Arizona's Dead Mall Gold | Retail Archaeology
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- Arizona's Dead Mall Gold covers three iconic dead malls in Arizona over the course of their twilight years. Arizona's Dead Mall Gold was originally released on VHS on November 5, 2021.
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Arizona's Dead Mall Gold covers three iconic dead malls in Arizona over the course of their twilight years. Arizona's Dead Mall Gold was originally released on VHS on November 5, 2021.
That DEB store was like unreal. Great video, Eric.
Thanks Dan!
I agree with ya; the pastel color scheme in the DEB store was really beautiful.
@matt yup 🙂 Almost 50lbs so far.
Think we figured out where the D went
@@rwdplz1 really? Where?
Seeing a place you spent your time in building memories die is always sad. And hearing those kids play while none were there is pretty spooky.
Yeah I spent a lot of my teenage years in Fiesta mall
There's a bunch of videos about Chesterfield Mall in suburban St. Louis. It literally gets me depressed when I think of all the Friday and Saturday nights I spent there in my teens when there was an ocean of other teens in the mall.
@@nicoledoubleyouI did too 😞
The folks putting up the Christmas decorations would be like the band playing as the Titanic sunk and I mean that as a compliment.
While visiting from out of town to see family, I got a chance to walk alone at night through Fiesta Mall in December 2016, and it shook me to the core. Totally bizarre experience that stuck with me. I ended up creating a music project called Dead Mall because of it :)
Were u the only one in there
Thanks Retail Archaeology! Fiesta mall is across the street from Mesa Community College. Both of their parking lots make for a great place to learn to drive a car.
What I love most about the American mall is that regardless of which one I see it can still give me a nostalgic feel for MY mall since so many of them carry the same themes, and vibes.
Mcm
I’m
For sure, the first mall reminds me of two other malls that I would frequent in my own city.
Definitely
Having a mall santa when the mall is that empty is incredibly sad
It is sad to see these monuments of retail fade into history. Grew up in the valley. Spent plenty of time ditching HS to go to 99¢ theatre at Valley West. I miss their 49 ¢ Tuesdays.
Spent a lot of time at Metro in the 70 s. I remember the airplane lounge over the icerink.
Sadly with all the development, the Valley is losing its identity. And sadly , the newcomers don't care about anything and all they know is the freeways and sports teams. Proudly , I have lived here before both.
When that friend came over and explained Fiesta Mall for you, did you ever think it’d lead to what RA is now?
So sad that malls are dying! I spent a lot of my younger years hanging out at shopping malls. It was fun just going window shopping at these places. I'm retired now and walk the remaining malls in my home town of Phoenix for excercise. I will miss them when they are all gone! Very sad!!
I remember when these malls first opened. I lived across Southern Avenue in Indian Springs Village apartments at the time Fiesta Mall opened. I had just started my 23 year career at Motorola at the time, and spent a lot of time in that mall. I used to go into Phoenix and went to Metrocenter Mall as well, and Christown (Spectrum) Mall also. Those were the days. Now I live near Prescott, and our mall, Prescott Gateway, is dying too. (Jan Griffiths).
Did you work at Motorola on Dobson and Broadway
@@ghostballs1874 No, that was SPS (semiconductor products sector). I worked at GEG (gov't electronics group), and TEO (tactical electronics) across the parking lot. Hayden and McDowell Roads. I went to SPS Price and Elliot, when there was a massive layoff at GEG/TEO. I was part of the engineering department, but a job (process engineer) was offered to me and I took it. ( at SPS).My dept. was not affected by the layoff though. I worked for Motorola for almost 23 years. Then in 2000, all US Motorolans lost their jobs when the company went offshore. In AZ, alone, close to 10,000 people lost their jobs. (Jan Griffiths).
It has been 5 years since I’ve been to Prescott mall. I see your comment is a little old too. Is the mall still up today?
@@Dantes-_-Inferno Yes it is, but not as busy as it once was. Quite a few empty shops. I mainly go there for Hot Topic and Spencer's. (Jan Griffiths).
@@Dantes-_-Inferno Yes it is, but not as busy as it used to be. Nowadays, I go there mainly for Hot Topic and Spencer's. (Jan Griffiths).
Fun fact Fiesta Mall was used in the first Blue Collar Comedy tour movie filmed in 2003 for some of the b-roll footage the best way to see how it used to look during a busy day.
I enjoyed the different times of each mall and how they got became dead. Thanks for sharing!
Your videos are fantastic! I discovered your channel not too long ago and honestly, I love everything about it. From your experiences with the malls you went to, to music, to the non-shakey camera handling, commentary, as well as the history and progression of these places.
Somehow, it feels like you're witnessing something turn from modern to ruins in front of your eyes. It's depressing but as you said, it's oddly comforting. It reminds me how things are always changing around us, like interests, ideas, and the love for something new. Some stores in the dead malls serve as "anchors" but I like to view them as anchors for your own memories. And I think you're doing the perfect thing by recording them because they won't be there anymore and maybe your memories too.
I have a dead mall near me but I don't have many memories going there so it doesn't feel meaningful recording it. It does make me remember that lots of things close down too, like a pizzeria that I used to live close by, a bank on the corner of my street that turned into a Dunkin Donuts, etc.
The world around you is evolving at this immeasurable speed. Time flies and sometimes you don't want it to.
I miss PV mall
I worked across from it and had watched them demo it.
One cube entrance is still there as of July 2022
I really hate how places wont allow filming. I mean that first one was dead and mostly empty. Without these films none of this will ever be seen or seen again. its a time capsule. I wish all the stores and malls ive been to over my life were filmed and available to watch. All I have are my bad fragmented memories.
Most of the time when I record in a place I use camera glasses but the good ones are not cheap.
Great video... sure miss the malls and old arcades from the early 80s. I guess future generations won't even know what it's like to go somewhere to see all that awesome stiff in one place where you can actually see and touch something before you buy it.
Man, I’d have loved that KB Toys sign. The last Sears in Illinois just closed, and since Sears was a Chicago institution, its surreal. Great video!
This is a classic from the intro tribute to Huell Howser's California's Gold until the closing nod to Ubu. GREAT JOB!
Fiesta Mall was the greatest dead mall at the end. Like we saw here you could walk through almost alone. I did it a few times. I went to the Vans and bought shoes and the guy asked me why I came to Fiesta. I said something like "Its fun to go to the dead mall." I also once walked through and entered at the playground entrance. The busiest part was the playground, the rest was empty. But it smelled terrible. Some kid just let go I guess. I had to run through but the families there didn't seem to care. worst Fiesta memory.
Just watched it live. LOVED IT. Thank you, Erik and Mark!
Awww Fiesta Mall I worked there. It was the last place saw my ex-husband. That was my HS hangout. That’s so sad to see.
Fiesta Mall was "The Mall" when I was a kid. Going there was always a treat. I haven't lived in AZ for decades but just seeing the entrance took me right back. RIP Fiesta.
Eric,
Interesting to see these malls at different points in time🤔. Good video and I also liked seeing how some parts of these malls can EASILY get vandalized once they are completely vacant. Good job documenting these places too👍🏻👍🏻.
You should do a video on Flagstaff Mall. It goes through waves of being a dead mall and not. I think the city of flagstaff can't afford to let it go.
Great video, but really made me kick on the nostalgia afterburners. Mom & Dad used to pack my sister and I into the car and drive down to Metro Center from Flagstaff for the day. My grandmother (who lived in Scottsdale) used to take my sister and I to both Metro Center (which was a bit of a drive) alllll the way over to Fiesta Mall. Great times. Thanks for memories!
When I lived in Phoenix in 2003 I remember buying a Ben Sherman shirt from the store the buckle at paradise valley mall. Still have it it was 39 dollars.
Thank you for this video. Metro center was my main childhood mall. My memories are from the original decor. The green carpeted seating areas and the circular tiles. It was good to see the old girl again.
I have so many good memories of Fiesta Mall growing up.
Oh man. Seeing that JCPenny elevator like that both unlocked some core memories and then shattered them.
Great job on this! The only mall I can remember going to in Arizona was the Fashion Square in Scottsdale when visiting family. It is especially sad the Bill & Ted one was closed.
Your comment about being in a dead mall resonated with me. I'd been to the Horton Plaza in SD when it was doing alright, to then weird stores popping up and then finally dead mall levels before it got super creepy!!
I used to work at Fiesta mall and the local Harkins 5 theatre in 2005-2007. We saw Avril here, and now I can't believe it's closed. It was always really busy when I worked here. Sadly, I remember there was a man who was stabbed to death in the bathroom near the food court. That's the first time I noticed the mall wasn't as busy. When I came back to visit the mall in 2014, it was even worse than I thought. I loved the Sarkura Japan cooks, they always gave me double meat for free because I was a poor college student. Bittersweet to see them stick it out as the last food court restaurant. I hope they are doing well. To think of all the things that have changed or disappeared or closed down in our lifetime, I can only imagine what our parents and grandparents feel/felt like. These videos make me want to mall walk and record just to catalog for future generations.
The last time I was at a mall in AZ was The Mall at Sierra Vista. It was depressing.
Yeah that mall has turned pretty lame.
I used to go to the foothills mall in Tucson every weekend. It was always packed! Now there’s only 2-3 stores left and the movie theater :/ it’s so sad
Great videos of the now closed malls. I wish I visited them.
I watched this because I like liminal spaces and all of the complex emotions they evoke. I didn't sure expect to get choked up though. I loved going to malls when I was growing up. Seeing them die off like this is like a punch to the gut. BOOM! Your childhood's over! BOOM! You're getting older! There are fewer and fewer places to gather and things to do in the world. I miss the simple excitement of being at that lively mall where people are together and having fun.
This channel is an absolute gem. Keep up the fantastic work. 💞
I grew up going to metro and christown mall. Late 90s to 2000s was always packed with people.
I'm not from there or have ever visited those malls but your narration almost makes me cry. Utterly fascinating!
The last time I went to Fiesta Mall was in 1992 when I was 15; it was pretty busy back then and kinda cool. Same with Metrocenter, some time in the mid to late 1990s. Metro was huge; multiple levels and just sprawling in size.
PV Mall was awesome back in the day; I’ll admit I was a mall rat here for a little while back in 1995. Zap Arcade was called “Superfun” back in the day. I can’t tell what food place is next to Zap but it used to be Hot Dog On A Stick. That Philly Steaks place across the food court used to be a Steak Escape that some of my buddies worked at; we would score free food from them all the time. I grew up a few miles away from this mall; sad to see it go but such is life.
😢 this is making me wanna cry. The mall was everything for me as a kid. Food, fashion, music, education. Now, look at it. And I think this is more than just “Amazon evil”.
I used to love going to that Whataburger playground with the giant slides at Metrocenter in the 70s. That and walking over the ice rink on a hot day. So nice.
Love the PBS/California's Gold intro... channeling your inner Huell Howser
Definitely a great video as I knew it would be.
You and your videos are what got me hooked on photographing dead malls and documenting all these places that I go to.
Thank you for another awesome video.
Love your videos! Honestly makes me fall asleep to your sweet voice haha
Our local dead mall put state offices in an anchor, encouraged using the store fronts as office space and added an aquarium. They also now have a post office.
i love your channel! it’s comforting and it reminds me so much of nostalgic kpbs documentaries
Great video and I love you featuring the outside architecture! I think you should do more “outside” building videos!
I worked at Metro Center in the early 80's at Kit's Cameras, there was a huge fountain to the right.
This is a great way to look at how the malls changed during the times recorded
Awesome video, Eric! Great job!
Outstanding video Erik. I grew up going to malls. It’s very sad what happened to these three. You would think with the size of the valley, and the malls being far enough apart from each other, that they would have survived. But I guess due to extenuating circumstances and outside forces, (online ordering - Amazon, etc.) hurt their bottom line.
Hopefully Arrowhead, Chandler Fashion Center, and Scottsdale Fashion Square will survive and keep on going.
Again, outstanding video. Please keep doing what you’re doing. Stay safe.
Beautiful mall, sad it's closed. Thanks for another great video!!
all i needed was the opening and i subbed. thanks so much for this, this video was great and i'm looking forward to watching your other videos!!
.....the PBS and Reading Rainbow music cues. Huh.
The laughter of children echos a once vibrant era, like for a second you were in between the past and present…
First dead mall I ever visited was Hawthorne Plaza in California in the 90s. Been closed for decades, but it's still standing.
Fiesta is on a permanent Siesta.
The last of the filming of the fiesta mall was really eerie
I’m going to watch the heck out of this as soon as it gets going. I’m just commenting for encouragement.
I worked nearby and used to get lunch nearly every day at Fiesta Mall back 2 decades ago. Crazy how much things can change over the years.
I went to Metrocenter many times growing up. We lived in Prescott and would come down there for fun now and then. We'd always wander around there and go across to the huge arcade and mini golf place. Once upon a time it was a Chuck E. Cheese clone place called Tex Critters. Later they dropped the gimmicks. Sad to see what all these places have become compared to their heydays.
I echo the feelings of being in a dead mall that you used to go to growing up; there is that sadness, but there's also that sense of comfort and weirdness to it. I wish I'd have gotten to go to my closest dead mall one last time before they shut it down, but alas, it's been shut down and also completely demolished now to make way for... wait for it... an Amazon Enrichment Center. I wanna say it closed down RIGHT before the pandemic hit, too. I think the point of no return for it was when the GNC closed up shop.
10:34 are you sure it wasn't just ambience piped in through the mall sound system to make it sound more lively? public places do weird stuff like that sometimes, although for a mall this dead that would be bizarre to even keep the muzak running
had an awesome time watching the vid with premiere chat!! great video :))
Fun fact, mall walkers can also be entire families that are homeless. They walk the mall during the day with the children, in particular, despairing over how impossible necessities are to acquire while also being in complete awe over the people that can afford such petty luxuries as tiny Swarovski hummingbird/flower tchotchkes. At night, they bundle into their van, and Dad drives them over to the nearest Walmart parking lot. If it's too hot to sleep in the van, they douse themselves in gallons of water they've stowed away just in case a human or vehicle overheats. After that they crawl into the van, on top of all their worldly possessions, and try to sleep only to start the next dreadful day full of snobby Karen glares all over again while *trudging* the mall.
Hearing your Mom crying herself to sleep on Christmas Eve in your homeless van because all you have to eat are some leftover Christmas cookies the security guard rescued from the trash is a real treat, I tell ya.
A hollowed-out moment that makes even the liminal spaces of these dead malls seem full, alive, and paragons of all the virtue they consumed by comparison.
See? I told you it was fun!
Sidenote and completely immaterial to the aforementioned anecdote, these malls, all that they symbolized, and all that they enabled can rot in he)). Witnessing their devastation is beyond cathartic, so from at least this one person, and for another reason entirely than just "nostalgia," *thank you.*
I grew up going to Metrocenter and Christown Mall, Christown mostly. Seeing Metro dead then flat out gone hurt, and Christown is following suit. Not sure how long we'll be able go inside so maybe one day I'll go and record there (or attempt to)
Went to high school my senior year in Phoenix. PV Mall and Metrocenter Mall were our two closest malls.
Really cool video! I remember one mall that opened when I was a kid and went dead only a few years later. Its anchors are still open, I was pretty surprised to learn that from their website, and they seem to rent the remaining shops as office space.
Loved it, Erik! Thanks 👏 👏
Dang I lived down the street at vista valley apartments I saw this and got a lot of memories and really just was watching and remembering walking around with my dad mom and older brother I was 5 now I’m 15 really gave me that weird feeling of being lost but not worried
"The Fiesta Is Over" 🤣😆
Man that food court design at Metro is awesome
Absolutely love the Star Child styled logo! Cute!
All for Anime is now at the Arrowhead Towne Center. 👍
also to include my husband went to this mall in 2000 he was 20 years old and he remembers it fondly. we live in Albuquerque and lucky our malls are still going well!
Really cool and thanks for showing it.
Yo, I fucking love that purple shirt. That's a power boss move.
The darkened parts of Fiesta Mall was like something out of a horror movie. Pity I never got a chance to see it in its heyday before it finally died. :(
Wait, Christown is closing?! Drat, I found that place kinda interesting, even though the one time I went inside it, the place gave me the sketchiest vibes I’ve ever had in a mall.
But come to think of it, the inside of it was chock full of no-name stores with clothes of debatable quality and a Bath and Body Works.
I love malls with the big skylights and all the natural light. It’s energy saving, invigorating and a good backup against a power outage in the day and the dark sky at night just gives the place a unique vibe.
Seeing the title card for Paradise Valley mall hurt. That was my childhood mall and I still remember snippets of going there with my grandma and her sister (her sister was a regular Dillard’s customer and she was a JC Penny’s shopper) when we lived in the area when I was a kiddo.
(I still kick myself for not going into the hobby store that used to be in the mall as a kiddo and getting sucked into Warhammer minis as a kiddo and getting in on early/mid 2000s era of Warhammer.)
It was a much more laid back and pleasant mall to be at than Fashion Square which to this day gives me this incredibly judgmental vibe if you don’t fit the visual profile of a high end customer. Wouldn’t surprise me if Fashion Square’s proximity did it no favors.
Seeing PV Mall’s last days was heartbreaking. That place was a piece of my childhood and the carousel was one of the best parts. ;-;
Apologies for turning this into a live reaction/commentary.
LOL Huell Howser would definitely approve. Thank you. That was awesome!❤️
Thank God my local mall is still fully active
An update from one person to the public.... Metrocenter is going to be a central hub for the light rail in Phoenix.
I used to live near Northern and 19th Ave, fairly close to Metrocenter. Hated the light rail. Brought in homeless people, professional panhandlers, and crime to the north end of the rail system. I was a victim and moved across county near family.
@@lo1bo2 Same. I moved near Prescott, out in the country on 3 acres. Phoenix has really turned into a shithole. Thank goodness I have no reason to go down there any more. And it's too blasted hot in the summer. (Jan Griffiths).
And I always thought the light rail was one of the dumbest things Phoenix had done. I never rode on it, and when I was a school bus driver down there, it was a damn inconvenience. Very limited in service. They should have made stops in Tempe, Mesa, and Apache Junction as well. (Jan Griffiths).
I can tell that at 2:57 that black store with the gate in the middle use to be a retro Disney Store.
We mall walk because it's safer, cleaner and full of interesting things to look at and discuss. We're usually gone home before you've even considered going out. Our local mall opens an hour before the stores in it just for us. 😁
Nice! Thanks for posting can't wait to watch. Wanted to get the vhs but blew it super excited!
The plans that were submitted to the city regarding Metro showed it becoming a "walking mall" not unlike Biltmore with a number of office and retail buildings situated around the inner ring. Don't know if that's actually gone anywhere though.
Awesome Gold recap loved the footage thanks for doing what you do 👍🏼
I lived in Arizona 15 years ago when I was working on my Ph. D. Is Arizona Mills Mall still going strong?
Yes, AZ Mills is still very busy.
Thank you for the update! And thank you for the trip down memory lane!
I remember the opening of Arizona Mills as well. In 1997, just in time for Christmas shopping. I went the day it opened. Glad to know it's still around. (Jan Griffiths).
Love you video special. I live down the road from a Mall called Baybrook Mall in Houston. If you ever get a chance to come to Houston you should check it out. Lots of history to it and a very busy mall.
I love the slowed down Bananarama, Cruel Summer music.
there is a dead mall near me that is completely empty except for a JCpenny, the JCP only has an entrance from the outside and the mall itself is sealed off
That last mall’s skylight were awesome
Fiesta Mall in the late nineties was where it was at. Tower Records and Best Buy were close by. Gateway Computers opened a shop near Tower Records when home PC's really took off. When the 202 and 101 freeways opened up and less people needed to use the 60 and new shopping areas were built along the new freeways. Mesa Riverview, Arizona Mills, Tempe Marketplace. And the newer Superstition Springs Mall in the newer, nicer part of Mesa/Gilbert. I remember driving through around 2014 and the whole area looked like a warzone/ghost town. At least the area still has Red Lobster and Olive Garden. There's still hope.
WOW, I used to live in the old Williams Air Force Base outside Mesa and Chandler and Fiesta was the closest mall to us. My parents loved Sears and Montgomery Ward. I think with the closure of the base affected mall traffic tremendously.
rest in peace those mall ty for showing this video
Great episode.
.....50:45 and thereabouts is a muzakish sounding version of Bonnie Raitt's "I Can't Make You Love Me."
Fiesta was a wicked ghost town in 2014 when I moved to town... But you don't have to take My word for it!