Abandoned Metro North Mall in the Midwest 

Does anyone remember the big fountain with the balloons going up and down?

it's strange seeing the old mall like this. Every year at X-mas, when I was a kid, my mom would take me there to see Santa. I always loved watching the balloons go up & down as a kid. The last time I went in there, they had closed off certain areas & only a few stores remained in the entire building. Sad to see it go.

this makes me sad, I grew up here, my first summer job was in the mall at a clothing store, every weekend spent there. the arcade and original pizza the fountains being chased off the escalator by security for jacking around too much And the hill across the street for sledding, against your parents wishes

The echo effect on the mall music makes it very ghostly.. just makes so many memories flood into my mind 😞

May the hot air ballons fly with th angels

would always go to this mall when my mom had a Drs appt in KC. We didn't have anything as exciting in Saint Joseph. This place opened my eyes to how much bigger the world was in a way.

Went there as a teen in the 80's pretty much every weekend. Saw movies, ate at In-A-Tub...This video makes me feel old! Sad...everything is so temporary, gotta cherish it while we have it

I remember around 1980-81 when the Kings were still in town, the Kansas City Kings were making it to the western conference finals against the Houston Rockets and we were all watching the 40-42 team beat the Phoenix Suns in the playoffs on the TVs at some electronic store, what a blast of a season for the team! Joshua Hitrame got in a brawl with Joshha Ospina at the balloons pool after Ospina wanted the Suns to win because he enjoyed seeing the Suns lose in the conference finals, Hitrame than produced a .22 pistol and Ospina ran out the mall screaming

This is quite a collection of shots. Definitely has an eerie feel knowing this place was packed with shoppers at one time. Great collection.

This is so sad... I cherish my memories from Metro North while being an international student back in the 80's...

I remember going there when i was little with my grandparents. This is the mall from where i got my dad got his ddog and his first professional job at the disney store. sad to see it being torn down.

This mall was where my mom dragged me to in the 90’s. Was a nice mall would be absolutely packed on Christmas Eve, when Montgomery Ward left it went downhill quick. Unreal how fast time flies and how something that was once the place to be went away so quick

Met my wife there and remember my children running around the stairs by the balloons sad to see it this way....ugh!!

My oldest daughter was born in September of 1976 and she grew up in that mall, as well as my second daughter. This video was very well done!!! Way better than the others! LOVE the mall music!

Just found this. I'm from Birmingham England as used to visit Kansas City a lot from 1996 on business. I used to stay in Liberty at the Fairfield Inn back then. There was the gas station, McDonalds, Cracker Barrell and K Mart down the road. That was about it. I used to visit Metro North a lot. I remember the fountain with the balloons. I used to visit Sam Goody's to buy CD's and Best Buy across the road. I'd spend hours getting hard to find music that wasn't available in the UK. Its the first place I'd go as soon as I got there. I also used to shop in Dillard's to get my then wife cosmetics that were much cheaper there. Strangely the lady on the cosmetics counter always remembered me because back then very few people from the UK used to visit the area. I remember they changed the road layout, that caught me by surprise and drove past it! My kids had the best Christmases ever buying stuff from Toys 'R' Us I couldn't get back home. Last time I visited was 2019. How the place has changed. Very happy memories.

thanks for taking these! i knew the mall had shut down but i always wanted an update

since everyone is sharing memories.... My father use to set up a table I believe, right out in front of the JC Penny near the fountain and advertised his DJ services for weddings and party's. A lot of people talking about the pizza, (which I don't recall) But Pretzel Time was my favorite as a kid. I also loved watching the balloons go up, and have the possibility of knocking off one fo the ceiling tiles. vaguely remember seeing bands play on the stage. Born in 93. Sad to see the mall go. coming up on 10 years since it was closed to the public. Antioch shopping center was also a pentacle of childhood shopping centers.

That tree is very haunting, more like a symbol of a dying building.

So sad! I have so many amazing memories my entire life and my daughter will never get to share those experiences :'( I'd love to take a photography tour of the p location too!!!

I live only a minute away from this!

So weird that it decayed so fast. Reminds me of America.

I worked at The Jones Store for a couple of years in the late 1970s. I was full-time, so I spent a lot of time there. This makes me so sad 😞

My parents relocated our family in 1978, to Kc Mo. My father worked for Farmland Industries - Metro North was our entertainment, shopping, movie, etc. And yes.... those 4 HUGE balloons in the center/Amazing. What a dam loss 😟

great set of photos

that mall use to look so pretty

Saddening to see this happening Nationwide. This was all built and left here for us by folks who were very creative and who cared. Now it's our job to carry this on and leave something for the next-generation. Ditch the computers and the TVs stop being home bodies! We need to get out and be a society and interact with one another! In my wife's famous words "Let's Go Shopping!!" Long as I can bring home new tools or some new gadget for the fishing boat, I'm in!

Great vid!! Love that it even has mall music lol

Ouch. There went my childhood.

Jesus this is like a modern version of The Shining with that spooky music echoing in the background.

Wow...nice shots -truly fascinating.This mall had a truly dead feel to it because ALL of the vegetation was dead and brown,even though water and sunlight are coming in.Rolling Acres vegetation is still growing in there-weird to me how these different places "abandon" with different feels to them.Thank you!

The internet & the pandemic are what killed most of the malls.

Be sure to send MD Management your regards for blighting the Northland and not just Metro North Mall. Over 20 years they've done a fantastic job of turning the Northland into an eyesore and letting new and attractive development skip Clay County and end up elsewhere . In 1996 Old Navy and Abercrombie tried to move into the mall and they turned them down . Platte County got it of course. Keep in mind this is before the Oil Wars fucked the economy.

Used to go there with my grandparents all the time between ~2005-10, usually during Christmas. Sad to see it go, but the reality is the old American mall culture is dead. Haven't been there since, like, 2012.

Main thing i remember is riding the little train

Wow spent a lot of time there as a kid! Can't believe it looks like that now! It will be missed!

At this point in my life, all my memories of the local malls are muddled together and indistinct. I have memories of the hot air balloons, a small xmas train that I loved perhaps too long as I got older, and a vague one of there being a mall with sizeable carousel in it. (I can't recall if the carousel was a double decker or not, but I think it was. Never got to ride it though.)

I remember setting up booths at Christmas where our Scout Troop would wrap gifts as a fundraiser. Sad.

I remember going to that mall with my dad we never really bought anything but I remember I would run so much and then when I would be done running around the mall I would go and watch the balloons I remember 1 time my dad got some of the popcorn and we sat and watched the balloons for a good 45 minutes this makes me so sad

Great Video

So sad to see.

We were there in 2014, and the place looked just like it did in it's prime, minus the stores, and the people. Now we drive all the way down to Oak Park mall, or Independence. I hate the outdoor malls like Zona Rosa. I am not going to lug my Christmas shopping packages around in the freezing cold, or summer heat. When I was a kid, I just loved watching the balloons.

Excellent video. Can you please list the music you used?

It looks like this investment did not work out well for someone. Seriously though, I understand those bemoaning the loss. We lost a couple in the area where I live, and they are missed. Amazing how quickly malls went from being the end all shopping experience to dead real estate. And people wonder how ghost towns in the old west came about so quickly. . .

How is there still water in the balloon pool??

The only thing remaining is a macys

They built a golf place where it was

I didn't know this was the mall with the ballon thinghy I saw it on the news once

Wow i can see exaxtly where i sat every year to celebrate ny birthday as a kid!

A shame a lot of indoor malls are closing down, Not a fan of outdoor malls :/

One word NICKELODEON

I have a faint memory being in the Bath and Body Works on the upstairs floor. And waiting in line to see the Santa Claus guy. the line always stretched back towards the Topsys Popcorn store.. as well as begging my mom to let me play on the stairs by the water and balloon.

I loved going there as a kid. Not even to shop, but just to look around at the open spaces and shit. I remember being on the top level and looking down at all the fountains. 13:01, I usually would stand where the camera guy was, or look down off the wooden rail. I was always tempted to jump into the fountains down below, but fortunately I never did. that and standing at the top level and just watching the little hot air balloons go up and down

Wait... Montgomery Ward? What year was that mall directory from?

Where did the customers flee to?

And how did you get inside?

Has it been demolished yet?

These videos are interesting and depressing to watch at the same time.. The music playing in the background pulls it all together.. This.mall looks like in its heyday was quite a shopping mecca..

Went there on a first date with my boyfriend. We got married a couple years later.

I bet that is eerie at night and the rats are big🥹

please tell me you took something that directory a sign

Kills me..

damn shame!!

This kind of epidemic makes no sense to me. Why play Russian Roulette with clothing and other things online with the chance they might not fit and you can't return them when you can just go to the mall and have a guaranteed perfect fit? Plus where is the socializing and memory making aspect of online shopping? This modern society is disgusting with its hands off approach to socializing and convenience. At 21 I fear I am the last of my kind who cares about malls and physical shopping. RIP Malls.

IIRC, isn't he property being made into a mixed-use, open-air facility?

Mixed in music works

Been there only store was open was foot locker lol

Andrew no because I live close and its not yet but it will soon I tell u that but that sucks because my sister loved the ballons going up and down and the fountain man wish it was still around like or comment back if u agree and if I had the money I would reopen it and keep everything the same.

Looks like trash now with Metro Gone.. utter fn trash.. And yes that includes the bs their building now..

In a Tub tacos

This would be a great paintball/airsoft playing field.

Why did they close down the mall?

good times

Can anyone explain WHY the mall was abandoned?

music?

whos keeping the tree alive if this is an abandoned mall...no outside water source.....

Opening song?

KC's version of Rotting Acres...

Just Demolish It.

dead mall ａｅｓｔｈｅｔｉｃ

Fake news, this is in Venezuela right ?