CORRECTION: The opening/closing song is not by Duett, but by Morch Kovalski. You can find the track in his Outrun 1986 album. An oversight in changing the opening soundtrack
I have to say that's a nice little mall! I always appreciate it when older malls don't renovate out colored designs from their interiors. The tiered two-level design also added a nice touch! (...and I still love that Morch Kovalski song.)
Malls with color are much more user friendly than those whitewashed-out "newer" versions. In fact, I wonder if "updating" malls(aka bleaching them) actually hastens their demise?
" isn't one of the healthiest malls" .... this is my Mall ... there isn't a single vacant spot in our Mall ... its always been fulfilled to capacity.... and compared to what it looked like when I was a kid it's fabulous.
It's VERY healthy, honestly surprisingly. I was just in there yesterday, a random Tuesday, and it was busy and there wasn't a single empty store front in the place. I think this mall is the perfect combination of things to make it successful that are all sort of situational. Like, it has maintained decent management over the years, It's manageable size is a huge benefit for shoppers, and where it is located sort of makes it one of the best shopping hubs of the southern Appalachian region here in Johnson City. However, the Bristol and KPT malls have both basically died. So JC has it figured out somehow. It has always been the best mall until you got to Knoxville or Asheville.
I love those pink and blue and black floors! Shame the hallway with Forever 21 got blandized, but the rest of the mall thankfully still rocks that classic pastel look. And I thought Fort Henry Mall(can't remember what it was renamed to) was starting to die, for a while? Not to forget Fort Henry is blandized now thanks to Hull, if I'm remembering correctly.
I really like this place, very retro look throughout most of the mall. If only they had a corridor with just the black and blue floor tiles. Great video as always Doomie!
2024 UPDATE: HomeGoods is in the old Sears location. The old Goody’s corridor and Forever 21 store, which was originally built into the mall after Goody’s closed in order to house a Dillard’s department store with the mall purchasing property behind itself to accommodate parking, never manifested but JCPenney expanded instead. That was back when they went a little crazy with their Apple CEO and his couponing ideas before they nearly couponed themselves out of business. Overall, the mall is still thriving with new out parcel shops and a few new tenants indoors. They are, however, currently losing the Hallmark Store. The Pinnacle at Bristol has surprisingly ripped a lot of business away from Johnson City and Kingsport, but the latter has suffered far more, as you can tell by Fort Henry Mall and almost any other shopping area in town. They’ve all lost businesses to The Pinnacle at Bristol. I guess whenever they realize it’s their arrangement in the Metropolitan Statistical Area, which was changed in the early 2000s to combine Kingsport, Bristol and a neighboring rural county, giving Johnson City its own metro area to flourish in, somebody might realize “hey, that’s why we’re losing business!”
I can walk to the mall from where I'm located. It's nice! The "Handmade Chocolates" place he passes by at 2:55 has this ice cream flavor called "playdough" and it's ice cream with sugar cookie dough in it. If you ever go to the mall here, get it!
i really do like the looks of this mall.it looks well kept for a mall of its age.i also really like the way the storefront of bath & bodyworks blends in with the floor.can't wait to see the ft. henry mall
I LOVE the retro asthetics of this mall. Very late 80's and 90's! I have always been a fan of that style and anything else from those eras. Something I cannot explain. The white and clean cut looks most malls have now, are just so blah, like someone with no personality. Where in the States is this located?
Yay! This is my mall! I love this mall. I've always said that if they ever renovate that ugly ass pink and blue colored tile and the awesome 80s tray ceilings and such that I would never shop there again. I LITERALLY go out of my way to stop by this mall when I need something JUST to enjoy the aesthetics of the place.
I have never seen any mall like this before. When you go finding the food court there, it's down on the bottom with escalators which leads also to another side of the mall. That's crazy!
love this place, even though i hate how boring this town is sometimes i have to admit that i wouldnt trade this mall for anything. whenever i go there are always so many different kinds of people (usually all crammed into either the food court, hot topic, or macy's) and on some occasions ive even seen some people in cosplay which is super rare in this part of tennessee lol. they also give great haircuts!
I live in Johnson City and just stumbled across this video. I wasn't expecting to watch all 12 minutes of it, let alone watching 4 other videos on your channel. Great soundtrack! Keep doing the lord's work.
Was just having a conversation with my mother. Was there a restaurant with a bar in the 1980s next to the movie theater (when there was a movie theater there? I seem to recall some sort of restaurant towards the back of the mall in the 1980s. This of course would have been before the early 1990s renovation that claimed the theater, but gave us the mauve and blue interior we see in this video.
It would still be great for the Tri-Cities if the Mall at Johnson City could attract Dillard's. This was once the original plan for the Miller's/Hess's/Proffitt's Home Store/Goody's space but when it didn't happen the mall expanded into the former anchor space.
CORRECTION: The opening/closing song is not by Duett, but by Morch Kovalski. You can find the track in his Outrun 1986 album.
An oversight in changing the opening soundtrack
The kiddie ride that I saw there are:
Mickey Mouse Car
Pink Panther Seesaw
Roller Coaster Simulator
Hank's Hot Dog Van
and Standard Roley
This mall is one of my favorite, the aesthetics are an amazing mix of pastel and modern, and the layout? so good.
Me too. The only thing that it is missing in my book is a couple of cool geometric shaped mall fountains. 😁
I have to say that's a nice little mall! I always appreciate it when older malls don't renovate out colored designs from their interiors. The tiered two-level design also added a nice touch! (...and I still love that Morch Kovalski song.)
I feel the same way about malls. The newer, modern looks are often very white, clean cut, square, and boring. 70-90's look for me!
Malls with color are much more user friendly than those whitewashed-out "newer" versions. In fact, I wonder if "updating" malls(aka bleaching them) actually hastens their demise?
" isn't one of the healthiest malls" .... this is my Mall ... there isn't a single vacant spot in our Mall ... its always been fulfilled to capacity.... and compared to what it looked like when I was a kid it's fabulous.
It's VERY healthy, honestly surprisingly. I was just in there yesterday, a random Tuesday, and it was busy and there wasn't a single empty store front in the place.
I think this mall is the perfect combination of things to make it successful that are all sort of situational. Like, it has maintained decent management over the years, It's manageable size is a huge benefit for shoppers, and where it is located sort of makes it one of the best shopping hubs of the southern Appalachian region here in Johnson City. However, the Bristol and KPT malls have both basically died. So JC has it figured out somehow. It has always been the best mall until you got to Knoxville or Asheville.
I love those pink and blue and black floors! Shame the hallway with Forever 21 got blandized, but the rest of the mall thankfully still rocks that classic pastel look. And I thought Fort Henry Mall(can't remember what it was renamed to) was starting to die, for a while? Not to forget Fort Henry is blandized now thanks to Hull, if I'm remembering correctly.
I really like this place, very retro look throughout most of the mall. If only they had a corridor with just the black and blue floor tiles. Great video as always Doomie!
2024 UPDATE: HomeGoods is in the old Sears location. The old Goody’s corridor and Forever 21 store, which was originally built into the mall after Goody’s closed in order to house a Dillard’s department store with the mall purchasing property behind itself to accommodate parking, never manifested but JCPenney expanded instead. That was back when they went a little crazy with their Apple CEO and his couponing ideas before they nearly couponed themselves out of business. Overall, the mall is still thriving with new out parcel shops and a few new tenants indoors. They are, however, currently losing the Hallmark Store. The Pinnacle at Bristol has surprisingly ripped a lot of business away from Johnson City and Kingsport, but the latter has suffered far more, as you can tell by Fort Henry Mall and almost any other shopping area in town. They’ve all lost businesses to The Pinnacle at Bristol. I guess whenever they realize it’s their arrangement in the Metropolitan Statistical Area, which was changed in the early 2000s to combine Kingsport, Bristol and a neighboring rural county, giving Johnson City its own metro area to flourish in, somebody might realize “hey, that’s why we’re losing business!”
I can walk to the mall from where I'm located. It's nice! The "Handmade Chocolates" place he passes by at 2:55 has this ice cream flavor called "playdough" and it's ice cream with sugar cookie dough in it. If you ever go to the mall here, get it!
i really do like the looks of this mall.it looks well kept for a mall of its age.i also really like the way the storefront of bath & bodyworks blends in with the floor.can't wait to see the ft. henry mall
I really enjoyed your intro and outro to this video. I actually felt like I was visiting the mall.
Very cool looking colorful mall! 👍 Nice presentation as usual!
Loved coming here as a kid in the early 2010's it was the place to be. Had all kinds of fun there.
I LOVE the retro asthetics of this mall. Very late 80's and 90's! I have always been a fan of that style and anything else from those eras. Something I cannot explain. The white and clean cut looks most malls have now, are just so blah, like someone with no personality. Where in the States is this located?
The mall you you mentioned about being so white and blah is the MOA in MN. I agree with you.
This mall looks much more alive than dead!
Yay! This is my mall! I love this mall. I've always said that if they ever renovate that ugly ass pink and blue colored tile and the awesome 80s tray ceilings and such that I would never shop there again.
I LITERALLY go out of my way to stop by this mall when I need something JUST to enjoy the aesthetics of the place.
Its beautiful on the inside actually but you know a mall is dead when a new 1988 Pontiac is still parked inside.
Yes that may be true. But if it is an untouched 1988 Pontiac, that is pretty awesome.
That car is probably worth a TON of money, though!
The "Stab Lab" overhead advert going down the escalator had me in tears.
I miss the Piccadilly's everyday. They also did away with it at the Fort Henry Mall.
ME TOO!!! I worked in the JC mall at VS all through high school and college. I remember it a sad sad day when picadilly left!
This mall is not going anywhere anytime soon. It is always very overcrowded. It is the only good mall anymore since ft henry got pretty bad
Shame Bristol Mall is closed now. That's one of the other malls I know of that was in the TN-VA Tri-City region.
I really miss the Mini Golf they had on the lower level when I was a kid. Loved the Arcade as well!
One of my favorite malls other than College Square, thanks for making this!
I have never seen any mall like this before. When you go finding the food court there, it's down on the bottom with escalators which leads also to another side of the mall. That's crazy!
love this place, even though i hate how boring this town is sometimes i have to admit that i wouldnt trade this mall for anything. whenever i go there are always so many different kinds of people (usually all crammed into either the food court, hot topic, or macy's) and on some occasions ive even seen some people in cosplay which is super rare in this part of tennessee lol. they also give great haircuts!
You mean you don't like the bleached look of Simon malls?
Bleaching malls makes them boring.
I live in Johnson City and just stumbled across this video. I wasn't expecting to watch all 12 minutes of it, let alone watching 4 other videos on your channel. Great soundtrack! Keep doing the lord's work.
He is not doing the Lord's work!
Worked at The Peanut Shack in this mall through college in the late ‘80s. Still looks good to me!
Was just having a conversation with my mother. Was there a restaurant with a bar in the 1980s next to the movie theater (when there was a movie theater there? I seem to recall some sort of restaurant towards the back of the mall in the 1980s. This of course would have been before the early 1990s renovation that claimed the theater, but gave us the mauve and blue interior we see in this video.
Your videos are fantastic!
Love this mall
This mall has been through a lot lately. First this was a water break. Then there was a sinkhole?! Thankfully EVERY SPACE is not vacant at all
It would still be great for the Tri-Cities if the Mall at Johnson City could attract Dillard's. This was once the original plan for the Miller's/Hess's/Proffitt's Home Store/Goody's space but when it didn't happen the mall expanded into the former anchor space.
Maybe if the jcpenny every closes
You did not just call Johnson city mall abandoned /j 😭 it’s more lively than most I’ve seen
Point to where I called it abandoned.
bro how the hell is JC Penney always the one hanging on, like I would see how macys is or something but JC PENNEY!!???
Ikr the sears held up a long time too
I love this mall I shop in it alot
I love the Dayton mall but there is nicer malls around
Cute
Very cool! Nice video..