Last go ‘round for Durham carousel? Will painted ponies find new home?

As Sears prepares to close in March, another casualty looms for Northgate Mall a few steps away: its carousel.

Private equity firm Northwood Investors bought the mall from local ownership in December, after threatening foreclosure last year. Northwood has not yet detailed its long-term plans, and with declining traffic and sales across the mall, the carousel can no longer survive in its current location, said Kishia Swift.

Swift runs Bull City Inflatables, the company which leases and manages the carousel. She hopes to move the ride elsewhere in Durham but says she has only a few months to make it happen.

“We know the new mall owners have plans to change what Northgate looks like, but we don’t know what that is, and they’re not very forthcoming with that information either,” Swift said.

“What we do know is it’s going to take two to five years [for changes at the mall] to come to fruition, and that’s not going to be sustainable for the carousel,” she said.

‘Malls have changed’

The heyday of carousels came in the early 1900s, decades before Northgate Mall opened in 1960 and decades yet before the carousel debuted in 1981.

The Northgate carousel is owned by Island Carousel, a Florida-based company that owns more than two dozen across the country. It costs $3 for a two-minute ride on the mirror-clad carousel. Most of the 18 seats are on horses, though riders can also choose a dragon, deer or zebra.

Over the years, the popularity of carousels has waned, with many ceasing operation. The carousel at Northgate has been doubly hit by the decline of suburban malls.

“Malls have changed,” said William Christ, owner of Island Carousel. “Look at what internet sales have done to Sears, Macy’s or JCPenney. I think at some point it bottoms out, but I don’t know when.”

The Northgate carousel is the only carousel in Durham, Swift said. Each week when operating, it serves about 400 families, she estimated.

Still, overall traffic has dipped in the last decade. After Macy’s closed in 2017, holiday sales fell 30 to 40 percent, Swift said. Smaller stores around the mall are bracing for another big hit when Sears exits in March.

“All mall traffic has been on a downward slope, but this location especially because we’ve lost so many big anchors,” Swift said.

After that, the future of the mall is unclear. Northwood Investors has yet to announce what it will do with the space. Brian Wilkerson, marketing director for Northwood Retail LLC, declined to comment about the future of the mall or its carousel.

Elizabeth Allen, who operates the carousel, said leaving Northgate would be sad because “you meet a lot of faces and they become a family to you.”

Burlington carousel

In Burlington, a historic carousel’s future is also the topic of debate.

In early February, the Burlington City Council discussed potential new locations for the century-old Dentzel Carousel — which the city’s website calls its “crown jewel” — once its refurbishment is done.

Long a fixture of Burlington’s City Park, the carousel is under the management of the city’s recreation and parks department.

The carousel at Northgate is not associated with the city government, and Swift said the recreation and parks department does not have any space to shelter it.

In recent years, Island Carousel took down a carousel at Cary Towne Center due to declining sales. Christ, 74, said the Durham location too was “on the edge” for a big company like his own.

“The carousel is marginal to us, but it would be a good mom and pop operation,” he said.

Swift estimates it could cost her $300,000 to buy and move the carousel. A Facebook post about saving the carousel received dozens of comments by locals, many suggesting new locations for the carousel. But not enough people know about the carousel’s precarious future, Swift said.

“I don’t think we’ve reached a high level of awareness yet,” she said. “I think it’s moving but we need it go to a little bit more viral, a little bit faster because of the timeline we have.”

Bull City Inflatables is taking donations for the project, but its online page says it will stop doing so at the end of April.

Christ anticipates selling the carousel to Swift, but Swift does not want to take anything for granted.

“I’m going to stay positive; that’s all I can do,” she said.

This story was originally published February 28, 2019 at 12:46 PM.