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To be real, there was no way that business can survive regardless of who the business owner is. I imagine the business owner is using it as a tax benefit.
Is there not someone walking the mall the whole time while it is closed? Instead of walking though, something better should be used. Like a golf cart, or some other PEV. Sure someone will get it, but they will get kicked out pronto. What am I missing?
@@churblefurbles It's the costs of installing and monitoring cameras it's often cheaper to just hire 1 to 3 minimum wage people to do checks if the are inside should be every 2 or 3 hours if external roughly 1 to 2 hours many do not even bother having an internal guard and just rely on alarms from the 90's or earlier and 1 to 3 drive by night checks and 720p or worse 720i cameras with poor if any zoom!
@@DarthAwar Nah.. 4 pack of motion detecting wireless arlo cameras cost about 400. Get like 20 of those and few mesh devices and you can monitor every outside corner of the building from your phone.
I grew up going to that mall. Lots of fond memories. As a kid in the 80s, movies, restaurants, clothes, toys, Spencers. I will always have great feelings for that place. Hanging with lots of friends. Meeting girls. Thank you for posting his vid. It brought back a flood of great memories.
Thank you for featuring Milwaukee in one of your videos! As a lifelong resident of the city, I really appreciate you covering such an iconic mall and the history behind it. Well done!
Went here a few times as a kid growing up in Waukesha. Really fond memories. Its crazy how much Milwaukee changed after being away for 15 years in Arizona. Hope Summerfest is still going as strong as ever.
Our local mall almost suffered the same fate. Sears pulled out, Belk's left, and others followed. Mall management jacked the rent so some businesses barely hung on, others left, others could not afford to open a store inside. Two more malls were build that attracted thousands of shoppers. The first mall became a ghost town and it's future was dim. However, Publix bought the part of the mall that Sears was in, renovated it. Then, management began selling parcels of the parking lot, and restaurants such as Taco Bell, Starbucks, etc, built on those parcels. End result is all of that revived the mall and now a once dying mall is now thriving again.
It's amazing to me just how recognizable the "mall of the 70s/80s" aesthetic is. The old footage of the Northridge felt so familiar to me, despite having grown up several thousand miles and over a border away. It'd be interesting (at least to me :P) to catalog the shifting aesthetics of this particularly North American typology as they follow in lockstep across the decades. Also amazing how familiar the 'crime panic' story unfortunately feels... Thanks for another great episode!
I mean, the phrase “crime panic” makes it sound like it’s a bunch of hysteria, apropos of nothing, but homicide rates increased 30% year-on-year in 2020 - the largest increase in recorded U.S. history. (Second place would be 2001, with an increase of 20%…and that _included_ the deaths from the terrorist attacks that year.)
I was shopping there as late as 2001, right up to when I moved out of state, and had started visiting there frequently with my mom after we moved to the north side of Milwaukee around 1999. Before that we were closer to Mayfair. I'm back in Wisconsin now, but I had no Idea that It had been empty for two decades. It REALLY WAS a nice place to shop. ...though what probably didn't help it either? bayshore mall opening to the south, and the Mequon Pavillions to the Northeast of it; both of them off of 1-43 and were far more visible and travelled, as the freeway that Northridge was set to be at the intersection of? Never materialized in the form the owners desired.
I work right near Northridge so I see the property all the time. It really is a disaster over there, and the area in general is where retail goes to die. There at one point was a Walmart, a Target, and a Pick N Save grocery store all in the same block and ALL of them left in the last 8 years.
Northridge is basically a black hole, sucking the life out of everything around it, and the effect keeps widening. Retail has virtually disappeared from the area stretching from 91st to 60th, and from County Line down to Bradley, with 76th and Brown Deer being the epicenter. Industrial/manufacturing has moved into some of the hollowed out husks of the former retail. Property values are in the toilet. It's a depressing area of town to drive through.
It's so cool that the mall that initially got me fixated on abandoned buildings helps to bring in the ten year anniversary of a resource that furthered that fixation. Thank you for each and every video and thank you for covering Northridge!
That last bit of footage from Southridge feels like concept art for a renovation of Northridge! You can so clearly see the similarities in the architecture
I’m kind of upset when Southridge was renovated to how it looks today in 2012. It looks like all character was taken out of the mall. The lovely green canopy’s in the center court and the green railings along the halls were removed. The plants were taken out and the lovely floors and fountains were removed and replaced by generic tiles and carpet. It’s a shame what Simon did to the looks of the mall.
@@retroryan838 I'm assuming you do or did live near southridge mall i was there a few days ago and its starting to look even worse its starting to look like Mayfair mall with all these middle to upper class stores either coming or already there not to mention there mostly fashion stores or jewelry stores
As a child of the 80s, I grew up shopping at malls for everything. And some great memories were made with my family walking around our local malls christmas shopping or just going for clothes at Kohls, Those days are over, but Im glad I got to spend that time with my parents and siblings. The mall was more than just shopping, it was a gathering place for many things for many people. RIP to the 80s/90s American malls. You will be missed.
The sad thing isn't really seeing a decrepit building, it's the fact that a place used to be vibrant and full of life, only to be seen as a shell of its former self.
I am from the area and during the late 80's to early 90's it just went from sketchy to scary, and people stopped going. It's not that the crime situation "wasn't based in reality." It was not safe to even be in the parking lot there. Lots of gang activity.
And even more amazing how often they needlessly demolish them and turning them into something new instead of working around the frame of the existing building.
It's Chinese money being stashed outside of China. They don't care about maintenance, redevelopment, or the local community. These things are bought purely to get money out of reach of the CCP.
i missed these! i will always be happy to have a new episode of Abandoned to watch, but every one makes me a little sadder that there are more and more abandoned shopping malls.
MKE local here. I'm a semi-regular of Southridge, mostly because of the Round1 arcade there, but I've always wondered about Northridge after hearing all the stories of theft and the legal fight over the razing of the old mall. It closed before I was born so I didn't know the story really. This is a great video!
I used to live in the suburban Milw area, growing up in the 80-90's. I remember when Southridge was so packed it was almost impossible to find a parking spot. Sure is different today. It's only a matter of time before that one closes up too...
Oh my god, I recommended Northridge a couple months ago! I had no idea you’d actually make a video on it! I feel so honored! You covered it all so well! As a native to the area and who’s mother worked at the mall I can confirm it! The current legal issues with the mall is quite annoying, having a channel like yours bring awareness to the mall’s situation is awesome! Thanks so much!
Really cool to see a documentary on this place. Been up on the roof, and that was a precarious but fun time. It was really fascinating poking around through all the back halls and infrastructure.
Grand Avenue Mall is another Milwaukee property worthy of it's own video, me and my family used to go there the day after Thanksgiving as a tradition, the place was pretty eerie with how empty and quiet it was, it had these old-fashioned elevators position near the railings on each floors, one of them was out of service and it looked like it hadn't been touched in years last time we went in 2002 you could still the place was going downhill as there were urban-wear stores(usually a sign of a malls decline)and the Sam Goody store was still selling Game Gear games. Then the place went through a bunch of remodels over several years, it became Shops of Grand Avenue in 2007 and after the economic downturn it got foreclosed on and became The Avenue with the third-floor food court getting converted into an office-building and it getting a new one at the ground floor and some of the retail space getting turned into apartments.
I lived in Milwaukee in the early 2000s, while attending MSOE. Grand Avenue Mall was definitely in decline back then. Most of my Milwaukee UE spots have been demolished or converted-Pabst brewery, Pfister & Vogel tannery, Kenilworth building, MCFI, MSOE C building, etc.
I went to grand avenue mall my freshman year of college with some friends to go to the culvers that was in there. we got there and the culvers was gone, but the rest of the mall was in a sad shape. this was in 2016. watching it decay during my time in MKE was sad for sure.
@@astro143_ interesting story, sounds like things have gotten even worse since I was there. I actually wrote about that place on the website Dead Malls.
This by far is one of the BEST abandoned videos I have ever seen. You did a great job on editing it and your voiceovers are super informative. To be honest though, this is probably one of the saddest declines I have ever heard, because it closed because of some stupid crime. You did a good job documenting that. Love your videos though and happy 10 year anniversary for this series.
I got to see this mall early in 2022. It was shocking how terrible it was inside, dystopian, and the amount of people coming in and out for who knows what was amazing. Being native to the area I always visited southridge (especially as a teen) surprisingly it’s still holding on very well for being a brick and mortar mall in 2023.
Some malls just know how to thrive. In my state there’s three indoor malls and multiple outlet malls (most in my city along with one of the indoor malls) that are still active. Well technically there’s four malls but the last one is like barely holding on now a days so I no longer count it.
sometimes im still suprised southridge is still holding up, since its my childhood mall but its sorta ghetto now and ive seen hidden trash everywhere, sad to see a huge part of my childhood slowly turning into that kind of place . . .
Milwaukee native here; I was too young to remember going to the this mall but always remember seeing the empty building and being intrigues by it. Highly recommend doing a video on Shops of Grand Avenue!
I dont know why, but Videos like this always give me nostalgic and melancholic feelings for something i personal never experienced. All the time and memories spent in such placed by countless humans.
@@Personarose - Yeah mine is like a second home now (that was originally the local library but I haven’t been to mine in some years now and can’t check out anything till I pay off my fine so I don’t really go atm). Well technically it’s more of the BoxLunch there as I spend so much time at that place one of the employees knows me by name and most usually know that I have a military ID to give me the military discount. Runner up is Hot Topic. My third home is the GameStop in a nearby town as it’s where I go to preorder games and where I usually buy games if I want to buy any physically.
10 years!! Congrats! Yours is a top favorite of all my channels watched. I've tried watching other abandoned-type documentaries and nothing comes close to your level of detail, interesting facts, and storytelling. BSF ♥️
I don't understand those landlords. Buying a big property and leaving it abandoned... I don't get it. And congrats for the 10th anniversary! Time sure does fly like some say. Thank you so much for all the videos, archives and effort!
@@KLondike5 This. It is astoundingly sad how many people still fall for the Chinese Communist Party grift. They are objectively a bigger threat than Russia but given a pass for everything because corporations love the slave labor and over 1 billion population pool to sell their crap too.
They are good at exploitation and finding loop holes in foreign laws. They buy houses, apartments, and business in bulk and flip them so they can reap the extra income. Lots of neighborhood house prices sky rocket due to this and everyone lets them get away with it.
I have a sneaking suspicion this is some kind of off shore money laundering. They needed to put money somewhere and vacant mall was ideal for them. Plus looking at the lack of any construction makes it clear that they are not putting any costs into this property.
Sad to see this mall stand vacant for the past two decades. I hope action starts taking place with the plans. I know my local mall is dying, if not already dead. Good things always come to an end. Another great episode Jake! Congrats on 10 years of Abandoned!
Great work as always! Malls will always be very nostalgic for me, nearly every week growing up in the 90s I'd be down there hanging out with friends or shopping with my parents. Now I can't even tell you the last time I went to one. lol
You should visit Westland Mall in Columbus, OH. It's been 95% closed for at least 15 years and fully closed about 5 years ago once sears finally moved. It's set to be demolished by the state this year. It was the place to be until a rival mall across town, that is now a sad shadow of itself, opened
In a way only significant in nostalgia, I'm glad to have been apart of the generations of kids who grew up hanging out at the mall. The flashbacks to the 90s and early 2000s, especially with holiday decor up, gave me a warm feeling. Good times. Now one of my my main malls is long demolished and the other is just barely hanging on. Aside from having no reason to go back, I like to remember it in its heyday.
Thank you for doing this doc, it cleared a few rumors up for me. I also grew up in Milwaukee and remember this Mall from my childhood. The situation with the mall is sad , but somehow just seems like a Milwaukee thing. I have never been in it in it's abandoned state, though I do wish I explored before I left. Also, there were air soft "wars" happening inside the mall a few years after closure. This was permitted by the ownership. Love the videos, man! Keep up the great work!
MLK local, I used to live literally across the road where that giant lake is to the right, In those apartments. It was always sad to see the mall abandoned but it always interested me, I've always wanted to go inside and see what it looked like. It'll be sad to see the building go away because it's been apart of my childhood🫤 The building just needs new owners and proper funding.
Thank you for making this video Jake, It's time Northridge Mall got a Abandoned video. I'm hoping that the mall site can be redeveloped. Greetings from Milwaukee!
Shopped there many times. Mayfair mall was fun with the ice rink. Went on to Southridge which is still open, but lean on stores now. Sad to see Northridge like this! Great video! 👍
It's another great vid from you, I seriously enjoy your content. Abandoned is my favourite TH-cam series that makes me appreciate old buildings. And makes me want to visit similar places so I can take in the beauty of a bygone era.
northridge has always been such a fascinating subject to me as someone who grew up around southridge, been going there for almost my whole life but i wasn't born soon enough to see northridge it saddens me seeing how harshly it fell apart in more recent years. i'm sad with how it closed too of course, but really seeing how destroyed everything has gotten is just so disappointing to see. and seeing the occasional mention on the news the last few years has been more and more sad too, watching such a beautiful space quickly becoming nothing more than a burden to everyone and everything around it. i wish i could've seen it before it got so bad the space prior to the destruction looks absolutely gorgeous. i love the way its built and even with the wreckage i still like the design of the building i just really hope someday it can be turned into something better, whether that be by managing to make use of some of the space in it or be demolishing and redeveloping altogether im glad southridge is still stable though and i hope it continues to last despite the preference for online shopping. there's definitely some spaces in there that could use a new business but it's certainly not dead yet congrats on 10 years of abandoned!!
Jake, you are a magician. You somehow manage me to get in the same loop over and over again basically the timeline goes like this I get attached to your channel when you’re taking a break then then you post a video watch it then kind of forget about it and then come back and then get reattached again I think Something I don’t know
I loved this mall. My mom would get my Christmas presents from here! I would go here with my friends after school and we would chill and just run around! Their security officers were always so nice and the holiday days were SOOO busy!
I grew up in Milwaukee, and my mom worked at the Boston Store there for over 20 years. I had such fond memories of the place. She retired in the early 90s just as it was going downhill. The whole area around the mall had problems, and it wasn't just the mall. Sad to see it in such terrible shape, but the age of the mall is kind of over.
This is my perspective as someone living in the area. Southridge did have a shaky seeming patch for a little bit where there were quite a few empty storefronts and they lost some anchors, but they managed to pull though it in interesting ways. For one, while it is a suburban area, it's also only a handful of blocks off a major freeway and has quite a few other shopping options around, so it's not like the area itself isn't busy in general. It also didn't have that crime blame to give it a bad reputation. Secondly, Southridge still has plenty of plain stores,b ut it has had a bit of a pivot to include entertainment to keep bringing people in as well. A fairly large Round One went in a while back. There's an escape room facility, an airsoft shooting range, and others. The local movie theater chain, Marcus, also built a movie theater in a section of unused parking lot. It's not attached to the mall, but it's very close and keeps people coming to the area. Third, there are two sets of apartments and a senior living community built on the outskirts of the parking lot. If I remember right these were built on sold parking lot space, but I could be wrong. There is also a high school that has been literally across the street from the mall for decades now, the food court facing directly at it. It's not uncommon for students at that school to just cross the road for a meal from the food court before after school activities or evening football games. Some of the stores in the mall skew towards the youth as well, drawing them out of the food court to shop. The circumstances of these two malls were so different it's unreal. I was just 8 when Northridge closed up shop, but I find myself at Southridge or in the area of it on a decently regular basis and was even just there last week.
It's, Kopps Just down the street that brings all the customers to the mall I guarantee it 😄. Seriously though southridge Mall is in bankruptcy now also but I still think they have investors that are dedicated to making the mall work.
I’ve always loved watching Bright Sun Films, especially Abandoned and being from Wisconsin, it’s super cool to see northridge be featured! Keep up the amazing work Jake!
The most recent call for securing the property came only after the fire chief stated he would refuse to send his team into an unsafe scene repeatedly considering the building's state.
Honestly if the building is set to be demolished and the building owner isn’t doing anything to try and protect the building then why should the city expend resources on ensuring the building doesn’t burn down. Now spreading is a different story but ensuring a building that has had repeat calls for demolition doesn’t need to be protected, especially with the court order for demolition.
They’re buying properties and doing nothing with them to prevent them from being torn down so Americans can’t do anything with the spots and we’re just left with trashed empty buildings.
Abandoned malls could be incredible living centers, but ofc nobody would want to take on that project. How cool would it be to have a massive, walkable indoor community, with apartments on the second floor and stores and entertainment on the bottom floor? I'd live there 😔
There is a mall-like residence building on the University of Alberta campus. There is a long corridor of retail, with apartments above. According to people that lived there, the noise level is really bad.
Imagine buying a property for $6 million, and being court ordered to demolish it for $15 million? Sucks. But it's their own fault. Thanks for this great video!
Actually it's the scumbags breaking in who's to blame starting fires and whatnot. Imagine paying that money to buy the mall and then hearing all the violence going on in and around what you purchased! It might make you rethink dumping any more money into it!
@@creatorsfreedom6734 He probably values his life. The type of morons who vandalise property aren't going to stop themselves from turning on people...
@CreatorsFreedom!!! Why would he put his life and well being in danger to defend property he has no stake in genius? Paintballs? How old and naive are you FFS 🤡
I was just watching The Proper People's exploration video of this exact same mall when I got the notification. Honestly I love the retro aesthetic of the mall
My city! It’s original sister mall, Southridge, is still pretty successful and the main mall in the area. They’ve changed ownership a few times but they keep trying to reinvent the spaces and have added lots of new places in recent years such as a Round1 arcade, dicks sporting goods, and Tjmaxx. This area also experienced a large come up since the mall was built while the area that north ridge is in is almost a ghost town. The whole area is full of vacant commercial spaces and very eerie riding through. You can tell the area was originally built around the mall
Imagine filming Northridge and Southridge malls in parallel in some Sci Fi dystopian or apocalyptic film or parallel universe film. I feel like using their similar base designs as an advantage would be an effective way at minimizing film budget costs.
At 0:33 you see an ATM in the lower left. The name of the company that provided the machine was TYME, an acronym for Take Your Money Everywhere. Back then, you could create a lot of confusion out of state by asking someone where you could find a “TYME machine”.
I grew up in Hartford, WI, and I remember going there in the mid-70's. It was always a treat to go to Northridge! For me, the coolest attraction there were the escalators! I loved just going up and down.
In the late 80s when I was maybe 8, I ran up one of the escalators in that mall with my hands in my winter jacket pockets. Tripped an fell, hitting my chin on the edge of an escalator step. Got a few stitches from that. That’s my biggest memory from that mall
Heads up: The Kohl's store you show at 1:11 into the video isn't a Kohl's Department Store, but the elusive Kohl's Food Store started by Maxwell Kohl in 1946. Maxwell started the better known Department store in 1962. While they both retained the same name, given that they were owned by the same family, another company bought the majority stake in Kohl's, and eventually sold off the Kohl's Food Stores to A&P. In 2003, A&P closed Kohl's (Food Stores). The Madison locations were sold off to Roundy's, which was more recently bought out by Kroger, while many of its Milwaukee area locations have either remained vacant in lesser traveled places, or become home to Office Max stores in more premium retail locations. All former Kohl's Food Stores buildings still retain the curved rooftop.
Agreed…. The closest kohls “department” store was over in Brown deer on the north east corner of Brown deer Rd and Green bay road… or if you are really old school you would recall the dual grocery department store at hampton and appleton roads
@@BrightSunFilms thanks for the reply! I'm also an electrical engineer so If you ever do an Abandonded episode on a power plant I'd be happy to answer any questions you have.
Technically, they were all part of the same chain from 1962 (when Kohl's opened their first department store) until 1983 (when Kohl's Food Stores was peeled off from the department store chain and sold to A&P). But yeah, until 1983, the food and department stores were one company.
I doubt you’ll ever see this but as Barb’s cousin I really appreciate you using her maiden name. Every time someone uploads a video about this mall they use her married name and our whole family kinda hate when they do that
I remembered this one mall near me when I was living in Gurnee, Illinois as a kid growing up. The mall was called Lakehurst. It was built in early 1970’s to 2004. I remembered the mall started declining in the late 1980’s. I was in this one restaurant in the mall with her. We had brats in it. Even over time a few stores went out of business over the years. The mall was dated before it closed. Myself and my sister had fun memories of going to that mall in our teens.There was another mall built in the early 90’s about a mile away from my house with my family. I wanted to go to the mall to see a friend but, I didn’t go to it just 2 days before Christmas in 1991. The mall was so different and even brighter. Even my grandparents were in the mall with us. They were my mother’s parents at that time. We had a good time at that mall being only one floor. It has 2 food courts in the mall.
Just came across this video, as a MKE resident, great job! A few points I’d also like to make to explain the downfall. Outside of crime in the area was Bayshore mall expanding during this time. Bayshore mall is only a short drive away, 10-15minutes. So when people started to get scared off that had an easy alternative. Or they went to Mayfair Mall. Again only 15-20 minutes away. Both of which are still thriving today, along with Southridge Mall.
Grew up going to this beautiful mall. We lived in a suburb not too far away. Sad how the whole area went to crap.. Nobody wanted to go to Northridge anymore. I have some home movies seeing Santa here in 1989 when I was three ❤️ The last time I was there I was about 16 so like 2002 or 03? My friend and I saw only a couple of people walking around. It was pretty much dead by then and kinda spooky. A few stores were still open and a KISS FM thing was set up in Radio Shack. They gave me an Incubus CD lol
I live in Northern Wisconsin (Eagle River) now, but still visit Milw often for work & family stuff. Still go to Southridge once or twice a year. Kopp's Frozen Custard is a must every trip :)
@@johneckert1365 I haven't been to either place in a loong time! Did you guys get a lot of snow up there? My cousin Nathan lives in Eagle River with his family :)
Most of the fully abandoned dead malls you see are either from the 80's and 90's, or have been torn down. Seeing one with an interior this (relatively) modern is striking.
One of my local malls, Fair Oaks Mall in Fairfax VA, was also developed by Taubman Centers and has a very similar design to Northridge and Southridge Mall. Pretty cool!
Yup. "Crime rumors" is not accurate. Crime is just a reality on the Northside of Milwaukee. It played (and continues to play) a major part in the decline of that area.
I live near Baton Rouge, LA and it has never been able to handle more than 1 mall. First was Bon Marche Mall. then Cortana Mall. When Cortana opened Bon Marche folded. Then the Mall of Louisiana opened in south BR and Cortana eventually folded. But both old malls have been turned around. Bon Marche became a technology park with multiple businesses (still very active today) and last year Amazon bought the Cortana site, demolished it & a new delivery & fulfillment center is currently being built. It will bring much needed employment to the area. Things can turn around for old malls if they’re in the right hands.
This was really good, I grew up in Milwaukee and have some very positive core memories of Northridge Mall. For those who don’t know Milwaukee is an extremely segregated city and this was a factor in the demise as well.
Low income ..low income…housing was the problem take the racial component out of it , I worked next to Northridge for years and I saw with my own eyes what happened ! Along with the mall they also built a very nice apartment complex across the street called Northridge lakes , eventually the city of Milwaukee in cooperation with the developer of the mall and apartment owners turned it into section 8 housing which has nothing to do with race because I had friends that lived in those apartments that were of all different races ! When the Section 8 people moved in crime exploded , the property became very run down , and the drug game basically took it over , now those are just facts. Wether any of us like it or not the truth is all around this country when section 8 housing comes to a neighborhood the property becomes very unsafe and the neighborhood deteriorates…not in every case , but in most cases it does happen. I lived in Milwaukee for most of my life but had to move out of Wisconsin 8 years ago , I agree that Milwaukee has had its problems with racial issues but can I tell you something…I really miss Milwaukee because for the most part I found it to be a place where all the various races and ethnicity’s got along well together and I really miss the diversity of my beloved Milwaukee , every big city has problems but for the most part the people of Milwaukee of all races , creeds , and ethnic backgrounds lived and worked together peacefully and I still think the people of Milwaukee were the nicest people I’ve ever been around…
Glad you did this video. I live north of mall. The surrounding area has gotten really bad. I frequent at the Menards next to the old mall. I've had to pull my carry on two people at the parking lot. I'm glad you made it out of there safetly.
Thanks to Babbel for sponsoring this video! Get up to 60% OFF your Babbel subscription here: bit.ly/3WmZCMW and start speaking a new language in 3 weeks!
Would love to see you visit the Poconos again. We have so many abandoned places here.
To be real, there was no way that business can survive regardless of who the business owner is. I imagine the business owner is using it as a tax benefit.
Casey neistat was the reason this mall got vandalized
Don't BLAME the company ... BLAME the LOCALS
I literally live close to that mall I went there
As a security officer in a dying mall (still at about 50% occupancy), it is astounding how hard it is to secure even a smaller mall.
Hey! Would you mind shooting me an email? Contact@brightsunfilms.ca
Is there not someone walking the mall the whole time while it is closed? Instead of walking though, something better should be used. Like a golf cart, or some other PEV. Sure someone will get it, but they will get kicked out pronto. What am I missing?
@@TheAnimeist You'd think thermal cameras and motion detectors would make it easier, sounds like they just don't bother.
@@churblefurbles It's the costs of installing and monitoring cameras it's often cheaper to just hire 1 to 3 minimum wage people to do checks if the are inside should be every 2 or 3 hours if external roughly 1 to 2 hours many do not even bother having an internal guard and just rely on alarms from the 90's or earlier and 1 to 3 drive by night checks and 720p or worse 720i cameras with poor if any zoom!
@@DarthAwar Nah.. 4 pack of motion detecting wireless arlo cameras cost about 400. Get like 20 of those and few mesh devices and you can monitor every outside corner of the building from your phone.
I grew up going to that mall. Lots of fond memories. As a kid in the 80s, movies, restaurants, clothes, toys, Spencers. I will always have great feelings for that place. Hanging with lots of friends. Meeting girls. Thank you for posting his vid. It brought back a flood of great memories.
Listen, let those amongst us who hasn't stolen 35 commercial air conditioning units from a failing mall cast the first stone here.
@thomashancock7441 This guy definetly did it
@@walterwhite4693 1000%
@Thomas Hancock kinda sus bro
ikr?
AMONG US
Milwaukee: "secure the building!"
Black Spruce: "no"
Thank you for featuring Milwaukee in one of your videos! As a lifelong resident of the city, I really appreciate you covering such an iconic mall and the history behind it. Well done!
Same! Hello neighbor!
Milwaukee resident here too!
@@ithecastic I love this so much! 😊
Went here a few times as a kid growing up in Waukesha. Really fond memories. Its crazy how much Milwaukee changed after being away for 15 years in Arizona. Hope Summerfest is still going as strong as ever.
We all know why it closed. ☝🏿
Our local mall almost suffered the same fate. Sears pulled out, Belk's left, and others followed. Mall management jacked the rent so some businesses barely hung on, others left, others could not afford to open a store inside. Two more malls were build that attracted thousands of shoppers. The first mall became a ghost town and it's future was dim. However, Publix bought the part of the mall that Sears was in, renovated it. Then, management began selling parcels of the parking lot, and restaurants such as Taco Bell, Starbucks, etc, built on those parcels. End result is all of that revived the mall and now a once dying mall is now thriving again.
A miracle in a sea of dead malls, thank you Publix
I’ve been watching abandoned for 10 years?!?!? Wow! Congrats Jake! Absolutely my favorite series to watch
Super🦸♀️ surprising 😯.
What a shocking😲 discovery
It's been much longer than 10 years
@@Stephaniewashere
🥺 It's a desert🏜 mall🏬
@@Stephaniewashere
🤨"tundra"? 😯oh. 🙂Sorry
Not many TH-camrs stay so consistently good for 10 years
I just wanted to tell you that you are a wonderful story teller! I love your videos and how you really dive into the entire history of a location!
Thank you so much!
It's amazing to me just how recognizable the "mall of the 70s/80s" aesthetic is. The old footage of the Northridge felt so familiar to me, despite having grown up several thousand miles and over a border away. It'd be interesting (at least to me :P) to catalog the shifting aesthetics of this particularly North American typology as they follow in lockstep across the decades. Also amazing how familiar the 'crime panic' story unfortunately feels... Thanks for another great episode!
How is your text 2 Weeks ago when The video was published 2h ago????
@@joycosby1949 probably something to do with patreon supporters or whatever getting early access to videos
@@joycosby1949
Super🦸♀️ surprising 😯
@@ambientNexus
Super🦸♀️ surprising 😯
I mean, the phrase “crime panic” makes it sound like it’s a bunch of hysteria, apropos of nothing, but homicide rates increased 30% year-on-year in 2020 - the largest increase in recorded U.S. history. (Second place would be 2001, with an increase of 20%…and that _included_ the deaths from the terrorist attacks that year.)
I was shopping there as late as 2001, right up to when I moved out of state, and had started visiting there frequently with my mom after we moved to the north side of Milwaukee around 1999. Before that we were closer to Mayfair. I'm back in Wisconsin now, but I had no Idea that It had been empty for two decades. It REALLY WAS a nice place to shop.
...though what probably didn't help it either? bayshore mall opening to the south, and the Mequon Pavillions to the Northeast of it; both of them off of 1-43 and were far more visible and travelled, as the freeway that Northridge was set to be at the intersection of? Never materialized in the form the owners desired.
I work right near Northridge so I see the property all the time. It really is a disaster over there, and the area in general is where retail goes to die. There at one point was a Walmart, a Target, and a Pick N Save grocery store all in the same block and ALL of them left in the last 8 years.
the area's just shit for retail i suppose
The Half Price was there too. I used to go there until it closed.
Northridge is basically a black hole, sucking the life out of everything around it, and the effect keeps widening. Retail has virtually disappeared from the area stretching from 91st to 60th, and from County Line down to Bradley, with 76th and Brown Deer being the epicenter. Industrial/manufacturing has moved into some of the hollowed out husks of the former retail. Property values are in the toilet. It's a depressing area of town to drive through.
It's a total food desert over there now and barely any retail on the whole stretch of BD road. So sad
Has nothing to do with the non-existent crime he mentioned. Trust me, the crime is bad.
It's so cool that the mall that initially got me fixated on abandoned buildings helps to bring in the ten year anniversary of a resource that furthered that fixation. Thank you for each and every video and thank you for covering Northridge!
That last bit of footage from Southridge feels like concept art for a renovation of Northridge! You can so clearly see the similarities in the architecture
I’m kind of upset when Southridge was renovated to how it looks today in 2012. It looks like all character was taken out of the mall. The lovely green canopy’s in the center court and the green railings along the halls were removed. The plants were taken out and the lovely floors and fountains were removed and replaced by generic tiles and carpet. It’s a shame what Simon did to the looks of the mall.
@@retroryan838 i totally agree with you. I barely go to southridge anymore!
@@retroryan838 I'm assuming you do or did live near southridge mall i was there a few days ago and its starting to look even worse its starting to look like Mayfair mall with all these middle to upper class stores either coming or already there not to mention there mostly fashion stores or jewelry stores
As a child of the 80s, I grew up shopping at malls for everything. And some great memories were made with my family walking around our local malls christmas shopping or just going for clothes at Kohls, Those days are over, but Im glad I got to spend that time with my parents and siblings. The mall was more than just shopping, it was a gathering place for many things for many people. RIP to the 80s/90s American malls. You will be missed.
The sad thing isn't really seeing a decrepit building, it's the fact that a place used to be vibrant and full of life, only to be seen as a shell of its former self.
I’ve somehow avoided you in the comments for months, completely forgot about you
THE LEGEND LIVES!
Holy shit, you’re still around lol.
He LIIIIIIIIVES!!!!!
Stay gone thanks
I am from the area and during the late 80's to early 90's it just went from sketchy to scary, and people stopped going. It's not that the crime situation "wasn't based in reality." It was not safe to even be in the parking lot there. Lots of gang activity.
Its frankly incredible how often things like this happen to buildings.
And even more amazing how often they needlessly demolish them and turning them into something new instead of working around the frame of the existing building.
@@TheEDFLegacy
Super🦸♀️ surprising 😯.
What a super tastic discovery
It's Chinese money being stashed outside of China. They don't care about maintenance, redevelopment, or the local community. These things are bought purely to get money out of reach of the CCP.
@@tbillington
😯 I'm full of surprises, as much as life💛 is full of mysteries❓
@@TheEDFLegacy working around of a piece of sh/it....
i missed these! i will always be happy to have a new episode of Abandoned to watch, but every one makes me a little sadder that there are more and more abandoned shopping malls.
MKE local here. I'm a semi-regular of Southridge, mostly because of the Round1 arcade there, but I've always wondered about Northridge after hearing all the stories of theft and the legal fight over the razing of the old mall. It closed before I was born so I didn't know the story really. This is a great video!
I used to live in the suburban Milw area, growing up in the 80-90's. I remember when Southridge was so packed it was almost impossible to find a parking spot. Sure is different today. It's only a matter of time before that one closes up too...
Round1 is so good!
Oh my god, I recommended Northridge a couple months ago! I had no idea you’d actually make a video on it! I feel so honored! You covered it all so well! As a native to the area and who’s mother worked at the mall I can confirm it! The current legal issues with the mall is quite annoying, having a channel like yours bring awareness to the mall’s situation is awesome! Thanks so much!
Yeah, I'm sure it was your comment 🤣
It’s always a great day when Jake uploads an Abandoned episode.
What I want to know is where he gets ALL the info he does.
Really cool to see a documentary on this place. Been up on the roof, and that was a precarious but fun time. It was really fascinating poking around through all the back halls and infrastructure.
Grand Avenue Mall is another Milwaukee property worthy of it's own video, me and my family used to go there the day after Thanksgiving as a tradition, the place was pretty eerie with how empty and quiet it was, it had these old-fashioned elevators position near the railings on each floors, one of them was out of service and it looked like it hadn't been touched in years last time we went in 2002 you could still the place was going downhill as there were urban-wear stores(usually a sign of a malls decline)and the Sam Goody store was still selling Game Gear games. Then the place went through a bunch of remodels over several years, it became Shops of Grand Avenue in 2007 and after the economic downturn it got foreclosed on and became The Avenue with the third-floor food court getting converted into an office-building and it getting a new one at the ground floor and some of the retail space getting turned into apartments.
Grand Avenue was the only mall I ever went to growing up. I saw Liberace perform there for a morning TV show.
I lived in Milwaukee in the early 2000s, while attending MSOE. Grand Avenue Mall was definitely in decline back then. Most of my Milwaukee UE spots have been demolished or converted-Pabst brewery, Pfister & Vogel tannery, Kenilworth building, MCFI, MSOE C building, etc.
I went to grand avenue mall my freshman year of college with some friends to go to the culvers that was in there. we got there and the culvers was gone, but the rest of the mall was in a sad shape. this was in 2016. watching it decay during my time in MKE was sad for sure.
@@astro143_ interesting story, sounds like things have gotten even worse since I was there.
I actually wrote about that place on the website Dead Malls.
@@redcat9436 interesting.
This by far is one of the BEST abandoned videos I have ever seen. You did a great job on editing it and your voiceovers are super informative. To be honest though, this is probably one of the saddest declines I have ever heard, because it closed because of some stupid crime. You did a good job documenting that. Love your videos though and happy 10 year anniversary for this series.
I got to see this mall early in 2022. It was shocking how terrible it was inside, dystopian, and the amount of people coming in and out for who knows what was amazing. Being native to the area I always visited southridge (especially as a teen) surprisingly it’s still holding on very well for being a brick and mortar mall in 2023.
Some malls just know how to thrive. In my state there’s three indoor malls and multiple outlet malls (most in my city along with one of the indoor malls) that are still active. Well technically there’s four malls but the last one is like barely holding on now a days so I no longer count it.
@@Goleon No. It's the neighborhood
sometimes im still suprised southridge is still holding up, since its my childhood mall but its sorta ghetto now and ive seen hidden trash everywhere, sad to see a huge part of my childhood slowly turning into that kind of place . . .
Milwaukee native here; I was too young to remember going to the this mall but always remember seeing the empty building and being intrigues by it. Highly recommend doing a video on Shops of Grand Avenue!
Is there a big Asian population there?
I dont know why, but Videos like this always give me nostalgic and melancholic feelings for something i personal never experienced.
All the time and memories spent in such placed by countless humans.
Especially when you consider malls were essentially the third place for a lot of people.
@@Personarose - Yeah mine is like a second home now (that was originally the local library but I haven’t been to mine in some years now and can’t check out anything till I pay off my fine so I don’t really go atm).
Well technically it’s more of the BoxLunch there as I spend so much time at that place one of the employees knows me by name and most usually know that I have a military ID to give me the military discount. Runner up is Hot Topic.
My third home is the GameStop in a nearby town as it’s where I go to preorder games and where I usually buy games if I want to buy any physically.
10 years!! Congrats! Yours is a top favorite of all my channels watched. I've tried watching other abandoned-type documentaries and nothing comes close to your level of detail, interesting facts, and storytelling. BSF ♥️
Wow, thank you!
I don't understand those landlords. Buying a big property and leaving it abandoned... I don't get it. And congrats for the 10th anniversary! Time sure does fly like some say. Thank you so much for all the videos, archives and effort!
@@KLondike5 This. It is astoundingly sad how many people still fall for the Chinese Communist Party grift. They are objectively a bigger threat than Russia but given a pass for everything because corporations love the slave labor and over 1 billion population pool to sell their crap too.
Does anything the Chinese do make sense?
They are good at exploitation and finding loop holes in foreign laws. They buy houses, apartments, and business in bulk and flip them so they can reap the extra income. Lots of neighborhood house prices sky rocket due to this and everyone lets them get away with it.
I have a sneaking suspicion this is some kind of off shore money laundering. They needed to put money somewhere and vacant mall was ideal for them. Plus looking at the lack of any construction makes it clear that they are not putting any costs into this property.
Sometimes people have a grand vision and just bite off more than they can chew.
Sad to see this mall stand vacant for the past two decades. I hope action starts taking place with the plans. I know my local mall is dying, if not already dead. Good things always come to an end. Another great episode Jake! Congrats on 10 years of Abandoned!
Whoa, didn't expect an Abandoned to be so close to home! How cool!
Though granted the midwest is full of Abandoned Mall
The holiday shopping in the B-roll footage at the start just hammers me with nostalgia. Mid-80s were a great time for the indoor mall.
Great work as always! Malls will always be very nostalgic for me, nearly every week growing up in the 90s I'd be down there hanging out with friends or shopping with my parents. Now I can't even tell you the last time I went to one. lol
I'd really love to see you cover the Abandoned Lisa Frank factory, and the downfall of the company as a whole.
You should visit Westland Mall in Columbus, OH. It's been 95% closed for at least 15 years and fully closed about 5 years ago once sears finally moved. It's set to be demolished by the state this year. It was the place to be until a rival mall across town, that is now a sad shadow of itself, opened
Honestly he could do mini series on Eastland, Westland, Northland and Southland.
In a way only significant in nostalgia, I'm glad to have been apart of the generations of kids who grew up hanging out at the mall. The flashbacks to the 90s and early 2000s, especially with holiday decor up, gave me a warm feeling. Good times. Now one of my my main malls is long demolished and the other is just barely hanging on. Aside from having no reason to go back, I like to remember it in its heyday.
I miss those times
My childhood Mall ❤❤❤😢
I used to go there from time to time when I lived in Wisconsin. Always sad to see these great old malls go.
Mine too. For some reason I was just thinking of this mall a day or 2 ago. Weird.
@@stich21 That sort of thing happens to me a lot. Synchronicity.
@@jeffreyriley8742 you 2 should hook up
Thank you for doing this doc, it cleared a few rumors up for me. I also grew up in Milwaukee and remember this Mall from my childhood. The situation with the mall is sad , but somehow just seems like a Milwaukee thing. I have never been in it in it's abandoned state, though I do wish I explored before I left. Also, there were air soft "wars" happening inside the mall a few years after closure. This was permitted by the ownership. Love the videos, man! Keep up the great work!
As a teen in the 80’s it is so sad to see the death of malls.
MLK local, I used to live literally across the road where that giant lake is to the right, In those apartments. It was always sad to see the mall abandoned but it always interested me, I've always wanted to go inside and see what it looked like. It'll be sad to see the building go away because it's been apart of my childhood🫤 The building just needs new owners and proper funding.
I can still remember going here when I was a child and it’s just so sad to see what it looks like now.
Thank you for making this video Jake, It's time Northridge Mall got a Abandoned video. I'm hoping that the mall site can be redeveloped.
Greetings from Milwaukee!
Wow Jake! You’ve come so far! So much history wrapped with historical vid and pictures. Wonderful video! Happy 76th Abandoned ep!! 🎉
Shopped there many times. Mayfair mall was fun with the ice rink. Went on to Southridge which is still open, but lean on stores now. Sad to see Northridge like this! Great video! 👍
It's another great vid from you, I seriously enjoy your content. Abandoned is my favourite TH-cam series that makes me appreciate old buildings. And makes me want to visit similar places so I can take in the beauty of a bygone era.
Thank you so much!
Agreed I love learning about these and I’m glad bsf got big enough to bring this amazing content
@@BrightSunFilms finally u did Milwaukee
northridge has always been such a fascinating subject to me as someone who grew up around southridge, been going there for almost my whole life but i wasn't born soon enough to see northridge
it saddens me seeing how harshly it fell apart in more recent years. i'm sad with how it closed too of course, but really seeing how destroyed everything has gotten is just so disappointing to see. and seeing the occasional mention on the news the last few years has been more and more sad too, watching such a beautiful space quickly becoming nothing more than a burden to everyone and everything around it. i wish i could've seen it before it got so bad
the space prior to the destruction looks absolutely gorgeous. i love the way its built and even with the wreckage i still like the design of the building
i just really hope someday it can be turned into something better, whether that be by managing to make use of some of the space in it or be demolishing and redeveloping altogether
im glad southridge is still stable though and i hope it continues to last despite the preference for online shopping. there's definitely some spaces in there that could use a new business but it's certainly not dead yet
congrats on 10 years of abandoned!!
Jake, you are a magician. You somehow manage me to get in the same loop over and over again basically the timeline goes like this I get attached to your channel when you’re taking a break then then you post a video watch it then kind of forget about it and then come back and then get reattached again I think Something I don’t know
I loved this mall. My mom would get my Christmas presents from here! I would go here with my friends after school and we would chill and just run around! Their security officers were always so nice and the holiday days were SOOO busy!
YES I was waiting for you to make a video about this mall. Its the only abandoned mall near me that I've explored.
I grew up in Milwaukee, and my mom worked at the Boston Store there for over 20 years. I had such fond memories of the place. She retired in the early 90s just as it was going downhill. The whole area around the mall had problems, and it wasn't just the mall. Sad to see it in such terrible shape, but the age of the mall is kind of over.
This is my perspective as someone living in the area. Southridge did have a shaky seeming patch for a little bit where there were quite a few empty storefronts and they lost some anchors, but they managed to pull though it in interesting ways.
For one, while it is a suburban area, it's also only a handful of blocks off a major freeway and has quite a few other shopping options around, so it's not like the area itself isn't busy in general. It also didn't have that crime blame to give it a bad reputation.
Secondly, Southridge still has plenty of plain stores,b ut it has had a bit of a pivot to include entertainment to keep bringing people in as well. A fairly large Round One went in a while back. There's an escape room facility, an airsoft shooting range, and others. The local movie theater chain, Marcus, also built a movie theater in a section of unused parking lot. It's not attached to the mall, but it's very close and keeps people coming to the area.
Third, there are two sets of apartments and a senior living community built on the outskirts of the parking lot. If I remember right these were built on sold parking lot space, but I could be wrong. There is also a high school that has been literally across the street from the mall for decades now, the food court facing directly at it. It's not uncommon for students at that school to just cross the road for a meal from the food court before after school activities or evening football games. Some of the stores in the mall skew towards the youth as well, drawing them out of the food court to shop.
The circumstances of these two malls were so different it's unreal. I was just 8 when Northridge closed up shop, but I find myself at Southridge or in the area of it on a decently regular basis and was even just there last week.
It's, Kopps Just down the street that brings all the customers to the mall I guarantee it 😄. Seriously though southridge Mall is in bankruptcy now also but I still think they have investors that are dedicated to making the mall work.
I’ve always loved watching Bright Sun Films, especially Abandoned and being from Wisconsin, it’s super cool to see northridge be featured! Keep up the amazing work Jake!
The most recent call for securing the property came only after the fire chief stated he would refuse to send his team into an unsafe scene repeatedly considering the building's state.
Honestly if the building is set to be demolished and the building owner isn’t doing anything to try and protect the building then why should the city expend resources on ensuring the building doesn’t burn down. Now spreading is a different story but ensuring a building that has had repeat calls for demolition doesn’t need to be protected, especially with the court order for demolition.
I hope you understand how much I absolutely love your abandoned and boat videos. They brighten my day in an describable way 💕
I gotta wonder what kind of con that Chinese company is pulling to be so desperate to cling onto this complex they're refusing to do anything with.
Money laundering probably
They’re buying properties and doing nothing with them to prevent them from being torn down so Americans can’t do anything with the spots and we’re just left with trashed empty buildings.
Hong Kong Chinese are even crazier than other Chinese.
As a milwaukee local I've been waiting for this
Abandoned malls could be incredible living centers, but ofc nobody would want to take on that project. How cool would it be to have a massive, walkable indoor community, with apartments on the second floor and stores and entertainment on the bottom floor? I'd live there 😔
Fr. There is a proposal to turn the former Boston store at Southridge into apartments.
@@flyingbanana4179 I hope that doesn’t happen. I like how cool the facade at the Boston Store looks.
Everybody says this but nobody takes into account how hard that would actually be, not to mention how expensive
@@retroryan838 ah
There is a mall-like residence building on the University of Alberta campus. There is a long corridor of retail, with apartments above. According to people that lived there, the noise level is really bad.
Imagine buying a property for $6 million, and being court ordered to demolish it for $15 million? Sucks. But it's their own fault. Thanks for this great video!
Actually it's the scumbags breaking in who's to blame starting fires and whatnot. Imagine paying that money to buy the mall and then hearing all the violence going on in and around what you purchased! It might make you rethink dumping any more money into it!
@@joeblow26Well, they also did nothing to secure the property or renovate it in any way. They bought the property and let it rot.
11:57 nothing says "I'm taking this seriously" like showing up with Starbucks after missing a court date bc you were on a camping trip 😂
I will never understand why people feel the need to vandalize property.
what's stopping you from stopping them from doing so ?
@@creatorsfreedom6734 He probably values his life. The type of morons who vandalise property aren't going to stop themselves from turning on people...
@@ticketyboo2456 try a paint ball's
@CreatorsFreedom!!! Why would he put his life and well being in danger to defend property he has no stake in genius? Paintballs? How old and naive are you FFS 🤡
I visited this mall in 1989, and it was one of the nicest malls I had ever been to.
I was hoping you’d do a video on Northridge! You got it 100% right - great work as always!
I live in Milwaukee you got it right . also that mall was a great place in the 70's & 80's
Your videos are always such high quality!! Appreciate all the work you put into each video!
I appreciate that!
I was just watching The Proper People's exploration video of this exact same mall when I got the notification. Honestly I love the retro aesthetic of the mall
My city! It’s original sister mall, Southridge, is still pretty successful and the main mall in the area. They’ve changed ownership a few times but they keep trying to reinvent the spaces and have added lots of new places in recent years such as a Round1 arcade, dicks sporting goods, and Tjmaxx. This area also experienced a large come up since the mall was built while the area that north ridge is in is almost a ghost town. The whole area is full of vacant commercial spaces and very eerie riding through. You can tell the area was originally built around the mall
Ooooh a Bright Sun abandoned video with stuff from The Proper People 😍 More videos like this could be an awesome part time channel
Here after ANOTHER f**king fire broke out in this mall. My God, what a mess
Imagine filming Northridge and Southridge malls in parallel in some Sci Fi dystopian or apocalyptic film or parallel universe film. I feel like using their similar base designs as an advantage would be an effective way at minimizing film budget costs.
At 0:33 you see an ATM in the lower left. The name of the company that provided the machine was TYME, an acronym for Take Your Money Everywhere. Back then, you could create a lot of confusion out of state by asking someone where you could find a “TYME machine”.
Awesome work!! I'm currently trying to watch all 75 Abandoned episodes im 23/76 complete
I edited my commented and it got unhearted, whoops 😭
I grew up in Hartford, WI, and I remember going there in the mid-70's. It was always a treat to go to Northridge! For me, the coolest attraction there were the escalators! I loved just going up and down.
Glad you're back Jake loved this series for the longest
In the late 80s when I was maybe 8, I ran up one of the escalators in that mall with my hands in my winter jacket pockets. Tripped an fell, hitting my chin on the edge of an escalator step. Got a few stitches from that. That’s my biggest memory from that mall
YES! Finally northridge mall getting recognized
YES! Few things make me get up with joy like seeing Jake post a new video!
Jan 25, 2024 Milwaukee granted ownership of Northridge mall, demolition planned
Heads up: The Kohl's store you show at 1:11 into the video isn't a Kohl's Department Store, but the elusive Kohl's Food Store started by Maxwell Kohl in 1946. Maxwell started the better known Department store in 1962. While they both retained the same name, given that they were owned by the same family, another company bought the majority stake in Kohl's, and eventually sold off the Kohl's Food Stores to A&P. In 2003, A&P closed Kohl's (Food Stores). The Madison locations were sold off to Roundy's, which was more recently bought out by Kroger, while many of its Milwaukee area locations have either remained vacant in lesser traveled places, or become home to Office Max stores in more premium retail locations. All former Kohl's Food Stores buildings still retain the curved rooftop.
Agreed…. The closest kohls “department” store was over in Brown deer on the north east corner of Brown deer Rd and Green bay road… or if you are really old school you would recall the dual grocery department store at hampton and appleton roads
Jake, these video essays are great, and will go down in history as great research resources.
That means a lot, thank you!
@@BrightSunFilms thanks for the reply! I'm also an electrical engineer so If you ever do an Abandonded episode on a power plant I'd be happy to answer any questions you have.
The picture of Kohl's @1:11 is of the Kohl's grocery chain. Same owner. Different stores. Not many people remember them but they were different.
Technically, they were all part of the same chain from 1962 (when Kohl's opened their first department store) until 1983 (when Kohl's Food Stores was peeled off from the department store chain and sold to A&P). But yeah, until 1983, the food and department stores were one company.
I doubt you’ll ever see this but as Barb’s cousin I really appreciate you using her maiden name. Every time someone uploads a video about this mall they use her married name and our whole family kinda hate when they do that
I remembered this one mall near me when I was living in Gurnee, Illinois as a kid growing up. The mall was called Lakehurst. It was built in early 1970’s to 2004. I remembered the mall started declining in the late 1980’s. I was in this one restaurant in the mall with her. We had brats in it. Even over time a few stores went out of business over the years. The mall was dated before it closed. Myself and my sister had fun memories of going to that mall in our teens.There was another mall built in the early 90’s about a mile away from my house with my family. I wanted to go to the mall to see a friend but, I didn’t go to it just 2 days before Christmas in 1991. The mall was so different and even brighter. Even my grandparents were in the mall with us. They were my mother’s parents at that time. We had a good time at that mall being only one floor. It has 2 food courts in the mall.
I love when you do ones about Malls! You should do some NJ malls! Like the old Wayne Hills Mall!
Just came across this video, as a MKE resident, great job!
A few points I’d also like to make to explain the downfall. Outside of crime in the area was Bayshore mall expanding during this time. Bayshore mall is only a short drive away, 10-15minutes. So when people started to get scared off that had an easy alternative. Or they went to Mayfair Mall. Again only 15-20 minutes away. Both of which are still thriving today, along with Southridge Mall.
Grew up going to this beautiful mall. We lived in a suburb not too far away. Sad how the whole area went to crap.. Nobody wanted to go to Northridge anymore. I have some home movies seeing Santa here in 1989 when I was three ❤️
The last time I was there I was about 16 so like 2002 or 03? My friend and I saw only a couple of people walking around. It was pretty much dead by then and kinda spooky. A few stores were still open and a KISS FM thing was set up in Radio Shack. They gave me an Incubus CD lol
I still have an Incubus CD 🤣
@@johneckert1365 haha me too! Actually I'm so old-school that I was still burning CDs up until 2021. My new car doesn't have a CD player in it 😪
@stephanieseonbuchner I'm not even sure where my CD case is, but it's FULL of CD's haha
I live in Northern Wisconsin (Eagle River) now, but still visit Milw often for work & family stuff. Still go to Southridge once or twice a year. Kopp's Frozen Custard is a must every trip :)
@@johneckert1365 I haven't been to either place in a loong time! Did you guys get a lot of snow up there? My cousin Nathan lives in Eagle River with his family :)
1:08 - My mom told me, when she lived in the Milwaukee area in the 1950s for a couple of years, *Kohls* began as a grocery/supermarket.
This was my childhood mall in the late 80s / early 90s and the decline was 100% because of the crime in the area. Pretty sad.
Fun to watch this one as a long term viewer of your channel that lives in the Milwaukee area
Most of the fully abandoned dead malls you see are either from the 80's and 90's, or have been torn down. Seeing one with an interior this (relatively) modern is striking.
You are one of the few who have a mic that doesn't sound like total crap, and isn't compressed to space and back. Thank you
Good content too
I like your "abandoned" the best for the commentary. you do your homework and keep me sucks into it. I spend more time listening than watching.
Thanks!
One of my local malls, Fair Oaks Mall in Fairfax VA, was also developed by Taubman Centers and has a very similar design to Northridge and Southridge Mall. Pretty cool!
Funny, I worked at Northridge at the start of its decline. I then packed my bags and moved to VA to work with the Fair Oaks Management team.
Crime is off the charts here in Milwaukee...it's not imaginary.
Yup. "Crime rumors" is not accurate. Crime is just a reality on the Northside of Milwaukee. It played (and continues to play) a major part in the decline of that area.
I live near Baton Rouge, LA and it has never been able to handle more than 1 mall. First was Bon Marche Mall. then Cortana Mall. When Cortana opened Bon Marche folded. Then the Mall of Louisiana opened in south BR and Cortana eventually folded. But both old malls have been turned around. Bon Marche became a technology park with multiple businesses (still very active today) and last year Amazon bought the Cortana site, demolished it & a new delivery & fulfillment center is currently being built. It will bring much needed employment to the area. Things can turn around for old malls if they’re in the right hands.
Best part of this video is when you talk about Montreal at the very end haha (which is really really nice city)
This was really good, I grew up in Milwaukee and have some very positive core memories of Northridge Mall. For those who don’t know Milwaukee is an extremely segregated city and this was a factor in the demise as well.
Segregation might be one of the reasons some parts of Milwaukee are still beautiful and productive 🤷♂️
@@johneckert1365 What a guy KKK much?
Low income ..low income…housing was the problem take the racial component out of it , I worked next to Northridge for years and I saw with my own eyes what happened ! Along with the mall they also built a very nice apartment complex across the street called Northridge lakes , eventually the city of Milwaukee in cooperation with the developer of the mall and apartment owners turned it into section 8 housing which has nothing to do with race because I had friends that lived in those apartments that were of all different races ! When the Section 8 people moved in crime exploded , the property became very run down , and the drug game basically took it over , now those are just facts. Wether any of us like it or not the truth is all around this country when section 8 housing comes to a neighborhood the property becomes very unsafe and the neighborhood deteriorates…not in every case , but in most cases it does happen.
I lived in Milwaukee for most of my life but had to move out of Wisconsin 8 years ago , I agree that Milwaukee has had its problems with racial issues but can I tell you something…I really miss Milwaukee because for the most part I found it to be a place where all the various races and ethnicity’s got along well together and I really miss the diversity of my beloved Milwaukee , every big city has problems but for the most part the people of Milwaukee of all races , creeds , and ethnic backgrounds lived and worked together peacefully and I still think the people of Milwaukee were the nicest people I’ve ever been around…
@@johnnash297 Nope, not one bit.
As a long time subscriber and Milwaukee resident, I was thrilled to see this!
Absolutely fantastic story from a fantastic channel.
Thank you!
Glad you did this video. I live north of mall. The surrounding area has gotten really bad. I frequent at the Menards next to the old mall. I've had to pull my carry on two people at the parking lot. I'm glad you made it out of there safetly.