.
It is a late Tuesday afternoon and the foot traffic in Washington Square Mall in the Portland suburbs looks brisk by COVID-19 restrictions standards. Families with strollers and small children in tow, groups of teens just dismissed from distance learning and older couples stroll the wide halls, dropping their masks to sip a drink or lick an ice cream cone.
“It’s really nice when you have someone to perform for,” says Jerry, before Tally starts to laugh and quickly adds, “I just want to make sure I do it right, and don’t forget what move is coming next!”
Don Baldwin has been the General Manager of the Lloyd Center Skating Rink for 22 years. He says when he first arrived Jerry was still lifting Tally over his head.
Credit: Jerry Leonard
“They don’t do that anymore, and I’m kind of glad,” Baldwin says with a chuckle, “because it’s against the rules here to drop Tally.”
The laughter and fun times have returned to the rink these days, but those things have been absent from the venue for most of the past year.
Oaks Park roller rink plans to reopen to skaters Monday oregonlive.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from oregonlive.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.