Providence Place has undergone many changes since it opened 25 years ago.
Jane Frankel was the first person to enter the newly built mall on August 20, 1999.
“We all met in the parking lot at 6:00 a.m. and headed to Providence,” Frankel said.
She was accompanied by a group of women who shared the same passion for the new shopping center.
To their surprise, people came in droves, all with the same desire to be the first to get in.
“There’s this little boy sitting next to me with his parents, and I’m talking to him and so on… And he says to me, ‘I’m going to get in first’… And I’m thinking, I don’t believe that,” Frankel said.
In a sea of people, she made her way under the gate as soon as it opened and was the first person to enter Nordstrom.
Although she was the first person in the store, Frankel said she didn’t buy anything that day.
She entered the three original anchor stores: Nordstrom, Filenes and Lord & Taylor.
25 years later, all three were replaced.
Other retailers such as Pottery Barn and Crate and Barrel moved to Garden City in Cranston.
NBC 10 asked a consumer expert if he thinks the mall will be around for another 25 years.
“I actually expect there will be a lot more mixed use. I think there will be more experiential value, I think there will be more to do and less traditional shopping,” says Sarah Jablon-Roberts, a professor at Johnson & Wales.
Providence Place Mall currently has 60% of its original tenants.
NBC 10’s Molly Levine contributed to this report.
