The Dead Mall At Anthem | Retail Archaeology 

It isn't an official Retail Archeology video without the good ol' submerged fountain cam...

Working fountains in a dead mall? That's rare.

Every time I leave Phoenix on the 17, this outlet mall is always my marker to let me know when i'm almost home on a return drive from sedona/flagstaff.

The number of outdoor malls in Arizona is baffling, considering the extreme heat, but the western style architecture is always fascinating!

A few minutes in I was like “hmmm I wouldn’t say this is a dead mall, it looks like most other malls” but then I realized it’s because most all malls are dying lol

The reason outlet were so far from cities originally is that the manufacturers had distance rules in there contracts that dictated how far these outlet sellers had to be away from full retail sellers.

I remember that the largest Christmas Tree in the West was located there.

After moving from Phoenix 3 years ago (Phoenix born and raised), I honestly always look forward to these videos. I appreciate the work you do!

I can't be the only one hearing the lyrics to "Cruel Summer" in my head as the background music plays, can I?

I worked there from 2000 until 2003, and still visited regularly until 2010 or so. It was the Prime Outlets of New River, then the name change to Outlets at Anthem sometime around 2002. There were many other stores there, and the outer wings were solid instead of parking like they are now. The whole complex was shaped like "UUU". Many stores have come and gone. I worked at KB Toys, Quicksilver/Roxy, Levi's, Radio Shack, and Auntie Anne's. The original food court lineup from South to North was Cinnamonster, Subway(caught dealing cocaine through "5 dollar footlongs") , a Sbarro pizza knockoff, Taco Bell, Great Steak and Potato Company, Mall Chinese, and Burger King. The Auntie Anne's has always been there as far as I know. The big remodel was around 2007 or so I, but I could be wrong. Some of the other stores I remember being there were Nike, Reebok, The Gap, The Music Factory (horribly overpriced music store- $20/cd), a Hallmark store, Kitchen Collection, candy store, a hair salon, a luggage store, a REALLY crappy bookstore, Bullseye Wireless, Dress Barn, Bugle Boy, Big Dog, Chicago Cutlery, Black & Decker, Bass Clothing Co, Mi Casa.

Because I work at Arrowhead I truly had no clue that the others were struggling this bad.

It was a Prime Outlet center at first so i think that’s who built it. Prime sold off A LOT of their centers in the early 2000s.

Oh no! Not Anthem Mall. 😒 Used to drive through here all the time commuting from Phoenix to Northern Arizona. Yes, I visited here a few times. Such a shame. My feeling is this mall’s target customers is Anthem itself, and not relying so much on Phoenix people to drive out this far...Geez, I always thought this shopping venue was something of a stronghold. If it can’t make it, who can?! The latter half of the video made it seem busier though, so maybe there’s a glimmer of hope?! Damned Covid! ...That such a little ole (BIG!) virus could destroy our economy and lifestyles as we know it-and it may never return!

For being a dead mall it actually looks really well kept.

It used to be packed with foreign tourists on tour buses. Parts of the mall was torn down and parts built after 2009. Some high end stores like mikasa, leather, 2 bookstores, 2 kitchen stores. The had a store that sold real silver silverware! Ps. I hate those trains. Spells doom!

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It was opened mid-90's. I used to go when there was a KB Outlet until they closed and became a TRU outlet. There also used to be an awesome book store as well.

I like Anthem and I've been to this outlet mall several times. Sadly, this mall had been steadily declining. It does still have some cool stores at a quite cool outside mall.

Arizona seems so depressing with all the dead malls and brown buildings. Hello from South FL!

Okay it may be vacant.. it may be outdated.. but the refurbished restrooms in the food court always made me happy to visit 🤣

They built Outlet Mall far away from civilization back in the 90s was because the brands that opened outlet stores didn’t want to compete with their own regular stores or flagship stores in the city. Back then outlet stores actually sold the same items as their regular stores but the defective or irregular items were sent to outlet stores for discounted price. Brands later made outlet stores specific models and therefore they can afford to open outlet stores in the city as they don’t directly compete with their regular stores.

I wish we still had Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory around here, loved their apples!

I am from Canada, but remember making the trip from fountain hills to this mall like 13 years ago. It was packed, the deals were great. 3 or 4 years later I remembered seeing some stores having not going out of business sales, now it looks like it is on life support. It really is a beautiful mall...

A strong chlorine smell doesn't indicate large amounts of chlorine, it indicates a high bacteria degradation\death.

I remember when it first opened (it used to have a tool outlet store... maybe Black and Decker). But here's the problem with it's location: if you're heading up North, you know traffic can be a heavy up the mountain, so you want to keep moving; if you're heading South, it had no gas station (it does now - and it's higher priced than driving a few more miles) and any obvious restaurants like McDonalds to lure you in, to get some food on the final leg home.

This place has being repurposed as an education center written all over it.

Wasn’t as good as Panda Express has to be 2020 put into words.

Being someone from Canada, the outlet malls here are just absolutely whitewashed and aren't even 10 years old. Like you said, I also get bored at outlet malls. But with this one it is 25 years old instead of like 7 or 8 years old.

Awww... It looks so sunny and warm there, here where i live most of the day its just dark, rainy, windy and cold.

Great video as always! I hate to ruin your fun but wanted a share a cautionary tale about mall restaurants. While I was working at my now bulldozed dead mall (RIP Woburn Mall) we had a Mcdonalds close down next to the cigar shop that I worked nights at. When they demoed the inside of the McDonalds all the rats came through our shared wall and terrorized the rest of the mall. Years later I heard from a security guard that the extermination company the mall hired actually quit working with the Chinese food restaurant in the mall because they wouldn't clean up the backroom and so their extermination services were just a bandaid on the situation. I haven't been able to enjoy food court food ever since D:

You misspelled 'anthem'. It's not supposed to be capitalized. My parents were responsible for selling new houses in anthem for Del Webb, we moved into one of the first model homes, and I remember this mall vividly. It was right across the freeway from the first houses/community center. When the town first started off, there was an Albertsons and that was pretty much it for businesses. Then came a gas station/corner store/sports bar, and finally (almost a year later?) the outlets across the freeway were completed. The highschool was still under construction at the time, and people were getting bored hanging out only at the community center. When the outlets first opened it was like a huge party. Teenagers packed the food court, and the outside areas were filled with families walking from store to store. I don't miss the rattlers, though. That sign wasn't kidding. When the town went up, a bunch of rattlesnakes got displaced from their natural habitat and just started biting kids left and right. Couldn't walk 10 feet off the sidewalk without feeling absolutely in danger.

A lot of great memories of going there! With outlets like Tanger, Desert Ridge, and Tempe Market Place have hurt this shopping center!

Wow this mall died really quick. I remembered those closed stores were filled in and used by all sorts of retailers back in 2011 and 2012 but in 8 short years they've all cleared out except for stores like Bath and Body works which you can find everywhere else. I feel bad for the folks living in Anthem cuz that community now looks so lonely out there with just a Walmart nearby.

I remember in the early 2000’s when the Big Dogs shirts were popular!! They used to have a store there!! I’m also sure that the Bose store has closed. I remember when they were trying to sell people a $6000 theater tv!! 😂 Just seeing all these places closedown really hits because they were still busy just a few years ago!! 😔

I went to this mall when it first opened and always found it to be a nice place. When I moved to Anthem it was a quiet place to hang out and have lunch and enjoy being outside.

This mall used to be a really popular mall. I worked here from 2005 to 2009 and up until online shopping exploded it was always busy. I remember a time when I dreadef going to work just because I didn't want to walk through the crowds of people. And I certainly dreaded Christmas time. It's sad to see that it is slowly dying! I hope they find a way to bring some new business into it and bring some life back to it!

I can tell you a bit about the Ruby's Express. I am just some random guy but I had a conversation with the owner of the Ruby's Express very early on this year. He was actually the guy wearing black when you walked past it. He was staring at you. At the point when I talked to him, this was the only Ruby's Express in existence. He told me there were plans to make more but I don't think that there has been much work done because of the pandemic. As you can imagine, the menu of this Ruby's is far more limited than it's sit-down cousins. This place only has burgers, shakes, fries and maybe salad. The basic things. However, it does have one more thing that is unique to this Ruby's, chicken strips. It is the owner's own recipe. They're actually really good. The beef patties are also the owner's special blend so these burgers taste quite different than the ones you would find at Ruby's Diner. Also, this place does punch cards which I think is pretty cool and it is rare to see any kind of business do it. It has counter seating with a mini jukebox which is pretty awesome. But I'm sure the counter is closed now.

I remember the food court got a huge renovation a few years back, from the floors to the seats the whole thing screamed mid-90’s. Even after that renovation and the addition of the covered parking there were a bunch of empty storefronts in the inner parts of the mall. I have a lot of memories there from when i was a kid, they would host pokémon card game tournaments in the food court every friday, and my school’s choir would sing christmas carols at the tree lighting ceremony. (It looks like you filmed the place right before the tree went up!) Also, it is notoriously hard to dig up information about the place, even if you live in Anthem. I just knew it was built in basically the middle of the desert and Anthem was built around it. Great video!

I've been here. It's slowly dying, which stinks, since I like this place.

Did you try the Wayback Machine? Just wondering lol. I find lots of amazing early 2000s mall websites and directories there.

Can you do an update of christown spectrum mall I heard they lost costco and jcpenney. I'm not from Arizona I'm actually from Northern New York State but I've seen your videos their awesome and I like christown spectrum mall. Maybe with Costco vacancy they can add a Sam's club to the mall and maybe with jcpenney gone they can turn it into Arizona's first Runnings Farm and Fleet

Nice video again! Love it when you guys go to food courts and actually eat there. It's like you support the mall a bit then :)

That whole mall definitely has a 90’s vibe, but I like it because those colors seem to work in desert environments.

It's nice to see a mall owner doing the best they can with what they got. Nice place kept in good shape. While it is against the odds, I hope they grow in the future, both in patrons and stores.

I was just there a month ago, and I don't recall the windows being boarded off at the Sunglass Hut but was closed. I also remember my sister wanting a drink from one of the vending machines close to the Coach Factory, and it took her money, not giving her the drink she requested that tells you that the mall is falling apart horribly. I also looked like the building across the new Skechers location was partially under construction as a small expansion to the mall. I wouldn't be surprised if in the next ten years that this mall will be more doctor offices of some sort.

It was packed last year during Black Friday, I couldn’t move from place to place and we had to park all the way in the back. The food court we couldn’t sit at since it was so full, so we were literally shopping with pretzels in hand going in and out of stores during the holidays. After this year what I wouldn’t give to have that back.

Hello Retail Archaeology! Native Phoenician here of 37 years (and a city planner). Outlets at Anthem used to be called AZ FACTORY SHOPS aka AZ FACTORY OUTLETS. The original cluster of buildings was built in 1996 just after the City of Phoenix annexed the west side of Interstate 17 in November 1995. Sometime in the early 2000s it became the Outlets at Anthem, a few years after Anthem was constructed on the east side of the freeway in unincorporated Maricopa County. In 2008, the outlets expanded with a new wing built on the north end (very bad timing since this was during the recession). In 2015, the southernmost wing was split into two retail pads. Next time if you want to provide additional commentary on a particular dead or dying mall in the Phoenix Metro area, checkout the historical aerials on the Maricopa County website. Sometimes you'll hit gold and find old building permits within the City of Phoenix website, which was how I found the old name AZ FACTORY SHOPS/OUTLETS. Thank you for the awesome videos! :)

7:52 They are doing over here in Australia. But you need to be social distancing from Santa.

I love going to Anthem outlet. It had changed a lot over the years. The food court is wonderful and it is busy on the weekends sometimes.

I know this mall well. We went when it first opened to go to the Nike factory store. I was very little, so I don't remember much, other than buying Beanie Babies at the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory. Later on though, we lived closer to the area in the 00s. My dad worked here for years at the now long defunct Radioshack, and as a pre-teen I would trek in the heat of summer here on foot since there was nothing better to do. It did definitely have a different name before. Something like "Premium Outlets". They also redid the food court and bathrooms in the mid 00s right before the housing crisis. For a while, they marketed the fact that they had something like the "nicest bathrooms in America" here. The bathrooms are actually pretty crazy from what I remember, too! They also used to get a massive live Christmas tree every year and boast that again, they had the "biggest Christmas tree in America / the world/ etc" to bring in business. It's been slow for years though, especially in the late 00s when people's homes in Anthem were foreclosed on in droves and a lot of folks left. It would be dead in the summer from the heat as well. And as other communities grew up around the North Phoenix area, it became less and less popular. A lot of folks I went to school with worked at the local shops (mostly Levi's, Bath and Body Works or Auntie Anne's), and it was never all that busy. You could come by and drop in on your friend while they were working and have no customers come by at all. It was always very clean though, I'll give them that.

Impressive saguaros! I know that yall are so used to them in AZ

@Retail Archaeology Thanks for showing the fountains. I love em and it attracts me to malls. This was always a big draw for people all the way back in the 1960s Why in the world the owners started deactivating them at existing malls or not continuing to keep including them in new malls is a mystery to me. I really like the open areas with seating, if it's not too hot looks like a nice place to sit outside and people watch.

If you see rattlesnake signs. I love the fountain. ⛲ It has a lot vacancies. I love the sidewalk. I love the 2nd fountain. ⛲ I'm glad you put your camera underwater. I love that their is change in the fountain. ⛲

We live just up the road from the anthem outlets . Early summer my daughter and went for some walks around the covered parts to be outside and be covered . Not a lot of tenants . When my daughter asked about why there wasn’t many tenants , my reply was online . People would rather just buy online and avoid the crowds . I’m sure the pandemic stuff doesn’t help . And , we were just up here tonight for the Xmas tree ! It was really nice . I try to definitely support localism if I can , and I will shop often as I can and use food court when I want to get away from the wilderness of north Phoenix to way north Phoenix. The tanger outlets have killed this place for sure ! Thank you for the videos I enjoy them a lot 🤘

Oh wow! This is so amazing and scary at the same time. I don't know which is more frightening. The end of retail or the end of the world.

I'll never fathom your fascination with the interior of fountains.

Sure, there are other mall videos, but who else gives you footage inside mall water fountains? This is something I didn't realize I needed. Seriously, I enjoyed the video. They don't have malls like this here in frigid MN.

Awesome as always!! Great job.

I went to this mall in 2009. We were driving along the highway and noticed it by chance. We went on a weekday and as is usual, there weren’t that much people but I would say there was a fair crowd. It’s so sad to see what has happened to it. 😔

God I remember going to this mall, it was a bit of a drive so it was a special occasion sort of thing. I remember going to the Bose store with my parents.

I remember it always being packed out there on the weekends

I used to love going there, sad to see it dying.

Sad to see this, grew up in Anthem and this mall was always a very important part of my childhood. Glad to see you literally ordered what I would get at famous wok. That place has been there forever.

When I first moved to AZ (15ish years ago) and lived in Surprise and kids were little we’d drive there a bunch. Since the 303 was not open all the way to 17 like it is now. It was a nice drive and nap for the kids. But as kids grew older and Westgate and the outlets built out more, they were closer, and started going there. I don’t remember there being cover parking last time there...quite a few years ago. It was pretty much the outlets and a few places across the street. I’ve been to anthem a few times (not for outlets) and notice a lot of retail growth around there. Thanks for the video. Might have to go visit before it dies completely

Edging ever closer to the 100k sub milestone!💥💥 I’ve been watching since about 10k. Wondering if we will ever get another live stream series of a Mall Tycoon build? When the pandemic first hit, I binge watched all of those videos.

I just realized you're almost at 100k!! Congrats

From 2010-2012 I lived in Anthem Arizona and the drive to the Outlets was just a couple mins away. This is really sad to see/ I remember it being really active during those times. Christmas time was awesome over here. Also all I can recall was the the electronic sign was added around 2010 though I can be wrong.

What a great way to start a Saturday, with Retail Archaeology!

I LOVE the new intro! Great video as usual. We always stop everything and watch when RA drops a new one

Awesome video as always! Mark seems like an awesome friend to hang out with. Looking forward to the next one.

Still need to get to texas.....you gotta see the outlet mall in Texas that was dead before it started near corpus christi.

This is beautiful architecture, I imagine it would have been great a few years before, full of people. But on the other hand it looks so peaceful like this.

Our local giant indoor mall sold for $150 at public auction. All the new owners got was the debt and a largely vacant mall. The 4 anchor stores owned instead of rented so the thought was they’d never leave. Now Sears and Macy’s/Bloomingdales are gone leaving just sad JC Penny and Dillards. The rent is so low that nearly anybody can have a store front. I go every few months just to see the wacky merchants: vape shops, anime, big cult church, laser tag, indoor miniature golf, karate school with boxing ring, orchid store. It’s a cross between a carnival and a cemetery. Fascinating social and economic experiment

Your observation about these outlet malls that are dying that have been placed in very far regions is perfect observation, another example I can place onto that is the outlet malls in Hillsboro Texas I remember when I was little when me and my dad drove to Dallas, we always pass by it and it used to be pack and had a lot of stores now recently it is dead, it is super dead, they're like a few stores left in those outlet malls.

Just left there. Very sad. More closed locations than open. The part at the end where you said this part seems ok, where the sidewalk sale was……totally dead all stores gone except Calvin Klein on one end and Banana Republic on the other. Saw about 20 people

I had no idea that this was dying. I used to go here a lot when I was a kid... I remember most of those stores being occupied. Haven't been there in a minute.

That’s one of the nicest outlet malls I’ve ever seen! If it were different times, I’d def be shopping there.

I enjoyed the vid very much. Please keep them coming. It's also gonna be interesting to see how malls do during Christmas, considering the pandemic.

Great video! I remember taking my wife and young daughter to see the outdoor snow making machine there about 20 years ago.

always love the fountain diving shots! I was also surprised to see 'ruby's express' I just moved in with my s/o down here in oceanside, ca and that chain's like our go to for upscale burgers! and wash it all down with a chocolate coke, it's good stuff!

I used to come here every summer with my brother and grandparents. We'd come for the Pokémon card tournaments. This wasn't in the 90s, though. This was in the 2010s

One reason why this outlet mall may be suffering long term is because the huge Desert Ridge clone known as the Happy Valley (?) Mall was opened about 10 years ago around 8 miles south of this. It has all the typical major stores, lots of chain restaurants like OLIVE GARDEN, RED LOBSTER, APPLEBEES and all the big box stores, IMAX theaters, etc. How can a humble little outlet mall like this compete with a huge outdoor mall (with classic Phoenix giant stately palm tree entrance) strategically built just north of the 101? By the way, Phoenix recently annexed all the land up to Anthem. This Anthem mall and all property to the west of 17 is now Phoenix! I don't know if that increased retail taxes.

I visited Arizona for the first time 3 years ago and my aunt took us to this outlet. I spent more time in the Bose store since we don't have one in Cincinnati anymore

Love your content

I HAVE SOME HISTORY. I lived in anthem for around 9 years, and went here quite a lot. For a long time there was a subway inside and there was supposed to be a radio thing for radio station but i’m not sure if it got cancelled or not. At christmas time there is a giant christmas tree and i’m pretty sure they redid the inside of the food court at one point.

I grew up in this town coming to this place, this is so nostalgic for me holy crap

AAAAAWWWWWWWEEEEE. The underwater action cam!!! Very satisfying. Marion.

7:40 - I've been to Hershey, PA a bunch of times, so I could picture the bouquet of that Rocky Mtn Chocolate place.

Oh crap! This is sad news. I was raised in Phx and still have family in Camp Verde and Phx. We always made a point to get here for shopping when we were in the country. The last time we were there 2+ years ago it was still doing well. There are no good shopping experiences in AZ as far as I know.

Thank you for another great video!

The original name was Desert Hills Mall. I went there during it's first opening month because I lived in Mesa and my future wife was in Flagstaff so I passed by here often

Back in the 1990s, I bought several items at a nearby Coach outlet. I got some great deals there. Coach purses were a big deal when I was a young, career woman. I also bought a suede jacket and various accessories. I still have the leather checkbook cover. It aged well.

I used to go here a lot back in the '90s, before they added that "outbuilding", and the big draws for me were the book liquidator, the music store (where I bought a lot of Grateful Dead teddy bears for my mother), the kitchen supply place and the Black & Decker store. So naturally those were the first places that closed. Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory was there in those days but the food court wasn't as much. Flash forward to earlier this year and in doing Doordash deliveries up north, I think I picked up orders from just about every place in that food court at one time or another. The outlets still shows up on my app as a "hotspot" to wait for orders, even at night.

love the fountain cams

WOW THE FOUNTAINS WORK, THAT'S RARE!

I havent heard or seen a Tommy Hilfiger since mid 90’s when they were huge

Opened in the mid to late 1990's. It used to be called New River Outlet Mall (or something like that), until the Anthem master planned community was established. It used to be on the distance outskirts of The Valley (where land & rent was super cheap), but it has really been built up substantially. My wife & I used to live in Grand Canyon National Park. We would get gas and eat at the food court here on our way home after visiting our parents in Phoenix, AZ. There used to Kettle Corn vendors near the parking lot that we'd get a bag for the road. Because of the big parking lot, the food court used to get a lot of trucker traffic. My wife interviewed for a job here in 1997.

I’d like to see more outlet malls. The aesthetic is so appealing.

I used to work there, it's so satisfying to see on your channel. Bummed I didn't get to meet you though

I love the room reference at 11:55 lmfaooo