This is my local mall and it is every bit as awesome as it looks. After seeing so many dead malls on RU-vid, every time I’m there I think to myself, if this mall ever dies, the age of malls will officially be over.
Afi James Not this mall. This is the premier mall of Metro Detroit and nestled in Oakland county which is an affluent area. There is upscale shopping and dining and it is the “go to”’ mall of the Detroit area and even people from Canada come to shop here because you will always see Ontario license plates when in the parking structure of the mall. I believe Somerset will never go away.
Thank you for posting this. I was the lead designer at JPRA for this project in the 90's. So happy to see it has held up so well and people still like it. FYI, it was inspired by Saarinen's Cranbrook in Bloomfield Hills. I had so much fun designing all of this.
Somerset was like Disneyworld for me as a child that lived in Detroit. Now my family lives in Troy and I still get giddy when we visit the mall. No other like it!
This mall is a gift from the escalator gods. The symettry in the shots of the tri-level department stores with their adjacent paired escalators after taking in the grandeur of that huge main atrium area with all of that 90s looking emerald marble tile and huge fountain! Cream my jeans moment. In about '94, I remember vividly my Mother remodeling our bathrooms, one was redone in that Emerald green color and the other one she did in Burgundy.
2001 saw the decorations at Christmas time was awesome to see haven't been to Sommerset since the fall of 2005. My feet were always hurting when I was done shopping LOL with my cousin and uncle in the early 2000's.
Somerset was my mall when I lived in Michigan too. Loved how you had shopping on both sides of the road and the restaurants were a wonderful lunch or after work retreat. Miss my hometown.
Two items: 1) Next to Somerset North sits the abandoned K-Mart world headquarters 2) Three exits south on I-75 sits the Oakland Mall, it is slowly dying
Eastland Mall is dying because they nobody shop at that mall anymore because they lost Sears in 2013, Macy's in 2017, and Target, Burlington, and Shopper's World last year (2018).
Cool that your close to where I live. If you ever come back to Michigan, Twelve Oaks Mall in Novi is also something to look at, it's still "busy" and has stores, but they lost Sears and there are a lot of empty and "no-name" stores. Laurel Park Mall in Lovina is a dead mall, which all of us here are suprised its still open. That's something that you might want to check out before its closed. Thanks for the great video!
Paul Ryckaert about a month ago they started their store closing sale, I haven’t been there in about a month so I’m not sure if it’s already closed or closing. This location was on the chopping block in the mass closures that they are doing.
@Paul Ryckaert I can never predict how EXACTLY, Sears chooses stores to close! They hang on at certain malls that are showing signs of struggling(i.e. Stratford Square, Spring Hill), yet at certain more successful malls they hang on(i.e. Oak Brook Center, Woodfield Mall, East Towne Mall in Madison, WI). Also weird to think East Towne is THE last Sears, in all of Wisconsin!
ahhhhhh good 80's aesthetic.. sounds like music from an old 80's movie or any 80's movie sorta. the good malls I went to are Metrotown (burnaby bc) their arcade is really active.. and West Edmonton mall is another great canadian mall that my family took me. it's got an indoor pool and amusement park and water show with animals so all around West Edmonton beats metrotown. 😁
Architecture and interior design for wealthy people is noticeably different than what the working and middle classes get. There elegance, the beauty, the displays that tell you if you can afford to shop here, you've made it and are somebody. It's impressive for sure!
I love this place for some reason even though none of the stores are really anything I would shop at. I live a couple towns over from Troy and have been here quite often. Twelve Oaks (my local mall) is another mall that is very much becoming a luxury mall and is still doing quite well for itself.
This reminds me of the Westfield Garden State Plaza in Paramus, NJ; it's less than 10 minutes from my house and still very much thriving. It's great to know there are still some malls that are alive and well!
I like being one of the first commenters. But this looks like a really nice mall. I like the "alive" malls too. It's a change of pace than seeing dead malls. Keep up the great work anthony!
I recently visited the huge up-scale King Of Prussia Mall. Certainly thriving and quite luxurious ... Nordstrom, Nieman Marcus, Tiffany, Cartier, Hermes, Prada, etc. In fact I believe King Of Prussia is the biggest mall in the entire US.
Fores/Cohen owned Lakeview Square Mall in Battle Creek when it first opened GGP bought the mall in 1998 and sold it in 2011 to Cushmen & Wakefield which sold it to GK Development in 2013. Lakeview Square Mall is on its last legs, I'm surprised it is still open truth be told.
Just came here a couple days ago. This place is absolutely GORGEOUS. Way better in person than on video! (I'm from Grand Rapids so I really don't go to Detroit that often).
Something to note - No kiosks. Makes more room for leisurely strolling through the mall without getting hounded with tchotchkes. More artistic representations with water features and sculptures. All Forbes owned malls are like this. Another great one is Mall at Millenia in Orlando, FL which blows Somerset Collection out of the water when it comes to luxury tenants.
Wow o wow that is the mall I spent a lot of time at as child shopping with my parents my cousins, Saks Fifth Avenue was a place my mom loved especially buying clothes for us for church in the 70s back then it was the one story version, my aunt worked at Saks til 2000 This mall is beautiful.
The side with the more designer brands used to be one floor until the mall expanded with the other side in the early 90s and with the inclusion of the skywalk. The two original departments were Saks Fifth Avenue, and a department store called Bon-Wit Teller which shuttered in the late 80s where the building was demolished and replaced with the now standing Neiman Marcus.
Somerset isn't too far from me! My family used to go occasionally when I was a kid. Went less as I got older, since it's a little bit of a hike and we aren't exactly swimming in money, but I've really grown to appreciate it, especially aesthetically Also, gotta love THE ORBS
I think think this is the first video you’ve done of a mall I’ve actually been to. I was training in Southfield. Came here to get facewash at Macy’s and a bottle brush at Sur la Table.
If it's not too late, you should go to the Greendale Mall in Worcester (MA), especially at night. It's a dying mall, and it's design is that the stores light the mall space. Since it's mostly vacant, the accent lighting is all that lights it up, making it very dark and creepy. They also lost an anchor recently, as well as a big jewelry store. One mall cart has bright LED strips all over it just to be able to see anything there.
I'm from the Netherlands and I was at this mall in April of 2010 and a lot of areas were dead, as in, no stores. I remember the big rotating globe fountain. I also remember there being a bakery in that big open area on the first or second floor. It had huuuuge cookies, like 16 inch cookies. I think it was called Ms. Fields or something? Also the blue pond there with all the coins. Abercrombie and Fitch. Princess Promway Project (although I'm not quite sure why I remember that haha). Louis Vuitton. The fountain with the glass tiles. The angel statue. The "TO BIG BEAVER" sign outside (which was quite funny to me at the time - weird Dutch people - I know). Sunglass Hut? Janie & Jack. If I remember correctly there was also a store called Lids where they custom embroidered caps, hats and beanies. And there was a piano that could play by itsself and you would see the keys moving. Neimann & Marcus? Although now I am thinking that maybe I'm mixing the latter three up with a different mall.
I have been to Somerset a few times in the early 2000s best mall in Michigan hasn't been since the fall of 2005 as I don't get up to the area very much. My feet always hurt after done shopping at Somerset mall with my uncle and cousin always had a good time joking about those not so good looking cars LMAO they were fancy cars. Wish the video was longer thou was surprised how short it was. I like seeing the malls that are doing well along with the dead malls Ace keep up the good work.
One of the nicest malls I have ever seen in my life. Thanks for sharing this. And I don't understand why anyone downvotes any of your vids -- your content is a great escape that's fun and informational.
Looks like a great place Anthony! Glad you featured it. We have a mall here in Orange County that's like that. It has the original mall and an annex across the street connected by a skywalk. Being California of course the skywalk is open air. It's a lovely place and is probably another of the best performing malls in the country. One of those few places you can go now where it's busy and it feels like you're shopping in a mall as it was intended.
Hey, if you're willing to tour "live malls", can you do something on the Mall of America in Minnesota vs the King of Prussia Mall in Pennsylvania? KOP seems like it's trying to one-up Mall of America while Mall of America keeps expanding itself because it can't lose that number 1 largest mall spot because its entire identity is based on that. KOP just finished an aggressive expansion while the MOA seems like they're about to go on another one.
You're the best when it comes to dead mall videos but it's cool that you are trying different things can't wait to see it, but what's coming next looks awesome.
Found this video interesting, the similarities (layout, aesthetics) between this mall and many of the dead malls is remarkable yet at the same time the contrast is almost the polar opposite with the thriving ultra high end stores, really enjoy your channel keep up the good work
2:33 high class shoes, I remember waiting for my wife, wandered in and they wanted 800 bux for a pair of alligator Italian shoes, I made sure I directed my wife to the other side of the mall. Fortunately my cousins and niece were with us to press on for some reason.
When you yawned around the 5:39 mark it made me yawn as well, That mall is a great mall, safe, almost fancy (you feel underdressed in shorts and a T-shirt some days). If you happen back to the area you might wish to visit Frenchtown square mall/now the monroe mall that recently lost all anchors and is struggling. Also Westland Mall, Lost the macy's , and it contains a penny and a sears so it's on a death watch too. Surprisingly it's sister for now Southland Mall in Taylor seems to be doing OK. Both regional malls on the opposite side of the state in Grand Rapids ( Rivertown and the revamped Woodland mall are stabilizing). But the Lakes mall in Muskegon is dying as most of its anchors have left. Thanks for showing a wonderfully vibrant mall , it's a nice change. .
If you want to keep doing luxury malls, try Denver , colorado. They have two upscale malls (Cherry Creek) and( Park meadows mall) that seem to be doing OK for now. and a third more or less large regional non luxury mall in broomfield (Flat irons crossing) Park meadows mall is a neat look, lots of wood like a ski lodge as is Flat irons, but if you look up from the ground floor up the ecalator to the upper food court level in Park Meadows your draw might drop it's really very nicely done..
Classic video for a classy mall where I think they check your credit rating before they let you in. It has my favorite store, Nordstrom and seems to be doing great. Again it's your channel, and I'm sure most of the 16K plus fans will appreciate what you put our. I love varied content which makes you a true artist. Yes you should vary the content. One of your best videos was the not dead Westfield World Trade Center mall because you paid respect to the history that lead to that place. Fyi wasn't Troy the original home of KMart?
Well it's doing better than a few malls on this channel but still dying 2 anchors I was there yesterday and it was actually pretty packed which is good but every time I go I fear I will see JC penny signs saying store closing I do not believe target will close though doing well
I've been there a few times and it is a beautiful mall. However, pretty much everyone you see walking around there have at least six figures of income.
When I was little (and honestly sometimes now also) I’d stand on the platform outside of one of the ball fountains and stroke it while the water washes over it lol
I doubt most of the stores in the mall are profitable. Those chains and brands simply consider the net loss as marketing costs. It's all about prestige. The impact of closing a shop often has a negative impact on their brand.
You didn't mention that Bonwit Teller a former luxury store was knocked down so Neiman Marcus could build its store on the same side( South side) as Saks 5th Ave.
The ppl there are not the type of crowd that should be there especially if you want thrive . Its like a preview of an upcoming dead mall, it just hasn't matured into the empty monster yet. i miss the 90's
Even malls that still post very strong sales figures don’t seem as crowded as they did 15 years ago. With that said, Anthony also seems to like recording at slow periods so we see more of the mall and fewer strangers in the picture.
