These videos always give me a bittersweet feeling. Sadness that it is long dead but all those nostalgic memories of my youth as a mall rat in the 80’s.😝✨💖✨
Okay, you do DJ work and are 38 years old. It finally makes sense. (I’m 35, btw). I love your videos. I’m an absolute MASSIVE fan. But in the last year or more, it’s your intros and outros that get me literally hyped. I’m not a DJ, or a creator of any sort. But so many of these, including this intro, just blew me away and I wondered how in the hell you came up with them out of thin air. The DJ part makes sense. So flippin cool, sir. I consider you a true YT celebrity. I’d have a difficult time acting like a normal human if I ever met ya. Thanks for all you do bro. Can’t wait til the next chapters open up.
Excellent I’m in the U.K. and have been transfixed by the sociology of malls in the USA ever since I contributed to the Michael Galinsky ‘ Malls Across America ‘ Kickstarter . Thank you the record keepers xxx
Its so hard for me to grasp the sight of this because I was at this mall for the grand opening and I remember seeing the spot lights waving around in the sky from ten miles away on our way there! I got to do a walk through recently (I was allowed in by the guy who has done the property management from the beginning) and my eyes just couldn't believe what they where seeing... :( Mucho memories from this mall...
Congratulations on 5 years of filming dead malls.🎉 I absolutely loved your speech at the beginning of the video. I really believe it's important to archive this part of our history. I hope you'll keep making new content and that you'll enjoy California.
Well Anthony, whatever you choose to post on Ace's Adventures from here on out, there will be more than a few following along for the ride. Best of luck!
I'm originally from the neighboring town of Stewartsville, NJ, & remember when this mall was built & opened in 1989. I also remember how busy it was as well. It's sad to see its popularity dwindle down to nothing until it finally closed just recently. There were very few stores open & hardly any shoppers inside this mall when I moved back to the area for a brief moment back in 2011, which was a stark contrast to what things were like here in the 1990s.
Daaaaamn, dude! This video, and especially the intro is absolutely breathtaking; very cinematic, I couldn’t take my eyes off it. Definitely one of the most beautifully photographed and edited dead mall videos I’ve seen. This is more than a nostalgia review: it’s art. Love it, and thank you. 👌🏅 *Subscribed.* 👍
Awesome drone shots in the beginning. I’m from the same town as the mall and was just in the same spot with my drone about two weeks ago! I spent a lot of my childhood hanging out at this mall in its heyday. A lot of memories playing at the arcade, waiting for midnight releases at game stop, shopping for school clothes at American Eagle and browsing the used DVD section at FYE. It definitely was nostalgic watching this video. Thanks for producing it!
Most of the security at these malls is understanding if you come forward and explain you are documenting things that are historical and yes even retail can be historical. Thanks for all you do Ace.
Excellent! You are right, this is an experience, anyone can take video and rush through the whole mall, but it’s your soundtrack that elevates this! Waves of nostalgia ! Love it!
If all of your videos were aired on TV, you’ve run for 5 seasons and still have 300 episodes. Congratulations on your milestone of filming dead malls/random videos for 5 years/300 uploads! When I look at your videos, I feel like that I am inside the malls. The only thing l like about your dead mall videos is the music and you have a great taste in the music you chose for your videos. Keep all of your dead mall videos, they’re memorable. Same goes with the content in your channel as a whole. All I can say that good luck on your new life in California and your future endeavors. God bless you and your entire life. 😊
Fantastic tour of this mall on one of its final nights! I love the "mini-film" format, you do some amazing work! Malls were a big part of my childhood with so many happy memories, and it is so sad to see them fading away. My part of Pennsylvania has been especially hard hit as you mentioned. Safe travels and good luck with your upcoming move out west.
First of all, it’s OK for you to tell a biter history of the malls that you visit. I for one DON’T watch every dead mall channel on YT, so I and others like me appreciate knowing some of the history and the background of these places that you show us. And NO, you’re NOT stepping on ANYONE’S toes by doing so!!! You’re just adding your voice to the choir (so to speak). And, honestly, I personally don’t like the premiere format. It’s especially frustrating when I see the advance notice on your channel that just tells me how many hours and days I have to wait until we can see it. I for one would not miss it if you removed it and instead just do your regular style videos. And I don’t believe that many people feel differently. So keep on trucking’, Ace-we’re watching!!!
I started with Dans videos, then found yours. I think your videos are better than Dans lol. Sorry dan. I like how you don't talk at the start, and the music is always so good. Then you give a little narrative and set the scene of what the mall was in its hey day. Then more music and no talking 🥰 its so good.
I am so looking forward to your future endeavors and so excited to see what you come up with! I love your style of commentary on these places, and I watch all kinds of dead mall and urbex content. I think you're about to do some amazing things. As for that roadtrip, I'm a houston TX native and have lived in louisiana for a decade, and the abandoned places here aren't quite as abundant but absolutely worth the visit.
Thanks for the good times Ace!!! You introduced me to Michael Oakley and the Midnight. Great tunes for late night crusing!!! Looking forward to seeing you grow.
@@RB01.10 I begrudgingly live in California. Taxes are through the roof. Prices for EVERYTHING are easily 30% above other states. Crime in major cities is going out of control. And businesses have left (and are leaving) in droves for years if not decades, meaning job opportunities are gonna suck. Despite all this, the idiots running this state are now claiming they CA is flush with cash via a $50B surplus despite the exodus of whole industries caused by their flagrant tax increases. Of course, the leftist supermajority in the state’s legislature made sure to enact laws that can change how its budget appears to the public (and whether or not they need yo bilk the public out of more of their money).
Congratulations on 5 years and 300 uploads Ace. Thanks for this look of Pburg mall. I have been to this mall many times. Best of luck with the new venture and move.
I live next to this and yes the power is still on because a Kohl's is still active attached to the mall and also some food places like taco hell and chicken fillets
Granted...the retail environment has decimated malls like this, BUT I have to say that the owners of this mall gave 2 SHITS about it! I was a District Manager for GNC and frequently had to deal with mall management for consistent water leaks and other issues that rarely got handled in a timely manner! To say that these owners were slumlords would be too kind of words! Even in 2015-2016; I would walk through this mall and count NO LESS than 35-40 vacancies throughout with ZERO interest from the owners to seek new tenants. Another fine example of poor ownership driving businesses into the ground! But I digress. Being a local of the area...thank you for documenting the last of the misery.
I don't know if my research is correct but I read that the owner did this to lots of malls throughout the country and they were not from this country!!! I don't recall but there was a mall in NJ that this was happening to but the town got wind of it and was able to get it back and got the mall to thrive.
Absolutely surreal film. It felt like I was wondering around a post-apocalyptic ruin at 1am with so signs of life. That kind of surreal vibe is why i love these Urbex videos. Also good luck on your fresh start Anthony. I hope you and Lost in the Valley can start that movie company of yours!
An era may have ended with this mall, but I feel a new one opens with you. Congrats on your 5 year milestone though, and wish you the best moving forward. Just subscribed as well!
I only just discovered this video... as a child of the 80's & 90s who spent a LOT of time at the Palmer Park Mall (still open), Phillipsburg Mall, (closed) Whitehall Mall (almost dead) and Lehigh Valley Mall (still open) in the late 80's and early 90's,...as a person who WORKED in the Suncoast store for a year at Phillipsburg Mall in the mid 90's...this brings back memories. I only wish before they demolish the mall (has not started yet as of June 2022) they would open the building to the public one last time and give those who wish the chance to walk freely through the mall one last time (will never happen, too much of a liability I know); I remember I was planning to visit for what likely would have been *my* last time in March 2020 and then COVID shut the mall down. This gives me some closure since I can't get it in person, so thank you.
I'd been meaning to mention this since you said something about another RT 66 run, but it seems more pertinent now with your talk of moving. Check out El Paso for sure. It's a neat place, great food, nice scenery, close proximity to New Mexico, and we do have Sunland Park Mall, which was on the rocks even prior to covid, despite being in a high traffic area right off I-10 in a city with several other malls that are doing just fine and an outlet mall that's up and down, but doing ok otherwise. Dan Bell was out this way a few years back, but managed to miss it and fucking no one ever comes here because we're so isolated from the rest of the bigger cities in Texas.
I have another idea when your production company gets up an running. Do a feature length documentary for Cinemas called "The Downfall of the Mall: The New Era of Shopping". Maybe include the history of how the mall started and the cultural foundation that led to their decline such as over malling, leveraged buyouts, companies buying stores to scrap for cheap real estate to flip, changes in shopping patterns, changes in demographics, online shopping, the COVID-19 Pandemic, the decline of the department store, how millennials and Gen Z are using smaller spaces and less stuff, and others. Some cast Ideas: * Yourself * Dan Bell * Eric Pierson (Retail Archaeology) * Sal * Wallie from WallieB26 * And Others * Professors of Business and Economics * Mall Redevelopers * Liquidators * Millennials and Gen Z interviews * and others * Cultural Historians * Owners of organizations that reused mall space and transformed it into schools, data centers, health centers, Amazon fulfillment centers, Intermodal, and other uses. * and Others
Congratulations on such a long series tenure. I only recently became a fan thanks to seeing Dan Bell's Dead Mall series, and can appreciate how much effort and time you put into your uploads. It's also great that you are looking into improving your craft and entering the film industry at large, and I wish you luck and look forward to more vids!
I worked in and rebuilt over 200+ K.B, Circus World, K&K Toys and Playland Toy Stores up and down the east coast for many years. Bitter sweet memories.
@@RB01.10 I have always thought the online shopping is what destroyed these malls as well as people are so cramped for time that it’s just not as possible to go in person to these stores Amazon and the like have taken over which is unfortunate for the smaller businesses.
Man I love all your video's even though I just started WATCHING when I seen my mall northland mall in Michigan but I appreciate you so much and all that you do
You scared the living daylights out of me. I truly appreciate what you do. I've haunted malls since I could drive, way back in 84? It's been a long time. So many memories. I'm sticking with you. Thank you for filming these places. Time moves on. These are casualties. I hate it.
Love from Sweden. I really appreciate your videos. You are fantastic in your dedication. I get so exited nostalgic with your videos. Warms my heart. Keep it up. You are doing a wonderful thing.
did you light up the atrium like that? or is that how it is? I would love to film a drone shot in there but is this light always on or did you have to get to a light switch / breaker? SUBSCRIBED BTW
@Ace's Adventures Great work...you really capture the feeling of time passing of the mall in America. Back in the 1970s and 1980s there was an optimism among most people in the USA.....and people were also more laid back and outgoing too, I miss those days, when even total strangers would say hello to others and maybe even make a friend in the process. Good times as a child back in the mid late 70s and young teenager in the early 1980s.
Another great video. Excellent work. Keep it up. Like the poem of sorts at the start If you are ever near my part of Va I would like to at least say hi. I need to document a dead mall near me as it is gasping for air
If going to the Midwest you should check out River Oaks Mall in Calumet City, Ford City Mall in Chicago, and the abandoned Charlestowne Mall in St Charles, IL.
Unfortunately, the mall will be demolished soon. It was a good place to go to, but the last several years of bad management and declining stores, as well as COVID-19 hitting last March was too great for the mall to overcome in the end.
Was that Alan Watts in the beginning of the intro? If yes, that guy is an excellent speaker and I love hearing his lectures. Good luck on your journey man. You do you 😊👍
I remember going to GameStop and buying pretzels with my brother. I also remember using the sink in the hairdresser while waiting for my mom. Wonder how he got in without breaking stuff.
I went to the grand opening when I was 7. Went to Spencer's, The Wall, Kay-Bee. I hate that this mall failed, but glad that your video is able to unlock so many memories for me
I wasn’t even born yet when it opened (b. 1995), but I’ve seen pictures of its opening day online and it looked crazy busy. How fast did the attendance and mall traffic fall over the years though? I’ve seen many people say by the late 90’s that trouble was already showing, as the food court’s traffic heavily went down as well.
Do not stop. you give a point of view the younger generation will never know or understand. Even for me that experienced these places like our childhoods were. It brings back so many experiences we had growing up through the prime of the american mall
Anthony, I am curious how many malls are left in the US? These are places families used to walk through stopping at iconic anchor stores such as Nordstroms, Jc Penny's and Sears. These are places we escaped to for hours on end. You have been to Portland, Or to witness the demise of Lollyd Center located in Portland, Or. I love the music you use in all your videos. The history you share with us about these once flourishing malls. It's very sad. I am glad you can record this for the history of all the states you have been to. Thank you.
I used to go to this mall with my parents when I was a kid/teen and then as an adult. I remember when this mall had a food court and an arcade. As you walked through the mall I knew which store you would have been in years ago when the mall was open. I remember the decline of the mall started soon after they replaced the food court and arcade with a travel agency, Gap, Old Navy and several other businesses. The next decline was when they removed the bookstore and the music store from the mall. Everything seemed to crumble even faster around that poor decision. I think that books and music may have been more popular than they thought. They added another store soon after that sold used books and some music items like records and CDs, but it was not worth visiting.
I am again living in Ohio near the town I grew up in, having lived out West for many years. The mall now only has a small theater, a Planet Fitness, two restaurants and a drycleaner.... the once thriving shopping center next door is not even at half occupancy... Online shopping and big box general merchandise have taken most of the retail market share... very similar to how it was in the late 1800's when retail consisted of the general store and mail order catalogs for much of the population ..
Brings back memories, I loved going to the gamestop there, and riding on the small rides. This brings a bittersweet memory of what it was, once before.
These dead mall videos just mess with my mind, remembering when those halls were crowded with people. Back then who could imagine the malls where we shopped, met friends, go to the arcades, and socialize would be dead and quiet some day. Thanks for sharing.
I read through dead malls reddit and people there said University Mall is already dead, not just on its way. What is still open there in April 2021 anyway?
It’s so sad when the history of shopping malls in the United States versus the ones in the UK as well. There’s all dead malls in the UK versus the dead malls in the United States. As always, I love your dead malls series, Antony from Aces Adventures. Please keep on working on future shopping malls. Thanks #MatthewSchoerverth
Quakerbridge Mall may never become a Phillipsburg Mall. It has better occupancy and no rain buckets. Family lives near there, going there since it opened.
I’m really looking forward to this video! I attempted to get there right before it closed but the weather was so bad I couldn’t make it and then the pandemic hit.
Very familiar with this mall! Decent video arcade. I grew up directly between 2 major NJ malls--which are still fully-functioning today, Menlo and Woodbridge 😳 Both still have Macy's. No clue how they still manage to functio 😑
The mall was where you could be you.Ace happy 5 th anniversary to you.you’ve made a great sacrifice and I appreciate both you and your work.the real quality and the content.the real story within the stories.if walls could talk.you have a real drive and a passion that’s different.the difference is the ability to bring the experience.don’t forget that.
It closed up right before xmas basically owner of the mall sent a notice couple weeks before xmas only thing active now is Kohl's attached to the mall. Everything else blocked off or demolished
@@LumbyMcGumby It closed its doors for good in March 2020 when the final couple tenants who got extensions had to leave. It closed one week ahead of the planned final weekend due to lockdowns in NJ. Bath & Body Works and a sports collectibles place were the last to leave.
@@jenniferrinaldi8808 That’s actually already being built a little down the ways on Stryker’s Road which was once home to a house and barns. But this mall is said to be replaced by a warehouse, yes.
I'm so saddened to see this mall close! My family and I are from Ohio, and we moved to NJ in 2008. We were about a 15-20 minute drive from the Pburg mall, so we'd frequent this one all the time. I'm back in Ohio now, but I've always wondered about this mall. Thanks for sharing.
I had a shitty childhood too. And you hit the nail on the head, I'd go to the mall with my buddies and that shitty childhood was temporarily forgotten while we played mall tag and went to the arcade
I live in Phillipsburg and to say its crazy to think i was just in that mall 2 years ago it was basically dead then too now it's just official some people in town dont even know its shutdown
It’s been empty since last March, when COVID-19 hit. But the mall was already declining several years beforehand, between bad management and a lack of encouraging new stores to come in.
I'm getting some flashbacks from Dan Bell's nighttime tour of the abandoned Frederick Town Mall (from his "Neon Dreams" RU-vid video) starting at 2:33. I wonder if THIS MALL is also haunted as well?