I can tell you exactly what happened and why they build Champlain center NORTH. As I was born and I lived in Lacolle Québec, canada (25 miles from there) for more than 20 years, I practically grew up visiting Champlain center South and north as a kid every now and then. (I don't think it was called Champlain center south at the time maybe just Champlain center or Pyramid mall if memory serves). The north section was built in 1987 that is correct since i saw its construction from beginning to end. It was built at a time when lots and I mean LOTS of Quebec visitors would rush at Plattsburgh every weekends and even more during summer times, in order to spend their money «en masse». Because at that time, currency exchange was low and around 10% for us and everything was much cheaper on your side than ours. Gaz, food, toys, video games, clothing you name it. Everything was a deal back then. I used to cross the border very often just to gaz up my car for 10$ bucks, get grocery with my dad, anything and everything was just cheaper. I remember the parking lots of Champlain center «south» being full of Québec license plates all over the place at the end of the 80's. The north section was built in order to capitalize on that phenomenon, they even build outlets near the border in Rouses points for that same reason, to attract more and more oncoming Canadian visitors. What they did not expect is, up until 1992, every Canadian Mall, and stores, we're completely closed on sundays. So what was our favorite hobby to spend our sundays back then ??? Go to the States for shopping of course !!!! Yeah its true. It was the only place where we (Quebecers) could go spend our time & money and catch on some great deals. The best thing on Sundays when I was a kid, was going to Plattsburgh, watch a good movie at the hoist cinema, go shopping and eat at the restaurant before heading back home. You have to remember that there was also, an airforce base in plattsburgh back in the 80's, hiring hundreds if not thousands of military personnel who lived and breed in Plattsburgh. So Champlain Center North was very successful after its opening and until the mid 90's. However, in 1992 our government decided to open all stores in Québec Canada on sundays. So that changed everything. Also the currency exchange for Canadian dollar took a dive, and around the same time they closed the Plattsburgh Air Force Base (PAFB) on September 25th 1995. This is when everything started to slowdown a lot for both malls. Less and less canadians we're crossing the border at the end of the 90's, while 9/11 hit us all in 2001, which got things worse, because crossing the border was no longer a breeze anymore, and it became more difficult. Plus currency just kept getting worse. Today, its sadly pretty much an empty space for all those reasons and for many other factors of course. I still go there from time to time because Plattsburgh still is fun for me to visit, but the place has been forgotten on our side. A lot of people I know today don't even know where Plattsburgh is anymore. As in the 80's & 90'S everybody knew or went to Plattsburgh all the time, either it was for Camping, going to the Beach, or shopping etc... I'm going to be there tomorrow for a short summer vacation, can't wait to see how it is ! Nice vid cheers !
I definitely consider your channel as the best mall channel especially because you will actually record pretty much all malls in an area with good aesthetics where many other channels only record the dead malls. I also like that that you don’t start talking about how all malls are failing and will be a thing of the past which isn’t true although some channels which I won’t name seem to think.
That mall doesn't seem to be doing badly. I miss the bright mall colors of the 80's- everything now is muted browns and drab earth tones and they all look exactly the same.
This was a fantastic trip down memory lane. I saw many a movie at Hoyt's, bought many toys and games at Kaybee and Babbage's, and got movies from Saturday Matinee. A few notes: in 1998, Toys R Us briefly was there as part of an add-on if I recall correctly. And your comment about this and Berkshire Mall are dead on - I would frequent that one with family, too! They WERE nearly identical in design and store layout. Unfortunately, Berkshire no longer exists - just Target and Regal Cinemas operate while the rest of the building stands quiet.
Very nice mall, but I hate seeing cars on display in the halls of a mall. Those floors look so polished it'd be a shame to have scuff marks when they're moved out
Love that mall.... looks like all the strip mall stores (big box) located under one roof!! Seriously, you have not heard of Tarjet? It's a nickname and term of endearment!!! Kinda like Wally world for some! (trust me, I don't get a good vibe at Wal-Mart. Would you consider putting the date on your clip titles? I believe that TH-cam removed a feature that used to show those dates! Thanks for your content!!
The cross border shopping was massive during the 90’s but when the Canadian dollar took a tumble, cross border shopping nearly died. Then Covid and its closed border didn’t help either.
That mall was definitely buzzing with activity in the 90s. With online shopping though I think malls are pretty much old school. I think the movie theater will probably be the only thing that sticks around - or not. 🤔🤔🤔
I watched that one but for some reason thought it was longer than 6 months ago, keep up the great videos and Champlain Centre was built when there was an Air Force Base in Plattsburgh, if you read up on its closure you’ll see that when that left it hurt the economy tremendously, we call it “TarJay” as a joke to make it sound more upscale like a French boutique, Target sounds basic, TarJay sounds fancy.
A lot of different stores since we left in 2019. It was never a very busy mall, even during the holiday season. We did enjoy the mall though as it gave us a place to go, and hang out, most of all during winter. In addition they had great deals on popcorn at the theater on Tuesdays.
Wow used to drive up from CT in 2013 - 2016 almost every weekend and went to this mall a few times. Not much has changed I see other than Sears being gone now.
I like it! Definitely not a dead mall because there are so many larger box retailers there. As you've said, its location close to the Canadian border has probably helped. It's a nice place though!
Update: as of June 2023, you'll be glad to know that this mall has been seeing a lot of Canadian traffic. Most Saturday afternoons have been very busy. There have been some new stores added as well, even though some have also left, such as Children's Place and Footlocker (but have been filled with something else). It's very important to remember the Air Force Base being in Plattsburgh, which created a huge amount of traffic and jobs in the area. It even had one of the largest runways in the country built long enough to land a space shuttle if need be. There were even nearby missile silos built during the cold war, which apparently made Plattsburgh a potential target. It was a big deal. Plattsburgh used to be a happening place from what I understand, and in the 70's its local university was named one of the top party schools in Playboy. Anyway these are all some good reasons to why they had such big plans for Champlain Centre and its size, but a lot of that changed once the base was decommissioned. Another store worth mentioning was Toys R Us, which I think opened fall of 1997(?), which from inside it was directly across the hall from Kaybee Toys. Funny enough, Kaybee Toys was there before Toys R Us and ended up outlasting them too. In your video, you can see a wooden designed empty suite to the right of Khol's. These are leftover pieces of the old Border's bookstore that had took the place of Toys R Us. The wooden storefront isn't in its original spot either. With the coming of Khol's came reconstruction of that end of the mall. Border's entrance was near where you see the man and his boy walking in the video, they just moved it down to make room for a new hallway entrance. It hasn't been used for anything since, Border's has been closed for maybe 12 years? However, the empty blue section shown, once Gander Mtn., was used for Spirit Halloween for a couple years, but is now a batting cage/sports center. I could easily go on and on about the mall's layout over the decades, but most importantly it is still kicking. Thanks for the visit, this mall has become very sentimental and we're happy to still have it.
I am not really digging this mall. Something about it is just bland for me. Maybe it is that late 90's/2000's Era JCPenney storefront style tile in the middle. On another note, what do your ridearound videos usually sound without the music? Good music, honking, and cursewords? I usually curse at least a driver or two navigating around malls in my area.
As a kid living in Montreal I used to love coming yo this mall. The large structure that has the balls moving through it was so fun to watch. Is it still operating today?
it was very easy to cross over, in fact some people used to cross just to fill up the tank. (My dad bought most of my toys, and later he'd buy all of my NES games in the US cause he'd save a lot of money..) Not just that but the border agents would rarely try and get you to pay taxes, they'd ask you "anything to declare?" and if you said no then that was it, you were on your way.. these days they ask you 100 questions and they'll know how long you actually spent there. They'll search your car too and stick to the book.
This is my local mall unfortunately best buy has closed. Kmart was The only remnant of the old South mall Kmart closed in 2018 becoming Runnings in 2019. Travel restrictions have let up know the mall is doing okay again the only thing not going good for the mall is the food court the rent is horrible at the mall that why it seems theirs more big box stores then smaller stores
I went to college in Plattsburgh in 2015-16. I used to go to this mall frequently. It looks dead compared to how I remembered. Probably not too many college students in town with the Fauci Syndrome. That's cool they got an Ollies though, same with Aviation Mall. I wish we had one down here in NYC.
Since this video was recorded by is now gone from the mall I'm worried that what happened to the mall in the scene in New York going to happen to this moment these are two malls I went to because I live the middle of the 2 of the malls in Malone NY
Lots of people call Target "Tarzhay". I'm surprised you hadn't heard of that before. One place I used to work hired a director from Gander Mountain. If he was any example of the quality of the people that ran that place, it's no wonder they went bankrupt.
I am familiar with people calling it Tar-jay, but I never heard it in a serious manner. It was often in the form of a joke, or a jab at other people whenever I heard it.
Never heard anyone call it Tarjay... if you've heard it anywhere it's probably to make fun of the Canadians (not many people around here enjoy their company).
Champlain Centre has endured the pandemic and appears to be surviving nicely. As of this April 2024, there are about 5 or 6 empty small stores. The mall lost Best Buy which was replaced with a Ross Clothing store. Smaller stores have come and go. There is an improved music store that is large and beautiful. All the anchor spots are thriving. The Canadian traffic is back to the pre-pandemic days. I watch videos on this and other "Mall" channels. They seem to all feature dying, dead and/or abandoned malls. Champlain Centre is none of these. It seems to be holding on quite well.
I can tell you exactly what happened and why they build Champlain center NORTH. As I was born and I lived in Lacolle Québec, canada (25 miles from there) for more than 20 years, I practically grew up visiting Champlain center South and north as a kid every now and then. (I don't think it was called Champlain center south at the time maybe just Champlain center or Pyramid mall if memory serves). The north section was built in 1987 that is correct since i saw its construction from beginning to end. It was built at a time when lots and I mean LOTS of Quebec visitors would rush at Plattsburgh every weekends and even more during summer times, in order to spend their money «en masse». Because at that time, currency exchange was low and around 10% for us and everything was much cheaper on your side than ours. Gaz, food, toys, video games, clothing you name it. Everything was a deal back then. I used to cross the border very often just to gaz up my car for 10$ bucks, get grocery with my dad, anything and everything was just cheaper. I remember the parking lots of Champlain center «south» being full of Québec license plates all over the place at the end of the 80's. The north section was built in order to capitalize on that phenomenon, they even build outlets near the border in Rouses points for that same reason, to attract more and more oncoming Canadian visitors. What they did not expect is, up until 1992, every Canadian Mall, and stores, we're completely closed on sundays. So what was our favorite hobby to spend our sundays back then ??? Go to the States for shopping of course !!!! Yeah its true. It was the only place where we (Quebecers) could go spend our time & money and catch on some great deals. The best thing on Sundays when I was a kid, was going to Plattsburgh, watch a good movie at the hoist cinema, go shopping and eat at the restaurant before heading back home. You have to remember that there was also, an airforce base in plattsburgh back in the 80's, hiring hundreds if not thousands of military personnel who lived and breed in Plattsburgh. So Champlain Center North was very successful after its opening and until the mid 90's. However, in 1992 our government decided to open all stores in Québec Canada on sundays. So that changed everything. Also the currency exchange for Canadian dollar took a dive, and around the same time they closed the Plattsburgh Air Force Base (PAFB) on September 25th 1995. This is when everything started to slowdown a lot for both malls. Less and less canadians we're crossing the border at the end of the 90's, while 9/11 hit us all in 2001, which got things worse, because crossing the border was no longer a breeze anymore, and it became more difficult. Plus currency just kept getting worse. Today, its sadly pretty much an empty space for all those reasons and for many other factors of course. I still go there from time to time because Plattsburgh still is fun for me to visit, but the place has been forgotten on our side. A lot of people I know today don't even know where Plattsburgh is anymore. As in the 80's & 90'S everybody knew or went to Plattsburgh all the time, either it was for Camping, going to the Beach, or shopping etc... I'm going to be there tomorrow for a short summer vacation, can't wait to see how it is ! Nice vid cheers !
I definitely consider your channel as the best mall channel especially because you will actually record pretty much all malls in an area with good aesthetics where many other channels only record the dead malls. I also like that that you don’t start talking about how all malls are failing and will be a thing of the past which isn’t true although some channels which I won’t name seem to think.
Its actually a sister mall to Pryamid's Salmon Run Mall in Watertown, NY too.
Thanks for coming to my “local” mall Doomie. Glad you liked it.
That mall doesn't seem to be doing badly. I miss the bright mall colors of the 80's- everything now is muted browns and drab earth tones and they all look exactly the same.
I live here and frequent that mall and have all my life I hope beyond all hope it doesn’t end up like the st.Lawrence center mall in Massena
I watched this hoping for more video & discussion of this mall’s defining characteristic - the incredible George Rhoads ball machine!
This was a fantastic trip down memory lane. I saw many a movie at Hoyt's, bought many toys and games at Kaybee and Babbage's, and got movies from Saturday Matinee.
A few notes: in 1998, Toys R Us briefly was there as part of an add-on if I recall correctly. And your comment about this and Berkshire Mall are dead on - I would frequent that one with family, too! They WERE nearly identical in design and store layout. Unfortunately, Berkshire no longer exists - just Target and Regal Cinemas operate while the rest of the building stands quiet.
Very nice mall, but I hate seeing cars on display in the halls of a mall. Those floors look so polished it'd be a shame to have scuff marks when they're moved out
Nice, i saw 1 mall walker - some guy carrying a camera
Love that mall.... looks like all the strip mall stores (big box) located under one roof!! Seriously, you have not heard of Tarjet? It's a nickname and term of endearment!!! Kinda like Wally world for some! (trust me, I don't get a good vibe at Wal-Mart. Would you consider putting the date on your clip titles? I believe that TH-cam removed a feature that used to show those dates! Thanks for your content!!
Back in the days, those malls were extremely busy but ever since the Airforce Base closed, Plattsburgh never seemed to recuperate
The cross border shopping was massive during the 90’s but when the Canadian dollar took a tumble, cross border shopping nearly died. Then Covid and its closed border didn’t help either.
Good video. Did not care for the ceilings. Thanks for filming.
their was a toys R us in where borders books in the 80s and 90s
That mall was definitely buzzing with activity in the 90s. With online shopping though I think malls are pretty much old school. I think the movie theater will probably be the only thing that sticks around - or not. 🤔🤔🤔
Eh! this mall is not half bad. All anchors filled, warm earth tones and a decent amount of stores
Not anymore Best Buy has closed up shop since then
Please come to St. Lawrence Centre in Massena NY, I’m actually kind of hoping you took the short drive after you left Champlain center. Great job!
I actually got St Lawrence Centre some time back. Check the channel.
I watched that one but for some reason thought it was longer than 6 months ago, keep up the great videos and Champlain Centre was built when there was an Air Force Base in Plattsburgh, if you read up on its closure you’ll see that when that left it hurt the economy tremendously, we call it “TarJay” as a joke to make it sound more upscale like a French boutique, Target sounds basic, TarJay sounds fancy.
A lot of different stores since we left in 2019. It was never a very busy mall, even during the holiday season.
We did enjoy the mall though as it gave us a place to go, and hang out, most of all during winter. In addition they had great deals on popcorn at the theater on Tuesdays.
Wow used to drive up from CT in 2013 - 2016 almost every weekend and went to this mall a few times. Not much has changed I see other than Sears being gone now.
I like it! Definitely not a dead mall because there are so many larger box retailers there. As you've said, its location close to the Canadian border has probably helped. It's a nice place though!
Update: as of June 2023, you'll be glad to know that this mall has been seeing a lot of Canadian traffic. Most Saturday afternoons have been very busy. There have been some new stores added as well, even though some have also left, such as Children's Place and Footlocker (but have been filled with something else).
It's very important to remember the Air Force Base being in Plattsburgh, which created a huge amount of traffic and jobs in the area. It even had one of the largest runways in the country built long enough to land a space shuttle if need be. There were even nearby missile silos built during the cold war, which apparently made Plattsburgh a potential target. It was a big deal. Plattsburgh used to be a happening place from what I understand, and in the 70's its local university was named one of the top party schools in Playboy. Anyway these are all some good reasons to why they had such big plans for Champlain Centre and its size, but a lot of that changed once the base was decommissioned.
Another store worth mentioning was Toys R Us, which I think opened fall of 1997(?), which from inside it was directly across the hall from Kaybee Toys. Funny enough, Kaybee Toys was there before Toys R Us and ended up outlasting them too.
In your video, you can see a wooden designed empty suite to the right of Khol's. These are leftover pieces of the old Border's bookstore that had took the place of Toys R Us. The wooden storefront isn't in its original spot either. With the coming of Khol's came reconstruction of that end of the mall. Border's entrance was near where you see the man and his boy walking in the video, they just moved it down to make room for a new hallway entrance. It hasn't been used for anything since, Border's has been closed for maybe 12 years? However, the empty blue section shown, once Gander Mtn., was used for Spirit Halloween for a couple years, but is now a batting cage/sports center.
I could easily go on and on about the mall's layout over the decades, but most importantly it is still kicking. Thanks for the visit, this mall has become very sentimental and we're happy to still have it.
Sorry for being late. I really like the aesthetics of this mall, kinda plain but still nice & enjoyable.
I am not really digging this mall. Something about it is just bland for me. Maybe it is that late 90's/2000's Era JCPenney storefront style tile in the middle.
On another note, what do your ridearound videos usually sound without the music? Good music, honking, and cursewords? I usually curse at least a driver or two navigating around malls in my area.
Its all over the place. Sometimes its some talking, sometimes copyrighted content, and sometimes some really foul language
Yo...Doomie, have you covered the Wilton Mall in Saratoga Springs? Great video btw!
I have not. I need to find an excuse to get back up that way.
As a kid living in Montreal I used to love coming yo this mall. The large structure that has the balls moving through it was so fun to watch. Is it still operating today?
it was very easy to cross over, in fact some people used to cross just to fill up the tank. (My dad bought most of my toys, and later he'd buy all of my NES games in the US cause he'd save a lot of money..) Not just that but the border agents would rarely try and get you to pay taxes, they'd ask you "anything to declare?" and if you said no then that was it, you were on your way.. these days they ask you 100 questions and they'll know how long you actually spent there. They'll search your car too and stick to the book.
Great video
I detected a long wall that may be some retail space that is dry walled over but it looks like it probably has a little life left.
This is my local mall unfortunately best buy has closed. Kmart was The only remnant of the old South mall Kmart closed in 2018 becoming Runnings in 2019. Travel restrictions have let up know the mall is doing okay again the only thing not going good for the mall is the food court the rent is horrible at the mall that why it seems theirs more big box stores then smaller stores
We lost a lot of filler stores over the last two years and the food court is down to 2 shops.
I went to college in Plattsburgh in 2015-16. I used to go to this mall frequently. It looks dead compared to how I remembered. Probably not too many college students in town with the Fauci Syndrome. That's cool they got an Ollies though, same with Aviation Mall. I wish we had one down here in NYC.
Where Target is was the location of Hoyts cinemas.
Since this video was recorded by is now gone from the mall I'm worried that what happened to the mall in the scene in New York going to happen to this moment these are two malls I went to because I live the middle of the 2 of the malls in Malone NY
Lots of people call Target "Tarzhay". I'm surprised you hadn't heard of that before.
One place I used to work hired a director from Gander Mountain. If he was any example of the quality of the people that ran that place, it's no wonder they went bankrupt.
I am familiar with people calling it Tar-jay, but I never heard it in a serious manner. It was often in the form of a joke, or a jab at other people whenever I heard it.
Must be a meme for the people there.
Never heard anyone call it Tarjay... if you've heard it anywhere it's probably to make fun of the Canadians (not many people around here enjoy their company).
Calling it Tarjay is just a slam on the french ownership of the Target Corp and to the french Canadians that come shopping here in droves...
Can you go to Delaware
HAHAHAHAHA....Busy as always.
Fauci syndrome 😆 Doomie is based...
Champlain Centre has endured the pandemic and appears to be surviving nicely. As of this April 2024, there are about 5 or 6 empty small stores. The mall lost Best Buy which was replaced with a Ross Clothing store. Smaller stores have come and go. There is an improved music store that is large and beautiful. All the anchor spots are thriving. The Canadian traffic is back to the pre-pandemic days. I watch videos on this and other "Mall" channels. They seem to all feature dying, dead and/or abandoned malls. Champlain Centre is none of these. It seems to be holding on quite well.
Cute
The name is pretty controversial 😭💀