Exploring the Cincinnati Mills Mall - Abandoned Yet Still Open
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 29 ก.ย. 2024
- Thanks to NordVPN for sponsoring part of this video. Go to NordVPN.com/pr... and use code PROPERPEOPLE to get their special Black Friday deal: 68% off a 2 year plan plus 4 additional months free. It’s risk free with Nord’s 30 day money-back guarantee!
In this episode we explore the Cincinnati Mills Mall. Since opening, the mall has had had trouble operating. Over the years, almost all the stores have closed and maintenance to the building was deferred, yet the door remain unlocked and the mall is open to the public.
This episode features music by Obras Ocultas, check them out here:
/ obras-ocultas
theproperpeople...
JOIN US ON:
/ theproperpeople
/ theproperpeople
/ theproperpeople
/ theproperpeople
/ discord
Thanks to Musicbed for providing the music in this video.
share.mscbd.fm/... (Affiliate Link)
Intro Music: artist.landr.c...
Enjoying our videos? Help us make more by buying a print: theproperpeople...
Supporting us on Patreon: / theproperpeople
Purchasing a t-shirt: theproperpeople...
Equipment we use to make our videos: theproperpeopl...
For some reason, I really like the atmosphere of those dead but still open malls. Good work as always!
Same. I wish I could go visit some, but I don't know if flying to the US would be worth it just to see some malls.
I live right by Gwinnett Place Mall which is the mall in stranger things I love going there because it is dead but you can see strangerthings studf
I dont know....im almost think it be cool to just chill...too bad they can't turn it into a residential area
The definition is liminal space. I love it, too!
@@theRPGmaster definitely not worth it lol but if you ever happen to come here for some reason then you should visit one fs
The sheer vastness of this place is staggering. When did it essentially close? It's extremely clean inside. There is something so beautiful, eerie and tragic about these empty spaces.
Arcade Legacy moved there in 2009 or 2010. By this point it was VERY dead, but unlike now the building was still in physically good shape. Us regular customers were scratching our heads at that move at the time, but the arcade has done quite well actually.
The thing that propped this mall up is that unlike most malls, its anchors did well for a long time. The two that are left are still doing well, and Babies R Us stayed in the mall until the whole company went under. Another mall a few miles east up the highway (Tri-County Mall) is closing here in a few weeks and if you asked me in 2019, I NEVER would have believed that Cincinnati Mills would outlive Tri-County Mall.
@@homestar92 Wow, that's shocking to hear.
At the time when this mall opened, the other malls closer to the city were overwhelmingly more conveniently located for shoppers. No one saw any reason to come out this far.
they want you to see it. like 9/11 it has metaphysical implications.
I grew up in this mall. Watched it die and come back, die and come back. Each time more empty then the last.
Same here... Heck, my first job as a teenager was at Popcorn and Pretzel Fest. Sadly, watching the former Forest Fair Mall is almost a parallel for the world's deterioration since the 90's.
Also, the large area with all of the areas boarded off to the left was originally a single store, Bigg's Hypermart.
I got my first (and only) perm at this mall in the 80's at a salon by the Bigg's. How is this place still around? And why? Now I want to go to there.
@@criticalthinker1970 Going to Bigg's and then Time Out On The Court was one of my favorite things growing up in the 90s.
When I was little, I saw a movie there, I used to go there with my family, last time I was there was about 3 months ago to explore
@@Num1shark We very well may have crossed paths.
I just visited this place thanks to this channel! :) I only live 2 and a half hours away. My husband and I visited just a few days ago. The bouncy house is open. They were having a party when we walked through the mall. And the arcade you can play games for $5 an hour. That little business is actually doing well to be in a dead mall!
Kohl's closed last month.
The last anchor store(the arcade) will be leaving in September 2022. They approved demolition for the mall. :/
heartbreaking to see it finally go, september is just days away now. I hope you made good memories seeing what was probably the last breath of this place. it certainly had it coming but it's surprising how long it's lasted after it's "death". amazing!
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. John 3:16-17.
Not true at all the last anchor store is bass pro, the arcade was inside the mall that’s the opposite of an anchor, and the demolition never happened it is still standing
Visited the Cincinnati area today, passed this mall, and it still hasn't been demolished. Wonder what the plans are....
"Hey no filming in the mall..."
"This is a Mall? Could've fooled me."
I find that when I roll up with my camera nobody anything to me.
Heck, I was in a place recently and the security was like “did you get pho’s yo fiver there .”
I HATE those so-called "First Amendment auditors"; they think "NO FILMING" policies, meant to preserve Public Sector clients' confidentiality, are up for debate, but I can't see any demonstrable reason to stop people from filming inanimate objects and areas.
Clearly someone still has some hope of selling it and filming the actual value is bad in their book, ignoring the fact that its 2020 and everyone buys online now. If no one visits the shops the restaurants have no hope too. They will need stores that actually sell stuff that people do not buy online, and for prices that make it worth while.... but lets be honest, the state its in no one will do this.
Its just several square feet of hangout space
@@gavinisdie yeah several of feets
I'm emotionally invested in this mall now and want it to come alive again. Oh the nostalgia
I'm pretty sure its closed now
@@bambi3469 it actually isnt, i just went to it yesterday
Looks like the perfect place to film a zombie movie in.
They filmed a stranger things episdode in this mall
This once was a beautiful place to shop. The carousel was spectacular! Sad to see the condition that is in now.
So cool to see someone else’s perspective on this place. I live 30-40 minutes from that mall. And I’ve had some interesting memories there. The bounce house place eventually turned into an American ninja warrior training place. This video makes me want to go back to explore and check out again lol
I was at that mall on the first day it opened. Traffic was backed up for over a mile on 275 to the Winton Rd exit. It was called the Forest fair Mall back then
16:47
I didn’t except seeing Adobo there. My eyes perked up upon seeing one of my favourite foods in my current home country in a video completely unrelated to it.
I live under a 10 minute drive from this Mall, it's been abandoned like this for as long as I can remember. Crazy it's still open even to this day.
Sure is sad to see this huge mall empty. The last time I was in a mall was in the 00's, and there were so many people it was a slow journey to get to where you wanted to go. You can thank Amazon for this.
curse you amazon for killing the malls!
Amazon? Nonsense. Malls were a very bad idea from the very start. Few want spend long, exhaustive, hours hiking through a huge building just to, more often than not, not find what they want. Some sort of transportation system might have helped, but malls avoided this. As a result, people gravitated back towards individual standalone stores.
well one good thing made by malls that is dying with them are arcades
You guys really need to get an Osmo pocket, it’s us in the mall community’s best friend and extremely stealthy. Arcade legacy is still open on a limited basis, and the one security guard is actually pretty chill, he even took me in the theatre.
All these malls and retail stores are closing in my area replaced by Amazon trucks. Something else that’s struggling is public schools and colleges in my area. More ppl are homeschooling. What we’re witnessing today is a precursor of things to come. Ppl going to stay at home more and find convenient ways to bypass society. I think it’s a good thing.
I'm not sure why this place is open to the public, but I can tell you two reasons for the presence of Segway kop. #1: Obviously to prevent wholesale vandalism and looting.
#2: Liability, while less obvious, is more important. If seniors are up in there mall walking, someone with first aid training has to be on hand in case of a medical emergency.
This mall used to be THE mall to go to back in late 90's early 00's.
This is why there are pigs. You will find them all throughout Cincinnati.
"The pigs, atop four fake steamboat smokestacks, were designed in 1988. They represent the angelic spirts of all pigs slaughtered in Cincinnati ("Porkopolis") and sent down the river."
I used to shop there. Never really did well. Wasn’t ever this empty. I was a 90s kid and remember the decor so well. The Cincinnati marathon is called the flying pig marathon. If that helps explain the atrium decorations.
The last time I was here was to attend a dance crew competition. They apparently dither rent or groups commandeer space for late night events.
It’s sad seeing these malls closing. They’re so much fun to go to with friends
I think that's the mall where I used to get my eye glasses back in the late 90s when I lived in Ohio. It was half closed even back then.
They should bring back this mall fix it up renovate the old shops and restaurants while adding new ones
It surprises me that there aren’t teenagers hanging around..cus i know for a fact that my friends and I would love an empty place like that just for sitting there and talking
teenagers today are different than when I was a teen. It seems today they have zero interest in exploring and hanging out in unfamiliar/creepy/restricted/abandoned places or vandalizing (graffiti/tagging) in said places. I was always loitering at the mall, sneaking into places I was not supposed to be, climbing roofs, and spray-painting bridges with my friends when I was younger... sigh.
@@cherrybanana8534 i am a teenager and i do all those things…but i also live in a tiny town in germany so idk how different teens in the US are
@@w4y_h0me well thats good to hear, I guess it depends where in the US and personality types. I have a 13 year old girl tho who is pretty non-adventorous and uninterested in anything thats not to do with computers, and she tells me all the kids at school are the same way so :/
What’s wild this mall has been in this exact same state since 2011 and was becoming more and more vacant since 2006. No one understands why it’s still open.
I think Kohols and bass Pro Shop are the only 2 stores left
I hear Malls in the US are slowly dying off, it's weird because here in Australia I go to malls and there's always heaps of people and barely any abandoned or repurposed malls/shopping centers, maybe because Amazon is just better over there? Hope it doesn't happen here as this looks sad to see them deteriorate when once upon a time they were full of life
It is coming for you. Online shopping is the future.
Blake
Good!
Probably because most of your population is physically concentrated in a handful of large metro/suburban areas. And the distances between cities is so enormous.
“Filming in the mall is against the rules”. Well, you sure wouldn’t want to upset the hordes of shoppers by taking their pictures!
You can’t even sit on any benches or seats in the mall or they’ll kick you out. You have to keep moving
@@huestonmorgan2147 yes, there are more empty shops to not spend money in! Wait another year and there will be hundreds of abandoned or dead malls for Sal to show us. Now that we’ve all gotten used to online purchases.
You'd think they'd WANT ppl to promote the mall and spend time in it. You might mosey on over to one of the open shops and spend $$$. Maybe you're a developer interested in buying it. Mall cops were always the worst since the dawn of malls.
@@andthe2become1flesh93 That’s because mall cops are frustrated losers who couldn’t make the cut to a “real” police force.
@@huestonmorgan2147 i dont get why its even open then lol the anchors dont even use the mall entrances.
I've heard that financial groups are rethinking these old malls by creating apartments out of the storefronts and then keeping the food, theaters and playgrounds thus making whole "towns" out of something currently obsolete. I would love an apartment like that.
I would move to one in a heartbeat. Would definitely help some that are socially awkward/introverts to just have that stuff "at home" with neighbors.
Most are beyond repair with structural damage, and too expensive to maintain then on. Perhaps there are a few that have been taken care of enough to renovate in to something like this but I imagine it's more of a risk than an investor would want to make.
That actually sounds really cool, and a good way to repurpose large abandoned spaces like these.
@@SlimPickins_07 Yes I agree. My son has autism and I think he would thrive in a small community such as this.
Yes this is happening to Richmond mall In Richmond heights Ohio
abandoned yet still open.... sounds like a case of the 2020's
I live nearby and this mall isn't abandoned. Most of the stores closed years ago but The Kohl's store and the gym is usually open inside the mall. Before covid19 people used to go inside and walk around on cold days. It's also my understanding that Amazon uses the mall parking lot to park their delivery vehicles.
@@Celtic_Amy , so....it's abandoned, but still open? Just like the title describes.
@@marcoparada6652 mostly abandoned LOL
It's really a case of poor decisions since it was in development.
@@Celtic_Amy No reason to get hung up on semantics. “Abandoned”, “Dead Mall”. Same difference in a few months. Either way it’s fading into obscurity
I swear this place looks like it's flickering in and out of reality, just the tiny handful of people still walking around like nothing's wrong in an otherwise dead mall is surreal.
it will flicker one last time..fade from sight taking everything that's still inside with it.
No one being their reminds me of the backrooms
Have a mall in Buffalo like that. It is so freaking dead. With a couple stores left. It’s really odd sometimes when you’re just standing there completely alone in the food court.
That Kohl’s is still open , also a Bass Pro Shops right down the street from a county full of Trump Supporters, I say that to say there may be no use for the middle of the mall but the left and right wings still gain traffic. Not to mention restaurants right outside that are always packed like Red Lobsters (not surprising considering who I told you lives in this area). It’s also north of a dying black suburb called Forest Park, 513 strong 🖤❤️
You do know that people especially elderly go there to walk/exercise. They can do this without being hit by a car, paying for a gym membership, or anyone harassing them.
This is 5 blocks from my house. The sad part is they still decorate it for holidays
i dont live too far away from it! how do they still manage to decorate it???
@@Ray-uu7sq I don't know how they afford it. But during Easter there will be eggs and decorations in the corridors. During Christmas will be trees and whatnot.
@@Ray-uu7sq there's still an active arcade in the building. That my sons and I go to
That's so depressing
Oh wow..creepy.
Let's all be honest here: this episode will nowhere be nearly as awesome without the looming threat of Segway Man. It's like survival horror game or something.
When i went to this mall a few months ago they had the good ole segway men patrolling.
@@imcopes horror villains never truly die.
Paul Blart takes his job seriously!!
Imagine having that job!
I went back a month ago to check it out and now he has a bike so you cannot hear him coming.
Imagine the confused horror experienced by someone from 1989 viewing this video: “Where is everyone? Why are they wearing masks? What in the hell is a Segway?!”
Unless you mean like the Twin Pines Mall. But that would be 1985. I can totally hear Doc Brown saying "what the hell is a Segway?" not realizing he had still yet to invent it 😄
I dont know why that cracked me up🤣
"No Marty it's 2020 alright, but I can't imagine HELL being much worse!"
Epic
you make no sense 1989 was 30+ years ago
An escalator doesn't stop working, it just becomes stairs.
Rip Mitch Hedberg
Sorry for the convenience.
Ancient Chinese proverb
Call that mobility either ways mr.collin, it has phases, it is designed to give light either ways, mecha or manual, it works wonders.
Haha well played my friend!
Honestly walking around in a mall is great exercise. You'd be surprised how much you can walk just walking around a good few hours in a mall.
Right?! That's how I stayed fit as a kid in the 80s and 90s. 🙂 Lots of laps every weekend.
Yep, because there is no other place to walk. Sidewalks are just so yesterday. And don't even get me started on parks!
@@danielduncan6806 I mean, yes. But air conditioning is a plus 🤷🏼♂️
@@danielduncan6806 Ah yes I love walking through parks and theme parks XD
@@danielduncan6806 yeah, I mean you could be rude and ignore the fact that weather can be too hot or crummy or someone can be disabled and have a tough time walking on sidewalks, as they’re often uneven. It’s not hard to be nice, dude, come on.
The fact that you can hear voices but not really distinguish any words or sentences in the echoing distance makes it even more eerie. I love it, i wish i could visit this place.
That dude shuffle running past you was a straight up NPC.
He was glitching through the wall later in the video
@@steelvenom330 time stamp?
Time stamp, please
@@cerebrodelictivocarclubps4309 6:32
@@steelvenom330 Time stamp
These empty malls are so weird to me. As a 70s/80s kid and teen, malls were our lives. Never thought they would just die out.
@@sunnistrawberri malls aren't popular because the internet, amazon, and all-in-one places like target and walmart made them obsolete (or rather, not profitable enough to stay open). In big cities, they are still full of foot traffic to some degree, but mostly teens who have nothing better to do. People who are nostalgic for malls don't really shop there anymore to begin with. They just yearn for a simpler time.
@SPSF Productions depends what you’re buying and where from
Me either.. the mall where we live, used to have to drive around for half and hour to find a parking spot. Now.. just order online. Deliver to your door.
Right its just really odd seeing them so dead. Well not so much no more since 19
I went more in early 90s but it is very sad.im a 70s kid myself
Too bad you didn't find the entrance to the underground laboratories and portal to another dimension the Russians built deep underneath
I’m reading Andromeda Strain and thought of that immediately lol
@@austingupton1421 he's talking about Stranger Things from Netflix. The last season they are in a mall that looks very similar to this one but is hiding a secret lab to the upside down world built by the Russians.
@@TGFMusic I thought the US military built that in Stranger Things?
Live next to the mall where it was filmed. It’s called Gwinnett Place Mall it’s about the same condition as this mall however for the show they remodeled the food court to make it seem period accurate they’ve also cut off the entire side of the mall since there are no actual shops open. There are a mom and pop jewelry store open a cut rate gym and 1 anchor store still open that’s it
Thank you.
I love the colourful, early 2000s late 90s futuristic style! It’s really amazing how it’s been pretty much preserved
same
It's a great time capsule of that pre millennial period, definitely
@@PhilthySpectre I love it!
It's odd but so beautiful. So much thought went into decorating this strange mall.
@@sp1nda yes I love it!
Our generation is gonna be one of the last generations with malls like these
Edit: I did not expect to get such a reaction from this comment
Idk. Some malls are still doing great, and won't close down for a long time. The King of Prussia mall, for example, I don't think will close anytime soon. Even with online shopping replacing some stores, and there will be fewer malls, I don't think they will cease to exist entirely anytime soon.
Place your bets now, how long till physical stores are extinct
By the time our generation ends this stuff is gonna be a museum while all the shopping goes online sadly. Amazon and electronics/gaming/phones etc... is currently killing off retail stores. Kids would rather want the next gaming system or phone than toys from ToysRUS.
Na destiny type malls will adapt . It has go carts in shit. vr gaming cafes in some shops.. what have you
i think it depends on where the mall is situated, here in Vienna, Austria EU, the Wien mitte mall (where you have to go when using the city airport train) is in the middle of the city and with excellent rail (rapid trains) and 2 metro/ubahn/subway lines - also the Donauzentrum next to the skyline of Vienna will still has its existence in the future i guess, because of access to the u1 line, but then there are malls (like the G3 shopping resort in the northern outsirkts of Vienna) , which are only/de facto eaccessable with cars, they will gonna die out I giuess and hopefully turn into warehouses for online shopping (in order to reduce the waste land effect a bit^^)
It’s really sad that there are hundreds of malls like this in the US. Seems like such a waste. That is one huge mall.
Amazon
Y’all need to have malls like Australian malls. I noticed a big difference when I went to malls in the US.
@@Taylor_xo malls are finished here everyone shops online covid is going to be the nail in the coffin ⚰️
@@bobs6129 Idk about you, but in Australia malls are very popular. You cant shop online for much, such as clothes food etc, you need to pick that stuff yourself.
@@Qatari2007 that makes sense we had good access to malls but everybody online shops here they'll deliver food here if you order it online even
Building code should require structures to be built that don't fall apart if they're abandoned or need to be repurposed.
Are you the chocolate rain man?
This nations works for money, not people or safety unfortunately. I agree completely, though!
chocolate rain
I feel like eventually no matter how much they try they would still fall apart
What up, Tay! Still killing it
I wish malls still looked like this architecturally speaking. It’s so fun and interesting
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. John 3:16-17.
I went here with my camera once and still got to stay in, i just took a friend with me to be my "model" and wanted the mall as a backdrop. The guard told me the reason they don't want videos etc is because the owner doesn't want footage and pictures of it looking abandoned online lol
LOL!
A little too late for that. 😂
abandoned malls make me really sad for some reason. and that closing soon sign that that one store put up made me sad too because no one is going to see it so theyre just going to close having had little to no customers but they still chose to put up a sign
i feel the same. sad isnt it.
Well, these stores inside this mall have unfortunately been closed up for years, this “mall” hasn’t been a mall in 10plus years, I live around here, and it used to be hoppin back in the 90’s when it was Forest Fair Mall. But when they changed it to Cincinnati mills, it has never been “something” again, the way it used to be. But then, all of our malls around here are this same way. Not just due to Corona, this has been ongoing for the last 7-10 yrs in the Cinci area.
It is rather eeriely sad; But if you are going bust to never return, then I guess to go out with your dignity and self respect in tact, you would close like any other day, only this time, it would be your last to turn over the sign; "CLOSED" 😢😢 Long Live The Memories of Malls! 🙏❤️
It's the past we lived in... slowly dissipating and dying... The future slwoly encompassing it and reshaping it into something that's merely an glimmer of what it once was...
Same
Owning a store there must be terrifying for the staff.
Would be pretty fun tbh getting payed to fuck around in a slow ass store in an abandoned mall I would definitely be armed regardless of any company policy though
@@grantsdad177 I don't know about that, 'cuz I worked for a few months in a factory that was noted for working tons of overtime in the summer. As one employee told me, "The hotter it gets in the summer, the longer we work." A guy would come around in the middle of the afternoon and make down-pushing motions with his hands, saying, "Keep it down; we want to work overtime." There was no question at that point, as we were working ten hour days and four on Saturdays. But the thing is, slowing down while trying to _look_ busy was a pain in the _gluteus maximus!_ I was racing a sports-car at the time and with the season looming, I knew I couldn't stay there, since race weekends were just that: registration and practices on Saturday and races on Sunday. I got sick, and while I was off I applied at the plant where my dad worked, then told the first plant that my doctor said the long hours were detrimental to my health, which was the truth. All I could remember was working---with that slowdown period every day---eating, sleeping, and getting up early to go back to work. The new place was real work, all the time, and I worked there for five years---three months for the old place. Stay safe.
@@oldenweery7510 I don’t really see the relation between that and a slow store in an abandoned mall I worked at an auto parts store that was open to 10pm and we would get really slow in the winter once it got dark there were hours without someone coming in and by that time there was no more work to do company policy there always has to be two people and thankfully the kid I worked with was my same age so we would do all sorts of dumb shit I could see it being boring if you didn’t get along with your coworker but we had a fun and got paid for it we would do all the work as soon as we get in fuck around in the store for hours then take out the trash and lock up definitely not a career but I’m still young
@@grantsdad177 there securitt gaurds
@@randomrazr yeah and you see how long it took them to notice people were filming in there lol I wouldn’t trust those clowns
There’s always something kinda sad about seeing an empty/almost empty shopping centre. Like I can imagine at one time, 15 - 20 years ago there would have been hustle and bustle and loads of open shops. End of an era I guess
I live in the area. I remember back in 99 it had big areas just empty. It's been on life support for years. Didn't help that the area around it went ghetto and all those issue started wandering around inside. If people don't feel safe they won't shop there. Viscous cycle.
Bush, Obama and Biden have started the NWO
Teenagers 5 years from now watching this video: Why are they wearing masks?
Teenagers 10 years from now watching this video: What's a mall?
Probably
My 5 yr old doesn’t know what a mall is
@@nicoleg7724 my kids don't like malls anymore..as it scares them and ask me why the craziness
That's so sad
@@goodoldfashionedangel it is sad that this world is upside down
This has got to be one of the most surreal ones.
Somehow the three or four other people and the world's most unnecessary security guard just makes it feel even more empty.
oh come on he's necessary to the video plot hahaha
@@onyxx7374 it’s like a video game
Easy paycheck.
Malls closing sucks they always helped me with depression, I could go and see people didn't have to interact just seeing people helped. Now Walmart closes early.
I understand that feeling.
I too feel that way brother 🤝😭
Just walk thru and chill and just people watch ... I feel you man ..
Bro same
You have a Walmart in your mall?!?
At 11:51 in Dan Bell's video there's a shot of the same candy machines with the same amount of gumballs inside. That video is 6 years old and the mall was already abandoned back then. YT short idea would be for someone to go there and eat one.
The candies inside have probably already melted together
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. John 3:16-17.
That would give you crazy food poisoning
@@spicydramarama852shut up
Where? I don't see any candy machines at 11:51.
Flying Pigs are a symbol of Cincinnati. A lot of sausage was made here once upon a time and we were dubbed porkopolis.
Yup, my city is the queen of pork lmao
@@CarterSauceFrey05 and bacon to
@@thehabob2010 yess
Its because Kahns use to be here in Cincinnati.
Eating meat. Bad luck.
Proper People vs Paul Blart... I was on the edge of my recliner
Now that’s funny 🤣
Hilarious!
I lol' d everytime they said seguway guy
@@JJ-wk5wy Segway guy is intensely serious about his job. I was part of a documentary filmed at the arcade in this mall and we wanted to get a continuous shot of the mall from the entrance to the arcade and Paul Blart shut that down fast. He made us put away all of our film equipment and practically escorted us all the way to the arcade to make sure we didn't get any footage of the mall. One day during filming they held a massive smash bros tournament at the arcade that spilled out into the main atrium and we spent the whole day wondering if we were going to get filming shut down. I totally get how these guys felt when I was up on the second floor taking photos of the tournament going on below and keeping one eye out for security.
That calls for truth, stand up, you can do it always sir.
We spent a ton of time there on the weekends in the mid 90's. Arcade, cheap movies, lazer tag, mini golf, there was even a two story children's ferris wheel in the food court. There were a few themed bars but we were too young to go into them. It was a real busy place back then. I have a lot of good memories from there.
Do you remember the big marble machine by the ferris wheel too? Thing was sick.
I'd love to see places like this converted into apartments, markets, etc.
They usually get demolished once the owners finally give up the property and turned into Amazon fulfillment centers like all dead malls
id like to see an indoor bike park, but that's just me
It used to be many markets and it all failed.
@@JaredG_WV English isn't my native language, but store and market means something different where I'm from. I've seen old malls converted into apartments on the higher floors, and more independent markets on the ground floor, and that seems to work well.
You mean, like a mall?
despite not knowing the building’s future, it’d make a badass convention center.
Yeah! The building is so big and beautiful. Not sure if it would pass inspection with all the water damage though. :(
Or a huge indoor airsoft arena
...if there wasn't water damage and other issues like that.
the county is currently trying to secure state funds to demolish it
It's pretty ironic that arcades were one of the first things to almost completely disappear from malls and now they're one of the only things left in some of them.
arcades are pretty fun. Sure you can play games at home but arcades just have that special somthin
@@nd6286 Yeah, I go to a retro arcade at a local game store every now and then. There's nothing like playing a real pin ball machine.
Arcades are not just 'arcades' that is why they are open.
@@reddy3400 ???
Yes, arcades used to be Big Business, but not anymore.
That's one Mall that excels in social distancing!
🤣🤣
💯💯
Lmfao 🤣
Update & fact: In 2021, one of those security guards was convicted of threatening a woman with a knife while on duty, and had previously been convicted of killing kittens and storing them in his freezer.
And to current date, there is another security guard on duty that is known to be extremely aggressive obsrssive about people filming/taking pics and regularly makes visitors feel unsafe. Half of the recent reviews of this mall mention their incidents him.
Yes I have filmed in here twice, as recent as this week. He is very aggressive and nasty. It says it’s “open”. People do walk the mall…why can’t I take pictures?
The last time he came at me on a bike, said “get out immediately”. Which I started heading back out. He kept yelling at me to hold my camera and down. He kept saying “ DO NOT FILM Me”. Like why would I have any interest in filming him?
@@jillmatthewsphotography Patrolling that huge vacant place could drive someone insane.
@@alb12345672 orrrrr like many he went into security (probably because he couldn't do actual law enforcement) because he is a powerless bitch in every other area of his life and feels powerful yelling at people.
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. John 3:16-17.
Jesus Christ.
The style and design of this mall makes me so nostalgic. I miss busy malls and the early 2000s. The world just sucks ass now.
I feel you arundel mills in Maryland still thrives but 2000s was the shit
All we can do is try to repair the damage caused by the sickness. Then hopefully HOPEFULLY our descendants will know better.
@@actual_doge3221 that not the only case but more people already move Shopping online.
I was a teenager during the great mall days and it was a lot of fun to go with family or meet up and hang out with friends. By the 2010s I developed a distaste for consumerism and switched to wearing clothing that generally never goes out of style but looks handsome/manly and lasts. I could care less about going to malls now, even the giant ones in New Jersey. The Freehold Raceway Mall has a lot of vacancies and has a sterile vibe to it.
We now live in the dystopia that some of the better Sci fi films made us fear.
that must be the easiest security job ever 😂
Honestly, they were probably playing in the arcade near the end of the video.
@@jamieyakimets839 I was there today and the guy was sitting at a desk upstairs and watching a video on his phone lol
i’d think so, aside from just how sketchy it is
@@ThatWasSketchyy well security jobs do get boring when there's not much to do or nothing is going on
Maybe, but I wouldn't do the night shift 😳
Cincinnati was once know as "Porkopolis" because of a large meatpacking industy in the city. This is why you see flying pigs in, and around Cincinnati.
The city has a a running marathon that is actually called the Flying Pigs Marathon.
Hopefully it isn't the turkey drop like 1978 had from a certain TV show. LOL
You mean, J. K. Rowling didn't get her inspiration for Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry from that canopy? (Well, I suppose flying pigs is a better symbol for a city than the region in Italy[?] with its flying _penises!)_ LOL!
@@elijahvincent985 WKRP in Cincinnati! Ha ha yes.
Cincinnati is also one of the cities that got in on the "fiberglass animal art instillation" trend and had an event called the Big Pig Gig in 2000 where fiberglass pigs, which came in winged and nonwinged varieties, were decorated by artists and installed around the downtown area. The city in general got kind of goofy about flying pigs in the very late 90s/early 2000s.
As someone who grew up in thia town and spent a good deal of my childhood and teen years there. I never could understand why it had so many ups and downs the last remodel was actually beautiful and it was much prettier than the tri-county mall only a few exits away.
They had a small roller-coaster in there at one time. I full mini-gold course. The dollar-theater was awesome!
My friends and I would be dropped off by our parents and we would go to the dollar store and play tag and security never bothered us.
***to explain the flying pigs though. You have to know a little history of Cincinnati. When the city was originally founded it has a higher population of pigs than humans and was called Porkopolis. No joke. So they have a flying pig marathon and the pig or the flying pig is a mascot of Cinti.
One year artists were given pig stautes to paint however they liked and they were donated or purchased by different businesses. The pig nurses outside the hosp and the ballet pigs in tutus outside the theater were some of my favorites
Thanks for going there and exploring. I havent lived there in about 10 years. I think it may have been open then?
Kinda neat to see.
Nice picture, happen to be a lady with very long hair? I find that quite attractive, please describe it?
@@danielobrien1571 🤨
@@zkoopa4445 I was complementing Lisa on her profile picture, and was curious how long her hair was. I have a passion for woman that let their hair grow luxurious lengths like Rapunzel's, the longer their hair the more attractive I find them to be. Do you not share my passion for woman that wear their hair long like that?
One of the big problems with this mall was the county tax was too high and stores didn't like it so it was hard to keep tenants around. another was poor/corrupt management throughout the years. it also didn't help that several of the anchor stores went out of business fully not just in the mall.
iirc the big walled off area around 11:30 use to be a grocery store.
when i would stay with my grandmother on the weekends we'd go to this mall every time, we'd walk around, go eat lunch or see a movie then she'd go grocery shopping and then head back home.
I watched this mall be built. It was beautiful when it first opened. It had rides inside the mall. A Ferris wheel a carrousel and other rides. Christmas was beautiful, it even had an ice rink inside from Thanksgiving until after Christmas. It is very sad this happened to this mall.
When was it built?
@@yt4870 late 80s
Really? That is so sad.
This is a beautiful mall, it's a big shame that it's in this condition, it has to be on the brink of financial collapse. If only there was a way to bring the mall era back. I miss seeing more of them around 😥
The section next to the playground that was "blocked off" was a grocery store called Biggs. That arcade is awesome btw!!!! The place withheld bounce houses used to be called wonderpark. It was like a kiddie arcade/mini amusement park. It had a roller coaster, a big playground, and ride kinda like dumbos.
That coaster actually scared me as a kid😆
Is this the mall that had the ferris wheel in it in the early 90s?
The arcade is cool but the people in it are kinda creepy.
A kid got diddled in that wonderpark, which contributed to its closing.
@@kaladurham7290 yes
It’d be so cool if they kept the anchors, reopened the food court, then turned the remaining store spaces into apartments/studios and rented them out
it'd be cool if our economy hadn't been ransacked by the 1%.
That would be the best way to do it. A mix of residential and stable business.
Iv though about sorta your idea but do an assisted living community at one end and make the mall an assisted living open to public all in one town with everything under one roof ...
Omgosh that’s a genius idea it would totally save It!
There actually are malls in ny that have done this and aside from not having windows looking outside it is pretty awesome 😊
That weird point in a mall's lifespan where it is effectively dead, yet still open. A mall in its last throes of life before ending. One of two malls in Augusta Georgia was like this before it closed. It was the older of the two and was made back in the day when it was the edge of the city. The addition of the Bobby Jones highway and expansion of the city shifted traffic away from the place. The increase in crime and the apathy of the mall owners and the city drove remaining customers and stores away. In the end, there were basically one department store and five different shoe / sports stores that sold the same stuff despite being different stores. The last returning customers, the thugs that drove the normal customers away, never really purchased that much as they kept shop lifting. Thus ended the first mall in Georgia.
regency mall lol
Its always that same group of people that ruin everything
My boyfriend and I got “banned” because the door upstairs where the movie theater had a door just open that lead inside and he just took a sneaky speak...turns out the Segway dude comes rolling up and told us to leave this was two years ago lol
Pretty sure you can come back by now. The security has cycled out at least 6 times since then.
or segway'd out
@Vincent Ludwig yes, he segwayed inside and scared him, it’s pretty cool in there but he literally rolled us out
@@maddieinwonderland3544 Did you ever try to go back there?
@@Bands_R_My_Life yea I have lol. I live so close to it. The Movie Theaters seriously are so cool. I really want to go deep inside, everything is probably still in the theater, the screen.
Shopping malls are gonna be an ancient relic in some time. They're all being closed and replaced with shipping warehouses and that's just sad.
Welcome to capitalism
Nah baby girl.
Not all of them, just the lower tier ones. Shopping malls in the real estate biz are classed as A, B, or C based on how much revenue they generate per square foot of retail space. C are the lowest and those are dying. The A and higher end B's are still thriving and very profitable.
Good!
Online shopping is better anyway
@@yeethan7352 Actually it’s globalist socialist corporatism which has led to this and not genuine capitalism! Your believing what you were indoctrinated to believe by your public school teachers. Amazon and Walmart are part of the socialist oligarchy which is far from capitalism.
That's a really depressing place to exercise.
Exercise is depressing anyway so why not
Dunno, I'd be totally down to live out my Blade Runner/urban decay fantasies on a jog...
Imagine if they repurposed this mall to be like an indoor paintball arena or airsoft? That would be so sick.
not enough money in that
After play The Pines map on Cold War , a mall could be great map for painball or Airsoft
I've seen evidence of nerf battles. Heard kids say they used to skateboard through there.
The cinema was called Danbarry, and they did show second-run movies. I must have been one of the last people to see a movie there (I saw 'Fury' starring Brad Pitt) There was just one girl running the whole place...all projectors, (she ran the movies at the show times, whether anyone was watching or not!!) concessions, and tickets. I talked to her for a few minutes, then went in. I was literally the only person in the theater as the movie ran. Talk about surreal..
You made that security guys day. Probably rarely has interactions.
I would call that... Job Security.
OMG that new intro is sick!! That was insane, freaked when I seen the new clips!
que?
Agree!!
How did you comment 6 hours ago when the video is only 2 hours old?!
@@TheRogueKiwi supporters of the channel get early access!
Yeah, this channel has amazing editing quality.
The little Arcade that could, keeping the 80s dream alive.
They actually get a lot of business. They hold weekly events and are usually pretty busy on weekends. The mall is dead but the arcade is doing great (I haven't been there since covid though)
They better have stopped by there after filming. I am so damned tired of being stuck at home right now that going out to a pinball arcade in a run down mall sounds like paradise!
Multiple locations too. Including a Barcade
That arcade is pretty great. It's 10 bucks to play all the games you want all day.
Arcade Legacy is amazing. Their bar is cool too.
There was a night club and a Ruby Tuesday restaurant. Me and my ex wife went to both on our first date in 2001. We were married for 15 years and our daughter is now almost 20 years old. Time sure flies.
What happened to your ex wife?
Does your daughter have an insta?
@@himhim3344 Who knows, she moved in with her sister in Milford and doesn’t see me much because I’m not to hip of the idea of her not working.
This place is 6 minutes from my house. I take my kids there to run around since it’s empty 🤣🤣
Big brain moment there
Lol I used to do that before COVID
Big brain!!!
I was thinking it would be great to rollerskate there
@@iamstrong143 Same
Can't believe I saw a Clair's. Got my ear pierced at one when I was 9. Now I'm 39. Time flies
This makes me sad
This mall is in my hometown, down the street from where I grew up. I can’t tell you how fun this place was in the late 80’s/early 90’s. It was called “Forest Fair Mall” back then, and it was a HUGE deal. Always packed with people and stuff to do. Great memories, for sure
I grew up going there too and in my teen years it was “THE” place to go. I spent so much time there and it’s bizarre seeing it this way. Forest Fair Mall will always be a huge piece of my younger days.
Oh wow, I thought this was Forest Fair Mall! I was the Special Events Coordinator who opened Parisian when the mall had its grand opening. It seems immediately after that two of our swankiest competitors closed. It was really weird working there while the mall seemed to have an uncertain future.
I grew up in Carthage, I miss forest fair mall
It's still called Forest Fair Village on Google Maps, but granted that could be user-generated.
The best place ever!
That arcade was great. All the games were set to free play and you just paid an entry fee of like $10 for the day. They also had a bunch of consoles of varying generations setup with games you could check out from the front desk. They're currently building a new location
Really? That was very cool. I remember back then when we paid like $5 got 50 tokens and were able to play a lot of games and win prizes.
The first mostly abandoned place I went to. They still put up Christmas decorations! I hope you guys ate at the old spaghetti factory, it's really good!
You live in Ohio?
@@Clay3613 I live in kentucky, the mills mall is like 40 minuites from where I live
@@ninjapistol14 i am a 15 minute drive from it and there
@@ninjapistol14 you live fairly close to me then, and yes the old time spaghetti factory is LIITTTT
@@lillibennett4511 it's soooooo good
I’m surprised the security guard didn’t ask you to stop filling earlier, took me 2 minutes and one picture to get yelled at lol.
Yeah I watched a girl get yelled at for taking a selfie with the flying pigs as a background.
I remember going there as a kid. Cinci gang represent. Flying pigs are a symbol of Cinci btw
Yup being Porkopolis and all lol
They had an art project where artists painted pig statues and the pigs were placed around the city. People would hunt for the pigs and take photos. Weird, I know but it was the 1990's .
@@nancymeehan421 Yep, we had one of the pigs at my middle school back in the day. There's still quite a few of them around the city too.
Cincy gang rise up
@@taylorsharp5928 one in the airport. But Cincy wasn't the only one. Atlanta had cows and Lexington had horses. Clearwater, Fl has dolphins.
never been to this mall, but this type of video/content floods me with emotions that feel like nostalgia. it is so weird and i know others have described it happening to them, too. experiencing consciousness as a human is frickin wild
I live in the area and I went to this mall two years ago with my sister and some friends. The nostalgia I felt was insane especially in the kid playground. The kohls wasn’t there. And we were able to sneak into the movie theatre it was super cool and creepy. Outside of the theaters it has signs that say “silence your pagers” lol. Anyway I have dreams that feel like this mall. It’s so liminal
Alternate title: Found Abandoned Mall with Shoppers Still Inside
Like that episode of South Park 🤣
That mall has such a strange feel to it
It's beautiful.
The closed anchor with flashing smoke detectors is creepy as hell.
The madness of 90s commercialism for ya.
@@Clay3613 Many more middle class people with money back then. today hardly any.
It’s really not and people use it to work out now I used to and when the mall was active it was truly fun and they held dollar movies and had an grocery store and dollar tree
This mall is now closed due to neglect with fire code conduct among other things. Who knows if it will reopen. Used to come here as a kid all the time and play on the PBS kids playground while my parents shopped at Biggs.
This is where I live lol I did security there lol let me tell you boring ass job. Mall walkers use it the most.
is the pay at least ok-ish?
@@robanzzz5124 nope
@@robanzzz5124 atleast wasn't when I did it a few years ago
@@-WhizzBang- does night shift security work in america pay more over day time or is it both the same? in my country a security guard can get anywhere from 17 an hour to 25 an hour but depends on your experience. you just need security guard license and that's it.
@@robanzzz5124 I am in Canada, most security guard companies pay Min wage. The only places that pay more are companies that have their own private security, like hospitals or Universities. But many now just contract out to security companies like Paladin or G4S, and they mostly pay min wage. 12 to 14 an hour. And all you need is a Security license. I had a friend who worked as a security guard at a University, which were employed by the University, and was making over $20 an hour
The pigs you see with wings as decoration is a Cincinnati thing, they can be seen all over town, we have an annual marathon race called the Flying pig.
Being Cincinnati, I would've thought that flying turkeys would be a Cincinnati thing, not pigs lol
@@Etobeeshawn Cincinnati used to be called Porkopolis lol
@@layplum yes with a lot of sausages, sauerkraut, weinersnitchel, etc.
@@layplum you have to be old enough to remember the show WKRP in Cincinnati and the infamous turkey episode, it's worth the search.
I've been to this mall for the arcade. The arcade is awesome, but being in the mall at night really does feel like you're in Dawn of the Dead or something.
Do u mean Arcade legacy
This 90s design is the best. I love that it seems to be coming back these days.
It is? I haven’t seen anything that resembles it really
I know right!
I haven't seen much 90s style but I've seen 80s and 70s coming back though, but I agree very fun designs
This whole renovation here was done in the early-mid 2000s.
@@carexpertandy and it looks the part beautifully. I remember going on a cruise in like 2010, and the arcade had this sort of color scheme. It's not quite 90s, but doesn't feel 2000's either… I dunno how to explain it. I love this sort of 2000's style - the rest of that decade was pretty bland.
Why is it open? For the tax write off, thats why
Presumably it increases its value (on paper) as they can say there are x units available to rent rather than it being an abandoned building.
@@alexatkin the tax deal when this place was built was zero property taxes for 100 years the current owners bought the place for a few hundred thousand and are trying to flip it for millions
Bingo
The walled off section was originally a bigg's grocery store.
The last time I was there was when Bigg's was still there, and I bought a copy of Clarissa Explains it All Season 1 from their Electronics Department.
Man, I was wondering about that. I haven't been there in nearly 15 years. It's such a weird thing to try and fill in the blanks with memories from childhood.
I actually found a photo of it: 1.bp.blogspot.com/_AcUdTl7Aq-s/TBpeDwD1BHI/AAAAAAAATZU/rdEvtJH55Uw/07_bigg%27s_JoeZone36.jpg
How did they miss the 24hr gym (Bee fit) across from the abandoned Biggs lol.
The “boring” wing where it is walled off used to be Biggs grocery store. Went there often as a child with family. The checkout lanes exited out to that area of the mall, the whole storefront was open to the mall. Was so much fun going there as a child!
It's actually kind of crazy when you think about what an incredible waste of resources these huge malls are/were.
How are shared structures such as office buildings and apartments less efficient. A shared indoor marketplace is far more efficient for the retailer than a stand alone structure. Of course that goes out the window when it's unoccupied.
On Bright films channel he covered an abandoned mall that was built in 2001 and demmolished in 2019 wow thats some great fucking planning there
It's a customer service/hospitality thing - interaction with employees, holding something in your hand while deciding to buy it, you don't get that with Amazon or Etsy.
Edit : I don't need malls, but visiting a physical store isn't bad.
@@craftpaint1644 yeah, i totally get the importance of actually being able to hold a product in your hand when making a decision to buy it, but the fact that they heat, cool, and maintain these massive indoor spaces, just so people can feel comfortable while pissing their money away on stuff they don't need is kind of ridiculous in my opinion. Some of the malls I've been to are extremely massive inside for no reason at all.
The aesthetic of this mall is kind of cute. The playground, theater, skylights, and fun decor would make a great place to live as a self-contained community/village. It could house doctors, dentists, beauticians, and other services as well as grocery and specialty stores, a post office, and anything else that a small community might need with apartments possibly where the large anchor stores were located. Don't know if that was feasible around the time that business was declining. But it is an interesting perspective. Those huge anchor stores had downtown locations all over America where people either lived or worked close enough to walk to them to shop. Then they all left and moved out to the shopping malls on the outskirts of the cities and people had to make special trips on the weekend to patronized these stores. If these malls could be repurposed into small. enclosed villages where people could live, shop, work and socialize without having to drive all over the place, it would take things back to where they were before so many cities lost their core. It is just a thought. At this stage of the game, it would be quite an undertaking just to figure out if it is feasible and if the interest is there. In reality past, housing should have been in the mix from the very beginning.
When my mom told me they closed I was crushed as a kid in the 90s. That was one of the fun mall very kid friendly
Yeah I remember when there used to be a ferris wheel on that main area by the food court
@@jr22hon remember timeout arcade
I honestly really like the aesthetics of this place!
It’s very mid 90’s-early 2000’s, almost like those fancy grocery stores you’d see around that time. I’d even say it almost reminds me of a lot of old Playhouse Disney shows or even the 2003 Cat in the Hat movie.
I would love to see malls come back alive again .
Depends which one you go to. I’ve been to 3 recently that were all booming. Especially in Houston and Las Vegas.
@@tybarker5038 that’s nice to hear
The one near me is still alive and bustling since covid has slowed down
@@0urlady0fsorr0wss that’s awesome
@@tybarker5038 yeah I live in Vegas and the Fashion Show, Galleria, and outlet malls still get packed. However, they don’t get nearly as busy as they once did and there’s still a few malls that have died here.
I'm guessing the reason it's technically "open" is because of the lease agreements with the remaining anchors, which likely requires the landlord to continue to operate the mall. The leases for anchor stores would likely be marginal given the size of the mall, but just enough to justify continuing to make bare minimum provisions to call the mall "open". A single security guard doesn't cost much, and lighting is a minimal cost in the wider scheme of things. The water issues are likely due to maintenance probably being confined mostly to the anchor stores, with the rest receiving the bare minimum for the system to meet legal requirements for fire control and maintain functionality to the occupied stores, so minor leaks and failures are ignored.
The whole thing reminds a bit of the "parliamentary trains" that run in the UK - unadvertised routes running maybe once a week in one direction only at some weird time, but legally required to meet the terms of franchise agreements train companies have with the government for other, much more popular, routes.
Ben Davis with Hillwood Construction Services said they are just beginning redevelopment talks with Fairfield and Forest Park but they hope to put light industrial buildings on the site that could have a value of $150 million and potentially produce 900 to 1,500 jobs. According to the funding application, the property is currently valued at $9.2 million, with $2 million of that on the Butler County side.
I love how you guys roll up in Cincy every now and then. The only mall with any survivability is the Kenwood Mall that has high end stores.
Yes our only mall in Northern Kentucky just went into bankruptcy unless you count the Crestview Town Center but that is not a mall anymore
The mall with the Cheesecake Factory will survive
Northgate is hanging on by a fucking THREAD and that's Spencer's/Hot Topic and Xscape in my experience. Tri-County just kind of fell off the face of the Earth.
@@mookalorian the thing about tri county is that there is actually a fair amount of business/new developments around it. But the mall itself is dead. There are more businesses in the parking lot than in the mall itself
@@Snowwulf78 the Florence mall finally went bankrupt???