First, Crate & Barrel closed. Then Tiffany, Louis Vuitton, Tommy Bahama, Madewell, Banana Republic. Now, Apple.
Towson Town Center is hemorrhaging high-profile tenants. Vacant storefronts — 42 of them — pockmark each level of the four-story mall. That’s almost 25% of the spaces.
“The departure of several retailers and declining conditions” at the Towson mall contributed to Apple’s decision to close the store this July, the tech giant said in a statement. The company said it will leave two other U.S. malls for the same reasons.
Ellen Han, owner of Capitol Luggage & Leather, said safety concerns are among the many reasons she’s not renewing her lease, which ends this month. At times, she said, she’s closed her store early due to raucous behavior in the mall.
“It’s uncomfortable,” Han said.
Capitol Luggage’s last day at the mall is Sunday, making that storefront the mall’s 43rd vacancy.
U.S. malls are in trouble, thanks to the rise of online shopping, changing retail strategies and shifting consumer behavior. There were some 2,500 in the 1980s, compared to about 1,200 today, with another 300 expected to close by 2028, according to Capital One research. With scarce anchor tenants and above-average retail vacancy rates, malls struggle to remain profitable.
But Towson Town Center shoppers and retailers believe something more is at play. They point to out-of-order escalators and mall security that can’t keep up with shoplifting. Large groups of teenagers make other shoppers uncomfortable, retailers said, despite a longtime rule that they must be accompanied by an adult some evenings. Others call concerns about the mall and unruly youth overstated.
“The mall itself is not run very well,” said Daeshell Higgins, a sales associate at Tory Burch.
She said the mall’s owner, the Chicago-based General Growth Properties, is riding on the mall’s reputation from its heyday in the 2000s and 2010s, when it was a regional destination.
Representatives of General Growth Properties, a subsidiary of Brookfield Property Partners, did not respond to multiple requests for an interview and comment.
Not everyone sees a mall in decline at Towson Town Center.
Nancy Hafford, executive director of the Towson Chamber of Commerce, said the mall had a successful 2025 holiday shopping season that outperformed prepandemic years.
“There are things over there that need to be upgraded,” Hafford said, “but I’ve never had a problem at the mall.”
Other county malls, including Security Square Mall, White Marsh Mall and Eastpoint Mall in Essex, are arguably worse off. Owings Mills Mall closed a decade ago and was redeveloped as an open-air center with a Costco, Lowe’s and other retailers.
Towson Town Center used to draw customers from as far away as York, Pennsylvania, for its mix of shops unavailable elsewhere in the region: Tiffany for jewelry, Burberry for coats, Louis Vuitton for handbags. Plus, all the other mall staples under one light-filled roof.
Towson Town Center began life as Towson Plaza, a two-level shopping strip that was enclosed in the 1970s. Two more floors and parking garages were added in 1991, creating the mazelike structure inside and out that exists today.
It’s anchored by Nordstrom and Macy’s. Although Macy’s is in the middle of closing 150 stores by the end of the year, there’s no indication the Towson store is among them.
Today, the mall is slowly emptying and showing its age, with water stains dotting the ceiling and dirt obscuring some skylights.
Owen Rouse, senior vice president at MacKenzie Commercial Real Estate, said retail dynamics are changing. Thousands of stores have shuttered since the COVID-19 pandemic due to increased operating costs and bankruptcies.
Longtime national mall tenants Francesca’s and Eddie Bauer are closing all their stores, and children’s clothing store Carter’s plans to close 150 locations this year. Francesca’s left the Towson mall within the last few months.
The rise of online shopping is contributing to mall struggles, but in-person shopping still makes up a majority of retail sales, according to a report from Capital One.
As it tries to remain afloat in rough industry waters, Towson’s management isn’t doing the mall any favors, some retailers said.
Higgins, at Tory Burch, said rents are too high, especially considering the drop in foot traffic.
Around Christmas, the escalators didn’t work for months, forcing shoppers, some with strollers or in wheelchairs, to stuff themselves into small elevators.
Higgins said she and her colleagues have seen mall security scurry from floor to floor to stop teens who are prohibited from entering the mall without an adult Friday and Saturday evenings but come in regardless.
When they call about shoplifters, Higgins said, security takes at least 20 minutes to arrive. Theft prompted other luxury tenants to leave, she said.
Major crime has dropped across Baltimore County and in the Towson precinct in the last year, said Joy Lepola-Stewart, spokesperson for Baltimore County Police. Still, elected officials and candidates are raising the issue and proposing solutions as the county executive election approaches.
“We can’t let fear drive people, businesses and opportunity out of Baltimore County,” Nick Stewart, a candidate for Baltimore County executive, posted on his Facebook page after Apple announced it was closing the Towson store.
A week after the closure announcement, Stewart said those holding public office don’t take crime at the mall seriously enough.
“I certainly believe there is a public safety issue at the mall,” he said. “The mall feels unsafe, even when that is not actually true.”
County Council Chairman Mike Ertel, who represents Towson and is running for reelection, called the perception of danger at Towson Town Center overblown. Retailers are closing stores because consumers are shopping online, he said, and teenagers hang out there because they don’t have anywhere else to go.
Pikesville Councilman Izzy Patoka, who’s also running for county executive, suggested moving sheriff’s deputies to the mall because it was effective in reducing fights and friction downtown on Thirsty Thursdays. The county, Patoka said, also needs better strategies to recruit and retain businesses.
Woodstock Councilman Julian Jones, who is the only Black candidate in the county executive race, said he wanted to be careful how he talks about the mall’s issues.
“I don’t want to peddle fear and somehow contribute to the problem,” he said. “The issues that they have are not different from any other place.”
But even some teens find the large groups of teens intimidating.
On rare occasions, violence flares. Last November, four teenagers were taken into custody and one was charged with attempted murder following an assault and robbery at the Towson Town Center.
Christopher Jenkins, a Towson High School senior, said he doesn’t go to the mall in the evenings because he doesn’t feel safe around the congregating youth. That’s unfortunate, he said, and not the experience of his Gen X parents, who grew up going to the mall.
“I feel like I should be able to go to my neighborhood’s mall when I want to,” Jenkins said.
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