Providence Place

My friends and I stopped by Providence Place for some shopping on a Saturday since we were nearby at Waterplace Park. They have all the typical stores and even additional entertainment venues such as an IMAX and Dave & Busters. I was impressed! Compared to the malls in NYC, Providence Place is clean, spacious, and not noisy with screaming toddlers and teenagers. The lines for the fitting rooms and registers are short and their escalators work. I can definitely see myself shopping here stress-​free if I lived in Providence.

If your looking to spend more time waiting to get out of the garage than you do shopping in the mall, then Providence Parking Place Mall is the experience for you.

The P.F. Chang’s at this mall is so crass and rude, it’s mind-​blowing. On our last trip there, we went to have dinner there. We entered the restaurant only to be told they were «closed» due to «burst pipe» in the area. It was Saturday night and your closed. They said they were not sure if any of the other places were closed as well. Guess what, not ONE other place to eat was closed in the mall. A very poor choice on the manager’s part. I will never eat at a P. F. Chang’s again. Even on a good day, this place is over rated and over hyped to say the least. And your food and service are crap as well. Bye Felicia!

This mall never dis-​appoints. It is a fairly big mall in the New England area and has got far better stores than any given mall. Some of the highlights are the IMAX, Zara, Lush, Crate & Barrel, Dave & Busters, Fire & Ice, P.F. Chang’s and many more.
It gets crowded during the weekend given that the IMAX, Dave and Busters are under a single roof however it is worth the time spent here. The most expensive stores are on the 1^st floor and the cheapest are on 3^rd. This mall is at a great strategic location in downtown with the state capitol to the north and City Hall and the financial district to the south. This place has got great views of the Providence river and waterplace park (especially the upper levels) and the water fire days brings in much more crowd and makes this place totally worth-​while. The mall is also connected via sky bridge to the convention center and the Dunkin Donuts arena.
The only draw-​back with this mall is the paid parking to get into the mall. Most of the malls offer free parking lots to the public and this one should be no exception. Except for the parking this mall is great and has got something to offer for all age groups.

After walking with my parents through Providence Place, who were in awe of the mall, I’m reminded of how great it is. The compact layout makes it easy to walk the whole mall in a short amount of time. It is open, spacious, and very clean. My parents were impressed by the carpeted floors. I love going here during my lunch break. It’s very easy to hit mutliple stores within an hour. Having a movie theater here is super convenient and the theater is very clean and comfortable.
That said, I worry a little bit about the future of the mall given the recent mass exit of some stores – White House Black Market, Crate and Barrel, Pottery Barn. I hope something good goes into the old Penney’s space.
Parking is not nearly as bad as people make it out to be. The doors are well-​marked and if you pay attention it’s easy to remember where you parked. While it would be great if parking were free, $ 2 for 5 hours is perfectly reasonable.

Nice mall, great shopping venue. There are several restaurants available; I wish I had these options at my hometown mall, Westfield Valley Fair in San Jose, CA!

Holy Crap!.. IF I could give zero stars I would… first, I’m not talking about the vendor stores. I’m just talking about the mall property itself, and the garage.
Starting with the garage. easy to get in, insane to get out. Always traffic exiting this damn place. And beware, some areas are one-​way, others 2-​way, but it’s difficult to figure out which is which. Also, the pre-​pay stations are NOT at every mall exit. so if you want to pay cash, you need to either hunt for one of these, or drive down close to the exit and get out and pay cash there. You can only us a credit/​debit card at the actual gate. The guys who designed this garage should be shot, castrated, then shot again. LOL.
Next. inside. typical mall. except for the escalators. For some reason, they are set so that in order to go up more than one floor, you go up one escalator, then walk around to the other side to go up again. Most NORMAL places have the escalators such that where one ends, you simply turn and go right up. Same for the way down. Just bizarre.
There’s also a bunch of restaurants that you can only access from outside. So if it’s cold or rainy, and you want to park in the garage and eat in one of those places (eg, Fire & Ice, Uno) you have no choice but to go outside to get to those.
Overall. I just don’t get who designed this place. Just one screw-​up after another.

So I can’t say I love the mall for shopping but I def love it for my Nailssss! My favorite nail salon Foxie Nails in located on the first floor, I come atleast twice a month, to see my Judy, she is amazing! It’s easy to get in and out, helps that their is plenty of parking, as well, I love being able to grab an outfit at H&M, or a candle at Yankee Candle, it makes it easy to do other shopping while also getting pampered. Love PPM, always a good time!

The mall is a run of the mill mall but what gives it ZERO stars is their stupidity regarding parking. So the season brings a ton of foot traffic and cars it literately takes hours to park and exit for two bucks a cat they be better off opening the gates to speed entry and exit. No amount of traffic attendants will offset the bottle necks the gates create.

Providence Place has a good variety of stores for sure. If I come here with a purpose in mind, I can feel confident that I’ll be able to find what I need somewhere. There’s pretty much every chain I regularly visit, from Nordstrom, Gap, and J. Crew to the Apple Store.
Just be methodical about going around because of the wacked up 3 basement floors on each side. It can take a good 10 minutes to navigate the circuitous escalator setup from top to bottom if you’re not careful.
The food court is OK, but I wish there were 1 – 2 more options. I’m not a fan of Johnny Rocket’s, and I’ve never been adventurous enough for mall sushi, so that leaves only a few place to grab a quick meal. There is a Popeye’s, though, so all is forgiven.
It’s also cool that there’s a movie theater, sizable CVS, and Dave and Buster’s, all under the same roof. Overall, this is a well maintained mall. I’ll certainly be back!

It’s a okay looking mall. I don’t like when there is a charge for parking in any mall. But it’s not that bad here, $ 2 for 5 hours! They have Nordstrom and the usual Macys. All the other shops are the usual ones from any other mall.
I saw a vendor outside a store. When I got closer I saw it looks like they are selling light bulbs! After further investigation I saw it had a table lamp included with the light bulb. The lamp and 4 light bulbs for just $ 10. What a deal! I have a bad habit of wanting to support all these vendors in mall, so I bought two sets. I was hopping that I had not been scammed out of $ 20 dollars since I don’t live near this mall. But they turned out just great.
When it was time to leave, as I got near my car I saw security standing by my car! I asked if I had parked in a spot that I should not have? He said no, but I should have put away my GPS as someone could have broken my window and taken off with my old GPS. I was surprised by his comment, I said if they do then you are not doing your job right! Right?

Nicest mall in the area, imo. Every retail store you can think of is inside of this mall. For my L.A. folks: I’d put this mall on the same level as the Glendale Galleria — not quite the Bev. Ctr., but not the dismal Fox Hills either. Anyway, it’s decent and there’s a solid presence by all the major retailers you’d expect to find inside a good mall.
The food court’s kinda whack, though. Including: Taco Bell, Popeye’s, subway, Johnny Rocket, and a few others. No sir no thanks. There are some restaurants on the outside of the mall, at or about street level, that are decent. So far I’ve tried Joes and that place next to CVS. they were both alright.
Parking. OMG. If you can take the train in, you’re set. Otherwise, prepare to drive in circles for a spot and then pay $ 10 to exit.
All and all, notwithstanding my qualms, I’ll be returning because, let’s face it, this is one of the better malls put this way. Think of how crumby the mall is in Dartmouth, and you’ll come to appreciate what I’m saying. Happy shopping!

This mall is a decent sized mall with 3 levels. It has many of the chain stores that you would expect such as Macy’s and JC Penney. It also features a Dave and Buster that I did not get a chance to go to during my time in the city but I am sure it is the same experience everywhere. Like Fire + Ice, there are other food chains such as Panera Bread, Cheesecake Factory, and P.F. Chang’s China Bistro. I went to each of those restaurants multiple times. In particular, Cheesecake Factory is one of my favorite chains so I have definitely gone more times and ate much more than I should have while I was in Providence. The mall also has an IMAX theater. It is legitimate one with a massive screen. It is a very comfortable theater to see a movie. Being from New York, it was a lot less than I am accustomed to with a $ 15 night showing for IMAX. If you go on a Tuesday, the tickets for all showings are half off.
If you are passing by Providence and looking for recommendations, please see

Massive mall. Not too sure but I’d declare the biggest in the smallish state of Rhode Island. We entered into this cavernously large parking a garage and made our way to one of the entrances. The mall is very vertical high and long. Three levels. Overall a very wide selection of stores. The mall is anchored by Nordstom on one end, Macys on the other and JC Penney in the middle. Many shops with excellent selection for you to choose from that fits most genres will lighten the wallet if you are a shopper. As we walked by the food court there were people with trays of testers trying to get you to come in and spend your money on a plate of food. So we decided to have dinner at one of the Asian places which I will include in my next review. There are other sit down restaurants of higher quality Cheesecake Factory, PF Chang’s and Pizzeria Uno if you find food court food not to your liking. Come prepared for lots of walking if you want to explore the mall. A short walk to the state capital and the riverwalk once you exit the mall.

The interior of the mall is upscale, but a bit confusing. A labyrinth of escalators, and floors that are dead ends. When parking in the garage be SURE you know what floor and section of the lot you are on or you may never find your vehicle again! Bring your parking ticket with you and pay at one of the machines before going back to the car.
There are lots of stores in this many level mall, and only a few stores that I love like Crate and Barrel and Lush. For the most part everything is just expensive, (Sun dress on sale for $ 159? No thank you.) or not something I’d wear. The Movie theater is nice and there are a few restaurants here like Dave and Busters and The Cheesecake Factory.
A nice place to walk around, get some exercise and window shop. Lots of younger people here and very busy on the weekends. The stores for the most part are clean and spacious. Come in to get out of the summer heat or winter cold, grab a quick bite and see a movie: but leave the car at home.

This the perfect for high schoolers. I remember hanging out at the mall in my hometown at that age, wishing it was bigger so I could do some more window shopping. However, at my current age, I just want to buy and return just what I need and get out of there.
Idiotically, my friend and I parked in the garage without noting which floor we were on. Oh my god, what a giant mistake. We looked for the car for 40 minutes. We parked on a level that you cannot get to via elevator. It’s in between two floors that are accessible by elevator, so you have to go down or up a set of stairs to get to this level. Duly noted only after that long, long time frame.
We walked around the mall and then went out for the WaterFire show later in the evening. No fire that Friday night, just an outdoor concert. It was awesome that it was free, but it was flocked with high schoolers and college students who were getting touchy feely. PDA everywhere. Not my neck of the woods.
Nice mall but I find it overrated. Big as it is, not worth my time to stop by again.

Pretty decent shopping mall with 3 levels of stores most popular. The stores themselves were neatly organized. There is a fee to park though so we usually walk here from my apartment. There is also a movie theater on the top floor which isn’t too expensive.
Overall, I’ll come here if I need something from the stores or to eat at cheesecake. It’s nicer to walk outside.

Huge mall! Carpeted!
Plenty of stores and restaurants!

What? I can review the Providence Place Mall? Oh my gosh, I’m going to have a field day! Well, truly, I’ve experienced far better malls. This mall is as mediocre as it gets.
Let’s start with the selection. I’ll say as a guy that there isn’t much there for me that isn’t super overpriced. I’m not into the super name brand stuff… I just want comfortable, durable clothes that look good. Can’t they add a men’s section of H&M or something? I’d actually go!
Food court is really awful. The only two places with anything gluten-​free are the Charley’s (if you want a sandwich masquerading as a salad) or the Subway (if you want a sandwich masquerading as a salad). Of the two, only Charley’s has good customer service. There used to be an Indian restaurant called Tadka India. It was really quite good. I enjoyed their food, as did anyone I knew who brought it up. It’s a shame to see it go. Also, farewell to the Ben & Jerry’s, which was quite delicious, but their customer service team was probably among the most rude I’d ever really worked with.
The Nordstrom Café and the downstairs e-​bar (?) are top notch, though. Especially that little coffee hub on the first floor at Nordy’s. Their service is usually amazing.
Parking… is a disaster. It’s easy to get in and very difficult to get out. Prepaid for parking before leaving? Hope it doesn’t expire before you actually make your way to the exit. Also, mall employees have to pay exorbitant fees for their parking passes, and when you consider the average retail employee makes something like $ 10 an hour and works 20 hours per week, their transportation costs are even more detrimental.
The people who work at kiosks along the way are hit or miss, but when they miss, they miss pretty far. There’s a shoe shining place there, and the guy working noticed I was wearing crummy boots and wouldn’t leave me alone. I had actually just purchased, earlier that week, the stuff to polish and clean them up on my own. He wouldn’t take no for an answer then said something very rude to me as I walked away from his kiosk. Dude, if I messed up my own shoe upkeep and you were nice, you could’ve had my business.
The ground floor restaurants tend to be quite nice with long waits, although Joe’s usually seats you pretty quickly (and is, by far, the best among them, while being less expensive than all but Fire & Ice. Go figure).
Let’s talk about escalators. I’m sure the genius architect assumed that by setting them up to make patrons walk around the stairs to get to the next level, they assumed more people would enter the stores nearby, and it would justify charging a premium on rent for those stores. First of all, they’re mostly technology hubs like T-​mobile and Verizon, so they aren’t impulse buy locations. But secondly, they’re inconvenient for the average patron who is typically a Rhode Islander and typically has been to that mall enough times to know where everything is.

Alright, after living in Providence for so long, I guess it is time to write a little something something for the biggest mall in RI.
What can I say? It’s the best mall in RI, hands down with really cheap and convenient parking ($ 2 for 4 – 5 hours) and offers a lot of shops for pretty much all of your shopping needs. The D&B is great, especially on Wed when it’s 50% off. The movie theatres are nice and clean, and offers a wider variety of top hits than the other showcases cinemas nearby.
Overall, it’s a mall.