Dedham Mall

Dedham Mall really needs more but is good. Dedham Mall has a Sears, Foot Locker, Game Stop, Radio Shack, Stop & Shop, Job Lot, Dick’s, Dedham Health, Toys R Us, Lowes, Five Below, TJ Maxx, DSW, UNO, Bob’s Furniture, AC Moore, and more. Yet the mall needs more and has more space it’s still a great mall!

This is a pretty sad mall, you can tell it used to be a place to be, but now, it’s just the place the houses the lower end stores that weren’t good enough for the mall on the other side of the expressway.

Dedham Mall used to be pretty damn amazing. It was huge and had so many stores. What is is now is kind of joke if you remember what it used to be in the 80s/​90s. Sad. Now it’s just standard fare — DSW, TJ Maxx, Old Navy, Sears, Foot Locker.
They do have a Five Below here which can be appealing if you just need cheap, iPod cases, DVDs or office supplies.

The older reviews for the Dedham mall are based on a time far gone when the Dedham mall was lame and nothing was there. But it’s awesome now.
1) There’s a Starbucks. Frappuccinos and Iced Tea for me! Normal coffee for the normal people.
2) New Stop and Shop! It’s clean, it’s huge, it’s great.
3) Gas station for Stop and Shop. I get my gas cheaper bc I always shop at Stop and Shops.
4) Chipotle was really salty when I went there but Five Guys is there in case you want an indulgent burger.
5) Gamestop so you can buy video games and be awesome.
6) Sears. They have appliances and the clothes are always on some awesome clearance.
7) Old Navy. Awesome.
8) DSW, for Shoes! TJMaxx cause you like deals.
9) Lowes has stuff you need for your house.
10) IHOP in case you don’t know how to make pancakes yourself.
11) Dick’s Sporting Goods in case you like to laugh at the name and buy sports equipment.
12) Uno’s. In case you’re starving.
You should go and you should love it.

This is one of the worst malls I’ve been to. First off, the stores aren’t even connected, meaning that you can’t walk from one store to another unless you go outside. The plaza isn’t aesthetically pleasing, horribly designed. Most of the stores are in the back, and the retailers, with names like Sears, Footlocker, Radioshack, etc, just gives off a feeling that these companies are behind the times (why are they still in business?). It appears that Dedham tends to attract these types of companies in ill thought out shopping locations.

It’s not easy to take an average mall, fix it up and make it worse in the process but that’s been the evolution of the Dedham Mall. At one time this was a pretty servicable shopping location, with requisite anchors like Bradlees, Sears, and Woolworth’s. In addition, it had some smaller retailers and a few restaurants and was relatively easy to navigate. While it wasn’t too high-​end it did the job for people living between Boston and Providence and was enough of a destination to keep people coming back often.
That Dedham Mall met a need. Today, though, it’s just a sprawling blot on the suburban Boston retail landscape. While once among its stores were some unique offerings today it’s just chain stores and that diminishes the selection and choice available to shoppers. Granted, Bradlees and Woolworth’s aren’t around any more but they new mall has simply brought in other more-​of-​the-​same chain stores to replace them.
The «mall,» isn’t even under one roof any more, as half of it lies under the old structure while the rest (Dick’s Sporting Goods, Super Stop & Shop, Starbucks, etc.), is located in separate buildings across the parking lot. No longer can shoppers stay warm and dry while doing all of their errands under one roof. The «mall,» isn’t a «mall,» any more, it’s a shopping complex and that takes away some of the convenience that once made the Dedham Mall so attractive.
About the best things that can be said for this incarnation of the Dedham Mall are that it’s got a ton of parking and that it’s easy to reach from Boston or points south. With the dominance of the chains, their homogenized product lines, and the sprawling character of this complex the Dedham Mall has lost a lot of its uniqueness and the shopper-​friendly character that once made it a destination. Shopping at the Dedham Mall used to be a pleasure, now it’s a chore. Too bad. They really had something here and they’ve lost it.