Stephanie Winningham, right, hugs Jenny Gilmore Robinson on the last open day of the Lloyd Center in Portland, Ore., on Aug 8, 2026. Both are part of a tight-knit skating community that lobbied to try and save it.
Saskia Hatvany / OPB
Sonya Neunzert tucked herself into a dark corner near the entrance of the Lloyd Center, a large sketchpad placed on her lap, as she looked up at the large spiral staircase.
For the past few weekends, Neunzert has sketched multiple features of the dying mall, before it’s gone forever. Her favorite drawing was of a pair of arcade games placed conspicuously in the middle of an empty hallway, which she described as “a liminal space.”
“It feels to me like this space reflects so many different decades in which it existed,” Neunzert said. “It’s like this building kind of has its history written all the way through it.”
That entire history was on full display Saturday, as thousands flocked to the Lloyd Center to bid farewell to one of Portland’s most iconic buildings. The mall, once a hub of commerce, has experienced years of decline that’s left the historic mall littered with empty storefronts. It’s part of a decadeslong trend that has seen malls shrink in size across the country.
Crowds flood the Lloyd Center on the last day before the mall's closure on Aug. 8, 2026, in Portland, Ore. The building is set to be demolished to make way for a mixed use housing development.
Saskia Hatvany / OPB
This husk of a shopping center is a far cry from the mall that opened to such fanfare in 1960. Constructed after 30 years of planning and at a cost of $100 million, the Lloyd Center opened with developers calling it the largest shopping mall in the world. At its opening event, Mayor Terry Schrunk released 700 homing pigeons, each carrying word of the new mall across the region. The Oregon Daily Journal at the time described it as “a paradise.”
“There are so many things to see, so many places to go and so many items you want to buy that you don’t know where to start,” the newspaper reported. “Everything at the center is permanent, cool, clean and luxurious.”
A few remnants of those days could be found Saturday. Skaters took to the famed ice rink in droves for one last opportunity. Throughout the day, members of the skating community struggled to hold back tears, passing around a communal tissue box scribbled with the words “b/c we will need this today.”
The skating community had led an unsuccessful attempt to save the mall, which houses Portland’s only year-round ice rink.
“It’s been coming for a while, we did everything we could to stop it and I think now we’re just all grieving,” said Jenny Gilmore Robinson. “I think I’m on maybe my fourth or fifth cry. It’s not about a rink, it’s about a community.”
Hundreds of people line up for Joe Brown’s Carmel Corn.
Saj Sundaram / OPB
Nearby, Joe Brown’s Carmel Corn, the last original shop at Lloyd Center, soon had a line that seemed to snake across the entire mall.
At the very front of the line was Preston Salami, who grew up in the Lloyd neighborhood. He remembered many afternoons spent after school with friends, either seeing movies, eating or skating. He and his wife had their first date at the mall more than 20 years ago.
Despite the nostalgia, he said he’s hopeful that whatever comes after Lloyd Center will benefit the surrounding area. The owner, Urban Renaissance Group, currently plans to construct housing, parks and other shopping opportunities on the site. A new music venue is being built where Nordstrom once stood.
“I think getting more people in the area is always going to be an improvement,” Salami said. “People have been running away from the Lloyd Center area, and if we can bring some people back, that’ll bring some businesses back.”
Memories come flooding back
Tally Leonard, left and Jerry Leonard, right, hold hands as they perform their final skate. The pair have skated together at Lloyd Center for nearly six decades.
Saj Sundaram / OPB
The mall, which had laid virtually dormant for months, felt like a bazaar Saturday, with vendors selling trading cards and homemade art around every corner. Thousands crowded around the ice rink to see the final skate of Jerry and Tally Leonard, who skated Lloyd Center weekly since 1967.
For the most part, those at the mall said they didn’t remember the items they bought or the deals they chased. They uniformly remembered the people they came with and the memories it created: their daughter skating in a Christmas performance, their mother taking them back-to-school shopping and their grandchildren giggling in the play area.
People participate in the final Food Court 5000 on Saturday.
Saskia Hatvany / OPB
Jason Andersen had recently leased the old Spencer’s Gifts and turned it into a pinball arcade. On Saturday, he had two machines left, which he allowed people to play for free. Next to them, he displayed vintage postcards of Lloyd Center: One showed Morrow’s Nut House and the other of the original spiral staircase.
“I do remember my grandma showing me pictures of Lloyd Center, because she had been going here since the ’60s,” Andersen said. “It makes me think of her.”
Many people chose simply to wander and enjoy the sights one last time. Kurt Loyd of Salem slowly walked on the third floor, small tears budding up behind his glasses. He pointed at the ceiling, which was only added to the mall in the early 1990s, and said it came at a time when Portland itself was surging with growth.
“This place grew with Portland,” Loyd said. “It’s a thing that fundamentally grew with us and we grew with it.”
He said Lloyd Center made him proud to be from Oregon. For years, when Loyd had visitors from out of town, he would tell them to visit Lloyd Center.
“I think people all understand that there’s an activity, there’s a pulse to a city, and this was a major artery,” he said. “And we’ll just have to find another one, but this one I’m glad we’re celebrating today.”
‘The scene is just changing’
Jade Chan takes a last visit to the Lloyd Center on Aug. 6, 2026, days before the doors closed for the final time. "I’m sadder than I thought I would be…I think seeing all the people is great It’s a real kinship here," said Chan, who has fond memories of coming to the mall as a child.
Saskia Hatvany / OPB
Even as people continued to pour into the Lloyd Center, it was easy to find quiet spots where the building revealed its age.
Below the mall lies an old loading tunnel, where large trucks might have delivered merchandise in years past. It now stood vacant, with graffiti splattered on every available inch of wall space. In some ways, it best captured the funereal atmosphere of the entire day.
The only two souls in the tunnel were teenagers Laura Hunt and Noah Sumpter of Gresham. They posed Sumpter’s motorcycle under a dramatic spotlight in front of some graffiti for some photos.
“Apocalyptic,” Hunt, 17, said to describe the space.
A child writes a message on the wall of the Lloyd Center.
Saskia Hatvany / OPB
Hunt remembered visiting the mall as a child with her grandmother. While others argue that malls are no longer as popular in the age of online shopping, she said her generation wants them to survive.
“I think the scene is just changing,” she said. “There’s more emo and mall goths around. Hopefully, we could save Lloyd Center. Maybe this will change their mind, because there’s so many people, but I doubt it.”
For Sumpter, 18, it was his first and last time visiting the famous mall.
“I know it’s packed today because it’s closing. But I feel like if everybody came, it would have stayed open,” he said. “But it’s real nice.”
Saskia Hatvany contributed reporting to this story.
