Har Mar Mall Sold?

Interesting article in the Strib about the pending sale of the local Har Mar Mall.

With its hodgepodge add-ons over the years, Har Mar -- named for its original owners Harold and Marie Slawik -- exudes a quirky charm for fans and has become a local pop culture reference point, from the singer Har Mar Superstar to lyrics by the band the Hold Steady.

"It's essentially a strip mall cobbled together into an indoor mall," writes Ross Schendel on his retail history blog Labelscar.com -- named for the mark left behind after a store's sign is removed from a mall's exterior.

"It failed to compete with the glitzier, bigger Rosedale Center just up the street and reinvented itself by replacing the anchors with big-box stores and off-price, nontraditional anchors and stores," Schendel writes.

Labelscar - now that's an interesting concept for a blog:

If you’ve ever seen a store go out of business and remove the signage from their old building, then you’ve seen a labelscar. It’s more or less the equivalent of a watch tan; it’s the mark left on a building, where weather and the elements didn’t take their toll on the facade because it was once covered by signage for the occupants of the building, but is no more.

Labelscar - reminds me of Ghost Signs.