When the covid crisis struck the U.S. in 2020, businesses either had to find creative ways in innovate or suffer the wrath of people staying inside of their homes and not visiting their stores.

The food industry suffered exponentially during covid. Hotels, retail, the auto industry, airlines, movie theaters, malls, and countless other businesses had to navigate a terrible 2020. Some of those businesses were never able to recover and it's hard to blame them for having to close their doors.

Online shopping has continued to increase as technology has continued to improved, but I still believe that covid played a massive role in the popularity of online shopping in 2024. You can now do an entire day's worth of shopping while you sit on your couch and eat a bowl of cereal on a Saturday morning. You don't even have to go grocery shopping anymore if you don't want to.

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Convenience shopping, as I like to call it, was always going to increase in popularity. Shopping from your phone or computer will continue to thrive.

What makes this former Iowa hub for business so interesting to me is the reason for the 9 month closure has nothing to do with the effects of covid or not enough people leaving their homes to shop. This mall has sat empty for the past 9 months because of an un-paid electric bill?

Marshalltown Mall

The Marshalltown mall was once a popular place for Iowans to enjoy a place to run errands. Now, the Marshalltown mall is a ghost town. It's empty, the building is falling apart, and the once popular place of business is no longer available for Iowa.

According to KCRG, the Kohan Retail Investment Group owns the empty building and they haven't paid the electric bill since last November. The only businesses that remain at this location are exterior businesses that were able to keep power. This isn't the only Iowa mall location owned by this group either. They also own the Lindale Mall location in Cedar Rapids.

Max Pietrzak was the Assistant Manager at Game Haven inside of the mall and he said the cost of everything doubled.

"Our rent doubled, our electricity doubled, everything doubled. We weren’t ready for that. And with the mall shutting down like that, it was like ‘Okay, we have to do it. We have to do it now."

Sketchy Owners?

Jarret Heil is the Chairman of the Marshal County Board of Supervisors and he believes the Kohan Retail investment Group is one of the worst groups you'll find in this business. He told KCRG

"This company and owner is a bad actor and, one of the worst actors you’ll find in this business, and it’s happening around the country. I received a call from Michigan asking about what’s going on here because they’re dealing with it up there as well and hearing about it from other areas as well."

Heil also said the county is trying to see what options they have and if they can hold the owners in contempt of court over fire protection and temperature control code violations.

KCRG did reach out to the owner, Mike Kohan, and when he found out he was speaking to a reporter, he hung up the phone.

The mall has sat dark and empty for the past 9 months and will continue to sit dark, empty, and unused for the foreseeable future. An empty mall will remain in Marshalltown until a solution can be found with either the owner, or by the county.