Silver Lake Mall's silver lining

Staring down the main concourse at the Silver Lake Mall is downright eerie.

“It looks post-apocalyptic,” suggested Erik Illum of Coeur d’Alene, trying for the best description of what we’re seeing.

Illum is not a mall shopper. He’s headed specifically to the Bulldog Lounge, where he meets seven or eight pals twice a month to smoke cigars.

But Illum is also one of perhaps a half-dozen human beings visible in the entire length of the concourse.

Just to our left is the massive (and relatively new) Encore shoe emporium. There are only two people in that vast space, and they are both employees — with little to do but stare at endless racks of boots and loafers.

“The time of the mall is pretty much over, I guess,” Illum said.

Indeed.

Sears made its vote official last week, announcing that Silver Lake would be one of 39 stores to close as the company tries to fight off $4 billion in debt.

Another of Silver Lake’s anchor stores could follow soon. Macy’s has made it known that it, too, plans to stem losses by closing a large number of stores. With Silver Lake already wounded as a retail center, it’s almost a cinch that Macy’s has its eye on Coeur d’Alene for the cut list.

Ironically, Silver Lake Mall hopes to remain solvent — more or less — by getting out of the struggling brick-and-mortar retail business.

A giant international call center, Philippines-based SPi CSM, opened in the former Sports Authority location last fall, and the company’s management claims it will have 500 employees at the mall within two years.

Although call centers are not exactly sexy, the large and established ones provide plenty of jobs at decent pay, and they need large spaces with plenty of free parking — the precise combination you can find at a dying mall.

But what exactly happened to Silver Lake, 30 years old and for years, a loud and busy retail hub?

Kaylee Triplett of Post Falls, another of the stragglers in the yawning concourse, accepts all the obvious explanations about Amazon and other online shopping options — but she notices something else.

“There used to be way more kiosks in the mall, selling all kinds of stuff,” she said, “and so there were way more teenagers in the place.”

TRIPLETT graduated from high school in 2006 and recalls that was just about the time teens stopped considering the mall a top gathering spot.

Ironically, Triplett is headed to Smart Smoke for e-cigarettes — meaning that the only two obvious shoppers in sight during a 20-minute stretch are both buying something to puff.

“It was fun to come in here through high school,” Triplett said. “And then it seemed like everything stopped at once.”

The kiosks are now mostly gone, and so are plenty of stores. Purchases are done online. You can’t help but conclude that Silver Lake Mall is on its last lap as a retail destination.

But as a massive call center?

Kootenai County already has had success luring that type of business to the area, and there’s certainly no reason to stop now.

In the meantime, though, it feels like the National Guard could stage maneuvers inside Silver Lake Mall and never hurt a soul.

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Steve Cameron is a columnist for The Press.

Email: scameron@cdapress.com.

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