Willow Lawn Reverts to Outdoor Mall

By Junelynn Tran

Willow Lawn will transform into an outdoor mall, forcing some stores to go out of business.



Some businesses consider renovation an opportunity to start fresh. For others, it means going out of business for good. Or for worse.

Owner of Gold 'N Gold Jewelers, Abdul Moosa, has had his kiosk open at Willow Lawn for over ten years. The recent reconstruction has forced him to shut down his business.

"Well, it is a very sad thing, you know, when they do the renovations," Moosa said. "I am being displaced out of my business, and I won't have any other alternative, except to be out, you know. The small business will die on which my sustenance depends on my bread and butter."

Moosa says Federal Realty, the company that owns the mall, failed to notify him about the renovations and he found out about it through the news. The renovations call for striking down the interior part of the mall and converting it into a parking lot for easier store accessibility.

Customers will be able to get around the mall more easily. Some feel that the changes are necessary due to its current atmosphere. One customer, Minh Nguyen, comments on the mall's lack of appeal.

"It has no stores that I'm remotely interested in or any of my friends would be interested in, and it's very slow," Nguyen said. "Nothing's really going on inside. The design of it inside alone is very boring and dull to me."

As for Moosa, the future of his store remains unclear. He will either leave by the end of the month, or extend his contract for another month or two.

"And as a result of that, I don't know what is my future," Moosa said. "Are they going to offer me a space outside? So I have got a lot of layaways for the people here. I have to communicate to the customers to come and pick it up, the time is short, I'm in a limbo, and I don't know what's going to happen and how long they will give me."