I was born in 1989 and so I really appreciate you making these video's. I hope you keep doing them in all sorts of ways. I have been really noticing just how bland and soulless everything has gotten in our current era & I don't understand why we would stray away from rewarding a optimistic creative Retro Futurism type vibe aesthetic of all different types..? That should be our mindset. We should strive to constantly be improving our quality of life. I hope our society snaps out of this depressing tunnel visioned capitalistic perspective that really makes society feel so dystopian and dysfunctional.. it's so hard to even afford to exist at the most basic level. Which is sad because We have so much creativity, advancements, technology, ideas, motivation, to create a awesome environment. Improve our quality of Life, improve the quality of our media, games, homes, living situations... Yet for now... Our society is really in a sorta new age low point.. just being brutally honest. So these videos and thinking about things of this nature are very therapeutic and uplifting in a otherwise bleak point in time. Glad I found your channel 👍🏻
maybe making an 80s-90s-2000s themed business or something would be a great strategy, considering so many people (including me) are sick of the blandness everything has.
Maybe it is just me but In furniture stores you definitely loose your sense of time. Especially when it has 3 -5 floors it's enormous. Greetings from Vienna
My Dad helped in a Hurricane Katrina cleanup in 2005 - 06. He would often haul copper wiring and other building materials to scrap yards, one mall had a bottom floor that was built partially underground. Let's just say it was hell trying to salvage anything from the stores down below.
There's an abondoned mall, I think it's in Thailand or something, for a very long time the bottom floor was flooded and over 3,000 koi and other various fish lived down there
my local mall is dying and it makes me really sad, i grew up going there and i hate seeing it so empty. i haven't been in a long time because of covid but i know it's not doing too well
@@Shookey I actually just found out it was bought by a company that plans to keep it as a mall and add more businesses to bring customers, so I'm hopeful!
@@chickennuggetpaw it’s not doing any worse, they haven’t added any new stores yet but luckily business doesn’t seem to have gone down much bc of covid!
I was in an empty mall with my family once, not a soul in sight, lights were shutting off, we had to run through this concrete hallway outside because everything, all the doors, passageways were locked off, still remember the wind in my ears the run to the car, the emptiness of the mall, honestly a nice break from all those eyes though
In San Antonio, there are still 3 malls that are very popular - La Cantera (outdoor mall built in 2005, but still set-up like it used to be indoors, lotsa high fashion stores), Northstar (classic old mall, but again, lotsa high fashion and near the airport so still very crowded) and Rivercenter Mall (located next to the Riverwalk in downtown, near The Alamo so it gets lots of foot traffic). Malls dying in the midwest is definitely a thing because people just have no need to go to them anymore.
Once you understand the meaning of liminal spaces, that your childhood is gone and your memory is full of empty memories, you realize that these kind of photos are art
Great video! I remember when I first discovered Vaporwave (around 2015, but I've come to recognize that I've been experiencing the feelings for longer) and that was when I first started noticing the feeling that comes with Liminal Space images. Just like you said, there's a lot of overlap with Vaporwave and Liminal Space. I didn't have the words to describe it at the time, and as such I thought I was the only one who felt that way about these nostalgic and somewhat unsettling spaces. I'm really glad that things like the Backrooms and other such internet trends brought it enough into the spotlight to actually be defined and easily understood by others for the most part, it makes me really happy. As always keep up the great work!
Hey Deci! I liked what you said on the mixing/overlap of Vaperwave and Liminal Spaces, it's basically what I was trying to convey but you actually put it into words hahaha. Also I'm glad I can be here to put that little spotlight on these strange corners of the internet. Thanks again for the support -- it's always good to hear from you :)
Liminal Spaces are a comfort of mine. It’s hard to describe. I used to visit malls as a kid, too. Every second I got to myself, I’d grab my buddies and head to the Hot Topic, Spencer’s, and a few others. It wasn’t a retro looking mall. To this day, nothing has changed and yet it still remains busy. Happy to have discovered this video. Nice channel.
I personally experienced this liminal space feeling in where I live, somewhat. There's this big mall that my parents used to take me as a child. We wouldn't always go there (I live in a big city) but my memories of that specific mall are pleasant. It's also imo one of the most aesthetically pleasing malls I've been in, fancy but not too flashy. Tasteful and totally nostalgia-inducing. A few years back I had some business in that part of the city with my dad so we decided to give this mall a visit on our way back. Turns out they went under and the majority of the shops were already closed. The mall has these glass-walled shops in the middle of the ground floor that create narrower hallways throughout and the insides are visible. They had dimmed out the lighting to reduce the bills. So while not completely abandoned, walking through this mall was kind of an otherworldly experience. I felt bittersweet, nostalgic and unsettled. I was telling my dad about liminal spaces the other day and mentioned that day of our visit. I think he understood exactly what I was talking about.
Empty Malls are easily my favorite type of pics. Especially ones in which the lights or neon is on. Just went to my local mall late last year (hadn’t been there since childhood). There were a bit of people but due to “The Thing” and probably online shopping it was not super busy. It looked different than I remembered as a kid (although I couldn’t remember alot). I always went during Christmas. My memories were of wreaths on the wall and Santas chair and Christmas music playing. Most of the mall was just clothing stores (not interesting to me) except for FYI and Spencers and Food Courts. Don’t know why In typed all this- just sharing a bit of nostalgia! If you made it to here: *CONGRATULATIONS*
There's a dead mall in my town that's still open and it's so quiet in there due to the lack of people. You can literally hear your footsteps echo and the low humming coming from the escalators, it gives off a really eerie vibe, especially for me since I remember when it used to be popular.
Last time I checked the channel, which was yesterday, there was 500 subs. Your channel is growing quicker than a field of green grass. Great job. I really love these liminal space videos. XD
Wow I had an extremely similar experience with a mall near me, I remember going there as a kid and it being pretty busy. But when I visited there as an adult there had to have only been a handful of people in the entire place and you could go several minutes without seeing another person.
I always thought these images were of malls after closing time and didn't think they'd be closed. In Puerto Rico, the few malls we have here are always incredibly full all days of the week so it's surprising to me a mall could be completely empty. Great informational video!
Very nice work on this one, I enjoyed it quite a bit. Dead Malls have fascinated me for years, especially since I discovered the Dan Bell series about 4 years ago. I have been really into the liminal space images off and on this past year. I appreciate your point of view
Know what’s weird? Your story is the same as mine. The mall I grew up with had a carousel, play area, and restaurants all in the food court next to eachother. I remember seeing Santa as a kid there. Now the foodcourt is torn down……malls are soon to be gone…. Everything pre 2012 was amazing. Idk what happened…it’s too depressing to get deep deep into details but the feeling I get thinking about it is soul crushing. I have broken down in tears many times thinking about the happy times……
The deadest mall I been to is called the Brunel centre in Swindon, Swindon was basically built and then just left. A lot of the buildings in Swindon are abandoned, there’s a church in the town centre which is bordered up and abandoned, the tall building above the train station is bordered up and abandoned, since Debenhams has closed all shops in England, the massive Debenhams in Swindon’s now abandoned, there’s a huge building next to the train station which is also abandoned and has loads of smashed windows, and in some of the suburban parts of Swindon there are derelict council estates, even the Swindon Oasis swimming park closed down and has now closed down and just been left to rot. The only thing Swindon has left is a shopping outlet quite far from the town centre and the football stadium, other than that it’s a completely run down dead town and the people who live there are often depressed. Swindon is a place that people go through but no one actually goes there
Whoa I never knew that malls over there were getting super empty meanwhile where I live at Puerto Rico almost every mall is full like even now at these times
So off-putting. And yet strangely inviting. One thing I notice in these liminal spaces is the cognitive dissonance of feeling both both safe and repulsed. It's like coming home when you live alone and find a cup of coffee sitting on the counter. And it's still warm. Great job of conveying the utter strangeness of these places. I look forward to more of your work.
I live pretty near a dead mall. Barely any people go there anymore, and the shops are slowly closing down. There's around 10 shops left there, and business seems to be slowing every year.
Remember back when malls were fun and not constantly going out of business? When I was little the malls had little play arenas, those screens on the floor with games (I frogot what it was called) little toy cars like you’d find at play places, and carousels. Most where I am have been closed down and there’s only like 2 "good" ones left
Finally! A video featuring Washington Square! No one talks about this mall l despite being very dead (and my local dead mall). I went here all the time as a kid and I remember there being a Thomas Kinkade store, a pet shop, and even a licensed Disney Store. From visiting there over the past few years, I noticed there was a LensCrafters at one point too. Currently there are no anchor stores (SEARS left around 2015 and the other most recent anchor was a flea market that is no longer there). The food court is nearly abandoned with hardly any stores. Most of the mall that is still open to the public is small, local businesses. The back half of the mall is all being rented out to St. Vincent Hospital. The parking lot is a complete disaster compared to the ad that was shown. But yet after all this time, the gaudy food court sign is still there and the fountain is still running. IMO visiting it would be boring because of how the access to the mall has shrunk, but it’s definitely worth exploring. A lot of the store fronts that can be openly seen by the public are literal time capsules. It’s a shocking comparison to the mall down the street, Eastland Mall (owned by Simon Group), is still fairly busy and is a very live mall. Though the pandemic did hit it a bit hard
I just realized how lucky it is that my childhood mall is literally the mall of Georgia- that place will never die, it’s literally always PACKED with people.
Found this channel just now, and man these videos are great, they seem to be really well researched and you're able to present them in a very consise and entertaining way. Definitely worth a sub.
PLEASE READ THIS: Ok so anyways I didn't know dead malls existed until I realized THE PLACE WHERE I LIVE HAS A DEAD MALL AND ITS CREEPY AF, look up "Findlay Mall Ohio"
when i was watching the introduction/background to this video my mind immediately went to the Mountaineer Mall, i lived in a very very small town about half an hour from morgantown. my school, my parents work, and everything else in my life was in morgantown up until a couple years ago. and i was so surprised to see it on here. i used to go to this mall once or twice every week because i had ballet/irish dancing lessons there. my dad usually would be the one to take me and their was this large, long train diorama in the one hallway, it was usually broken but when it wasnt my dad and i would try and find quarters to run it. there was no shops i would go into and none were memorable and they were almost always closed, there was one arcade that was outdated and was always barred off and closed, but because of the bright colors and lights, you could still see into it. there was only one restuarant, very small and not a chain which i remember having barbeque food, and i remember it being really good and the sauces being spicy which i loved as a kid and still do now, but i dont think it stuck around. its crazy because i never remember seeing more that 5 people in the mall at a time besides the parents, students and teachers at the dance place and the sales associates at the empty, dimly lit stores. i guess looking back it is an eerie, empty place but i was a kid when i went, and since i lived in an old town where the only malls i had been to were like this (other than one in pittsburgh, hours away, that we would go to once a year for school clothes) i thought all malls were like that.
i think it is so cool that something i am familiar with an know about resonates with some people. so btw if anyone has a topical question i can probably answer it.
I have hundreds of mall dreams. Sometimes the mall is floating, sometimes the floor is gone, Sometimes the malls are popular or ghostly. there is one dream i had where the place was a giant square mall, that was very tall. Once I got up to higher floors, I realised there's no escalator down. (Keep in mind i was about a kilometer from the ground. and the only place to go near the top was a very thin path. as I said earlier, I was very high up and since I don't drink water I felt like I was drunk in the dream. I span around infinitely trying to get to the end of the path. As someone with a fear of heights it was scary. I have had this dream countless times in different locations
my local mall has been dead since about 2015ish and got demolished earlier last year, i never spent a ton of time there but i do remember the food court and the gymboree store really vividly. the place had some very obvious 90s design and wasn't very full except for the macy's and burlington's in there
I used to go to this mall in Ocoee when I was a kid called “West Oaks Mall”. I go rarely now and it’s sad to see a place once lively and full of people, now deserted & cold.
ooh, this just reminded me of a dead mall I visited with some of my family sometime during last year. The mall was in a pretty bad condition, while the main architecture was still there there were little to no lights from the building that were still on, leaving the only source of light to be from the glass ceilings the mall had. The air in the building smelled pretty bad due to there not being any working air conditioning, and there was also some graffiti on some of the walls, I think most of the graffiti was either near the entrance or near the main court area. One thing I remember seeing was a few large balloons that were mostly deflated, I think there was still a bit of helium in some of them but there wasn't much. The only two parts of the mall that were still in use was an arcade/game store that was in one of the places for a store, and at one of the ends of the mall there was a clothing store or something like that, I don't remember exactly though
Im from montgomery county and i literally shouted when you mentioned white flint mall. I used to go there a bunch as a kid and loved the playplace. I think its closed off now and ia getting demolished. Havent seen the inside of it for like a decade. It was a lovely place.
this definitely is unheard of in my country since malls here are treated more like parks to chill in with stores on the side rather than just a place to buy stuff
It feels so bizarre to watch this, having been to one of these malls as a kid! The Washington Square one. My strongest memories of it are going there with my grandma to pick up her prescription, and being freaked out by a few of the machines for kids that you could put money in to ride, as they would go off on their own with no one there. This was like, 10 years ago too, and the mall was just as dead then as it is now. Great video dude! It unlocked a memory for me, but was also very informative about other places ^^
I love love LOVE malls. I have so many good pure memories from when our mall was alive. We recently went inside and there were a few stores back up but not the same. Malls were truly something. You could find random little things you wouldnt be able to find online without super specific names. Our candy store was great too, even a few fancy candy/sweet powder machines in the theater. Inside the dead mall there were two trees left by the foodcort, both connecting at a small skyline window. The last of the proper sunlight in that part of the mall.
I walked by a dying mall every day on my way to school. It was built in the late 50's / early 60's, and probably had its prime time in the 70's or 80's. When I was just starting school in 1999, it was still full of stores and bars and restaurants, but over the years I saw it decline. More and more stores and services like hairdressers didn't renew their contract and moved elsewhere, because they heard a rumor that the city was planning to tear the building down soon. I think the last establishments to leave were a pizzeria and the bars, their customers didn't give up on them. I was in my teens when I walked through it for what I suspected was the last time, and saw barred and closed storefronts and graffiti all over. I remember I felt a bit sad and nostalgic. The mall was torn down eventually, and a new building was erected on the other side of the street, with a big grocery store, a Subway, driving school, hypermodern public library and a second hand shop in it. The architecture of the new building is so modern that it looks almost alien compared to the one-story low concrete building that was the old mall. Times change, sadly. Luckily the old mall is still visible on Google Streetview, so I get to "revisit" it in the past.
the biggest "liminal space" feeling I ever got was at a rest stop in France at night when I was on a trip with my school, the building was open, but all the shops in it were closed (bakery, mcdonalds, café) and so we just sat on some chairs in front of the bakery, tired and sleepy from the long bus drive. There were literally no people there except for us. It felt just like the "dead mall" feeling. I always loved these rest stops, especially at night. Only happened on school trips because with my family ,we'd never drive over night. Standing in a queue to a toilet at midnight behind your equally sleep-deprived teachers somewhere in the middle of France kinda feels like an altered reality. Also sitting in the bus at 3am listening to music while everyone else was asleep, only the driver awake for hours and hours on some French highway in the middle of nowhere... Damn I miss that feeling.
I honestly don't get how these aren't as popular! I just found out about your youtube account and I really like it. I just love your videos soooo much!
I just watched "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" They show the crowded and alive mall. So different. I will never forget the times I were in the malls here.
I remember white flint mall, I used to live in Montgomery county MD and I vaguely remember it being a big deal in the area that it closed, especially since there are very few malls in Maryland, so it’s closure drilled in the thought that malls are disappearing from existence.
Seeing Washington Square was a huge surprise 'cause I grew up in Evansville. As a kid, we'd go to it all the time even though it was dying (and still is, the things on life support) took pictures with santa their once, got cookies with my grandma, etc. Good memories. It's very nostalgic for me. One time we even met the owner (though I don't think he's the current owner rn). There's another mall in town that's far nicer, but idk, doesn't feel as special as Washington Square. I still go there everytime I visit family just to walk around (Though, I'm also a sucker for dead malls and go whenever I can)
Grew up eating basically exactly where those photos of White Flint were taken! Wonderful surprise seeing it in the video, I was thinking of it right before you revealed it as the first in the list.
man i love dead malls. the vibe they give off is like no other. over saturation of the market is to blame as well for this dead mall situation. there are usually boat loads of strip malls and outlets that surround these places. for example; the lakeview mall in battle creek mi, i noticed how it was nearly impossible to see the mall because of surrounding stores. i have personally noticed how malls are absolutely surrounded by these outdoor stores. consumers would just like to stop in at one or two stores in particular. which can be found in outdoor stores like this- just park and go in. nonetheless, great video!!
I used to go to my local mall all the time as a child. They'd have different little things to do for kids. I remember taking dance lessons at one. As time passed by and I stopped going, the mall became dead. It's sad to see that they are currently demolishing the mall. I'd imagine it was really creepy inside.
Went to school in Evansville in 2012 - 2016. Visited Washington Square a few times. The vibe is definitely eerie. The most interesting place there is definitely the antique shop. All kinds of trippy items in there, I even bought a sword from there.
I grew up in the USA but i recently moved to New Zealand and one big difference is the malls. Even before the pandemic, malls is my city in the USA were seldom busy, although not considered dead. Even on Black Friday, it was only moderately busy. Malls in New Zealand are incredibly busy, due to unreliability of online shopping.
Oh my god I remember white flint mall !! For parties my family would go to the daven busters and sometimes go in the mall . It was completely desolate only one store was open I never looked though the whole mall but it was exactly like the photos except the ceilings where lower. Nearing the closing only the daven busters was open, it was a whole area including a lord and Taylor but they demolished the mall in about 2019 . Its really cool to see your actually nostalgia!
If you want another liminal space mall, google the Winrock Mall in Albuquerque, New Mexico. It was a mall that me and my family used to go to when I was a little kid. It closed in 2005, and has since been mostly demolished. The only store that still remains open from the old building, is a Dillards store where I buy shoe shine every now and then. The land is being repurposed into a town square.
This is the first video I've seen from your chanel, and I'm so happy your sub count has grown so much :) I'm excited to see the future if this chanel too!
I live in Montgomery County and i can say ive been to White Flint many times, they didn't close, they tour it up. Also if you were wondering that image was taken at the food section of the mall.
There is this mall that is half an hour away from my hometown that is just completely abandoned. Apparently when my mom was a kid they had more stuff and even had a movie theater. Now it is just empty. I'm guessing because a popular outdoor mall opened up a decade later it drew away attention. The only major things left were a Hobby Lobby and a Bath and Body Works, but they closed the HL and moved it to the other mall, so it's just abandoned essentially. Occasionally during Halloween a Halloween store will open. I remember when I was little there was a thrift store in the mall that my grandma took me to occasionally. Looking at the mall is just depressing
I grew up going to a different mall called Washington Square, It's still really popular today even for mall era standards! I was shocked when I heard you say it was shut down and relieved by hearing yours is on the other side of the country. I'm sad to see them all era go and blessed to have one that is still what it's supposed to be.
Honestly, the only dead mall I knew was the one in Blues Brothers. It was cool; then I learnt about the Chinese megamall that had a grand total of 5% used - not because of size, but for the lack of any economy viability.
my favorite mall in this video is the washington square mall, it reminds me of a dead mall here in my hometown: sunrise mall. it has the same story as washington square, and last time i went, it was pretty liminal. great video as always man, i always look forward to watching them when you upload and i hope to see more from you!
I grew up at the myrtle beach mall. When it closed I was sad but at that point all the employees and stores were gone. It was creepy to walk through it remembering how it once was kinda busy. Btw the pictures make it look less creepy. It was hallow, a part of my teens that I was gripping too... not understanding it was dead.
I live near a semi-abandoned/dead mall, part of it is still used but another part of it isnt used anymore, it used to be a grocery store but then turned into a small local mall, the place is slowly becoming empty and its just one of those eerie places.
I remember going to White Flint with my cousin and her friends in the Summer of 2012. Got myself an Angry Birds plushie from the Dave & Busters arcade at one point. I had no idea that was the location of that one image I’ve always been seeing lately! This hits a special kind of hard now…
If anyone is in the area, Cincinnati Mills, aka Forestfair mall is a great space like these. Really only 1 shop in it is open, Arcade Legacy, and the mall itself stays open because it's technically the same building as the Kohl's and Bass Pro Shop that are still pretty popular
That second mall in myrtle beach has me freaked out because I went there while I was at the beach a few month's back. We stopped to get a bite to eat from the food court but there was no one in the mall at all it seemed at the time. We just walked in, and after a bit of standing around left because we thought they were just taking there time to open. Was a pretty strange experience, be we had no idea the place had closed in 2005.
White flint is really a sad one for me,went there a ton as a kid when my mom needed to go there.still have to say the place had the best mini train in a mall I’ve ever seen. RIP white flint
Other malls in my area never had this problem, but there was one in the heart of my hometown that died and has been torn down. Although that kinda sucks on its own it was exceptionally hard because in it was a two story arcade/kids entertainment venue called Amazing Jake’s, people from my area around my age will remember it. The best/worst part is you can still see it in google earth, where they have a picture of the inside reminding me of distant memories forever in the past. For me and many other kids it’s just so sad, and that google earth photo has a heavy liminality to it now. I’m assuming they’re just going to build a block of apartments where it once was.
I actually live near a dead mall, greenspoint mall. Its still open but only a few people who have very low income come by, because the prices have dropped since most people have stopped going, i still remember old memorys from there vividly..
I remember going to a mall that was really dead. It was near to Galleria Dallas, which it was Valley View Mall. I remember going there 5 years ago, 2-3 years before before it was demolished. It was an ominous feeling, but my father told me that he used to work at a McDonald’s there and it was packed when he was working there.
