I grew up in Gwinnett in the 80s. What you described as the "old fountain" was really the new fountain. The old fountains were all over the mall and very large. There were large pools in the mall and the elevator went down into one making it look like it went underwater. There was always an annual Lego exhibit at Gwinnett Place and they frequently Incorporated the fountains that were all over the mall. The first Chick-fil-A I ever went to was in Gwinnett Place Mall and it was not in the food court. It was mixed in with the other retail stores near one of the exits. The village they built to visit Santa at Gwinnett Place was much better than anything I have ever seen at any other mall. I remember thinking the front external entrance to Sears was really weird and uninviting. I remember wanting to go to one of the restaurants near the entrance to the mall. I think it was a Steak & Ale. I never went.
My childhood resonated with this mall. I used to go weekly with my parents to buy pokemon cards, games, and we’d always made it a thing to visit the small animal pet store. It’s so sad to see it the way it is today. Hopefully one day new life is breathed into it, and it is repurposed for something else. The area is ever growing, and the opportunity is definitely there.
I remember everytime me and my fam would get ice cream we would just sit near the water that went up and down and went on the train that went around the mall I miss it 😢
Back in the mid 90's,I worked 2 Christmases at Bath and Body Works. The mall was so nice,decorated with lots of lights and the Santa Village was busy with the kids wanting to sit with Santa. This was THE mall back then,lots of people,the nice food court and every store open. So sad to see it deteriorated and now closed. I will never forget hanging out here with friends and having fun. Wish I could go back to those times😥
I spent a large part of my childhood in this mall and the surrounding areas. It was amazing. The mall was amazing. I'm so glad that I have those memories but it still hurts that this happened.
I visited this mall back in 2004, so I never got to see the place during it's best years. The mall was just ok back then, good for the area. There were already a lot of Mom and Pop businesses at that point. That Sears was a one of a kind concept store, I really wish I went back to see it later.
Some of these empty malls should be converted to Community Centres with, gym, gymnasium for bball court or roller rinks, swimming pool, public library, gift shops and the parking lot can be converted into a green space park ... they can reopen up the food courts ... some of these places if done right can be money makers and employment opportunities and revitalizors of the area.
I moved to the general area in 1998. I remember visiting GPM not too long after I moved to North Georgia. It was still a beautiful mall in the late 90s. The last of the 80s-ish malls in the south east. Not that cheap cheesy look of a 90s mall with over done skylights blaring the sun directly on you, white painted steel girder warehouse looking ceilings which was a 90s fad that people got tired of quickly. No, Gwinnett Place mall kept its 80s style beauty. Traffic congestion around the interstate 85 exits to the mall, changing demographics, and the opening of the mall of Georgia about 10 miles or so north on I-85 is what killed it. However, the new mall of Georgia lacked the comforting charm of Gwinnett Place mall in terms of its design. The new mall of Georgia feels impersonal and cold. Zero charm, especially the food court. The newer mall of Georgia’s food court feels like a combination of a high school cafeteria and a high school gymnasium. Gwinnett place malls food court was a lot nicer back in the day. I’m glad that there are still malls like the Woodfield mall in Illinois that still have that 80s charm, but sadly they are too far away from me.
My dad worked on and verified steel structural designs for this mall. I almost, but not quite, understood the significance of his descriptions of the steel work he explained, with foots on the lower handrail, that went into making this gathering place possible for so many years.
Bro I would be so down for that mall to reopen as a stranger things themed mall with Food,Clothes,Gadgets and Costumes from Stranger Things what do y’all think?
@@INFP-Turd yeah and maybe it can also be a little shop in malls world wide to like if you want all the stranger things merch in the world come to the new and big stranger things mall with 80’s themed clothes to a hellfire club shop with dnd and shirts and maybe some stranger things/80’s themed management it could even have a really cool thing in it to with like limited time pop ups near the mall or the cast coming into the mall idk i feel like if they put their heads together with a actual mall they could do it with enough funds and a go fund me for it perhaps 🤔
They are going to rebuild it with condos and apartments, and shopping and eating areas. This place is gona be a mini Korea town once everything is said and done. Korean bbqs, boba stores and all the other Asian restaurants gona plow in. This will be a hot spot once again. Great area for college grads and young adults to live at.
I first visited Gwinnett Place in the early years, probably 1984, as a teenager in Gainesville GA. We had our own mall, but if you wanted to go to the "big city" mall, it was Lenox Square, located all the way into Atlanta proper. Gwinnett Place was about half the distance, so this became the big mall to go to. I saw it at its absolute peak in the late 80s, up until just a few years ago when it was a dying mall.
It’s really sad to see the slow decline of GPM once Gwinnett Place Cinemas the movie theater right across the street was demolished back in 2006-2007 I knew that was the beginning of the end especially with the Mall of Georgia opening in 2004.
We didn't put a "The" in front of the name. It was just "Gwinnett Place Mall." 🤓 I remember when it opened, and I went there often until I left Atlanta in the mid-'90s. It was very modern and well-maintained then. Now (Dec 2023) I'm reading that the space will be repurposed, but I don't know if details have been made public.
The last time I went was in summer 2019. I was at the mall three days before the body was found I remembered because it was a few days before winter break and my mom decided to go to sears while she was at sears I walked around and wanted to look at the food court but it was so dark but around that area it had a smell
I was middle school classmates with the guy who killed his girlfriend in the mall. Real quiet and shy dude, needless to say I was shocked when I read about the murder
I’m at starcourt rn (like parked outside of it), and I can’t get in. It’s a shame because some people want to go in and see but it’s closed. It’s really sad
i didnt even realise this was gwinett place mall until I saw the sign at the start of the video we usually go to the micro center or fumi events resturant
My mom her sister and her best friend all used to work there when it was open, also I went there today and if you go inside the Macy’s that is somehow still open you can see inside the mall, all of the windows were blacked out and it was kinda scary but if it was still open I’d be there all the time, there was one part that you could see the mall through the window and it looked like it was just frozen in time, there was also a restaurant and there were chairs everywhere and it was like a window into time, I’d type more but unfortunately there is an add playing about how to get rid of foot fungus 💀😭
I thought I was watching a Sal video as it followed on YT after watching Exlog 93. You could have come up with a more original opening than copying Sals especially as you are covering the same subject matter.
