actually NOT true...before this crisis, the Roseville Galleria in CA was nearly fully occupied and was bustling with people every day. Has been this way even during the financial crisis. Probably the healthiest mall in the US.
@@Arturo-sm1tb lol That one went right over your head :) The original comment was referring to the fact that all malls are closed now due to the virus, had nothing to do with if a mall was busy or not before all this started.
This is my local mall and I can tell you that the new management has done a very good job reviving this place. Five years ago it was looking like this mall was going to fade into obscurity with very little stores but after the years long renovation the mall has begun to attract more luxury stores and is starting to get crowded on the weekends. At first when the Sears announced they were closing I became nervous about the interior section of the mall near the Sears struggling but from what I can tell there seems to be little to no effect on the rest of the mall from the closing of the store other than a nearly empty Sears parking lot. Overall, I think this mall has a bright future and will continue attracting customers, especially once the economy recovers from the virus outbreak
When I lived in southern California, in Oceanside to be exact, I visited this mall frequently, often riding the North County Transit bus to and from, so I didn't have to worry about parking.That was mostly in the 1980s and 90s. I enjoyed that mall, although Sears was a joke. I'm glad if it's still going. I recognize the layout from when I shopped there. I searched for this mall especially, hoping it wasn't among the extinct ones. Nice to know it isn't.
Doing away with the eating places in food court was a bad move. Who can afford those overpriced restaurants unless you're rich? Back in the 80's, North County Fair and Carlsbad malls were doing well, not just the shops but food court as well.
I went to this mall when I was a kid. There used to be this beautiful huge exhibit with a ball that would get dropped into all these moving mechanisms and it was the coolest thing I ever saw as a kid. I used to get so excited to go here. As a college kid I worked here at the EB games (~2011) and I remember walking through this mall in the evening after everything shut down and remembering how spooky it felt. I also remember this mall being packed during holiday season to the point you could barely walk. The escalators at the beginning of your footage they used to have survey takers standing at the bottom to pull you into one of the rooms to do surveys. I used to make $1-2 doing those surveys by testing water shower heads or random shit like that. To see it dead is really sad to me but I'm not surprised.
This was my mall from the 80s on. Used to take the bus here in high school. It was super ghetto in the 90s. It’s considered “Oceanside” by the Carlsbad locals and a “marine mall”. It was always called that. Always had crime and a bad rep for years. Gorgeous location. Not sure it can ever be spared. Mall folks in North County go to North County Fair and have since the 90s. IMO it’s a lost cause of my youth. Thanks for the video
LOL....I had a g/f back in the early 80's who worked at a store there. She said a lot of marines would spend all day there, eating a bit and just cruising girls....
This is also my local mall and I agree that Carlsbad rejects it for being on the Carlsbad/Oceanside border. I think it's a great location because Oceanside doesn't have its own mall despite it being the third largest city in San Diego county. Socioeconomics, local culture, and classicism definitely play a role in how likely this mall is to succeed. There was a Carlsbad ballot measure that intended to build a monstrosity of a mall with a Nordstrom on one of the lagoons and I'm glad it didn't pass. It would have been a traffic and ecological nightmare that was totally unnecessary because Carlsbad has dozens of gorgeous shopping centers, this older mall, a Simon outlet mall (Carlsbad Company Stores - another dying mall that used to be absolutely gorgeous - I worked at the Banana Republic Outlet there), and the Carlsbad Forum (which is probably the most successful outdoor shopping center/mal). There was no need to build something new just because Carlsbad residents didn't want to drive to Westfield North County in Escondido or the absolutely breathtaking UTC in La Jolla (both only about a 30 min drive without traffic). I REALLY want this mall to succeed and definitely worried about what the pandemic damage will do since the company that purchased from Westfield has put in so much work. I imagine this mall could potentially be comparable to something like Brea - old school mall with vacancies, but with open stores appealing enough to make a trip.
I remember living on Camp Pendleton as a Kid from late 1994 to early 2001. In door trick or treating, the Comic n Stuff getting Imports of Japanese collectibles when the late 90s anime boom started with pokemon, along with the Fad-pocalypse started (beanie babies, digital pets, yo-yos, Ferbies, DBZ, etc). I remember eat at the China Gate restaurant, when they opened up the McDonald's and Taco Bell, and buy butter toffee cookies at the Mrs Field's cookie stand, and eating popcorn for the Woolworth's snack booth with my dad. Memories...
OH WHAT?!?!?!?! My local mall. This mall did terribly because of the mismanagement of Westfield. So what happened POST Westfield was that one SIDE of the mall was recently redone. So shops like Spencers moved to the redone side. It looks like they intended to redo the other side, but didn't get as much business as they hoped and probably have postponed or canceled the redo of the other side to try and match all the redone elements of the east side of the mall. That large retail space with the Comic store was actually built to be a clothing store that closed within maybe three months of opening. It sat empty for YEARS until it finally became that comic shop. Which mind you, Westfield kept kicking them out of various locations, they would usually open around the holidays, then do really well, but the mall would kick them out because they thought comics were a "blemish" on their "premium focused" retail locations. Westfield had no idea what they were doing. They thought they were Fashion Island, when they had a McDonalds. I will say, the remodel under the company that owns it now has actually breathed a LOT of new life into it, particularly for the food. I think they have a chance of actually fixing all the mistakes Westfield made. Before Westfield sold it, they were going to convert this into an outdoor mall with fountains, exteriors that looked almost identical to the nearby Carlsbad Premium Outlets. And that mall is EXACTLY why this mall can't be the premium mall you would expect it to be, because that other mall has completely captured that market. I think the new owners realize it needs to be something slightly more "middle to upper middle" class, and not just "the rich people mall" like Westfield thought they were.
A former Californian I remember going to that mall with my parents back in the 80’s. I can still remember my dad and I sitting on a bench waiting for my mom as she went shopping. There used to be a hotdog place called Orange Julius and I remember my Dad, Mom and I having hotdogs and frothy orange drinks. I also remember when the mall had a Woolworth store in there as well. Great memories shopping there with my parents. I still remember my Mom taking me clothes shopping which I hated Booooring 😂 and my Dad buying his florsheim dress shoes in Sears.
Yup remembering the Woolworths when my dad was stationed in camp Pendleton he took me ther often it also had a wendy's that I ate at for the first time ever and this was back when Woolworths actually sold rifles
Here at South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa, we have 3 Macy’s. There’s a “regular” Macy’s (formerly Bullock’s), Macy’s Men’s Store (formerly I. Magnin) and a Macy’s Home Store (formerly The Broadway). Thankfully, SCP will never become a dead mall and it’s managed to survive all these years without ever having a food court.
The weird Macy’s configuration was the result of May Company acquiring the two stores that originally occupied those spaces, one of them being The Broadway. The mall was supposed to be remodeled in 2009, and those plans included a food court; they never came to fruition when Westfield shelved the remodel due to the poor economy.
Katie R King of Prussia had a similar configuration when they acquired Strawbridges in the mid-2000s. However, at least it’s a successful mall. I worked at the acquired location in 2006-2007 and it was converted back into an empty store, and then into smaller locations. It was doubly strange because we were catty-corner from each other.
There’s a similar configuration with two Macy’s stores (women’s and men’s/home) at Aventura Mall, after the company acquired the Burdines chain. They temporarily renamed the newly acquired stores to Burdines-Macy’s and then simply Macy’s.
Well kinda....the two stores were originally The Broadway and Bullocks In '93 May Co. bought JW Robinsons and converted into Robinson's May.(May Company was the original anchor in '69; at the far East end) The Broadway and Bullocks stores were "Macy-ated" in '96. Rob May closed it's store in 2006 and eventually gets torn down and replaced with a mega plex and "dining terrace". Macy's keeps both building as the square footage of one wouldn't allow to have furniture, Mattresses and Backstage.
May Company never acquired The Broadway, only JW Robinsons. Here's a little retail history for you, from a person who used to be a part of the Macy's West executive team. RH Macy's filed for Chapter 11 in the early '90s and was acquired by Federated Department Stores. The '90s was the decade of the first modern dept store contraction, as Federated and other big players began wide scale acquisitions. Shortly after acquiring Macy's, Federated also acquired Carter Hawley Hale, which owned Emporium Capwell (SF/East Bay), Weinstocks (CA Central Valley), and The Broadway (So Cal & Nevada). Most of CHH stores occupied space in malls where Macy's West already had stores. Since Federated could not get out of the CHH lease obligations with the malls, it decided to re-model and use the CHH mall locations as Macy's Mens/Furniture locations. I spent most of the 90's going all over CA and NV re-modeling and re-merchandising these locations. Very fun times. In the 2000's, the next dept store contractions occurred. Federated acquired Rob-May but kept the nameplates until around 2006, when all of Rob-May was folded into Macy's. In the case of Carlsbad, Macy's West did not have a location there, so The Broadway at Carlsbad became Macy's in the '90s. When Rob-May folded into Macy's in 2006, Federated used the same strategy as it did in the '90s, and the Rob-May Carlsbad location became a Men's/Furniture store.
Hey I used to work at the Tilt Arcade in there from tail end 2018 to june of 2019 when I graduated beauty school. It's since closed and is being turned into that day care play center type of thing. We almost never had any business aside from on Sundays where it was fairly busy and around the holiday season. Bizarrely enough it was not that fun to work at despite it being an arcade. One of the most boring jobs I've ever had.
I work at this mall. I'm the assistant Manager at Flip flop shops and I can tell you that so much has happened since last video. There's a sunglass hut, there is a store called Local Niche that sells for small businesses and we have an Art Cafe. We had a California souvenir store, Pandora shut down and our old arcade went out. It was called "Tilt." There's a new thing that will be taking over the Sears auto shop.
So, I live a block away from this mall. The downside is when it was owned by Westfield. There were alot of businesses inside and the Carlsbad outlets opened. They tried to stay in competition with the outlets by closing the mall for a remodeling. Their intention was to make the mall an outdoor mall. They eventually realized they couldn't cause of the cost and scraped the project. Since they already kicked the businesses out for remodeling. They sold the mall. Now, they are struggling trying to get businesses to come back. Grrrr
MIKE GUIFFREDO they also planned on putting a bunch of crazy high end stores in when they converted it to outdoor. No one in that neighborhood was going to buy a Porsche there. The owners were mental.
@@uhsaywhatnow And just think what it would have been like as an outdoor mall when it rained. I enjoyed it because it was covered and free from the elements while folks shopped there. It would have been a grave mistake to open it up to the outside.I patronized this mall a lot during the 1980s and early 90s, while I lived in Oceanside. Some of the merchandise in some of the stores was chintzy and overpriced, but there was a lot to enjoy there and I did buy things, especially during the holidays. I used to get meat and cheese packs for my relatives from Hickory Farms, until the quality deteriorated and their food packs weren't much good, anymore. I recall having a really nice hair style done at a hair salon there. There was a lot to choose from. Some of the stores didn't interest me, because they sold things I wasn't interested in, but in a lot of the others I found things I really liked. There really was something for everyone in that mall at that time.
No. They were more than likely 2 different stores (Broadway, Bullocks, May Co., etc) that Macy's purchased and renamed Macy's. A lot of malls have more than 1 Macy's for that reason.
The two store strategy is intended for owning more entrance space to a mall. Usually, stores do it to own opposite ends of the mall when another department store closes, and the leasing gets cheap enough. A lot of people enter malls through department stores, because the parking is sometimes more convenient, and some department stores have bathrooms at the entrance when the mall itself has bathrooms in less convenient locations.
Never thought I'd see my hometown mentioned on one of these videos. So thanks! FYI, pretty sure the Macy's used to be another department store. Edit: My mom just let me know it used to be a Robinson's May (which I guess Macy's acquired). I grew up in this town but forgot. Remember shopping here all the time.
I completely forgot about them having three locations there! I wonder if it had to do with the mall being family owned (now that I think about it probably not.)
We used to call that mall the “boot mall” when I was stationed out of Camp Pendleton, reason being is you’ll always see brand new Marines walking around that mall with a fresh high fade and a tactical backpack! It’s been a while since I’ve seen this! Sad to see it’s all dead
@Mike Holly Bullshit. The flu doesn't leave perfectly healthy individuals with permanently damaged lungs and hearts. The flu doesn't leave you with up to a 30% chance of going sterile.
Man there's just something so ominous and yet cool about the music being played in such a large, empty space. Imagine going there at night with the lights out...yikes lol. Also that air of mystery about it going through cycles of being dead and alive. I love these videos! They give me so many ideas for stories and stuff. Also, the comments section is always so awesome and informative too :)
Hi everybody, Carlsbad local here. In case any non-Carlsbad peeps were wondering, this mall used to be bustling with people before Corona happened, and now that it's practically over with a lot of people getting their vaccines, it's starting to slowly creep back to the numbers it once hit. The front of the mall is not nearly as dead as this guy showed anymore. The main entrance is usually packed with people because they built many new restaurants and even added a movie theater in the front. The mall has definitely left it's dead state since quarantine came to its end. I can say with certainty that the parking lots are filling out once again.
they should take one of those block of closed shops and put a food court there is so many good local quick services places in San Diego it would make money and might bring people in
I used to live right up the hill from this mall. You could see signs it was struggling back then but primarily in the older anchor stores like Sears & JCPenney. The last time I was there, they were hosting the runners expo start/finish line for the Carlsbad Marathon. This race is part of the beloved triple crown series in SoCal. It's hard to believe it looks like that now😢💔 Hopefully they will make a strong comeback🤞💪
@@amberblewett The cinema was inside the mall at that time. I was going to school at Army and Navy Academy in Carlsbad and they bused us to this mall for movie night.
This mall right here was my childhood mall. Back in the early 90's, I recall they had a FANTASTIC series of Rube Goldberg machines, one that spanned two stories of the mall. I hate to say I cannot find any photos of these online, but I'll dig around a bit.
Thanks for taking the time to film this video, with everything going on right now in the world, this is a much needed relief right now. Although I hate to say it, like others have already said, I think a lot of malls will be dead for a while. Let’s hope we can recover from this sooner than later. Thank you!
Nice video! Something that struck me was the attention to detail. The lighting throughout the mall is perfect. Even the metallic waste receptacles (they are too pretty to call 'trash cans') look clean and inviting. thank you, sir.
oh hey, i'm one of the many ppl who requested this lol :P happy to see you finally made it here. i worked here when it was under construction for the new remodel in late 2016 and despite it being a holiday season it was pretty slow/dead outside of black friday. basically everyone only comes here for the restaurants and movies and the actual mall itself is pretty sad at this point.
@@chiensyang hmm i guess a part of it was the owners kind of let the mall deteriorate when the original remodeling plans were temp halted and let so many tenants go. i remember going there during the summer and there were way more empty store fronts then shown here so there was not much of a reason for ppl to stop here anymore, not to mention there's another mall (an outlet) that's 10 mins away from this one so everyone can just go there instead. and since most of the newer restaurants aren't connected from the inside of the mall again there's not much reason for ppl to also go inside the mall when they can just get their food and go.
Oof, I used to love this mall but they got rid of Cinnabon and a lot of cheap fast food restaurants in here. There used to be a disney store. The only thing I come here for is 20 mins before the mall closed for comic n stuff and then go to Dave N Busters with friends. Dave N Busters is usually pack in the night time
the cool thing about this video is that it shows the early days of covid and the impending shutdown. really liked the music in this one! the older i get, the more i unabashedly love tacky sax&synth.
Great to hear from you again. You have a wonderful voice for radio. Hope you and your family are safe and doing okay during this indeterminate crisis. Stay healthy.
I grew up at that mall. OG Mall Rat! First job there....and second...and third! Met my fiance at the Mrs Fields. Had my hair cut there for 14 yrs! Amazing memories.
I work in this mall and there are days where it’s very dead, but usually it gets very busy on the weekends. Especially during holidays this mall is packed with shoppers. They have added more restaurants, and stores which has definitely helped bring more people to the mall. Great video it’s nice to see how the mall has changed since 2020
I remember when it was called Plaza Camino Real. I lived in Oceanside in the 1980s and early-to-mid-90s, and often rode the North County Transit bus to and from this mall, so I didn't have to worry about parking, and also when I was without a car. I have some nice memories of shopping there, although Sears was a joke. I also remember when we locals just called it "Carlsbad Mall" or "Carlsbad Plaza". There were two bookstores, Barnes and Noble being one and, if I recall correctly, a Pickwick Bookstore, several shoe stores, a hair salon, at least one food and beverage court, two or three jewelry shops, including Zales which I see is still there,, a Hickory Farms, J.C. Penneys, a bed and bath store, a music store, specialty boutiques, and many, many more to choose from, upper and lower levels. I think it also had a Nordstroms -- I do seem to vaguely remember one there.There were also vendors set up in the corridors with their little displays. Christmas was magical in this mall. This was a very active mall at that time. And I loved the skylights and the general layout. I was much younger during those years, and I sure do miss those times! Edited to add: I think there was a third bookstore in there at that time, B. Dalton Bookseller. Pickwick and Barnes and Noble were the other two. I had forgotten there was also a MayCo and Woolworths. The more I remember backward, the more I recall. Broadway, Bullocks, Pier One Imports also come to mind. I remember getting a cool orange flavored Smoothie-like drink at one of the food or beverage places. This was SOOOOOO long ago! I don't remember the name of it. The Sears was a disappointment. I went in there once to look for something and inquired of one of the managers as to whether they carried it there and if so, where could I find it? He was extremely rude and mocking. He rolled his eyes and gave some kind of sarcastic guff. He got away with it because I'm a woman. A man would have slugged him in the mouth. I can see why Sears no longer exists -- anywhere.
Lol, one of the closer malls that i used to love going to as a kid. But nowadays it's pretty much a ghost town. In normal circumstances (as in non-pandemic) the most popular place is probably the Regal movie theater. So while the original two malls in CBad, Plaza Cam Real (the Shoppes at Carlsbad; but ima call it by it's original name abbreviated), and "the Outlet mall" (Carlsbad Premium Outlets) were very successful in their on rights, they were largely dependent on tourist traffic from both the flower fields and other regional events that user to bring more people in. Since that time i was a kid though, The Forum opened in the southernmost plot of Cbad straddling Encinitas, with an H&M (who i worked for about a month; yea theyre aholes), an apple store, Urban Outfitters, and Tilly's. It really catered to that affulence you referenced, and everybody else had Walmart next door when it opened concurrently in the old Expo lot in Encinitas. The parking situation is atrocious at the Forum though so i hate going there. You should do Horton Plaza. Its about to be torn down and retrofitted for apartments and mixed use stuff.
Came here in August of 2019 while visiting LEGOLAND for two days. I came on a Wednesday afternoon and yeah it was pretty dead. Maybe like 20 or 25 people walking around throughout the whole mall. It’s funny I actually remember thinking that retail archaeology should do an episode here. Lol
No food court? What were they thinking? I go to the mall when I get bored. Usually, I plan to get food and then wonder around for something to do. I dont plan to go shopping usually. But while Im there, I do buy stuff. They need to take some of that dead space and throw in a Chinese restaurant, some kind of sub shop, a chick fil a, a pretzel shop across from that and a starbucks and then throw some tables and chairs between.
I grew up in Oceanside, and this was my mall. I remember clearly what was here and how the mall was from the 70's as a kid, and then worked in the mall as a teen throughout the 80's. So little is left of the original mall. Those green double doors you have pictured about a minute into your video once housed the Musicland then turned into a Sam Goody, and if faced an old school Woolworths with a diner and everything. Before it was an access way, that was where I stood and looked out upon my domain as mall king. Le sigh. Love your vids! All power!
I work here and although the mall is fairly slow, while this was being filmed it was extra slow because of the virus. It’s usually busy on the weekends
I was expecting half the video to be you poking around the Comics -N- Stuff store to see what you could find. Should we be expecting a bonus video about that some time in the near future? :3
No unfortunately, I was on a limited schedule while I was filming and didn't have time. But I am definitely planning on doing a video on Comics & Stuff in the future. They seem to be pretty ubiquitous in Southern California.
@@RetailArchaeology Thats a store I wish was anywhere near me. Even as an adult I still like that kinda stuff. Only comic shops I can find are the dingy run down places that've been there since the 70's.
I have so many memories here. I would go every weekend shop, eat and just hang out. Does anyone remember Pat and Oscars? they had the best breadsticks and salad.
This was my go to mall when I was growing up and have many fond memories of it. A large reason that alot of spaces are closed is because when they were planing to do the renovation part of the plan was to remove the roof of the mall, as such the majority of stores moved out in preparation for this. However, ultimately this did not happen and the stores never really came back and the mall has struggled since then. Had they not decided to do that as part of the renovation I think it would be in a better place then it is now.
They have been splitting macys for over 30 years like that. Pennys and Sears began trying that about 20 years ago with just furniture and appliances to offset the chain and it's more lucrative insurance programs, usually not in malls but large vacant stores to just use as hybrid sales warehouses.
It's a very modern looking mall. Yes it's clean well lit and looks modern. But at the same time it's very cold looking, sterile and uninviting. At least to me. I like the 80s and 90s mall aesthetic. It's looks more friendly. That place almost looks like a hospital. Not enough neon lights.
wow I haven't been to that mall in quite a few years! stayed with my s/o for a month for the first time in 2012 and we got to go hang out down there for a while, I remember seeing that comics n stuff they had so much cool stuff! I still have the little mario keychain I got there it hangs off my nintendo switch case. showed this video to my wife she seemed to agree not having a food court is probably hurting it in the long run. eventually we may plan a trip to go up there maybe hang out at dave and busters.... but not anytime soon, obviously.
I was born in Carlsbad in '65 and lived there til '74.Have very fond memories of that mall.My mom always took me when she went to the pipe and tobacco ship for my dad's pipe.I remember the wonderful smells and my mom always bought me a big pack of those wafer cookie sticks.Seems strange too there was a dairy across the street from the mall.
With The Corona Virus BS, I Am Expecting MASS Bankruptcies: Malls, Macy's, Sears, Even Bloomingdale's And So Many Other Businesses. Yup, Add JCPenny's.
Good point. I hadn't thought of that at ll. That means lots of retailers, including restaurants, hair and nail salons, barber shops, resorts (unless people got locked down in hotels and resorts) and places people go for services, except hospitals. I have a slight ear infection and I've decided to hold out for a while.
@@rlm6213 JCPenney will most likely file for bankruptcy in the near future. So will Sears (for the second time in less than a couple of years); they may even skip the liquidation process for the remaining stores. I have a feeling they will keep all of the doors locked and sell their merchandise off to some other wholesalers.
I think this is the same mall I grew up with when I lived in North County San Diego. If it is used to have a food court somewhere near the center. It is probably behind one of those walls. Also near the center, it used to have this kinetic sculpture where billiard balls would navigate roller coaster-like tracks and jumping fountains similar to the ones found outside the Imagination Pavillion at EPCOT. Ahh, the joys of growing up in the late 1980's and mid 1990's. I think this was my favorite mall when we lived in San Diego.
that macys set up reminds me of the one in san francisco 2 buildings across the street from each other with mens in 1 building and everything else in the other
I live in the southeastern portion of the country and very few people are concerned about covid-19. Catching a virus doesn't scare people in this area at all. Being quarantined at home with their wives scares the crap out of them.
I did a huge electrical upgrade project at Zara here. They had it way over engineered to where the coffee maker and each drinking fountain has its own breaker and energy monitoring system.
One reason hubby and I refuse to shop online is that we resent what internet shopping has done to our beloved brick and mortar stores. We have other reasons, too, but that's a major one. There's nothing quite like walking into a physical store and being able to see what you're getting, firsthand. You can personally inspect it, feel it, see the actual product up close and not just an image of it.
@@jrnfw4060 yes, you can try out clothes and check out other items at the store before buying, you cannot do that online. It's unfortunate that many stores are struggling to bring customers to their brick & motor stores.
Wow. The only way I could describe the video is "good vibes only" I live in Canada and I miss the rain so much during the winter. Very relaxing to get to experience it secondhand.
The Macy's Men's & Home store was formerly Bullock's (1:38) while the Macy's Women's & Children's store was formerly The Broadway (3:09). Both Bullock's and The Broadway were acquired by Macy's in 1996, which is why the Shoppes at Carlsbad mall has two Macy's stores. Both Dave & Buster's and Regal Cinemas were formerly Robinsons-May (7:03) (operated as May Company beforehand). The Robinsons-May store closed in 2006 as a result of Macy's acquiring the May Department Stores Company chains, which kept the two Macy's stores open instead of moving them both into the Robinsons-May building.
I grew up in Vista, CA, so this was the main mall I visited when I was growing up throughout the 90s and early 2000s. This mall had a two story mechanical clock that functioned with a bunch of pulleys and pool balls. It say under one of the dome skylights you pointed out. It was so cool. There was a second one (big clock) at North County Fair in Escondido. Those two malls (plaza Camino real vs north county fair) we’re always in competition. I moved away from San Diego in 2014 and they were talking of opening this newly renovated version of the mall featuring a 24hour fitness, D&B, and an open air design. Looking at this footage, I see renovations and updates, but it’s got mostly the same design it always had! That’s a bummer; I was under the impression the renovation was going to make it very different. I think this mall struggles from the stigma it’s been under for years. It’s in a Carlsbad zip code, but locals refer to that mall as Oceanside, and markedly not as nice. I think Pat & Oscars changing also had something to do with it. Malls everywhere are struggling but this one in particular has been hurting for a long time. That whole area, really. There used to be a shopping center behind this mall that had a Marshall’s, Tuesday Morning, etc. I wonder how that’s doing…
I love how you have a typical shopping centre music going in the background of your Blog. It's like your hearing it, whilst your doing your tour around that shopping centre. (I'm from, Melbourne, Australia. That's what we call our, as you americans say, Malls, we call them, Shopping Centres..... ☺️🙂
No way! So many memories of this mall dating back to the 80’s! There used to be an attraction where all these Bullard balls went through a rue Goldberg machine. Place used to be a really dump at one point, but this remodel helps....to bad it’s still dead
Back in 2000 there was a child train ride by the Sears. It regularly flooded from a fountain and derailed all the time when kids were riding it. As it was electric it was fun to wade through the puddles to fix the derailments
I remember when Plaza Camino Real opened in 1969, the May Co (now the movie theater/gym/Dave & Busters) opened first, the mall shops opened a couple of weeks later, with JCP opening last a few months after that. The mall just cut off past JCP, a wall of windows leaving it open for the late 70s expansion down to Sears. There was a nice big fountain under the skylight next to May Co, and a Pickwick bookstore next to that. The mall also had a Woolworths, a Pier One (big on cheap rattan furniture at the time), and place called the Cake Walk that had great hot fudge sundaes. That mall was super popular back then, its only North County competition at the time was the Escondido Village Mall.
I totally forgot about MayCo and Pier One Imports being there, also, along with Woolworths, in addition to all the stores I've named from memory in my replies above. I see that Zales is still there. There were a couple of other jewelry stores, too. I'm remembering back a lot of years. Do you recall a Victoria's Secret store being in there? I seem to remember there was one, but I could be mistaken.
I’ve seen several Macy’s mall locations that splits the store into two locations. Town Center Mall in Kennesaw, GA did this after the parent company bought local department store Rich’s and was stuck with leases on two large spaces. They did not have a furniture department at this suburban Atlanta store, so they brought in a very large furniture department on the upper level and moved the men’s store to the lower level of the second space. The original space then was able to expand their housewares and fine china department.
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Unfortunately right now, all malls are dead malls.
actually NOT true...before this crisis, the Roseville Galleria in CA was nearly fully occupied and was bustling with people every day. Has been this way even during the financial crisis. Probably the healthiest mall in the US.
@@Arturo-sm1tb Because of corona , she is saying every mall is dead I think.
@@Arturo-sm1tb lol That one went right over your head :) The original comment was referring to the fact that all malls are closed now due to the virus, had nothing to do with if a mall was busy or not before all this started.
South Coast Plaza is now a dead mall due to a employee at one of the shops has Covid-19.
Arturo moron.
This is my local mall and I can tell you that the new management has done a very good job reviving this place. Five years ago it was looking like this mall was going to fade into obscurity with very little stores but after the years long renovation the mall has begun to attract more luxury stores and is starting to get crowded on the weekends. At first when the Sears announced they were closing I became nervous about the interior section of the mall near the Sears struggling but from what I can tell there seems to be little to no effect on the rest of the mall from the closing of the store other than a nearly empty Sears parking lot. Overall, I think this mall has a bright future and will continue attracting customers, especially once the economy recovers from the virus outbreak
Known locally as the “murder mall”
When I lived in southern California, in Oceanside to be exact, I visited this mall frequently, often riding the North County Transit bus to and from, so I didn't have to worry about parking.That was mostly in the 1980s and 90s. I enjoyed that mall, although Sears was a joke. I'm glad if it's still going. I recognize the layout from when I shopped there. I searched for this mall especially, hoping it wasn't among the extinct ones. Nice to know it isn't.
This place reminds me of an airport concourse with lots of duty free shops and over priced food. Thank you for the tour.
I was going to say the same thing.
Doing away with the eating places in food court was a bad move. Who can afford those overpriced restaurants unless you're rich? Back in the 80's, North County Fair and Carlsbad malls were doing well, not just the shops but food court as well.
I went to this mall when I was a kid. There used to be this beautiful huge exhibit with a ball that would get dropped into all these moving mechanisms and it was the coolest thing I ever saw as a kid. I used to get so excited to go here. As a college kid I worked here at the EB games (~2011) and I remember walking through this mall in the evening after everything shut down and remembering how spooky it felt. I also remember this mall being packed during holiday season to the point you could barely walk. The escalators at the beginning of your footage they used to have survey takers standing at the bottom to pull you into one of the rooms to do surveys. I used to make $1-2 doing those surveys by testing water shower heads or random shit like that. To see it dead is really sad to me but I'm not surprised.
The thing in the middle with a bunch of pool balls going through the conveyor
I used to work there, too. 2004-2006 at Macy's. It was very busy back then.
@@atrusty9729 YES!
Haha awesome! Yea I'm from Oside. Childhood memories
@@kristina_lynn my first job was at hot dog on a stick lol
This was my mall from the 80s on. Used to take the bus here in high school. It was super ghetto in the 90s. It’s considered “Oceanside” by the Carlsbad locals and a “marine mall”. It was always called that. Always had crime and a bad rep for years. Gorgeous location. Not sure it can ever be spared. Mall folks in North County go to North County Fair and have since the 90s. IMO it’s a lost cause of my youth. Thanks for the video
yup. I was a marine wife at pendleton. Always heard it called the Boot Mall.
It was amazingly nice in the 80's.. and before ..
LOL....I had a g/f back in the early 80's who worked at a store there. She said a lot of marines would spend all day there, eating a bit and just cruising girls....
Yes, totally. North County Fair was the real deal back then.
This is also my local mall and I agree that Carlsbad rejects it for being on the Carlsbad/Oceanside border. I think it's a great location because Oceanside doesn't have its own mall despite it being the third largest city in San Diego county. Socioeconomics, local culture, and classicism definitely play a role in how likely this mall is to succeed. There was a Carlsbad ballot measure that intended to build a monstrosity of a mall with a Nordstrom on one of the lagoons and I'm glad it didn't pass. It would have been a traffic and ecological nightmare that was totally unnecessary because Carlsbad has dozens of gorgeous shopping centers, this older mall, a Simon outlet mall (Carlsbad Company Stores - another dying mall that used to be absolutely gorgeous - I worked at the Banana Republic Outlet there), and the Carlsbad Forum (which is probably the most successful outdoor shopping center/mal). There was no need to build something new just because Carlsbad residents didn't want to drive to Westfield North County in Escondido or the absolutely breathtaking UTC in La Jolla (both only about a 30 min drive without traffic). I REALLY want this mall to succeed and definitely worried about what the pandemic damage will do since the company that purchased from Westfield has put in so much work. I imagine this mall could potentially be comparable to something like Brea - old school mall with vacancies, but with open stores appealing enough to make a trip.
I feel like any mall that has a Zara’s has to be doing at least decently well, right?
I remember living on Camp Pendleton as a Kid from late 1994 to early 2001. In door trick or treating, the Comic n Stuff getting Imports of Japanese collectibles when the late 90s anime boom started with pokemon, along with the Fad-pocalypse started (beanie babies, digital pets, yo-yos, Ferbies, DBZ, etc). I remember eat at the China Gate restaurant, when they opened up the McDonald's and Taco Bell, and buy butter toffee cookies at the Mrs Field's cookie stand, and eating popcorn for the Woolworth's snack booth with my dad. Memories...
Heyy they finally put in the palm trees inside! I tripped in the hole that where one was suppose to be in.
OH WHAT?!?!?!?! My local mall.
This mall did terribly because of the mismanagement of Westfield.
So what happened POST Westfield was that one SIDE of the mall was recently redone. So shops like Spencers moved to the redone side. It looks like they intended to redo the other side, but didn't get as much business as they hoped and probably have postponed or canceled the redo of the other side to try and match all the redone elements of the east side of the mall.
That large retail space with the Comic store was actually built to be a clothing store that closed within maybe three months of opening. It sat empty for YEARS until it finally became that comic shop. Which mind you, Westfield kept kicking them out of various locations, they would usually open around the holidays, then do really well, but the mall would kick them out because they thought comics were a "blemish" on their "premium focused" retail locations. Westfield had no idea what they were doing. They thought they were Fashion Island, when they had a McDonalds.
I will say, the remodel under the company that owns it now has actually breathed a LOT of new life into it, particularly for the food. I think they have a chance of actually fixing all the mistakes Westfield made. Before Westfield sold it, they were going to convert this into an outdoor mall with fountains, exteriors that looked almost identical to the nearby Carlsbad Premium Outlets. And that mall is EXACTLY why this mall can't be the premium mall you would expect it to be, because that other mall has completely captured that market. I think the new owners realize it needs to be something slightly more "middle to upper middle" class, and not just "the rich people mall" like Westfield thought they were.
A former Californian I remember going to that mall with my parents back in the 80’s. I can still remember my dad and I sitting on a bench waiting for my mom as she went shopping. There used to be a hotdog place called Orange Julius and I remember my Dad, Mom and I having hotdogs and frothy orange drinks. I also remember when the mall had a Woolworth store in there as well. Great memories shopping there with my parents. I still remember my Mom taking me clothes shopping which I hated Booooring 😂 and my Dad buying his florsheim dress shoes in Sears.
Yup remembering the Woolworths when my dad was stationed in camp Pendleton he took me ther often it also had a wendy's that I ate at for the first time ever and this was back when Woolworths actually sold rifles
Here at South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa, we have 3 Macy’s. There’s a “regular” Macy’s (formerly Bullock’s), Macy’s Men’s Store (formerly I. Magnin) and a Macy’s Home Store (formerly The Broadway). Thankfully, SCP will never become a dead mall and it’s managed to survive all these years without ever having a food court.
The weird Macy’s configuration was the result of May Company acquiring the two stores that originally occupied those spaces, one of them being The Broadway. The mall was supposed to be remodeled in 2009, and those plans included a food court; they never came to fruition when Westfield shelved the remodel due to the poor economy.
Katie R I think one of the Macy’s was suppose to become a Bloomingdales too!
Katie R King of Prussia had a similar configuration when they acquired Strawbridges in the mid-2000s. However, at least it’s a successful mall. I worked at the acquired location in 2006-2007 and it was converted back into an empty store, and then into smaller locations. It was doubly strange because we were catty-corner from each other.
There’s a similar configuration with two Macy’s stores (women’s and men’s/home) at Aventura Mall, after the company acquired the Burdines chain. They temporarily renamed the newly acquired stores to Burdines-Macy’s and then simply Macy’s.
Well kinda....the two stores were originally The Broadway and Bullocks In '93 May Co. bought JW Robinsons and converted into Robinson's May.(May Company was the original anchor in '69; at the far East end) The Broadway and Bullocks stores were "Macy-ated" in '96. Rob May closed it's store in 2006 and eventually gets torn down and replaced with a mega plex and "dining terrace". Macy's keeps both building as the square footage of one wouldn't allow to have furniture, Mattresses and Backstage.
May Company never acquired The Broadway, only JW Robinsons. Here's a little retail history for you, from a person who used to be a part of the Macy's West executive team. RH Macy's filed for Chapter 11 in the early '90s and was acquired by Federated Department Stores. The '90s was the decade of the first modern dept store contraction, as Federated and other big players began wide scale acquisitions. Shortly after acquiring Macy's, Federated also acquired Carter Hawley Hale, which owned Emporium Capwell (SF/East Bay), Weinstocks (CA Central Valley), and The Broadway (So Cal & Nevada). Most of CHH stores occupied space in malls where Macy's West already had stores. Since Federated could not get out of the CHH lease obligations with the malls, it decided to re-model and use the CHH mall locations as Macy's Mens/Furniture locations. I spent most of the 90's going all over CA and NV re-modeling and re-merchandising these locations. Very fun times. In the 2000's, the next dept store contractions occurred. Federated acquired Rob-May but kept the nameplates until around 2006, when all of Rob-May was folded into Macy's. In the case of Carlsbad, Macy's West did not have a location there, so The Broadway at Carlsbad became Macy's in the '90s. When Rob-May folded into Macy's in 2006, Federated used the same strategy as it did in the '90s, and the Rob-May Carlsbad location became a Men's/Furniture store.
Hey I used to work at the Tilt Arcade in there from tail end 2018 to june of 2019 when I graduated beauty school. It's since closed and is being turned into that day care play center type of thing. We almost never had any business aside from on Sundays where it was fairly busy and around the holiday season. Bizarrely enough it was not that fun to work at despite it being an arcade. One of the most boring jobs I've ever had.
Dead mall today, corona isolation center tomorrow
At least there’ll be a lot of room for the tiktok nurses to dance. Oh...no, that won’t happen they’ll be to busy.
Something I need to watch while stuck at home, Thank You Erik.
I went to that mall frequently when I was in the Marines 1993 - 1997
6:54 - Woah. A Shiekh shoes store on the right. If I remember correctly, that used to be a very common store in malls, but now it seems pretty rare.
I work at this mall. I'm the assistant Manager at Flip flop shops and I can tell you that so much has happened since last video. There's a sunglass hut, there is a store called Local Niche that sells for small businesses and we have an Art Cafe. We had a California souvenir store, Pandora shut down and our old arcade went out. It was called "Tilt." There's a new thing that will be taking over the Sears auto shop.
Looking forward to your post-pandemic explorations!
So, I live a block away from this mall. The downside is when it was owned by Westfield. There were alot of businesses inside and the Carlsbad outlets opened. They tried to stay in competition with the outlets by closing the mall for a remodeling. Their intention was to make the mall an outdoor mall. They eventually realized they couldn't cause of the cost and scraped the project. Since they already kicked the businesses out for remodeling. They sold the mall. Now, they are struggling trying to get businesses to come back. Grrrr
MIKE GUIFFREDO they also planned on putting a bunch of crazy high end stores in when they converted it to outdoor. No one in that neighborhood was going to buy a Porsche there. The owners were mental.
@@uhsaywhatnow And just think what it would have been like as an outdoor mall when it rained. I enjoyed it because it was covered and free from the elements while folks shopped there. It would have been a grave mistake to open it up to the outside.I patronized this mall a lot during the 1980s and early 90s, while I lived in Oceanside. Some of the merchandise in some of the stores was chintzy and overpriced, but there was a lot to enjoy there and I did buy things, especially during the holidays. I used to get meat and cheese packs for my relatives from Hickory Farms, until the quality deteriorated and their food packs weren't much good, anymore.
I recall having a really nice hair style done at a hair salon there. There was a lot to choose from. Some of the stores didn't interest me, because they sold things I wasn't interested in, but in a lot of the others I found things I really liked. There really was something for everyone in that mall at that time.
Temecula Promenade has two Macy’s as well. I wonder if that was an old 90s tactic?
No. They were more than likely 2 different stores (Broadway, Bullocks, May Co., etc) that Macy's purchased and renamed Macy's. A lot of malls have more than 1 Macy's for that reason.
The two store strategy is intended for owning more entrance space to a mall. Usually, stores do it to own opposite ends of the mall when another department store closes, and the leasing gets cheap enough. A lot of people enter malls through department stores, because the parking is sometimes more convenient, and some department stores have bathrooms at the entrance when the mall itself has bathrooms in less convenient locations.
Most malls have that two Macy’s in a mall is pretty common out east
The Mall at Tuttle Crossing in Ohio had a Macy's and then a separate Macy's clearance and furniture store (which is now an entertainment center)
Never thought I'd see my hometown mentioned on one of these videos. So thanks! FYI, pretty sure the Macy's used to be another department store. Edit: My mom just let me know it used to be a Robinson's May (which I guess Macy's acquired). I grew up in this town but forgot. Remember shopping here all the time.
My mall, South Coast Plaza, has THREE Macy’s now! Men’s, Home, and Regular. It all happened when Macy’s took over almost all the chains in America.
I completely forgot about them having three locations there! I wonder if it had to do with the mall being family owned (now that I think about it probably not.)
We used to call that mall the “boot mall” when I was stationed out of Camp Pendleton, reason being is you’ll always see brand new Marines walking around that mall with a fresh high fade and a tactical backpack! It’s been a while since I’ve seen this! Sad to see it’s all dead
They still do it😂 every few months we get them in and our backpack sales skyrocket
Yeah, my coworkers hated closing because of them. We had issues with them following our female coworkers to their cars after shifts.
Well, at least everyone's keeping proper Social Distancing.
@Mike Holly Bullshit. The flu doesn't leave perfectly healthy individuals with permanently damaged lungs and hearts. The flu doesn't leave you with up to a 30% chance of going sterile.
Wake up...this is New World Order mind control. Watch Demolition Man and Contagion. The sheep bought the CoronaHoax hook, line and sinker.
You insano conspiracy theorists have no idea just how ridiculous you sound. 😂
Man there's just something so ominous and yet cool about the music being played in such a large, empty space. Imagine going there at night with the lights out...yikes lol. Also that air of mystery about it going through cycles of being dead and alive. I love these videos! They give me so many ideas for stories and stuff. Also, the comments section is always so awesome and informative too :)
This is the cleanest, classiest dead mall I’ve seen. I love it 😻
Hi everybody, Carlsbad local here. In case any non-Carlsbad peeps were wondering, this mall used to be bustling with people before Corona happened, and now that it's practically over with a lot of people getting their vaccines, it's starting to slowly creep back to the numbers it once hit. The front of the mall is not nearly as dead as this guy showed anymore. The main entrance is usually packed with people because they built many new restaurants and even added a movie theater in the front. The mall has definitely left it's dead state since quarantine came to its end. I can say with certainty that the parking lots are filling out once again.
@RuZgÂr Yeah, it's pretty packed most of the time, now.
That's nice.
they should take one of those block of closed shops and put a food court there is so many good local quick services places in San Diego it would make money and might bring people in
i want this music played at my funeral
Military here loved visiting that mall much better than the ones in oceanslime... sad to see what is happening with brick and mortar
Be safe out there during this virus outbreak. Great content as always.
Omg thank you for reading my suggestion! I have very good memories of that place, thank you so much for bringing those back, you are so awesome
It really is a beautiful mall. I wish I could have seen it before the recent renovation though.
@@RetailArchaeology Yeah it definitely looks pretty different now
"...everything is shutting down for at least a couple of weeks..."
This mall actually pretty good
Its clean & up to date for a large mall. ✔.
@Alex Takessian what’s “Yo Yo” Types?
I used to live right up the hill from this mall. You could see signs it was struggling back then but primarily in the older anchor stores like Sears & JCPenney. The last time I was there, they were hosting the runners expo start/finish line for the Carlsbad Marathon. This race is part of the beloved triple crown series in SoCal. It's hard to believe it looks like that now😢💔 Hopefully they will make a strong comeback🤞💪
@RuZgÂr I don't know because I am not in that area any more and haven't been back in a while...but I hope so🤞🍀😉
I watched "Raiders of the Last Ark" there when it came out in 81.
Across the street ? At the Cinema?
@@amberblewett The cinema was inside the mall at that time. I was going to school at Army and Navy Academy in Carlsbad and they bused us to this mall for movie night.
So cool. I grew up going to the mall but I was only 9 in 81, I do however remember the Cinema very well, then the Mann theaters were built near by
that's a freaking great looking mall
I remember shopping here when I lived nearby. So eerie to see it like this.
This mall right here was my childhood mall. Back in the early 90's, I recall they had a FANTASTIC series of Rube Goldberg machines, one that spanned two stories of the mall. I hate to say I cannot find any photos of these online, but I'll dig around a bit.
Thanks for taking the time to film this video, with everything going on right now in the world, this is a much needed relief right now.
Although I hate to say it, like others have already said, I think a lot of malls will be dead for a while.
Let’s hope we can recover from this sooner than later.
Thank you!
Thanks for the video, I think I've watched most of your older ones already and was hoping for a new one :)
I'm going to try my hardest to get a new video out every Friday. I have a huge backlog of footage in the can.
@@RetailArchaeology Be a good time for it, you should get lots of views in the next few weeks. Tv sucks so my evenings are spent on here
I knew you would do this one after seeing you were in Oceanside on IG.
Nice video! Something that struck me was the attention to detail. The lighting throughout the mall is perfect. Even the metallic waste receptacles (they are too pretty to call 'trash cans') look clean and inviting. thank you, sir.
This was our mall for years, we were there shopping almost every week in the 1980’s and 90’s. Thanks for sharing
PLEASE do Westfield Palm Desert in the Coachella Valley!
It's definitely on my list. I did do a video on the mall in Indio not too long ago.
oh hey, i'm one of the many ppl who requested this lol :P happy to see you finally made it here. i worked here when it was under construction for the new remodel in late 2016 and despite it being a holiday season it was pretty slow/dead outside of black friday. basically everyone only comes here for the restaurants and movies and the actual mall itself is pretty sad at this point.
As someone who was at the ground floor, please share your thoughts on why this mall is struggling.
@@chiensyang hmm i guess a part of it was the owners kind of let the mall deteriorate when the original remodeling plans were temp halted and let so many tenants go. i remember going there during the summer and there were way more empty store fronts then shown here so there was not much of a reason for ppl to stop here anymore, not to mention there's another mall (an outlet) that's 10 mins away from this one so everyone can just go there instead. and since most of the newer restaurants aren't connected from the inside of the mall again there's not much reason for ppl to also go inside the mall when they can just get their food and go.
@@tirofinale,
Thanks for sharing. From your comment, I think too many malls in the same area.
Oof, I used to love this mall but they got rid of Cinnabon and a lot of cheap fast food restaurants in here. There used to be a disney store. The only thing I come here for is 20 mins before the mall closed for comic n stuff and then go to Dave N Busters with friends. Dave N Busters is usually pack in the night time
the cool thing about this video is that it shows the early days of covid and the impending shutdown.
really liked the music in this one! the older i get, the more i unabashedly love tacky sax&synth.
Scary to imagine what’s gonna happen to malls across the states
Remember 2008? Worse than that
Used to come here all the time as a kid. It's changed a little but this is nostalgic
If you want to see a mall that is doing well look into the village fair mall in Modesto CA
Great to hear from you again. You have a wonderful voice for radio. Hope you and your family are safe and doing okay during this indeterminate crisis. Stay healthy.
Beautiful mall Erik! This mall kind of looks like a hybrid of Scottsdale Fashion Square, & Fiesta Mall.
I grew up at that mall. OG Mall Rat! First job there....and second...and third! Met my fiance at the Mrs Fields. Had my hair cut there for 14 yrs! Amazing memories.
I work in this mall and there are days where it’s very dead, but usually it gets very busy on the weekends. Especially during holidays this mall is packed with shoppers. They have added more restaurants, and stores which has definitely helped bring more people to the mall. Great video it’s nice to see how the mall has changed since 2020
I remember when it was called Plaza Camino Real. I lived in Oceanside in the 1980s and early-to-mid-90s, and often rode the North County Transit bus to and from this mall, so I didn't have to worry about parking, and also when I was without a car. I have some nice memories of shopping there, although Sears was a joke.
I also remember when we locals just called it "Carlsbad Mall" or "Carlsbad Plaza". There were two bookstores, Barnes and Noble being one and, if I recall correctly, a Pickwick Bookstore, several shoe stores, a hair salon, at least one food and beverage court, two or three jewelry shops, including Zales which I see is still there,, a Hickory Farms, J.C. Penneys, a bed and bath store, a music store, specialty boutiques, and many, many more to choose from, upper and lower levels. I think it also had a Nordstroms -- I do seem to vaguely remember one there.There were also vendors set up in the corridors with their little displays. Christmas was magical in this mall. This was a very active mall at that time. And I loved the skylights and the general layout.
I was much younger during those years, and I sure do miss those times!
Edited to add: I think there was a third bookstore in there at that time, B. Dalton Bookseller. Pickwick and Barnes and Noble were the other two.
I had forgotten there was also a MayCo and Woolworths. The more I remember backward, the more I recall. Broadway, Bullocks, Pier One Imports also come to mind.
I remember getting a cool orange flavored Smoothie-like drink at one of the food or beverage places. This was SOOOOOO long ago! I don't remember the name of it.
The Sears was a disappointment. I went in there once to look for something and inquired of one of the managers as to whether they carried it there and if so, where could I find it? He was extremely rude and mocking. He rolled his eyes and gave some kind of sarcastic guff. He got away with it because I'm a woman. A man would have slugged him in the mouth. I can see why Sears no longer exists -- anywhere.
This is the main mall I went to growing up. It’s always what comes to mind for a dead mall. Thanks for documenting it before it’s gone!!
still alive bro
Lol, one of the closer malls that i used to love going to as a kid. But nowadays it's pretty much a ghost town. In normal circumstances (as in non-pandemic) the most popular place is probably the Regal movie theater.
So while the original two malls in CBad, Plaza Cam Real (the Shoppes at Carlsbad; but ima call it by it's original name abbreviated), and "the Outlet mall" (Carlsbad Premium Outlets) were very successful in their on rights, they were largely dependent on tourist traffic from both the flower fields and other regional events that user to bring more people in. Since that time i was a kid though, The Forum opened in the southernmost plot of Cbad straddling Encinitas, with an H&M (who i worked for about a month; yea theyre aholes), an apple store, Urban Outfitters, and Tilly's. It really catered to that affulence you referenced, and everybody else had Walmart next door when it opened concurrently in the old Expo lot in Encinitas. The parking situation is atrocious at the Forum though so i hate going there.
You should do Horton Plaza. Its about to be torn down and retrofitted for apartments and mixed use stuff.
Came here in August of 2019 while visiting LEGOLAND for two days. I came on a Wednesday afternoon and yeah it was pretty dead. Maybe like 20 or 25 people walking around throughout the whole mall. It’s funny I actually remember thinking that retail archaeology should do an episode here. Lol
No food court? What were they thinking? I go to the mall when I get bored. Usually, I plan to get food and then wonder around for something to do. I dont plan to go shopping usually. But while Im there, I do buy stuff. They need to take some of that dead space and throw in a Chinese restaurant, some kind of sub shop, a chick fil a, a pretzel shop across from that and a starbucks and then throw some tables and chairs between.
I grew up in Oceanside, and this was my mall. I remember clearly what was here and how the mall was from the 70's as a kid, and then worked in the mall as a teen throughout the 80's. So little is left of the original mall. Those green double doors you have pictured about a minute into your video once housed the Musicland then turned into a Sam Goody, and if faced an old school Woolworths with a diner and everything. Before it was an access way, that was where I stood and looked out upon my domain as mall king. Le sigh. Love your vids! All power!
Great to travel with you! Always such a pleasure to spend time looking at things through your eyes. Thanks so much! : )
I love how at 7:36 the Macy's storefront makes it look like its home furnishing for men rather than men's AND home furnishing. 😄
May Turner hahahhaha you’re right! Furniture just for men 😂
i love all these videos. the whole channel is like soul nourishment, in a weird way.
I work here and although the mall is fairly slow, while this was being filmed it was extra slow because of the virus. It’s usually busy on the weekends
I like going on a Monday or Tuesday to this mall never on the weekends
I was expecting half the video to be you poking around the Comics -N- Stuff store to see what you could find. Should we be expecting a bonus video about that some time in the near future? :3
No unfortunately, I was on a limited schedule while I was filming and didn't have time. But I am definitely planning on doing a video on Comics & Stuff in the future. They seem to be pretty ubiquitous in Southern California.
@@RetailArchaeology Thats a store I wish was anywhere near me. Even as an adult I still like that kinda stuff. Only comic shops I can find are the dingy run down places that've been there since the 70's.
I have so many memories here. I would go every weekend shop, eat and just hang out. Does anyone remember Pat and Oscars? they had the best breadsticks and salad.
Did Pat and Oscars go out of business? I used to eat at that chain, but not that location.
@@brendapayne6603 The Pat and Oscars in the Carlsbad mall bellied up. It's another expensive restaurant now.
This was my go to mall when I was growing up and have many fond memories of it. A large reason that alot of spaces are closed is because when they were planing to do the renovation part of the plan was to remove the roof of the mall, as such the majority of stores moved out in preparation for this. However, ultimately this did not happen and the stores never really came back and the mall has struggled since then. Had they not decided to do that as part of the renovation I think it would be in a better place then it is now.
As far as way the Macy's are there, our Dillards used to do that. They consolidated the stores into one storefront probably about 10 years ago.
They have been splitting macys for over 30 years like that. Pennys and Sears began trying that about 20 years ago with just furniture and appliances to offset the chain and it's more lucrative insurance programs, usually not in malls but large vacant stores to just use as hybrid sales warehouses.
This is already my favorite abandoned mall video.
We got those skydomes at Holyoke Mall in Holyoke, MA.
It's a very modern looking mall. Yes it's clean well lit and looks modern. But at the same time it's very cold looking, sterile and uninviting. At least to me. I like the 80s and 90s mall aesthetic. It's looks more friendly. That place almost looks like a hospital. Not enough neon lights.
They remodeled this mall heavily in the past decade. All it’s original aesthetic is gone.
I used to go here all the time in the late 70s and early 80s, so sad as I really loved it.
This was my childhood teen life. It's breaks my heart.
it’s alive again
wow I haven't been to that mall in quite a few years! stayed with my s/o for a month for the first time in 2012 and we got to go hang out down there for a while, I remember seeing that comics n stuff they had so much cool stuff! I still have the little mario keychain I got there it hangs off my nintendo switch case. showed this video to my wife she seemed to agree not having a food court is probably hurting it in the long run. eventually we may plan a trip to go up there maybe hang out at dave and busters.... but not anytime soon, obviously.
I was born in Carlsbad in '65 and lived there til '74.Have very fond memories of that mall.My mom always took me when she went to the pipe and tobacco ship for my dad's pipe.I remember the wonderful smells and my mom always bought me a big pack of those wafer cookie sticks.Seems strange too there was a dairy across the street from the mall.
MY CHILDHOOD MALL! This is the exact mall I went to when I lived back in Oceanside back in 2005 and 2006!
With The Corona Virus BS, I Am Expecting MASS Bankruptcies: Malls, Macy's, Sears, Even Bloomingdale's And So Many Other Businesses. Yup, Add JCPenny's.
Good point. I hadn't thought of that at ll. That means lots of retailers, including restaurants, hair and nail salons, barber shops, resorts (unless people got locked down in hotels and resorts) and places people go for services, except hospitals. I have a slight ear infection and I've decided to hold out for a while.
Yeah, I think this might be the final nail in the coffin for Sears and Penny's.
@@rlm6213 JCPenney will most likely file for bankruptcy in the near future. So will Sears (for the second time in less than a couple of years); they may even skip the liquidation process for the remaining stores. I have a feeling they will keep all of the doors locked and sell their merchandise off to some other wholesalers.
I think this is the same mall I grew up with when I lived in North County San Diego. If it is used to have a food court somewhere near the center. It is probably behind one of those walls. Also near the center, it used to have this kinetic sculpture where billiard balls would navigate roller coaster-like tracks and jumping fountains similar to the ones found outside the Imagination Pavillion at EPCOT. Ahh, the joys of growing up in the late 1980's and mid 1990's. I think this was my favorite mall when we lived in San Diego.
that macys set up reminds me of the one in san francisco 2 buildings across the street from each other with mens in 1 building and everything else in the other
OMG i used to work here!!! This is such a trip
I live in the southeastern portion of the country and very few people are concerned about covid-19. Catching a virus doesn't scare people in this area at all. Being quarantined at home with their wives scares the crap out of them.
I did a huge electrical upgrade project at Zara here. They had it way over engineered to where the coffee maker and each drinking fountain has its own breaker and energy monitoring system.
If we go into a recession, struggling JCPenney might not recover and go bankrupt
Davin Peterson it’s not IF but WHEN....
It just did a couple of weeks ago
One reason hubby and I refuse to shop online is that we resent what internet shopping has done to our beloved brick and mortar stores. We have other reasons, too, but that's a major one. There's nothing quite like walking into a physical store and being able to see what you're getting, firsthand. You can personally inspect it, feel it, see the actual product up close and not just an image of it.
@@jrnfw4060 yes, you can try out clothes and check out other items at the store before buying, you cannot do that online. It's unfortunate that many stores are struggling to bring customers to their brick & motor stores.
nice video...again ......again!! :) and i like when it's raining outside, and that emty mall makes a special feeling :)
Wow. The only way I could describe the video is "good vibes only" I live in Canada and I miss the rain so much during the winter. Very relaxing to get to experience it secondhand.
Thank you so much for linking the music, that is right up my alley
The Macy's Men's & Home store was formerly Bullock's (1:38) while the Macy's Women's & Children's store was formerly The Broadway (3:09). Both Bullock's and The Broadway were acquired by Macy's in 1996, which is why the Shoppes at Carlsbad mall has two Macy's stores. Both Dave & Buster's and Regal Cinemas were formerly Robinsons-May (7:03) (operated as May Company beforehand). The Robinsons-May store closed in 2006 as a result of Macy's acquiring the May Department Stores Company chains, which kept the two Macy's stores open instead of moving them both into the Robinsons-May building.
Never visited there, but it's a nice mall, when it was open.
Thanks for the tour.
I grew up in Vista, CA, so this was the main mall I visited when I was growing up throughout the 90s and early 2000s. This mall had a two story mechanical clock that functioned with a bunch of pulleys and pool balls. It say under one of the dome skylights you pointed out. It was so cool. There was a second one (big clock) at North County Fair in Escondido. Those two malls (plaza Camino real vs north county fair) we’re always in competition.
I moved away from San Diego in 2014 and they were talking of opening this newly renovated version of the mall featuring a 24hour fitness, D&B, and an open air design. Looking at this footage, I see renovations and updates, but it’s got mostly the same design it always had! That’s a bummer; I was under the impression the renovation was going to make it very different.
I think this mall struggles from the stigma it’s been under for years. It’s in a Carlsbad zip code, but locals refer to that mall as Oceanside, and markedly not as nice. I think Pat & Oscars changing also had something to do with it. Malls everywhere are struggling but this one in particular has been hurting for a long time. That whole area, really. There used to be a shopping center behind this mall that had a Marshall’s, Tuesday Morning, etc. I wonder how that’s doing…
I love your videos. Keep them coming!
I love how you have a typical shopping centre
music going in the background of your Blog.
It's like your hearing it, whilst your doing your tour
around that shopping centre.
(I'm from, Melbourne, Australia.
That's what we call our,
as you americans say,
Malls, we call them,
Shopping Centres..... ☺️🙂
This is the most 'British-looking' mall I've ever seen on your channel!
No way! So many memories of this mall dating back to the 80’s! There used to be an attraction where all these Bullard balls went through a rue Goldberg machine. Place used to be a really dump at one point, but this remodel helps....to bad it’s still dead
I remember taking the NCTD from Pendleton to Oceanside and the to Carlsbad in the 90s. Good memories.
When I think of "Carlsbad" I think of that one Family Matters episodes with the evil dummies.
Who recalls that Twilight Zone episode where the department store manikins became human for awhile?
Back in 2000 there was a child train ride by the Sears. It regularly flooded from a fountain and derailed all the time when kids were riding it. As it was electric it was fun to wade through the puddles to fix the derailments
Anyone get electrocuted?
Don’t have to worry about social distancing in this mall, there’s nobody!
I remember when Plaza Camino Real opened in 1969, the May Co (now the movie theater/gym/Dave & Busters) opened first, the mall shops opened a couple of weeks later, with JCP opening last a few months after that. The mall just cut off past JCP, a wall of windows leaving it open for the late 70s expansion down to Sears. There was a nice big fountain under the skylight next to May Co, and a Pickwick bookstore next to that. The mall also had a Woolworths, a Pier One (big on cheap rattan furniture at the time), and place called the Cake Walk that had great hot fudge sundaes. That mall was super popular back then, its only North County competition at the time was the Escondido Village Mall.
I totally forgot about MayCo and Pier One Imports being there, also, along with Woolworths, in addition to all the stores I've named from memory in my replies above. I see that Zales is still there. There were a couple of other jewelry stores, too. I'm remembering back a lot of years. Do you recall a Victoria's Secret store being in there? I seem to remember there was one, but I could be mistaken.
I’ve seen several Macy’s mall locations that splits the store into two locations. Town Center Mall in Kennesaw, GA did this after the parent company bought local department store Rich’s and was stuck with leases on two large spaces. They did not have a furniture department at this suburban Atlanta store, so they brought in a very large furniture department on the upper level and moved the men’s store to the lower level of the second space. The original space then was able to expand their housewares and fine china department.