@@jimfaust6342 They did the same thing with Scottsdale Mall in South Bend, Indiana years ago. I really like the strip mall, but the tearing down of Scottsdale was heartbreaking.
This was our mall! I see lots of other Berkshire people in the comments, we all knew this mall by heart, in all of its iterations. There was nowhere else to shop unless you went to Albany NY or Holyoke MA (both over an hour away) Everyone went to this mall, pretty much every week. I have memories of picking out VHS tapes at Saturday Matinee and I most definitely remember Service Merchandise. I remember every store here, except Steigers evidently? Definitely worked at this mall. I was born & raised in North Adams. I will always love this mall and it breaks my heart that it’s dead Thank you for making this comprehensive history of a place I am extremely fond of ❤
I'm from Amherst and just about everyone is shopping at the Holyoke mall. Hampshire mall has hardly anything left. It's turning into a fun zone mall. I have a lot of stories to share.
"There was nowhere else to shop.." because the mall millionaires made sure that no other store could stay open in the area. You might want to start blaming the mall instead of praising it.
I was realizing that alot of malls were going out. The last Massachusetts malls to be built was the Solomon pond mall in Marlboro in 1996. owned by the Simon properties group it use to be busy I live in Hudson so it is close by. The only malls that had a redevelopment in Massachusetts were Natick and Burlington alot of new stuff. It draws people back again Burlington mall area is over all better when comes to restaurants and shopping more people are going back to store front business. Then again the east side of the state is much more thriving business scene. there is always construction and development everywhere you go. You will notice alot more foot traffic especially in the Boston area.
@@scottbrenham1341 I live in Worcester and shop at Solomon Pond regularly. Thats interesting that is the last of the malls built here in Mass! Didn’t know that
I can’t tell you how cool it is to watch a place like this which would normally feed into urban decay/rot be given a second chance at life even if it comes in the form of revitalization.
sometimes they revive them but the biggest issues are often that upkeep and maintenance are the frst things to be sacrificed when a property gets in financial trouble.. ie they might band-aid a broken A/C with parts from out of a closed store.. no PM's get done.. roof leaks are simply patched with roof-patch or flex-seal.. leaky plumbing in empty storefronts is just shut off and not fixed. bugs and vermin become an issue in shuttered and boarded up former food-court spaces.. at some point the building goes so far down that it loses grandfather status when it comes to codes.. so to revive it means that it needs to beroight up to current year building codes vs being able to stay at its original codes.. this often is the kiss of death for revival as it costs more than flattening the building and building something else.. or just abandoning it and letting the city repo it for back-taxes.. the cities dont want them, the banks dont want them so they sit abandoned.. in the case of one of our malls, the government (state) itself ended up wanting the property to build a new office so they flattened the mall .. but no developer wanted to touch what couldve been a quagmire of asbestos and lead paint, etc from a building built in the 60s / early 70s
I was in middle school when The Berkshire Mall opened. I went to Hills with my folks and then spent my high school days shopping, hanging out and watching new movies there at Hoyts (which was also the location of my first kiss). Who knew that 30 years later I'd be watching a documentary on my iPhone about its demise. Really makes you think...
I have a scar on the back of my head from being a kid and playing/flipping on the metal rails in the check out lines at hills. I fell and cracked my head and was taken away by ambulance
This got me kinda choked up. I bacically grew up in this mall (I'm a 80s baby from Pittsfield.) There wasn't much else to do. I'm glad to hear that it's going to get a second life as a massive grow op. I had plenty of times partaking in sessions there especially on top of the mountain they cut into to make one of the parking lots. My youth went to the weed house... Literally
as a local, i grew up going to this mall. i saw it decay right in front of me, and it made my heart sink. though i’m only 18, this was the place to be back when i was a kid, and back in its hay day. this was a great place to shop, since it was close to me, but it kinda sucks not having a mall close to me anymore. sal, your footage truly captures the shell of what this mall once was💛
I think the "better outcome" idea of a huge weed-growing complex is doomed to failure, if it ever even happens. It's laughable really. The video was really well researched I will say.
I came in with the typical morbid curiosity and it did not disappoint. Your information was abundant and matter of fact. The mall refusing to die prolonged the epic twist at the end. Still can't stop grinning thinking about the forward thinking cultivators that decided to recycle a built space. I think it's a marvelous idea and I hope they succeed. Great video. The ending is perfection.
An 80s-90s mall, magically maintained and a magically fresh stocked food court with no every around would be a heaven. I think the old Natick mall would be ideal.
This was my mall growing up--so many memories of playing the latest and greatest arcade games at the Cyberstation, birthday parties at the Hoyts, and spending hours poring over the games in the Babbages and Electronics Boutique. I moved away from the area over 15 years ago, but my family still lives nearby and I'd been following the stories of its slow demise from afar for years. But once the Beacon cinema went into downtown Pittsfield I knew this place's days were numbered. Thank you for posting this incredibly well-researched homage to the Berkshire Mall--a place I went to just enough times to miss it when it was gone.
Do you remember any of the games they had? I sadly didn't go all the way into the arcade when I went to that mall the only time I went there years ago.
@@awoc123 It's all a bit hazy since I'm working off 15+ year old memories, but I think I remember across the years playing Mortal Kombat 2, Dragon's Lair, Time Killers, Silent Scope, and Time Crisis 2 in there. Obviously not all at the same time X)
As someone who used to work at this mall, amazing to see what the slow march of time does to a place. Fantastic work! Quic ETA, I worked at Waldenbooks. Through the food court, left hand side of the mall. Went to school out here so that was my income during the year. This brought back SO many memories!! Definitely subbed and will be watching the rest of the MA series for more nostalgia. Thank you.
I was in high school in nearby North Adams when this mall opened. It was our go to spot for entertainment, food, and 9f course shopping! I really hope somebody makes a go of this place in some form or another, would be a waste to watch it crumble! Love the vids Sal, keep up the good work!
If I remember, this mall didn't have a whole lot of competition from other malls. That may be why the anchors were able to do brisk business at this particular mall(yet failure on the corporate level still sealed their fate.)
So sad to see it gone I grew up here on Friday nights as a teen it was the hang out every Friday night my mother with give me 20 bucks and always came home with something new from about 5-9pm my friends and I would just walk up and down seeing other friends. Sit at the food court and chit chat. Seeing it empty just brings back so much ! Thank you for sharing this! ❤
I managed to get some shaky camera footage of Sears on closing day along with the rest of the mall but I am absolutely delighted to have the best there is do an ex log on my hometown mall. The historical information and old photos in this video are perfect. As always, well done.
Very well researched ex log!!! I always enjoy them and I am glad to hear that occasionally these massive retail structures have new life instead of being demolished ❣ Thank you Sal🤩🥰😀
I moved to nearby Bennington, Vt in October of 1987. I remember the excitement of waiting for the Berkshire Mall to open for business, only a scenic 40 minute drive from home. This was my daughter's mall growing up and I would bring her and often her friend and just "do the mall." They loved the arcade, the food court, Hot Topic and Spencers. Slowly our favorite stores started disappearing. At some point, there just was no reason to go anymore, unless we were going to Target. It is kind of surreal to see your video. I am happy to see that the mall has not fallen into disrepair like so many others, and that it will be repurposed. Thank you for this video! Have you done the Diamond Run Mall in Rutland, Vt? I believe it is even smaller than Berkshire Mall. Haven't been there in years, but based on my last visit, I'm pretty sure it is stone-cold dead by now.
My dad was a Broadcast Engineer for WBZ Radio 1030. The AM station shared the same building as the TV side (local channel 4) and was an NBC affiliate at the time. I am quite familiar with the news anchors (Liz Walker, Jack Williams) and meteorologists (Bruce Schwoegler, Barry Burbank) shown in the clip (not to mention the radio talent they had). This mall's history is well younger than me (too). I went to school in Amherst which is farther east of the Pittsfield/Lanesborough areas. These events of the mall occurred after I graduated.
Thank you for making the trip to Massachusetts and for making this video! I went to a boarding school in Williamstown back in the '93/ '94 school year (it's no longer a boarding school) and those students who wanted to would go to the Berkshire Mall on the weekends to shop, hang out, catch a movie, whatever. When I first started going, I found a comic book shop that I would go to every time I went to see if they had anything new that caught my interest. It closed at some point and I think the space became a pretzel shop. There was also a t-shirt shop I liked (I don't remember what it was called). I didn't go back again until the early 2000s on Halloween and visited the Best Buy there looking for an accessory for my Nintendo Game Cube. I got curious a few years ago and read that the mall was in trouble and the owners were getting heat from the tennants over snow removal in the parking lots. It's sad to see the mall shutter, I had some fun times there. Thanks again for making this it brought back some fun memories!
I used to go to this mall all the time back in the day. So many great memories with the Ground Round, Tape World, Record Town, Lauriat's, Falcetti Music, Sam Goody, that video store, and even Radio Shack, where my mom got our first IBM computer in the early 90's. I used to live close enough to walk to the mall, which I did often. I had so many friends who worked there too, so I always enjoyed talking to them when I would go hang out. It's so sad to see it completely empty and dead now.
Thank you for doing this video Sal. This is my stomping ground. I know of the future plans 🌿. I've watched your content before and you do good work sir. It is saddening to see this decline in our culture and society.
I'm a local resident who used the mall in its better days and now we are left with nothing, but that is increasingly the case countrywide. No question City of Pittsfield got too high and mighty and the mall owners shifted right next door to Lanesboro which killed downtown Pittsfield as a result.
I grew up in this mall. It was 25 minutes from my hometown. My grandparents took me here almost weekly to see a movie with them. We always ate at the Little Tokyo. My mom and my grandparents liked this mall because it was small, new, and safe. I preferred the Colossal Croasgates mall in Albany by the time I was 12. I used to get so mad at my mom for taking me to the Berkshire Mall to buy school clothes because there was only a Gap, Anerican Eagle, Weathervane, and the Filenes to shop at. I think the food stall that's vacant used to be a Sbarro. And there was an awesome pre orange Julius smoothie shop here. The movie theater gave you a paper bag you could fill on this wall full of candy dispensers that charged by the lb. It was a big deal when Best Buy came but honestly that's the last thing the mall did to stay relevant. I moved to Texas in 2005. But I visited in 2011 and it was shocking, the mall was already dead by that time. It was a bit bittersweet watching this video tbh. I'm 33, and my grandparents have passed, and I have a lot of happy memories here. But I watch all your videos and this one really hit home.
Liked and subbed. I love that you included the history and behind the scenes financial events that shaped the life of this mall. It seems that many malls were one financial crisis away from ruin. When companies are levered up and the tide goes out, everyone sees who is wearing swim trunks.
Within the first 10 minutes of the video, there were so many items that could go on "a mall that is soon to close" bingo card. Exterior signage that has seen better days, unkempt parking lot, closed restaurants in the food court, closed storefronts that the mall tried to hide by drywalling them off, closed storefronts they don't even try to hide, mom and pop hair/nail establishments, homemade signs in random places, attempts to block off empty wings, "arcade" with no video games but lots of crane games, lights dimmed/turned off in a desperate attempt to cut costs, plants that are either withering or growing wild, empty anchor stores, and of course the buckets.
Thanks for taking this video, it can now live on forever. Used to hang out when I was 16, it was always hopping, kids my age all over the place from all towns nearby... The area and economy and the cost of Rent wasn't feasible for most nonbig corperate chains. Its a shame that this mall died, internet killed all the small stores, you can just buy the things cheaper online, small business are going to continue to fail... RIP The Berkshire Mall
This was so awesome to watch. As you were walking around I was reminiscing about all the good times I had hanging with my friends in the mall. The memories we will always have. I worked in the cyberstation for a while. It was so sad to watch the stores slowly disappear. I'm glad it's going to finally be used for something and I hope that works out.
My whole goal is to preserve what *was*…for future generations. But…to also preserve what previous generations experienced. Thanks so much for watching :)
Having grown up going to this mall regularly, this is really sad to see. As I watched the video, so many memories of sights, sounds and people came flooding back. So many years of holiday shopping with friends and family, birthdays, random trips just to get out of the house, never to be had again. This mall's closure is a real loss to the area
I used to go here every Friday. I loved this place and only lived 5 minutes from it. It’s still so very sad that it closed I had so many great memories here with my grand parents shopping and my family.
What a bittersweet video. Spent a lot of time here shopping with my kids and my sister and Mom. Holiday shopping, school shopping, Barnes and Noble was my absolute favorite. I was so sad when they closed. We spent a lot of time at the movies there. I loved Ames because they had lay-a-way for school clothes. My ex-husband mostly just walked around Sears looking at tools. There was a Wilson Leather, Eddie Bauer that had great stuff. I was never a fan of Target so never really went there. We had a lot of fun walking around there and running into people we knew all the time. Sad to see it so dark and empty. But, although I’m can’t lie. I’m not a fan of the new plan, but it is creative.
I can see why they want to develop into a legal grow op. Different wings, ceilings are the right height, lots of room tiled floor and it was dirt cheap. LMFAO @ Marna High AF. I was legit partaking at the time that part started. "uuuuhm this smoke, it got into my lungs! uuuuh it's pretty good" hahahaha! Great episode, Sal!
Cool dude! I live in the Berkshires. I remember when you mall was thriving. In the 90s I used to go there Sunday with my grandma. She would buy me food at the food court and walk the interior perimeter in laps for exercise. Lots of old people did!
Wow, thanks for sharing. Nostalgic! The Berkshire Mall was a big deal back in the day when it first opened. Also killed retail on North St. in Pittsfield.
This was so sad to watch. As a former mall rat I met some of my best friends there and enjoyed having local brick and mortar stores to shop in. The history aspect of this was interesting.
It's interesting to watch this video, knowing that Kohan just bought one of the local malls (Rolling Oaks Mall) here in San Antonio TX. It's not in bad shape at the moment but I figure this is how it will look in about 5-10 years. You may want to give it a visit and then take the short trip to Sunrise Mall in Corpus Christi at some point.
On a personal note my family moved to the Berkshires in 1988. This mall was a staple for back to school shopping for us via sears and Penny's. During the late 90s and early 2000s highschool kids would use this as after school gatherings constantly. As an adult, I had moved to the Boston area to become a professional wrestler and then back to the Berkshires 7 years later. Around 2016 while the mall retailers were getting out of dodge the scumbag owner took a chance on a small independent wrestling company called truly independent wrestling. From 2016 till some part of 2019 truly independent wrestling, sometimes twice a month would host wrestling shows that would draw over 300 patrons at times. I would become a staple at there shows. Being able to perform in front of a crowd minutes away from where I grew up was and is a huge hit in the feels and is bucket list material. Concluding with an outside show in the mall parking lot June of 2019 TIW had an emotional goodbye to the mall, as it had built a huge fan base there. In hindsight if TIW had started ten years earlier maybe the mall would have had enough patrons to save it from it's sale. Unfortunately for hundreds of people attending shows a few times a month, there was few stores to support on a Saturday evening to make a dent in the mismanagement. Truly independent wrestling has so much sentiment for the mall, but has found a new venue and is alive and doing well. www.trulyindependentwrestling.com/
Right by mom's house which is only about 20 mins from this mall, is a turn of the century quarry where everything was left abandoned in time all the old equipment is still left in place rusted and overgrown at the center is a 50 foot deep or more flooded quarry some say there's a crane still at the bottom. Called the becket quarry
Wow, it's been so long since I've been to this mall. After all it's been through, I can only recognize a few features like the layout and skylights. It's like an old childhood friend you couldn't recognize until they gave their name.
I'm sure we realize that this is happening all over the country. In Florida a local mall closed about 2 years ago right after Publix left the mall for a stand alone store. The last store left was Radio Shack. Driving by at the end and seeing Radio Shack (it had an outside entrance) with the sign on and all the lights in the parking lots off. Sort of like the last lights left, on a mall that once had 3 anchors and a movie theater. Now the huge mall has been knocked down and being replace with a strip mall or sorts and condo buildings.
Seeing those things hanging from the ceiling really gave me nostalgia I remember walking under them as a kid all the time and wonder what could be trapped on top of the wierd shapes like dust or item people managed to throw up there
The Kingston Collection (formerly Independence Mall) in Kingston, MA which Pyramid opened a year later is basically a carbon copy of this mall. It’s still open though there’s very few stores left, hasn’t been done over much and still maintains a very late 80s look
I never thought I'd see the day that malls would die. I remember my local mall when it opened.. that place was FULL.. every single day. First job at the mall, walked the mall passageways while I was huge and pregnant because it was a lovely place to go to do that and visit. In my parents and grandparents day, it' was the post office that people would meet and greet each other during the day.. social time. Mall was like that too. and it's really sad. BUT. Now we can do something else with the space.. well.. if we weren't slaves, that is. Then we could do whatever we wanted.
Loved going to this mall while I was in college at MCLA. I lived in an area within close proximity to a lot if malls, Swansea, Silver City Galleria, Emerald Square, Warwick Mall, Providence Place, so to be in an area that wasn't a hop skip and a jump away from a mall was crazy. I think I would have gone insane if it wasn't for this mall. I have so many memories like dates with my now wife at the Regal, also getting left by my college at the mall till after 1 am when we were finally able to get a cab home. Good times...
I give them credit for the ‘creative adaptive reuse’ plan but think the massive square footage in the Berkshire presents a huge utilization challenge; you’ve got production, processing, packaging and I assume retail sales which to my eyes, might take up one of the anchor spaces. Another outstanding capture here by Sal of a place we’d otherwise never see.
They are going to have to do a massive overhaul of the indoor space in order to turn it into a grow operation which won't be cheap. Has this re-use met all permit and legal obligations necessary for this type of operation? Security will be a big issue too. Seems like a nice idea, and I hope it works out, but it doesn't seem very realistic to me.
@@jeanhansel5805 honestly with how well MA and the Berkshire county is going with a lot of the Growing and store operations around the N western part of the state especially with BerkshireRoots and other State run dispenseries and shops throughout it does do well to have its use for growing and reuse, the buildings and space is in a prime location for it too I mean if you think about it they could really take a lot of the stores and the existing building parts and electrical, plumbing heating, excetra already in use for most of the smaller shops no longer there and just convert or knock out or move walls and such to have it set up things for an eco friendly market/growing set up heck its got the security for it having the Berk.Mall's location be right prime in the same direct couple miles vacinity of the MA state Police Barricks so it has enough to get it's worths Guarded and safe. being so close to them if they have need be and its in located perfectly Eco wise for growing many, many products and produce such year round to it can be a great place for local wholeistic fresh produce foods stores and restaurants to come in have a spot in the way as a food court And growing area in one and farmers market in the other with spots to show and educate people and kids around the area again about the power of local home growing markets and prod. and produce and sales and revenue of local business in the area it can actually be a great way to have the right kind of effect to get people to come in and learn something and bring in Positive tourist attention sales flow and traffic plus not only that but with the other major chain stores like target they can gain as well it still gives them business too from around here plus it can possibly open small business possibilities to team up with bigger nat. or conty. wide stores to start their own business partnerships possibly and get out and heard of and grow
Target should sue!!!! I won't be going and I'm probably going to turn down recruitment offers out there for skilled labor, no housing for working class yet this is their priorities!?! Garbage!!!! Total FAILURE. That beautiful location will STINK like the junkies addicted to it. Ridiculous!!!! Couldn't convert into condos for middle class!!!! No because that would be catering to all the right people. I was recruited for GE clean up, couldn't go due to nowhere to live. Recruited for nursing, couldn't go because nowhere to live. Let that region rot in the abyss it is. Success requires change, it requires enabling certain circumstances. It's nothing but an addicts welfare culture out there, complete with shootings and boarded up scum everywhere you turn. The clearly DON'T want anything but to drive the populous into the ground, high!!!! Try getting them educated and filling posts!!!! Outrageous joke!!!!
I used to shop at this mall when I attended college at MCLA in North Adams, Ma in the Berkshires. Glad to see it will be used for something, and it was so interesting to learn about it!
I remember this mall was popping when i was a kid. I'd get freaked out with all the goth/emo people in there though haha. I personally think they should make the mall into a casino, it would fit the personality of many locals.
Who else remembers the sundae icecreams in the little baseball hats that ground round use to give in the 90s? Also, the brighter Daze hippy store was cool. I still know the owner of that store.
Awesome video, Sal. You have a new subscriber. I live about an hour away from this mall, and would love and appreciate a video on the Fairfield Mall in Chicopee, MA. Thanks!
@@kurtismckemmie4850 Chicopee is not a rural area; it's a fairly standard suburb. The Fairfield Mall was demolished in 2002 to make way for a Home Depot/Walmart plaza.
I was the first one in this mall when the movies closed- there was no security, it was clean as ever, no footprints anywhere, nothing shattered. it was absolutely haunting and gorgeous
Sal, love your videos. I know you’re primarily in the northeast and over as far west as western PA and Ohio, but I wish you could get to the mall in Central Michigan that I grew up with; the Midland Mall in Midland, Michigan. It’s still open, and isn’t necessary falling apart, but is largely dead. It’s a 1-story wing-shaped mall much like this mall, but with much higher ceilings, that opened in 1990 as I remember. I have SO many memories of this mall and could give you a lot of insight if you ever made your way to Michigan. Heck, I’d tag along and could point out what most of the spaces used to be occupied with. It’s a shadow of what it used to be. At least to me. But it was an absolute modern gem for the area when it first opened.
I plan on going there next week likely. Tried the burger place last year and it was so good. Midland Mall is one of my fave malls. Since 2020 I hit up the TriCities area and the malls. I'm curious what has happened since I went last year. I know they shut off the former Sears and Planet Fitness is in the former JCPenney.
@@sirekumasutra7022 I was 11 when the Midland Mall opened, and for a kid growing up about 45 minutes northwest of there, it not knit became my closest mall, but it was like having a brand new piece and glimpse of the big city in the middle of a rural area. I was there in its first week open in (I think) 1990. I still even have the paper directory from then. I continued to go there throughout the 90’s, and it was always great. Another thing that was so refreshing about it at the time, was not only that ALL of the mall was brand new, but that the surrounding area hadn’t been built up yet. It was just nice new landscaping, trees, etc. Today it feels absolutely choked with development around it. Much of which is now older and not that well taken care of. And the mall itself practically feels like a flea market to me now. It’s so sad, for a placed that used to be so nice and almost luxurious in its first 5-8 years. Despite that, when I go back to visit my parents in the area (I’ve lived in Central Florida for 24 years now), I still like to visit the Midland Mall and try to remember those good times.
i lived in north america a long time ago, the american/canadian shopping malls of the early 90s were pretty popular. i left back to the far east in the mid 90s and never came back. but noticed during my visits how malls in general were become like ruins of the roman empire. recently i visited a friend in japan he lives in a city called okayama, they have a mall called aeon. if you can afford it, fly to japan and check it out, its like 80s malls but way nicer and packed full of people. i heard many of cities outside tokyo have such malls. i felt like i went back in time to the heydays of north america. made me a little sad too i miss those days because i was young too LOL i hear japan closed its doors to tourists temporarily but are opening them again soon, i was there just before they shut the doors to tourists but im sure its still thriving.
Ernie Boch Jr (Son of the guy in the car commercial at the beginning) is a BILLIONAIRE. He is still all over the Boston airways and is very philanthropic. Great content here.
YOu know "Potted" mall plants would definitely get mall traffic going at record levels again and the food court would make bank. Dude, you have to like gotta see this mall, the mall plants are like amazing, and they are everywhere in here man! Side note: You know that both of those 1966 cars were put back out on the lot that day. Someone bought a poorly fitted aftermarket window for full retail.
To people of my age, we got to witness the decline of an era where shopping malls were part of our daily lives and social networks. Sad to see it go, but I'm not surprised due to advances in tech.
We were there in 2018. The only thing open was the Target that was attached to the mall. Even the Target was dead and depressing. On the other hand, our young cashier at Target was one of the best-looking guys I'd seen in my entire life. I wanted to say "What are you doing in this god-forsaken place? Go to New York City and be a model, or high-priced call boy.' Wonder whatever happened to him.
Hey Sal, I would highly recommend you stop by Providence and film the Providence Place mall anyways. Even though it's thriving, it's an incredibly dangerous mall whenever school is out. Even when it's not overrun by fistfights, it's still scumbag central and nobody wants to go there unless they already live nearby. In 10 years, I believe it will end up like the old Worcester Outlets or the Mall at Steamtown
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I grew up in this mall every weekend. This was really hard to watch. Kind of like watching an aged loved one pass away. This made me cry.
Lol grow up.
I cried like a baby when they tore down my Granite Run Mall. Now its a stupid strip mall. They should have kept it like it was. Lol
@@mr.constitution dont be rude
@@jimfaust6342 They did the same thing with Scottsdale Mall in South Bend, Indiana years ago. I really like the strip mall, but the tearing down of Scottsdale was heartbreaking.
@@mr.constitution Lol grow up.
This was our mall! I see lots of other Berkshire people in the comments, we all knew this mall by heart, in all of its iterations. There was nowhere else to shop unless you went to Albany NY or Holyoke MA (both over an hour away) Everyone went to this mall, pretty much every week. I have memories of picking out VHS tapes at Saturday Matinee and I most definitely remember Service Merchandise. I remember every store here, except Steigers evidently? Definitely worked at this mall. I was born & raised in North Adams. I will always love this mall and it breaks my heart that it’s dead
Thank you for making this comprehensive history of a place I am extremely fond of ❤
I'm from Amherst and just about everyone is shopping at the Holyoke mall. Hampshire mall has hardly anything left. It's turning into a fun zone mall. I have a lot of stories to share.
"There was nowhere else to shop.." because the mall millionaires made sure that no other store could stay open in the area. You might want to start blaming the mall instead of praising it.
@@princeofcupspoc9073 I am just fond of the mall. I’m not blaming anyone for anything
I was realizing that alot of malls were going out. The last Massachusetts malls to be built was the Solomon pond mall in Marlboro in 1996. owned by the Simon properties group it use to be busy I live in Hudson so it is close by. The only malls that had a redevelopment in Massachusetts were Natick and Burlington alot of new stuff. It draws people back again Burlington mall area is over all better when comes to restaurants and shopping more people are going back to store front business. Then again the east side of the state is much more thriving business scene. there is always construction and development everywhere you go. You will notice alot more foot traffic especially in the Boston area.
@@scottbrenham1341 I live in Worcester and shop at Solomon Pond regularly. Thats interesting that is the last of the malls built here in Mass! Didn’t know that
Interesting potential outcome for the Berkshire Mall. You may have to do a follow up vid if the "Weed Mall" comes to fruition.
I can’t tell you how cool it is to watch a place like this which would normally feed into urban decay/rot be given a second chance at life even if it comes in the form of revitalization.
Ya but hopefully not more low income housing
sometimes they revive them but the biggest issues are often that upkeep and maintenance are the frst things to be sacrificed when a property gets in financial trouble.. ie they might band-aid a broken A/C with parts from out of a closed store.. no PM's get done.. roof leaks are simply patched with roof-patch or flex-seal.. leaky plumbing in empty storefronts is just shut off and not fixed. bugs and vermin become an issue in shuttered and boarded up former food-court spaces.. at some point the building goes so far down that it loses grandfather status when it comes to codes.. so to revive it means that it needs to beroight up to current year building codes vs being able to stay at its original codes.. this often is the kiss of death for revival as it costs more than flattening the building and building something else.. or just abandoning it and letting the city repo it for back-taxes.. the cities dont want them, the banks dont want them so they sit abandoned.. in the case of one of our malls, the government (state) itself ended up wanting the property to build a new office so they flattened the mall .. but no developer wanted to touch what couldve been a quagmire of asbestos and lead paint, etc from a building built in the 60s / early 70s
I was in middle school when The Berkshire Mall opened. I went to Hills with my folks and then spent my high school days shopping, hanging out and watching new movies there at Hoyts (which was also the location of my first kiss). Who knew that 30 years later I'd be watching a documentary on my iPhone about its demise. Really makes you think...
I have a scar on the back of my head from being a kid and playing/flipping on the metal rails in the check out lines at hills. I fell and cracked my head and was taken away by ambulance
I’m in high school, tbh I like to go to my local mall. And my friend, it’s sad that era is slowly dying.
This got me kinda choked up. I bacically grew up in this mall (I'm a 80s baby from Pittsfield.) There wasn't much else to do.
I'm glad to hear that it's going to get a second life as a massive grow op. I had plenty of times partaking in sessions there especially on top of the mountain they cut into to make one of the parking lots.
My youth went to the weed house... Literally
as a local, i grew up going to this mall. i saw it decay right in front of me, and it made my heart sink. though i’m only 18, this was the place to be back when i was a kid, and back in its hay day. this was a great place to shop, since it was close to me, but it kinda sucks not having a mall close to me anymore. sal, your footage truly captures the shell of what this mall once was💛
So glad to see the mall be promised a better outcome.
I think the "better outcome" idea of a huge weed-growing complex is doomed to failure, if it ever even happens. It's laughable really. The video was really well researched I will say.
I came in with the typical morbid curiosity and it did not disappoint. Your information was abundant and matter of fact. The mall refusing to die prolonged the epic twist at the end. Still can't stop grinning thinking about the forward thinking cultivators that decided to recycle a built space. I think it's a marvelous idea and I hope they succeed. Great video. The ending is perfection.
Re-purposing an abandoned mall to a pot farm.....GENIUS. I don't partake myself, but that's some creative thinking.
An 80s-90s mall, magically maintained and a magically fresh stocked food court with no every around would be a heaven. I think the old Natick mall would be ideal.
I miss the old Natick Mall. What is now there is not of interest.
This was my mall growing up--so many memories of playing the latest and greatest arcade games at the Cyberstation, birthday parties at the Hoyts, and spending hours poring over the games in the Babbages and Electronics Boutique. I moved away from the area over 15 years ago, but my family still lives nearby and I'd been following the stories of its slow demise from afar for years. But once the Beacon cinema went into downtown Pittsfield I knew this place's days were numbered. Thank you for posting this incredibly well-researched homage to the Berkshire Mall--a place I went to just enough times to miss it when it was gone.
Do you remember any of the games they had? I sadly didn't go all the way into the arcade when I went to that mall the only time I went there years ago.
@@awoc123 It's all a bit hazy since I'm working off 15+ year old memories, but I think I remember across the years playing Mortal Kombat 2, Dragon's Lair, Time Killers, Silent Scope, and Time Crisis 2 in there. Obviously not all at the same time X)
Omg! I went to college out there and the Berkshire Mall was *The* place back in the day! Thank you for capturing this piece of nostalgia!
So...they're turning this place into a weed grow op and they got Marna high af. Thoughts? Also...special thanks to @Jowdy for the ending footage!
This was my local mall and well...at least it's getting a chance at a second life, unlike many closed malls.
True!
Word.
Thank goodness it's not gonna be destroyed. Happy ending?
I think so! But plans can always change…
As someone who used to work at this mall, amazing to see what the slow march of time does to a place. Fantastic work!
Quic ETA, I worked at Waldenbooks. Through the food court, left hand side of the mall. Went to school out here so that was my income during the year. This brought back SO many memories!! Definitely subbed and will be watching the rest of the MA series for more nostalgia. Thank you.
Yeah I used to work here too back in the day at TJ cinnamons
Thank you for making this man, very cool to see a well researched video essay about a mall I used to go to everyday.
I was in high school in nearby North Adams when this mall opened. It was our go to spot for entertainment, food, and 9f course shopping! I really hope somebody makes a go of this place in some form or another, would be a waste to watch it crumble! Love the vids Sal, keep up the good work!
I like the Mondrian-esque interior with the large mobiles and skylights! I LOVED the little lady on the speaker, she always makes me laugh!!
Sal, as always, you produce art. So well done. Thank you for the care and love you pour into each edit you release.
If I remember, this mall didn't have a whole lot of competition from other malls. That may be why the anchors were able to do brisk business at this particular mall(yet failure on the corporate level still sealed their fate.)
Correct
So sad to see it gone I grew up here on Friday nights as a teen it was the hang out every Friday night my mother with give me 20 bucks and always came home with something new from about 5-9pm my friends and I would just walk up and down seeing other friends. Sit at the food court and chit chat. Seeing it empty just brings back so much ! Thank you for sharing this! ❤
aye my old stomping grounds! worked up at footlocker til the day we closed. still one of my favorite jobs i’ve ever had
I managed to get some shaky camera footage of Sears on closing day along with the rest of the mall but I am absolutely delighted to have the best there is do an ex log on my hometown mall. The historical information and old photos in this video are perfect. As always, well done.
footage?
Very well researched ex log!!! I always enjoy them and I am glad to hear that occasionally these massive retail structures have new life instead of being demolished ❣ Thank you Sal🤩🥰😀
Thanks for watching, Jody!
I moved to nearby Bennington, Vt in October of 1987. I remember the excitement of waiting for the Berkshire Mall to open for business, only a scenic 40 minute drive from home. This was my daughter's mall growing up and I would bring her and often her friend and just "do the mall." They loved the arcade, the food court, Hot Topic and Spencers. Slowly our favorite stores started disappearing. At some point, there just was no reason to go anymore, unless we were going to Target. It is kind of surreal to see your video. I am happy to see that the mall has not fallen into disrepair like so many others, and that it will be repurposed. Thank you for this video! Have you done the Diamond Run Mall in Rutland, Vt? I believe it is even smaller than Berkshire Mall. Haven't been there in years, but based on my last visit, I'm pretty sure it is stone-cold dead by now.
My dad was a Broadcast Engineer for WBZ Radio 1030. The AM station shared the same building as the TV side (local channel 4) and was an NBC affiliate at the time. I am quite familiar with the news anchors (Liz Walker, Jack Williams) and meteorologists (Bruce Schwoegler, Barry Burbank) shown in the clip (not to mention the radio talent they had).
This mall's history is well younger than me (too). I went to school in Amherst which is farther east of the Pittsfield/Lanesborough areas. These events of the mall occurred after I graduated.
I was in 8th grade at Amherst middle school. I can't remember if I've been to the Fairfield mall. I'll ask my mom her memory is better than mine. Lol
Thank you for making the trip to Massachusetts and for making this video! I went to a boarding school in Williamstown back in the '93/ '94 school year (it's no longer a boarding school) and those students who wanted to would go to the Berkshire Mall on the weekends to shop, hang out, catch a movie, whatever. When I first started going, I found a comic book shop that I would go to every time I went to see if they had anything new that caught my interest. It closed at some point and I think the space became a pretzel shop. There was also a t-shirt shop I liked (I don't remember what it was called). I didn't go back again until the early 2000s on Halloween and visited the Best Buy there looking for an accessory for my Nintendo Game Cube. I got curious a few years ago and read that the mall was in trouble and the owners were getting heat from the tennants over snow removal in the parking lots. It's sad to see the mall shutter, I had some fun times there. Thanks again for making this it brought back some fun memories!
I used to go to this mall all the time back in the day. So many great memories with the Ground Round, Tape World, Record Town, Lauriat's, Falcetti Music, Sam Goody, that video store, and even Radio Shack, where my mom got our first IBM computer in the early 90's. I used to live close enough to walk to the mall, which I did often. I had so many friends who worked there too, so I always enjoyed talking to them when I would go hang out. It's so sad to see it completely empty and dead now.
"Ground Round-Free Popcorn 🍿😁, Record Town, Radio Shack" ❤️👍
Cool to watch, this is my home town. Lots of memories here
Thank you for doing this video Sal. This is my stomping ground. I know of the future plans 🌿. I've watched your content before and you do good work sir. It is saddening to see this decline in our culture and society.
I'm a local resident who used the mall in its better days and now we are left with nothing, but that is increasingly the case countrywide. No question City of Pittsfield got too high and mighty and the mall owners shifted right next door to Lanesboro which killed downtown Pittsfield as a result.
I grew up in this mall. It was 25 minutes from my hometown. My grandparents took me here almost weekly to see a movie with them. We always ate at the Little Tokyo. My mom and my grandparents liked this mall because it was small, new, and safe. I preferred the Colossal Croasgates mall in Albany by the time I was 12. I used to get so mad at my mom for taking me to the Berkshire Mall to buy school clothes because there was only a Gap, Anerican Eagle, Weathervane, and the Filenes to shop at. I think the food stall that's vacant used to be a Sbarro. And there was an awesome pre orange Julius smoothie shop here. The movie theater gave you a paper bag you could fill on this wall full of candy dispensers that charged by the lb.
It was a big deal when Best Buy came but honestly that's the last thing the mall did to stay relevant. I moved to Texas in 2005. But I visited in 2011 and it was shocking, the mall was already dead by that time. It was a bit bittersweet watching this video tbh. I'm 33, and my grandparents have passed, and I have a lot of happy memories here. But I watch all your videos and this one really hit home.
Liked and subbed. I love that you included the history and behind the scenes financial events that shaped the life of this mall. It seems that many malls were one financial crisis away from ruin. When companies are levered up and the tide goes out, everyone sees who is wearing swim trunks.
Thanks for the video. I helped to open the Babbages store in that mall. Those were fun times.
I miss the malls. They were fun when I was a kid
I certainly liked all the facts that you gave out in this video👍🏻. Gave some good history of the place✅.
Within the first 10 minutes of the video, there were so many items that could go on "a mall that is soon to close" bingo card. Exterior signage that has seen better days, unkempt parking lot, closed restaurants in the food court, closed storefronts that the mall tried to hide by drywalling them off, closed storefronts they don't even try to hide, mom and pop hair/nail establishments, homemade signs in random places, attempts to block off empty wings, "arcade" with no video games but lots of crane games, lights dimmed/turned off in a desperate attempt to cut costs, plants that are either withering or growing wild, empty anchor stores, and of course the buckets.
I should make a bingo game for the other 108 episodes too…
I love those pyramid skylights. Absolutely gorgeous.
I have so many memories here at this mall. Sad to see it go down. Was hoping I could come back and visit it. Big part of my childhood
I remember this mall I went there a lot in the 90s, early 2000s Thank you for sharing.
Thanks for taking this video, it can now live on forever. Used to hang out when I was 16, it was always hopping, kids my age all over the place from all towns nearby... The area and economy and the cost of Rent wasn't feasible for most nonbig corperate chains. Its a shame that this mall died, internet killed all the small stores, you can just buy the things cheaper online, small business are going to continue to fail... RIP The Berkshire Mall
This is sad and intersting at the same time
This was so awesome to watch. As you were walking around I was reminiscing about all the good times I had hanging with my friends in the mall. The memories we will always have. I worked in the cyberstation for a while. It was so sad to watch the stores slowly disappear. I'm glad it's going to finally be used for something and I hope that works out.
My whole goal is to preserve what *was*…for future generations. But…to also preserve what previous generations experienced. Thanks so much for watching :)
Having grown up going to this mall regularly, this is really sad to see. As I watched the video, so many memories of sights, sounds and people came flooding back. So many years of holiday shopping with friends and family, birthdays, random trips just to get out of the house, never to be had again. This mall's closure is a real loss to the area
I used to go here every Friday. I loved this place and only lived 5 minutes from it. It’s still so very sad that it closed I had so many great memories here with my grand parents shopping and my family.
But you got a short cut to Rt 7 out of it.
What a bittersweet video. Spent a lot of time here shopping with my kids and my sister and Mom. Holiday shopping, school shopping, Barnes and Noble was my absolute favorite. I was so sad when they closed. We spent a lot of time at the movies there. I loved Ames because they had lay-a-way for school clothes. My ex-husband mostly just walked around Sears looking at tools. There was a Wilson Leather, Eddie Bauer that had great stuff. I was never a fan of Target so never really went there. We had a lot of fun walking around there and running into people we knew all the time. Sad to see it so dark and empty. But, although I’m can’t lie. I’m not a fan of the new plan, but it is creative.
I can see why they want to develop into a legal grow op. Different wings, ceilings are the right height, lots of room tiled floor and it was dirt cheap. LMFAO @ Marna High AF. I was legit partaking at the time that part started. "uuuuhm this smoke, it got into my lungs! uuuuh it's pretty good" hahahaha! Great episode, Sal!
Cool dude! I live in the Berkshires. I remember when you mall was thriving. In the 90s I used to go there Sunday with my grandma. She would buy me food at the food court and walk the interior perimeter in laps for exercise. Lots of old people did!
Wow, thanks for sharing. Nostalgic! The Berkshire Mall was a big deal back in the day when it first opened. Also killed retail on North St. in Pittsfield.
This was so sad to watch. As a former mall rat I met some of my best friends there and enjoyed having local brick and mortar stores to shop in. The history aspect of this was interesting.
Sad this was my old mall before I moved to Florida saw many.a movie there and remember the street racers getting arrested
I love that fact this mall was built in the mountains. ⛰ That sounds like somewhere I’d put a mall.🤎
It's interesting to watch this video, knowing that Kohan just bought one of the local malls (Rolling Oaks Mall) here in San Antonio TX. It's not in bad shape at the moment but I figure this is how it will look in about 5-10 years. You may want to give it a visit and then take the short trip to Sunrise Mall in Corpus Christi at some point.
On a personal note my family moved to the Berkshires in 1988. This mall was a staple for back to school shopping for us via sears and Penny's. During the late 90s and early 2000s highschool kids would use this as after school gatherings constantly. As an adult, I had moved to the Boston area to become a professional wrestler and then back to the Berkshires 7 years later. Around 2016 while the mall retailers were getting out of dodge the scumbag owner took a chance on a small independent wrestling company called truly independent wrestling. From 2016 till some part of 2019 truly independent wrestling, sometimes twice a month would host wrestling shows that would draw over 300 patrons at times. I would become a staple at there shows. Being able to perform in front of a crowd minutes away from where I grew up was and is a huge hit in the feels and is bucket list material. Concluding with an outside show in the mall parking lot June of 2019 TIW had an emotional goodbye to the mall, as it had built a huge fan base there. In hindsight if TIW had started ten years earlier maybe the mall would have had enough patrons to save it from it's sale. Unfortunately for hundreds of people attending shows a few times a month, there was few stores to support on a Saturday evening to make a dent in the mismanagement. Truly independent wrestling has so much sentiment for the mall, but has found a new venue and is alive and doing well. www.trulyindependentwrestling.com/
I was really hoping you were going to climb over those benches and I was so glad when you did
Of course!! A few benches can’t stop me :)
Absolutely first rate work,thanks!
Thanks friend!
This was mesmerizing. Excellent!
As always, excellent content with historical information! I missed the premiere but made sure to watch today! Have a good one, Sal!
All these malls closing is slowly deleting my childhood
😢
I love these videos, the editing, the narration and history. Got hooked on it when I saw the echelon mall, which a mall I hold a soft spot for!
Right by mom's house which is only about 20 mins from this mall, is a turn of the century quarry where everything was left abandoned in time all the old equipment is still left in place rusted and overgrown at the center is a 50 foot deep or more flooded quarry some say there's a crane still at the bottom. Called the becket quarry
Sal, head down to Enfield, CT and check out the "Enfield Square". It's in a similar situation.
Good to see you back on again.
Wow, it's been so long since I've been to this mall. After all it's been through, I can only recognize a few features like the layout and skylights. It's like an old childhood friend you couldn't recognize until they gave their name.
I'm sure we realize that this is happening all over the country. In Florida a local mall closed about 2 years ago right after Publix left the mall for a stand alone store. The last store left was Radio Shack. Driving by at the end and seeing Radio Shack (it had an outside entrance) with the sign on and all the lights in the parking lots off. Sort of like the last lights left, on a mall that once had 3 anchors and a movie theater. Now the huge mall has been knocked down and being replace with a strip mall or sorts and condo buildings.
Super well done. Loved going there as a kid. Won a ginger bread house at a raffle one day there.
Seeing those things hanging from the ceiling really gave me nostalgia I remember walking under them as a kid all the time and wonder what could be trapped on top of the wierd shapes like dust or item people managed to throw up there
I remember going to this mall as a little girl the day it opened!
The Kingston Collection (formerly Independence Mall) in Kingston, MA which Pyramid opened a year later is basically a carbon copy of this mall. It’s still open though there’s very few stores left, hasn’t been done over much and still maintains a very late 80s look
Thanks for such a great info video!!
That can be a super fun skating rink!
Yeah, I suppose when all the malls are closed and gone, someone will open a "mall experience" entertainment center.
Might as well its always fun to go to the mall high AF
I seem to remember a Kings Department Store at some point between Hills and Target along with Ames.
I never thought I'd see the day that malls would die. I remember my local mall when it opened.. that place was FULL.. every single day. First job at the mall, walked the mall passageways while I was huge and pregnant because it was a lovely place to go to do that and visit. In my parents and grandparents day, it' was the post office that people would meet and greet each other during the day.. social time. Mall was like that too. and it's really sad. BUT. Now we can do something else with the space.. well.. if we weren't slaves, that is. Then we could do whatever we wanted.
Loved going to this mall while I was in college at MCLA. I lived in an area within close proximity to a lot if malls, Swansea, Silver City Galleria, Emerald Square, Warwick Mall, Providence Place, so to be in an area that wasn't a hop skip and a jump away from a mall was crazy. I think I would have gone insane if it wasn't for this mall. I have so many memories like dates with my now wife at the Regal, also getting left by my college at the mall till after 1 am when we were finally able to get a cab home. Good times...
I give them credit for the ‘creative adaptive reuse’ plan but think the massive square footage in the Berkshire presents a huge utilization challenge; you’ve got production, processing, packaging and I assume retail sales which to my eyes, might take up one of the anchor spaces.
Another outstanding capture here by Sal of a place we’d otherwise never see.
They are going to have to do a massive overhaul of the indoor space in order to turn it into a grow operation which won't be cheap. Has this re-use met all permit and legal obligations necessary for this type of operation? Security will be a big issue too. Seems like a nice idea, and I hope it works out, but it doesn't seem very realistic to me.
@@jeanhansel5805 honestly with how well MA and the Berkshire county is going with a lot of the Growing and store operations around the N western part of the state especially with BerkshireRoots and other State run dispenseries and shops throughout it does do well to have its use for growing and reuse, the buildings and space is in a prime location for it too I mean if you think about it they could really take a lot of the stores and the existing building parts and electrical, plumbing heating, excetra already in use for most of the smaller shops no longer there and just convert or knock out or move walls and such to have it set up things for an eco friendly market/growing set up heck its got the security for it having the Berk.Mall's location be right prime in the same direct couple miles vacinity of the MA state Police Barricks so it has enough to get it's worths Guarded and safe. being so close to them if they have need be and its in located perfectly Eco wise for growing many, many products and produce such year round to it can be a great place for local wholeistic fresh produce foods stores and restaurants to come in have a spot in the way as a food court And growing area in one and farmers market in the other with spots to show and educate people and kids around the area again about the power of local home growing markets and prod. and produce and sales and revenue of local business in the area it can actually be a great way to have the right kind of effect to get people to come in and learn something and bring in Positive tourist attention sales flow and traffic plus not only that but with the other major chain stores like target they can gain as well it still gives them business too from around here plus it can possibly open small business possibilities to team up with bigger nat. or conty. wide stores to start their own business partnerships possibly and get out and heard of and grow
Target should sue!!!! I won't be going and I'm probably going to turn down recruitment offers out there for skilled labor, no housing for working class yet this is their priorities!?! Garbage!!!! Total FAILURE. That beautiful location will STINK like the junkies addicted to it. Ridiculous!!!! Couldn't convert into condos for middle class!!!! No because that would be catering to all the right people. I was recruited for GE clean up, couldn't go due to nowhere to live. Recruited for nursing, couldn't go because nowhere to live. Let that region rot in the abyss it is. Success requires change, it requires enabling certain circumstances. It's nothing but an addicts welfare culture out there, complete with shootings and boarded up scum everywhere you turn. The clearly DON'T want anything but to drive the populous into the ground, high!!!! Try getting them educated and filling posts!!!! Outrageous joke!!!!
Found your channel 👍, outstanding myself living in new England. Thank you much sir
I used to shop at this mall when I attended college at MCLA in North Adams, Ma in the Berkshires. Glad to see it will be used for something, and it was so interesting to learn about it!
I remember this mall was popping when i was a kid. I'd get freaked out with all the goth/emo people in there though haha. I personally think they should make the mall into a casino, it would fit the personality of many locals.
Nice video Sal rip Berkshire Mall can’t wait for episode 111
this mall was my childhood. im so sad it isnt around anymore. i can barely remember what stores there were anymore :(
Who else remembers the sundae icecreams in the little baseball hats that ground round use to give in the 90s? Also, the brighter Daze hippy store was cool. I still know the owner of that store.
I thought the mall was awesome when I got out of the service. I miss going there when it was alive especially during the holidays with the kids.
Awesome video, Sal. You have a new subscriber. I live about an hour away from this mall, and would love and appreciate a video on the Fairfield Mall in Chicopee, MA. Thanks!
That mall is in a very ruel area from what I heard. My mom lives in Chicopee and she has heard a lot of stories from neighbors.
@@kurtismckemmie4850 Chicopee is not a rural area; it's a fairly standard suburb. The Fairfield Mall was demolished in 2002 to make way for a Home Depot/Walmart plaza.
I was the first one in this mall when the movies closed- there was no security, it was clean as ever, no footprints anywhere, nothing shattered. it was absolutely haunting and gorgeous
Sal, love your videos. I know you’re primarily in the northeast and over as far west as western PA and Ohio, but I wish you could get to the mall in Central Michigan that I grew up with; the Midland Mall in Midland, Michigan. It’s still open, and isn’t necessary falling apart, but is largely dead. It’s a 1-story wing-shaped mall much like this mall, but with much higher ceilings, that opened in 1990 as I remember. I have SO many memories of this mall and could give you a lot of insight if you ever made your way to Michigan. Heck, I’d tag along and could point out what most of the spaces used to be occupied with. It’s a shadow of what it used to be. At least to me. But it was an absolute modern gem for the area when it first opened.
I plan on going there next week likely. Tried the burger place last year and it was so good. Midland Mall is one of my fave malls. Since 2020 I hit up the TriCities area and the malls. I'm curious what has happened since I went last year. I know they shut off the former Sears and Planet Fitness is in the former JCPenney.
@@sirekumasutra7022 I was 11 when the Midland Mall opened, and for a kid growing up about 45 minutes northwest of there, it not knit became my closest mall, but it was like having a brand new piece and glimpse of the big city in the middle of a rural area. I was there in its first week open in (I think) 1990. I still even have the paper directory from then. I continued to go there throughout the 90’s, and it was always great. Another thing that was so refreshing about it at the time, was not only that ALL of the mall was brand new, but that the surrounding area hadn’t been built up yet. It was just nice new landscaping, trees, etc. Today it feels absolutely choked with development around it. Much of which is now older and not that well taken care of. And the mall itself practically feels like a flea market to me now. It’s so sad, for a placed that used to be so nice and almost luxurious in its first 5-8 years. Despite that, when I go back to visit my parents in the area (I’ve lived in Central Florida for 24 years now), I still like to visit the Midland Mall and try to remember those good times.
Sadly, I've been waiting for this one. My old stomping grounds
i lived in north america a long time ago, the american/canadian shopping malls of the early 90s were pretty popular. i left back to the far east in the mid 90s and never came back. but noticed during my visits how malls in general were become like ruins of the roman empire. recently i visited a friend in japan he lives in a city called okayama, they have a mall called aeon. if you can afford it, fly to japan and check it out, its like 80s malls but way nicer and packed full of people. i heard many of cities outside tokyo have such malls. i felt like i went back in time to the heydays of north america. made me a little sad too i miss those days because i was young too LOL i hear japan closed its doors to tourists temporarily but are opening them again soon, i was there just before they shut the doors to tourists but im sure its still thriving.
The 10 biggest shopping malls in the world in 2022 are in China (3), Thailand (2), Philippines (3) and Iran (2).
@@scooterbob4432 wow not suprised
Great job man. History and context. Thanks.
Ernie Boch Jr (Son of the guy in the car commercial at the beginning) is a BILLIONAIRE. He is still all over the Boston airways and is very philanthropic. Great content here.
You are right about PACKED in it's day. For years this place a elbow to elbow packed.
Imagine lamps and plants everywhere in an old mall
YOu know "Potted" mall plants would definitely get mall traffic going at record levels again and the food court would make bank.
Dude, you have to like gotta see this mall, the mall plants are like amazing, and they are everywhere in here man!
Side note: You know that both of those 1966 cars were put back out on the lot that day. Someone bought a poorly fitted aftermarket window for full retail.
I used to go there alot and it's sad to see it close
Just go to Crossgates Mall or Colonie Center in Albany, NY. Both are still doing quite well.
To people of my age, we got to witness the decline of an era where shopping malls were part of our daily lives and social networks. Sad to see it go, but I'm not surprised due to advances in tech.
Used to love the pizza and Chinese food there , they were right next to each other, had a lot of memories in that movie theater too.
Would love to see what it looks like after it's closed, Excellent 👌👍💯, Great idea 💡, we partake and support the movement
We were there in 2018. The only thing open was the Target that was attached to the mall. Even the Target was dead and depressing. On the other hand, our young cashier at Target was one of the best-looking guys I'd seen in my entire life. I wanted to say "What are you doing in this god-forsaken place? Go to New York City and be a model, or high-priced call boy.' Wonder whatever happened to him.
He probably went to NY
@@sal Yeah, he looked pretty smart too.
Hey Sal, I would highly recommend you stop by Providence and film the Providence Place mall anyways. Even though it's thriving, it's an incredibly dangerous mall whenever school is out. Even when it's not overrun by fistfights, it's still scumbag central and nobody wants to go there unless they already live nearby. In 10 years, I believe it will end up like the old Worcester Outlets or the Mall at Steamtown
film?
That sure would be a great private palace.