This is my mall. It has not changed one bit since it was built in ‘92. It struggled for a while (like many have), but with new ownership it has been thriving. I didn’t realize how much I loved this mall until we almost lost it forever.
This mall looks almost exactly like my old mall growing up and I miss it so much.. I love how liminal these videos are, such a calming feeling "seeing it" with my eyes with so much life still in it. Thanks for this, awesome content!
This is my hometown mall watching this from Tacoma Washington feeling homesick but also so proud of Johnstown it has been a ghost town for so long but it really is having a little revival right now
i wasnt born in the 80s but omg i just absolutely love everything 80s!! There is just something magical about that time period , theres a reason why no one looks back at the 2000s in nostalgia, but the 80s and 90s were just so special even to those who never lived it!!!
I've been going to this mall even since I was a toddler, now being an adult, it is great to see people attempting to try and fix this wonderful place. This place has been in my heart ever since I moved out of PA and I hope that they do what's best for it. Anyways I hope whenever I come back, that I can do my walk arounds once again. See you on the flipside ^^
It really seems like nostalgia for a pre-internet world is surging right now and I can only see good things ahead for such a gorgeous time capsule mall
Ray, this was awesome! I appreciate you going there and filming this. What a stunning mall. I'd walk around that place thinking I had somehow traveled back to the 80s & 90s, lol. Beautifully designed. I hope it manages to stay open for year's to come. 🙌
@@RayOutThere yeah, it's a real time capsule. I was in my local mall of Nottingham earlier today and although ours is always packed full of shoppers, there just is no spark left anymore. No magic at all. It was remodeled a few year's back and it's now just modern garbage architecture. There's a video up on RU-vid that was filmed in the 80s and I like to watch that every so often. It looked so much better back then. Edit: If you're ever interested in watching it, it's called "Nottingham city Centre 1985."👍 I forgot to say, the video actually shows two malls. The Victoria Centre, which still is open, and then the Broadmarsh shopping centre which unfortunately closed during the pandemic. It's now a pile of rubble.😪
@@TheRetroManRandySavageAwesome! 2 malls where i live have been demolished the Mall of memphis and the raleigh springs mall. Our area is kinda dead now but we still have 2 malls left thriving!
@@circusbabysclaw7545 it's a shame when they have to be demolished. All that history lying in rubble. My favourite mall in the city where I grew up, called Sheffield (home of def leppard, Woooooooo! Lol) is still there. The mall is called meadowhall, but that has sadly lost its charm too, unfortunately. That had everything in a mall that you could wish for. Sucks to see them with their now 21st century ugly and bland facades.
@@TheRetroManRandySavage That last sentence is unfortunately true. There's one of our malls (The hickory ridge mall) is completely dead now. Dillards closed in 2006 macys in 2008 then sears later on. Our first mall which goes by the name southland mall opening in 1966 is surprisingly still holding on with a couple of stores left. But our area is NOWHERE like it used to be.
Thank you for the video!❤! I moved away about 13 yrs ago and am SO happy to hear people having fun and local businesses taking advantage of the beautiful mall!! ❤
Reminds me of some sections of the King of Prussia Mall. Glad the rehab is going on. Have to get back to Johnstown for a visit and a ride on the incline.
This mall is stunning, and looks quite similar to York Galleria. I hope they preserve the looks of it forever (for both malls). This was a most excellent video, by the way!
I’m so glad that the new owner Leo Karulli, hope I spelled his name correctly, has a vision to reinvent this beautiful retro looking mall and revitalize it. It’s refreshing to see a mall make a comeback. The owner is worthy of respect for what he is doing to revitalize this mall. And for the community to cherish it once again after some years of struggle. Malls were the places to be, we cherished being there in the 80s, 90s, and up to early 2000s. I’m so glad someone is reinventing what the mall can be to the community and not just let it die like some of those owners we should be aware of, the likes of Moonbeam, Kohan, Namdar. Don’t want them to own malls in your community. Kudos to the owner and the community. Thank you Ray for giving us refreshing outlook of a mall that’s on the comeback. Ray you rock!! :)
That finish line with all of the neon was originally a National Record Mart. Finish Line moved into it from a more traditional Finish Line downstairs to make way for a Steve & Barry’s (I think) before eventually closing.
Great video! The store upstairs in the corner with the black marble was a Christian bookstore. The wooden front beside it was a pet shop. We don't think either were national chains. The white border downstairs with tiny black tiles was later a Build-a-Bear workshop. We can't remember what it was originally. My wife remembers when only the Boscov's was open, and they could peek out through the plastic to try to see what the rest of the mall would look like.
Hi ray I'm glad to see that your doing well thankyou for another great video this is such a beautiful mall wish we had this one in Bridgewater N.J the best to you
I have many fond memories of this place. I went here with my girlfriend on many dates and I bout her engagement ring at Kay's in the mall. I remember the food court was so crowded in the 1990s you couldn't find a place to sit. In the late 90s Wendy's was there and it was always busy and there was an arcade right beside sears. I bought every DVD I owned there at FYE. Fireworks early July. The rare collectibles store I have visited regularly for 25 years now. The mall looks exactly as it did in 1992. Stores came and went but the design never changed. In 1992 there was Richland Mall too which was stuck in the 1970s. Many of its major stores went right over to the shinny new galleria.
Wow, the colors! That fountain! I love it! Thank you so much for taking us on this little tour, and I appreciate the emotion you have for these malls, it truly is.a part of who we are in our generation.
The empty room with tables outside the Bonton on the lower level is the Community Room which is available to rent for meetings, showers, birthday parties, etc.
OMG, you remember that stage area in front of Boscov's at York Galleria? There have been rumors that the plant boxes surrounding it used to be a fountain. If that's true, I believe this one at Johnstown gives us an idea of what the one in York would have looked like back in the day!
I remember as a kid day 1 walking around, the floor upstairs actually used to shake. The crazy part was always the wind outside in the winter, but I miss the old video game stores , chatting with the employees. All these years later, and I'm only a mile away.
I grew up in the Shenandoah Valley area of Virginia. We had a small mall in Harrisonburg but, we always preferred taking the extra time to visit the Charlottesville mall. I moved out of my parent's house in 2014 and shortly after that I landed my first internship in Santa Barbara. Since then I've been blessed to work remotely qnd have the opportunity to travel this country. I think the Westpalm beach mall in Florida was one of my personal favorites. I love open air malls
They also have (had?) the Gobfest in January. We try to make it, but from living due west at the Allegheny River, it is hit or miss because of weather. Anytime we get there, we stop at the Italian Oven - Ours in New Ken closed - I do miss the pasta straws.
I haven't asked what lease pricing goes for square footage, etc. But I reckon if he's pretty fair for the business making profit and for the mall making profit. The mall should do alright. I honestly thought after Stranger Things season 3, remaining malls would have went booming again for nostalgia. I think it would be great if they did some events to draw people in. Classic car shows, 80's theme nights (come dressed out, good ol 80's synth music, etc), live local bands, parking lot movies on a big inflatable screen with food trucks, etc. Anything with good vibes. All sorts things can be done to draw people in. As Cambria county and surrounding, is a pretty quiet area. Hosting some stuff would definitely get people out and spending money locally vs Amazon. Just my 2 cents.
Zamias ( real estate developer from Johnstown) built this mall. I couldn’t understand why he wouldn’t lower the rent? I think sometimes people who have tons of money loose touch with what people can afford. I’m so glad someone bought it and is bringing it back! They used to have cars to win, art shows etc at one point. If you think it’s pretty in this video, go back at Christmas 🎄! Stunning! Also the huge tree downtown that plays the Siberian orchestra and the lights flash with the music. Makes me happy just thinking of it! Love my hometown ❤
@@susanbboylesI totally agree. So many Mall mgmt peeps charge the small business like 3 times what they charged JCP, etc. Also, keeping prices low at say, that rollers fun. skating place should keep customers coming. Mallsare fun! If only they could install safe locker space, that is a place we could put our winter coats, etc. It would be supervised.
The bigger store near Penney's you thought was Sun Coast, it originally was National Record Mart. The Spencer's was one of the more recent move-outs. It went to the WalMart plaza (where the old Richland Mall stood). Anchors here in the Galleria never changed either, rare for a mall. Boscov's, Penney's, BonTon and Sears.
I know I'm not the only one, but I love indoor malls and really don't care for the outdoor shopping centers. Clearly people still go to malls. The one near me has a casino where the Sears was and storage units in what was another big department store.
Talking about pictures with the Easter Bunny and first thought was "You know what!!!!?????? There is no Easter Bunny!!! Over there that's guy a in suit!!!!!"
You can hope that the mall is coming back, but unless new high paying industries move back to the area I wouldn’t hold my breath. Online shopping is a cop out excuse that the elites try to push on us for the demise of malls. Online shopping was just the final nail in the coffin. The real reason for the death of malls was horrible economic policies over the last 35 years that has decimated our once great middle class. As a result most Americans have neither the time nor the disposable income to buy things in expensive malls. So unless overall economic conditions dramatically improve in the area I wouldn’t count on a dead mall coming back to life. And Pennsylvania is one of the states that got hit the hardest with our destructive trade agreements. And this mall in particular has the typical sterile and rigid feel of a 90s mall. The airplane hangar type ceilings was always a bad idea to me. 80s malls were far superior in term of design.
Great video, It looks like a really nice mall My U-tube channel isn't much but I'll do what I can to Spread the word around about the mall to help advertise #Aztec73 😊
