Attention! Completely remastered episodes of the Dead Mall Series are now being archived in 4K at th-cam.com/channels/fCM_TfrSDMkkMpKuLNWuXA.html. The remasters have gone through an extensive AI Enhancement process as well as proper sound mixing and colorization. This Dead Mall Series Remastered project has been made possible through viewer support on Patreon. Go over now and watch in glorious 4K. ENJOY!
Hi Dan! Big fan. I grew up in this mall and this video struck me like something from the Twilight Zone. Pretty eery! I'm 33 and I remember coming here when I was around 4 or 5 and on. What you see now is exactly how it looked almost 30 years ago. Here's some info you might enjoy. This mall used to be a happenin place! There were a bunch of weird stores in there like a guitar repair shop, cobbler, tailor, dance studio, bicycle shop. But my mom would always bring me to the book shop where a lot of teachers in the area would buy books and school supplies and decorations for their classroom and stuff. It used to be packed! So though these were kinda weird stores for an average mall, this was the place to get everything done, including going to the doctor, finding a realtor, all the stuff you see now. The new Wellington Green mall opened when I was in high school and this mall stayed more like a business park. So as for all the stuff! The large tanks in the center with the fake birds did indeed used to have real birds in them. There also used to be HUGE fish tanks on either side with a ton of beautiful fish and eels. That was the entertainment when they weren't using the middle for little pageants or girl scout troops or shows for parents. It was sort of a public recreation area with four big beautiful fish tanks! As far as I can tell, all of the painted murals are original. Occasionally they would dress it up and decorate it for different seasons or events though. Or they would showcase award winning art from different schools around the area. As for all of the fish sculptures and dolphin statues and all the art, they were there from as early as I can remember. I can recognize every last thing. The fountains, the bronze sculptures of children, even the fake plants. All of the marble tile patterns, neon lights, and every carousel pony are ingrained in my memory. Even the technicolor zebra. Dan, that was nuts to watch. Thank you for the trip down memory lane!
Had to pause to read because all of this info is so cool and interesting!! I was specifically scrolling I'm hopes that someone knew the mall. Thank you for sharing your memories 💜
I got you beat :-) I'm 43 and I TRULY grew up with this mall from its beginning. The giant horses you remember from your childhood were actually "new" additions when the mall underwent a redeco in the 1990's. Dan thinks it's dead now? Ha. It underwent a very dark period for a time. Yes, they had beautiful aquariums and a fountain in the central courtyard. When the mall took a downward turn, they sat ugly empty for about two years. New management bought it and decided the huge floor to ceiling aquariums were too expensive to maintain and rightfully did the best they could to redecorate the space. Today I wouldn't call it dead at all. It has a daycare/preschool center in the back that is hopping, the Pizzazz hair salon has more millionaire clients than a Nieman Marcus, and the post office always has a line 20 deep when it is open. I believe every single space in the mall is occupied, if I remember correctly. Ah, wait, maybe one isn't. I haven't watched Dan's vid all the way through, he may prove me wrong. The bathrooms are clean. It serves its purpose. Where else would these businesses locate themselves? Tacky, oh yes. Dead? I disagree that it meets that criteria. Almost every single store has an outside entrance (except for the post office, cobbler and computer repair place) hence the lack of traffic in the inner hallways. Tidbit that predates you: the reason why Dan can't find anything online about this mall is because "The *old* Wellington Mall" is actually a myth. It used to be called "The Wellington Commons Mall", colloquially know locally as "The Commons". It was actually renamed " The Old Wellington Mall" AFTER "The Mall at Wellington Green" was built. I'll post a new comment above for Dan's benefit assuming he prolly won't see this reply to yours.
Following his retirement, & smoking cessation, an uncle of mine would sit on a bench outside the supermarket every afternoon, chewing big wads of gum & randomly greeting shoppers. Similar, but not. I want to say sitters = sad, lonely people hungry for human interaction, but mall-folk hang where odds of social encounters are few, so, that doesn't fit, either. Perhaps they want to be a part of something, yet remain apart, or mebbe they're just living in the past, man...
So, nobody’s gonna mention that creepy missing persons poster in the Penrose mall lobby? Just upped the creepiness of the dead mall. That woman apparently has been missing since ‘94.
I saw that, after pay-phone nostalgia passed. Brings to mind many sad/scary stories of serial killers stalking mall prey & their subsequent parking-lot abductions.
@KingMacintosh Having tried Nord, PIA, ExpressVPN and Hotspot VPN and not liking them much. I tried TorGuard VPN and it is a great VPN and one of the few that always works with Netflix for me and is fast. Cheap too.
@@fredspofford Dont pay for these VPNs they are a scam. Not even secure half the time, don't expect to browse illegal shit and not get caught(no one should browse for anything illegal). If you want to buy your wacky tabaccy online (don't) use Tor Browser it is completely free and damn near 100% secure.
@@MrSafer Your ISP is absolutely going to moniTOR that shit. I don't pay for a VPN, but I'm also not gullible enough to believe that TOR without a VPN is more secure than TOR with a VPN. It depends entirely on who the VPN is through.
I live in Iowa and when Sears had their Great Purge a few years ago we lost ALL BUT ONE Sears store in the entire state, and that was Sioux City! I don't even know if that one is still alive. Sears, how to let Vampires take over your company and suck the life out of it.
@@indePLASTICmusic They appear to have been an independently franchised snack shop, but boiled peanuts may have been a menu item. I also discovered the owner's obituary from last year online.
We also had a peanut shack at the Mayberry Mall in Mt Airy . The mall in Reidsville looks so very similar to our mall even down to the ramp and steps at the end of the hallway. Our mall has been bought by a contractor and is slowly being remodeled.
Yes, I've lived in Kinston in eastern NC since 1992. I have seen some peanut companies in the Bertie County area as I headed towards Capron Virginia. I am familiar with how Planter's Peanuts started in Suffolk VA and have seen their plant from a distance.
I don't know what's more hilariously depressing, the buckets or all the old people with their walkers walking through the place lol. Should rename this place the Buckets & Walkers Mall
That Welllington Mall in FL is amazing 😁 Also if anyone is curious that track at the very end of the video is from the album "Liquid State Drive" from body end tag. The track is titled "Chipset".
The old wellington mall has been just like it is now for as long as i can remember... i was last there around 1999... it hasnt died any *more* at least in the last 20 years.
Yes! I normally roll my eyes when people talk about things being their spirit animal, but if I were to choose a spirit animal then pirate dolphin would absolutely be 1st choice.
Poor Jenny Jones. After the murder she was poison in Hollywood, and made a pariah by the hypocritical media. She was no bigger shit peddler than the rest of "them", she just got her tit caught in the ringer.
Wow! I grew up in Wellington. I went to elementary, middle, and high school there. Class of 96. I’m 40 now and still live nearby but not in Wellington. The mall has ALWAYS been like this. Even before Wellington Green was built. It’s just drab and quiet but kept clean. My first job was at the Checkers out front of the mall there. Also my dentist from childhood had an office in a building next door. Not good memories there.
i grew up in wellington too! i'm 24 now, but i used to go to that checkers all the time! i miss the blockbuster from across the street and the silver screen movie theatre. where else can you watch movies for cheap just after their theatrical run?
I absolutely LOVE this series. It sounds odd, but these videos are so nostalgic to me. I grew up in an area plagued with dead malls and I remember walking through eerie, storeless corridors just like these ones. The hum of fluorescent lights and the uneasy feeling of a desolate mall is so unreplicable. Thanks Dan for keeping those memories fresh!
If you want something that gives you a feeling similar to this, looks up “the backrooms” it’s super good and it deals with the topic of the fluorescent light hum, stained carpet, yellow rooms, etc. that are typically found in the back of old malls
@@bandolierboy1908 I really just about died laughing 😅 when you said that comment about the "Golden Girls" I remember watching that show when I was young and in my early twenties. I mean the reruns that they constantly played over and over again on the Lifetime channel are the ones I saw.
This video already has more views than the Wellington Mall has seen in years. Once the Mall at Wellington Green opened, this place became a ghost town. Also , my understanding is this is referred to as the Old mall, since the Mall at Wellington green was so much more popular after it opened on 2001, that people would get confused as to the location stores and things were located. Like the Post Office for example, if people saw the location online as the Wellington Mall, a large portion would go to the Mall at Wellington Green. Back when I lived in Wellington I’d go to the Old Wellington Mall if I was stressed, or having a panic attack. The emptiness, along with the aesthetic was just very relaxing for me.
I feel like the Wellington Green mall is starting to struggle now as well and are looking for ways to revamp. I was just there last week and so many stores that have been there for YEARS have closed. The Nordstrom closed and they want to build apartments and restaurants there, apparently. The movie theater where the furniture store used to be was a good move, tho.
That clip of Jenny Jones cooking at the end is so weird. It's like, "Someone died because of how scummy my producers and I were, but here I am...cooking".
Wellington is a really nice and affluent community nowadays. Back then, it was just a swamp when the mall was built (like most of Florida). They built the mall at Wellington green to reflect their rich population. They’re very big into horses there as well, hence the weird horse statues. Such old creepy Florida vibes- I love it 😭 Also, if you’re in south Florida again, check out Mizner Park in Boca Raton Florida!! They’re trying to revamp it, but it’s becoming more stuffy and less popular. Cool outdoor mall with nice fountains, nice cars and weird boutique shops
I live right by Mizner Park, but I never really got the impression that it was becoming less popular, although I rarely ever see them use that amphitheater anymore. Some of the restaurants there are still doing good.
Dan Bells dead mall videos are one of those videos that even though you seen all of them you can rewatch each one over especially at night and still gives that first time feeling. Never stop these!
I know the decorations are considered to be super tacky but I like them and it's so sad that it's all going to be gone. Someone put a lot of effort and love into it at one time.
Im in love with this mall....pleaseeee take me back to the good ole days. Thank you for letting me experience this and escape my 2019 reality, even if for just a few moments!
The owner of Woody's embraces my interior decorating style right there.😂😂😂 People say I have... "gaudy taste and I need sunglasses to enter your house." My hubby has somewhat 'tamed' me as he loves gothic pieces so it's a mix but the Xmas decorations are all MINE😈😈😈
I was raised 25 years in wellington fl and let me tell you, that mall WAS HOPPING in its day.. That mall died after the "mall of wellington greene" opened around 2004ish time frame... In the late 90s that "old wellington mall" was the absolute hot spot for hanging out after school and taking a date there to various places.. That used to be such a highend excellent area (Wellington as a whole) but after 05 hurricane season with 4 hurricanes coming thru, and the housing crisis of 07-09.... all the original residents who loved that area left due to increasing taxes and the cost of living in that area SKY ROCKETED, houses were selling for rock bottom prices in the housing crisis and brought all the riff raff in, and that area will never be what it once was.. I moved out, and nearly 100% of the originals did too.. I went back to wellington back in 2015 to visit friends, and OMG.... TERRIBLE CRIME AREA, population changed 100%... not the places to raise an all american family like it once was... SAD AS HELL, cause that was an amzing place **EDIT** what you dont know Dan, that mall used to NOT be a mall, it was a "Welcoming center" for the original planned and private community called Wellington..... I moved into wellington back in 1988 and once you became an official Wellington resident, in that "Welcoming Center" (what is called Old Wellington Mall) you had all sorts of places that offered perks for us residents and little boutique shoppes. Was a very highend area once (up until 2007) Wellington was once a planned and private community, but is now its own city with its own operating governments, police, fire, taxes, etc....
Interesting. Just where was/is this mall? I looked at property in Wellington in 1974. On the south side of Forest Hill there was a big clubhouse which was at the time the real estate offices. We rode a little west from there on a golf cart to look at a lot for sale. Pretty much nothing was built there yet and I never bought that corner lot in the center of town for eight grand! Probably worth several hundred grand today.
Dude no offense but don’t speak on subjects you know nothing about, 2018 was the lowest violent crime rate in Wellingtons history since 1996, so the crime rates at an all time low
ScratchThat2009 yes I was just there about a month ago when I went to visit my family in FL and I got confused when I read the title LOL. Didn’t know there was an old Wellington mall
Hey Dan! I live out in Savannah, Georgia and I have been watching your videos for a long time! Our biggest mall, the Savannah Mall, has been hit hard by the addition of the Oglethorpe Mall and our new outlet mall, Tanger. The Savannah Mall is quickly becoming vacant and upkeep has stopped. Pretty soon, it may very well be an abandoned mall. It would be so cool if you checked it out!
Hi Dan Bell! Thanks for doing this. I grew up in the mall era. These are important things to document. I wish I would have had the forsight to video record our Gateway Mall before it started going down hill amd was torn down. It had a senior spa complete with a swimming pool and floor to ceiling tinted glass windows, grecian statues ar the entrance and throughout and I am imagining work out equipment and who knows what else. A dime store with a diner in it, an actual dinner theatre, a metaphysical store for the hippies, anchors were JByrons, Zayres, the Woolworths, an Eckerds Drug store, a Publix-with detatched bakery, and a bank. It had a water fountain to throw coins into and a Gem festival annually in the main thru fair! It was waaaay better than what thwy tore it down and have now. When I was still a team and the store started closing I still would have never imagined that this place whatever not exist. I still miss that place. And wish my kids could have been able to experience and enjoy it, you still have some malls thank God but nothing were like this when it was considered a smaller Mall. so thank you for recording these places for future Generations. I wonder why they arent considered historical at this point?
Wellington resident here! I’m surprised you found our old mall as this isn’t the largest city. The “parrot cages” were actually amazing fish tanks back in the day, with 4 foot long parrotfish that would swim around, they lived for decades (at least it felt that way). It’s actually still used, and while it’s mostly dead, some businesses still run within the mall. It’s biggest hits are the post office, bike shop/repair, and the “Nuttin Fits” tailor shop. The rest of the businesses are primarily directed for polo and equestrian people, who flock to town in the winter.
Something else about the Tavern: that restaurant changes frequently, it used to be a really popular Irish themed place, but that closed in 2012 maybe? Ever since it’s been all over the place.
One more reply bc I love to share the knowledge with everyone: The weird horses? They’re common around town bc we’re an equestrian area (equestrian capital of at least the US, if not the world). A bunch of artists have painted them and they’re all across Wellington.
These dead mall videos always remind me of when my "local" mall was under construction but still open. Southwest Plaza Mall is still very much so open and alive but the months it was under renovation were so empty and surreal. I remember being 12 and wandering around the hot topic and staring at the torn open wall across the corridor for a few seconds before going back to looking through the clearance tshirts.
i've lived in wellington for nearly my entire life, and my last visit to the mall was a few months ago. i've gone there a lot at peak mall hours to use the post office and even though i kind of knew it was dead when i saw basically nobody, i wasn't used to going to malls so it didn't stick out to me as surreal. so crazy to see it on here!
Crazy to me how nothing has changed in this mall in over 35+ years (and the fact that it's still open). I remember how busy/lively it used to be as a kid before the Wellington Green Mall came out, since it was our only mall at the time. Used to go to the comic book store in there all the time. I think i'm gonna get baked af and come back and retrace my childhood steps. BTW, the cages indeed had live animals in them 20+ years ago and I used to love to interact with them, as well as the various aquariums. Thanks for doing this video, which hit me hard in the feels!
dan you should have let me know you were in my backyard, the wellington mall has been like this for years, i cant go in there and not feel my life blood drain away.
I was literally at the old Wellington mall for the first time yesterday and I got to say that it was the first actual dead mall I have ever walked through!
I live a couple miles down the street from the old wellington mall, its been exactly like this video showed since I was a kid in the early 2000s. A mucher larger standard department store mall opened up a few miles down the street putting a death sentence on this mall, my dad actually had an office in this mall in 1989-1990 and said it was a dead mall even back then. The decor has been the same forever as well, it is not a deal with that woody's store, that shit has always been there its a very weird place lol
I think that deep down, we all yearn for that idealized version of the 80's and 90's we have etched into our brains as a time of true abundance. Malls and other brick and mortar stores seem to be the best way for us to experience that consumerist comfort. I think we all secretly resent online shopping for taking away that experience.
I've been going to the Mall at Wellington Green my whole life, most people just call it the Wellington Mall now. I've been to the old wellington mall once or twice, I remember lots of weird/cool/creepy decor, and most of the retail spaces were empty or housed offices of some kind. Great video!
Jennifer I worked at the Town Crier, a local newspaper he showed in a clip. There were never any anchor stores to work at. There really aren’t any interesting things goin on there and haven’t been forever. Wellington used to be real small until around 2000 when the new mall was built. It just consisted of mom and pop shops for its entire life and I have no idea how it stays in business.
I went exploring yesterday and wadded so hard onto the cement floor of the very first building, very first doorway😂. Got a nice stiff bruised knee today
Cracked me up when he says "grandparents will love this mall!".... That second mall looks rough..... How about that water fountain? Ugh!! And the buckets everywhere......but the light jazz plays on!! The buckets look like an obstacle course.....dang!
Hopefully this message shows up since TH-cam is weird but anyways Mall at Wellington Green opened in 2001 not 2011 and was built by Taubman as one of the last malls built in South Florida Also yeah I really dig the Dort Mall vibe that Old Wellington Mall has :) Oh yeah I was at Forest Fair a month ago and holy cow the amount of buckets that were just everywhere...
@@ThisisDanBell No problem, and yeah tbh the only reason why I know this is because I have a friend who lives in Wellington and they go to that mall and due to being into malls I was curious about it lol
I got so confused when I saw The Wellington Mall because I live in Wellington and go to the new one all the time but didn't know there was an old one. I should check it out.. I didn't know I lived so close to a dead mall!
I'm so happy that you went to the Wellington Mall!! I grew up there and I've been hoping you'd visit since I started watching this series. If I recall correctly, some of the horse and dolphin statues there were from city-wide art projects back in the mid-2000's. Local artists would make different themed animals and they'd put them all over town and it was fun to go around and try to find them all. Some of them ended up in the mall afterward. And yes, the bird cage did used to have real birds in it! I don't remember ever seeing the mall busy, for the most part it's just a really aesthetic post office at this point.Love your work, thanks for making this! :)
Attention! Completely remastered episodes of the Dead Mall Series are now being archived in 4K at th-cam.com/channels/fCM_TfrSDMkkMpKuLNWuXA.html. The remasters have gone through an extensive AI Enhancement process as well as proper sound mixing and colorization. This Dead Mall Series Remastered project has been made possible through viewer support on Patreon. Go over now and watch in glorious 4K. ENJOY!
Great job editing and displaying the insanity as part of the human condition.
Thats not water dripping from the ceiling, those are dead mall tears 😭
Oh no I will never forget that now. 😭
If we come back in 200 years, will there be stalactites and stalagmites?
That's a great name for a vaporwave band!
😭😭😭
It's the investors tears wondering where their money went.
Dan had way too much fun editing that lady laughing
Is that Dionne Warwick laughing lol i remember for being difficult in celebrity apprentice
Robert Hurley Jr She also took us to THE MALL!
@@RobertHurleyJr Ms Warwick is known for being "difficult"...But I love her hits!
Love it!!
Dionne Warwick
You know a mall is dead when there isn’t a Bath and Body Works in sight.
Or Hot Topic.
There’s bath and body Spencer’s and hot topic sooooo
Angelika Roswell only retail still pulling through
Claire's is synonymous with dead malls also.
Angelika Roswell or a Claires
Hi Dan! Big fan. I grew up in this mall and this video struck me like something from the Twilight Zone. Pretty eery! I'm 33 and I remember coming here when I was around 4 or 5 and on. What you see now is exactly how it looked almost 30 years ago. Here's some info you might enjoy.
This mall used to be a happenin place! There were a bunch of weird stores in there like a guitar repair shop, cobbler, tailor, dance studio, bicycle shop. But my mom would always bring me to the book shop where a lot of teachers in the area would buy books and school supplies and decorations for their classroom and stuff. It used to be packed! So though these were kinda weird stores for an average mall, this was the place to get everything done, including going to the doctor, finding a realtor, all the stuff you see now. The new Wellington Green mall opened when I was in high school and this mall stayed more like a business park.
So as for all the stuff! The large tanks in the center with the fake birds did indeed used to have real birds in them. There also used to be HUGE fish tanks on either side with a ton of beautiful fish and eels. That was the entertainment when they weren't using the middle for little pageants or girl scout troops or shows for parents. It was sort of a public recreation area with four big beautiful fish tanks!
As far as I can tell, all of the painted murals are original. Occasionally they would dress it up and decorate it for different seasons or events though. Or they would showcase award winning art from different schools around the area.
As for all of the fish sculptures and dolphin statues and all the art, they were there from as early as I can remember. I can recognize every last thing. The fountains, the bronze sculptures of children, even the fake plants. All of the marble tile patterns, neon lights, and every carousel pony are ingrained in my memory. Even the technicolor zebra.
Dan, that was nuts to watch. Thank you for the trip down memory lane!
Had to pause to read because all of this info is so cool and interesting!! I was specifically scrolling I'm hopes that someone knew the mall. Thank you for sharing your memories 💜
*shows more*
*kreygasm*
ah I see now! they been there forever. I so want the zebra or the unicorn. If they ever shut down the place I so take them.
I got you beat :-) I'm 43 and I TRULY grew up with this mall from its beginning. The giant horses you remember from your childhood were actually "new" additions when the mall underwent a redeco in the 1990's. Dan thinks it's dead now? Ha. It underwent a very dark period for a time. Yes, they had beautiful aquariums and a fountain in the central courtyard. When the mall took a downward turn, they sat ugly empty for about two years. New management bought it and decided the huge floor to ceiling aquariums were too expensive to maintain and rightfully did the best they could to redecorate the space. Today I wouldn't call it dead at all. It has a daycare/preschool center in the back that is hopping, the Pizzazz hair salon has more millionaire clients than a Nieman Marcus, and the post office always has a line 20 deep when it is open. I believe every single space in the mall is occupied, if I remember correctly. Ah, wait, maybe one isn't. I haven't watched Dan's vid all the way through, he may prove me wrong. The bathrooms are clean. It serves its purpose. Where else would these businesses locate themselves? Tacky, oh yes. Dead? I disagree that it meets that criteria. Almost every single store has an outside entrance (except for the post office, cobbler and computer repair place) hence the lack of traffic in the inner hallways. Tidbit that predates you: the reason why Dan can't find anything online about this mall is because "The *old* Wellington Mall" is actually a myth. It used to be called "The Wellington Commons Mall", colloquially know locally as "The Commons". It was actually renamed " The Old Wellington Mall" AFTER "The Mall at Wellington Green" was built. I'll post a new comment above for Dan's benefit assuming he prolly won't see this reply to yours.
Very cool to hear the local folks talk about this mall. I'm always curious to hear their stories and memories.
"How many animal sculptures would you like?"
"Yes"
killer
These intros feel more and more like late night Adult Swim.
Today on check it out, we're checkin' out a dead mall!! Let's go, ya drungus!
@@thewhitewolf7886 I don't think anyone could have done that better. Also, I love that show.
Rylee Strange yesss!
it was the Jenny jones show
Tim and Eric!
2 DEAD MALL VIDEOS IN 1 MONTH?! WHAT IS THIS SORCERY?!
Seriously Dan thank you for this, I'm super excited and happy to watch :)
Summertime is dead mall season!
It makes me realize how antiquated everything becomes. The mall was a symbol of youth. Now it’s a symbol of expired youth.
OOOOOOoooh burn. "expired youth". Should be clothing range.
Yeah. A clothing line for millennials.
@@GabrielSoloGuitar hey that stings . * About to turn 28* 😫😫😫
@@ultraboombean Pffft! Try one month from 50.
Seth Thomas ok boomer
WHO ARE THE PEOPLE ALWAYS SITTING IN THE MALLS. WHO. who are they?
They remind me of the people Ralph McTell sings about in Streets of London. The old Man in the closed down market and such.
you do not want to know...
Following his retirement, & smoking cessation, an uncle of mine would sit on a bench outside the supermarket every afternoon, chewing big wads of gum & randomly greeting shoppers. Similar, but not. I want to say sitters = sad, lonely people hungry for human interaction, but mall-folk hang where odds of social encounters are few, so, that doesn't fit, either. Perhaps they want to be a part of something, yet remain apart, or mebbe they're just living in the past, man...
lamebubblesflysohigh I want to know
@@TheSWolfe That made me sad but I have to agree!
Shoot that vaporwave aesthetic into my eyeballs
😂😂
Inject it directly into my veins
Vaporwave was DESIGNED to go with dead mall footage. It's the natural progression of things...
A E S T H E T I C
M A L L S O F T could be the greatest invention of the 21st century. But it's been a rubbish century thus far
2017 dead mall intro: cute 80’s montage to match with the retro aesthetic!
2019 dead mall intro: I have absolutely NO idea?!??
experimental vaporwave
Felt like a commentary on "lets all laugh and gawk at the fReAks" style of daytime-TV that took off in the 80s-90s
*insert lady laughing here*
2019: The Year the Acid Kicked In
I felt like I was having a fever dream.
I'm not even close to a grandparent and I love places that are quiet, with no kids, and have weird stuff to look at.
Owlly Mannstein me too owlly..me too
agree relaxing right
saaaaaaame
sameee i’m literally 16 and that mall looks like such a good place to get some homework done
Saaaaame
4:44 "It opened in 1986," and it stayed in 1986, from the looks of it.
I take personal offense to that, as someone who was born in 1986 and stayed in it. :P
So, nobody’s gonna mention that creepy missing persons poster in the Penrose mall lobby? Just upped the creepiness of the dead mall. That woman apparently has been missing since ‘94.
I saw that, after pay-phone nostalgia passed. Brings to mind many sad/scary stories of serial killers stalking mall prey & their subsequent parking-lot abductions.
Lol!! Missing since 94 and they hope to find them now?! Lol
time stamp?
@@imstupidbut 14:03
Yes, her name is Renee Lamanna and she disappeared in 1994.
charleyproject.org/case/renee-martine-lamanna
They used to have a fish tank where that dolphin sculpture was and there were birds in the cages like 15 years ago lol
I remember that, I mostly wondered in there for the post office in the old days.
Yeah I remember that too.
Adam Nir are you Becca’s brother?
Cate Moriarity yup
@@adamnir6791 tell Becca I said what's up
the sign at 7:51 that says “protect our future” is a depressing fit for this mall
You know you're in a bad mall when 60% of the stores are just the names of things
My hatred for NordVPN is growing by the day.
@KingMacintosh Having tried Nord, PIA, ExpressVPN and Hotspot VPN and not liking them much. I tried TorGuard VPN and it is a great VPN and one of the few that always works with Netflix for me and is fast. Cheap too.
@@LJR1331 TorGuard is great.
@KMac Just use TOR. It's free
@@fredspofford Dont pay for these VPNs they are a scam. Not even secure half the time, don't expect to browse illegal shit and not get caught(no one should browse for anything illegal).
If you want to buy your wacky tabaccy online (don't) use Tor Browser it is completely free and damn near 100% secure.
@@MrSafer Your ISP is absolutely going to moniTOR that shit. I don't pay for a VPN, but I'm also not gullible enough to believe that TOR without a VPN is more secure than TOR with a VPN. It depends entirely on who the VPN is through.
9:29 only the most elite private schools are guarded by a festive statue of a pirate dolphin
Yeah, just don't let him get close enough to spit that cutlass at you!
And heralded by the most generic, cartoon-background-nobody's-gonna-notice-anyway name emblazoned in Comic Sans font.
🐬🐬🐬
The school is part of the Plastic Ivy League.
That lone Clownfish at 6:42 is one of the last survivor's of this mall.
Poor thing...
I think we should kidnap him and save him from this bs of a mall!!!
@@InTheGlow135 A fish rescue!
Yeah I feel distinctly bad for any life forms trapped in malls like these, no matter what variety.
''kill me''
It's like every dead mall sent their leftover crap to the Wellington for display.
The Golden Girls went to the mall twice.
Love Me Tender Season 4 episode 14
Cheaters Season 5 episode 22
i think your catchphrase is "where Sears used to be"
I live in Iowa and when Sears had their Great Purge a few years ago we lost ALL BUT ONE Sears store in the entire state, and that was Sioux City! I don't even know if that one is still alive. Sears, how to let Vampires take over your company and suck the life out of it.
Dan, that kiosk near the old JCP was Peanut Shack. North Carolina and southern Virginia are big peanut farming areas
Its the nutshack
Did they sell boiled peanuts? That was one of my favorite NC foods when I went!
@@indePLASTICmusic They appear to have been an independently franchised snack shop, but boiled peanuts may have been a menu item.
I also discovered the owner's obituary from last year online.
We also had a peanut shack at the Mayberry Mall in Mt Airy . The mall in Reidsville looks so very similar to our mall even down to the ramp and steps at the end of the hallway. Our mall has been bought by a contractor and is slowly being remodeled.
Yes, I've lived in Kinston in eastern NC since 1992. I have seen some peanut companies in the Bertie County area as I headed towards Capron Virginia. I am familiar with how Planter's Peanuts started in Suffolk VA and have seen their plant from a distance.
I don't know what's more hilariously depressing, the buckets or all the old people with their walkers walking through the place lol. Should rename this place the Buckets & Walkers Mall
It's an exciting new computer game for kids, 'Mall Walkers Versus Buckets'. Available free on Google Play.
That Welllington Mall in FL is amazing 😁 Also if anyone is curious that track at the very end of the video is from the album "Liquid State Drive" from body end tag. The track is titled "Chipset".
HEY, Retail Archaeology! WOW, neat. Thanks for the info.
Retail Archaeology love yo vids bro
Arizona! Represent!
Oh hey...Retail Arch...! I also watch your channel a lot...!
Hey Eric. I grew up in Wellington. This is my Hometown mall. You guys would have really enjoyed the old "Palm Beach Mall"..
You know it’s a DEAD MALL when there’s even a lack of information about it.
0:43 i swear the people who write "out of order" on things all have the same handwriting for some reason
It's just one guy. He's part of a union, so not just anybody can write them out.
The old wellington mall has been just like it is now for as long as i can remember... i was last there around 1999... it hasnt died any *more* at least in the last 20 years.
That's the truth. I saw this and was like, wait, how is this place still open?? It was dead when I was last in there a good decade ago.
Lulu Same
Shoot i feel like going to check it out. It's no more than 10 mins away
ikr
I didn’t even know there was an old Wellington mall wow lol.
I love that pirate dolphin with all of my heart
Yes! I normally roll my eyes when people talk about things being their spirit animal, but if I were to choose a spirit animal then pirate dolphin would absolutely be 1st choice.
Pirate Dolphin/Fake Toucan 2020!
He was my favorite as well; really stood out from the rest
Wellington mall looks more like a museum than a mall.
It really is. You should see the gardens mall. Has like 2 Starbucks on both floors.
@@Deenique16 It use to have 3
@@Deenique16 1 Starbucks per floor, 1st floor starbucks is less crowded.
My guess about the buckets?? Their HVAC system is on the fritz, and the property owner is dragging their feet to get someone to fix it.
4:49 *Correction:* Actually the NEW Wellington Mall (or Green Mall at Wellington whatever it's called) actually opened-up in 2001, not 2011!
Yup. It was the hangout spot in high school
I was about to comment the same thing. I grew up there and The Mall at Wellington Green was my spot. 😂
I went to Wellington Green driving from Orlando to Miami last Labor Day. When I saw so many high schoolers, I can easily tell this a popular spot.
Exactly. 😂😂😂 I was just at the wellington green mall a few days ago all i see was highschool kids hanging out.
The mall footage is great, but the J Jones outtakes are INCREDIBLE
Poor Jenny Jones. After the murder she was poison in Hollywood, and made a pariah by the hypocritical media. She was no bigger shit peddler than the rest of "them", she just got her tit caught in the ringer.
Ok that second mall is probably the worst i've ever seen
Hahahaha
My thoughts exactly. It should be condemned. Besides the dirt and buckets theres no architecture. Just a long empty hall
It wasn't a mall, just a long hallway lmao
Wow! I grew up in Wellington. I went to elementary, middle, and high school there. Class of 96. I’m 40 now and still live nearby but not in Wellington. The mall has ALWAYS been like this. Even before Wellington Green was built. It’s just drab and quiet but kept clean.
My first job was at the Checkers out front of the mall there. Also my dentist from childhood had an office in a building next door. Not good memories there.
i grew up in wellington too! i'm 24 now, but i used to go to that checkers all the time! i miss the blockbuster from across the street and the silver screen movie theatre. where else can you watch movies for cheap just after their theatrical run?
This mall is crazy surreal. So dense with decorations.
It looks like a video game carnival villain trapped you in a mall lmao inside of an acidic dream 😂.
I absolutely LOVE this series. It sounds odd, but these videos are so nostalgic to me. I grew up in an area plagued with dead malls and I remember walking through eerie, storeless corridors just like these ones. The hum of fluorescent lights and the uneasy feeling of a desolate mall is so unreplicable. Thanks Dan for keeping those memories fresh!
Whoa cool I learned a word today, unreplicable.
If you want something that gives you a feeling similar to this, looks up “the backrooms” it’s super good and it deals with the topic of the fluorescent light hum, stained carpet, yellow rooms, etc. that are typically found in the back of old malls
@@bandolierboy1908 I really just about died laughing 😅 when you said that comment about the "Golden Girls" I remember watching that show when I was young and in my early twenties. I mean the reruns that they constantly played over and over again on the Lifetime channel are the ones I saw.
This video already has more views than the Wellington Mall has seen in years. Once the Mall at Wellington Green opened, this place became a ghost town.
Also , my understanding is this is referred to as the Old mall, since the Mall at Wellington green was so much more popular after it opened on 2001, that people would get confused as to the location stores and things were located. Like the Post Office for example, if people saw the location online as the Wellington Mall, a large portion would go to the Mall at Wellington Green.
Back when I lived in Wellington I’d go to the Old Wellington Mall if I was stressed, or having a panic attack. The emptiness, along with the aesthetic was just very relaxing for me.
Yeah..
I feel like the Wellington Green mall is starting to struggle now as well and are looking for ways to revamp. I was just there last week and so many stores that have been there for YEARS have closed. The Nordstrom closed and they want to build apartments and restaurants there, apparently. The movie theater where the furniture store used to be was a good move, tho.
That clip of Jenny Jones cooking at the end is so weird. It's like, "Someone died because of how scummy my producers and I were, but here I am...cooking".
Yeah...Jenny Jones - couldn't even wipe that vapid grin off her face for the trial.
What happened?
@Thomas Dixon Jr. But why though?
Apache 5 probably embarrassment and didn’t want people to think he too was gay
Thomas Dixon Jr. what the fuuuuck
The Wellington Mall is so beautiful and so calming, I don’t think it should be dead
I was thinking that. I don't want it to close for good.
It's just that the new mall is actually doing quite well and it's in a rich area.
BEES AND TOAST I mean pretty much all of Wellington is a “rich” area.
AlKohaiMusic a good deal of it is in a rich area, we get a LOT of horse people and New Yorkers in the winter
If it wasn't nearly dead, would it be so calming?
This mall looks like from a timecapsule in the 80's...
I’m going to need a 10 hour mix of that Dionne Warwick laughing clip.
I find it super ironic that there’s a real estate office in that mall.... 😂
i find these dead mall walk throughs alarmingly addictive, thanks dan :)
Wellington is a really nice and affluent community nowadays. Back then, it was just a swamp when the mall was built (like most of Florida). They built the mall at Wellington green to reflect their rich population. They’re very big into horses there as well, hence the weird horse statues. Such old creepy Florida vibes- I love it 😭
Also, if you’re in south Florida again, check out Mizner Park in Boca Raton Florida!! They’re trying to revamp it, but it’s becoming more stuffy and less popular. Cool outdoor mall with nice fountains, nice cars and weird boutique shops
I live right by Mizner Park, but I never really got the impression that it was becoming less popular, although I rarely ever see them use that amphitheater anymore. Some of the restaurants there are still doing good.
I remember way before Mizner Park existed. Was a cool old mall called Boca Mall.... not stuffy at all
On one hand, it's fascinating to see such malls as this, yet on the other hand, it's kind of sad to see such buildings slowly become more abandoned
It truly is.
Stfu it just shows how the usa is slowly fallen
Dan Bells dead mall videos are one of those videos that even though you seen all of them you can rewatch each one over especially at night and still gives that first time feeling. Never stop these!
so true !
Honestly Dan, love the series but I would straight up watch hours of the kind of shit you do with these intros.
Same
I never realized just how effen CREEPY Dionne Warwick really was/is ! ! ! !
She had a Severe case of Trump Derangement Syndrome. ..That's for sure
Joker laugher
Bet they go out for drinks.
And they say, black don't crack. That bitch shattered! Oh, Dionne, honey...
@@carmenmonoxide7459 Wow.
I did, if only because "That's What Friends Are for" must have played ten thousand times on the local radio station.
I know the decorations are considered to be super tacky but I like them and it's so sad that it's all going to be gone. Someone put a lot of effort and love into it at one time.
Vladislav they’ll go to goodwill or liquidation sale or storage
I agree with you
Im in love with this mall....pleaseeee take me back to the good ole days. Thank you for letting me experience this and escape my 2019 reality, even if for just a few moments!
The owner of Woody's embraces my interior decorating style right there.😂😂😂 People say I have... "gaudy taste and I need sunglasses to enter your house." My hubby has somewhat 'tamed' me as he loves gothic pieces so it's a mix but the Xmas decorations are all MINE😈😈😈
Education Place. Comic Sans. 🤢
The fish everywhere is so trippy. Also did I see there was a private school in the mall 🤔 that's interesting
The Old Wellington Mall looks like a nightmare and I love it.
Honestly I wouldn't be shocked if it was the entrance to hell. Just walking around it feels so surreal.
Malls in the 1980s was the place to be as kids we hung out at the local mall mostly in the arcade.
Too bad most malls don't have arcades anymore. The ones that are there have lots of really interesting high-concept game cabinets.
@@OtakuUnitedStudio If they do have arcades, good chance it's part of an atttached Dave and Busters or a similar entertainment anchor.
I was raised 25 years in wellington fl and let me tell you, that mall WAS HOPPING in its day.. That mall died after the "mall of wellington greene" opened around 2004ish time frame... In the late 90s that "old wellington mall" was the absolute hot spot for hanging out after school and taking a date there to various places.. That used to be such a highend excellent area (Wellington as a whole) but after 05 hurricane season with 4 hurricanes coming thru, and the housing crisis of 07-09.... all the original residents who loved that area left due to increasing taxes and the cost of living in that area SKY ROCKETED, houses were selling for rock bottom prices in the housing crisis and brought all the riff raff in, and that area will never be what it once was.. I moved out, and nearly 100% of the originals did too.. I went back to wellington back in 2015 to visit friends, and OMG.... TERRIBLE CRIME AREA, population changed 100%... not the places to raise an all american family like it once was... SAD AS HELL, cause that was an amzing place
**EDIT** what you dont know Dan, that mall used to NOT be a mall, it was a "Welcoming center" for the original planned and private community called Wellington..... I moved into wellington back in 1988 and once you became an official Wellington resident, in that "Welcoming Center" (what is called Old Wellington Mall) you had all sorts of places that offered perks for us residents and little boutique shoppes. Was a very highend area once (up until 2007) Wellington was once a planned and private community, but is now its own city with its own operating governments, police, fire, taxes, etc....
very interesting, newls. thanks for the info.
Interesting. Just where was/is this mall? I looked at property in Wellington in 1974. On the south side of Forest Hill there was a big clubhouse which was at the time the real estate offices. We rode a little west from there on a golf cart to look at a lot for sale. Pretty much nothing was built there yet and I never bought that corner lot in the center of town for eight grand! Probably worth several hundred grand today.
Dude no offense but don’t speak on subjects you know nothing about, 2018 was the lowest violent crime rate in Wellingtons history since 1996, so the crime rates at an all time low
Going in hard on Jenny Jones LMAO
Mall footage starts at about 4:19 you're welcome!!
Seriously, this guy sucks with the ads.
🙏
London2362 how many ads did you get
I only got one 👀
@@torikelso4734 I was referring to his four minute infomercial for some crap internet company (during the video).
@@London2362 Yes, how DARE he have a sponsor who provides him income for the work that he puts into filming, commenting, and editing his videos?
Don’t get the Old Wellington Mall confuses with the new one. The new one is two stories and is still constantly busy every day. -a Floridian
ScratchThat2009 yes I was just there about a month ago when I went to visit my family in FL and I got confused when I read the title LOL. Didn’t know there was an old Wellington mall
If only Rick shaving was somehow integrated into the NordVPN ad read.
It'd take more than Rick to shill something that useless.
Hey Dan, the Mall at Wellington Green opened in 2001! That was my mall growing up haha.
Max, I caught that too. I am originally from Wellington, also👍
Wellington Green is a great mall to this day..busy all the time
Same. I still go there.
Black Friday shopping there used to be the place to be back in high school
I wonder how many dreams died in those malls.
One of the most depressing and true comments ever.
That Pennrose Mall is a 1960’s time-warp! Pretty neat despite the water collection
All that is missing is the zombies. Where's the zombies?
They left the malls and went to Amazon.
Jimmy Sparklenuts mmmmm yes, I shoot myself directly into my phone and just float through amazon for hours
Dan Mason’s New Album HYPNAGOGIA available here! danmason.bandcamp.com/album/hypnagogia
The best Vaporwave album of 2019
It’s an old persons obstacle course boot camp!
Dan bell keep up the great work I appreciate every single video u post up on your channel.....
Hey Dan! I live out in Savannah, Georgia and I have been watching your videos for a long time! Our biggest mall, the Savannah Mall, has been hit hard by the addition of the Oglethorpe Mall and our new outlet mall, Tanger. The Savannah Mall is quickly becoming vacant and upkeep has stopped. Pretty soon, it may very well be an abandoned mall. It would be so cool if you checked it out!
@14:32 - @19:43 Another Dirty Mall premiere episode was a smash hit.
Can I have any context on that crazy intro before the Nord VPN promo?
Look up Jenny Jones show on wiki, it will tell you everything you need to know
Fuzzy Grizzly I also had the same questions
Right kinda loved it tho
Hahaha I live 20minutes away from that Wellington mall and I've never heard of it.
It's a forgotten relic hidden in Wellington. Its tiny and gets lost. Behind the Checkers
I'll Go If You Go I live right by it lol
@@joeysmokes9839 Did you go? I live down the street from there lol
This mall looks like a Vaporwave setting, like legit
when you have that many buckets, just close the mall lol
Hi Dan Bell! Thanks for doing this. I grew up in the mall era. These are important things to document. I wish I would have had the forsight to video record our Gateway Mall before it started going down hill amd was torn down. It had a senior spa complete with a swimming pool and floor to ceiling tinted glass windows, grecian statues ar the entrance and throughout and I am imagining work out equipment and who knows what else. A dime store with a diner in it, an actual dinner theatre, a metaphysical store for the hippies, anchors were JByrons, Zayres, the Woolworths, an Eckerds Drug store, a Publix-with detatched bakery, and a bank. It had a water fountain to throw coins into and a Gem festival annually in the main thru fair! It was waaaay better than what thwy tore it down and have now. When I was still a team and the store started closing I still would have never imagined that this place whatever not exist. I still miss that place. And wish my kids could have been able to experience and enjoy it, you still have some malls thank God but nothing were like this when it was considered a smaller Mall. so thank you for recording these places for future Generations. I wonder why they arent considered historical at this point?
Were you on mushrooms when you made the opening montage? LOL. Either way, another home run bro.
Wellington resident here! I’m surprised you found our old mall as this isn’t the largest city. The “parrot cages” were actually amazing fish tanks back in the day, with 4 foot long parrotfish that would swim around, they lived for decades (at least it felt that way). It’s actually still used, and while it’s mostly dead, some businesses still run within the mall. It’s biggest hits are the post office, bike shop/repair, and the “Nuttin Fits” tailor shop. The rest of the businesses are primarily directed for polo and equestrian people, who flock to town in the winter.
Something else about the Tavern: that restaurant changes frequently, it used to be a really popular Irish themed place, but that closed in 2012 maybe? Ever since it’s been all over the place.
One more reply bc I love to share the knowledge with everyone: The weird horses? They’re common around town bc we’re an equestrian area (equestrian capital of at least the US, if not the world). A bunch of artists have painted them and they’re all across Wellington.
These dead mall videos always remind me of when my "local" mall was under construction but still open. Southwest Plaza Mall is still very much so open and alive but the months it was under renovation were so empty and surreal. I remember being 12 and wandering around the hot topic and staring at the torn open wall across the corridor for a few seconds before going back to looking through the clearance tshirts.
i've lived in wellington for nearly my entire life, and my last visit to the mall was a few months ago. i've gone there a lot at peak mall hours to use the post office and even though i kind of knew it was dead when i saw basically nobody, i wasn't used to going to malls so it didn't stick out to me as surreal. so crazy to see it on here!
Boynton mall is more dead then Wellington.
That second mall in NC wasn't a mall, just looked like a long hallway with one store there lmao wtf
The washed out elevator music makes these videos all the more haunting...
Crazy to me how nothing has changed in this mall in over 35+ years (and the fact that it's still open). I remember how busy/lively it used to be as a kid before the Wellington Green Mall came out, since it was our only mall at the time. Used to go to the comic book store in there all the time. I think i'm gonna get baked af and come back and retrace my childhood steps. BTW, the cages indeed had live animals in them 20+ years ago and I used to love to interact with them, as well as the various aquariums. Thanks for doing this video, which hit me hard in the feels!
I love this series so much it’s low key relaxing but also kinda gives me an existential crisis at the same time
Wow that last mall is the only place u can find actual payphones!!
Some vaporwave artist needs to commission a music video from you.
dan you should have let me know you were in my backyard, the wellington mall has been like this for years, i cant go in there and not feel my life blood drain away.
...the Karate sign with the crooked "T". That's when I realized this was perfection.
I was literally at the old Wellington mall for the first time yesterday and I got to say that it was the first actual dead mall I have ever walked through!
I live a couple miles down the street from the old wellington mall, its been exactly like this video showed since I was a kid in the early 2000s. A mucher larger standard department store mall opened up a few miles down the street putting a death sentence on this mall, my dad actually had an office in this mall in 1989-1990 and said it was a dead mall even back then. The decor has been the same forever as well, it is not a deal with that woody's store, that shit has always been there its a very weird place lol
Are you referring to the outlets?
I think that deep down, we all yearn for that idealized version of the 80's and 90's we have etched into our brains as a time of true abundance. Malls and other brick and mortar stores seem to be the best way for us to experience that consumerist comfort. I think we all secretly resent online shopping for taking away that experience.
I've been going to the Mall at Wellington Green my whole life, most people just call it the Wellington Mall now. I've been to the old wellington mall once or twice, I remember lots of weird/cool/creepy decor, and most of the retail spaces were empty or housed offices of some kind. Great video!
If I owned a shop in that mall, I'd sell buckets.
I used to work at the Wellington Mall thats crazy
Give us some history!
Jennifer I worked at the Town Crier, a local newspaper he showed in a clip. There were never any anchor stores to work at. There really aren’t any interesting things goin on there and haven’t been forever. Wellington used to be real small until around 2000 when the new mall was built. It just consisted of mom and pop shops for its entire life and I have no idea how it stays in business.
@@adamnir6791 the few upper class people that still live there go. Its hanging on by a thread but Boynton beach has it beat
That intro was hilarious 😂😂 ...”Don't playa hate, appreciate!"
I went exploring yesterday and wadded so hard onto the cement floor of the very first building, very first doorway😂. Got a nice stiff bruised knee today
Dan Bell vids give me better recommendations for Vaporwave artist than Spotify.
Cracked me up when he says "grandparents will love this mall!"....
That second mall looks rough.....
How about that water fountain? Ugh!!
And the buckets everywhere......but the light jazz plays on!! The buckets look like an obstacle course.....dang!
Hopefully this message shows up since TH-cam is weird but anyways
Mall at Wellington Green opened in 2001 not 2011 and was built by Taubman as one of the last malls built in South Florida
Also yeah I really dig the Dort Mall vibe that Old Wellington Mall has :)
Oh yeah I was at Forest Fair a month ago and holy cow the amount of buckets that were just everywhere...
damn!!! i stand corrected.
@@ThisisDanBell No problem, and yeah tbh the only reason why I know this is because I have a friend who lives in Wellington and they go to that mall and due to being into malls I was curious about it lol
Yeah 2001 sounds about right, my mom lives across from it since around 99, she bought in that area for that reason when she downsized.
I got so confused when I saw The Wellington Mall because I live in Wellington and go to the new one all the time but didn't know there was an old one. I should check it out.. I didn't know I lived so close to a dead mall!
A dead mall video about Gwinnett Place Mall(the stranger things mall)? Love your content!
I grew up near Gwinnett Place and second this!
I'm so happy that you went to the Wellington Mall!! I grew up there and I've been hoping you'd visit since I started watching this series. If I recall correctly, some of the horse and dolphin statues there were from city-wide art projects back in the mid-2000's. Local artists would make different themed animals and they'd put them all over town and it was fun to go around and try to find them all. Some of them ended up in the mall afterward. And yes, the bird cage did used to have real birds in it! I don't remember ever seeing the mall busy, for the most part it's just a really aesthetic post office at this point.Love your work, thanks for making this! :)
6:40
I’m tempted to visit this mall and save those fish.
Too bad I live all the way on the west coast (Hawaii)
Yeah I wonder what happened to them, or whats going to. Its hard to say who's responsible for them at that point.
Contact them I'm sure you can get in touch with someone
The Wellington Mall seems like it could possibly be someones tax hedge lol