As someone who's been working at a mall, it's definitely an experience seeing how desolate it gets close to closing. Once the mall is actually closed up and people have left, walking through it gives off an eerie yet calming vibe, especially after a day where shoppers were crowded throughout. The mall is by no means close to being a dead mall due to it's focal location, and I hope it stays that way. It's sad seeing more and more of these malls reach a dead mall status.
This is actually why I LOVE closing shifts. I've never worked at a mall but one of my favorite shifts to work is the after close promoset/deep clean. It's quiet, there's nobody except for the occasional guy smoking on your patio. The walk home is quiet too. It's so easy to get what you need to get done when there isn't a bunch of customers in your way or a "we need to get out of here in 20 minutes" time limit. Opening is kind of the same way, except i'm awake enough to appreciate it.
I worked 2 extended periods at a mall, tourist attraction in Orlando, Orlando.gov . 2018, 2021 era. Malls are large, mine was 1mil sq feet. It had a movie theater 🍿 & a active Bass Pro Shop. 🏕🛶🎣. When it rained hard, the roof would leak.
Whenever malls were closing here in my country Philippines, it will be either one of the mall guards will blow a whistle to all store tenants and even the supermarket to shut off their lights and start rolling down their doors, some even played their Closing Theme song, mainly SM Supermalls would do that (ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-ifnBAvZUQLw.html). Most cases they'll sound an alarm and make an announcement of the mall closing.
I used to work at the mall but was mostly preopening. Before the pandemic happened the mall doors would open super early and you would see a group of elderly people walking from 4am. Now the earliest they let people in is 9am.
I can't explain what it is, but there's something about a dude recording his voyages through old malls/stores, with the commentary being backed by some nice vaporwave/chillwave that I just really enjoy. These videos are practically therapeutic to me
The pretty lizard posing on the rocks is an Argentine black and white tegu - they get to about 4 and a half feet and are very smart. You can train them to walk on a leash like a dog. I wish I had a reptile shop like nearby, it's nice to see them so well cared for!
I live in a town that's college kids and retirees, mostly. I had to go to the mall the other day to fulfill a craving for iced chocolate chip cookies. It was pretty dead, but there were lots of middle school kids wandering around and it made me smile.
As a kid, going to a mall was kind of an exciting family trip. We went to the Westland Mall in Michigan, and at the time there was a coin store in the basement to feed my childhood hobby. Plus a real arcade.
There is like 25 remaining active Sears stores in the United States left. I happen to live near one of them, it's at the Florida Mall in Orlando. I go in there, and it blows me away to realize that Sears has definitely closed up shop for most people. And most people don't get to see it like I do.
I worked at the Paramus NJ store from the mid to late 90s. Sears was dying then. They closed that store in 2018. Even in the 90s we couldn’t get merchandise.
I went to that Sears during Christmas eve 2022. The store had virtually no customers! There wasn't much selection and the store felt dated. Many of the same things are stocked everywhere and half of the store was closed off. I did end up buying some clothes as a novelty. But when I went to JCPenny that store was very crowded! Along with the Macy's and other stores. I understood that day why Sears went completely Bankrupt just by shopping there.
I've mentioned this on the channel before, but back in 2013, I worked at the Sbarro on the 2nd floor. I used to work from 9am to 9pm. When Superstition Springs mall closed at 9pm, the silence of the mall was just eerie.
We went to a mall that is localish to us just after Christmas. We hadn’t been in several years, but we’re pleasantly surprised to see some of their changes. Occupancy was a lot higher than it had been. We were also told that the mall was about to undertake a huge remodel. It will be interesting to see what it will look like after the remodel. Love your videos.
This was a really cool idea for a video! Malls around closing time (dead ones, at least,) are always an eerie vibe but doing this right after Christmas made it even cooler!
There’s a mall near me called “Oviedo Mall” that’s in Oviedo, FL (a suburb of Orlando) which is pretty much filled with plenty of Mom and Pop Places, as well as recreational places throughout the mall. They’ve been doing a really solid job at filling up the spaces again over there despite the mall having been dying for the past few years prior to redevelopment.
I lived near two of the last K Mart’s, one in the Bronx and one in Westchester in NY. Both closed within the last year (2022) and it was insane to go to them and see how much they had gone downhill. I believe there are less than 10 left as of 2023 in the US.
it probably sounds like a running joke at this point but i have been on a date at this mall as well. i'm starting to feel like my entire teenage years were just mediocre dates at malls
Starting off 2023 with a bang! What an amazing video. It made me feel like I was actually at the mall! The RC cars were cool. It's wonderful to still see that sense of community at malls that we thought had died out. Thanks again for another great video!
A mall with an indoor RC track, haven't seen that since my mall lots theirs, but there is a hobby shop not too far from me in Michigan that has an indoor race track, a slot car track, a monster truck course, and an RC crawler course. Plus any mall with a hobby shop is awesome, especially if it means a gunpla dealer.
This year we made it a point to try brick and mortar locations before online shopping. And whatever gift cards we got we made sure to spend at a store not online
So I live in Canada and where I live most malls are still doing quite well. A lot of them have actually become a destination by bringing in stores you do not see all over or they have brought in lots of new food offerings. In fact, a few malls have actual food halls now that are great destinations for people. Going into a lot of the malls in the week after Christmas is when we have the big boxing week sales (boxing day is December 26) and usually those sales are the lowest prices on things all year long. There was a mall that pre-pandemic used to open at 6am on boxing day and usually, Best Buy was open at 4am for the sales. This past boxing week most malls were 8 or 9 am until 9 pm and were packed still.
i worked at a mall-based Woolworth's back in 1974-78. The week before Christmas was always crazy but fun, everyone excited in a good way. The week after C. was a nightmare, just as busy but everyone in a foul mood from having to return things, standing in long lines, the post-holiday depression hitting hard in realtime. I *hated* working that week.
I really liked the after Christmas near closing tone to it. It's different but really stands out over other mall videos. The reptiles and rc cars were cool too.
This might sound weird but I’m glad to see abandoned cups, it just means there are still some kids who go to the mall. 😂😂😂 My nephew and his friends actually go n it’s fun to see tbh. Lol
Happy 2023! Great video, local malls are always a treasure, and I love being at our mall when it's near closing time. There's just such a charm that you feel when the mall lights are brighter than the sky outside.
Great video! Thanks for taking us along. I've been to numerous malls lately that are going this route - chain stores moving out and local specialty shops opening up. If you visit SoCal, 2 good ones to visit are Westminster Mall (its old school charm will sadly be going away as it will be redeveloped soon) and Lakewood Mall. They both have lots of book stores, anime and game shops and niche shops, similar to this mall. Also bonus points for the axolotl, such a cute little dude(ette).
Get a part time job or weekend job with a janitorial company. You get into places and areas you would otherwise never be able to see. You can also try to make friends with someone who does work for one. How would you like to see a city courthouse and judges chambers after dark. A bank at closing. An industrial chemical plant or office tower. I saw all these places working as a teen. Places kids at school fathers worked at. Fascinated I got to see places they never could.
Love this mall its been my local one since I was a kid. I still go almost every Tuesday for the theatre for half priced movies and popcorn. The Sarku japan place and the Madd pita place are both excellent in the food court. Wow did not know that hobby shop has a track inside much bigger than I thought. The fletchers organ place was open in early December when I was Christmas shopping never thought I would see that place close up shop.
These mall videos are fascinating. Your knowledge is incredible and really makes these videos better than the rest on YT. Thank you! If you'l ever hear about dead malls in the Dallas area please let me know!
I visited my mall three times, once before Christmas, and twice after. Mainly for Bath and Body Works. It's the main store that most people come to the mall for, along with the restaurants. The majority of my Christmas shopping this year was done at Gabe's. You can't beat the prices.
There's this mall in South Bend, IN that's still open, but the only other one around the area is every bit of the definition of "dead mall". The one that's still kicking seems like it has pretty decent activity; Nothing extremely busy but also not dead either. That mood surprisingly stayed the same even during the christmas and post christmas time. Born and raised in San Antonio, and between seeing that and your videos, it honestly makes me wonder if North Star Mall in SA is probably one of the very few remaining malls that is still just as busy as it use to be decades ago. Maybe the next time I visit my home town, I should record some footage of that mall. Great video either way. Always love your stuff!
I went to my local mall close to 5 times before and after Christmas. Before Christmas, the mall was packed to the brim with people while after Christmas it was busy but not as bad. JCPenney was actually busy during my visits before Christmas which I haven’t seen in years. I ended up going over a week ago around closing and it was still fairly busy, but also kind of empty which gave it a creepy vibe.
The malls in western states like Arizona and California look terrible now! But my local mall in Texas is actually doing well because it has new anchors like Dave & Busters, movie theater, Lego store, Cheesecake Factory, a renovated Macys! I went to a mall in California last year when I visited my cousins, the mall is falling apart, it has leaking roof, it has dozens of vacancies! I heard they want to redevelop the mall and build expensive housing, which is such a terrible idea!
I worked for a friend’s mom at a Hickory Farms mall pop up kiosk. They stay open until everything sells out more or less. All items went 50% off December 25, then 75% off January 1. Usually clears stuff out pretty quick. We were closed by January 5 as I remember.
I have three malls in my city (that I know of), and my favorite is the one closest to me. It's not very busy whenever I go, so it's a nice and enjoyable shopping trip when I visit. There's just something so nostalgic and calm about a mall that doesn't get a lot of foot traffic.
My local mall remains incredibly active. I did some Christmas shopping there last month, which has not always been the case, and it actually felt somewhat nice to be in an active, flourishing department store.
Happy 2023! We did check out the mall about a week before Christmas it was cold and windy. My son and I just wanted a warm place to get some exercise and it worked well. 25 years ago there would have been a traffic jam getting into the mall, now there's parking a plenty. Unfortunately our mall was evacuated twice for false alarms when it was believed that shots were fired. One time a jewelry store was robbed, no fire arm and I forget the other incident I just know they evacuated the mall twice. Luckily no one was hurt and false alarms. Still makes you think twice about going to the mall. And this is in a safe (even upscale) area.
Love the video, i miss going to the mall. Aint been out and about for along time. Spencers was one of my favorite stores! Gamestop of course! Aint seen a arcade for along long time. Alot of malls here in Ohio are pretty much dead or gone. Even in PA i live borderline of it.
I have not been to a mall since before the pandemic aside from dining at restaurants attached to them and seeing a couple movies at a movie theater attached to them without going inside. I miss it but it’s such a hassle to shop in person and so much more expensive since i would splurge on the food court and expensive Starbucks every time id go to the mall. Cheaper to just order stuff i need online, less impulse buys. But i miss the nostalgia of hanging out at the mall; my friends and i just don’t have shopping money to do that now that we have adult bills.
I grew up going to that mall tbh, I went to Highland High and High Jr in the 2000s, took guitar lessons there etc too ... im long gone now but it's nice to see what is going on there now. thx!
A friend of mine and myself tried to come down to the opening of Superstition Springs Mall from Flagstaff as we'd heard that several bands were going to perform . . . we never made it as our work schedules didn't line up. Fast forward a few years, and I lived near the mall. Wow! That place was great in the mid 90s. They had a pretty solid arcade ( I think it was upstairs next to the carousel), and the mall in general was almost always busy. My wife and I would spend the whole day there (and in the surrounding satellite stores . . . K-Mart--which has been torn down--Target, Circuit City, Best Buy, etc). Lots of restaurants, too. We still go there on occasion. I think 2022 was the first year we didn't do any Christmas shopping there. It is quite sad how many of these malls have declined to the point of extinction. My folks still shop at the Flagstaff Mall every once in a while. I remember when that place opened...what a great time! They had a toy store that was amazing. And the arcade . . . Flagstaff only had 2 (maybe 3) video game arcades in the late 70s/early 80s, and the Flagstaff Mall one was amazing. Anyway, great video--as always. Have a great year.
We live in the area of Reno, NV, so our main indoor mall is Meadowood Mall. Our Sears closed down right before the pandemic, but in early '22, the space was taken over by Round One [a massive Japanese-style arcade]. Honestly, that was the best outcome I've seen for a closed mall-attached department store. Thanks for this tour of a mall just after Xmas! Definitely makes me want to visit Meadowood just after this Xmas! Who knows, might find some good sales.
It's crazy seeing how empty the mall is here. I remember getting kicked out of Fletcher Music Center in the early 2000's because my buddy decided to play Metallica on one of the electric organs. Apparently the proprietor was not amused. Thank you for sharing this! It led to a pleasant memory I had all but forgotten.
It's so weird seeing all the dead Phoenix area malls. I moved there in 1998 and left in 2013 and in the late 90's early 2000's I used to love exploring all the malls in the city. I used to work at the Best Buy behind this one. This mall, like most, has seen better days.
I have a relative who's b-day is right after Christmas so I always go. I also want to see what's on clearance and get some half off calanders. There's also always a bath and body works sale right after Christmas. That week.still feels like holiday season to me.
That hobby shop with the vast swaths of space devoted to RC car racing is interesting. JC Penney back in the day was probably paying a king's ransom in rent for such a huge space, and presumably the hobby shop is probably paying next to nothing, since the mall is desperate to fill the space.
Actually hobby shop are VERY profitable, i speak by experience since i worked at one. There's a reason why every big mall has at least one, we can pay rent with sales of warhammer figures alone
i work at a mall and it truly is so liminal seeing it completely empty, no music, the lights completely off, every store closed. it doesn't help that my store stays open longer than all the others, so i'll be walking around a giant, dark, empty space and i'll look back one more time and see only one tiny source of light with people, it makes it feel like i left through a portal from another world almost. walking outside through the dimly lit security corridors is also an absolutely terrifying experience after closing by the way, but it's such a cool one. i love thinking about how people who dont work in malls dont get to see their local mall like that.
Oh! Those Chowerds candies are violet flavored! They are kind of odd, but they're a really neat tasting candy. Jutenhoops used to have them pretty often & that's when I first tried them.
I was just here last fall while I was on a business trip. My hotel was right down the street. It had a good not-dead-but-not-booming mall vibe. Also, hell yeah, Duett.
Love the reptile store. By chance was the NM mall the big one in Albaquerque, I was impressed by the feeding zoo aspect of that place and the other exotic animals.. also they had a really cool diorama of the entire mall on the ceiling of the food court. If you havent been, it's not dead but still very interesting!
I love My Fave Candy Store! It’s one of the few places where I can find Allsorts Licorice! Even World Market doesn’t carry it anymore in their British section which is odd.
I miss the mall of 25+ years ago. I grew up going to Metrocenter mall and Arrowhead mall. Good times. I still occasionally go to Arrowhead but haven't been there since like August last year.
We hit Penny's for the clearance sections after Christmas. Also bought new 29" American Tourister expandable hardside spinner suitcase last week on sale plus coupon $155.
I was a mallrat in my teens, even worked at one when I was working 2 jobs for a while. Love working at the mall. Wish I could have made a career out of it, but unless you come in as a manager, which I wasn't, there's only part time jobs, because they don't want to pay full time people and have to pay them benefits as well. But I loved it. I sure miss those days.
When i saw lolas soap i jumped cuz i knew you were at superstition. My childhood mall! I love the giant merry go round and that rc car store sooo much. I was legit there 3 weeks ago. Crazy cuz its def a lesser known mall.
That mall arcade is so depressing. Some of my favorite arcade memories were at my local mall... back when it had an arcade. And it was a pretty sizeable one too with Tekken, UMK3, Vampire Savior and more.
P&F Hobbies now has RC crawling courses for 1/10th and 1/24th scale trucks. For those planning to go, it’s $10 for a day, and you can leave and come back. Bring a LiPo bag if you want to charge there. We went on 1/15, and the mall was pretty busy…
Hey there! I love your videos and actually hope I run into out the public somewhere just to chat and hear your thoughts on this mall and other shopping centers in Mesa. Believe it or not I try to go hit up this mall at least every other week or so since I live right next to it. I'm fearful that this place has numbered day. Anyways take care man. Hope to see more great vids.
I got to go to 2 malls this year i believe, one in/near Denver Colorado and one in Colorado springs, I think it was eather chapel hills or the cidedale mall....
