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I went there when it first opened. Pittsburgh is a city that relies heavely on public transportation. The mills wouldn't allow bus stops on their property. It was damned from the start
How can you not be in the sun for 7 years unless your a recluse????? You can’t avoid it unless all your shades are down too in the house even then it still comes through....
@@scdu Really, that was the last time that indoor malls were semi-relevant. Even when this opened, e-commerce was already starting to take off and people were increasingly starting to trend away from suburban-style shopping in favor of urban shopping strips, big boxes, and outdoor "lifestyle centers". This pandemic may sadly make this mall look like Century III not too far from now, another once great mall that fell on hard times, though at least Century III had nearly 20 good years before its rapid decline and has lots of fond memories for Gen Xers. At least Philadelphia Mills on the other side of the state isn't doing as bad, but even that isn't quite as busy as it was in its '00s heyday. Arundel and Potomac Mills near DC/Baltimore are holding up pretty good for now, and Live! Casino has helped in Arundel's case. But this sadly represents the Millennial generation's youth quickly fading away as the front end of that demo enters middle age.
I was just going to say that this is probably the most colourful mall I've ever seen in my life. Every mall is either shades of beige or back in the brown.
@@Alcofoamer I don't think he is referring to the colors or design but the atomsphere is generic and boring and that was the downfall of the mall that people don't realized. They didn't offer anything different from each other.
@@merlinthebikewizard4392 I think this mall really needed either a glass ceiling or an outside mall approach. I actually think the colors and design are nice, but they need more natural light. The artificial lights they have are lackluster and make everything so dreary.
Or convert into the largest haunted house in the world. Actually, walking through an abandoned mall in the dead of night is scary enough, so no renovation required.
Military Circle Mall has none of those left. Especially since Sears closed over 90% of its stores and sold all its brands to other companies. Macy's left LONG ago, and Penny's even longer. The closest thing they have to an Anchor is a Ross, unless you count the theater.
Sears closed in our mall..first it was Carson Pierre Scott, then Sears, Forever 21 is next..only a matter of time before JcPennys folds and Macy’s runs..followed by Dicks pulling out (pun intended) Then our mall will be another carcass in Hobart Indiana.
Agreed. I skipped it cause I thought it was some strange mistake. But when I heard the music, I understood but was still baffled at why he would feel the need to include that...
People don't rollerskate much? bro you should come to my town the rollerskating place is literally thriving, its like a main hub for majority of the people in the town
I also don't get the hate. I never saw a prettier mall. I live down in middle Europe and we don't have such a fancy thing here. There are so many things there. Are many USA malls like this?
How did you forget that there’s literally a fracking rig set up behind the parking lot of this mall who’s waste water run off pools would ignite spontaneously.This mall is absolute hell.
In the last few months, Cinemark has announced they are permanently closing the movie theater and JC Penny's is now closing too leaving only Macy's and Dick's as the last anchor tenants left.
this mall is actually atheistically pleasing, and it’s relatively large. honestly better than some of the bigger malls that are still booming like robinson mall near pittsburgh. i don’t understand why malls like this go out of business so fast, especially this one
Many things come into play: Declining economy in many towns resulting in the loss of disposable income, lack of residential zones near the mall, crime ridden areas (which in fact, killed several of these places in the long term), change of buying habits and mall preferences, opening of newer, more modern and fashinable malls which make these ones irrelevant and the list goes on. Actually it's a shame this mall didn't reach its potential.
Poor management and poor location. It's in the middle of nowhere, next to some of Pittsburgh's most economically depressed suburbs. Plus no public transportation goes to it.
@@mayavenuemisfit814 that's one of the conclusions I came to why they're doing so bad. I mean ross park mall is a relatively short drive north from downtown. Way closer than this place. If you live west of the city Robinsons probably the closest option. If you live south, it's south hills village, if you live east it's Monroeville. There are just so many options that are much closer than this. It gets less populated up in that area, and where there is more population density there are better options close by. I also see alot of people commenting on videos about this mall talking about refusing to put in buss stops. I didn't know anything about that, but that would also be a mark against it.
You said this mall was built in 2005? That was right around the time that people were getting their homes foreclosed on and the disposable income was going away. Then came the big crash (too big to fail). I can understand why a lot of these storefronts were never rented.
@@jaldav The crash happened in 08, but the problems started around 2003-04. People who bought homes where they paid principal only loans for the first 5 years were finding it impossible to refinance once those finance charges or balloon payments started kicking in.
My Dirty Rat 1 you make a good point. and perhaps that contributed to the mall never taking off. The only counterpoint i would offer to that is that in this area (Pittsburgh) was not hit as hard as other parts of the country. I know that doesn't necessarily matter because the downturn did impact the economy of the entire country. This whole story of the mall is just so interesting to me.
See, Now I'm imagining a 90's kid with a backwards cap, running circles around the old, fat security guard like its old kids movie before running out the door into the sunset. Got that cool kids attitude (like classic sonic) that faded out after 1999. IDK y though, I was too young to remember anything pre 2002-ish. Maybe your comment just got my imagination flowing.
Jackson Kruse I really love the design of this mall actually. It saddens me to see it void of life though. Kinda like an empty cruise ship... It could be the most luxurious ocean liner in the world, but void of people it would crush your soul (mine atleast).
Jackson Kruse Nah, you just appreciate architecture more then those around you. We humans kinda like building shit if you couldn't tell :p It's pretty normal to to be bothered by a great work gone to waste because of that.
I live about ten minutes from this mall and this video is no exaggeration. It's a shit hole. The movie theater is doing well. The restaurants on the outskirts of the mall are doing well. The mall is absolute shit though. It was a big deal when it opened. That checkered looking race place that is closed was supposed to be a go-kart track that was going to actually go outside and through the mall to attract people but some contractor or something fucked it up so it never even opened. So that checkered looking place at 9:24 which was supposed to be the go-kart place opened for about 4 months and used to sell RC cars. What a dump.
That's the point, all of the outside businesses are doing well on their own. There is literally no point to go into the mall if you can just go around the outside of it to get where you really want to go. I agree with you, building LT really was pointless, especially since malls were already declining a ton when it was built.
If you only live ten minutes from the Mills, then you must also agree that not even two years ago the mall was completely full; making all these closures all the more shocking right? (I live an hour and a half away and have been making the drive couple/few times a year why? because it was worth it!) wife and I were shocked in May as we hadn't been there in almost a year due and it looks like a ghost town comparatively. Also the petland tried to sell us a mixed breed dog for $1600. That's the real investigation that needs to be going on. That place is evil.
ive been there multiple times every year since 2013; I don't care how close you live I wouldn't have driven an hour and a half to go to a defunct mall. if it wasn't full it was 95% full.
Everyone in the comments section: “this looks like (insert local Mills mall name here)!” Ummm y’all know the Mills corporation is a thing right? They designed one set of mall blueprints back in the 90’s and peddled them to cities all over the country.
My best guess would be that Dan did it to accentuate the Karen vibe she gives us, thus making him a prophet of sorts. ;-) Anyhow, having looked at the location on Google Maps, I'd say that in itself was the deal breaker. The mall's developers must've been counting on further residential development in the area, but it never eventuated. :-/
I am the Marine Corps recruiter who works in that joint, and yes, sometimes it's pretty eerie. At least it gives me a place to run laps when it rains. You also walked right by my office without saying hi.
There is a severe cognitive dissonance between the wacky po-mo design of the storefronts and the industrial, dim, Costco ceiling and it's just troubling
I'd buy it. convert the stores to apartments. Use it as a huge gated "community" for senior citizens. like an old folks home, except they would have thier own homes and neighborhoods, all in doors and secured. it'd be great for them.
I was working in Pittsburgh shortly after this mall opened, it was late in the year around Christmas. The mall was packed with people and shops. The check board place was supposed to be a NASCAR themed restaurant from what I was told. This place is actually huge in dimensions. I saw the drawback as it was too far from the city to draw major crowds and at the time nothing else out by it.
@@KitKat0418 Especially a few years before the Recession. It looks like one of those Chinese ghost towns. Huge and shining, but almost completely empty.
This mall looks like it stole decor from a CRUISE SHIP mixed with old NICKELODEON STUDIOS. This mall wasn't sure when it was built if it should go with 90s decor or towards 2000s 😂😂😂
Wow, I absolutely love this. I'm really into weird and paranormal things and also urban exploration, but this is really unique in that it feels like some sort of "liminal space" that you'd wander into unwittingly and then wonder if you were actually there or just dreamed it. The whole thing is eerie, surreal, and otherwordly and I am all about it. On a more down to earth note, I find it pretty sad that so much effort and money was clearly put into this place and it flopped this badly. I don't know; something about stuff like that makes me feel really sad. There was a serious attempt and absolutely no one cared. I actually felt kind of annoyed that you were so brutal in mocking the place.
Alex's Bikes and Motors this mall is usually like this even on weekends because there’s literally nothing in it lol.. the surrounding businesses do well though.
It's like a demonstration of a mall, like in museums, when they re-build certein topics for the audience. "And this is a mall right here, Ladies and Gentlemen!"
No joke. I live in Pittsburgh. It's insane how night and day this mall looks compared to Robinson Mall, a mall so giant and full that it's killing the other malls around it.
Im from Pittsburgh and im 29. When I was younger, maybe 16-17 , the mall was so full of people and stores! A very busy food court, play areas, and every store was full! There was even a bar/bowling alley and indoor minigolf The area around the mall was busy too! Lots of restaurants, and even a hotel.
Neto S Mills, eh? I knew this looked a bit familiar. Used to go to one in St. Louis. It had an ice rink and go-karting. The go-karts eventually shut down, and who knows what happened to the ice rink. I wonder how it's doing today. Heard that nobody ever goes there anymore. Maybe Dan could check it out?
I go to the gym there, but i’ve walked around the whole mall a few times and it’s very underwhelming. the malls massive and if feels like there should be so much but there just isn’t. it’s weird to see everything closed off when there’s so much potential. there’s still phone case carts in the middle of walkways with cases that would fit an iphone 4. there’s also a playground in the middle of it which makes no sense. the whole place scares me more than anything
In 2005, the "90s" was just wearing off. 1999 was 6 years ago. The Nintendo Gamecube and PS2 have come out and are relatively fresh in people's minds. Some 90s shows were still aired. People still used TV that only had DD (Edit: SD, not "DD") and no HD support at all. The hipster/coffee shop style of stores didn't really pick up until early 2010s. That's when the 90s died (at least, technology wise with the advent of widespread smartphones and wifi everywhere, 1080p being the "standard", etc).
+Tyrone Newsom : Just a guess, but it may be because of the company that owned the mall, Mills Corporation. Almost all of their malls use this same design...and this theme was adopted sometime in the 90's. I know Katy Mills, which is the mall near where I live, has this same type of layout and that was opened in 1999.
Which makes you wonder... in 10 years time, what is going to replace the current minimalist pseudo-retro post-industrial hipster 'Smith & Wilkenson' A E S T H E T I C with it's Tolix barstools, Edison filament bulbs and all...?
CiderDivider Just imagine that it's a slow time of a slow day, and crowds will be coming in later, and enjoy the soothing solitude before the crowds come. I've been to the local amusement park on a slow day and it was awesome! No waiting in line, and I could pick the spot I wanted to sit on the roller coaster. At least during the golden hour before all the crowds arrived!
So in recent news, the Macy's and the near by Best Buy are closing, there were several arrests at the mall involving human trafficking, and a body was found in a car in the near by Walmart parking lot. Lovely place.
Leo Hopkins III thanks for the suggestion dude I appreciate it. Also I remember actually going there like maybe around 1 year ago-ish ,but maybe my memory is acting up.
These videos are amazing. The idea of hauntology is so fascinating and these videos truly capture that time capsule feel. There's a mall in my town that's a ghost town in the making!
I remember watching this video when it first came out multiple times. I'm watching this now because, ironically enough, I actually work at the ScareHouse in neighborhood 4. It used to be an H & M but it looks like it was empty when you filmed this. Spirit Halloween is here too. I just like watching this again and seeing some of the same things there now lol.
@@jmholmes83 It was a closed auction. I don't know all the details but they weren't going to let anyone else in. But i had the same thought. However investing in this would be like buying a ticket for the titanic after it sank. This was supposed to be a huge tax revenue infusion to the area, and i bet that Frasier township is still looking to collect on this. But yes, it would have been funny to show up and bid $101
The bank owns the note, they would have just kept bidding until no one else bid or someone bid to a price they were willing to let them have the note for.
If I heard correctly, the bank already owned the mall after the owners foreclosed on their loan. The bit about the bank placing a $100 bid on their own property seems a bit weird and illegal, so it's likely a misquoted story. It wouldn't be legal in Australia, because that's artificially pushing up the price.
