DEAD MALL SERIES : THE GALLERY AT MILITARY CIRCLE Ft. Music by HAIRCUTS FOR MEN 

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!

You have to feel sorry for the guy at 6:37. Imagine holding a tray of food, waiting for visitors that might never come.

Mall madness to mall sadness

I find it so ironic that the small businesses who usually suffer when a mall is built nearby keep a mall going when it is abandoned by the larger businesses.

The dog wearing pearls was fantastic.

mall managers must hate to see you turn up , youre like the apocalypse with a beard :)

It boggles my mind that no mall ever tries to appeal the 80's-loving growing public by making an eighties style mall.

When you have a "Ross" or "TJ Maxx" as an anchor, you know that a mall is on its way to becoming a Dead Mall.

Working for a store or restaurant in one of these "damn-near-dead" malls has to be one of the loneliest and most boring jobs around. Even dangerous considering the crime that creeps in.

6:33 lmao @ the guy with the samples in such a dead mall

HAHA! they seriously have the 'free sample' guy out in the food court?

You know what would be cool? An abandoned mall, refurbished to make it look like an active mall, but made into a paintball/laser tag complex.

For anyone looking for the songs Dan used in this just search (Updated) “Haircuts for men - 見知らぬ人のほこり album 我々はすべてしたい ep” and you’ll find it. The song in the beginning is number 3 on the album. It was difficult to find so I thought I’d post this.

I swear every mall you tour has an operating GNC

*awkwardly films old lady for a minute*

I swear every single female anchor on local news has the same voice.

No one can do it like Dan Bell. The combination of music, editing, old clips and narrating is legit!

I love everything about Dead mall series! The intro with vintage videos (sometime ironic), Dan's narration and the way the story of the downfall of the mall is told, the soundtrack (ahhh the soundtrack! S2), the ambient music, the cinematography, the attention of every single detail... as I said before, EVERYTHING! Thanks so much Dan for the amazing work!

The guy in the food court handing out samples...to no one.

UPDATES! I live right down the road from here, and a lot has happened since this video went up. First, the prospectors who took over this husk got foreclosed on and it is now city property. The Penny's is now an Optima office, plus part of the mall was demolished and rebuilt as offices. The only real traffic left is the food court, which is starting to build back up. Besides that, though, almost all of the kiosks are closed and the remaining stores are urban wear or jewelry, with the odd duck here or there. Weave Envy, sadly, is gone. Fortunately, crime has gone down due to security being increased with the government and business offices. Besides that, though, there's no reason to go anywhere beyond the main corridor and the food court. And that one Japanese food stand is the most successful place there. What few people go there all seem to eat from there.

Dan was really born in the wrong generation. He could have been the greatest 80's marketer ever. Look at the way he pieces together the intro clips.

Dan why is it every dead mall has a Gnc lol

Finally a new dead mall

The problem with many of these malls is not only the trend of people choosing open air strip malls but also the fact that many of the sorrounding areas of these malls have gone south and they are plagued by crime and people stop going out of fear for their safety

I used to do A LOT of shopping at this mall back in the late 80's (88/89) into the late 90's (97/98) and it was so full of luster and life. It was always packed, you had to wait in some long lines in a lot of the stores to make your purchases. In fact, I got my first sears credit card at this mall..lol. It's so sad to see this mall go so far down hill. I haven't been to this mall in just a little more than 16 years now ( I moved out of state). But it really was an awesome mall back in the day.

I LITERALLY thought it was an ad at the beginning. I was like "But this is old asf" lol

theres always a GNC it seems

My local mall has an old lady with a Pomeranian too! It just sits in a basket on the top of her walker looking all dopey, and she perpetually circles the mall. Occasionally I'll see her in a store or something, but she's usually just mall walking. I'll be sad when I stop seeing her anymore. Thanks for all of the great videos, Dan. Love the Dead Mall series. Only thing I would suggest is maybe taking a picture of the map/directory of the mall and when you're describing different wings and where you're going, you can overlay the map and we can get a better sense of what each mall looks like. Hope to keep seeing more!

The song at the beginning and at the end is using Erasure's 'Chorus' as its base - oh and I think this mall is rather pretty, it's certainly bright!

Mall madness was my jam! lol

The ONLY reason this mall still exists is the fresh flow of sailors from boot camp to waste their money at the GNC and the local gangs to fight.

I got so excited when I saw this in my subscriptions. I go to this mall often, strictly for the theater & occasionally for the chinese spot with the poor sample guy. In it's day Military Circle was really nice, I have some fun memories of it as a kid, but now my family & I really don't even bother going through the mall itself because it is so dead. Anyway, love the channel a lot & thoroughly enjoyed the video! Can't wait for more :)

0:00 I want a Dan Bell - Board James crossover now.

God!!! im really diggin the 80s 90s clips and the music!!

There's always a GNC.

what an attractive mall. I hope it can be saved by local small business owners in the same way Desert Sky Mall in Phoenix Is now booming with its second life

when i first visited military circle mall i was shocked to find the place so empty... i just never knew that malls could be that dead

YES I LOVE THESE

This series is so beautiful. My local malls are still lively but it makes me wonder how much longer they have left. Not if, but when they'll be dead and abandoned.

I WENT HERE THE OTHER DAY! All I saw were employees in their shops on their phones and shops filled with 70s clothing. There was very little people there too. It was like I entered a different time zone omfg 💀

Crazy! My family had a reunion at the Doubletree Hotel around 2005. That mall was so active back then. The first time I ever saw a Chick-Fil-A was in that mall during that visit.

God. It is always so sad to see such beautiful buildings go to waste! Such a unique flare to it! Great job, yet again, Dan!

H A I R C U T S F O R M E N (Favorite vaporwave/mallsoft artist)

These are all really great journey's ....I don't know why I get emotional over it, probably because malls used be packed with so much life back in the 80's and 90's. You should start doing this with Arcade businesses too ...but it would probably be a lot harder to capture them.

First the fountains are shut off. Then the plants die. The signs of a dying malls death. Two of the many. SO sad. At least this mall is clean and they are trying.

OMFG! That pomeranian was adorable ^.^

Awesome video- I grew up in this mall in the early/mid 80s. The Ross Store was originally a Woolworths. One anchor was a Leggets, another was Thalhiemers (not sure if I spelled those correctly). The Sheraton had a restaurant accessible through the mall called Gingers (my sister worked there the summer of 1987). K&K Toys was on the main aisle; Mother's Records & Tapes was on the wing with the Woolworths. The food court was located further back in the mall; it was eventually moved more towards the middle where it is now. Also, across the street from the mall on Military Hwy there was a KMart, a Waterbed Collection store (my friend's dad owned it); across the street on VA Beach Blvd was Janaf Center, which I think is still active. Great memories in this mall- sorry to see it in the state it's in. Thanks for shooting this!

I remember a mall that must be dead by now...in Eden, NC. I mean, it was on it's last breath 10 years ago...so it must be gone or down to a couple shops by now...just in case you fancy adding it to your list :-) It's actually just called "Eden Mall". Vintage 80's all the way through lol.

What a pretty mall. I hope things turn around for it soon.

I've been trying to figure out what is so fascinating about your Dead Mall and Dead Motel series and I think i got it now. It's like you're documenting in real-time, the collapse of an Empire from it's most decadent state. We will never know what every step of the fall of Rome looked like, but thanks to people like you Dan, everyone that has the gumption to look will be able to witness in full-length video what ultimately happened to American decadence when Hollywood and Advertising agencies weren't showcasing the American Dream.

OMG I was locked in this mall once when I was about 5 years old. I went with my babysitter and her boyfriend and they forgot about me and left me in the bathroom. Needless to say, I've been terrified of this place ever since. It was much busier back then. This place was actually renovated in the late '90s if i'm not mistaken. The interior was waaaay more old fashioned before. A shame to see this place going to waste now. it really is beautiful.

kinda looks like the inside of the mall on gta vice city for ps2.

I was stationed in Norfolk around the time of that shooting, and around when you posted this. I never visited this mall (because there's a ton of other malls in Hampton Roads), but I really appreciate this video.

HOLY SHIT DAN! I was actually going to send you a request to do this mall. This place use to be alive back in the 90's when I was a kid. It has been dying a slow death ever since. They had a cirucs with elephants outside this mall when I was younger and they allowed the elephant to pick up kids and allowed us to ride on its back. It a shame MIlitary Circle Mall has become like this but that whole area around Janaf is falling apart! Thanks for visiting Hampton Roads

Awe look at the cute doggy woggy😻😻😻😻

MacArthur Center also played a part in killing off this mall I think.

rewatching all the dead mall videos - they take me somewhere i can't even describe.

Hey Dan, I came across your films by accident this morning, I thought "What the hell is this" but within minutes I was hooked and I've now watched all of your Dead Malls in one day!!!!!!!! Wow, I'm now obsessed with making a horror movie in a dead mall ;-) I especially like the old footage you intercut, it's crazy stuff, could hair get any bigger!! I'm sure we must have a few here in the UK, but space is at much more of a premium here, so it's unlikely they'd be left to rot, they'd probably be demolished very quickly, but there are very few here as big & old as yours anyway. Thanks for your excellent work & the entertainment, I've started to watch your other films now too, all very interesting; I really should get down to writing, but you're making me want to buy some expensive camera equipment - maybe you could do a few films about the basics of what to buy? Cheers very much - Justin PS - I just remembered I worked in a mall as a teenager in an art gallery, how did I forget lol - we had an escalator running along one side of the shop with a waterfall running down each side between the shop & the escalator - Brilliant ;-)

It seems, once there is a shooting incident at a mall, its days are numbered

80's retro all the way why hasn't anyone bought this and turned it in a working 80's museum 80's real working night club,80's hair styles the lot be a fab play to go! Us old Brits envy these classic USA 80's Malls you have,be a great shame to see them lost forever,loved the vid!

I'm in love with that music 😍

Whaaat?! Dude, I live right down the road from there! I grew up going to this mall... Was awesome back in the day. Turned kinda ghetto after awhile though. Awesome to see a place so close by to where I live.

Beautiful mall, I love the patterns in the tile floors, the walls, the windows, the ceilings, the fountain.

@12:28 I wonder if that vacuuming is really gonna make a difference in that Macy's final 3 days of existence.

Mixed use is the future of malls. A mix of residential, restaurants, theatres, cafes, shops and entertainment

Love that song at 7:00 such a good tune

This was my local mall when growing up... It's sad that it turned to crap. Good news is that there are better malls in the area.

We know why Military has declined; Amazon, Norfolk building competing malls like MacArthur, and the Outlet Mall down the road from Military Circle. Used to be great mall.

2023 update as someone who grew up in this area: Pharrell Williams is getting involved with this project, the mall is getting demolished and an amphitheater and new housing is being put in. Pharrell grew up around this area too, hence his involvement.

Update on Military: Champ's is gone but the mall is still sustaining itself. Some of the space is used for conventions now. (Beast In a The East has used the mall for convention space) Ross is still there. A lot of the colored trees and water effects are gone. About 60-70% of the vacant space has been taken up by smaller businesses. There is more food available. A Sarku Japan has been brought in. The building that was owned by JCPenny is now owned by a different business??? Hotel is still underdeveloped and hasn't been used. Overall mixed results but the mall isn't exactly dead anymore. With more ships to bring in and if the hotel can be safely redone the mall can be revived.

Hell yeah mall madness still have that same one from the 80's! Love this series of yours

Music by haircuts for men and the video shows a clip of a female hair salon, nicely done

Anybody else notice that when a mall starts to die, they always put those vending machines in them? Do they think that Pepsi and Aquafina vending machines are going to save the mall? LOL.

GNC could survive a nuclear fallout.

You summed up the "perfect storm" of dying mall conditions very well! Great vid as always!!

I haven't lived there in years. I had no idea Military Circle Mall had met this fate. Never would've guessed that!

I live near this thing. The last time I was there was to see a Yugioh movie upon the request of the fiance. The only sign that the movie was even showing there was the inflow of other Yugioh fans who had also somehow heard that the movie was showing there.... not a very big crowd but the largest crowd of people I saw while there.

I watch these to go to sleep...no joke, works Everytime

Dan. I love haircuts for men.

It almost feels like a daily ritual to watch these while really high and listen to lo-fi music. I used to love dead malls as a kid and I connect them with all these nostalgic feelings that I've felt in my physical life or in my dreams. I used to have surreal dead mall dreams and idk I'm in love with it. As weird as this will sound, I think I'm alive due to this series..it brought back warm fuzzy feelings that I didn't know existed. Thanks, Dan.~

god i am seriously wondering why in some of these more vacant or abandoned malls vaporwave enthusiasts, or those of similar category, flock to it and have the sickest, most nostalgic raves

Ohhhh loved the new neon "Dead Mall Series" intro :)

omg I live 30 minutes away from this mall. I am scared to go there. you are brave dan bell. good you made it out of there in one piece!!

5:58 I love how the change machine needs a sign on it telling people not to stick messed up bills into it. I've never seen anything like that up here in Canada, even before we switched to plastic bills.

I loved this mall back in the day....it was the best.

dan bell knocks it out of the park again! hands down my fav youtuber.

That rent a cop at 7:01 that comes waddling by, made me choke on my coffee.Something happens at that mall your doomed.

LOVED the guy selling the display case at the end!

okay so I'm local in Norfolk and I tell you about this mall military circle mall was always known to be the Ghetto mall of Norfolk at one one point of its time it use to be CROWDED like even when we first moved to the 757 area (Norfolk Area) it was crowded and full of life but at the same time fights use to break all the time over time it just became more and more ghetto but in the early 2000s MacAurthur mall (The mall located in downtown Norfolk) opened and that kind of started the decline of military circle more crime fights and just ratchetness kept coming up to the mall and eventually people started moving the shooting you posted up I WAS THERE WHEN IT HAPPENED I WHITNESS THE SHOOTING the crazy part is every year Norfolk would host a carnival and they have a circus and they both hold those events on the parking lot of the mall and yet nobody goes inside... I went to the mall 2 days ago (YES ITS STILL OPEN) and it just looks sad

I am binge watching these before South Park. I am definitely spreading the word to my friends. This is art Mr. Bell!

You're finally in my neck of the woods! Military Circle used to be so great. Sad that its in the condition it is now.

I live 5 minutes from this place. Grew up in Hampton Roads. This is the most I've seen of the inside of Military Circle Mall.... Thanks for the tour Dan.

I remember going to this mall as a kid. it used to be so alive and the surrounding shopping centers were great. The entire area has become fairly run down and stuck in the 90's. There is an awesome Ramen shop in the shopping center that shares the malls parking lot though! I love this series I am so glad you came!

damn I miss old malls.

Macy's has now closed and the fountain in front of it was drained.

Wow, some memories there. When I was stationed there, I use to hang at The Music Man music store, and spend hours at the arcade. Good times.

Actually, Dan Bell is doing this Mall a favor showing up. The Mall looks fabulous and seems redeemable. This Mall with solid management can make it work.

oh hell, that game was the shit

There are some good dead malls in Columbus Ohio, like Westland and Eastland mall.

MARLEY STATION!!? Dan, I grew up in Severna Park and worked to open the store, Rave, back in 87 (or 88), back when Marley Station first opened. I am glad Anne's Footings is still thriving on that lot. The corner of Marley Station where Rave was, looked deserted when I last went home to Maryland, back in 2015. Yet, the rest of the mall is thriving.