Marin Catholic junior Jack Day, who has lived a close walk from Northgate since he was three years old, to this day, still remembers his experience spending time at the mall. “Some of my earliest memories are going and playing on the play structure inside, going to the movies with my friends and family, and eating all of the food in the food court,” says Day.

Day, like many other local teens, experienced a typical weekend at the mall, which usually included exploring the endless bonuses the building had to offer. Whether it was the new shoes displayed on the Foot Locker wall, the 25-cent gum kids begged their parents to buy, or even a new movie out in the theater, it was more than a shopping center to the community; it was a tradition, a memory we would never forget.

“It wasn’t just a mall, it was a place where countless moments of joy would happen,” says San Rafael High School senior Hayden Aguinagalde. “Whether I was shopping with my family, grabbing a bite to eat, or just hanging out with friends, there was always something to do there.”

Charlie Nute, a sophomore at SRHS, vividly remembers the decorations of the mall near Christmas time, which still sticks with her to this day. “I always loved going as a little kid, and being there during Christmas time. The whole mall would be decorated with trees and all sorts of ornaments… It was so magical,” she says.

On December 2, 2025, the San Rafael City Council decided that this same mall, the Northgate Mall that has been open since 1965, will close for good. The reason for this demolition includes many different factors, which have led to uncertainty about in-person shopping as a whole for the future. One in particular dates back to the days from 2019 to the start of 2020.

COVID-19 emerged in late 2019 and rapidly resulted in a global pandemic. The World Health Organization highlighted how the pandemic led to a dramatic loss of human life and created challenges to public health, food systems, and the world of in-person work and school. The economic and social disruption caused tens of millions of people to be at risk of falling into extreme poverty, and nearly half of the world’s 3.3 billion global workforce faced the threat of losing their livelihoods. On top of that, the pandemic was a direct cause for an increase in reports of mental health issues such as anxiety, depression, and burnout.

The pandemic caused serious changes to how society works. With an increase in technology and social media, people become reliant on the internet to do everything for them. We began adopting online shopping, such as Amazon or other retail companies to supply our needs, instead of going into stores and malls.

“I prefer online shopping now because it has a wider variety of options, not only articles of clothing, but also size ranges. A lot of times, in-person stores will sell out of certain sizes a lot faster than online websites. Same with non-clothing items, it can be much easier to find more specific products that fit your needs since online provides more options,” says SRHS senior Zadie Weber.

Because COVID-19 has made such a dramatic shift in in-person shopping, large companies found in almost every mall, such as Guess, Safeway, and JCPenney, have been affected and are focusing their efforts on e-commerce methods. According to “SAY GOODBYE Full list of retailers closing down locations for good by May 25 as experts reveal 2,500 will be gone by 2025,” published May 1st by The US Sun, JCPenney filed for bankruptcy in May 2020, leading to the closure of 175 stores. The company has since focused on enhancing its online operations, investing $40 million in expanding its distribution center to improve its distribution center to improve online order efficiency. With the rise of online buying, malls such as Northgate Mall have to close down indefinitely. “With all of these new factors, from social media to the rise of online shopping, consumers are being pulled away from malls one by one, leading to its slow and painful demise,” explains “The death of mall culture and the new age of shopping,” a 2023 article published in The State Press.

According to “US retail closures hit highest level since pandemic,” published November 13, 2024 from Fox Business, “As of November 2024, U.S. retailers had announced 6,481 store closures for the year, surpassing the total number of closures in 2023 and marking the highest level since the height of the pandemic in 2020, according to Coresight Research. Projections indicate that up to 87% of large shopping malls may close over the next decade, potentially reducing the number of malls in operation from approximately 1150 to as few as 150 by 2032.”

As for Northgate Mall, many stores and restaurants have closed since 2020 for redevelopment. One of the significant sources of popularity for Northgate Mall was the Cinemark Theater, which closed on November 10th, 2024. BJ’s Restaurant & Brewhouse closed on April 12, 2023, having to lay off 90 employees. Kohl’s closed its location due to a plan to shutter underperforming stores nationwide.

For SRHS students, going to Northgate Mall is out of style. “I used to go once a week when I was younger, often even twice,” says Giselle Grul, a junior at SR. “Now, I haven’t been in about seven months, maybe longer,” she adds. When asked about their past experiences, Grul and Elsa Kehoe, both juniors, described their time at the mall as “good and fun,” saying they especially enjoyed the clothing stores and the movie theater. “There was always something to do…[but] I haven’t gone in about 4 years,” says Kehoe.

Kai Payne, a senior at SR, says, “Northgate was chill, it was where my friends and I always hung out when we were younger. It was the essential meet-up spot.”

Payne says, “Besides going for lunch occasionally, I haven’t been into the actual mall in years.”

“There’s nothing to do there, it’s just like lingering around, and it’s creepy. There’s no shops,” Grul explains as a reason why they haven’t been going as much as they did. Kehoe adds, “I think that it’s because of COVID, which shut down all the stores that everyone used to go to… since there are no stores, nobody wants to hang out there, especially when the movie theater closed.”

Gloria Jean’s Coffees at Northgate Mall has been a local favorite spot for over 15 years. June Diaz, a senior at SRHS and a current barista at Gloria’s for seven months, says, “Business has been good but a little dry at times, but there are so many shops that have closed down… It isn’t super empty on weekends but weekdays it can get slow.” As for the redevelopment of the mall, Diaz adds, “They’re thinking of opening a new shop near Ross.”

One space that has a bright future through all this uncertainty is a non-profit teen community center known as the Karma Club, which opened on August 23, 2023. This nonprofit organization was designed to support teens in whatever way needed. Through the pandemic, they have noticed social anxiety and disconnection, and “with Karma Club, a gap is filled that brings a sense of belonging, community, meaning, and purpose.” The Karma Club has now been promised two spaces near the mall next to Chipotle and Peet’s, but for now, they will stay in their location.

Sally Newson, executive director of the organization, has praised the mall management for the way they have helped the club. “The mall management has always been very supportive! They have been very generous in discounting our rent to meet our nonprofit’s low budget. They love Karma Club, and they reached out to us offering the relocation within the mall.”

Conversely, two spaces in the mall are uncertain about their future. The first, Coliseum Sports, is a small local business with two other locations in Napa and Vacaville that sells numerous sports apparel and gear.

Edgar, the store manager at the establishment who didn’t want to use his last name for this story, says, “As of now, we haven’t heard anything from the mall, so we will keep business until we hear from them, if there is going to be a redevelopment, we will probably stay around this area.”

The other space, Shirtique, also an athletic-related retail shop, is in the same boat. A woman who works there agreed to speak with us but wanted to stay anonymous. She had thoughts similar to Coliseum Sports: “The mall hasn’t told us anything. When they do, we will move from there.”

To replace the outdated Northgate Mall, developers from Merloine Geyer Partners have plans to transform it into a mixed-use development that will be called Northgate Town Square to introduce residential units, different retail spaces, and community amenities to the 44-acre site. According to the article “Marin Voice: Northgate mall project offers opportunity for new model in senior care,” published December 25, 2023, from  Marin Independent Journal, the overall plan is to create up to 1,422 housing units, with around 10% of the units affordable housing. As for retail, it will be reduced from 775,677 square feet to around 225,100 square feet.

“I definitely think that the amount of brick and mortar has shrunk due to the decline of malls and increase of online shopping, as well as the shopping atmosphere that comes with going to the mall and shopping,” says Nute.

As for how it can be beneficial to the environment, the Marin Environmental Housing Collaborative states, “The project will improve our bike infrastructure. The developer has contributed $500,000 for the Merrydale pedestrian/bicycle pathway for the Civic Center SMART station… Residential units will be 100% electric, removing natural gas with EV charging stations available and solar panels installed on both residential and commercial buildings as well as commercial parking areas.”

Developments like this have recently been done similarly to Northgate. The Abella Center, formerly known as the El Portal Shopping Center and International Marketplace, was created in the early 2000s. The San Pablo Housing Department did not respond to any questions regarding the benefits of turning malls into housing and mixed retail. The old shopping center made in the 1960s closed down for reasons other than the spike in online shopping. It can still be used as an example, however, of what the Northgate Mall redevelopment could do for our city. The Abella Center increased the housing supply by adding 510 homes of all different types. According to the San Pablo EDC website, it created a village-style community with shared courtyards and is pedestrian-friendly. It also brought in popular retail tenants while supporting local businesses. During demolition, they salvaged materials to use for the redevelopment and used eco-friendly construction practices. All of these aspects are very intriguing and good ways to replace malls.

Even though this could mean that San Rafael is finding successful and alternative ways to bring together the community while reducing unused retail space, it also brings up nostalgia.

It was around 1976 when the grandparents of an SRHS parent and Coleman Elementary teacher, Kimberly Goodhope, moved into their house in Terra Linda, a close two minutes away from the mall. With both her parents locals in the Marin area, Goodhope’s childhood consisted of lots of time spent in the Terra Linda location, and more specifically, the Northgate Mall. Here, she would enjoy views of what used to be a big water fountain, go shoe shopping with her sister, and take family Christmas and Easter pictures every year. She recalls the mall as a monumental part of her childhood, a place she spent a significant amount of time at. That was, of course, until Goodhope’s father accepted a job in Washington, DC, forcing the family to move across the country. This change was something different for the family, but regardless of the distance, she never escaped Marin. On school breaks, she would come back and visit. Finally, after she finished her college years at the University of Maryland, she moved back to Marin and started a family. Then, as time had progressed, she ended up living back in her grandparents’ house, where she currently lives: “It’s the only place that everyone in my family considers home.” Goodhope now has three children who are spread out between the SRCS schools, and like her own childhood, the Northgate Mall has played a major role in the lives of her kids as well, as her oldest child, Hayden Aguinagalde, mentioned earlier.

Goodhope’s experiences with the mall occurred at its earliest years, and now she has been able to raise a family who have experienced the mall near its closing. Goodhope has seen the mall at its lowest points and shines at its highest. In today’s day and age, she has noticed the change in shopping, but can never fully put behind her memories and experiences the mall provided her. A thought she also can’t put aside, is what the future will look like for her kids with the mall: “Once the bigger stores started changing over and closing down, that really started to put it into my head that this is no longer going to be a place where my kids kids will know as a mall.”

Balancing the nostalgia aspect with the attempt to bring the community together makes the situation that much more difficult. It seems difficult to have our community brush off the Northgate Mall as a thing of the past. “When I found out the mall was being demolished, I was devastated. Everything that I grew up with started to slowly go away and disappear,” says Day.

Day has acknowledged the change in his childhood as well as the change in the city overall. He looks forward to the development, but has made it clear that he is “…sad to see childhood memories go away.”

Memories may not be lost, but technology continues to develop, and some members of the community have accepted the change. “I think for the most part malls are a thing of the past. Now that technology and online shopping websites have become so advanced and made to be very efficient, I think it’s unlikely for people to return to in-person shopping like before,” says Weber.

As demolition is set to start in summer 2025, the community will see the new development in full effect in the following years. This change would ultimately be beneficial to the SR community, providing houses for low-income families, bringing new stores and businesses to an obsolete area. The redevelopment is trying to adapt to the future. This will cause malls just like Northgate to become a thing of the past. This, however, doesn’t change the memories of the past that will always be a part of our lives, and finding comfort in accepting change with the new world of technology.

Through all this change, we remember connecting with friends, reclining back in our movie theater chairs, but most importantly, the memories we as a community created together. Kids will have to find new ways to connect, a new common ground where everyone can meet. In-person connection continues to be less important to the next generations. Even though we don’t know what the future will hold for human interaction, there has to be a change in order to have kids, just like us, create memories that aren’t on a screen. There is uncertainty that the new changes at Northgate will maintain the community that was created by the mall. Will this work? Only time will tell, but this could be a step in the right direction as we try to find alternative ways to save in-person connections for future generations.