Yup...I can still hear my cousin Diane all excited about the opening of it. She would say; ya gotta move down to new london w me ( i was up in mass)...They just opened a brand new mall..and its B e a u t i f u l....she would go on and on ( like im doing now /lol)... so yeah, that was many years ago. She passed away in 2004 and it really does bring back memories...i try to keep it positive but sometimes it feels sad and i wish we could go into a time machine...😢
I'm sure it's been said before, but when the Crystal Mall was in it's heyday in the late 80's/early 90's, you literally could not find a parking place on a weekend in December or after dinner on any weekday night. Drivers would drop off the wife and kids and follow people walking out of the store to their cars. Looked like sharks hunting seals. You also could not walk against the tide of people that were flooding the aisles. Couldn't find a seat in the food court, either.
Great video but the lonely Santa broke my heart 💔 as a 70s / 80s kid all dead malls make me sad I remember the crowds 😢 merry Christmas to you and thank you for taking us along
I like how the malls in the US always have those arcades that are just self serve, no staff. Seems efficient. There's nothing like those in Canada, at least not in British Columbia that I've seen. I'd love passing through a mall and taking 20-30 minutes to play some old games in a nice quiet arcade like that. Great video!
Was at Crystal Mall once around '97 and used to go to Meriden a lot. It's stunning how quickly a lot of malls have gone downhill in the current consumer climate.
Went and saw Christmas here last year. What a miserable experience. I was able to take pictures with nobody at all in the shots down towards the other end... It was brutal. I miss going here with my cousin when I was little. I never had any money to actually buy anything back then. I remember almost every shop. I ended up going to the Providence Mall for Black Friday to get a mall experience. Picked up a jacket from the Maceys there. Nice sale. Super warm. Best puffer jacket I've ever owned.
Wow…you were at this mall last Saturday…looks like Steeplegate in its final years. Funny, my husband and I were at the Mall of New Hampshire that same day. Needless to say, it was very busy there! Santa was busy too! Totally opposite of this! Just sad. 😢 If I was betting lady, that mall will still be there next Christmas. Maybe. It will be a lot emptier and sad unfortunately. Please keep us updated…still enjoy your videos! 💕
This one mall that I used to go to was a part of my childhood through my mid 20’s when I used to lived in Illinois. It was torn down in 2004. It was a big mall and was busy during the 80’s. It was dated when the last time that I went to that mall. I even remembered that the JC Penny’s in that mall had a nice restaurant inside and had an optical and a flooring store where the restaurant was. Even the store did screamed 1970’s inside. In my late teens the mall slowly went downhill in stores and restaurants in the mall. There was a newer mall close by that was busy that I went to during the 90’s. I remembered going to this one mall in Green Bay that I went to in the late 90’s with my sister and my mother to shopped at was busy with a lot of stores. I went to this mall in 2003 and it only had 2 chains stores and one restaurant. It was sad feeling for me. This mall was torn down shortly after. Green Bay has one other mall that is still busy and even one mall that is a dead mall with a few stores in it.
At the time the mall opened back in the 80’s, it was said that the Waterford Crystal was either a gift from Waterford, Ireland or it came from Waterford, Ireland. One of the two but I just don’t recall which one.
Thank you loving your videos. A friend mentioned always buy ing Christmas gifts at this mall and now nothing is left. This is so sad. This is such a beautiful facility. Heartbreaking Travis in KY
Great video! You should go back to Meriden Mall. They have only 1 food court option open, which is eerie. Boscovs is going to close off from the rest of the Mall early next year as well.
This is a severe departure from the glory times I've spent there during the mid 1990s where there was hardly a vacancy in sight, the roads were properly maintained and the food court had lots to offer whether its from Nathan's to Burger King, Taco Bell to Arby's, it was all there. The nearby New London Mall was down to almost a dozen out of 33 they had in its then 25-30 year run before Bradlees' went under and it became a strip outdoor mall instead with no original tenants from that time period except Marshall's of course. And there was no Target, Waterford Commons, BJs, Lowe's, Home Depot, and Wal Mart yet which all may have had an impact on the mall's ongoing run afterwards. I was hoping to see it someday become a lifestyle center for retiring Baby Boomers in which there were approx. 73 million born between 1946-64 so there would be a need for a place like this to accommodate those people from that generation whether it being housing or fitness center, etc. Something like that could work out rather than bulldoze the entire complex and turn it into condos as they are doing with the Eastfield Mall property in Springfield Mass. It is also noted that the Crystal Mall had just turned 40 years old following its grand opening in October 1984. Unsurprisingly, there was nothing to celebrate about. R.I.P.?
Watching this in Australia and it's sad to see these beautiful buildings so empty and becoming part of social history. I like to spot the American companies we have in Australia. In this video I spotted H&M and H&R Block. H&M still have a store at my local Mall. My grandson would love the toy store!
When you have blatant ADA violations like this, retailers should be able to break their lease. I can't imagine how much money is being lost due to the frustration of people not having access to escalators and elevators.
This mall did it to itself with increasing the mall rental space over the many years. I heard they want to convert it housing and doctor offices. And I guess there will be a grocery store and some small stores on the bottom. They should make it into a casino. The Toy Vault is a great store to visit. Who knows what the new owners will do with the mall.
I lived in Groton way back in 1995 and the Crystal Mall was much quieter than any of the malls in South Jersey where I came from. At least all the stores were open then.
There is another entrance on the ground floor near where Santa is, but it's kind of hidden. You can see the hallway to it in the corner next to Sears. The two people at 14:40 are heading toward that entrance.
Bath and Bodyworks closed up and bailed? I'm surprised no one's taken the plants and turned off the lights; they turned off the escalators. Santa's looking awfully lonely. Also possibly relieved - no kids peeing on his lap or coughing on him, and he gets paid anyway. Not the worst gig.
I think not having a working elevator violates ADA laws if not state law. It will be lucky if the mall survives 6 months in this sorry state. Also I hate going to malls now since I hate seeing malls in a sorry state like this even if it's a somewhat healthy mall.
So depressing, this used to be the place I couldn't wait to going growing up. Now its literally a ghost town in disrepair. I can't understand why they can't do something massive to this property. Its still in ok shape if they fixed the escalators and elevators, but either get some stores into the property to make it profitable or close the place. It can't be worth keeping it open with that little occupancy.
When you went by the Transformers I was trying to see what they had real quick before you walked off and I was like NO WAIT 😂😂 (I collect them on a small level so I have to look every time)
Wow it's worse then it was the last time you filmed there you think this mall is dead check out the Whitney Field Mall in Leominster it hasn't gotten any better there was there Monday and Bath and Body Works is not longer there that one along with this one will close at some point :(
Thanks for sharing this mall video. I noticed your reflection you're not holding your camera. What are you using to film? If you don't mind my asking. Thanks.
i remember the days when we had to wait for people to come out to get a parking space.a lot of the small store went to the strip malls down the road, those plazas are full.The mall is and always was very clean and spotless.That mall will never come back from the dead, to bad.on line shopping and all the gangs hanging out, didn't help.
they might be using just the pink entrance now for both stores. my mall did that and you can only check out at vs even if you’re buying stuff from pink
Yet Namdar also owns the Trumbull Mall, which is doing much better. It acquired the South Shore Mall on Long Island in the same transaction and it too does well.
I believe the escalators/elevators were shut down after a gentlemen lost his toes on the JC Penney escalator, when shopping days before they closed. Google the story, it was in The Day
I think the Victoria’s Secret and the pink store work life Bath and body Works and white barn candle where there’s an open space in between the stores so they leave the gate down on one store and just have fewer employees
So frustrating. There is not a thing wrong with Crystal Mall, it is a beautiful mall, and has well served the entire local community since it opened. I'm sure online shopping cut into sales quite a bit, but people still enjoy shopping at a mall, and if you have at least one large anchor store and lots of little shops, it should do fine. Crystal Mall would be fine, but once local teen thugs started going to the mall and causing all kinds of havoc, including getting physical with other local teens, the mall did not do enough to stop it, such as prohibiting teens from staying in the mall if they aren't accompanied by an adult. Nope, they didn't do it, people didn't want to be nervous while shopping, or worry their kids were not safe, so voila, mall goes down. The security people they hired were not in the main the kind that could easily handle local teens. We're going to miss Crystal Mall, and it's going to stink when they aren't here. Too bad somebody doesn't run it who realizes you need young, burly security people, zero tolerance, make it safe, give people a few shops, they'll come.
Is it sad? I did to crack the vents the summer they had to set up when you come in and you shut up you’re basically like crap show set up up no advertising no nothing. I tried it June and July To me it seem like it was a pretty big bust not a lot of people want to spend money the people that we’re going to to the Damone were the mall walkers and something like that in a lot of road kids running around for no apparent reason
In 1983 I worked helping to build this mall.
I only know a handful of us that are still alive.
It was a privilege to work with these men.
Always get a sad / depressing vibe from a dead mall. Reminder of days gone by.
Yeah its depressing I couldn't watch the whole video
Life is unfair get used to it, now AI will rule the system
Oh my God You're like so freaking cool. The way you just don't care@@carlossebastiannecroticgot7232
Yup...I can still hear my cousin Diane all excited about the opening of it. She would say; ya gotta move down to new london w me ( i was up in mass)...They just opened a brand new mall..and its B e a u t i f u l....she would go on and on ( like im doing now /lol)... so yeah, that was many years ago. She passed away in 2004 and it really does bring back memories...i try to keep it positive but sometimes it feels sad and i wish we could go into a time machine...😢
It's so sad to see this mall like this. Too many memories hanging out here as a teen.
I'm sure it's been said before, but when the Crystal Mall was in it's heyday in the late 80's/early 90's, you literally could not find a parking place on a weekend in December or after dinner on any weekday night. Drivers would drop off the wife and kids and follow people walking out of the store to their cars. Looked like sharks hunting seals. You also could not walk against the tide of people that were flooding the aisles. Couldn't find a seat in the food court, either.
Great video but the lonely Santa broke my heart 💔 as a 70s / 80s kid all dead malls make me sad I remember the crowds 😢 merry Christmas to you and thank you for taking us along
I like how the malls in the US always have those arcades that are just self serve, no staff. Seems efficient. There's nothing like those in Canada, at least not in British Columbia that I've seen. I'd love passing through a mall and taking 20-30 minutes to play some old games in a nice quiet arcade like that.
Great video!
Was at Crystal Mall once around '97 and used to go to Meriden a lot. It's stunning how quickly a lot of malls have gone downhill in the current consumer climate.
Went and saw Christmas here last year. What a miserable experience. I was able to take pictures with nobody at all in the shots down towards the other end... It was brutal. I miss going here with my cousin when I was little. I never had any money to actually buy anything back then.
I remember almost every shop.
I ended up going to the Providence Mall for Black Friday to get a mall experience. Picked up a jacket from the Maceys there. Nice sale. Super warm. Best puffer jacket I've ever owned.
Wow…you were at this mall last Saturday…looks like Steeplegate in its final years. Funny, my husband and I were at the Mall of New Hampshire that same day. Needless to say, it was very busy there! Santa was busy too! Totally opposite of this! Just sad. 😢
If I was betting lady, that mall will still be there next Christmas. Maybe. It will be a lot emptier and sad unfortunately. Please keep us updated…still enjoy your videos! 💕
This one mall that I used to go to was a part of my childhood through my mid 20’s when I used to lived in Illinois. It was torn down in 2004. It was a big mall and was busy during the 80’s. It was dated when the last time that I went to that mall. I even remembered that the JC Penny’s in that mall had a nice restaurant inside and had an optical and a flooring store where the restaurant was. Even the store did screamed 1970’s inside. In my late teens the mall slowly went downhill in stores and restaurants in the mall. There was a newer mall close by that was busy that I went to during the 90’s. I remembered going to this one mall in Green Bay that I went to in the late 90’s with my sister and my mother to shopped at was busy with a lot of stores. I went to this mall in 2003 and it only had 2 chains stores and one restaurant. It was sad feeling for me. This mall was torn down shortly after. Green Bay has one other mall that is still busy and even one mall that is a dead mall with a few stores in it.
Man, I feel bad for the mall Santa. Glad at least some kids came to visit him.
That was a sad sight to see him there by himself🙁
Thank you for capturing and sharing this.
I live about 10 minutes from this place and you've been there more times than I have recently. 'Nuff said.
I’m amazed it’s gone this long. Last time I was there was in the summer of 2023 and it was like a morgue back then.
I used to go there all the time in the 90's 🙁
At the time the mall opened back in the 80’s, it was said that the Waterford Crystal was either a gift from Waterford, Ireland or it came from Waterford, Ireland. One of the two but I just don’t recall which one.
I was there a few weeks ago and thought of you. I was passing by and drove around. EMS has closed and the entire area looked run down. Such a shame.
Haven't been there in 12 years since I had to move out of state. I had good times there.
I was there once sometime in the 90's. It was hopping then.
Thank you loving your videos. A friend mentioned always buy ing Christmas gifts at this mall and now nothing is left. This is so sad. This is such a beautiful facility. Heartbreaking
Travis in KY
This is literally a funeral. 😢😢😢. Life so boring now.
It’s funny how I was there yesterday lol. It is dead but I got to talk to Santa and visit the toy vault!
Finally you are back here🎉
Great video! You should go back to Meriden Mall. They have only 1 food court option open, which is eerie. Boscovs is going to close off from the rest of the Mall early next year as well.
Meriden is also losing fye, finish line and tj max.
Yeah, the Charlie’s subs is still open, which is one of my favorite places.
Awwww, so sad. Any ideas on what will happen to most of these properties once they close completely?
Bought my first albums here. Yes albums. It was 1985.. White album and the worst of Jefferson airplane
This is a severe departure from the glory times I've spent there during the mid 1990s where there was hardly a vacancy in sight, the roads were properly maintained and the food court had lots to offer whether its from Nathan's to Burger King, Taco Bell to Arby's, it was all there. The nearby New London Mall was down to almost a dozen out of 33 they had in its then 25-30 year run before Bradlees' went under and it became a strip outdoor mall instead with no original tenants from that time period except Marshall's of course. And there was no Target, Waterford Commons, BJs, Lowe's, Home Depot, and Wal Mart yet which all may have had an impact on the mall's ongoing run afterwards.
I was hoping to see it someday become a lifestyle center for retiring Baby Boomers in which there were approx. 73 million born between 1946-64 so there would be a need for a place like this to accommodate those people from that generation whether it being housing or fitness center, etc. Something like that could work out rather than bulldoze the entire complex and turn it into condos as they are doing with the Eastfield Mall property in Springfield Mass.
It is also noted that the Crystal Mall had just turned 40 years old following its grand opening in October 1984. Unsurprisingly, there was nothing to celebrate about. R.I.P.?
Watching this in Australia and it's sad to see these beautiful buildings so empty and becoming part of social history. I like to spot the American companies we have in Australia. In this video I spotted H&M and H&R Block. H&M still have a store at my local Mall. My grandson would love the toy store!
Nice mall though not a large selection in the food court. ;) Good video tour, thanks!
Who’d ever have thought this is what malls would come to… 😢 Should be some way to revive the culture and breathe new life into such great spaces.
Not all malls are dead. WestFarms mall in Connecticut is very popular and bustling still
@@matte5003 Same with the Holyoke Mall in Holyoke, Mass.
@@susant.1620 a lot of it has to do with the economics of it. It’s just not feasible anymore.
When you have blatant ADA violations like this, retailers should be able to break their lease. I can't imagine how much money is being lost due to the frustration of people not having access to escalators and elevators.
Because of your video I'm going to buy an album at Fye! Didn't know it was open! Merry Christmas everybody!
Also, I remember going into that Starbucks in December 2021, and then in spring 2022 it wasn’t there. I believe it closed in early 2022.
This mall did it to itself with increasing the mall rental space over the many years. I heard they want to convert it housing and doctor offices. And I guess there will be a grocery store and some small stores on the bottom. They should make it into a casino. The Toy Vault is a great store to visit. Who knows what the new owners will do with the mall.
I'm guessing the remaining tenants are waiting out their leases at this point. I can't see the mall remaining open another 5 years.
I lived in Groton way back in 1995 and the Crystal Mall was much quieter than any of the malls in South Jersey where I came from. At least all the stores were open then.
The mall is gasping for air.
The owners don't fix the escalators, which usually means they want this mall to fail.
Not having an escalator or an elevator is an ADA violation. 😮
If that mall was up in Mass., the state would have ordered it closed for those ADA violations.
I enjoy these type of video tours
I don't like visiting malls anymore;too depressing!
This mall no doubt will be shutting down soon very sad. I only been to this mall once and I remember it had many people in it but not a whole lot.
There is another entrance on the ground floor near where Santa is, but it's kind of hidden. You can see the hallway to it in the corner next to Sears. The two people at 14:40 are heading toward that entrance.
Also visible from the outside at 30:38. The entrance is under the orange roof.
I live A mile from there, haven’t seen the inside in years.
yup, im in griswold but haven't been there since 97ish.
toy vaults are so cool, but I always end up finding them only in some really dying/dead malls
Bath and Bodyworks closed up and bailed? I'm surprised no one's taken the plants and turned off the lights; they turned off the escalators. Santa's looking awfully lonely. Also possibly relieved - no kids peeing on his lap or coughing on him, and he gets paid anyway. Not the worst gig.
🤣
Meriden mall is just as depressing Tom, there is an echo. It’s sad to see these malls like this
@@arkhamcityhero24 once Boscov’s leaves, Meriden will be officially done.
I think not having a working elevator violates ADA laws if not state law. It will be lucky if the mall survives 6 months in this sorry state.
Also I hate going to malls now since I hate seeing malls in a sorry state like this even if it's a somewhat healthy mall.
loved that Mall...i still go for the bourbon chicken once a month!
I’ve never been to this mall but it’s still eerily sad seeing it in this state
So depressing, this used to be the place I couldn't wait to going growing up. Now its literally a ghost town in disrepair. I can't understand why they can't do something massive to this property. Its still in ok shape if they fixed the escalators and elevators, but either get some stores into the property to make it profitable or close the place. It can't be worth keeping it open with that little occupancy.
The only mall still going in my area is colony center 3 floors, and always still so busy. Have you heard of Mohawk Mall, I grew up at that mall
When you went by the Transformers I was trying to see what they had real quick before you walked off and I was like NO WAIT 😂😂 (I collect them on a small level so I have to look every time)
Wow it's worse then it was the last time you filmed there you think this mall is dead check out the Whitney Field Mall in Leominster it hasn't gotten any better there was there Monday and Bath and Body Works is not longer there that one along with this one will close at some point :(
Nice video
You know I would like to see more right and left views to show stores existing or closed.
you should try Waterbury and Meriden mall next, if you haven't already
The Buffalo Wild Wings is still somehow hanging on at that location... I think that the mall will be truly dead when that happens.
The Internet really did destroy the world
These kids literally have nothing but TikTok now. Scary
Another mall is closing.
You've probably hit Max subs for the niche content.
Thanks for sharing this mall video. I noticed your reflection you're not holding your camera. What are you using to film? If you don't mind my asking. Thanks.
Not handicap accessible is a violation and I don't understand how they are getting away with it
i remember the days when we had to wait for people to come out to get a parking space.a lot of the small store went to the strip malls down the road, those plazas are full.The mall is and always was very clean and spotless.That mall will never come back from the dead, to bad.on line shopping and all the gangs hanging out, didn't help.
I heard that the Bath & Body Works and Cohen's Optical moved to the shopping center across the street.
they might be using just the pink entrance now for both stores. my mall did that and you can only check out at vs even if you’re buying stuff from pink
Seeing a beautiful mall like that so dead inside is awful. I wonder if making it mixed use could revitalize it?
Same as the Meriden mall 😢
This reminds me of freedom mall and east land mall to don’t exist no more 😢
So you hold the camera on the mall drive-bys.I thought you had a holder, or some setup on your sun visor to hold it.
Yet Namdar also owns the Trumbull Mall, which is doing much better. It acquired the South Shore Mall on Long Island in the same transaction and it too does well.
I believe the escalators/elevators were shut down after a gentlemen lost his toes on the JC Penney escalator, when shopping days before they closed. Google the story, it was in The Day
Damn they got an FYE? lucky.
I think the Victoria’s Secret and the pink store work life Bath and body Works and white barn candle where there’s an open space in between the stores so they leave the gate down on one store and just have fewer employees
So frustrating. There is not a thing wrong with Crystal Mall, it is a beautiful mall, and has well served the entire local community since it opened. I'm sure online shopping cut into sales quite a bit, but people still enjoy shopping at a mall, and if you have at least one large anchor store and lots of little shops, it should do fine. Crystal Mall would be fine, but once local teen thugs started going to the mall and causing all kinds of havoc, including getting physical with other local teens, the mall did not do enough to stop it, such as prohibiting teens from staying in the mall if they aren't accompanied by an adult. Nope, they didn't do it, people didn't want to be nervous while shopping, or worry their kids were not safe, so voila, mall goes down. The security people they hired were not in the main the kind that could easily handle local teens. We're going to miss Crystal Mall, and it's going to stink when they aren't here. Too bad somebody doesn't run it who realizes you need young, burly security people, zero tolerance, make it safe, give people a few shops, they'll come.
Miss A&F, American Eagle Hollister, EbGames before Gamestop gobbled them up and a Radio shack that never sold tadios
An escalator can never breakdown. It can only become stairs.
The shoe store on level 2 is gone as well? Crystal clear this mall is done…
Shoe Dept. moved to the other side of the Thames River in Groton right near Panera Bread.
I'm surprised it's not busy on a Saturday defiantly between dead mall and dying mall
this mall is on life suport
I really want to go here
Oh no, the cockroach closed (B&BW)
I wish they didn’t close JCPenney
It's funny because it's obviously dead but there were actually quite alot of people!
What’s up with that ringtone in most of your videos? Do you have a retro cellphone?
I went to emerald Mall a few months ago it was completely dead and all the escalators do not work.
What about Buckland Hill Mall? Its getting pretty bad there
@@nycmaverick it was pretty busy when I went there last weekend. And nowhere near the vacancies of the crystal mall or Meriden mall.
Yeah that mall is over
I thought Hollister went out of business but apparently not it's still around according to google ai
I don't know where i heard that it went out of business but apparently I'm wrong it's just no longer in my mall and apparently this mall either
We're is this mall at ?? I'm from southern California
Groton, Connecticut
By law that elevator needs to be fixed otherwise they are in violation of the ADA.
the decatur mall in decatur al is a dead mall similar to this one
be so cool walk throw FYE
This would make great Senior housing!
Time to transform this place into housing.
Thank Jeff Bezos.
No elevators working is an ADA violation and could get them closed. What a depressing mall with no anchor stores. This is probably its last Christmas.
Is it sad? I did to crack the vents the summer they had to set up when you come in and you shut up you’re basically like crap show set up up no advertising no nothing. I tried it June and July To me it seem like it was a pretty big bust not a lot of people want to spend money the people that we’re going to to the Damone were the mall walkers and something like that in a lot of road kids running around for no apparent reason
What?
Thanks Obama
Two things killed malls in America. The internet and Black culture.
Exactly
It just baffles my mind how nowadays when you walk into a toy store or an arcade joint the last thing you will see is children.🥲