This mall was super fun in the late 90s. It had a music store where we bought cassette and later cd singles, an express, a toy store, and a ton of kiosks in the middle. There was even a guy painting peoples portraits with chalk. My mom and a few of her senior citizen friends still walk for exercise there.
I remember the Enfield Square being built in 1971. My dad took me there when the construction workers were digging the foundation. Sad to see it in it’s decline.
I'm telling ya, Costco moving into our mall here in Champaign IL absolutely saved it and it's always packed on the weekends. I wish more could do the same.
I remember this being a nice clean little mall with tons of teenagers around late 90’s early 2000’s. I used to work at the Ruby Tuesdays at the Holyoke Mall so I sometimes had to swing by Enfield to pick up supplies for my Manager. The three main Malls I remember going to were Holyoke, Eastfield mall spfld and this one in Enfield.
I saw this mall full of life as a kid, and now as an adult its a hollow shell of what it once was.. Enfield sucks, town officials ran the town to the ground. So many empty buildings, majority of the historical areas destroyed, all for money.
I worked in the KayBee Toys at this mall in the late 80's. Very sad to see it die. It was a great little mall with a comfy, vibrant atmosphere. One of my favorites to visit. I actually did a dead mall tour of duty. From here I went to the Eastfield Mall in Springfield MA, then ended up at the Fairfield Mall in Chicopee. Both great little Malls but are now defunct. 😢
Wow. I haven't been here in 20 years. The mall in Springfield, MA was dicey at times and kinda sparse, so more often we'd go to the Enfield mall. Seeing it in this state now is eerie.
Great video! I remember going here as a kid. Having to endure trips to Steigers and G Fox. Around back the blue awning part next to Party City is where Radio Shack was.
I worked at the JC Penney after I graduated High School in 1975. Enfield Square used to be THE place to shop in town. The August back to school rush and Christmas were really high traffic times.
Some of the stores have off days. I go to Haven every Wednesday, and Second Floor is open Thursday thru the weekend. The video game store moved 2 stores into the Holyoke mall. I'm sad the pop store is moving. I do like supporting them still. It's sad cause about a month ago, they took out the claw machines. I would play and win things every week, but then it disappeared.
Sad to see this place the way it is now. My friends and I used to go her often in our teens (In the early 2000s), they had a good music shop and a Funcoland, Funcoland was always a treat to visit. It was always a nice change to come here instead of Holyoke mall since you could visit all the stores you wanted without having to walk so much. My girlfriend lives in that area and we went on our first date at that Cinemark(Last year before it closed), she was heartbroken to hear it was closing.
Except in the 70s people welcomed shopping malls. A lot of the mainstreet retailers moved into the malls along with many other small businesses that opened.
What is amazing is how the story for many of these malls is very similar. They open to lots of traffic and often two to four anchors depending on size. Then the anchors die and .. *poof*. Like Jefferson Square in Joliet. Opened with Wards and Wieboldt (and a Cinema) as the anchors. I used to walk from home over the railroad tracks to the mall to shop around, visit the food courts, and the gaming place (pinball!). But after only 9 years, Wieboldt's wobbled and finally fell down (sorry, old joke). Oh they tried to fill in that anchor with a Menards (home depot like place). But eventually Menards cut off access directly into the mall (too much theft was the rumor) and that side died. The Cinema went under as people preferred newer large theaters for viewing (and showing second runs of movies was a fools errand with expanding DVD stores). Then Wards of course went belly up. And finally Menards bought what was left, and rebuilt the whole thing into a new Menards Superstore (with some outlier businesses around it). Outlier stores also failed over the years (Sizzler .. where I got my first job .. which died to the health crazes). It seems all malls and businesses are mere snapshots in times, limited items that appear and then fade away....
I remember this was one of THE malls to go to. I remember Orange Julius was down by where Sears was in the 70's and into the early 80's. There used to be trees in the main walkway roughly where the diamond patterns are in the tile floor. Nino's Pizza in the 90's last location was where the kebab place is, and their first spot was down by the Target entrance. My grandmother worked at G-Fox for many years and also for a short time after it was Filene's until she retired. As a local, it's a sad thing to see this mall in such decline.
Thanks for this video. I have been to the Enfield Mall a few times, but the mall closest to me when I was growing up was the Eastfield Mall in Springfield MA. It just closed last year.
I moved to this part of the country relatively recently and I pass by where this mall is often. I knew there was kind of a dying mall there but wow…This is the deadest mall I’ve ever seen. I’m kind of fascinated by it. Thanks for sharing. I’m wondering if curiosity will get the best of me and I’ll wander into the target one of these days.
You must be hella young. Gamestop didnt exist back in my day. Software ETC it was called. There was a chain similar to gamestops model... Funcoland... and another decent game retailer... babbages. Back then we had waaaay more options.
How the hell were you able to document the mall from top to bottom without getting caught? I was just here at Enfield Square a few months ago to also shoot some footage and security promptly kicked me out.
I was just here this past Sunday specifically visiting to see how this is during the Christmas rush (and getting lunch at the Cane's out front) because otherwise I've only been here once and it was very dead. It was a tiny bit busier than this but I think that was mostly because there was a holiday market going on that day. Even then it was still less busy during the Christmas rush weekend than the CT Post Mall is during its least busy times of the year. Meanwhile the parking lot was overflowed into the old Sears lot area as the Target was absolutely packed, I'm pretty sure it's the only active part of the mall. Even the Mall Santa not being busy, that was something I thought I'd never see. Honestly was just really sad walking around there and seeing it all.
So sad. I wish someone would turn these malls into an indoor family adventure place. Just fun things for people of all ages. Indoor sports, rides, activities…
Namdar or whoever owns the mall needs to be foreclosed because of the bad history Namdar had. If I bought the mall, I would repurpose it into a local shop place, a food hall, and interactive entertainment.
I knew you were going to come to this mall. Not sure which mall is deader. Either Meriden mall or the Enfield square mall. Overall a great video. Keep up the good work
This is sad. I enjoy getting out to shop, walk for exercise, see what's new in sales, and to be around people. I'd think one would rather shop in person than take risks in wrong colors, sizes, dealing with lost merchandise, theft, and trips to a post office. Why not try an item on and make sure it fits one time. What do you think is the largest contributor for all these stores and malls to close. It seems so strange as people need activity and clothes, shoes, household/ business items, etc.
I would love for you to come out my way. We have Westmoreland Mall, Ross Park Mall, South Hills Village Mall. We also have some dying malls like Monroeville Mall and Johnstown Galeria.
You can see the owners don’t care about that this mall if they did, they would never let that partial roof collapse happen at all I just definitely think it’s in the best interest if they just tear it down instead of let it decay mold and and putting people’s house in jeopardy
Doesn't look nearly as dead as Crystal Mall. Hope it finds a way to stay open. Just heard a report on Bloomberg Radio that malls were over 2000 at their peak and now have gone under a 1000. Their report said there are A, B, and C type malls with B being the most desirable.
You'd think with Eastfield gone and the 2 nearest indoor malls being Holyoke and Buckland Hills, that they'd have a bit more opportunities for business. People don't care anymore. I really don't. I've aged out. Keep an eye on Holyoke. I expect in 3-4 years you'll be doing a "Is Holyoke on it's way to being a dead mall?". If that JC Penny's closes the only thing supporting that end of the mall will be Best Buy. Then it spreads.
I don't understand why Namdar keeps buying up mall properties if they're not going to work to revitalize them. It's throwing good money after bad, a major waste. May as well burn money in a barrel.
Though the plans are on hold as the state and town reapply for federal matching funds program which will be different requirements with changes in Washington. The Mall is slated to be bulldozed mixed use residential, commercial with external retail. The State anticipating a positive fed $ match was holding till after the election and a pro development DC which will would be more likely to allocate some matching funds to such projects.
That's a very dead mall. The tile floor is nasty. The outside is grosser than most dead malls. Does the entire mall smell musty? It looks like it could be.
Always sad. Dying malls are taking a lot of nostalgia with them.
This mall was super fun in the late 90s. It had a music store where we bought cassette and later cd singles, an express, a toy store, and a ton of kiosks in the middle. There was even a guy painting peoples portraits with chalk. My mom and a few of her senior citizen friends still walk for exercise there.
Cassette singles were the first and they were great
I remember the Enfield Square being built in 1971. My dad took me there when the construction workers were digging the foundation. Sad to see it in it’s decline.
I'm telling ya, Costco moving into our mall here in Champaign IL absolutely saved it and it's always packed on the weekends. I wish more could do the same.
It amazes me how many stores, in many Malls, survived the Great Recession but crashed between 2016 to 2020.
I remember this being a nice clean little mall with tons of teenagers around late 90’s early 2000’s. I used to work at the Ruby Tuesdays at the Holyoke Mall so I sometimes had to swing by Enfield to pick up supplies for my Manager. The three main Malls I remember going to were Holyoke, Eastfield mall spfld and this one in Enfield.
I saw this mall full of life as a kid, and now as an adult its a hollow shell of what it once was.. Enfield sucks, town officials ran the town to the ground. So many empty buildings, majority of the historical areas destroyed, all for money.
Same thing in my city!
I worked in the KayBee Toys at this mall in the late 80's. Very sad to see it die. It was a great little mall with a comfy, vibrant atmosphere. One of my favorites to visit. I actually did a dead mall tour of duty. From here I went to the Eastfield Mall in Springfield MA, then ended up at the Fairfield Mall in Chicopee. Both great little Malls but are now defunct. 😢
Hi Tom it’s Rena I would like it if you could do a walkthrough of the Target store that sounds great to me! Thank you for another great video! 😊😊😊😊😊😊
Used to be a Chess King there somewhere. I remember shopping there. Many, many moons ago ;). Thanks for posting this Tom
Wow. I haven't been here in 20 years. The mall in Springfield, MA was dicey at times and kinda sparse, so more often we'd go to the Enfield mall. Seeing it in this state now is eerie.
Great video! I remember going here as a kid. Having to endure trips to Steigers and G Fox. Around back the blue awning part next to Party City is where Radio Shack was.
The closure of Party City is gonna kill this mall.
As if it really brought in that much business to begin with
why? people get that stuff from target and dollar stores anyway.
@@mst3kpimp yeah, Target might pretty much be the only major tenant after Party City closes.
Nobody went there though. Every time I went by there, it was always empty
@@AWB-Official-u1bthe people that own the mall don’t own target.
The snow looks magical! ❄️
FINELY ENFILED MALL HAS PEOPLE AGAIN AND IT HAS SOME LIFE BACK AGAIN!
One of my most favorite and memorable malls,, I always loved the music,,, great to dance along the halls.. :)
Merry Christmas from Australia. I really enjoy your views.
grilled wombat is outstanding
Thank you for this very interesting video. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
I worked at the JC Penney after I graduated High School in 1975. Enfield Square used to be THE place to shop in town. The August back to school rush and Christmas were really high traffic times.
Very interesting video. Glad I found your channel. Our malls are also in decline here in Scotland. Their best days are behind them.
Holy shit that GameStop must be clinging to life like Jimmy Carter. That place was my childhood (as was their 2nd location closer to the Cinemark)
Merry Christmas to you and everyone else Flea and this was great for tonight thank you 🌲🎅🧑🎄🌲
I would imagine that the great majority of Target shoppers go only there and barely notice the rest of the mall.
Some of the stores have off days. I go to Haven every Wednesday, and Second Floor is open Thursday thru the weekend.
The video game store moved 2 stores into the Holyoke mall. I'm sad the pop store is moving. I do like supporting them still.
It's sad cause about a month ago, they took out the claw machines. I would play and win things every week, but then it disappeared.
Geez, I bet you'll have some Backrooms material in January.
Thanks for the video!!!
Stay safe thanks for making another video
Sad to see this place the way it is now. My friends and I used to go her often in our teens (In the early 2000s), they had a good music shop and a Funcoland, Funcoland was always a treat to visit. It was always a nice change to come here instead of Holyoke mall since you could visit all the stores you wanted without having to walk so much. My girlfriend lives in that area and we went on our first date at that Cinemark(Last year before it closed), she was heartbroken to hear it was closing.
Malls killed Main Street, and now on line shopping is killing the malls. Karma.
Except in the 70s people welcomed shopping malls. A lot of the mainstreet retailers moved into the malls along with many other small businesses that opened.
What is amazing is how the story for many of these malls is very similar. They open to lots of traffic and often two to four anchors depending on size. Then the anchors die and .. *poof*. Like Jefferson Square in Joliet. Opened with Wards and Wieboldt (and a Cinema) as the anchors. I used to walk from home over the railroad tracks to the mall to shop around, visit the food courts, and the gaming place (pinball!). But after only 9 years, Wieboldt's wobbled and finally fell down (sorry, old joke). Oh they tried to fill in that anchor with a Menards (home depot like place). But eventually Menards cut off access directly into the mall (too much theft was the rumor) and that side died. The Cinema went under as people preferred newer large theaters for viewing (and showing second runs of movies was a fools errand with expanding DVD stores). Then Wards of course went belly up. And finally Menards bought what was left, and rebuilt the whole thing into a new Menards Superstore (with some outlier businesses around it). Outlier stores also failed over the years (Sizzler .. where I got my first job .. which died to the health crazes). It seems all malls and businesses are mere snapshots in times, limited items that appear and then fade away....
Happy holidays🎅🎄🎀
I remember this was one of THE malls to go to. I remember Orange Julius was down by where Sears was in the 70's and into the early 80's. There used to be trees in the main walkway roughly where the diamond patterns are in the tile floor. Nino's Pizza in the 90's last location was where the kebab place is, and their first spot was down by the Target entrance. My grandmother worked at G-Fox for many years and also for a short time after it was Filene's until she retired. As a local, it's a sad thing to see this mall in such decline.
Love your expertise and background knowledge of these malls! Please keep going! 😊
I grew up in Enfield in the 90’s and the mall used to be our home away from home. It’s so sad to see it end up like this.
Lots of great information about the mall and its possible fate. Thanks
Thank you, enjoyed the walk thru.
That "mall" should be in receivership. Everyone in town knows it.
I miss sears. The one near me here in MA is shell of its former self.
Thanks for this video. I have been to the Enfield Mall a few times, but the mall closest to me when I was growing up was the Eastfield Mall in Springfield MA. It just closed last year.
Merry Christmas to you and your mother, Tom!
Who is paying to even keep the heat and lights on?
hey guy, any plans to revisit the Jefferson Valley Mall??????
Sad to see it fading even further. It sucks to see all these malls slowly wasting away.
Watching this mall die has been slow and painful. Very sad. It was a great place. Now it feels like Chernobyl.
ENFILED MALL HAS A REALLY GOOD CHANCE NOW BEING SAVED!
I moved to this part of the country relatively recently and I pass by where this mall is often. I knew there was kind of a dying mall there but wow…This is the deadest mall I’ve ever seen. I’m kind of fascinated by it. Thanks for sharing. I’m wondering if curiosity will get the best of me and I’ll wander into the target one of these days.
Merry Christmas! I wish that I could be a mall traveler 😻
that gamestop built my childhood lol
You must be hella young. Gamestop didnt exist back in my day. Software ETC it was called. There was a chain similar to gamestops model... Funcoland... and another decent game retailer... babbages. Back then we had waaaay more options.
I remember feeling like I was really living when my family went to this mall. They had a Tucan in a cage! Hot stuff in 1971.
How the hell were you able to document the mall from top to bottom without getting caught? I was just here at Enfield Square a few months ago to also shoot some footage and security promptly kicked me out.
I was just here this past Sunday specifically visiting to see how this is during the Christmas rush (and getting lunch at the Cane's out front) because otherwise I've only been here once and it was very dead. It was a tiny bit busier than this but I think that was mostly because there was a holiday market going on that day. Even then it was still less busy during the Christmas rush weekend than the CT Post Mall is during its least busy times of the year. Meanwhile the parking lot was overflowed into the old Sears lot area as the Target was absolutely packed, I'm pretty sure it's the only active part of the mall. Even the Mall Santa not being busy, that was something I thought I'd never see. Honestly was just really sad walking around there and seeing it all.
Paid no expense on the Christmas decorations
This is what happens when you charge arm and leg for rent and not pay bills and price is threw the roof
I wish you could do a walk around of the old Union Carbide. They changed it up to a multi use property but the history of it is cool
So sad. I wish someone would turn these malls into an indoor family adventure place. Just fun things for people of all ages. Indoor sports, rides, activities…
Namdar or whoever owns the mall needs to be foreclosed because of the bad history Namdar had.
If I bought the mall, I would repurpose it into a local shop place, a food hall, and interactive entertainment.
That's what a mall is. What are u repurposing
noticed they are now inspecting the exit signs and emergency lights now, they are definitely fixing up the mall for sure
Did many “laps” around this mall in the 80’s. It was busy then. Sad.
To this day, I miss G Fox. That was a great store. 😢
I knew you were going to come to this mall. Not sure which mall is deader. Either Meriden mall or the Enfield square mall. Overall a great video. Keep up the good work
I saw a news story where they are added residential units to a mall. Maybe rip down the damaged anchors and put apartments.
This is sad. I enjoy getting out to shop, walk for exercise, see what's new in sales, and to be around people. I'd think one would rather shop in person than take risks in wrong colors, sizes, dealing with lost merchandise, theft, and trips to a post office. Why not try an item on and make sure it fits one time. What do you think is the largest contributor for all these stores and malls to close. It seems so strange as people need activity and clothes, shoes, household/ business items, etc.
Second Floor is the best game shop around! 🎉
So many game shops wish I was closer be a prime location for a comic con 😊
I would love for you to come out my way. We have Westmoreland Mall, Ross Park Mall, South Hills Village Mall. We also have some dying malls like Monroeville Mall and Johnstown Galeria.
The mall that I used to go to got lots of traffic from the movie theater. The one closing there will hurt.
LA Subs evolved into MOZ. My father owns it and turned it into a sub/pizza place.
OMG. I haven't heard of Steiger's in decades.
I was born and raised in Connecticut and I've never heard of an Enfield Square...
I Do miss sears
If you ever head down south come check out Valley Hills Mall in Hickory , NC I truly believe it’s a dying mall ! Your videos are great !!
Merry Christmas to yall you need walk throw the Target whould be so cool if you did??ty for Video look like it was snow there too
The vr lounge was open for a brief period
Your voice sounds familiar. Is this the same Tom that used to make videos on collecting video games?
Hey I love your videos :) what do you use to record them?
I actually went through the mall a few days ago
Buffalo Wild Wings is probably one of few, if not the only place, to bring in a majority of customers at Crystal Mall nowadays.
You can see the owners don’t care about that this mall if they did, they would never let that partial roof collapse happen at all
I just definitely think it’s in the best interest if they just tear it down instead of let it decay mold and and putting people’s house in jeopardy
Doesn't look nearly as dead as Crystal Mall. Hope it finds a way to stay open. Just heard a report on Bloomberg Radio that malls were over 2000 at their peak and now have gone under a 1000. Their report said there are A, B, and C type malls with B being the most desirable.
You'd think with Eastfield gone and the 2 nearest indoor malls being Holyoke and Buckland Hills, that they'd have a bit more opportunities for business. People don't care anymore. I really don't. I've aged out. Keep an eye on Holyoke. I expect in 3-4 years you'll be doing a "Is Holyoke on it's way to being a dead mall?". If that JC Penny's closes the only thing supporting that end of the mall will be Best Buy. Then it spreads.
Payless Shoe Stores closed in 2019. 🤔
I don't understand why Namdar keeps buying up mall properties if they're not going to work to revitalize them. It's throwing good money after bad, a major waste. May as well burn money in a barrel.
Tax breaks. That's why.
USA build malls in middle of nowhere with huge parking lots without food, banks,posts, etc services in them and overly huge
Got dumped here in late 00s as a teen lmao. Worst night of my life.
This is scary and depressing
Though the plans are on hold as the state and town reapply for federal matching funds program which will be different requirements with changes in Washington. The Mall is slated to be bulldozed mixed use residential, commercial with external retail. The State anticipating a positive fed $ match was holding till after the election and a pro development DC which will would be more likely to allocate some matching funds to such projects.
This mall really seems dead, even compared to other mall videos.
That's a very dead mall. The tile floor is nasty. The outside is grosser than most dead malls.
Does the entire mall smell musty? It looks like it could be.
Well, amazon and the online world has destroyed brick and mortar
Namdar=death sentence.
It's too quiet.
Eastfield and Enfield gone. Holyoke will be next.
This mall also has dirty old looking floors. This place will be closed within 2 years I bet
The Obiden economy & young people who have their ugly faces buried in their phones.
Thats totally dead.