LAST DAYS of Lakeforest Mall - (MARCH 2023 last visit to Gaithersburg, MD hometown mall) 

WOW! I lived near this mall in 1996, and even worked at Hecht's for a while after college. I would eventually meet my future wife in this very mall , where she worked at a athletic shoe store on the first floor as you enter. I would eventually leave Hecht's and start working at King Lincoln/Mercury/Suzuki for the next 5 years almost before joining the Air Force in 2001, but I would drive my and pick Melissa up every night after work. We were together for 16 years before she passed in May of 2012, but I am sitting here fighting back tears as I see the place that brought me to the best years of my life. Thank you for the trip down memory lane!

Sad to see a place that used to be bustling with so much life and bring kids so much joy reduced to this…

This went from an abandoned mall walk to a very introspective and deep spiritual journey in that last monologue. Thank you!

Thank you for this tour of a Mall that o grew up with. I’m 49 years old - my parents bought a brand new house in 1976 in the Churchill neighborhood of Germantown just about 15 minutes from Lake Forest Mall and Montgomery Village. We frequented the Mall often as it was our only major shopping option unless my Mom wanted to shop at White Flint which was much further. Not sure if you knew this but until about 1984 the shuttered movie theater you mentioned was - wait for it - an ice skating rink! It was a massive Olympic quality rink and my figure skating instructor - Penny Marshall - was an Olympic contender. I spent several days a week at the Mall practicing my figure skating and then the ice rink closed and was converted to movie theaters. I was crushed. But I remember going there at Christmastime and had many Santa pictures taken there. I always loved going to Gaithersburg - my Dad would take me to the Mall and then down to Diamond St in the old part of town to watch the trains go by on what was then the B&O Railroad (now CSX). Many fond memories of the 270 corridor of Montgomery County when there was not much traffic on 270! Germantown when I was a kid was mostly farmland, two lane country roads. There was one working traffic signal at the Dept of Energy that flashed yellow by day and turned on when the workers would leave. Then they built the first strip mall. Then 118 was widened. Then the lake was doubled in size. Then the condos and townhouses exploded. Then my family moved back to Baltimore where my mom was from (after my parents divorce - everyone in the 80s was getting divorced!). Anyway thanks for the trip down memory lane to a place that I remember so fondly

I grew up in the 80's when malls were a part of life and our social centers. For a young person especially your local mall was the equivalent to social media.

Every mall deserves an obituary like this. Great job

This was my childhood mall when my Father was stationed at Bethesda! It's so bittersweet to see it this way. Our apartment building on N. Summit Avenue was demolished years ago. Time goes on! BTW, I sang at the center court of this mall with a choir at Christmas time in the 1980's. It was packed!

Oh my gosh dude! The last 2 minutes of your video had me in unexpected tears. You are a poet. When you talked about the possibility of rekindling past connections and feelings and realizing that the destruction of these buildings from your past makes those hoped for connections impossible. - That hit me like a ton of bricks! - The way you explained it was beautiful and heart-breaking. I'm glad I stumbled upon this video. Subscribed.

The memories of, and nostalgia for my hometown hurt. Thank you for making this wonderful video.

I am from Malaysia. Way, way back in fall of 1984, almost forty years ago, I was in Gaithersburg for some technical training for a couple of weeks at one of my company's research centers located there. I did hang out at this mall a number of times. It was real nice back then and still have memories of being there. Too bad this mall has been a victim of the online shopping era, just like so many malls across NA. Here in the Far East and especially in Malaysia, malls are still going strong

I remember bringing my firstborn baby girl in 1999 to Lake Forest mall to crawl under the little tunnels and we sit her on top of that big green froggy. Both my little kiddos daughter and son enjoyed climbing up and jumping off that little froggy! Then we enjoyed the Chinese New Year celebrations there with jampacked crowds! True nostalgia! Thank you for sharing the video!

I'm sad that my son will never get to experience a busy mall at the holidays. My childhood in the 80's seems so long ago now...

This was my favorite mall growing up. We used to make the hour long trip from Inwood, West Virginia to spoil me with new videos games back in the 80s

Moved to gaithersburg in ‘08 and lakeforest used to be the spot! Walking around Christmas was a fun time and very memorable. My friends and I always hit the Cinnabon after class in college. 😂

Wow, what a blast from the past. Fond memories of falling into the fountain they later converted to a kid play yard. lol

So I'm just starting this video and already i am heartbroken, many of us who lived in such times will always have bittersweet memories of a mall we once frequented. I am totally loving the presenter's vibe in this video, thank you so much for taking us on a trip down memory lane. 🙌🏽🙂

I love your words at the end. It made me think back to when I visited my hometown some years ago. It brought back so many memories, but things weren't the same and I had to move on.

I wish I could come see it one last time. Lived in Gaithersburg for 4 years in the 90s and went to Gaithersburg High. I have such vivid memories of that place. The stadium style center court was one of a kind.

Thank you for sharing this bitter sweet memory.

I remember my brother and I watching the Village People perform live in the that big center section by the escalator. They built a mini stage for them over the water to perform. I also remember making the rounds at Sears or JC Penney in hopes they had video games you could “try out” before buying. Sometimes you get lucky and the employee didn’t care and we would play for hours.

Nicely produced video. It's a shame what's happening to a lot of malls like this one. They're kind of the last public spaces in the US where people who live in dispersed, sprawling suburbs could come together and socialize. Yes, malls are mostly about spending money but spending money is how a lot of people enjoy themselves (buying that toy you saved up for as a kid for example) or prepare for important events and milestones (new clothes for a job, wedding, date, etc.). When everything's delivered to us at home or streamed into our home, public life will be dead for a lot of the US.

I remember watchin itsjudyslife's vlog of her at the mall and remember thinking to myself "wow that mall looks empty". And then i came across Exploring with Josh where he went to a closed mall. Then i came across this video. Just so sad that many malls closing down in America. It's just weird to see a space so big which was once so lively now being so quiet.

Before the movie theaters was a great ice rink. A..holes got rid of it.

Only 60 years old. I liked the pictures of Christmas time there. Seems like a different world now. The "vibe" seems to be gone.

I came for the mall tour. I stayed for the philosophical analysis of memories and nostalgia. This is one of the best liminal/dead mall videos I've seen. Thank you!

When I was in Elementary school, I performed class-wide Chinese dances run by Potomac Elementary. It was kind of funny for me, a white kid, to be doing it but I found it fun, so I never questioned it. I remember wearing traditional looking Chinese clothing and doing dances to songs that I would spend months preparing with my class. The Fifth Graders always did the Dragon Dance, which I ultimately did too, but not at the mall sadly (I don't think). I think the dances happened around Chinese New Year but to be honest It was a long time ago, and my memory is fuzzy about specifics with it. I never went to the mall that much since it was far from where I lived, but I have a lot of deep-rooted feelings of nostalgia for the place. I wasn't even totally aware it was closing down until recently and now it's too late to visit it. Thanks for making this video, it gave me a cool sendoff to a big part of my childhood.

Thank you for a jog in memory lane. My last trip here was early this year and only thing left were some by appointment only salons and bath & body works. pervasive sense of hollowness inside and mall and in my eyes/head. Luckily I will still come here for harbor freight, h mart and Ranch 99 market across the street so it will never truly be forgotten.

wow the last speech you gave at the end was hitting me hard. Our teenage years mall closed last year and I missed the chance to go back and walk it one more time.

Thank you for this video, you show old pictures of how the mall once thrived, give some memories of when you visited the mall years ago and your feeling of how something once so busy and full of life is now closing.

This is one of the first places I found when I moved to gaithersburg. I lived about a mile away & would go here often. I was there last February & it was sad to see what it had turned into. When I lived there, it was a busy place. Went to red Robin several times, lord & Taylor, & found some Armani attitude at Macy's. Definitely some good memories here.

Awesome video, definitely earned yourself a new subscriber

Amazing video, man. Loved it.

Fantastic video! I really enjoyed this.

Our local Sears closed last July. It was a two level store with escalators. It existed as a separate store or open air mall. I think it would have been called an open air strip mall because there was a line of stores on one side with a covered walk way to stores like Grants, Woolworths, but you had to leave Sears to go to the other stores and walk outside. Then at the opposite end they built a Service Merchandise which was a separate building too. It was then converted into a proper Mall in the 90's. The last time I went in the second floor had been closed off and there were more sales people than customers. As a kid you always went to the toy section during Christmas to look at the race car and train setups. I remember reading an article about some Malls converting back to the open air design because they were becoming hang outs for teens. Now teens stay home and play video games or do social media and it's not the place to go hang out anymore. There were plans on using the Sears building for a family entertainment complex with bowling, bumper cars, laser tag, go-karts, 100 arcade games, sports simulators, a ropes course, virtual reality games and a full-service restaurant and bar but that fell through. The Service Merchandise of course went Bankrupt and a Macy's is there now. The only other anchor is Dick's Sporting goods. That echoey ambient musak mall sound and atmosphere are becoming a thing of the past.

WoW, that was some trip down memory lane. I used to live across the street from Ashbury Assisted Living and actually did some UBER driving with Lake Forest Mall as my Operations Center. I would park under the tree on the "bad side" and wait in the food court for pings for my early morning rides. Their was also a time that I worked at Macy's and I could get from my house to the check-in register in around 5 minutes. I remember the Starbucks in the center court and having Easter Pictures taken with my wife their with a friend who was the "bunny" that year. The list of shops I remember are too long to list, but I feel the greatest sadness for the guys at SEARS Automotive that used to work on my car. I retired to Northeastern Brazil at least a year ago, so I missed the final days. Thanx for the memories.😎

I had no idea this was the biggest mall in the country when it opened. Thats crazy! I do remember when it was Hechts. I never seen or heard of another Hects anywhere else. I also never knew there was a movie theater but that closed when I was 2 the same year my family moved to Gaithersburg from NYC. So many memories playing at the old kids play area with the frog slide and fountain. Idk why they closed that play area it was so much better than the new one they built! Its literally like a time capsule even the music playing in there still.

As someone who also grew up in Gaithersburg and used to go to Lakeforest often, thanks for the nostalgic video. Really enjoyed seeing it one last time.

13:40 That place was amazing! They did acupuncture on my legs and it was the best I felt in a long time.

Man i missed this place, it was so cool. My ,idd.e school artwork was even displayed here.

Lakeforest was in a good location, it was accessible by bus and road very easily, and they had some good anchor stores plus a lot of specialities. What killed Lakeforest was the ever escalating greed of the commercial landlord. Rent per square foot went from expensive to clearly ridiculous. Once the small shops started to close the writing was on the wall. The anchors decided to not pay the ridiculous rates for half the foot traffic (at best) that they used to see. Redevelopment is really the best option for the place.

You're so nostalgic 😊

I used to take my kids to this mall to celebrate the Chinese New Year. My kids volunteered dragon dance in a big event, and that was great memory. I haven’t been there since my kids grew up. It is sad to see the mall is closed. What has been going on in this country?

grew up in the village going to that mall all the time, so sad to see its finally closed

Life is always changing, treasure the present moment, always 🎉

Not sure how the YT algo sent me this one but I lived in Frederick MD back in 90s-early 2000s and being a teen meant coming to Lake Forrest as the spot for a big shopping. It was the first “ big city” mall if you are from Frederick. Its sad to see a place of my teens days go as retail itself has pretty much died off.

Was there a couple years pre--Covid and it was busy and full of shoppers. Everything must change.

Anthony Ahn thanks for showing me this. Im a kid from the 80s and Malls where a huge thing in my day. You might be near my age not sure. It is a sad thing to see all these structures failing around the country. They once where the main attractions, places to meet, and have fun with friends/family. My son laughs at me when I take him to the Malls now. He looks at them like a place of dying from the past. He says my time is over old man time to put me in a home. Lol I of course find this funny coming from my son, however at the same time its also sad. It shows that his generation is all to happy to see the Malls go. I guess its a different era of people. Our ways are over and its time to just accept that I guess. Lol sometimes I look at my son and just say... did you know Tiffany sang at this very mall 😄. He has no idea who the hell Tiffany is but anyone who was around in the 80s does.

Well-said! The call of home is impossible to ignore. 12:04

Man this is unfortunate. A Taubman Mall, just like my childhood mall, Mall at Tuttle Crossing in Columbus, Ohio. That’s another one gone. This is a good video of this lovely mall and I enjoyed it.

Wheaton Mall was closer to me, so I rarely ventured out that way. Montgomery Mall was probably my favorite.

This place reminds me eerily of the old Springfield mall in Springfield, before its remodel and Landmark mall, Alexandria.

great video

Every now and then you’d see a quarter in that fountain and you know damn well we’d fish it out then go straight to a gum ball machine or runts

It’s funny you mention the penny fountains. The malls I grew up around had them as well. And I concur on you nostalgia for them. They also served the valuable community lesson you spoke of. I think it’s safe to say that penny fountain’s would not be viable today. And just like the shopping cart return being a judge if the community a penny fountain is also a good judge of weather the society you live in is functional.

Very sad that all of our malls have closed 😢I would much rather take my family out and go shop especially around Christmas. I know it's easier to sit at home and order but where is the fun in it? Really no reason to go out anymore you can work from home order food and groceries from home and it's just a world now where everything is at the touch of a button. I personally miss going out to the mall and just getting out with friends and family...

Wow,So many memories in this mall. Use to live in Montgomery Village by Goshen.This was the spot..Movies,Arby’s.Thanks for the walk through haven’t been there in years. Sad to hear it going😢

I used to work at Lockheed across 355 and go there for lunch and to Sears. I was into woodworking then and would browse the tools section there. Last time I was there was probably 8 years ago at the overpriced prescription eyeglasses place which got glasses ready in a couple of hours. My sister would go to Macy's there quite often.

Seen BTTF 7 times in that mall. That's when Cali was happier. RIP Mall.

Awesome jacket!

How sad it must be to go to work in a store in an almost empty mall!

I'm going to miss it.

LOL I remember seeing you there randomly.

7:18 yeah I remember back when it was just shoulder to shoulder traffic.

I used to enter through the "Bad Entrance" all the time, better parking. I lived in Gaithersburg from 2006-2017, and I used to go to the FYE to sell off old DVD's for Store Credit to buy new HD-DVD or Blu-Rays. Went to that RUby Tuesday quite a bit... and there was some other ok eateries around the mall. The CHinese place in the food court was ok, serviceable for a quick bite. Last time I was there was XMAS 2012 and it was kind of busy but no people if it wasn't a holiday

6:22 I fixed the theater computers and would get free movie tickets as payment back in the day. The RIO movie theater also payed me in tickets for fixing their computers as well. Was always great to sit and watch movies for free.

I used to work at the Chicago Brickyard Mall back in the early 90s when KMart, JC, Jewel/Osco and MW were around in Chicago. The mall became a shopping center. Malls in the South of Chicago are now Gang Hangouts. They will come in groups preparing for the big heist.

Wow, I used to work at Lord and Taylor there. It's so sad to hear this

In my area its interesting that Stratford Square Mall in Bloomingdale is half gone thanks to a Woodmans Grocery store, and Woodfield Mall is still thriving in Schaumburg IL. All 3 floors are filled with open stores. But in my hometown of St. Charles, IL, the Charlestowne Mall is 99% dead only the 18 Theatre is open.

Thanks for the video. I drove past it just a couple of weeks ago. I don't go to Gaithersburg very often anymore. I went there as a kid back in the late 70s and 80s. It was really considered slick for its time. Sadly, it was bound to fail. Car-centric malls haven't been viable for years. Brick-and-mortar retail has been on the decline. No one goes to theaters in the way they used to. The last time I was at the mall (years ago), it was pretty shabby and there was a lot of riff-raff lurking around. It needs to go under the wrecking ball and be replaced by something better.

That is too bad. We have a 100% identical mall in our area also built in the 1970's that is still booming with shoppers in 2023. It all depends on where you live.

I believe another major factor to Lakeforest's shutdown is its location. Gaithersburg has never really been a safe place, and Montgomery Village Crossing neighboring the mall still has shady drug activity. I recall there was even a shooting at Lakeforest before? I've never actually been to the mall, because I live much closer to Westfield Montgomery. But every time we go to Costco, we drive around Lakeforest and I always wonder why the parking lot was always vacant. Still a sad shutdown, I've always wanted to visit there and the retro vibes really screams "1990s". You can't find that nowadays. 😢

I used to skate there

👍

When the physical reminders of our past fade away, soon our memories will too, and so our bodies will perish and we will be forgotten

Bring them all back bring them all back

hung out there a lot in the 90's as a teenager. Last few times I was there as an adult it got locked down because of a shooting, someone got stabbed repeatedly in the parking lot, and for the most part it got the reputation of, "don't go there it's where MS13 and other gangs hang out." ... I'm sure that's a part of the reason it stopped doing well.

I was here a few months ago

Back in 2006 i used to play at kid playground with my daughter

🐐

Rip Lakeforest

Going to the mall with friends..😔

2:10 theres another option, having no music at all, just your narrative.

I used to fix the Hakky owners home pc.

How did you not get bothered by security while recording in the mall i was scared to really do it

I dont remember what year but a canadian shopping mall was abandoned on opening day. I dont think it ever opened.

I worked at the overland trading company on the second floor. Does anybody remember that store? We had mens and kadies sperry topsiders and bass weejuns and msny brands of vomfort shoes from Rockport and Clarks. Terrible location on the second floor though.

How did it completely closed. ? There’s always people visiting malls

Malls are out!

Do you think there is any chance the mall can be saved and there is no redevelopment?

12:28 Amercrombie and Fitch

So sad

I made a video going into the mall i cant find it now

should stay open!

NO KMART CLOSE THE@!#$$#$$MALL

On the last day I got over $500 dollars worth of clothing for just $30.00 lol

How many malls will be leftover by the end of this decade? Malls are disappearing everywhere and in the future people might have to go to RU-vid, Wikipedia and such to read and see what it was and looked like.

10:56 worlds slowest elevator

online shopping destroys everything.

AMAZON AMAZON AMAZON

I both love and hate videos about malls at the end oi their lives. No offense. It is just so sad to see them all close.