DEAD MALL SERIES : The Final Hours of Oak Hollow Mall : High Point, NC (Closed March 2017) 

Attention! Completely remastered episodes of the Dead Mall Series are now being archived in 4K at ru-vid.com/show-UCfCM_TfrSDMkkMpKuLNWuXA. 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!

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.

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.

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.

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!

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!

salmon/turquoise.....the official colors of the 1980s

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...

It bought tear to my eyes when you talk about the custodian..it's like taking care of a dying love one 😢

you can tell the janitor has some amazing dedication because some of these shots are absolutely spotless!

The little story with the custodian was touching. Bless her.

Why are these videos so addictive

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.

This series is so depressing, I love it!

Oh my god, Jackie !

I keep thinking the cast of Saved By The Bell will come running down the halls.

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)

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

This depressing video got me out of my depression....

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!

'OMG, Jackie!' 'Yeahhrr. Brackie...'

damn. this mall is so beautiful wish it wasn't closing

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.

This mall was used in a Mallsoft Mix called "Welcome to the Lobby!" I think that escalator is beautiful

If only we can bring the 90's back. I miss it.

It looked amazingly clean inside. I agree completely, it's great you were able to archive this place before it gets trashed.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Weather Channel's Greatest Hits playing on repeat.

...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...

Nobody does dead malls like you, Dan. And I've watched this one multiple times because I love it, and also because the story of the custodian still diligently working to keep the hand rails clean has really stuck with me. It's bittersweet and really nice.

It looks so clean and well-kept

6:12 "These Mall walkers are psychotic and dangerous" -Dan Bell, 2017

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.

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.

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.

One of the few urban explorers that both knows how to film and edit his video masterfully

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 RU-vid channels.

Hands down the best taste in 80s R&B on RU-vid.

I've been warning people about those psychotic and dangerous mall walkers for years. Glad someone finally recognizes it. 😂 great video as usual!

i prefer a mall much rather then online shopping. like wtf im trying something on before i spend my money!!

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.

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.

It would be great if High Point turned this into some crazy style dorm.

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

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.

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.

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.

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

Salmon a.k.a. dark peach Turquoise a.k.a. dark teal The 90s was just the 80s but edgier.

I absolutely love 1990s interior design 😍 sad to see this mall close 😭

OMG the slowed down version of the song "I wanna be with you everywhere", creeped me the hell out! LOL!! :D

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 notice that this is labeled as "comedy." Why is that? Is it because there isn't a label called "depressing"? ;-)

I’ve always had a weird obsession of dead malls to find out someone makes videos about them is amazing! Love your videos!!!

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 live in NC. I actually went to see Star Wars Episode 1 in that theater. Great video, and everything you said is spot on.

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.

"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!!

There is no hope for retail. The only thing I see surviving is Walmart and Grocery Stores.

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.

Malls were such a big part of my life growing up!

This series is like a eulogy to the 80s and 90s. I love it so much...

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.

This ASMR for my eyes and ears. Thank you

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.

Omgoodness! I used to work in that mall when I lived in NC. So crazy to see it this way now

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.

Make dead malls great again

I bumped into a "Mall Walker" one time and they walked so fast that they knocked me down😂

I grew up going to this mall - thank you for documenting it!!

Dan, I am sooooo addicted to your series! Awesome job with your narration!

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?

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

I used to come here with my mom all the time. It's so sad to see it close.

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!

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.

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!!!

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.

I blame Paul Blart movies for this.

This kinda reminds me of gateway mall in springfield oregon. it also had a 1990s vibe to it.

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 😝😝😝😝

“Everywhere“ slowed down is the best thing i ever heard😭😌.

This mall is so beautiful. Love this series!

Love this series Dan. Youre research, camera work and editing are always top notch.

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.

Fun fact: I live about 15 mins away this mall and if you jump down on the green chair in the playground, it'll make a very loud farting noise.

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...

Wow that retro wave big hair intro was uber creepy! Awesome

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 RU-vid

You could walk around with a scanner to make a VR reconstruction.

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.

i have to say i really appreciate how steady dan keeps the camera in his videos. any time i try to watch someone else's dead mall videos, i just end up with a headache.

-Oh my god, Jackie!! - Yeah, Brackie.

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.

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

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 like the 90’s feel of this mall. The sections that are still in operation look very clean, surprisingly. It blows my mind to see such desertion of the malls in this series compared to the few malls near me that are always packed with people, not even a seat open at the food court, and completely full of stores. I try to picture these like that, in their prime, full of happy people enjoying themselves. This is like the equivalent of walking through a nursing home full of dying people. At least the Titanic went down with dignity, this is just depressingly sad.