Central Perk. Luke’s. The Krusty Krab. JJ’s Diner. All iconic spaces that can be identified from some of America’s most popular sitcoms. They are what’s called “third spaces.”
Third spaces are places to hang out and meet people besides home and work. Public parks, libraries, malls, coffee shops, museums, gyms and restaurants are all third spaces. And lately, they have been disappearing across the country.
Josh Poag, president and CEO of Poag Development Group (and husband to Director of Counseling Amy Poag), recalls the importance of malls as third spaces when he grew up. The group recently acquired Oak Court Mall and plans to renovate the space.
“We would go to Hickory Ridge Mall and Oak Court [Mall] and Mall of Memphis. There were malls all over the place, and then eventually Wolfchase [Galleria] opened up, and it was a place for us to go,” he said. “As teenagers, our parents would drop us off there, and we would spend hours there meeting people and seeing friends.”
Third spaces like the malls Poag grew up going to have been on the decline for over a decade. According to Capital One, the number of malls nationwide has declined 16.7% from 2017 to 2022. The Mall of Memphis closed in 2003, and Oak Court’s struggles are well known.
The COVID-19 pandemic didn’t help, as it prompted a change in behavior for many Americans, including English teacher Caroline Goodman.
“In a way, I feel like there was a shift for me with Covid, where I’m still hyper aware of spaces that are being crowded, and I just don’t love them anymore,” she said. “We kind of learned that we don’t have to go out as much, and we’ve learned to enjoy our second spaces more than we did before Covid. I spend a lot more time at home than I did before.”
But the shift to staying home more came at a cost for businesses like malls and restaurants.
In 2019 there were about 703,000 restaurants nationally, but since COVID-19, around 72,000 have closed. In the past year, around two dozen restaurants and food trucks have shut down in Memphis, including favorites like Edge Alley, Belly Acres in Overton Square and Buckley’s.
Those that remain are charging more, making it harder for people to spend time there without blowing their budget.
Senior Emily Larkins said she believes that free things to do are hard to find.
“I can think of places I could go, but not many that I actually go [to] frequently … It doesn’t come to mind,” Larkins said. “I mostly think of hanging out at my house or going somewhere like a coffee shop, or somewhere where you do have to spend money”
Coffee shops are a growing third space, but they aren’t free. While many coffee shops let people sit for free, there is a mutual understanding between the cafe and customers that if a person is going to be there awhile they should be purchasing off the menu.
When faced with fewer third spaces and rising costs, many people turn to going outside.
Public parks are free spots where people can meet up with friends, get exercise and take a break. For Goodman, spending time in outdoor spaces with her dog is her favorite activity when she is not at work or home.
“Most of the time, if I’m not at home, I am taking [my dog] somewhere,” she said. “We do a lot of outdoorsy things, so we do a lot of walking the [Greater Memphis] Greenline. We do some Shelby Farms.”
Like Goodman, sophomore Anna Kay Bell has started spending more time at free or low-cost third spaces such as parks.
“I kind of just walk around, a lot of times I’ll go with my dad, and then we’ll bring my dog, and we’ll let him play at the dog park,” Bell said. “At parks, it’s fun to walk around and talk.”
Spending time outside is a great way to save money. However, Memphis weather and ever-present mosquitoes make this a less appealing option for many months of the year.
While many people struggle to come up with ideas for free third spaces to spend time at, there are actually quite a few in Memphis.
In 2023, Memphis was named one of the Best U.S. Destinations on a Budget, with Shelby Farms, Tom Lee Park, the Greenline, watching the Peabody Duck March and the Memphis Bridge lighting up every night as free things people can do.
Graceland, the National Civil Rights Museum, the Stax Museum of American Soul Music, the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, the Dixon Gallery and Gardens, the Memphis Botanic Gardens and the Memphis Zoo also offer special days where anyone who lives in Memphis is welcome to visit for free between certain times.
But for those still hoping for the mall experience, Poag is working on it.
In November 2023, Poag Development Group bought Oak Court Mall following its bankruptcy in 2022. This September his company also purchased the Macy’s at Oak Court Mall for $7 million.
The group has plans to deal with the challenges that location has faced in the past. Safety is one of the most important factors in a third space. Poag recognizes the safety problems that have plagued Oak Court and is working to make it a safer environment.
“Safety is first on everybody’s mind. If you don’t feel safe, you’re not going there… but we have been very active on the security side to provide that safe and secure environment,” Poag said. “As a Memphian, I knew that there was a security issue, and we went in there and we’ve addressed it, and it’s not perfect… but that’s a lot of what we’re focusing on right now.”
Poag hired a new security team, which aims to help reduce the crime risks. He also added more security cars in the parking lots, a better monitoring system during mall hours and overnight security.
Ultimately Poag would like to see something more like the Poag family’s other project: the Shops at Saddle Creek in Germantown.
“One of the main things that my dad focused on from the beginning was creating experience. And that’s the basis of our company,” Poag said. “When he built Saddle Creek, it was about creating alcoves where there were fountains and places to sit, and there were restaurants in those alcoves, so it gave places for people to congregate.”
Creating spaces like those in Saddle Creek, where people can sit and socialize between shopping or eating at a restaurant, adds a free element to an area where people usually are spending money.
“It’s [the] experience that we want people to enjoy,” Poag said. “And then it’ll become that third place…when they’re not at school or the office or at home. This is a place we want them to come [to], and naturally, they’ll go shop there, they’ll go eat there, they’ll spend money.”
Or maybe they’ll just have a new place to hang out.
