God, watching this made my heart break. This was my childhood mall. The one I took my friends too. The one my family drove an hour out to, since we lived in the middle of nowhere. It’s where my brother got all of his games growing up. It’s where I discovered Hot Topic and spent many Black Fridays with my Mom. It’s where the family crashed after seeing an afternoon movie, only to hit up the Red Lobster or Olive Garden (before it burnt down) right after. Got my prom dress there, and my dress for college graduation. I remember “The Garden” once being a neon lit food court that wasn’t as spacious. Going through Macy’s with my Mom. Popping into Radio Shack with my brother. The vinegar store right across from Aunt Annie’s. The pet store that used to be next to Sears with the little koi pond. My brother getting a samurai sword from the Karate place. Getting a pedicure with my Mom on Christmas. Trimming my hair right before picture day. The Bubble Tea shop that was there for a short amount of time and that hurricane simulator. It just hurts seeing something that had so many memories decay and burn out. It just really, really hurts.
Being stuck within 10 feet of your family for months on end really isn't great, but that road trip allowed me to visit this relic. It was truly an amazing, surreal experience, the best part of the trip!
This mall was literally my childhood. We would go every week almost, from the late nineties when I was a toddler until I was in high school in the early 2010s. So many hours spent just wandering, and sitting in the food court. A lot of my friend's first jobs were there. Seeing it in this state breaks my heart. Thank you so much for this video, excellent work.
Same here, just fifteen or so years ahead of you. Back in the 80s, it was so great - two toy stores, two book stores, a computer/video game store, a dimly lit arcade - everything a young geek needed. I haven't been back in a couple years and I probably won't be. It's just too depressing now - even the food court is gone. The only things left that are interesting are the B&N and the kitty adoption center (I hope they find a nice place to relocate when the mall finally whimpers its way to death).
I used to work at a store in the McKinley Mall. The food court originally was different and had a section that was lowered with stairs and places to sit and eat. There was a Greek place, Burger King, Sbarro's, Dairy Queen, Chinese Food, and a miss fields.
@KMac I worked at Sears approximately 2011-2013. The food court was remodeled long before that. Food court was probably remodeled around 2003 as a guess, maybe even a few year before. The Sears McKinley and Sears Horseheads, I was told they were very profitable stores but the Sears Corp. Being bankrupt, wasn't allowed to renew leases and could get vendors to front merchandise. I personally think that's why they closed and the mall has died since Sears, Bonton, and American Eagle left. Macys leaving didn't seem to affect the mall, but the other stores did. I actually have store mission statement signs from this bonton.The stabbing at Sears was a tragic domestic incident that Involved a woman with I believe her cousin or another family member, and the crazy killer thought she was cheating when she wasn't.
Me too! I used to work at Kaufmanns around 1999 - 2002. I also remember watching the movie Short Circuit at the movie theater with my parents and my sister and hanging out at the mall with my friends in high school. I also got my ears pierced twice at Claire’s. The second time I was with my friend and her mom and I lied and said my friend’s mom was my mom so I could get my second hole ear piercings when I was 14. Lol 😂 Good times! This video brings back a lot of good memories.
@@30AndHatingIt the old water fountains and old brass hand rails near the food court which you had to walk down to sit and eat it was inlet from the surrounding chains
This mall died a long time ago. The initial idea to “revitalize” it meant they gave new “anchors” like Bed Bath and Beyond, Best Buy, Barnes and Nobel, Ulta and Old Navy all road facing entrances. This effectively turned it into a strip plaza. It was faster to drive between the front facing stores which all had plenty of parking. The Best Buy and Bed Bath and Beyond sealed about half the entire Sears wing off. This kind of negated the need to walk the mall. It pretty much killed off the interior and Macy’s. This coupled with the expansion of the old Service Merchandise building (the Joann Fabrics etc. across the street) and the McKinley plaza (directly across the street) gave everyone room to move off the mall and have better visibility. The movie theater is not directly accessible from the mall and is behind it. When Musicland went bust and FYE had purchased them earlier in the decade it closed up all the mall record stores (towards the end one was a large Sam Goody) then relocated them all of it to an off parcel FYE Superstore in the now Hobby Lobby (which ran until like 2010) again this made sense, better visibility. Even when Sears was still a draw back around 2010 most of the higher volume businesses had clustered around the primary entrance ways. Mostly everyone else was abandoned when Quaker Crossing up the road by target started to add out parcel plazas. The murder at Sears was likely the final nail for it but it was largely the best in the area.
This concludes Phase IV of the ExLog! Episode 100 and the Richland Mall coming soon! For now...Call 1-800-Dead-Mall-Mike to hire Kohansieh TODAY! He'll destroy any mall you want. But seriously...thanks for watching! Subscribe, or I'll cry.
Kohan just bought The Crossroads Mall from Brookefield for $25 Million Brookefield in Portage MI who bought the mall in 2018 when they bought GGP. Less than Brookefield did which was $35 Million 2018 MLive talked to Kohan saying that they may bring a bowling ally to the mall and some entertainment as well lost Sears in fall of 2019 and just lost Burlington that moved on my side of town to what use to be Maple Hill Mall which became more of a strip mall in mid-2000's. JC Penny's & Macy's are the only anchors left in The Crossroads mall.
I grew up in the buffalo southtowns. I have so many memories at this mall...cuz in the early 2000s hanging out at the mall was the cool thing to do. This was definitely a trip down memory lane. Thanks for making this video!
This is my home town mall. I've lived here all my life and have watched it slowly become the shell it is. It's sad. It's hard to explain just how cool this place was for a kid at one time. Two arcades, two toy stores, that multi-level food court, and that middle court area with the bridge over the fountains. With Toys R Us right across the street, you could spend a whole day in that area.
Most malls have failed here in WNY. I will assume most everywhere due to Amazon/online shopping, or they soon will be. These will be a part of the 15min walkable cities they seek, I see 50 yrs ahead of time and these people who are Elite do also when they invest. Everything is a conspiracy or theory until it is not. Im pretty old so im not sure if ill see them in my lifetime, it is still my thought though
Mike Kohan bought a mall that I worked at about 8 yrs ago. I met him and he appeared to be a total sleazeball. Within 24 months the mall was absolutely filthy, hardly any lights were working in the parking lot, and the majority of the stores in the mall had closed. It wasn’t doing well when he bought it but he created a totally unsafe environment for all the people still working there.
I feel like my own mall, the one I grew up in, is dying. It's called Smith Haven Mall in Lake Grove, NY. There honestly isn't much information available about it and it's various attributes (like there is no record of the carousel that the mall installed and took down in the early 2000's), but if you are ever in the area, it might be worth checking out
The Grim Reaper strikes again, and another mall owned by Kohan bites the proverbial dust. Sal, your videos with its historical background is quite informative and is a textbook example of what a dead mall is and how it happens. TY.
That was my mall, growing up! That place was exploding through the 80s and 90s! A really fun Friday night, as a kid! I'm so happy to see that Spencers is still there!
Nicely done. I lived in a neighborhood that adjoined the McKinley Mall property. As kids we played at the park behind the Mall which was heavily wooded undeveloped property. What a number of property owners in that area banked on in the 1970’s was that New York State would open Casino Gambling where that location in Hamburg, NY would be considered along with Niagara Falls, NY. Of course that never happened. I live in Northern Virginia and what is happening across the country with Malls demise is happening here.
Getting impaled by a forklift fork while sitting in the breakroom through the wall still is my #1 concern while at work. Mind you it is 100% impossible for any of our forklifts to do that and there's a myriad of things that could get me easily killed in a heavy industrial manufacturing plant but this one thing is on my mind every day while on break.
I loved this mall! So glad your doing this video , I didn't know much about this group until I recently started watching your videos. Its so sad to see beautiful malls & places gets bought by companies who don't care and in return hurts the local economy.
I live in the Buffalo area, this mall has gone from almost full about 8 years ago to even emptier than shown here. Beautiful Frank Llyod Wright style center plaza. Honestly, the Sears incident has little to do with it, Sears was doomed by then anyway and it did not keep anyone away since it was a domestic incident not random violence. Also, the mall is down the road from the Bills NFL stadium, so Hamburg was not too concerned about traffic and such.
I was just there in October. Went with my wife and boy. We thought it was closed when we got there and we're surprised to find it was still open. The rest area in the middle of the mall was looking rough
I grew up going to this mall regularly. Its been some time since i've been back there though. One mall you should definitely check out is the Eastern Hills Mall in Williamsville.
@@markvolpe2305 Yeah, it's doing really well! The Broadway Market making it's decision to prioritize their own vendors and find more permanent tenants there ended up being a boon for the overflow of folks that went to Eastern Hills instead and settled there.
I've only been to the Eastern Hills Mall once, some years ago. I'm surprised it's still around at all. The McKinley Mall is the only mall in the area I've not been to (been to Boulevard Mall and I work at Walden Galleria)
I live in Orchard Park, NY and I get my hair cut close to the mall… you should see the mall now.. pretty much everything is gone expect for Best Buy and couple of other shops. ALL of the department stores have closed. It’s very sad.
That doesn’t at all look like a “dead mall”. That’s just what an average mall looks like these days. Still rocking a Foot Locker and Best Buy. Even had an open food court. Decent foot traffic as well. Better than any mall in my area
I'm 25 and this is the mall I grew up with. It was never really the first choice I'd want to go to with my parents, as it's only 1 story and lacked the "fun" stores the Walden Galleria had. But it would definitely be a place they would drag me to and I would venture around, whether it was in KB Toys or Gymboree. That was a long time ago. This mall has been in a decline since Macy's left. Unfortunately, I don't know if it can be replaced with a "lifestyle center" like the malls to the north because the population just isn't there, and the retail climate is always changing, especially with COVID.
my local mall! there used to be a pretty cool arcade there in the 90's. Surprising to see it go down the tubes like this because the area immediately surrounding this mall is really busy (Wegmans, BJ's etc.). Hamburg's population is roughly 50k, and while Galleria is close, its still about a 25 minute drive. There's no reason that a mall of some sort shouldn't be thriving here and must come down to bad management.
online shopping took away most mall customers. Urban violence will scare off the rest over time. The aesthetics will always be bone chilling nostalgia. Where did the past 30 years go?
Sal is one of the best out there and always produces epic content. Loved the Art Deco vibes in parts of this mall. Also the succession score at the end was top notch.
Malls are obsolete places to shop with highly overpriced stores and no variety of stores. You’ve been in one mall, you’ve been in them all. People want the ability to shop online and not deal with rowdy teens and rude salespeople or lack of products . Malls have done everything to bring about their own demise.
Most normal people below the age of 60 would like to actually walk around and interact with other humans, and malls gave tens of millions of suburbanites the chance to do just that. Malls were much more than just places to go shopping.
@@cdcaleo Woody makes good points. The people with money want to shop. Ideally they don't want distractions, violence and attitude. I'm in the Western Mass. Eastfield Mall in Springfield Mass is currently being torn down/renovated. My sister worked with a woman who's mom was murdered in Sears. 20 years later I watched a pimp/boy friend/husband beat his meal ticket/girl friend/wife up in the same Sears. The mall that ate their lunch, Holyoke Mall in Holyoke had a murder this year. An innocent bystander got popped. Eastfield did great until Holyoke opened. Same stores, same prices. There's no "Event" at malls that really differentiate malls in a good way these days. Only bad ways.
All that is true, but until the late 90's, most suburban malls were great places to shop and congregate. They were pleasant and safe. There was no violence, rowdy teens were ejected quickly, and security took their job seriously. A perfect storm of social forces swept through America in the late 90's and picked up steam in the aughts. Increasing levels of overt social disfunction, lack of serious security or the will to use force to eject rowdy teens, increasing levels of online shopping, and the disappearance of social norms that shamed people for behaving badly in public. All of that has contributed to the death of malls, and its a shame, because I remember malls in the 70's and 80's, and they were great places to go. Another sign of America's sad decline into third world chaos. By the way, malls in Asia and parts of Europe are still clean, safe and affordable. @@dlewis9760
Just can't believe the universal pinnacle hub that was the mall in every city no matter where u lived has turned into this lifeless relic of the past. Its messed up how there's really no other social forum where u could run into possibly anyone you know in person
I'm curious if you have ever thought about coming out here to Oregon. Portland has a few dying malls and one of them, Llyod Center, is scheduled to be closed and torn down. Eugene has a dead mall, Gateway Town Center. There's a few more in other cities.
My dad used to sell gift certificates in front of Bon-Ton way back in the day. Lotssss of time spent in this mall with relatives; Sears, JCPenney, Payless, Hallmark, Kay-Bee, etc. Unfortunately, I grew up when this mall was at the end of its run and have since watched it slowly and slowly decay into emptiness. Thanks for such a great video and giving the mall its due!
Abandoned or dead mall series. The two malls in Clarksville, Indiana. River Falls Mall and Greentree Mall. River Falls was bought out by Bass Pro Shop and Greentree is struggling. Thank you.
I remember a ton of Sabres players back in the day going there for meet and greets. Another reason why the Galleria has always done better? Canadians. The strategic location by the thruways meant you could spend the day there and go back with ease due to how close the mall is to the border.
Also thank you for making videos about these locations, I grew up going to these malls. It’s so sad how most of the store fronts are just walled off now
My brother and I used to spend hours (and tons of quarters) in the arcade that used to be there in the mid 90's. Boardwalk Boulevard; it was the best arcade I've ever been to. It took up 2-3 regular retail spaces, and had all of the best games. Played a lot of Terminator 2 and Revolution X there.
Having lived in the Buffalo Area all my life. I have very fond memories of the McKinley Mall WAY more than the Galleria. It was honestly my favorite and still is. That's why for me it's so hard for me to see it this way. My brother and I used to spend hours in the old Boardwalk Arcade that used to be near the main entrance. It used to be where the Buffalo Store is now in that entire area. Love this video! Keep up the awesome work!
Buffalo was a popular shopping city for Canadians crossing the border for US priced bargains. After 911 Homeland security required us to have passports to enter which many Canadians did not hold, along with a much more unpleasant border experience. I’m sure that made a major economic impact on the stores there.
Sal, this is the way today's business works. Its about property sales. Not The malls we grew up in. All money man. Thiers also a big online market shift even before the pandemic
This is so sad to see. I hung out with friends there, worked there, heck I even lived on McKinley! Nothing like your old mall dying to show how old you really are 😂
O lived in this area during this time. Graduating East Aurora High School in 1985, and finishing my first semester at SUNYAB in November of 1985 - I don't remember anything about this mall. Thanks for showing this - I miss Buffalo, and it's cool finding out about an area I grew up in.
A couple suggestions for you: the Exton Mall in Exton, PA. Hadn't been there in years, and now probably 80 percent empty. Also, Dutch Square in Columbia, SC. Went there so often as a child and now in its death throes.
this was my childhood mall, one of the places that living in the southern tier we would go every weekend. I can still remember all the stores that used to be in there when I was a kid. I guess it died a long time ago and it's kept a live by machines body is still there
The Sears attack wasn't significant in the demise of the mall. Most ppl forgot about it within a couple months. I took many photos in the mall a little less than a year ago, until security came and made me stop. I think you can count the number of open stores on 1 hand now.
The mall in my home town the Birchwood Mall fell into the hands of Mike Kohan with him promising revitalization but that never happened. But there have been some small buisness that have moved into the Birchwood Mall
There was another mall in West Seneca that didn’t last very long either. I can’t remember the name of it but the McKinley mall was famous when I was in high school or I should say college and it was in West Seneca.
Please come to Wichita, ks & do a video on the towne west mall. He’s doing the same thing here. The mall just went 5 days without electricity, leaving its (very few) tenants, screwed with no answers from Kohan. It’s kinda become a joke in the city about the mall not even having electricity but it’s seriously sad. 15 years ago this mall was absolutely packed with not a single empty storefront. Now there’s maybe 12 stores with only a JCPenney anchor.
@Sal Back in 2019 one of our local malls in Wichita Kansas, called Towne West Square, went into foreclosure after a steady decline. It did eventually sell for reportedly 14 million dollars. With all the pandemic stuff I never checked to see what happened with the sale. Today I found out it was purchased by Kohan!! I'm horrified. According to one of the local TH-camrs as of their trip in July of 2020 they talked to folks working at the mall to see if any of the promised improvements had happened yet. The worker gave a laugh in response. so yeah, not by that time. there were also supposed to be new stores, but last I heard there is only a small handful of stores etc left.
January 2023 update - I was at the mall today and it's still circling the drain (almost all chain stores gone except Barnes and Noble, Best Buy and Bed Bath and Beyond). The food court is back in a limited capacity of three restaurants. The pizza place sucks - my slice was so undercooked it literally fell apart in my hands. That's... something? I hope the kitty adoption center relocates to a better spot and that B&N replaces Hobby Lobby (long ago a beloved Media Play).
Mike Kohan doesn’t get the money to buy these malls because he’s expecting to save every one of them. He gets it because he’s not. His role is essentially to try to save it if it can be saved, and if the mall is too far gone, to essentially get whatever rent he can out of the mall and then dismantle it for the scrap value.
You need to go to the Ridgmar mall in Fort Worth, Texas! I went a couple years ago and it was empty! Only a couple stores left 😭 I heard it was closing soon but going in there feels nostalgic and gives an eerie feeling.
Thanks Sal love your Mall videos and how you really do your Research, these Malls maybe gone and forgotten but are Remembered through your videos ,seeing an Abandoned or failing Mall is.quite Haunting but really interesting at the same time thinking of how busy they used to be,I'm from the UK and would one day Love to visit the USE and visit an Abandoned Mall
Thanks to this I have made it a point to ALWAYS sit in the middle of the room, far away from those flimsy, untrustworthy walls. You never know when a roving pack of forklifts will sneak up and get you!
I grew up only 5 or so minutes from the Walden Galleria so I never needed to go here. Was last here probably a decade ago and it's depressing to see how far it's fallen since even then just from looking at the directory on their website.
I was a GM for a mall owned by Kohan. It was horrible to work for him and his cronies. He is definitely a slum lord. Bills not paid and employee checks bounced ALL the time.
Sal, when the pandemic finally subsides to truly controllable levels in both the U.S. and Canada, I'm hoping you can profile a mall here in Canada....and no, you have no Kohan's or Moonbeam's to worry about here. They're not allowed to do business here. X-)
God, watching this made my heart break.
This was my childhood mall. The one I took my friends too. The one my family drove an hour out to, since we lived in the middle of nowhere. It’s where my brother got all of his games growing up. It’s where I discovered Hot Topic and spent many Black Fridays with my Mom. It’s where the family crashed after seeing an afternoon movie, only to hit up the Red Lobster or Olive Garden (before it burnt down) right after. Got my prom dress there, and my dress for college graduation.
I remember “The Garden” once being a neon lit food court that wasn’t as spacious. Going through Macy’s with my Mom. Popping into Radio Shack with my brother. The vinegar store right across from Aunt Annie’s. The pet store that used to be next to Sears with the little koi pond. My brother getting a samurai sword from the Karate place. Getting a pedicure with my Mom on Christmas. Trimming my hair right before picture day. The Bubble Tea shop that was there for a short amount of time and that hurricane simulator.
It just hurts seeing something that had so many memories decay and burn out. It just really, really hurts.
i remember media play and best buy/circuit city
@@joshallen128 That Media Play got me into video games and anime. I remember it being FYE before it turned into Hobby Lobby. ;////;
What a charming albeit sad set of memories. Thank you for sharing.
Being stuck within 10 feet of your family for months on end really isn't great, but that road trip allowed me to visit this relic. It was truly an amazing, surreal experience, the best part of the trip!
This mall was literally my childhood. We would go every week almost, from the late nineties when I was a toddler until I was in high school in the early 2010s. So many hours spent just wandering, and sitting in the food court. A lot of my friend's first jobs were there. Seeing it in this state breaks my heart. Thank you so much for this video, excellent work.
Same here, just fifteen or so years ahead of you. Back in the 80s, it was so great - two toy stores, two book stores, a computer/video game store, a dimly lit arcade - everything a young geek needed. I haven't been back in a couple years and I probably won't be. It's just too depressing now - even the food court is gone. The only things left that are interesting are the B&N and the kitty adoption center (I hope they find a nice place to relocate when the mall finally whimpers its way to death).
I used to work at a store in the McKinley Mall. The food court originally was different and had a section that was lowered with stairs and places to sit and eat. There was a Greek place, Burger King, Sbarro's, Dairy Queen, Chinese Food, and a miss fields.
@KMac I worked at Sears approximately 2011-2013. The food court was remodeled long before that. Food court was probably remodeled around 2003 as a guess, maybe even a few year before. The Sears McKinley and Sears Horseheads, I was told they were very profitable stores but the Sears Corp. Being bankrupt, wasn't allowed to renew leases and could get vendors to front merchandise. I personally think that's why they closed and the mall has died since Sears, Bonton, and American Eagle left. Macys leaving didn't seem to affect the mall, but the other stores did. I actually have store mission statement signs from this bonton.The stabbing at Sears was a tragic domestic incident that Involved a woman with I believe her cousin or another family member, and the crazy killer thought she was cheating when she wasn't.
I’ve never been able to find pics of the old McKinley Mall from before the 2000’s.
Me too! I used to work at Kaufmanns around 1999 - 2002. I also remember watching the movie Short Circuit at the movie theater with my parents and my sister and hanging out at the mall with my friends in high school. I also got my ears pierced twice at Claire’s. The second time I was with my friend and her mom and I lied and said my friend’s mom was my mom so I could get my second hole ear piercings when I was 14. Lol 😂 Good times! This video brings back a lot of good memories.
@@30AndHatingIt the old water fountains and old brass hand rails near the food court which you had to walk down to sit and eat it was inlet from the surrounding chains
@@joshallen128 I wish someone had photos of them!
The safety video is like a horror short and hillarious all at the same time! The mall still seems in nice condition. Shame it went to a mall killer.
I really wish that financial institutions would stop giving this guy money.
@@sal naming a mall after the President who got assassinated there was a bad move.
@@BGNOLA it was out of respect.
@@CoasterMan13Official like Don Cabilaro? ♿
@@BGNOLA who's that?
This mall died a long time ago. The initial idea to “revitalize” it meant they gave new “anchors” like Bed Bath and Beyond, Best Buy, Barnes and Nobel, Ulta and Old Navy all road facing entrances. This effectively turned it into a strip plaza. It was faster to drive between the front facing stores which all had plenty of parking. The Best Buy and Bed Bath and Beyond sealed about half the entire Sears wing off. This kind of negated the need to walk the mall. It pretty much killed off the interior and Macy’s. This coupled with the expansion of the old Service Merchandise building (the Joann Fabrics etc. across the street) and the McKinley plaza (directly across the street) gave everyone room to move off the mall and have better visibility. The movie theater is not directly accessible from the mall and is behind it. When Musicland went bust and FYE had purchased them earlier in the decade it closed up all the mall record stores (towards the end one was a large Sam Goody) then relocated them all of it to an off parcel FYE Superstore in the now Hobby Lobby (which ran until like 2010) again this made sense, better visibility. Even when Sears was still a draw back around 2010 most of the higher volume businesses had clustered around the primary entrance ways. Mostly everyone else was abandoned when Quaker Crossing up the road by target started to add out parcel plazas. The murder at Sears was likely the final nail for it but it was largely the best in the area.
You're right, that's just what I did when I came here. Now I only go in the JC Penney, everyplace else I used to go in is closed.
This was well written. Never looked at it like that but yeah all those front facing road stores do make the mall like a strip mall.
This concludes Phase IV of the ExLog! Episode 100 and the Richland Mall coming soon! For now...Call 1-800-Dead-Mall-Mike to hire Kohansieh TODAY! He'll destroy any mall you want. But seriously...thanks for watching! Subscribe, or I'll cry.
Of course! I did. Best mall channel on the tube!
Kohan just bought The Crossroads Mall from Brookefield for $25 Million Brookefield in Portage MI who bought the mall in 2018 when they bought GGP. Less than Brookefield did which was $35 Million 2018 MLive talked to Kohan saying that they may bring a bowling ally to the mall and some entertainment as well lost Sears in fall of 2019 and just lost Burlington that moved on my side of town to what use to be Maple Hill Mall which became more of a strip mall in mid-2000's. JC Penny's & Macy's are the only anchors left in The Crossroads mall.
I grew up in the buffalo southtowns. I have so many memories at this mall...cuz in the early 2000s hanging out at the mall was the cool thing to do. This was definitely a trip down memory lane. Thanks for making this video!
Thanks for watching! Tons more on the way!
That Easter Egg with McKinley Mall's letters on it was so pretty.🍭😻
This is my home town mall. I've lived here all my life and have watched it slowly become the shell it is. It's sad. It's hard to explain just how cool this place was for a kid at one time. Two arcades, two toy stores, that multi-level food court, and that middle court area with the bridge over the fountains. With Toys R Us right across the street, you could spend a whole day in that area.
Most malls have failed here in WNY. I will assume most everywhere due to Amazon/online shopping, or they soon will be. These will be a part of the 15min walkable cities they seek, I see 50 yrs ahead of time and these people who are Elite do also when they invest. Everything is a conspiracy or theory until it is not. Im pretty old so im not sure if ill see them in my lifetime, it is still my thought though
Mike Kohan bought a mall that I worked at about 8 yrs ago. I met him and he appeared to be a total sleazeball. Within 24 months the mall was absolutely filthy, hardly any lights were working in the parking lot, and the majority of the stores in the mall had closed. It wasn’t doing well when he bought it but he created a totally unsafe environment for all the people still working there.
That safety video at the beginning was EVERYTHING 😂😂😂😂😂
LOL!! “She’s about 70 at this point.”
Man how I miss those old 80s & 90s mall commercials on TV.
I can't wait for the exlog were Sal stands in fron of anther dying mall screaming "KOOOHAAAAAAAAAAAAN"
Lmaooo
The wrath of Kohan?
You win.
I feel like my own mall, the one I grew up in, is dying. It's called Smith Haven Mall in Lake Grove, NY. There honestly isn't much information available about it and it's various attributes (like there is no record of the carousel that the mall installed and took down in the early 2000's), but if you are ever in the area, it might be worth checking out
21:00 “What in the Mike Kohan is this?” Lol I’m totally going to start using that 😂
McKinley mall is up for auction due to back taxes announced today.
The Grim Reaper strikes again, and another mall owned by Kohan bites the proverbial dust. Sal, your videos with its historical background is quite informative and is a textbook example of what a dead mall is and how it happens. TY.
A fortune teller in a dead mall: that's a metaphor for our current era if there ever was one.🔮
I love Fortune Tellers. 🤎🔮
That was my mall, growing up! That place was exploding through the 80s and 90s! A really fun Friday night, as a kid! I'm so happy to see that Spencers is still there!
Nicely done. I lived in a neighborhood that adjoined the McKinley Mall property. As kids we played at the park behind the Mall which was heavily wooded undeveloped property. What a number of property owners in that area banked on in the 1970’s was that New York State would open Casino Gambling where that location in Hamburg, NY would be considered along with Niagara Falls, NY. Of course that never happened. I live in Northern Virginia and what is happening across the country with Malls demise is happening here.
Getting impaled by a forklift fork while sitting in the breakroom through the wall still is my #1 concern while at work. Mind you it is 100% impossible for any of our forklifts to do that and there's a myriad of things that could get me easily killed in a heavy industrial manufacturing plant but this one thing is on my mind every day while on break.
Lolol
Nice as usual!! can you make a documentary about the ART, architecture and interiorism on the malls, and graphic design on your dead malls?
That’s really a fantastic idea. I’ll explore that concept!
I loved this mall! So glad your doing this video , I didn't know much about this group until I recently started watching your videos. Its so sad to see beautiful malls & places gets bought by companies who don't care and in return hurts the local economy.
Another college hangout of mine. Wow, can't believe in 11 years since I've left Buffalo, this mall's downturn. Crazy
It's been 3 years for me and wow! So sad.
I always find it Amazing how someone would spend 63 million dollars on a failing Mall it's baffling
I live in the Buffalo area, this mall has gone from almost full about 8 years ago to even emptier than shown here. Beautiful Frank Llyod Wright style center plaza. Honestly, the Sears incident has little to do with it, Sears was doomed by then anyway and it did not keep anyone away since it was a domestic incident not random violence. Also, the mall is down the road from the Bills NFL stadium, so Hamburg was not too concerned about traffic and such.
I was just there in October. Went with my wife and boy. We thought it was closed when we got there and we're surprised to find it was still open. The rest area in the middle of the mall was looking rough
“She’s probably around 70 now….” Omg I’m deceased lol.
The November update felt like a gut check. Not even a food court anymore..
Agreed.
I grew up going to this mall regularly. Its been some time since i've been back there though. One mall you should definitely check out is the Eastern Hills Mall in Williamsville.
From what I heard, the Eastern Hills is doing really well as a local mall now with 97% occupancy and a new restaurant opening in the future.
I have yet to dig into the research, and it’s coming some time in Phase V…but when I was there, I saw a ton of vacancies. We’ll see!!
@@markvolpe2305 wow thats good to hear, I only remember that mall being a dead mall even when I was a little kid 20 years ago.
@@markvolpe2305 Yeah, it's doing really well! The Broadway Market making it's decision to prioritize their own vendors and find more permanent tenants there ended up being a boon for the overflow of folks that went to Eastern Hills instead and settled there.
I've only been to the Eastern Hills Mall once, some years ago. I'm surprised it's still around at all. The McKinley Mall is the only mall in the area I've not been to (been to Boulevard Mall and I work at Walden Galleria)
I live in Orchard Park, NY and I get my hair cut close to the mall… you should see the mall now.. pretty much everything is gone expect for Best Buy and couple of other shops. ALL of the department stores have closed. It’s very sad.
That doesn’t at all look like a “dead mall”. That’s just what an average mall looks like these days. Still rocking a Foot Locker and Best Buy. Even had an open food court. Decent foot traffic as well. Better than any mall in my area
Agreed. This mall looks "busy" compared to the one in my area (Ithaca NY) which has a Target on one end and a Best Buy / Dicks on the other end.
Doesn't look like a dead mall? Are we looking at the same footage? The 2019 footage sure, but the current state of the mall is one foot in the grave.
Dude got impaled by a forklift..THROUGH A WALL!!!
OH MY GOD
Owwww....
That mist have really “forked” him up!
I'm 25 and this is the mall I grew up with. It was never really the first choice I'd want to go to with my parents, as it's only 1 story and lacked the "fun" stores the Walden Galleria had. But it would definitely be a place they would drag me to and I would venture around, whether it was in KB Toys or Gymboree. That was a long time ago. This mall has been in a decline since Macy's left. Unfortunately, I don't know if it can be replaced with a "lifestyle center" like the malls to the north because the population just isn't there, and the retail climate is always changing, especially with COVID.
my local mall! there used to be a pretty cool arcade there in the 90's. Surprising to see it go down the tubes like this because the area immediately surrounding this mall is really busy (Wegmans, BJ's etc.). Hamburg's population is roughly 50k, and while Galleria is close, its still about a 25 minute drive. There's no reason that a mall of some sort shouldn't be thriving here and must come down to bad management.
Oh my goshh that saftey video- golden nugget!
Haha wasn’t that amazing???
That Easter Egg was beautiful. 🐰 🐣 🥚🌈
I remember when this place opened. I do miss those days.
online shopping took away most mall customers. Urban violence will scare off the rest over time. The aesthetics will always be bone chilling nostalgia. Where did the past 30 years go?
My childhood mall. Worked at Wild wings and red lobster. Both are gone now!
Everything is closing all over the place, it’s so sad :(
Sal is one of the best out there and always produces epic content. Loved the Art Deco vibes in parts of this mall. Also the succession score at the end was top notch.
Hey that means a lot…much appreciated! Tons more on the way!
Malls are obsolete places to shop with highly overpriced stores and no variety of stores. You’ve been in one mall, you’ve been in them all. People want the ability to shop online and not deal with rowdy teens and rude salespeople or lack of products . Malls have done everything to bring about their own demise.
Most normal people below the age of 60 would like to actually walk around and interact with other humans, and malls gave tens of millions of suburbanites the chance to do just that. Malls were much more than just places to go shopping.
@@cdcaleo Woody makes good points. The people with money want to shop. Ideally they don't want distractions, violence and attitude. I'm in the Western Mass. Eastfield Mall in Springfield Mass is currently being torn down/renovated. My sister worked with a woman who's mom was murdered in Sears. 20 years later I watched a pimp/boy friend/husband beat his meal ticket/girl friend/wife up in the same Sears. The mall that ate their lunch, Holyoke Mall in Holyoke had a murder this year. An innocent bystander got popped. Eastfield did great until Holyoke opened. Same stores, same prices. There's no "Event" at malls that really differentiate malls in a good way these days. Only bad ways.
All that is true, but until the late 90's, most suburban malls were great places to shop and congregate. They were pleasant and safe.
There was no violence, rowdy teens were ejected quickly, and security took their job seriously.
A perfect storm of social forces swept through America in the late 90's and picked up steam in the aughts.
Increasing levels of overt social disfunction, lack of serious security or the will to use force to eject rowdy teens, increasing levels of online shopping, and the disappearance of social norms that shamed people for behaving badly in public.
All of that has contributed to the death of malls, and its a shame, because I remember malls in the 70's and 80's, and they were great places to go.
Another sign of America's sad decline into third world chaos.
By the way, malls in Asia and parts of Europe are still clean, safe and affordable. @@dlewis9760
Just can't believe the universal pinnacle hub that was the mall in every city no matter where u lived has turned into this lifeless relic of the past. Its messed up how there's really no other social forum where u could run into possibly anyone you know in person
I'm curious if you have ever thought about coming out here to Oregon. Portland has a few dying malls and one of them, Llyod Center, is scheduled to be closed and torn down. Eugene has a dead mall, Gateway Town Center. There's a few more in other cities.
I visited this mall in 2009 and it was evident that this mall was in decline then
It's gonna be torn down? I had not heard that. What is going up in it's place?
@@lynnpayne9519 They haven't figured that out yet. My best guess would be either more housing and hotels or a Pro ball park.
I visited this mall in December 2021, and those planters at 8:45 were in almost exactly that position. Amazing.
My dad used to sell gift certificates in front of Bon-Ton way back in the day. Lotssss of time spent in this mall with relatives; Sears, JCPenney, Payless, Hallmark, Kay-Bee, etc. Unfortunately, I grew up when this mall was at the end of its run and have since watched it slowly and slowly decay into emptiness. Thanks for such a great video and giving the mall its due!
Abandoned or dead mall series. The two malls in Clarksville, Indiana.
River Falls Mall and Greentree Mall. River Falls was bought out by Bass Pro Shop and Greentree is struggling. Thank you.
I remember a ton of Sabres players back in the day going there for meet and greets.
Another reason why the Galleria has always done better? Canadians. The strategic location by the thruways meant you could spend the day there and go back with ease due to how close the mall is to the border.
I've watched all exlogs and just recently discovered that this is liminal space. Tyvm.
Also thank you for making videos about these locations, I grew up going to these malls. It’s so sad how most of the store fronts are just walled off now
My brother and I used to spend hours (and tons of quarters) in the arcade that used to be there in the mid 90's. Boardwalk Boulevard; it was the best arcade I've ever been to. It took up 2-3 regular retail spaces, and had all of the best games. Played a lot of Terminator 2 and Revolution X there.
i remember that too, it was where ultas was or bflo store is now and right across was a store I remember buying a shark floaty for a pool
That mall kiosk psychic should have seen that Sears incident coming.
All psychics can predict is money moving from your pocket to theirs!
Have you visited the Galleria Mall with its mixed-use expansion yet? Would be curious to see what that is all about
😊👍
The re-enactments were truly scarier than most horror movies, no joke.
Having lived in the Buffalo Area all my life. I have very fond memories of the McKinley Mall WAY more than the Galleria. It was honestly my favorite and still is. That's why for me it's so hard for me to see it this way. My brother and I used to spend hours in the old Boardwalk Arcade that used to be near the main entrance. It used to be where the Buffalo Store is now in that entire area. Love this video! Keep up the awesome work!
Boardwalk Blvd!
The "Corridor 7" door at 5:00 reminded me of the cheesy video game of the same name from the '90s. Also, the music at that moment is perfection.
I’m sorry I haven’t been to this channel in a while
What a gem
Thanks for coming back!!! Lots more on the way!!!
Buffalo was a popular shopping city for Canadians crossing the border for US priced bargains. After 911 Homeland security required us to have passports to enter which many Canadians did not hold, along with a much more unpleasant border experience. I’m sure that made a major economic impact on the stores there.
Sal, this is the way today's business works. Its about property sales. Not The malls we grew up in. All money man. Thiers also a big online market shift even before the pandemic
Shoutout to the family @12:48. Hope they are doing ok in these weird times.
Just came here to say that it's up for auction now!
Another banger of an episode. Keep up the good work.
Hey thanks, Mike!
This is so sad to see. I hung out with friends there, worked there, heck I even lived on McKinley! Nothing like your old mall dying to show how old you really are 😂
O lived in this area during this time. Graduating East Aurora High School in 1985, and finishing my first semester at SUNYAB in November of 1985 - I don't remember anything about this mall. Thanks for showing this - I miss Buffalo, and it's cool finding out about an area I grew up in.
Chris Keling where did You end up moving to ?
A couple suggestions for you: the Exton Mall in Exton, PA. Hadn't been there in years, and now probably 80 percent empty. Also, Dutch Square in Columbia, SC. Went there so often as a child and now in its death throes.
I love the "safety" video with the paper brick wall.
this was my childhood mall, one of the places that living in the southern tier we would go every weekend. I can still remember all the stores that used to be in there when I was a kid. I guess it died a long time ago and it's kept a live by machines body is still there
As always another excellent video with good history of the mall. Thank You!
so sad to see that mall going down ty for showing this video sal i hope you had a good thanksgiving also everyone else on here
Thanks for watching!!!
@@sal yww
I used to sometimes go here. It’s not terrible but they don’t have much there. The sears is huge though ! I loved this mall!
The Sears attack wasn't significant in the demise of the mall. Most ppl forgot about it within a couple months.
I took many photos in the mall a little less than a year ago, until security came and made me stop. I think you can count the number of open stores on 1 hand now.
The mall in my home town the Birchwood Mall fell into the hands of Mike Kohan with him promising revitalization but that never happened. But there have been some small buisness that have moved into the Birchwood Mall
Love the video Sal , thank you very much for sharing it with us.
My pleasure! Thanks for watching!
There was another mall in West Seneca that didn’t last very long either. I can’t remember the name of it but the McKinley mall was famous when I was in high school or I should say college and it was in West Seneca.
Those safety videos never get old. These days they tend to use real cctv footage of fatal accidents, which has a more profound impact.
Could we turn the old malls into senior living complexes where they don't have to go outside
Great Idea! Like a prison!
You got the cash?
Please come to Wichita, ks & do a video on the towne west mall. He’s doing the same thing here. The mall just went 5 days without electricity, leaving its (very few) tenants, screwed with no answers from Kohan. It’s kinda become a joke in the city about the mall not even having electricity but it’s seriously sad. 15 years ago this mall was absolutely packed with not a single empty storefront. Now there’s maybe 12 stores with only a JCPenney anchor.
OMG! 1-800-DEAD-MALL-MIKE! Hilarious! Thanks so much Sal for all of your efforts and time. Looking forward to 100!
Here we are…almost 2 weeks late. But hey, glad I’m here.
Thanks for watching :)
@@sal no problem, man! Keep up the great work!
@Sal Back in 2019 one of our local malls in Wichita Kansas, called Towne West Square, went into foreclosure after a steady decline. It did eventually sell for reportedly 14 million dollars. With all the pandemic stuff I never checked to see what happened with the sale. Today I found out it was purchased by Kohan!! I'm horrified. According to one of the local TH-camrs as of their trip in July of 2020 they talked to folks working at the mall to see if any of the promised improvements had happened yet. The worker gave a laugh in response. so yeah, not by that time. there were also supposed to be new stores, but last I heard there is only a small handful of stores etc left.
what the hell was that workplace safety video!!? lol hilarious
The point of the dead mall series was to revel in our past, not chastise it.
January 2023 update - I was at the mall today and it's still circling the drain (almost all chain stores gone except Barnes and Noble, Best Buy and Bed Bath and Beyond). The food court is back in a limited capacity of three restaurants. The pizza place sucks - my slice was so undercooked it literally fell apart in my hands. That's... something? I hope the kitty adoption center relocates to a better spot and that B&N replaces Hobby Lobby (long ago a beloved Media Play).
Mike Kohan doesn’t get the money to buy these malls because he’s expecting to save every one of them. He gets it because he’s not. His role is essentially to try to save it if it can be saved, and if the mall is too far gone, to essentially get whatever rent he can out of the mall and then dismantle it for the scrap value.
You need to go to the Ridgmar mall in Fort Worth, Texas!
I went a couple years ago and it was empty! Only a couple stores left 😭
I heard it was closing soon but going in there feels nostalgic and gives an eerie feeling.
The workplace safety videos literally had me dying! Hysterical!
Hahaha wasn’t it crazy???
That was a pretty cool interior. Had a real Arts & Crafts Movement style and colors.
Thanks Sal love your Mall videos and how you really do your Research, these Malls maybe gone and forgotten but are Remembered through your videos ,seeing an Abandoned or failing Mall is.quite Haunting but really interesting at the same time thinking of how busy they used to be,I'm from the UK and would one day Love to visit the USE and visit an Abandoned Mall
A+ use of the word agita. It's really rare I hear someone other than my mom use that.
Grew up with a million Italians from Jersey tossing it around constantly. It just slipped out lol
Odd that the malls that killed Downtown are dying themselves.
It's the Internet that's killing the malls. I buy everything from Amazon now.
I am so excited about Sal's 💯th episode! And I guess we expect to see around the best time of the year! CHRISTMAS/NEW YEAR
Thanks for the new content!
Thanks to this I have made it a point to ALWAYS sit in the middle of the room, far away from those flimsy, untrustworthy walls. You never know when a roving pack of forklifts will sneak up and get you!
Such a shame its a great building in lovely condition unlike some of the ones you've visited. Didnt get notified about 98 off to watch it now
Thanks for watching!
@@sal thanks for filming 👍👍
I grew up only 5 or so minutes from the Walden Galleria so I never needed to go here. Was last here probably a decade ago and it's depressing to see how far it's fallen since even then just from looking at the directory on their website.
I was a GM for a mall owned by Kohan. It was horrible to work for him and his cronies. He is definitely a slum lord. Bills not paid and employee checks bounced ALL the time.
This mall used to be packed, i still live by here still, makes me sad
Hahahathat that work safety video escalated so fast LOL
Sal, when the pandemic finally subsides to truly controllable levels in both the U.S. and Canada, I'm hoping you can profile a mall here in Canada....and no, you have no Kohan's or Moonbeam's to worry about here. They're not allowed to do business here. X-)
Omg yes!!! I plan to take many trips to the great North. And Europe…and Asia…
@@sal come to Italy!!! Brazil love you 🇧🇷
I’m coming!
@@sal yay i love when you come :)
Hahaha
That intro is fantastic