"The new centers are huge and incorporate a lot of different components such as entertainment and restaurants," Patrice Selleck, spokesperson for the International Council of Shopping Centers, tells GlobeSt.com. "Renovations are expensive but not as expensive as building a new center. If a company has an existing facility it will look to see how it can renovate the center to keep it vibrant."

Selleck adds that because of the competitive nature of the industry, companies generally need to renovate shopping centers every seven to ten years. These three malls are not looking to compete with the larger shopping centers--none of them added food courts or movie theaters to their centers. Changes enabled them to survive in an increasingly crowded market. Throughout the 1990s, big box retailers and huge regional malls in the area became the shopping draw for consumers. Many of their key anchor stores--such as Woolworth, Child World and Caldors--went out of business.

New England Development bought the Westgate Mall two years ago and invested $20 million on new lights, signs, floors, walls and ceilings. Sears department store and Old Navy were brought in as anchor stores. Dedham Mall and the Village Mall are both owned by Flatley Co. The company added Old Navy and the Gap to the mall in Dedham and is in the process of renovations on the mall's interior. The Village Mall was changed from an enclosed facility to a more modern outdoor shopping center with a walkway linking the stores. "That changes the whole feel of the center," Selleck says about an outdoor facility. "People can go right into it."