Dead Malls Season 5 Episode 24 - Golf Mill Shopping Center 

Between the Gloria Jeans & the holiday aesthetics, this felt like a trip back to more vibrant malls.

Your videos are like an archive of urbanism. I think they will prove valuable to future researchers who will wonder about how these places came to be, functioned and died.

In the 90's the Golf Mill Studio was an Arcade. The food court used to be larger, but it was downsized and the Ulta Beauty store was added.

It was depressing to pass by Golf Mill in 2022. I wish them good luck reviving the mall. Once Sears closed, it was curtains for the place.

The south mall and north mall was like a night and day difference and I have to say that north mall was absolutely beautiful. Great Video!

Golf Mill is only a 10 - 15 minute drive from my home in Chicago. One of my family’s favorite restaurants was the (now defunct) Ginza Buffet located in Golf Mill. It was a quality Asian cuisine from sushi, steak, crab legs, and an awesome variety of offerings from around $28 for dinner and $14 for lunch (reduced offerings for lunch but still awesome). My son and I enjoyed eating there at the very end of last summer not knowing that it would permanently close just a week or two later! I purchased my watch at sixty percent clearance from Sears just days before closing (which separated one side of the mall from the other). My father and late grandfather watched this mall being built back in 1959/1960. My family and I recently had our family portraits taken at the JC Penny photo studio which is still open. Although a dead mall, it’s still meticulously clean and well maintained. The closing of the Sears, pandemic, and package delivery mail order shopping habits, etc., have sealed its fate. Awesome episode! (Scott Baran)

That event space with the blue tiling and glass windows used to be Replay Arcade! I went there with my dad and brother a LOT between 2007-2010ish. The mall was kind of struggling then as well but not nearly this bad.

Thank you for posting this video. This meant so much to me personally. I grew up in Niles, in that Golf Mill neighborhood. I have thousands of memories of going to Golf Mill and shopping with my family and watching movies there. That mall was my hang out. Whenever I was depressed, I'd go for a walk to that mall. Such memories. Last year my parents both passed away. Our family home in Niles just got sold and no one in my family lives in that area anymore. I now live in California. It's sad. It's like the passing of my parents marked the end of our connection to Niles. But just seeing Golf Mill once again reminded me of the good old days when life was simpler and easier. Thank you for this memory.

A fun fact when they tore down the golf mill playhouse in the early 80’s they filled in the parking lot etc. however they filled over the basement which had tons of theater costumes and props. When Target was being built they unearthed the door to that basement and a treasure trove was found.

Thanks for making my morning much love , I still sit at my local and people watch it's great knowing an ice coffee is 5 steps away

The last update I saw on this mall that I remember was Lost Departments video on it. I kind of wonder after they enclosed it that very specially laid out Sears (now Seared) became the center's downfall, especially after the Sears became Seared that whole anchorridor became a wall splitting the two halves and creating two separate mall ecosystems. I feel like that part wasn't planned very well since what happened with the dichotomy caused by the closed down Sears happened, it feels like how the mall was laid out only worked for an open air center. It's so weird how the renovated side despite it being kind of sterile felt more lively than the side stuck in '86. I wonder if the renovated side feels more lively because it's been brightened up by being sterilized. It also shows with the 80's color themed side what happens when the owner stops caring about that section. There's something very unsettling about that side having darker colors and being silent...oh wait, I think that space became fully liminal.

i went to this mall all the time as a kid. i could still go there if i wanted, i guess

OMG! Golf Mill was one of the go-to malls when I was in high school....😢

Damn these northcdogg videos just hit different like a icy McDonald's sprite. Congrats on 9k!

I like the song at the beginning Volare by Dean Martin. My grandparents use to play Dino and Tony Bennett a lot. The golf ball office building was unique for a mall. They did decorate really nice too. The target side was depressing. Thanks for another one.

It makes sense that they would want to turn Golf Mill back into an outdoor mall, after all, Old Orchard Mall is an outdoor center, it's right down the road in Skokie, and it is packed year round. If they can make it look nice, bring in some good restaurants, and some shops that can endear themselves with the locals, Golf Mill will have a solid chance of survival.

the place next to "emotional bonding" was a shoe repair place the last time i was there like 4 years ago also the high school where they filmed the breakfast club is right around there too (police station now)

your videos hit different they are so much more informative than other channels keep up the good work

Your videos are great. My daughter and i love watching your stuff. Keep it up please, we enjoy it!

I remember going to Golf Mill with my parents back in the 60's. Woodfield was a big hit in the 70's. Especially for us out by the Fox River. By the 80's though, the traffic was becoming impossible. A stop light every quarter mile. Stratford Square Mall never really caught on and had the same traffic problems. Finally I moved out of state.

I direct a 4th/5th grade choir at an Elem School in Park Ridge (Illinois, 3 miles away). I contacted Golf Mill to see if my kids could sing there some Saturday in the Food Court. They never responded. I should point out that they recently sang at an Irish Restaurant in downtown Park Ridge. The restaurant sat 100 people. You couldn't get a seat.

I remember going here in 2016 and it was still very lively and had a near full food court… then a year later it had completely emptied and many stores had closed.

I get sad thinking about the mall plants and trees. I'm sure most of them get left behind to die or be demolished.

This channel is quickly becoming one of my favorites!

Live near Niles and been here many times in the past 35 years. That center circular tower is the most 70s/80s dated thing in the world. The inside and basement of it is the the most liminal place on the planet.

Good to see you back with another video! I love the fact that this mall has had some mixed use features, with the office tower. I know a lot of 1960s era malls tried to incorporate offices in some way or another, I guess you could say its embracing that even more by becoming a fully mixed use community. That, along with the re-introduction of the mill fountain and ponds gives me hope for mall design to once again become interesting and A E S T H E T I C.

Good video. Thanks.

Mill Run! My dad said legit people would go there. I thought he was being nostalgic, but those are legit names. I honestly prefer the north side look, those bricks and lamp posts and trees are nostalgic to me. Last went in May 2023 and wasn't too interested in visiting that side. I should have after seeing this.

Nice video 👋

Nice video and history...Thanks for sharing!

I grew up there in the 80's and it was an outdoor mall! And there was a bar/ night club on the end by the shoe store called the Millionaire's club. So crazy how things change. I saw Star Wars @ the golf mill theater as well as Ghostbusters 😂

On snap, I bought my wife a 🎹 here for our anniversary a couple of weeks ago

thinking about how in japan a lot of malls to function as community shopping and social centers since all of the really successful ones are built around major train stations so you dont need a car to get to them and its usually the first stop after people get off work, and many malls in europe and asia all have supermarkets/grocery stores built into the first floor or B1 so when people need to buy the dinner groceries and maybe get a frappe or a book or new shoes, or even see a movie everything is at the same location.

Just a short drive from Golf Mill is Old Orchard...a very successful, high end outdoor mall

I used to live just across the street from Golf mill and its kinda weird to see it again..

I miss this mall

Happy Saturday!

This is kinda sad since I went to his mall a few times when I worked nearby, and I went to the AMC there in 2020 for Tenet. It was desolate for obvious reasons then. I hope it survives since that Target is popular, and the AMC seems to do fine. Also it's in an interesting location since Schaumburg's Mall isn't far, but is a good 20-30 mins due to traffic. Then the outdoor Old Orchard Mall is about 10-15 mins away, but is a little fancier with it's store options. It's saving grace for Golf Mill isn't a huge mall. If it survives for a while, then it's size might help. The larger malls seem very unstainable to survive unless they had a lot of things going for it. Schaumburg is a rare example of a large mall still doing well, but being off two interstates and near Ikea and other major stores helps a lot. I digress, but I hope it makes it. I like seeing some of the older malls survive.

Thank you for the great video. I grew up in this mall from the mid 60’s to mid 70’s when it was an open mall. Loved the old mill with the giant goldfish in the pond. Saw a few play at mill run. The movie theater in the south east corner still exists as a X fitness. I actually rode my Schwinn Stingray bike through the Sears store. I have fond memories of what it was.

Hello! I got recommended this video by RU-vid. I like the shots that you take and your narration style. Consider me subscribed 👍

I remember a few years back like around 2007 or so it was still really busy. The j and j bedding was a gamestop that I went to quite a bit. Really miss Sears, there was a great diner I used to go to by the Gloria jeans and the arcade was pretty fun. Good times

I love the muzak being played,too. It sound classy and nostalgic.

15:33 that used to be an arcade in the early and mid 90s. I played Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter 2 right there.

i am 59, and grew up in niles In the mid 70's i was 10-11-12 and we would take the Free Bus to golf mill for the day. It was still an outdoor mall and the water wheel still working. we went all over sears. we had fried chicken and cokes at woolworths. I saw Star Wars during its first run at Golf MIll 123. It was a lifetime ago of good memories.

Hats off to the maintance staff for keeping the place clean. There is some pride there.

Thanks for the video. I remember all the palm trees and plants. I got my ears pierced at After Thoughts, got some dresses for school dances at JC Penney, ate all the cinnamon twists at Taco Bell... this was the place for us to hang out that all the parents approved of. Ghost town now. Haven't been there in years. ❤

I was just there and got told by security to stop taking pictures. I guess they're getting tired of us dead mall enthusiasts hanging out there.

I saw The Jackson Five in the 70’s at the Mill Run Playhouse I used to go to Golf Mill when it was an outdoor mall

How is it possible that I visited this mall around the same time you did last year, and I didn't even know there was a north portion of the Mall - I didn't step foot into the 80s time capsule and I feel like the biggest fool! My memory of this mall was a large sense of "community", people that showed up to just to be there for a bit every day. So sad I didn't see the north part now!

Parents moved out to the NW Suburbs in 1960 and I grew up going to Sears with my folks at Golf Mill. Memories.

Hello that area you asked about I believe was a Barber shop. I think it was owned by an Italian Barber who retired.

Cool #EMFACE billboard

Great vidoe! Love the 80’s half. Westland Mall?

Do you a Video on Northbrook Court? Lots of Changes over the Decades. Adding Multi Family to Save it.

6:15 sorry that is NUTS. They expect people to walk so far around outside, when they could have just put up temp walls through sears?

I lived in Pittsburgh PA for 15 years my go to malls were Beaver Valley Mall which started it's death in 2012 and Robinson Town Center Mall which opened in 2003. Century III was massive dump by 2007. closed by 2019 Parkway Center Mall (Green Tree PA) off of I279 had its own exit off the interstate., This was massive and was all bit dead by 2006 and when Big Kmart shuttered in Feb 2013 the mall was vacant expect for a dumpy Giant Eagle Grocery store. This mall the city of Pittsburgh was worried for years that Parkway Center Mall falling off the hillside with every rain storm and falling onto I-279. The whole inside of Parkway Center Mall closed by May 31 2013. Ross Park and South Hills Village Mall were very nice but not fun to get of onto McNightmare Road US Route 19 and both malls in Washington PA are dead and very dumpy as well.

Sure it's sad on some level to think of a mall closing, but honestly this one isn't really closing so much as being restored to it's previous form. Had it not originally been an outdoor mall, there's a good chance this might have ended up another interior dead mall. This is probably the best possible outcome since it won't just be a big dead zone in a suburban landscape like so many others.

It’s so eerie how this mall looks exactly like the Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza in Baldwin Hills, California, that is unfortunately also dying. Nice vid!

Can I tell my cat to subscribe as well? It's so admirable how you shoot these malls with such care and put so much effort into these videos ⭐ also you choose the perfect music for each mall to help capture the mood and feelings 🤩

What happened to Lakeview square mall! I used to spend most of my days hanging out at this mall, because money is all a lot of people think about everyone was ran out of there because they raised there rent waaaaay to high! Its sad I can't believe we have a dead mall. Battle creek is already dying a slow death. I mean at least we should have a good mall! Thanks for nothing to the owners of Lakeview square mall!!!. And I agree you guys are doing a great job on the dead mall videos... Nice work .,. Only love ,RYAN TROUT.

I “had a guy” at Mill Run. Saw George Carlin, Donna Summer, and others from first row seats. (It’s the Chicago way 🤷‍♂️)

Not too long ago I lived in an apartment about a half mile away from here. Last time I was in here was about the time you filmed this, maybe a few months prior. The only reasons I'd go were to see movies and the AMC or to drop off Amazon returns at the Kohl's when they were doing that. It was sad to see the place in this state, but I'm glad it's not going away entirely and will have another era to add to its history.

Great videos. So you had to walk through the Sears in order to get from the north mall to the south mall?

That store with the somewhat exotic look - was a Fredericks of Hollywood if my memory is correct. Pretty certain but not 100%.

Where were Santa and his little helpers at Golf Mills and also mini golf as well LOL 🤣. Cool that they had an office building inside the mall is there businesses in the building still?

Geometric sign was a shoe repair, just sent you a message with the pic I found. 🎉🎉🎉

I think the redevelopment will sink or swim on whether the surrounding area demographics can still support it and whether there's nearby competition. Seems like everything is going to outdoor shopping and mixed use these days. Thanks for the video.

This one has the best Palm trees and plants 👌

Fond memories of picking out a music box at the import store for my grandmother with my mom after grade school.

This wasn't my closest mall(Lincolnwood was), but i still went here plenty of times due to the fact one of my friends lived not too far away. So once in a while, I'd gave lunch here with him and friends. I'll share a lot of thoughts, in this comment. Plus to clarify any minor inaccuracies I heard you say, in this video. Anyway the big one i want to clarify, was that the 3 screen theater you talk about was NEVER attached to this mall. That was always separate from this mall on the southeast corner of the Golf Mill property, and was renovated into an XSport Fitness which is still there to this day. To me the General Growth renovation around 2007 was a LAST DITCH effort, to bring new life into this mall. Unfortunately I'd say not enough new stores came in on that renovation, except for like Deb, Sarku Japan(surprisingly still open), and also Elephant Bar and Restaurant. Both Deb and Elephant Bar didn't last long, and Elephant Bar was replaced by Ginza restaurant. Before Ginza and Elephant Bar, this space was a Chi-Chi's restaurant. When Woolworth finally closed for good in the 90s, they had a space just north of center court on the west side of the hallway(think about across from where Bath and Body Works is). If you walk west of center court and make a right(by the AMC movie theater, formerly Kerasotes) and go out that exit/entrance door, you will walk by the former Woolworth exterior entrance. Yes that really was the final Woolworth space at Golf Mill, before it closed! This mall used to do activities from time to time during various seasons of the year, like they had local school students sing Christmas songs in the food court area. Honestly once the mall started to lose businesses in the early 2010s(i.e. Hallmark, Gamestop, Taco Bell, Arby's), that was the start of the long decline of this mall. And it was like a nail in the coffin when ONLY Subway chose to relocate from the south spaces of its food court, which were ripped out for an Ulta store. I am glad a few businesses have hung on, especially Gloria Jean's. Finally in case you didn't know, the former Deb(just south of center court, and across from the old Disney Store) was turned into a community meeting room. And Ross(when it was added slightly after the 2007 renovation) was built over a former dead wing of this mall. If you have any more questions about Golf Mill, feel free to ask me them! I have read up a lot on its history, and have a lot of memories going here(at least from the 1990s to present).

My father was the warehouse manager for Sears from 1966- 1980.

What happened to Kohls I thought there was a Kohls in the wing that was never remodeled did that location close or did they move to a new location?

I think the geometric was a repainted Payless maybe? I recall never going down that pathway as a child lol.

Depressing to hear Golf Mill getting redeveloped as an outdoor. They're seeming to go that way. But, Randhurst mall went that way so I'm not really shocked.

This mall used to have a huge water fountain in the center of it. They ended up getting rid of it, though!

Parts of this mall look extremely similar to Towne Square mall in Owensboro Kentucky. I thought it was TSM for a few seconds even

Another one

On July 12, 1965 The Mill Run Playhouse would open in the North Mall as a brand new entertainment venue able to hold up to 1800 people with live performances every night. It was in every sense of the word revolutionary as the playhouse could literally revolve around the stage. This antic would sometimes blow back in the face however, causing patrons to throw up in the aisles as people who watched the shows were usually very drunk adults who had just waddled in from the nearby millionaires cocktail bar or the playhouse bar itself. Such notable performances would see The Jackson 5, Diana Ross, Ray Charles, Frank Sinatra, and Little River Band packed the house and this new entertainment venue would only flourish into the 70's along with the mall boosting it's success.🤎

Hello silly and first? And congratulations on 9k whoops

Oh, 15:35 used to be an Arcade!!

This is like the Shining hotel 🛎️

shoppimg 😂

Did you leave out that Golf Mill is at Golf Rd and Milwaukee Ave? I used to go out to the JC Penney before there was a Target in the city.

this mall is right by my house i know this mall very well thanks for doing this mall proud

I saw a concert at the Mill Run Playhouse in 1981 and am trying to revisit that day in my mind. I know it was located on the North end of the mall. Could you tell me if the entrance to Mill Run Playhouse was inside the mall doors to the left (at the 20:00 mark), or outside of the mall?

You should come to Texas

Did you check out the leaning tower of Niles while in the area?

Just went to this mall a few days ago, the food court now only has 2 places left, the t-mobile is gone, all but 2 kiosks are gone, there are now only just pianos in the middle of the mall. Somehow it seems like they got rid of a lot of those plants too?? Seems noticeably more dead than this video already..

It’s interesting to note that some malls are doing better than ever and are still crowded even in the off season, yet some are like this one. Maybe the need for the latter was just an illusion and where it was actually needed is like the former. It took Amazon and COVID to figure that out. Making an indoor mall into an outdoor one has saved many malls, like the Riverside Plaza in California. It was a miserable mall when it was indoors, but when it was opened up, it became a centerpiece of the city (it actually started out as an outdoor mall around 1955 before it was turned into an indoor one). Perhaps that could be an answer here, with the ratio of restaurants to retail stores being 70-30, which is similar to Riverside Plaza. But…the will and the money. Is either there?

Mostly seniors go and sit around in the non existent food court

Did you visit this mall around the holidays or do they just leave the decorations up year round?

This mall definitely isn’t doing well. Supposedly will be redeveloped next year. I have been at this mall a few times, once when every anchor was occupied.

Why is it in every dying mall Bath & Body Works is flourishing?

15:41 use to be a arcade. and it smelled real bad most of the time like sewer

Very cool mall - brings back so many memories of hanging out places like that as a kid. One bit of feedback: some of the transitions between clips are really distracting and not fitting of a well produced video (which this is).

Explore Charlestowne Mall. Its very very very dead

Hey, is the mall still there today? Its not yet demolished right? please answer

🤷🏽‍♂What a rapidly changing world we live in. Thinking indoor shopping malls peaked in the 80s-90s? Since then they've gone the way of Sears (the world's largest retailer in 1989) and GM (once the world's largest automotive manufacturer now #5).

Hey hey!! What’s up! Last Season Episode right?

So my guess is it may be Cincinnati Mills?