Eastpoint Mall, an old Dundalk stalwart, to close this summer

Eastpoint Mall, one of the Baltimore area’s first shopping centers and a cultural landmark in Dundalk, opened in 1956.

On Aug. 31, it will close for good.

Tenants said they learned only recently about the closure of the 857,366-square-foot regional mall on Eastern Avenue.

On a recent afternoon, the mall was nearly deserted, with just a handful of stores and a few chains as anchors, including JCPenney, Lids and Foot Locker.

The food court had four vendors left, with a few people milling about. The upper and lower levels of the mall were empty, its walls and floors yellowed with age. “SALE” and “Everything Must Go!” signs were plastered on many of the remaining storefronts.

MCB Real Estate, the Baltimore-based firm that owns Eastpoint Mall, did not respond to several requests for comment.

The Eastpoint of today is a far cry from its heyday. In the 1980s, like many malls, it was a bustling social hub and a stepping stone for teenagers entering the workforce.

Pamela Welk-Klima, a Dundalk resident who grew up in a home behind Eastpoint Mall, said teenage life revolved around the shopping center.

On weekends and afternoons, it was “the place to go” to find boyfriends, work your first job and buy the trendiest clothes.

“We would always hang out there,” Welk-Klima said. “It had a fountain there, and my friends and I, we’d always throw pennies in it and make a wish.”

Welk-Klima worked multiple jobs at Eastpoint Mall starting when she was 14. Her first was at Friendly’s.

“It was fun working at the mall because your friends could come see you, and your parents would come embarrass you,” she said.

Welk-Klima said the mall has gone downhill in recent years, with fewer stores, more security and less foot traffic.

“It’s just dead and kind of scary to go there,” she said.

Others share her nostalgia. Under a Facebook post by a Banner reporter, dozens of people reflected on their Eastpoint Mall experiences. One recalled a time when it featured live penguins.

Carolyn Danielle Brodowski wrote that she grew up near Eastpoint Mall and stayed in the area until she was 29. She said she met her future husband at the Friendly’s in 1988.

“Been together 32 years,” Brodowski wrote, attaching a photo of the couple to the comment. She added, “I will always love that mall, it holds so many memories from my youth.”

Malls across the region and the U.S. have fallen on hard times.

Elsewhere in Baltimore County, Towson Town Center has experienced a decline in business. The Banner reported in April that nearly 25% of its storefronts are now vacant. Its Apple Store is closing Saturday.

Owings Mills Mall closed in 2015 and was redeveloped into an open-air shopping center. Security Square Mall and White Marsh Mall have also struggled with decreased foot traffic.

At Eastpoint Mall this week, store employees and owners declined to give their names, saying they were concerned about blowback from mall management.

The owner of Kid’s Act, a children’s clothing store open for 15 years, said she will close her store when the mall shutters.

“Business was good,” she said. “But the mall is closing, so it doesn’t matter how the business is going.”

An employee at Class Act, a dress shop open for 35 years, said she only learned of the mall’s closure last week. The storefront will move to White Marsh, she said.

The Event Center, a venue that has operated inside the mall for 10 years, posted on Facebook earlier this month about the impending closure.

The Event Center’s manager said the mall officially alerted the business last month, but rumors had been circulating for a while that the mall might be closing.

She said the abrupt announcement has hurt business for the rest of the summer. Some clients have had to reschedule events to get them in before the closing date. Other clients have gotten refunds.

“We have not solidified what we’re going to do next,” she said. “We’re just trying to prepare to maintain business up until that point.”