Attention! Completely remastered episodes of the Dead Mall Series are now being archived in 4K at th-cam.com/channels/fCM_TfrSDMkkMpKuLNWuXA.html. The remasters have gone through an extensive AI Enhancement process as well as proper sound mixing and colorization. This Dead Mall Series Remastered project has been made possible through viewer support on Patreon. Go over now and watch in glorious 4K. ENJOY!
This video was particularly emotional for me, as I live near Oak Hollow Mall and spent many hours there as a teen. The mall is a relic of one of the happiest times of my life. My family and I were some of its first patrons as we shopped for school clothes in the summer of 1995 just before my senior year of high school. I saw Godzilla, The Matrix, and many other films in that movie theater. And for a period of several years almost every Christmas gift I bought for a family member or a friend was purchased in one of the mall's many clean, modern stores. I remember how proud I felt at the sight of my own reflection in the mall's storefront windows as I walked hand-in-hand with my first serious girlfriend, with whom I shared so many happy hours there. I also remember the sadness I felt after she and I broke up, and the emptiness that consumed me so thoroughly whenever I saw that same reflection in those same windows, now alone. I suppose it's fitting that my most enduring memory of that place is a depressing one, considering the way in which the mall fell into such agonizing decay before its eventual, premature end. Dan, your videos are amazing, and I think I speak for everyone when I say we appreciate what you do, but mostly how you do it. These old places have a lot to say to those who are willing to listen, so thanks for knowing when to "stay out of the way" and let the imagery speak for itself.
I have so many cool memories of malls growing up. My towns mall, and malls on holidays! They were great. I Remember seeig Home Alone at my mall theatre. 3 screens, each were tiny compared today's. But for me as a kid it was huge!! I can't imagine how huge must just feel normal for kids today.
I think one of the reasons why Dan's dead-mall videos strike a chord with people is because it reminds people of the transience of time and the decay of "mall culture." Many people associate malls with happiness and childhood, and to see these old places boarded up and rotting is a sharp contrast.
Yeah man, nothing lasts forever. I'm about your age. I graduated in '95 and live in Hickory, NC. I was dating a girl in 95-97 and we would always go to Hanes Mall and Four Seasons in Greensboro. I really miss ice skating at Eastland Mall in Charlotte. We never went to this mall. I think it was a good idea at the time, but maybe more people went to the bigger malls in Winston Salem and Greensboro. Valley Hills Mall in Hickory is still doing well. I guess it's all about location and competition. I really hate to see these malls go away, but glad I got to enjoy them. Even though ordering online is convenient it will never compare to shopping at a mall. You can't beat the atmosphere and overall experience. Like you seeing your reflection, the sounds, and different smells. That might sound funny, but the mall has a lot to offer besides just shopping. Some of my fondest memories are spending hours in the arcade and just hanging out with friends roaming around, checking out girls and the latest gadgets. The smell of pizza, sweet baked cookies, and the chlorine smell from the fountains. Valley Hills used to have a lot of water fountains and like a little waterfall and they took all that out. Such a shame.
“We are born into this time and must bravely follow the path to the destined end. There is no other way. Our duty is to hold on to the lost position, without hope, without rescue, like that Roman soldier whose bones were found in front of a door in Pompeii, who, during the eruption of Vesuvius, died at his post because they forgot to relieve him. That is greatness. That is what it means to be a thoroughbred. The honorable end is the one thing that can not be taken from a man.”
The Bath and Body Works and Victoria's Secret still operating like nothing's going on.. haha The violin players on the Titanic is the perfect way to describe it.
This guy never actually shows us what's inside those stores that are still open. We're curious as to how they operate. Probably doesn't fit the narrative but still, it'd be interesting to see.
Sure as hell cleaner than most dead malls. The paint looks good, nothing looks shabby. It's such a shame a building so nice will probably get torn down. It could easily be reused for many purposes.
I was touched by your description of the custodian cleaning the handrails, taking pride in the job that won't be there in the foreseeable future. I used to travel a lot and usually found myself without anything to do one night, so I'd go to the mall wherever I was (even the small cities had one), have dinner at the food court, and just walk around and see what businesses they had. This was in the '90's and the malls were lively places, lots of people walking around (even on a Tuesday night). I watch your videos and feel sad that they've become these hollow shells, these lonely places...
with the right marketing, some of these dying malls could probably attract a lot of hipster youths looking for a bizarre 90s experience. play actual vaporwave on the speakers, have all custodians wear 90s fashion, and try to open up some stores catering to the current retro trend, such as record stores, urban outfitters with their polaroid cameras, and second-hand stores in general. i feel like it could be a hit, at least for a couple of years!
Cupriferous Catalyst Terrible idea actually. The idea is to have retailers present, a nice arcade, good food, and the place well maintained. Its not the hipsters they gotta appeal to, its the generations of the past present and future that must be appealed to, a reminder of when times were simpler and different, when current trends were not a thing yet. Keeping the mall hangout tradition alive is the most important thing. Vaporwave you said? God no, ACTUAL music from that time period would fit. Im not saying vaporwave is bad but it seems more logical to have music that was popular at the time to be played.
If this mall was built in 1995, then it was probably never remodeled. Meaning, we are looking into a snap shop of pure, untainted, 1990's design and architecture. Just let that sink in for a moment as we watch this in 2017.
While I dislike modern architecture overall, I do somewhat have a nostalgic soft spot the ａｅｓｔｈｅｔｉｃｓ of malls and buildings of the 90s. It's pretty gaudy, yet comfy. BTW Japan still has some lively malls, some even still look a bit 90s (albeit Japan 90s)
Update on the mall August 2019: The university bought most of the enclosed mall in 2011 for $9 million and later two outparcels and a former Sears store. In 2017, HPU closed the mall except for a Dillard’s clearance center it does not own. The university at one point talked about locating new graduate programs and athletic facilities on the mall property. But it ultimately opted to build a new pharmacy and health sciences building and the basketball arena on its main campus. The mall property has seen plenty of use since the university bought it eight years ago. HPU converted a former JCPenney store to a community center, which it uses for a number of public events. A former Circuit City store is now a pro bono physical therapy clinic run by the university. HPU uses the mall’s parking area for large campus events, such as commencement and its annual two-night Christmas celebration.
@@yungsahara2769 I know. And UNCG and Greensboro College practically bought a good portion of Greensboro, only that bit Greensboro College in the ass later and their former corrupt and greedy president Cravin (Craving Cash) Williams. They bought more than they could chew.
I just went to Granite run mall in December 2016. the day before new years. Boscov's was surprisingly packed, and Sears was pretty quiet. Those were the only 2 things standing, due to the demolition of the granite run mall. JCPenney was also demolished. they are now breaking ground, as it appears like it from my visit.
Christopher Edgar yeah. They're putting a place called cinebowl where JC Penny was. It's like a mix of a bowling alley, movies, bar and restaurant. I know where chi-chi's used to be and where the current AMC is will be apartments at one point
You know, I was just writing the same thing on Dan's FB page - I can't put my finger on it. Half nostalgia, half a slightly creepy feeling I get watching these empty malls (Dan's soundtracks add to this).
The part about how ruthless mall walkers are when standing on the "trackway" was hilarious and could easily see this going down. This is what I'm for. As Joe H said, Dan's narration is on point.
im in my mid 20s and i still prefer physical shopping over online shopping and consider the upcharge a convenience fee. i hate waiting for my stuff to come in the mail, even if it's overnight shipping. if i want it, i want it NOW. plus, it's hard to really discern sizes online no matter how accurate their sizing chart is, you always get a weird-ass sized piece of clothing. nothing like trying it on and smiling at yourself in the mirror.
@@BudFuddlacker Not a millenial, an informed and demanding consumer. If I pay the money I expect a degree of service and quality. In this case, I want my products at the time I render payment, not days after the fact. I don't see how expecting that is a generational effect.
It’s pretty funny when your kid gets this on their recommendations, watches it, and says “hey mom, I see your picture on this video “ I had no idea I was in this!
Loppy Lips same, as a kid i went there a lot. too bad the college bought it. its also sad how a walmart had to put of a "we love high point university!" banner to not get bought.
WHATTT???? You guys mall suck. Malls like this deserve to die, you guys are not keeping with the times. Y'all need to come to Dubai or Asia. Malls here are so new and invigorating.
too bad the college bought it? first off, its a university and secondly its been nearly empty for years now...HPU is doing the city a huge favor by purchasing this waste of space
Ayye Thats my city. I was hoping you would do this mall! Thanks for doing it. This mall use to be "The Mall" to go to. Full of life and stores, but that was in 2001. Check out the Randolph Mall is Salisbury NC. It's even weirder, older and barely hanging on.
Terrence Henderson Do you mean Randolph Mall in Asheboro? There a small one there and it's very very depressing, but the one time I was there it was filled with people.
Josh Leonard the mall im speaking off is the one in Salisbury nc, i think its called Salisbury mall, no randolph mall... i misspoke. however both malls are depressing. but salisbury mall is... anicent!
Growinggreedylittlepiggy That was the mall I always went to. Last time I was there it was emptier than I had ever seen it. Malls are really going out of style.
I'm about an hour and a half away from High Point, and I can tell you that North Carolina is full of dying/dead malls. Statesville, High Point, Shelby, Monroe, and even Charlotte. Keep in mind all these cities are all within 2 1/2 - 3 hours of eachother.
Shelby Mall has been crappy since it opened. They never had more than a couple of good stores but always had lower end unbranded stores "Dollar Bonanza", "Candle Collection", and "Nails-N-Hair". I bet I stopped at the Denny's out front 10x more than I ever went into the mall. You must be local...Eastridge in Gastonia is dying but it's also a warzone at night. Young 'toughs' (trying to not to use bad language)...oh...ok...some young little shits are always fighting, keying cars, stealing stuff. We had a 74 year old woman carjacked by a 15 year old...sad.
Yes, dying or dead Malls in Kinston, Elizabeth City, Carolina East in Greenville died years ago, but Crabtree Valley in Raleigh still thriving, going there takes you back to the hay-day of the mall.
Jay Raxter The only good thing about the mall in Shelby is the movie theater. They had a really nice arcade and and KB Toys and a Walden books back in the 90's/early 2000s. And the Eastridge mall is going downhill quickly. Very sad.
JustinnnTyler I went to the Carolina place mall this past Monday the Macy's there is leaving the mall I used to live in Charlotte before I moved in 2013 and came back for my spring break and the most of the shops are different now it didn't have the same feel to it
All I feel is a sense of nostalgia and sadness watching this. So many memories tied to this large building. I remember eating in that food court and it being full of people. Playing in that arcade as well. Saddens me so.
Most office buildings and malls rent their plants from a greenhouse. The greenhouse has maintenance people who come around to care for the plants. These will probably be "re-homed" if they fit in somewhere. If not, they'll be left to die. No point in paying maintenance people for a plant that isn't generating money.
So weird to hear Dan say "I'm so glad I got to film this before it went extinct", like it's an endangered animal. And yet, for much of the country, malls are very much entering the dustbin of history, and we may not see grand shopping plazas like this again. Thank you, Dan!
Dan, this a a very good series, and a valuable contribution to the historical record. Some day you might consider providing copies to the National Archives, or Smithsonian. At some time in the not to distant future, maybe in a generation or so, there will be no surviving, functional malls. Hard story to believe, but that day is coming. Your Titanic analogy is quite appropriate. In 1968, Regency Square in Jacksonville, FL drew people from a radius of 50 miles. It's parking lots were full 16 hours a day, and during the Christmas season, dozens of uniformed police in cruisers were on site for traffic control. Sometimes there were lines to get in at all. It was the Rolls Royce of Northeast Florida malls. It had a heyday of nearly 35 years, but I hear it isn't a safe place now, and is on death watch. Hard to comprehend. Tampa Bay Center in Tampa was a premier mall, but after a kerfuffle with some black advocacy organizations concerning mall "maintenance closure" (to prevent shoplifting) when black colleges played football at the nearby stadium, it had ugly lawsuits, costly settlements and eventually failed. It was another top of the line regional mall. Dead, and bulldozed. Almost as important as the malls themselves, is knowing why they die. I suggest that you autopsy each mall, at least to some degree, and share that information. You've seen and examined dozens of them. You know them well. Why do you think the old mall business model is failing? My sense is that as with most disasters, there are numerous small failures that undermine them bit by bit until they fail Here are my thoughts: 1) Too many malls built in one market, eroding business volumes, older malls have higher costs and can't compete, and start too lose business 2) malls then cut security, then gangs and thugs start hanging out, this makes traditional shoppers uneasy and they go elsewhere 3) teens and improperly dressed girls start loitering, drawing more loitering boys who are menacing to regular customers. Mall Walkers turn the customer shopping experience into a conflict with power walking fanatics who take up space and cause annoyances, but buy little if anything 4) as customer volumes continue to drop, revenues fall, malls further cut security and maintenance, and increase rents 5) shops start experiencing increases in theft and shoplifting, and have falling volumes, and declining revenues, and then have to reduce staff and cut inventory, so the stores aren't as attractive as they once were 6) poor service and fewer selections of merchandise cause even more potential customers to go elsewhere 7) eventually, due to massive youth loitering, baggy pants, hoodies, loud music, drug use, smoking, violence occurs either in the mall or outside in the parking lot. This usually attracts major media coverage, and consequently frightens away middle class customers forever, and mall death becomes inevitable. Other things can trigger mall decline, including competition from smaller, more convenient shopping centers, to online Amazon.com. I cannot remember the last time I was in a mall. One final thing Dan, I believe malls became a viable business model back in the '60 and' 70s because there was a vibrant, affluent, clearly defined, growing American middle class. Over the past 25 years, federal government policies have severely damaged the middle class economically. The once bubbling wellspring of revenue that flowed into the malls, and supported them with elbow to elbow shoppers on Friday nights and weekends for decades has essentially dried up for most middle Americans. Statistics show that Middle class incomes have fallen, and family budgets have tightened for decades. The once thronged salmon and aqua tiled food courts are empty now. So are the cavernous Sears and Montgomery Ward stores, along with many others we knew so well when we strolled those corridors with our moms in years past. The glorious, luxurious ocean liners of days past were supplanted by cramped airplanes. And Like the steamships of the past, the proud, beautiful malls of the 1970s and 80s have become anachronisms because the economic class that supported them has essentially died off. The Magnificent malls of yesterday have been replaced, not a with bigger and better business model, but one far less enjoyable: Walmart. In my cursory examination, The rise of Walmart correlates to the decline of malls, and the death of traditional American downtowns. And of course most of the stuff sold in Walmart is imported from... China, Vietnam, Mexico and other foreign countries. One thing is for sure, over the coming years, you will likely have quite a few more dead and dying malls as subject matter for your series.
Hmmm I agree with some things you are claiming but I can see many biases and stereotypes in your response that makes me question the intent or background of your message.
That is super interesting about the mall walkers! I had no idea that was why they would just run into me while I am trying to open the gate to get into work. I just assumed they were just incredibly rude. Will keep in mind to not stand on the tiles when I am opening the gate, geez!!
I’m a Mall-Cruiser, but I ain’t like them nut-jobs, Downtown Winnipeg is a great place to Mallwalk due to the skywalks and corridors and underground malls. I can’t wait til Dan comes here, he will love it
Gabriel Duarte passed through Philadelphia airport in 2012 and it felt like being in an 80s mall/subway station. Despite being busy it actually felt like a dying mall.
Me too! A friend’s mom had just picked up her blk/blk/blk 99’ mustang cobra convertible that week from preorder. We took it to watch Star Wars episode 1 there.
I used to shop here and it was a pretty nice mall. It wasn't too large, decent movie theater and fairly convenient. It's sad to see what happened to it (I haven't lived in that area in over 10 years). RIP Oak Hollow.
Reply to myself 4 years later. It's a bit sad watching this video. I took my son to that movie theater to see Finding Nemo when he was a wee lad. It was the first movie he and I ever saw together in a theater and what a great first movie to see with your son. That wee lad is getting married now....how time flies.
I just discovered this series and am quite surprised. I actually come from Poland, a middle- European country which is in many ways very behind the times. The first malls started to pop up in the mid 90s as far as I know, and their popularity just doesn't end! New ones keep being build to a point where it becomes a joke! Not all succeed of course. I actually did end up visiting one where the place didn't even have lights on the corridors. A guy from security had to direct me to the one store that was still open in it. But... those are still huge exceptions, not the norm. All of this makes me wonder when the malls will all fall over here.
Ehhh, gosh, sorry, even if I still lived in Poland, I think my "living under a rock" attitude would not allow me to make any interesting content of that kind
I use this channel to reflect on the good times I had at a number of NC malls including Oak Hollow. The one I really miss is Eastland Mall in Charlotte. It was the biggest mall in the state when it opened. It featured three stories with an ice skating rink on the ground floor. I say this here because Eastland Mall's closure predates Dan Bell's videos on his TH-cam channels.
Oh jeez I would love to, but the photos are back at my parent's house. Imagine a bright red sequin jacket and mile high hair with bright red lipstick. I was 16 but looked 34 lmao
I hate it when the obituaries page has Glamour Shots as the deceased photo. Shame on the families that use that photo for their female loved one. Don't they know it makes their mother, aunt , etc. look ridiculous?
I live 15 minutes away from here, and I remember walking into Oak Hollow for the first time in 2016 when it was pretty much already dead. It was just sad. On top of that, I knew very dedicated people who would shop at Oak Hollow to do what little help they can monetarily. It was really something else.
...and here we are, in 2020. All retail in it's final death throws. It was a great run while it lasted. Watching these videos brings back great memories, now lost forever. Thanks Dan...
This was always my favorite place to go as a little boy, i remember seeing spider Man 2 in the movie theater. Being dragged down to Dillard's by my grandmother, trying on 7 different pairs of jeans. My mother worked in a store there very briefly and we would go visit here and ride down the big mirror elevator, seeing her at the cash register waveing to me. So sad to see it go, some great memories there.
Gilitar same here. I have worked for kroger for almost 20 years and its sad to see where things are going. Its seems like amazon will be all there is in the end for non food stuff
Alexandra Smith maybe eventually but i think my employer will be around for a while. They are opening up a new marketplace in about 4 months. Unless something horrific happens id say they have five to ten years at least
I’ve always loved the 80s/90s and everything about it, the style and fashion, the music, the architecture aesthetics, all the skyscrapers from the 80s and malls
For a now extinct mall, up until it’s last day you can it was very well kept. Usually dying malls look dirty, they’re dark, they just have a poor look to them but this mall was very clean and had great natural lighting. It was actually a very pretty mall I really loved the interior of it and all the plants looked so healthy and happy like you said.
I don't think the surge of Online Shopping was the downfall of malls. Here in Mexico where I live people online shop all the time because there's things that you can't get in stores, but they still visit the two biggest malls int he city, one is high end (Liverpool, Sears (this sears I'm talking about is comparable to a Liverpool) and a Cinepolis cinema are it's anchors) and the other is low end (a supermarket called Soriana and a Cinepolis cinema without VIP service are it's anchors). There was a project for a smaller mall called Pabellón Reforma, but never took off and it's pretty deserted, only a gym and a few very small stores including a nail parlor are operating, oh and a party place for kids. I think it's anchor is a casino and a bank. Other than that it's pretty depressing to go in there, it's downfall was the rent prices going up without them needing to, though, not online shopping. Rent prices and an inability to have more variety, and possibly the casino. Believe me, it's not online shopping that's destroying malls in the US, it's rent prices going up due to gentrification, the rise in criminality (parking lots aren't safe anymore, for example), and the lack of real variety malls have to offer, always the same stores and they didn't really cater to everyone... oh and the fact that teenagers weren't all that welcome in malls anymore. People, specially teenagers, still get together to go eat and have fun, but malls don't welcome them anymore because apparently sitting at a bench after shopping, eating an ice-cream and chatting is loitering. So a lot of mall owners (and owners of other places where teens tend to gather) have installed devices that emit a high frequency pitch that must older adults can't hear. They call it the Mosquito. I've heard it myself, even though I'm 29, and it's so annoying to the point that it infuriates me... It makes me dizzy, even nauseous and I have to leave the place. Other have implemented more mall security to tell the teens to go away and loiter somewhere else. Teens were one of the driving forces of malls, be it for just an ice-cream or to go clothes shopping, window shopping, watching a movie, etc, teens loved malls... now they don't like them much anymore because of how they are treated in them...
Fern Leaves Studio Creo que la nueva tirada en México es construir complejos habitacionales con centro comercial en las plantas bajas, como el que está haciendo al lado de Centro Coyoacán
@@dr.lyleevans6915 If it's racist to not want to be around a group of people that are likely to shoot you or rob you, then so be it. But I'd call it logical.
Woke up, made some coffee, turned on youtube and what do you know! A new dead mall series AND another dirty room, at the same time, this is going to be a good day. Thank you Dan, you are doing gods work my friend. Greetings from Canada.
I absolutely love this series. “Yeah, drackie” at the beginning had me in tears. The editing with the 90s footage and my new fave genre of music thanks to you is just so nostalgic and makes me happy in a way I can’t explain. Thanks Dan Bell for creating my favourite series on TH-cam
6:05 I like that gnc and bath and body works are actually across from each other, with vibrant lights and all, operating like the mall isn't dying or anything.
I was born in the early '90s and grew up a few minutes from this mall. From what I remember my mom saying, many residents of High Point were surprised when it was built, and didn't believe that our relatively small city (High Point had less than 100,000 inhabitants then) could sustain it. Nonetheless, this video called to mind the numerous fun times my friends, family and I spent there in the late '90s and early '00s. I enjoyed a birthday party at the arcade shown at 2:55. The shop at 4:23 was a bakery, where sugar-coated cookie cakes would allure the toddlers who tottered by. A hat store stood just across, where preteens like myself would try on flatbill hats. Doing this would make us look "gangster" in a cool way, or so we thought, haha. So, to anyone viewing this video, I want to convey a last message. Maybe it's my attempt at an elegy. Seeing this mall now, all you can perceive is a well-kept ghost town of strolling seniors and vacant space. But in its day, Oak Hallow played host to the subtle but deepest realms of human experience: growing up, friendships strengthening, passing time with family who no longer exist. From the Ancient Agora and earlier, we have gathered in commercial spaces that have, intentionally or not, nurtured these most essential elements of a human life. When you remember a mausoleum like Oak Hallow, remember that history too.
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Let's all take a moment to appreciate how good soundmixer, editor, and cameraman Bell is. Quality in the framing, sounds and edits all around.
The comparison between the Titanic and failing malls is also really interesting because of what you mentioned; the few stores clinging to life. On the Titanic as it went down, people well aware of their fate would retire to the lounges and smoking rooms for a game of cards and a brandy with their friends. The stewards attending to them like they would and thus still doing their jobs, like that janitor. The dim lighting, lack of people walking around, abandoned rooms with the furnishings left behind like they left in the middle of what they were doing and the echoing music goes for both the mall and the ship. It’s the same feeling in a really bizarre way.
A lot of us older people are crying for the 80s the days of peace and true nostalgia and no cell phones or virtual reality or all this crap, it was last decade of innocence, I commend your ability to see this beautiful era without experiencing it, good young man you are!!.
M. H. No kidding. Absolutely miss those days....No cell phones, no internet, and no Walmart. The kids nowadays have no patience and expects everything right now. I really think ADHD is being caused by this. You wanted that cool new thing on TV? Send a check or money order. I think if I asked anyone 30 and under what "SASE" means they don't have a clue. Heck...I've had my nieces do a 'well check' on me because I didn't answer my cell....that was actually funny....I had gone to a local park and I had turned it off. They could NOT understand why....
SASE .... self-addressed stamped envelope ? Funny you say that... I'm 30 and even though I heard it a million times on TV ads back in the day, I can't say I've sent any of those in my time. I'll be the first to admit that I wish I could have been born in the mid-70s rather than mid-80s. I feel like I missed out on so much great stuff.
Yes, SASE's! I sent a few of those in my youth. Don't feel bad, Rejean. I was born in '71 and have long felt cheated that I missed the 60's! I guess everyone's nostalgic for something.
That was a great description of "mall walkers" lol. Make "dead malls" great again. Most malls will die out, if there are no people shopping there. Trying to convert malls and use them for other things is not an easy task. They are simply not that economical when it comes to heating and other things, and conversion costs money. Most of the time it is cheaper to demolish and build something else on the property. Everything will move online eventually, and the only thing left are things that are not practical to buy online, and the place you go to buy things will only be showrooms, so you do your shopping there and figure out what you need, then place a order online. Then pick it up at a pickup point. The more you can skip shopping the better and just stay at home, in front of the computer. Doing things IRL is so hard, you get tired, you have to drive somewhere, interact with people you do not like. Dan Bell, the KING film maker of dead malls :-D
I mostly buy everything except fresh food online now. Even if I have to go into a store these days it's just a grab and go job, or watching a movie at the theatre. I hate to see Malls getting demolished, but the big silver lining is we save a ton of energy by not traveling to and keeping these megamall relics powered.
Yeah, that is how I see it. Gigantic shopping malls are a thing of the past. It is hard to re purpose a building like a shopping mall. You have high costs for conversion, enormous heating costs, lots of dead space like walking paths. Sure it is a indoor mall but still, they cost a lot of money to run and when people think more about saving money etc, these places will eventually die. Over here where I am, Europe. We do not have many dead malls, reason is that most of these big malls became popular after 2000 so most of them are build in areas with lots of population, city centers and buildings surrounding them. Also we do not have that many malls. The other type of mall is outdoors with lots of buildings spread around. More of a gathering of lots of business places. Anyway, I love these videos and the prime reason is the flashbacks to 90s 80s with lots of neon, and funky designs etc. That is kind of gone now and I find that a bit sad. I do not like ultra modern things, black and white themes everywhere. Hope we get some more mall videos from Dan Bell.
Oh, that was nice. I guess there is some use for old malls, but most will probably be demolished. It is hard to convert such a specific special building into something else. But that is true for most buildings anyway, there is a limit to what you can do from a economical standpoint.
10:22 Christine Ann McVie Rest in Peace 1943 2022 The song is "Everywhere" off the 14th Studio album from Fleetwood Mac "Tango in the Night" and it was written by Christine McVie who also sang the lead vocal part of the song.
Malls in my area (Ithaca-Binghamton-Elmira,NY) are doing ok. Certainly past their primes from when I was a kid, but more stores are open in them than not and still very popular for going to the movies. Great series, Dan, as depressing as it can sometimes be.
Love the segment where Buffalo Bill sings “Everywhere” to us, absolutely brilliant, chilling and depressing all at once. That tune would likely have been playing over the sound system at some point in all the malls in the Dead series.
Good news for former Oak Hollow shoppers. There's the Hanes Mall in Winston-Salem. It's big and awesome. 5 anchors, a food court, two play areas, and a carousel.
I really love your dead mall videos. It definitely feels both nostalgic and tragic all the same. Commentary, how you capture the scenery, and music is on point. Stirs up some strange emotions for sure. Thanks, Dan.
It's so... CLEAN!!! Compared to some of the other malls you have been in, this is like the Ritz Carlton of dead or dying malls, I expect to see a guy in a butler's outfit with white gloves, running his fingers over every surface and then checking his fingertips.
Thank you for the look back. I was there the day the mail opened. The whole town was excited for this new shopping facility. I enjoyed going to oak Hallow it was always so clean and safe. I was sad to see it go but HPU seems to be taking good care of it now
This mall is only 20 minutes away from me! It's planning to shut down this month(March of 2017). No one really knows why this mall hasn't took off or continued to be popular because it is right across from HPU. I went to Oak Hollow because of the discounted Dillard's store, it was a great place to shop!
Mall walking is *still* really big. The Mall of America has 3 different "courses" you can complete. And while the MOA has been mostly remodeled, I get delight out of spotting similar salmon and turquoise tiles in a few remaining areas!
hey thank you for making a video about this place, i visited this mall a lot when i was younger and it has a special place in my heart its nice to see the inside again after all these years and see the spots i remember from years ago
This mall looks so much like a mall I used to go to as a teen in South Africa in the 90's maybe they used the plans to build the same design!! freaky!!!
South African here. It kind of reminds me of how the Fourways Mall looked like back in the day. It's located in northern suburbs of Johannesburg. It has however been completely remodeled since then as part of a huge redevelopment project & doesn't look like this anymore. But the resemblance is uncanny. It's crazy to think that they are currently carrying out a massive expansion of that mall while the malls are dropping like flies in the US. Makes you wonder how sustainable it will be.
tommy hammond hahaha for sure nobody wanted to end up there. I think they had a good hat store though..Was just at Valley River Center though looking strong.
joshpoe Yeah valley river is holding up pretty well. it sucked when they turned gateway into an outlet though, it was just a big waste of money especially when they took out movies 12, that was a big mistake.
Did you notice you started to get depressed the more you did these? Nostalgia can be a powerful thing, both good and bad. I’ve watched a few of these dead mall and abandoned building videos, and they can start to get you down after a while. I think for the people who lived through the good times, when these structures were lively, it can be sad to see everything change.
I've said it before. I think the reasons these malls in the US are dying because they are poorly managed and never updated. They look the way they did when they were opened. My local shopping centre (aka mall) in the UK opened in 1990, and since then, has been renovated twice, and is currently undergoing a third renovation. Even when a store closes, it's quickly replaced by another one, so there's never really just empty store fronts. Or maybe it's because too many malls in the US were opened during the mall hype?
Yeah this mall never took off because within a 30 minute drive in either direction are two giant regional malls which had been around for about 20 years before this one opened, plus a large upscale outdoor mall in the neighboring city
Louise Cole I think the reason is, like you said, too many malls. Here in Finland the malls do just fine. No sign of any of them dieing in the cities as far as I know. There's usually couple malls per city and only one in smaller cities.
Louise Cole -- you are fortunate, and it sounds like your mall is blessed with "location, location location". Sadly, most of the old-fashioned mega indoor malls here in America are not so blessed. In fact, Credit Suisse released a report in 2017 that predicted up to 25 percent of these big indoor malls will be closed within 5 years. That might even be a rather conservative estimate. It's a vicious cycle that they can't pull out of. Mere updating is not going to save them. The customer base is simply gone, and it's not going to return. They are victims of many things, such as overbuilding so there's simply too many for any given regional area. Also of fewer shoppers who go "brick & mortar" shopping nowadays, as opposed to online. Sure, lots of people still enjoy the physical shopping experience, so "brick & mortar" will never be entirely gone. But when you have an alternate such as the ease of the internet, then the shopping experience is going to have to be a lot more than wandering around in some 1970s/80s relic that's about as populated as a ghost town (shoppers AND stores!). And the vast weakening of the "anchor stores" -- old-style department stores that people have left (for decades now) in droves, has also served to destroy these malls. The Sears, Penneys, and even Macys name isn't going to pull anyone to a big indoor mall anymore, hence why most of the spaces are empty. People who do like to get out and shop actually want a more intimate experience now. They don't care about having 80 to 150 stores all "right there in one place". Bigger is no longer "better". Aside from the most ardent "window shoppers", who's going to go to a mall and stroll for practically miles looking at a hundred store-fronts nowadays? Most young people don't have the time; they want a smaller space so as to maybe to hit a "couple-three" stores, and maybe 1 nice restaurant, and they want them close enough around to them fast. Restaurants with open-air seating areas along these "life style center" malls are far more desirable than a mega food-court with a dozen different (usually inferior) fast-food style fare. (And where you're eating in a vast indoor sea of tables and chairs). Sorry, but things have changed, and smart planners are designing with these changes in mind. Unless they can "remake" and "re-purpose" themselves, these mega indoor malls are on their way to extinction. [Just as shoppers slowly but relentlessly moved from the big, old-style department stores like Sears, Penneys, Wards (and their up-scale brethren like Macys, Marshall-Field, the Broadway) to the Walmarts and the Targets.]
There are dying malls in the UK too. One difference is that malls are mainly built in the cities in the UK, wheras I think in the US they can be in the middle of nowhere (well, suburbia)
"These Mall Walkers are Psychotic and Dangerous" seems like an amazing t-shirt opportunity for the Dead Mall Series. I'm obsessed with these videos, Dan. I'm almost through all of them!!
So far the best music selection in a dead mall you have reviewed. 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣I was jamming with my headphones when you started to flim the food court and stairs 😝😝😝😝
Attention! Completely remastered episodes of the Dead Mall Series are now being archived in 4K at th-cam.com/channels/fCM_TfrSDMkkMpKuLNWuXA.html. The remasters have gone through an extensive AI Enhancement process as well as proper sound mixing and colorization. This Dead Mall Series Remastered project has been made possible through viewer support on Patreon. Go over now and watch in glorious 4K. ENJOY!
This video was particularly emotional for me, as I live near Oak Hollow Mall and spent many hours there as a teen. The mall is a relic of one of the happiest times of my life. My family and I were some of its first patrons as we shopped for school clothes in the summer of 1995 just before my senior year of high school. I saw Godzilla, The Matrix, and many other films in that movie theater. And for a period of several years almost every Christmas gift I bought for a family member or a friend was purchased in one of the mall's many clean, modern stores.
I remember how proud I felt at the sight of my own reflection in the mall's storefront windows as I walked hand-in-hand with my first serious girlfriend, with whom I shared so many happy hours there. I also remember the sadness I felt after she and I broke up, and the emptiness that consumed me so thoroughly whenever I saw that same reflection in those same windows, now alone. I suppose it's fitting that my most enduring memory of that place is a depressing one, considering the way in which the mall fell into such agonizing decay before its eventual, premature end.
Dan, your videos are amazing, and I think I speak for everyone when I say we appreciate what you do, but mostly how you do it. These old places have a lot to say to those who are willing to listen, so thanks for knowing when to "stay out of the way" and let the imagery speak for itself.
Very eloquently put...
I have so many cool memories of malls growing up. My towns mall, and malls on holidays! They were great.
I Remember seeig Home Alone at my mall theatre. 3 screens, each were tiny compared today's. But for me as a kid it was huge!! I can't imagine how huge must just feel normal for kids today.
I think one of the reasons why Dan's dead-mall videos strike a chord with people is because it reminds people of the transience of time and the decay of "mall culture." Many people associate malls with happiness and childhood, and to see these old places boarded up and rotting is a sharp contrast.
Yeah man, nothing lasts forever. I'm about your age. I graduated in '95 and live in Hickory, NC. I was dating a girl in 95-97 and we would always go to Hanes Mall and Four Seasons in Greensboro. I really miss ice skating at Eastland Mall in Charlotte. We never went to this mall. I think it was a good idea at the time, but maybe more people went to the bigger malls in Winston Salem and Greensboro. Valley Hills Mall in Hickory is still doing well. I guess it's all about location and competition. I really hate to see these malls go away, but glad I got to enjoy them. Even though ordering online is convenient it will never compare to shopping at a mall. You can't beat the atmosphere and overall experience. Like you seeing your reflection, the sounds, and different smells. That might sound funny, but the mall has a lot to offer besides just shopping. Some of my fondest memories are spending hours in the arcade and just hanging out with friends roaming around, checking out girls and the latest gadgets. The smell of pizza, sweet baked cookies, and the chlorine smell from the fountains. Valley Hills used to have a lot of water fountains and like a little waterfall and they took all that out. Such a shame.
Sad.😭
The little story with the custodian was touching. Bless her.
“We are born into this time and must bravely follow the path to the destined end. There is no other way. Our duty is to hold on to the lost position, without hope, without rescue, like that Roman soldier whose bones were found in front of a door in Pompeii, who, during the eruption of Vesuvius, died at his post because they forgot to relieve him. That is greatness. That is what it means to be a thoroughbred. The honorable end is the one thing that can not be taken from a man.”
J. dJ That quote sounds British as hell
The Silent Hill 🐕 he he.
I was a custodian in a dead mall. The Leavenworth Plaza. There is a good video on it.
The Bath and Body Works and Victoria's Secret still operating like nothing's going on.. haha The violin players on the Titanic is the perfect way to describe it.
VerityLain probably because people overpay for their cheaply made goods they can afford to open in dead malls!
This guy never actually shows us what's inside those stores that are still open. We're curious as to how they operate. Probably doesn't fit the narrative but still, it'd be interesting to see.
In a lot of malls Hot Topic keeps going strong because of Disney merch and most kids don't have debit cards.
I wonder why they bother to still be open in dead malls!
@@RsRj-qd2cg Hot Topic is Hot Garbage now lol but yes you are correct
you can tell the janitor has some amazing dedication because some of these shots are absolutely spotless!
ghoulsrule I mean you clean the place once a month maybe a couple hundred people use the mall it can’t get that dirty
Sure as hell cleaner than most dead malls. The paint looks good, nothing looks shabby. It's such a shame a building so nice will probably get torn down. It could easily be reused for many purposes.
Soooo clean!
This series is so depressing, I love it!
Dying malls. The end of a retail era. Shining beacons of capitalism withering in the face of progress.
nejjk It's a corporate graveyard
nejjk Withering in the face of Walmart is more likely.
And withering in the face of continual and steady economic decline
nejjk I love depression too!
I was touched by your description of the custodian cleaning the handrails, taking pride in the job that won't be there in the foreseeable future.
I used to travel a lot and usually found myself without anything to do one night, so I'd go to the mall wherever I was (even the small cities had one), have dinner at the food court, and just walk around and see what businesses they had. This was in the '90's and the malls were lively places, lots of people walking around (even on a Tuesday night). I watch your videos and feel sad that they've become these hollow shells, these lonely places...
They are doing fine in canada lol
with the right marketing, some of these dying malls could probably attract a lot of hipster youths looking for a bizarre 90s experience. play actual vaporwave on the speakers, have all custodians wear 90s fashion, and try to open up some stores catering to the current retro trend, such as record stores, urban outfitters with their polaroid cameras, and second-hand stores in general. i feel like it could be a hit, at least for a couple of years!
Problem is, hipsters live in the inner cities now. And they don't even have a car to get there. :-V
Cupriferous Catalyst Terrible idea actually. The idea is to have retailers present, a nice arcade, good food, and the place well maintained. Its not the hipsters they gotta appeal to, its the generations of the past present and future that must be appealed to, a reminder of when times were simpler and different, when current trends were not a thing yet. Keeping the mall hangout tradition alive is the most important thing. Vaporwave you said? God no, ACTUAL music from that time period would fit. Im not saying vaporwave is bad but it seems more logical to have music that was popular at the time to be played.
The Guy From '97 vaporwave usually is music from that time period, though its just edited alot
PEPSI MAN Yea. But i meant the original unedited sound is whats needed
Cupriferous Catalyst with all the fucken regulations cant do shit
make it a jail house
If this mall was built in 1995, then it was probably never remodeled. Meaning, we are looking into a snap shop of pure, untainted, 1990's design and architecture. Just let that sink in for a moment as we watch this in 2017.
It was definitely never modernized which makes it all the more special.
Simply amazing. Thanks for capturing it on video Dan!
It's a beautiful work of art. Shame I'll never get a chance to experience myself.
Jason P. This mall opened the same year I was born!
We all know the real start of the downfall of Oak Hollow Mall was the loss of Dairy Queen / Orange Julius.
It bought tear to my eyes when you talk about the custodian..it's like taking care of a dying love one 😢
salmon/turquoise.....the official colors of the 1980s
Ｏ Ｆ Ｆ Ｉ Ｃ Ｉ Ａ Ｌ Ｃ Ｏ Ｌ Ｏ Ｒ Ｓ Ｏ Ｆ ＡＥＳＴＨＥＴＩＣＳ
Yep! Pastel colors, like baby blue, pink, and bright pastel yellow were the "thing" from the early 80's on up. :)
Reminds me of Vice City. Good times :)
Don't forget neon green and purple over solid black!
And miles of delicious beige.
Oh my god, Jackie !
YEAH. BRACKIE.
Drizzle Who the heck was Jackie?
Sassy Cat It looked like Jackie Stallone, Sly's mom.
Hahahahahhahaa
Amara Vazquez Got ya. Thanks!
While I dislike modern architecture overall, I do somewhat have a nostalgic soft spot the ａｅｓｔｈｅｔｉｃｓ of malls and buildings of the 90s. It's pretty gaudy, yet comfy.
BTW Japan still has some lively malls, some even still look a bit 90s (albeit Japan 90s)
There’s a really popular mall in Cincinnati called the Kenwood Mall, it’s always packed
Update on the mall August 2019: The university bought most of the enclosed mall in 2011 for $9 million and later two outparcels and a former Sears store. In 2017, HPU closed the mall except for a Dillard’s clearance center it does not own.
The university at one point talked about locating new graduate programs and athletic facilities on the mall property. But it ultimately opted to build a new pharmacy and health sciences building and the basketball arena on its main campus.
The mall property has seen plenty of use since the university bought it eight years ago.
HPU converted a former JCPenney store to a community center, which it uses for a number of public events. A former Circuit City store is now a pro bono physical therapy clinic run by the university. HPU uses the mall’s parking area for large campus events, such as commencement and its annual two-night Christmas celebration.
Man fuck HPU. They pracitally bought out high point
Sahara Sahara they did they even got the school police patrolling hp as real police
HPU’s so aggressive in trying to get applicants; they’re terrible. they’re just gonna gentrify the whole town
@@yungsahara2769 I know. And UNCG and Greensboro College practically bought a good portion of Greensboro, only that bit Greensboro College in the ass later and their former corrupt and greedy president Cravin (Craving Cash) Williams. They bought more than they could chew.
@@555stargazer Greensboro College used to be like that until they learnt the hard way.
Victoria's Secret, GNC and Bath and Body Works are always left in dead malls 😂. They were one of the lasts in Granite Run Mall
I just went to Granite run mall in December 2016. the day before new years. Boscov's was surprisingly packed, and Sears was pretty quiet. Those were the only 2 things standing, due to the demolition of the granite run mall. JCPenney was also demolished. they are now breaking ground, as it appears like it from my visit.
Christopher Edgar yeah. They're putting a place called cinebowl where JC Penny was. It's like a mix of a bowling alley, movies, bar and restaurant. I know where chi-chi's used to be and where the current AMC is will be apartments at one point
George D we dont have any of those stores left at forest fair
George D probably because they have the highest profit margins lol.
George D martinsburg mall too
Why are these videos so addictive
they are poignant like a ghost story, the mystery and randomness of success and failure
You know, I was just writing the same thing on Dan's FB page - I can't put my finger on it. Half nostalgia, half a slightly creepy feeling I get watching these empty malls (Dan's soundtracks add to this).
We're watching the collapse of late stage capitalism roll in like a wave.
It's Dan's narration and editing. Mall videos from other channels I've seen aren't nearly as addictive.
The part about how ruthless mall walkers are when standing on the "trackway" was hilarious and could easily see this going down. This is what I'm for. As Joe H said, Dan's narration is on point.
This depressing video got me out of my depression....
Try Black Metal music, helps my productivity at work when I really hate the project.
try wearing bell bottoms.. lol
It exacerbated mine. Different strokes.
was it the interesting and amusing segment at the beginning that did it? hehe
Fernanda Gabilondo well, trump will put you back into depression with DACA. Lol
It looked amazingly clean inside. I agree completely, it's great you were able to archive this place before it gets trashed.
im in my mid 20s and i still prefer physical shopping over online shopping and consider the upcharge a convenience fee. i hate waiting for my stuff to come in the mail, even if it's overnight shipping. if i want it, i want it NOW. plus, it's hard to really discern sizes online no matter how accurate their sizing chart is, you always get a weird-ass sized piece of clothing. nothing like trying it on and smiling at yourself in the mirror.
What about the general area fitting rooms with no stalls for privacy, your thoughts on it???
Where do they have that kind of dressing room? Even Sears has(had ) individual dressing rooms...
Spoken like a true Millennial, no patience whatsoever for anything or anyone
@@eviehammond9509 not a problem cos most bitches walk around half naked anyway.
@@BudFuddlacker Not a millenial, an informed and demanding consumer. If I pay the money I expect a degree of service and quality. In this case, I want my products at the time I render payment, not days after the fact. I don't see how expecting that is a generational effect.
Weather Channel's Greatest Hits playing on repeat.
It looks so clean and well-kept
25 years for a location like this is not bad. Few traffic or shoppers helps too.
It’s pretty funny when your kid gets this on their recommendations, watches it, and says “hey mom, I see your picture on this video “ I had no idea I was in this!
Woah small world!
Dan, pin this.
Holly crap!
It's getting pretty creepy seeing GNC & Bath and Bodyworks in all these dying malls!
Add in Burlington Coat Factory 75% of the time too.
damn. this mall is so beautiful wish it wasn't closing
Loppy Lips same, as a kid i went there a lot. too bad the college bought it. its also sad how a walmart had to put of a "we love high point university!" banner to not get bought.
Loppy Lips right! i love the whole aesthetic of it, it's so beautiful
b It's really well kept too, obviously outdated and a bit worn but for a dying mall its in really nice shape.
WHATTT???? You guys mall suck. Malls like this deserve to die, you guys are not keeping with the times. Y'all need to come to Dubai or Asia. Malls here are so new and invigorating.
too bad the college bought it? first off, its a university and secondly its been nearly empty for years now...HPU is doing the city a huge favor by purchasing this waste of space
I keep thinking the cast of Saved By The Bell will come running down the halls.
Ayye Thats my city. I was hoping you would do this mall! Thanks for doing it. This mall use to be "The Mall" to go to. Full of life and stores, but that was in 2001. Check out the Randolph Mall is Salisbury NC. It's even weirder, older and barely hanging on.
Terrence Henderson Do you mean Randolph Mall in Asheboro? There a small one there and it's very very depressing, but the one time I was there it was filled with people.
Josh Leonard the mall im speaking off is the one in Salisbury nc, i think its called Salisbury mall, no randolph mall... i misspoke. however both malls are depressing. but salisbury mall is... anicent!
I remember going to Salisbury Mall with my grandmother. I wonder if the giant paintings of dead Indians and civil war fights are still there.
Terrence Henderson no Cary town center is like this
Growinggreedylittlepiggy
That was the mall I always went to. Last time I was there it was emptier than I had ever seen it. Malls are really going out of style.
I'm about an hour and a half away from High Point, and I can tell you that North Carolina is full of dying/dead malls. Statesville, High Point, Shelby, Monroe, and even Charlotte. Keep in mind all these cities are all within 2 1/2 - 3 hours of eachother.
Shelby Mall has been crappy since it opened. They never had more than a couple of good stores but always had lower end unbranded stores "Dollar Bonanza", "Candle Collection", and "Nails-N-Hair". I bet I stopped at the Denny's out front 10x more than I ever went into the mall. You must be local...Eastridge in Gastonia is dying but it's also a warzone at night. Young 'toughs' (trying to not to use bad language)...oh...ok...some young little shits are always fighting, keying cars, stealing stuff. We had a 74 year old woman carjacked by a 15 year old...sad.
Yes, dying or dead Malls in Kinston, Elizabeth City, Carolina East in Greenville died years ago, but Crabtree Valley in Raleigh still thriving, going there takes you back to the hay-day of the mall.
Jay Raxter The only good thing about the mall in Shelby is the movie theater. They had a really nice arcade and and KB Toys and a Walden books back in the 90's/early 2000s. And the Eastridge mall is going downhill quickly. Very sad.
JustinnnTyler I went to the Carolina place mall this past Monday the Macy's there is leaving the mall I used to live in Charlotte before I moved in 2013 and came back for my spring break and the most of the shops are different now it didn't have the same feel to it
JustinnnTyler MONROE YES YES
All I feel is a sense of nostalgia and sadness watching this. So many memories tied to this large building.
I remember eating in that food court and it being full of people. Playing in that arcade as well.
Saddens me so.
One of the few urban explorers that both knows how to film and edit his video masterfully
The mall walking thing sounds interesting. lol
I agree; the mall overall looked nice, and the plants looked nice, too.
Sad they had to close.
Most office buildings and malls rent their plants from a greenhouse. The greenhouse has maintenance people who come around to care for the plants. These will probably be "re-homed" if they fit in somewhere. If not, they'll be left to die. No point in paying maintenance people for a plant that isn't generating money.
So weird to hear Dan say "I'm so glad I got to film this before it went extinct", like it's an endangered animal. And yet, for much of the country, malls are very much entering the dustbin of history, and we may not see grand shopping plazas like this again. Thank you, Dan!
This ASMR for my eyes and ears. Thank you
Dan, this a a very good series, and a valuable contribution to the historical record. Some day you might consider providing copies to the National Archives, or Smithsonian. At some time in the not to distant future, maybe in a generation or so, there will be no surviving, functional malls. Hard story to believe, but that day is coming. Your Titanic analogy is quite appropriate. In 1968, Regency Square in Jacksonville, FL drew people from a radius of 50 miles. It's parking lots were full 16 hours a day, and during the Christmas season, dozens of uniformed police in cruisers were on site for traffic control. Sometimes there were lines to get in at all. It was the Rolls Royce of Northeast Florida malls. It had a heyday of nearly 35 years, but I hear it isn't a safe place now, and is on death watch. Hard to comprehend. Tampa Bay Center in Tampa was a premier mall, but after a kerfuffle with some black advocacy organizations concerning mall "maintenance closure" (to prevent shoplifting) when black colleges played football at the nearby stadium, it had ugly lawsuits, costly settlements and eventually failed. It was another top of the line regional mall. Dead, and bulldozed. Almost as important as the malls themselves, is knowing why they die. I suggest that you autopsy each mall, at least to some degree, and share that information. You've seen and examined dozens of them. You know them well. Why do you think the old mall business model is failing? My sense is that as with most disasters, there are numerous small failures that undermine them bit by bit until they fail Here are my thoughts: 1) Too many malls built in one market, eroding business volumes, older malls have higher costs and can't compete, and start too lose business 2) malls then cut security, then gangs and thugs start hanging out, this makes traditional shoppers uneasy and they go elsewhere 3) teens and improperly dressed girls start loitering, drawing more loitering boys who are menacing to regular customers. Mall Walkers turn the customer shopping experience into a conflict with power walking fanatics who take up space and cause annoyances, but buy little if anything 4) as customer volumes continue to drop, revenues fall, malls further cut security and maintenance, and increase rents 5) shops start experiencing increases in theft and shoplifting, and have falling volumes, and declining revenues, and then have to reduce staff and cut inventory, so the stores aren't as attractive as they once were 6) poor service and fewer selections of merchandise cause even more potential customers to go elsewhere 7) eventually, due to massive youth loitering, baggy pants, hoodies, loud music, drug use, smoking, violence occurs either in the mall or outside in the parking lot. This usually attracts major media coverage, and consequently frightens away middle class customers forever, and mall death becomes inevitable.
Other things can trigger mall decline, including competition from smaller, more convenient shopping centers, to online Amazon.com. I cannot remember the last time I was in a mall.
One final thing Dan, I believe malls became a viable business model back in the '60 and' 70s because there was a vibrant, affluent, clearly defined, growing American middle class. Over the past 25 years, federal government policies have severely damaged the middle class economically. The once bubbling wellspring of revenue that flowed into the malls, and supported them with elbow to elbow shoppers on Friday nights and weekends for decades has essentially dried up for most middle Americans. Statistics show that Middle class incomes have fallen, and family budgets have tightened for decades. The once thronged salmon and aqua tiled food courts are empty now. So are the cavernous Sears and Montgomery Ward stores, along with many others we knew so well when we strolled those corridors with our moms in years past. The glorious, luxurious ocean liners of days past were supplanted by cramped airplanes. And Like the steamships of the past, the proud, beautiful malls of the 1970s and 80s have become anachronisms because the economic class that supported them has essentially died off. The Magnificent malls of yesterday have been replaced, not a with bigger and better business model, but one far less enjoyable: Walmart.
In my cursory examination, The rise of Walmart correlates to the decline of malls, and the death of traditional American downtowns.
And of course most of the stuff sold in Walmart is imported from... China, Vietnam, Mexico and other foreign countries.
One thing is for sure, over the coming years, you will likely have quite a few more dead and dying malls as subject matter for your series.
Charles Butler violent, baggy pants wearing, drug users with hoodys? Just say blacks it's easier
big mike obama haha
Hmmm I agree with some things you are claiming but I can see many biases and stereotypes in your response that makes me question the intent or background of your message.
man wrote an essay
The dead closing malls thing seems to be an American phenomena that I haven't experienced in Australia or the UK
i prefer a mall much rather then online shopping. like wtf im trying something on before i spend my money!!
@Solling Li no one cares
@Solling Li More like punctuation, but A for effort. 🤷♀️
People just return if theyre not satisfied
I didn't see the exclamations until the last three words so it made for quite the interesting read
Dan, I am sooooo addicted to your series! Awesome job with your narration!
If only we can bring the 90's back. I miss it.
90’s was sooooo great!
I wasn't even alive and I miss it.
Moonbeam No 80’s
@@hysteria67 84 to 2000 were great times.
Moonbeam please don't
way I look at it, get a local college to take it over, plenty of spaces for class rooms, ect. hell can convert alot of it to, to student housing.
The thing about it though is that I think they were planning to put a football field there (I live 15 minutes from this mall btw).
I live near highland mall (the beavis and butthead mall) and it was terned into a community college.
HPU doesn't have a football team though.
Moe Whitfield it is owned by HPU but it’s still empty and falling into disrepair
Moe Whitfield this would be such a beautiful school, it’s a shame they just tear them down
That is super interesting about the mall walkers! I had no idea that was why they would just run into me while I am trying to open the gate to get into work. I just assumed they were just incredibly rude. Will keep in mind to not stand on the tiles when I am opening the gate, geez!!
Kira Prater no, they are still incredibly rude. Mall walkers are nut jobs.
Kira Prater I stay out of their way. They'll run you over and they're usually old people. Mean old people lol.
Adrienne Brody true I used to work at Target and they would come there in the morning.
Mall walkers should be placed in gulags, where they belong.
I’m a Mall-Cruiser, but I ain’t like them nut-jobs, Downtown Winnipeg is a great place to Mallwalk due to the skywalks and corridors and underground malls. I can’t wait til Dan comes here, he will love it
This mall was used in a Mallsoft Mix called "Welcome to the Lobby!" I think that escalator is beautiful
i loooove the 90's aesthetics, that is why i love orlando, Fla. there are some places, like parts of the airport that is trapped in the 90`s XD
Gabriel Duarte passed through Philadelphia airport in 2012 and it felt like being in an 80s mall/subway station. Despite being busy it actually felt like a dying mall.
Orlando has such a cool airport
Gabriel Duarte tampa airport is similar lol, some of the carpeting just takes me back
Gabriel Duarte true. where I stayed there are neon blue and pink signs everywhere
Tampa International Airport is now modernizing the airport and its starting to look a lot better
I live in NC. I actually went to see Star Wars Episode 1 in that theater. Great video, and everything you said is spot on.
unc187 I loved that mall, i would go all the time. im really sad to see it close.
Me too! A friend’s mom had just picked up her blk/blk/blk 99’ mustang cobra convertible that week from preorder. We took it to watch Star Wars episode 1 there.
Hands down the best taste in 80s R&B on TH-cam.
He is Dan Bell, he is legend.
I used to shop here and it was a pretty nice mall. It wasn't too large, decent movie theater and fairly convenient. It's sad to see what happened to it (I haven't lived in that area in over 10 years). RIP Oak Hollow.
Reply to myself 4 years later. It's a bit sad watching this video. I took my son to that movie theater to see Finding Nemo when he was a wee lad. It was the first movie he and I ever saw together in a theater and what a great first movie to see with your son. That wee lad is getting married now....how time flies.
It would be great if High Point turned this into some crazy style dorm.
I’ve always had a weird obsession of dead malls to find out someone makes videos about them is amazing! Love your videos!!!
6:12 "These Mall walkers are psychotic and dangerous"
-Dan Bell, 2017
I just discovered this series and am quite surprised. I actually come from Poland, a middle- European country which is in many ways very behind the times. The first malls started to pop up in the mid 90s as far as I know, and their popularity just doesn't end! New ones keep being build to a point where it becomes a joke!
Not all succeed of course. I actually did end up visiting one where the place didn't even have lights on the corridors. A guy from security had to direct me to the one store that was still open in it. But... those are still huge exceptions, not the norm.
All of this makes me wonder when the malls will all fall over here.
FarelForever this is such a cool anecdote. i wish i knew of a polish channel that gave a glimpse into daily polish life
Ehhh, gosh, sorry, even if I still lived in Poland, I think my "living under a rock" attitude would not allow me to make any interesting content of that kind
FarelForever I love Poland. It's my favourite country in that region of Europe after Estonia and Hungary.
FarelForever i didn't mean you, specifically :)
Same in Finland
I use this channel to reflect on the good times I had at a number of NC malls including Oak Hollow. The one I really miss is Eastland Mall in Charlotte. It was the biggest mall in the state when it opened. It featured three stories with an ice skating rink on the ground floor. I say this here because Eastland Mall's closure predates Dan Bell's videos on his TH-cam channels.
@Kristy Marie yesss
I love the intro! I actually had Glamour Shots done for my 16th birthday back in 1996, and they are as ridiculous as the one in the intro lol
djsolaris979 *We would love to see your stunning beauty!*
Oh jeez I would love to, but the photos are back at my parent's house. Imagine a bright red sequin jacket and mile high hair with bright red lipstick. I was 16 but looked 34 lmao
It sure did!
The good ol 90's :)
I hate it when the obituaries page has Glamour Shots as the deceased photo. Shame on the families that use that photo for their female loved one. Don't they know it makes their mother, aunt , etc. look ridiculous?
Omgoodness! I used to work in that mall when I lived in NC. So crazy to see it this way now
So did I. I used to work at the GNC.
I live 15 minutes away from here, and I remember walking into Oak Hollow for the first time in 2016 when it was pretty much already dead. It was just sad. On top of that, I knew very dedicated people who would shop at Oak Hollow to do what little help they can monetarily. It was really something else.
...and here we are, in 2020. All retail in it's final death throws. It was a great run while it lasted. Watching these videos brings back great memories, now lost forever. Thanks Dan...
'OMG, Jackie!'
'Yeahhrr. Brackie...'
😂😂😂😂😂🤣🤣☠️☠️☠️☠️
😂😂😂😂🤣🤣🤣☠️☠️☠️☠️
Literally laughed out loud
Sadly enough,I watched that episode of Big Brother and remember that moment 😂
I was looking everywhere for this comment 😂😂
This was always my favorite place to go as a little boy, i remember seeing spider Man 2 in the movie theater. Being dragged down to Dillard's by my grandmother, trying on 7 different pairs of jeans. My mother worked in a store there very briefly and we would go visit here and ride down the big mirror elevator, seeing her at the cash register waveing to me. So sad to see it go, some great memories there.
There is no hope for retail. The only thing I see surviving is Walmart and Grocery Stores.
Gilitar Walmart is a cancer.
Gilitar fuuuuuuck wallmart
Gilitar same here. I have worked for kroger for almost 20 years and its sad to see where things are going. Its seems like amazon will be all there is in the end for non food stuff
ToyGuruMan Amazon bought Whole Foods so there's no hope for anyone
Alexandra Smith maybe eventually but i think my employer will be around for a while. They are opening up a new marketplace in about 4 months. Unless something horrific happens id say they have five to ten years at least
I’ve always loved the 80s/90s and everything about it, the style and fashion, the music, the architecture aesthetics, all the skyscrapers from the 80s and malls
For a now extinct mall, up until it’s last day you can it was very well kept. Usually dying malls look dirty, they’re dark, they just have a poor look to them but this mall was very clean and had great natural lighting. It was actually a very pretty mall I really loved the interior of it and all the plants looked so healthy and happy like you said.
I don't think the surge of Online Shopping was the downfall of malls. Here in Mexico where I live people online shop all the time because there's things that you can't get in stores, but they still visit the two biggest malls int he city, one is high end (Liverpool, Sears (this sears I'm talking about is comparable to a Liverpool) and a Cinepolis cinema are it's anchors) and the other is low end (a supermarket called Soriana and a Cinepolis cinema without VIP service are it's anchors).
There was a project for a smaller mall called Pabellón Reforma, but never took off and it's pretty deserted, only a gym and a few very small stores including a nail parlor are operating, oh and a party place for kids. I think it's anchor is a casino and a bank. Other than that it's pretty depressing to go in there, it's downfall was the rent prices going up without them needing to, though, not online shopping. Rent prices and an inability to have more variety, and possibly the casino.
Believe me, it's not online shopping that's destroying malls in the US, it's rent prices going up due to gentrification, the rise in criminality (parking lots aren't safe anymore, for example), and the lack of real variety malls have to offer, always the same stores and they didn't really cater to everyone... oh and the fact that teenagers weren't all that welcome in malls anymore.
People, specially teenagers, still get together to go eat and have fun, but malls don't welcome them anymore because apparently sitting at a bench after shopping, eating an ice-cream and chatting is loitering. So a lot of mall owners (and owners of other places where teens tend to gather) have installed devices that emit a high frequency pitch that must older adults can't hear. They call it the Mosquito. I've heard it myself, even though I'm 29, and it's so annoying to the point that it infuriates me... It makes me dizzy, even nauseous and I have to leave the place. Other have implemented more mall security to tell the teens to go away and loiter somewhere else. Teens were one of the driving forces of malls, be it for just an ice-cream or to go clothes shopping, window shopping, watching a movie, etc, teens loved malls... now they don't like them much anymore because of how they are treated in them...
Fern Leaves Studio Creo que la nueva tirada en México es construir complejos habitacionales con centro comercial en las plantas bajas, como el que está haciendo al lado de Centro Coyoacán
Bristecom There was a definite correlation there, just waiting on someone to call you racist
@@dr.lyleevans6915 If it's racist to not want to be around a group of people that are likely to shoot you or rob you, then so be it. But I'd call it logical.
Bristecom Logic is a natural enemy of the left
Don't forget the dead mall Acropolis near Satelite jaja
Love this series Dan. Youre research, camera work and editing are always top notch.
I was wondering that but I think it's to look old timey
Malls were such a big part of my life growing up!
Yep, everything happened at the mall (especially if you were a teen). It was the spot to be on Friday nights!
Salmon a.k.a. dark peach
Turquoise a.k.a. dark teal
The 90s was just the 80s but edgier.
the 80s but bland
Turquoise is not 'dark teal' it's more blue.
Close just add some purple and green
Woke up, made some coffee, turned on youtube and what do you know! A new dead mall series AND another dirty room, at the same time, this is going to be a good day. Thank you Dan, you are doing gods work my friend. Greetings from Canada.
I absolutely love this series. “Yeah, drackie” at the beginning had me in tears. The editing with the 90s footage and my new fave genre of music thanks to you is just so nostalgic and makes me happy in a way I can’t explain. Thanks Dan Bell for creating my favourite series on TH-cam
I keep replaying that part! I hear "Yeah, brackie" !! Lllllol
It's a clip of Jackie Stallone from the UK version of big brother
I grew up going to this mall - thank you for documenting it!!
This series is like a eulogy to the 80s and 90s. I love it so much...
6:05 I like that gnc and bath and body works are actually across from each other, with vibrant lights and all, operating like the mall isn't dying or anything.
It’s just crazy how the mall by my house is still flourishing but, then, in a couple of years it could end up abandoned like this one.
I was born in the early '90s and grew up a few minutes from this mall. From what I remember my mom saying, many residents of High Point were surprised when it was built, and didn't believe that our relatively small city (High Point had less than 100,000 inhabitants then) could sustain it.
Nonetheless, this video called to mind the numerous fun times my friends, family and I spent there in the late '90s and early '00s. I enjoyed a birthday party at the arcade shown at 2:55. The shop at 4:23 was a bakery, where sugar-coated cookie cakes would allure the toddlers who tottered by. A hat store stood just across, where preteens like myself would try on flatbill hats. Doing this would make us look "gangster" in a cool way, or so we thought, haha.
So, to anyone viewing this video, I want to convey a last message. Maybe it's my attempt at an elegy. Seeing this mall now, all you can perceive is a well-kept ghost town of strolling seniors and vacant space. But in its day, Oak Hallow played host to the subtle but deepest realms of human experience: growing up, friendships strengthening, passing time with family who no longer exist. From the Ancient Agora and earlier, we have gathered in commercial spaces that have, intentionally or not, nurtured these most essential elements of a human life. When you remember a mausoleum like Oak Hallow, remember that history too.
Let's all take a moment to appreciate how good soundmixer, editor, and cameraman Bell is. Quality in the framing, sounds and edits all around.
This mall is so beautiful. Love this series!
I've been warning people about those psychotic and dangerous mall walkers for years. Glad someone finally recognizes it. 😂 great video as usual!
That has been going on for decades in many malls in U.S. Was a great incentive for seniors to get out and exercise. Some malls even promoted it
thegrimyeaper its ok we dont have it in england so its new to me
The comparison between the Titanic and failing malls is also really interesting because of what you mentioned; the few stores clinging to life. On the Titanic as it went down, people well aware of their fate would retire to the lounges and smoking rooms for a game of cards and a brandy with their friends. The stewards attending to them like they would and thus still doing their jobs, like that janitor. The dim lighting, lack of people walking around, abandoned rooms with the furnishings left behind like they left in the middle of what they were doing and the echoing music goes for both the mall and the ship. It’s the same feeling in a really bizarre way.
The dead mall series is awesome it takes me back to the 80's even though I was born in the late 90's! Keep up the great work ThisIsDanBell
TONY MONTOYA *Then imagine what it does to me who were born in 1970..... :)*
A lot of us older people are crying for the 80s the days of peace and true nostalgia and no cell phones or virtual reality or all this crap, it was last decade of innocence, I commend your ability to see this beautiful era without experiencing it, good young man you are!!.
M. H.
No kidding. Absolutely miss those days....No cell phones, no internet, and no Walmart. The kids nowadays have no patience and expects everything right now. I really think ADHD is being caused by this.
You wanted that cool new thing on TV? Send a check or money order. I think if I asked anyone 30 and under what "SASE" means they don't have a clue. Heck...I've had my nieces do a 'well check' on me because I didn't answer my cell....that was actually funny....I had gone to a local park and I had turned it off. They could NOT understand why....
SASE .... self-addressed stamped envelope ?
Funny you say that... I'm 30 and even though I heard it a million times on TV ads back in the day, I can't say I've sent any of those in my time.
I'll be the first to admit that I wish I could have been born in the mid-70s rather than mid-80s. I feel like I missed out on so much great stuff.
Yes, SASE's! I sent a few of those in my youth. Don't feel bad, Rejean. I was born in '71 and have long felt cheated that I missed the 60's! I guess everyone's nostalgic for something.
That was a great description of "mall walkers" lol. Make "dead malls" great again.
Most malls will die out, if there are no people shopping there. Trying to convert malls and use them for other things is not an easy task. They are simply not that economical when it comes to heating and other things, and conversion costs money. Most of the time it is cheaper to demolish and build something else on the property.
Everything will move online eventually, and the only thing left are things that are not practical to buy online, and the place you go to buy things will only be showrooms, so you do your shopping there and figure out what you need, then place a order online. Then pick it up at a pickup point. The more you can skip shopping the better and just stay at home, in front of the computer. Doing things IRL is so hard, you get tired, you have to drive somewhere, interact with people you do not like.
Dan Bell, the KING film maker of dead malls :-D
I mostly buy everything except fresh food online now. Even if I have to go into a store these days it's just a grab and go job, or watching a movie at the theatre.
I hate to see Malls getting demolished, but the big silver lining is we save a ton of energy by not traveling to and keeping these megamall relics powered.
Yeah, that is how I see it. Gigantic shopping malls are a thing of the past. It is hard to re purpose a building like a shopping mall. You have high costs for conversion, enormous heating costs, lots of dead space like walking paths. Sure it is a indoor mall but still, they cost a lot of money to run and when people think more about saving money etc, these places will eventually die.
Over here where I am, Europe. We do not have many dead malls, reason is that most of these big malls became popular after 2000 so most of them are build in areas with lots of population, city centers and buildings surrounding them. Also we do not have that many malls. The other type of mall is outdoors with lots of buildings spread around. More of a gathering of lots of business places.
Anyway, I love these videos and the prime reason is the flashbacks to 90s 80s with lots of neon, and funky designs etc. That is kind of gone now and I find that a bit sad. I do not like ultra modern things, black and white themes everywhere.
Hope we get some more mall videos from Dan Bell.
Dennis Olof One of the old malls in austin was converted to a new campus for our local community college.
Oh, that was nice. I guess there is some use for old malls, but most will probably be demolished. It is hard to convert such a specific special building into something else. But that is true for most buildings anyway, there is a limit to what you can do from a economical standpoint.
Mr Nobody acc highland campus right? i heard that there's still a few stores operating in it but that was a year or two when i heard that.
10:22 Christine Ann McVie Rest in Peace 1943 2022 The song is "Everywhere" off the 14th Studio album from Fleetwood Mac "Tango in the Night" and it was written by Christine McVie who also sang the lead vocal part of the song.
Malls in my area (Ithaca-Binghamton-Elmira,NY) are doing ok. Certainly past their primes from when I was a kid, but more stores are open in them than not and still very popular for going to the movies. Great series, Dan, as depressing as it can sometimes be.
Pamela Morris nothing else to do in upstate NY (kidding, it's beautiful there)
Pamela Morris I JUST moved from Ithaca, NY! I think the The Shops at Ithaca Mall is definitely dying. Constant turnover in that place.
Past their primes, for sure.
LOL. You're not COMPLETELY wrong, Erik!
Pamela Morris I used to live in Ithaca. Love that area minus the winters.
I absolutely love 1990s interior design 😍 sad to see this mall close 😭
Love the segment where Buffalo Bill sings “Everywhere” to us, absolutely brilliant, chilling and depressing all at once. That tune would likely have been playing over the sound system at some point in all the malls in the Dead series.
Good news for former Oak Hollow shoppers. There's the Hanes Mall in Winston-Salem. It's big and awesome. 5 anchors, a food court, two play areas, and a carousel.
But Oak Hollow is very nostalgic to me. Hanes Mall is nicer but Oak Hollow makes me feel like a kid again.
It'll die too.
OMG the slowed down version of the song "I wanna be with you everywhere", creeped me the hell out! LOL!! :D
yeah it was terrible lol lmao
AngryMushroom Doodles: I liked it! :)
AngryMushroom Doodles Is it Tears for Fears
las vegas 777 no, fleetwood mac 👌
las vagas 777, Lilia L is correct, it's Fleetwood Mac :)
I really love your dead mall videos. It definitely feels both nostalgic and tragic all the same. Commentary, how you capture the scenery, and music is on point. Stirs up some strange emotions for sure. Thanks, Dan.
It's so... CLEAN!!! Compared to some of the other malls you have been in, this is like the Ritz Carlton of dead or dying malls, I expect to see a guy in a butler's outfit with white gloves, running his fingers over every surface and then checking his fingertips.
Thank you for the look back. I was there the day the mail opened. The whole town was excited for this new shopping facility. I enjoyed going to oak Hallow it was always so clean and safe. I was sad to see it go but HPU seems to be taking good care of it now
This mall is only 20 minutes away from me! It's planning to shut down this month(March of 2017). No one really knows why this mall hasn't took off or continued to be popular because it is right across from HPU. I went to Oak Hollow because of the discounted Dillard's store, it was a great place to shop!
Kaitlyn Berry oh man, that's actually sad. Tell me your experience.
Mall walking is *still* really big. The Mall of America has 3 different "courses" you can complete. And while the MOA has been mostly remodeled, I get delight out of spotting similar salmon and turquoise tiles in a few remaining areas!
I remember the Apache Plaza! I grew up not too far away from it. Now, the site is home to a vacant WalMart. Sad.
I live near the MOA", while majority is walking it's a great place to go
King of Prussia mall in Philly is a very big mall to walk in as well!
It's all about the salmon and turquoise!
hey thank you for making a video about this place, i visited this mall a lot when i was younger and it has a special place in my heart its nice to see the inside again after all these years and see the spots i remember from years ago
This mall looks so much like a mall I used to go to as a teen in South Africa in the 90's maybe they used the plans to build the same design!! freaky!!!
South African here. It kind of reminds me of how the Fourways Mall looked like back in the day. It's located in northern suburbs of Johannesburg. It has however been completely remodeled since then as part of a huge redevelopment project & doesn't look like this anymore. But the resemblance is uncanny. It's crazy to think that they are currently carrying out a massive expansion of that mall while the malls are dropping like flies in the US. Makes you wonder how sustainable it will be.
Wow that retro wave big hair intro was uber creepy! Awesome
I used to come here with my mom all the time. It's so sad to see it close.
This kinda reminds me of gateway mall in springfield oregon. it also had a 1990s vibe to it.
tommy hammond hahaha for sure nobody wanted to end up there. I think they had a good hat store though..Was just at Valley River Center though looking strong.
joshpoe Yeah valley river is holding up pretty well. it sucked when they turned gateway into an outlet though, it was just a big waste of money especially when they took out movies 12, that was a big mistake.
tommy hammond I thought movies 12 was the anchor ....too bad
Holy crap is that thing still open? It was dead like Beaverton Mall is now, but like, 10 years earlier.
Paul Johnson It's still open but they made some unnecessary changes to it and turned it into an outlet mall.
I blame Paul Blart movies for this.
Did you notice you started to get depressed the more you did these? Nostalgia can be a powerful thing, both good and bad. I’ve watched a few of these dead mall and abandoned building videos, and they can start to get you down after a while. I think for the people who lived through the good times, when these structures were lively, it can be sad to see everything change.
Fleetwood Mac slowed down!! That's amazing!
I've said it before. I think the reasons these malls in the US are dying because they are poorly managed and never updated. They look the way they did when they were opened. My local shopping centre (aka mall) in the UK opened in 1990, and since then, has been renovated twice, and is currently undergoing a third renovation. Even when a store closes, it's quickly replaced by another one, so there's never really just empty store fronts. Or maybe it's because too many malls in the US were opened during the mall hype?
Yeah this mall never took off because within a 30 minute drive in either direction are two giant regional malls which had been around for about 20 years before this one opened, plus a large upscale outdoor mall in the neighboring city
Louise Cole I think the reason is, like you said, too many malls. Here in Finland the malls do just fine. No sign of any of them dieing in the cities as far as I know. There's usually couple malls per city and only one in smaller cities.
Louise Cole -- you are fortunate, and it sounds like your mall is blessed with "location, location location". Sadly, most of the old-fashioned mega indoor malls here in America are not so blessed. In fact, Credit Suisse released a report in 2017 that predicted up to 25 percent of these big indoor malls will be closed within 5 years. That might even be a rather conservative estimate. It's a vicious cycle that they can't pull out of. Mere updating is not going to save them. The customer base is simply gone, and it's not going to return. They are victims of many things, such as overbuilding so there's simply too many for any given regional area. Also of fewer shoppers who go "brick & mortar" shopping nowadays, as opposed to online. Sure, lots of people still enjoy the physical shopping experience, so "brick & mortar" will never be entirely gone. But when you have an alternate such as the ease of the internet, then the shopping experience is going to have to be a lot more than wandering around in some 1970s/80s relic that's about as populated as a ghost town (shoppers AND stores!). And the vast weakening of the "anchor stores" -- old-style department stores that people have left (for decades now) in droves, has also served to destroy these malls. The Sears, Penneys, and even Macys name isn't going to pull anyone to a big indoor mall anymore, hence why most of the spaces are empty. People who do like to get out and shop actually want a more intimate experience now. They don't care about having 80 to 150 stores all "right there in one place". Bigger is no longer "better". Aside from the most ardent "window shoppers", who's going to go to a mall and stroll for practically miles looking at a hundred store-fronts nowadays? Most young people don't have the time; they want a smaller space so as to maybe to hit a "couple-three" stores, and maybe 1 nice restaurant, and they want them close enough around to them fast. Restaurants with open-air seating areas along these "life style center" malls are far more desirable than a mega food-court with a dozen different (usually inferior) fast-food style fare. (And where you're eating in a vast indoor sea of tables and chairs). Sorry, but things have changed, and smart planners are designing with these changes in mind. Unless they can "remake" and "re-purpose" themselves, these mega indoor malls are on their way to extinction. [Just as shoppers slowly but relentlessly moved from the big, old-style department stores like Sears, Penneys, Wards (and their up-scale brethren like Macys, Marshall-Field, the Broadway) to the Walmarts and the Targets.]
Westwood Mall and Jackson Crossing Mall in Jackson MI are both packed to the brim with stores and always busy.
There are dying malls in the UK too. One difference is that malls are mainly built in the cities in the UK, wheras I think in the US they can be in the middle of nowhere (well, suburbia)
"These Mall Walkers are Psychotic and Dangerous" seems like an amazing t-shirt opportunity for the Dead Mall Series.
I'm obsessed with these videos, Dan. I'm almost through all of them!!
“Everywhere“ slowed down is the best thing i ever heard😭😌.
I agree 💯💯💯
I simply love the interesting and creative use of the song, "Everywhere" at 10:21. I like the metaphor of how malls are like the Titanic.
So far the best music selection in a dead mall you have reviewed. 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣I was jamming with my headphones when you started to flim the food court and stairs 😝😝😝😝
Man, there couldn’t be a better analogy, Dan! I love the dead mall series!
This series is so mesmerizing, and I don't know why.