The Walpole Mall

the mall (inside) itself really is sad indeed. the last time I went in was a couple years back. i was curious so I cut through from kohls and did a quick stroll to barnes & noble and back. there were able 5 shoppers in my sight total. in there, i found a dollar store, payless shoes (or equivalent), a cheap jewelry/​accessories store (like claire’s), a tobacco/​lottery/​snacks type of corner stand, maybe a haircut or nail place, among a couple other random things. i did remember secretly rejoicing at the fact that the tobacco store stocks cigars, not that i ever went back to get any.
i’m giving the place 4 stars not because of the above, but because i’m counting the «outer rim» businesses as part of the mall (they do situate on the premise), also the fact that the management does make an effort to revive the place despite current sadness: jo-​ann fabric and petsmart opened this past year, texas roadhouse and «something» fitness joined in a couple years back, and a few more smaller establishments (a battery place, a froyo place) popped up as well. there are also small but helpful changes on the outer roadways made recently to ease/​de-​tangle mall traffic. numerous crosswalks were added around the lot.
they also invited Santa over during the holiday season! i never saw him myself but couldn’t help but see the gigantic signs hung around outside, even along route 1. so yeah, management does still care, and that’s very commendable in the days and times we live in.
the only «complaint» left to make, since ever, is really the fact that the mall/​parking lot is not accessible to/​from the mcdonald’s side. meaning, one can only go in/​out by coney street, or route 1 south (from north you’ll have to wait at that intersection light, then turn into coney or make a u-​ie). small inconvenience, but nothing one can really do about it.
parking lot is huge enough to support the patronage though — mostly to the few brand-​name stores (kohls, b&n, old navy, bath & body works, office max, party city, gym, etc) and restaurants (chili’s, panera, taco bell, five guys, panda express, texas roadhouse, etc) on the outer rim. the multiple entry/​exit points along route 1 s really makes sense too. there was never a problem going in and out, even on weekends and black friday, no matter how long your stay is.
overall, this mall is very beneficial to locals and has a reason to stay. i have lived around the area for years and this is my go-​to place when a need pops up: from food, books, gifts, supplies, to quick/​specific/​holiday shopping, i can find it here. this is NOT the type of place one should be looking to make a whole-​day family outing out of, nor is this the place to satisfies all needs (though it still kinda does, in smaller scale). for those needs, there are legacy/​patriots/​providence place (s) at your service.
yeah the lack of foot traffic inside the mall is really depressing, but that’s for the store owners to worry about, not consumers. i probably overlooked the little play area (with climb-​y, crawl-​y structures, coin-​op cars/​horsies) inside last time i was in there. in-​laws recently took my child there and he had a blast! my kid was not being trampled to death by tens of other kids, and he could play as long as he wanted without the crowd or elevated noise level which one should come to expect on any playground at peak hours. fewer users also (hopefully) means, relatively cleaner structures.
now who is to say there is no upside for a deserted mall? :)

Based on the fact every other store space inside of the mall is vacant I doubt anyone is really reading Unilocal but if you are, figured Id give you a free tip.
As every other commenter on here has made clear, your mall has seen better days. If a family is taking a break from actually patronizing your mall in the kids play area, maybe don’t have the pit bull security lady come by and scream at kids and parents intermittently. Id be the first to admit if my kids were being animals or someone else’s were but 100% not the case. Probably a good place to start if you are remotely interested in turning things around.
There on the evening of 02 – 22 for probably the last time.

The Walpole Mall is not a mall in the true sense of the word. It’s rundown & gross. The stores outside the actual «mall» are what make this area an attraction for shoppers. Kohl’s, Panera, Taco Bell, Old Navy and Barnes & Noble to name the most popular. No need to even go inside what used to be the Walpole Mall… it’s an empty carcass of a place that’s seen better days years ago.

Wow. This was the saddest mall that I have ever visited! Store upon store was closed. There appeared to be construction beginning so everything was a mess and there was just a general sense of dirtiness– as if the cleaning staff had been fired months ago. The stores they did have (save maybe 3) weren’t interesting at all– your run of the mill nail salons, sad food court and we buy gold type places. The only store that remotely interested me was the Barnes & Noble. Not surprisingly, the mall was a virtual ghost town. The only crowd my friend and I saw were gathered outside Hometown Buffet (eww) and in a line extending down the mall hallway right next to closed down shops! There were several restaurants and other stores in the same plaza area and they looked interesting (and still in business) but I find it laughable that this place calls itself a mall. I hope it’s just a down period and things open up again because if not then I can’t see the place staying in business much longer.

Uh um… I’m making it official… The Walpole Mall is past it’s prime. Yes, this place has seen better days and that must have been quite a while ago.
In fact, this story reminds me of the old Framingham Mall, which was in the same situation years ago. I am hoping that this shopping center will have the same happy ending as that one. In Framingham, the mall was pretty much converted into a strip mall, where all the stores can be seen from the outside. This would be a good solution here, since there is no good reason to venture into the bowels of this mall. Another Unilocaler, Justin S., reports a similar story occuring to the Dedham mall. I agree with him, time for conversion into a strip mall is now!
Don’t get me wrong, there are many good reasons why you should go to the Walpole mall, but they are all located in the parking lot or are on the outside of the mall facing Rte 1. Here you can find Panera, Taco Bell, Old Navy, Barnes & Noble and Kohl’s. All places that need to have a place somewhere along Rte 1.

the walpole mall used to be a awesome mall with lots of great stores but now when you walk out of barnes and noble into the mall and the end there are no stores except jo-​ann fabrics and they had this store called kids r kids they were there 9 months and then they went out of buisness there used to bea fye in the walpole mall there used to be a
there used to be a CVS phramacy you know what they did they cut down the lexusnext to the walpole mall and extedant it down when there was no stores to be down there so they took out a bunch of the stores left in the mall and put them in the new slots they built. Now when you leave Barnes and noble there’s The Hallmark store, papa gions, old navy, bath and body works, dots, Payless shoe source, Claires and Kohls thats it in a 1000 feet mall now at the end of the mall there’s IParty, Olympica sport, Famous Footwear and LA/​fittness I hope some other stores come into the mall or else the mall is going down!!!