A Visit to Steeplegate Mall
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 7 ต.ค. 2021
- Steeplegate Mall. A fast-dying mall in Concord NH. While built to take advantage of the money in the area, the money chose to go south to Manchester and Boston instead. This mall can't be much longer for the world without a miracle.
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In the 90s, this mall used to be packed all the time, especially during the holiday season. There has to be something economically viable we can do with all of these old, dead malls. It seems like such a waste to discard giant buildings like these.
I'm shocked this mall is still open. I've lived less than an hour south of Concord (pronounced "Cahn-kerd") pretty much my entire life, and this mall has never been that popular. In its first couple of years when it was new, my mom and I would come here because of the allure of it being new - but we much preferred the Mall of NH in Manchester since a) it was more convenient to get to, and b) it had far more offerings that we liked. Pheasant Lane Mall in Nashua was also preferable and I loved going there, but the traffic jams due to it being right on the MA border were a big headache. Mall of NH was kind of that happy medium.
Steeplegate never should have been built. NH is a very small state overall and its population is concentrated around Manchester, Nashua, Salem, and their immediate suburbs. Concord, despite being the state capital, has a smaller population - and anything directly north, east, and west of it is largely rural. Not enough to support Steeplegate.
I can’t remember if I’ve gone here once or not. I live near Keene and our go-to mall is Holyoke. We also sometimes go to Mall of New Hampshire in Manchester. When we visit family in CT, we sometimes stop at the Danbury Mall (I still love their double decker carousel) or Westfield Mall in Trumbull.
On April 22, 2022 the mall closed for good which leaves only the remaining anchors still in operations accessible for consumers.
I'm a Concord local, and I got to visit the Steeplegate during the final few days that the interior was open. It was spooky; there was absolutely _nothing_ left inside, and all the stores with exterior entrances had sealed off their interior entrances. The owners actually kicked out all the interior-only tenants - some of whom had _years_ to go on their leases - and pissed off a lot of people around here. The owners claimed they had an "exciting potential project" for the building, but it's been nearly a year and nothing has happened. The city is _very_ upset with them. All of the anchor spaces aside from Sears are still filled, by the way, plus Chico's and the Hatbox Theater, but apparently Hatbox was even barred from using the vacant interior storefronts it had been using for prop storage.
I'm hoping for some sort of redevelopment as a haven for small businesses who can't afford Downtown storefronts, which have been growing steadily more expensive. But I'm not optimistic.
Good memories here. Shout out to the people who remember the dude at the food court burger king who would sing your order.
I like that vacant Hot Topic you walked by at 7:45 , across from Bath and Body Works. Nice video, and glad you covered this mall since this mall doesn't get a lot of discussion online.
And just an FYI The Bon Ton took both the Sage Allen and Steinbach locations- I think the Mens/Home stuff was in Sage Allen and Women's were in Steinbachs. I could be way wrong on this...And that Bath and Body Works- just closed down a few weeks ago!
Watching a video of a dying mall that I've never visited in a state that I've never been to still made me sad, but it didn't get to me the way it does when you show dead and dying malls that were the haunts of my youth. I'm sure there are a lot of people that used to work at that mall, shop there or hang out there that really miss it being the vibrant place it probably once was. I wish there was some movement to save our malls. I wish there was someone that could come up with a plan that people could use to save and reinvigorate their malls. I think malls were a good concept. There was usually ample parking so no having to get a parking ticket validated no searching for a parking spot.Malls were for the most part safer than shopping in downtown areas plus you were out of the weather so you could shop during cold, snow, rain and heat. I loved going shopping and going to the food courts. I liked how the food courts eliminated the need for you and whoever you were out with to have to decide on a certain genre of restaurant everyone could get exactly what they wanted. My family enjoyed going to the theaters that were in malls and going to the video arcades. I hate it now when I go to my very dying local mall, it's basically all cell phone stores and cell phone repair kiosk. The last time I was there there was still a Game Stop, the Asian 99 cent store and the dollar store were both gone. The Hallmark store finally closed and I think the Payless was gone also. There was still a Burlington Coat factory but not much else. The only place to get anything to eat was Annie's Pretzels. The last time I went there was about 2 years ago, my phone carrier did have a store in the mall but they've since closed. Now there's really no reason for me to go there at all. It's really just too damn depressing to visit. That was pre-covid so I would imagine that many of the places I named are probably gone now.
At another Mall I used to go to they built a big Rural King right beside the mall but they didn't put access into the mall from the Rural King which makes absolutely positively no sense to me. I feel like foot traffic from Rural King could have helped to invigorate the mall but no. Even though you use the mall parking lot and even though the Rural King is right next to the mall there's not access directly into the mall. If they thought the mall was going to fail and be torn down they still could have put a covered entry way into the mall so if the mall is demolished they would still be a stand alone building.
I really miss Christmas shopping in malls. I miss all of the seasonal sales. I miss being able to see and touch and handle products before I buy them. I miss browsing in the bookstore and deciding what book to buy. I want malls to become trendy again. #savethemalls
And even in the late nineties- that mall had serious foot traffic. I was there. Tons of people worked there and shopped there.
Love your work Doomie. Look forward to each video. YOu shall not be stopped.
Go to Rockingham Mall in Salem NH that still has some life compared to 99% of malls in America. The mall had a occupancy rate of easy 90% before the lockdown which caused a lot of closures but still has life and will come back.
The Chicos and Talbots stores are surprising holdouts, usually they are gone when a mall starts cratering. I do like the ceiling design of this mall. I wonder if the center court was originally planned to have 2 additional anchors and corridors leading to those anchors. It looks like that may be the case, but maybe not.
Maybe not that surprising. There's a strip mall near me that has Chicos and Talbots. Kroger was the major tenant, but that's been closed nearly 5 years now. The place is almost always deserted.
Yeah, I was amazed by the Chico’s and Talbots too… Even the Claires and GNC are already gone. But that old style Bath & Body Works is staying strong - LOL
@@SynchroSk8 I wonder if Talbots and Chicos are the next generation of languishing mall tenants like Christopher and Banks was. Hot Topic and Spencer's are 2 other chains that have been sticking around a lot of dying malls as well.
I think the lack of atmosphere (people and open shops) has given this mall a really tired,sad feel. I imagine when it was first open and was doing ok it was quite a nice mall but its days are certainly numbered
Steeplegate looks like a beaut, but it's a tomb of a mall. I enjoyed it very much.
This video brought back some bittersweet memories of the Steeplegate Mall. My late wife and I were "registered" mall walkers there during the mid-90s and, as such, would qualify for a post-walk free coffee at the Cookie Hearth! The mall was humming in those days, and it is sad to see what it has become. I guess nothing lives forever, does it?
THE COOKIE HEARTH!!!
My grandparents use to go every every day to walk
I remember coming here all the time as a kid and early teen (I was born in ‘02) and there actually being a handful of stores still left including hot topic,fye, Spencer’s, etc. fond memories.
As usual your comments on the history of malls probably should be recorded in a book or video for posterity. So many malls so little time left for many of them. In my lifetime I have seen the complete demise of so many malls. First the malls of the 70's and 80's and all the retailers within were busy. Now it seems stand a lone retail in strip malls mixed with medical and community centers is all that is left. Amazon is building a 3.5 million sq feet warehouse near me, bigger than the local mall X2. Great work Doomie, you sure have any eye for editing and presenting your story.
Great video. Nice looking mall. Thanks.
Another great video… well filmed and great commentary as always.. it’s actually a good looking space, money was obviously spent to coordinate the decor.. and it looks relatively new.. how on earth can it be financially possible to continue to operate the mall with so few in line tenants? Who is paying the rent and service charges …. I didn’t see any food outlets? Was the large open space on the way to Sears the food court area ? Also, what a strange design to ‘angle’ the entrances to The Bon Ton and Sears and the end of the long corridors.. why bother ? That design almost hides the anchor stores ..nice to see a newer Sears logo…
NH resident here, there is an outlet mall just to the North in Tilton, NH that always had much better deals and offerings.
great video man
I can’t remember if I’ve been to Steeplegate or not (I live in southwest NH and our go-to has always been Holyoke Mall in MA. We also have gone to the Mall of New Hampshire a few times. Other than that, we usually go to either the Danbury Mall or Westfield Mall in CT when visiting family.
Steeplegate looks like it may go the way of Diamond Run.
I wonder how old the snacks in the vending machines are though.
Old comment, but I distinctly remember walking through the mall a month or so before it closed permanently, and getting a drink from the vending machine. It was almost 2 years expired.
Thats funny, a trampoline park also took over the old Circuit City next to my job lol
You would love the Indian River Mall, in Vero. Similar aesthetic, built in 1996.
If you're talking about the one in Florida, I just so happen to have that one recorded.
And I have to say that The Bon Ton was a decent store. I was there around 7 years ago with some friends who still live up there and it was a decent store. Definitely the "prettiest" store in that mall.
The mall had fye and old navy doing awesome but the new owners upped rent, changed contracts and would not share future plans on the mall so it was too risky to stay. I chatted with staff from both. The candy shop was asked for high rent, no deals made like other new stores coming in. They got double the space down the road for near the same rent. So owners are the issue of this mall.
Best mall NH ever had. I hope it does comes back. Great memories as a college/high schooler in the 90's. Abercrombie and Filene's (who were right next to each other) were my jam!!! This is like 1996!!!!
Great video
Great video Doomie... this mall looks deadlier than dead.
Must be a walkers mall because I don't see any stores to shop in.
I'd guess about a 20% inline occupancy rate or less.
@@DoomieGruntVentures It's probably more like 10%-15%-ish at most, with how many surprising vacancies there were at Steeplegate. And I can't believe Talbot's and Chico's, didn't yet leave this mall.
Cool looking mall
I also loved Two Moon Traders :)
New Hampshire has never been a retail Mecca. It's probably in the bottom 5 in the USA with VT and Maine. I am 43 and remember when this mall was built. For that area, IT WAS A MASSIVE DEAL. It was so random- The "high end" stores were two random regional retailers that no one ever heard of- Steinbach and Sage Allen- They were both like small Macy's- (I thought Steinbach's kicked ass. It was an okay mall for that area if you didn't want to drive to Mass or Salem NH (Rockingham Mall back in the day was the BEST mall NH ever could hope of having) I ended up working at this mall part time in the 90's during college- It was a fun time. So sad to see the state of this place now. The whole thing should be shuttered. Impressed that the JC PENNEY survives!!!!! Other than that- its so depressing..
Told ya you'd "enjoy" this one. Now I'm trying to figure out what you skipped in Mass for it. Westgate? Whitney Field? Emerald Square? So many choices...
Hampshire Mall... ...I dunno why its in Mass. either.
@@DoomieGruntVentures Ah ha. It's named that because it's in Hampshire County. It's also the only enclosed shopping center there.
I grew up in the area there never was any big money in the area Concord is a very poor area rural and no one is driving from Concord to Boston daily I worked at the small it never was that much there was always the Manchester mall in this mall was kind of off the beaten path
Even though the mall's architecture is interesting (it reminds me of some of our indoor markets here in Montreal), its days are numbered.
P.s.: Great video as usual, but you should have stopped to just saying "farewell", because this mall is doomed.