Champlain Centre Mall: Is It a Dead Mall? Hard to Say... Plattsburgh, New York.
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- Опубліковано 23 лип 2024
- Join me as I take a look at Champlain Centre Mall in Plattsburgh, New York. Is it a dead mall? Let me know what you think in the comments!
This video was filmed in November 2023 around 10:30am on a Wednesday.
If you liked this video, please give me a thumbs up, leave a comment and subscribe to my channel! Thanks!
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#deadmall #deadmalls #mall #newyork #shoppingmall #shoppingmalls #retail #plattsburgh #upstateny #upstatenewyork #nostalgia #fleabittenadventures
That gizmo thing at the entrance had balls that were constantly moving. Ramps, bridges etc. You could watch it for hours. It was awesome
i can still hear here those noises it made in the backrooms
I use to watch that for hours when I was a kid
I hate that fucking thing lol it's creepy.
The reason why they don’t run the gizmo like they did is because the Kay jeweler employees complain that it’s too loud no joke 😅
Was NOT expecting to see my local mall on my UA-cam front page today, but here we are.
Not sure if I'd call it "dead." More like "on life support and barely hanging on by a thread."
Same it feels weird
same i just come across this video lol
Fellow Pburgh dweller!
same
Same here! Those algorithms doing their thing
i think a lot of Canadians were keeping this alive, being only an hour drive from Montreal, but when the exhange rate changed, a lot less Canadians visited
I can tell you its the only mall in Clinton county, and Plattsburgh served almost every town in a 50 mill radius with there Walmart, sam club and fast food, and doctors offices
That and when the base closed.
Very true , that's why I stopped visiting the Plattsburgh
Covid also didn't help. Lots of people say that about everything but I think for once this is very true. We spent more or less 2 years being forbidden to cross the border to shop so lots of people just lost the habit and desire of doing so.
Upper State New York is dead
I've lived in the area for 26 years, so I can try to give some insight about the mall! It's so interesting to hear you say it's so out of the way, as for a lot of north country locals it's one of the only malls left. Plattsburgh is a super central hub area where a lot of people travel to shop and meet up! We also get a lot of tourism from Montreal and Quebec, which accounts for a major part of our business (and being why we have an exchange booth!)
The doors you go in are weird like that because of Covid (at least as far as I've been told.) There used to be double doors the entire way but in order to make space for social distancing they closed the middle doors and left only the two sets on the sides to enter and exit. They just haven't replaced the glass since.
They hardly ever turn on the rube goldberg machine anymore, but it's by far the most impressive part of the mall. It makes some awesome noises (bells, tracks, etc.) as colorful balls move throughout the tracks. There are ramps, elevators, and so much more! The balls go all the way from the bottom and can travel to the very top! If you're there when it's on definitely spend awhile watching it, it's so much fun.
The trees are 100% real and have been since I was a kid! A lot of people like to chill under them, and you can see the dirt through the grates around the base.
That hallway near Kohls didn't actually exist until recently! The mall entrance used to be on the other side of Borders (which is now the hobby store to the left of that hallway with the wood facade). When Hobby Lobby moved in, they took only part of what used to be Sears which left only a small area for a new store to move into, so when Kohls was built they had to move the mall entrance forward, demolishing where that old radio shack used to be and the old entrance, so they added in that new one!
Toys R Us used to be where the back half of Kohls is (before the entrance was moved.) It was closed in 2002, an event I remember being one of the most tragic in my young life. (Source: I was born in 1998 and clearly remember its closing being when I was 4-5.) Sears then expanded into where the Toys R Us was, opening up a mall entrance and putting the clothing department there!
As for the food court and arcade: we used to have a Taco Bell, Quizznos, and another chinese food place but it's been dwindling for awhile. The Chinese food place that's there is a local favorite though and you can end up waiting for almost 20 minutes during lunch / dinner rush because it's so good. The arcade switched from quarters a few years ago and everyone is mad about it (especially me -- what do I do with all my quarters now?!)
I may be wrong on this, but I seem to remember the movie theatre being Regal for much longer than 2012.. I'd have to ask some other people but I recall it being Regal even when I was in primary.
Overall though, most of the mall's business came from Canadians coming down in the summer and local kids hanging out there (there was literally nothing else to do before video games got more popular...) We usually get a lot of Canadian shoppers in the spring/summer and it's much busier, but it's been dying down lately. Overall the locals consider the mall to be dying, but a lot of people really care about it since it's been around for so long and it's one of the few malls that's central to the area. Burlington and Albany definitely have better malls but I for one always try to give our good ol Champlain Centre some business when I can!!
If you have any other questions I can try to answer them or ask some other locals! It was so cool to see this pop up and watch you give my mall some time in the spotlight!! Happy shopping!
Very poor American exchange rate really cut down on Canadian traffic, as did border security that became even more intimidating during Trump years, making tourists think twice. Also, didn't your military base close?
I asked one of the clerks at the Kay Jewlers re. The Gizmo. Apparently they can no longer run it during store hours due to OSHA noise regulations (eg. it's bad for people with hearing aids). It does run. The question is when. There is a timer where its power supply is. The mall management would know. I remember when the food court was fully rented out in the 90s - there was a corn dog place and a juice & beverage stand adjacent to it. On the other side of Hills there was a large Green Mountain Coffee shop with its own seating. The place was packed all the time.
@@robertruffo2134 The military base closed even before I was born (I believed 1995). We do have a rather big hub airport now where it used to be that runs flights mostly for major airports in Florida but some other US places as well! It keeps changing companies though we do get some traffic from Canadians coming to use the airport cause it's (somwhat. And I mean a very small somewhat) cheap.
@@mg2779 Wow, interesting! It was definitely super loud, so I can see how it was in violation. Next time I'm there if I can find someone I'll try to ask when it runs and update if I get an answer!
@@robertruffo2134 sure take the easy way out and blame trump.everyone else does.
The old abandoned Ames, next to the previous Best Buy, used to turn into a Haunted house every October in the early 2000s. I haven't thought about that in about 15 years. Thanks for the nostalgia!
This is my local mall! Never thought I'd see someone review this location. It feels depressing in this mall, truly. It used to be pretty lively, but now most locals avoid it. China Cafe in the food court is a shining light in this mall. Really good food!! As a kid the gizmo used to fascinate me for hours. Now they barely run it.
that is a sad excuse for chinese food, since we are giving our opinions. maybe you are talking about a particular thing i havent had
its my local mall too omg!! my favorite part is def the chinese cafe ngl, teddy chan can coookkkkk 🤤
I'm Canadian and my family would go there over the summer and stay at the golden gate motel. I remember being mesmerized by the gizmo thing as a child!!! And always asking my mom when I i would see it again!! I've been there maybe a year ago and I sat on that bench in front of it and watched it... Got a little emotional... Much like me, it too had gotten old... I'm sad to hear it's mostly turned off now...
Same here!!
Please keep making your Mall videos, Tom. You make em, we'll quite happily watch them. 😊
Thanks for the encouragement! I've got a lot more coming!
This mall looks clean and has character rather than other malls.
Keep up the good work Tom! 😂
Character? It has the exact same stores as every other mall.
The only character my local mall has (the one he's touring) are some weird people.
Character 🤣🤣🤣 ?? What? Where??
The gizmo is a huge childhood memory for me❤
As an adult, i love target lol
Plattsburgh local here! You can’t really tell because it’s mall walkers hour, but this mall gets really busy, especially in the evening. Its popularity and overall success has ebbed and flowed over the years, but because there isn’t a lot to do in town, it’s a staple for locals to come and walk around. Also, I feel like the food court isn’t an indicator for the health of this mall. I remember when I was little, there was a BK and a subway, but really nothing else of note has been in there. The Chinese food restaurant and its owner are beloved by locals, and the Subaro has been there forever. With the movie theatre food court and Starbucks in Target right there, the food court gets overlooked. However, during peak times, it can be tough to find a table with the number of people that sit and hang out!
My memory of the food court is quite different. In the early 2000s, the volume of people and the number of options was quite a bit higher. Even the number of available tables has dropped a bit since then. I think the many closures (BK, Taco Bell, Little Tokyo, a few others) reflect that, though somehow Sbarro lives on (it's been there since at least 2001, perhaps well before that).
@@garrettwatson2737 I remember (from the 1980s) that Payless Shoes was across from the Kmart entrance at the old Pyramid (Champlain South) Mall. Sbarro Pizza and Barbara Moss were just down 4-5 steps and Montgomery Ward was at the far end of the mall.
I try to come to Plattsburgh from Montreal at least once every couple of months. Sometimes my mom and I will get Chinese food in the mall and we can tell the locals love the owner.
When the Air Force left Plattsburgh it was never the same.
I think Plattsburgh has done exceptionally well since the Air Force left..
.The town and city was handed a bunch of lemons- and they made lemonade out of the assets granted to the town and city. It is a fine example of the resilience of local government and civic groups.
Rail car, bus manufacturing and other industries still exist and appear to do well. Let's not forget the SUNY presence as well- and the nice regional airport.
When it comes to shopping malls, Plattsburgh's mall is generally following the trend nationwide, to navigate away from brick & mortar towards online shopping...(Good or bad, it's reality.)
On the other hand, Saint Lawrence mall in Massena, NY- about 85 miles West of Plattsburgh, is indeed dying. The loss of two major area employers, (Reynolds Aluminum and General Motors,) didn't help matters. No residual assets left there- unless you count polluted toxic land sites.
Just my opinion based on my personal observations and connections to the general area.
@@dennisdaly907 St Lawrence Center Mall in Massena closed a few months back.
I grew up in Plattsburgh and visited there last summer. I brought my daughter and was very disappointed in how not busy it was. The food court was a ghost town.... zero custys as well as 1 or 2 vendor still operating. There were people using Target shopping carts as walkers as well as a janitor using one to house his cleaning tools. The decay of this type of facility is not exclusive to Plattsburgh but how it is still standing from what I saw is perplexing.
I live here. I got to this place all the time. The Pyramid corporation had a hard time keeping stores because they charged ridiculous rents; it's recently been handed off to a new company, so we'll see if they can get some new stores in.
My family used to go to the Adirondacks (Plattsburgh area) for a week at least once a year in the 80s into the 90s so I think I remember going to the Hills(later Ames) a couple times back in those days.
Great video!! As always. Finally subscribed to your channel after viewing them since beginning of 2024. What stands about the way you present your videos is that you have your mom accompany you on most of your tours. And I love how you sample candies from the candy machines at most malls your explore. Also I love that you drive around the mall/outlet buildings in the end of each video. Thank you Tom and everyone who are preserving and archiving some of the things we once cherish in our country. The malls are a huge part of America at a time when most of us viewers were younger. I still love mall shopping versus online shopping. I love trying on clothes, shoes, sampling food, smelling perfume scents, looking at DVDs, games, cds, and physical copies of books. And last but not least, eating inside a building with people around. I love people watching and observing people socialize. These days it might be considered weird to people watch. Keep up the good work. Your video contents on dead malls are among my top 5. I love how you keep entertaining us. I always get excited for the next video. 😊
Thank you! I appreciate it!
So, resident of Plattsburgh here - fun update: a little bit after you did this video Pyramid defaulted on their loan and the bank reposessed the mall. They are the current owners and hopefully have a plan to make it at least an actual functioning mall again. I'm originally from NJ, so I remember the culture shock of how small and kind of poorly run this place was when we moved here when I was a teenager. I feel like the new owners can only go up from here.
Edit: The Toys'R'Us/Borders/Wendells was in the space near the Kohl's/Sears, where that big entrance hallway is used to be a much smaller back exit with a solid store taking up a large section of that side. It's one of the only significant renovations I remember.
I remember this mall from the 80's when I was stationed up there at PAFB, never expected to see it on UA-cam!
This mall is very similar to another mall that Pyramid also owns called The Salmon Run Mall in Watertown NY. It has almost the same design and layout of this mall. You should visit that mall in the future.
When it was built the renovated its older neighbor to the south to be almost identical decor wise... they got rid of the 70s brown! of the old pyramid mall to make it champlain centre south.
Yes. Both malls are confusing for me. We live in Potsdam and visit both I always forget which stores are where because I get confused easily which mall it is 😅
Pyramid no longer owns Champlain centre mall since it was sold to another company. They still own the salmon run mall in Watertown NY and Sangertown Square Mall in New Hartford NY.
I lived in Plattsburgh when that mall opened. It is a lot more sleepy now than what I remember. Thanks for sharing.
Well I live in Plattsburgh, NY and it's more between doing just fine and a dying mall. The arcade in the regal cinema is coin operated.The restaurants that closed were taco bell, subway, burger king. I knew Ames was over where Texas Roadhouse is today. Where the willow store was originally Yankee candle.
Thanks for the info!
As long as there is fun zone, regal cinema, and the delicious food from Mr Chan it will never be dead to me
Great video! From the appearance of what I was able to see in this video, this mall does appear like it’s not doing too bad. It seems like a nice regional mall that serves the community well! Also appears to have good ownership behind it that appeared to be doing their best to keep it alive!
Just got bought by the bank the other day. So hopefully there is some updates to it.
Thanks for doing this video this is my local mall
I watched the 1989 Tim Burton Batman at Hoyt's in June 1989! I still have my brochure and movie magazine!
Very cool! I grew up in a town literally five minutes away from the American border, so my family would often travel to the States to grocery shop, see friends or vacation. We would often visit this mall when I was a child (late 80s/90s). I certainly saw my fair share of movies at Hoyts cinema, as well as pumping countless quarters into the arcade next door. Anyone remember the WWF WrestleFest arcade game? Also, I can't believe the Gizmo is still there! Thanks so much for the video!
On the right side of that empty hallway, there was a Boarders Books in the early 2000’s, then a furniture store. It sat empty for a while, then the play place moved in. The right side was reconfigured when the Kohls renovation happened, so that space hasn’t existed as it is for very long. At one point a fee years ago, I believe there was an RC car racing track, but that’s been out of business for several years. Other than that, no store has been the storefront next to Kohl’s. As for the entrance that looks like a car went through it, they installed sliding automatic glass doors, with are in now and look great!
Yes, the RC car track was interesting. It was a general hobby store I believe.
As a Canadian, I think this mall still benefits from Canadian shoppers if they're looking for the more American brands like the Jcpenney, Kohls and Target. Ironically I go to this malls sister mall Salmon Run Mall in Watertown, NY and I'd love for you to visit it someday if you get the chance to get that far up North. Can't wait for the next mall/retail video!
That mall is also owned by pyramid. And it is very similar in design and layout as Champlain centre mall. It also used to have a borders bookstore that is now an arcade and escape room place.
I used to go there when I lived in Watertown. Skewed Brewing was my favorite place. On wing nights you could get $1 duck wings with a maple buffalo glaze and wash it down with one of their craft beers like Citra Galaxy or The Juice. They're closed now unfortunately.
I stop there going back and forth to medical appointments in Burlington. A few of the stores in Champlain Center are outside only entries (not good in bad weather, especially when most want to stay warm and out of the wind, or if you have someone with you that uses a walker or wheel chair). There's also St. Lawrence Center Mall in Massena, which is now being changed over to either industrial use or as a giant storage facility. The economy and so many chains of stores closing down are what is putting many of the malls around the country deeply in the red.
Theirs an abandoned mall in Champlain New York that used to be called miromar factory outlet that was the most northern mall in New York this mall is about 30 miles north of plattsburgh
I live in Champlain. My father brought us to Miromar a few times when it first opened and even then not all of the outlets were filled with stores. There was only ever a few stores in the entire place and what was put there were aimed at people with deep pockets. The few stores that I do remember visiting was a RadioShack and a big book store that had a bin of shareware 3.5" floppy disks with video games on them. I also remember there being a diner/restaurant that was done up in a 50's theme but we only ever stopped there to get a drink and use the restroom. The only other store I actually remember was a pricey Levi's clothing store. Miromar is a fine example of why you don't put shopping centers aimed at rich people in the middle of a farming town.
That's what that building is! I've lived in the area for a while and I've always wondered
@@audreyfaye5262 Yup. It's original purpose was to bring in more business for the town by attracting more shoppers over from Canada. It was suppose to offer high-end brands for the customer base it was aimed at. That being people from Montreal. It only ever had a small hand full of stores in it even when it was open and operating. It ended up closing completely before it had the opportunity to fill all of its' store fronts.
Though it's setup more like a shopping center than a mall. All store outlets had main entrances facing into the parking lot with the sidewalk wrapping around the front like all of the stores in Consumer Square.
The only thing that made it different to something like Consumer Square is that all of the walls inside the stores had doors attaching each store to one another so you didn't have to go outside to go to the next store.
So imagine if you were looking around in TJ MAXX and its' wall facing Pet Smart had a big doorway in it and all you had to do to take a look in Pet Smart was to walk through the doors while staying inside. That's how Miromar was setup.
It could have worked out if it weren't for the fact they were trying to sell expensive luxury brands at a shopping center in a farming town.
I don't know if you ever got your answer, but the old Borders bookstore was where the hobby lobby is, but had indoor access. It was in-between the old sears, and the exit you asked about in the video.
The hobby lobby outdoor entrance used to be a separate mall entrance, and part of the borders green house coffee Cafe. Hope this helps!
native plattsburgher here, this mall was a lot cooler when i was a kid but it's still a pretty nice place to hang out for a bit. i'm a huge nerd so i spend a lot of my time in there in the bazaar trader, and also a huge fan of music so the music store right next door is awesome. i remember the food court used to have a burger king, taco bell, and a subway in it. as far as i know, those places all left because the rent was too expensive and their profits declined due to not as many people visiting the mall. also, the borders book store you were referencing used to be where that emty hallway leading to the exit is. i honestly forgot there was one there as it closed when i was like 8 years old. i love seeing random videos made about this fairly small town and it's cool that this video basically has as many views as the population of plattsburgh!
I go all the way from Potsdam just for the bazaar! I love that place. Bought a copy of double dash for the GameCube and the guy behind the counter told me come back and speak with him about it next time after I play. Gotta go back! Bought a karlov manors collectors box that ended up being a bust but had fun cards in it nonetheless
I remember not too long ago Rawsons Family Pianos moved from a tiny place left of Kay Jewerly to the new area as seen in the video. I always love going in there to hang out and try the instruments!
This is my mall! Dude I used to hang out here daily growing up as a kid. I was def a mall rat here. I’m so thrilled to see someone made a video about it.
I haven't been there in almost 20 years, wow I feel old. Use to pop over from Ontario near xmas often as a teen.
Wow! I used to go here as a kid in the 80s and 90s. My parents would drive across the Canada USA border to shop here. Fun memories. Thanks for making this video.
I'd say this isn't necessarily a dead mall. Nor is it struggling. It is in a rough shape, that's for sure. However, it does seem like their somewhat figuring things out. But i agree, we need to make quarters and other coins an option to the card.
When we were kids this mall was a big deal for us Montrealers. You’d see more people from Montreal on any given weekend than locals. Sad to see what it’s like now. Used to be bustling.
Visiting this mall was always a highlight during summer vacation in the late 80's and early 90's as a kid. I recall getting some G.I. Joes, TMNT and a NES game or two on those visits.
I have so many memories of the kinetic machine. I can still hear the sounds the balls made bouncing over the xylophones in my memories.
My paternal grandparents lived in Plattsburgh and whenever we visited and went to the mall, my favorite thing was the sculpture around the 15 min mark. It used be mechanized, with colorful balls that ran all through it. They'd go up little elevators and run down a xylophone and travel all along the sculpture, and as a kid I just wanted to sit there and watch it and not be dragged through boring clothing stores! 😅 I was bummed to see it silent in this video! (as for the rest of the mall, I have not been there in ages)
Man, surreal having a video about a not that big of place that I go too. While I don't live in Platts, the city itself is basically the best place to go shopping for the surrounding northern ny towns. I'm also disappointed that the ball machine doesn't run anymore, would be my favorite thing to go to as a kid.
The music store is pretty chill as they just leave it open all the time for drop offs and so people can just come in and play. Got my sax from them.
Sad what the food court has become, used to be a lot more.
Still enjoy when I go to the mall for christmas shopping.
Wish I had more to say but in my years living I haven't gone a ton cause of how far away platts is
I got the same surreal feeling as you when I got this in my recommend lol
I took a bus trip from Montreal to nyc and loved to watch the scenery out the window in up state new york. I'm from the deserts in the west so all the green scenery is beautiful to me.
I love your mall videos there is Mall about 30 min. away from the Monmouth Mall in NJ. The Freehold race way mall is in a bit of limbo right now. It has been through a couple of additions, it lost a few anchor stores but it has some life it
I'll try to take a look at it later this year.
At 2:16 you comment about that hallway use have stores. The hallway use to be a store. Before the Koals was put in their was a boarder bookstore and a smaller shoe store in between. The orignal entrance hallway was further down where koals is now.
Nice shot of the eclipse info ahead of it on Monday!
I’m going to call this an okay mall. I imagine the early hour didn’t help things, but I like the character and I’ve certainly seen a lot worse. And yeah, Gander Mountain and Outdoors were essentially the same thing, just different owners if I remember right.
I live in quebec about 3 hours from there and i went there last in 2015. The mall seemed alot more lively then and i remember they had a cool trinket store with lots of cool stuff at that time... I think it is now a clothes store near the jcpenny judging from your video!
I live in Plattsburgh NY and the mall definitely had a lot more stores then what it has now, also the food court had two Chinese restaurants, burger king, the pizza shop, subway, taco Bell, they also used to have rue 21, Aeropostale, and way many more
Canadians keep Plattsburgh going also Plattsburgh state college they have one of the best nursing programs in the country.
Definitely remember this mall. I had it confused with another mall in the same town.
The other mall you have it confused with was the original that was just down the road from this one. It sat where LOWES and Running's is currently. The building that Running's sits in is actually the only remaining piece of the original mall. The rest of it was torn down and replaced with free-standing stores.
HOLY SHIT!!!!!!!!!! I spent a big part of my childhood in this mall, we would camp localy and go on shopping holidays, so long ago.
I've lived here all my life and I and my friends used to go there multiple times a week sometimes to just walk around to go to the mall as kids. And the food court was absolutely packed with people the time, had plenty to choose from also a lot better stores like you had mentioned in this video that other people had acknowledged. But to be honest I can't even remember the last time I walked into the actual mall, maybe I've gone into Target but that's about it. Unfortunately from what I hear the rent is just way too high for stores to be successful here.
I think it's definitely dying. As a Canadian our family, and many other Canadians, shopped often at that mall in the 90s and it used to be packed. This looks really sad.
This was my childhood mall; it was a magical place when I was young in the 80's. Target used to a Hill's, and I remember going there to have breakfast with Santa and he gave me Beast-Man from He-Man.
Kinda weird to see my local mall on my fyp. It’s a bit of a drive. But i’d rather go here than go to University Mall in Burlington… which is the only mall in Vermont, and it’s dead. Sooo-
The large space next to the Kohl's used to be a Borders. It was a furniture store for a few years after they left and hasn't been used since.
As a local, I can say the mall has never been amazing but it was far more lively before COVID. Especially the food court, used to have a far better selection. There’s still more stores opening, new food court venues as well.
Also.. the "Fun Zone" is the same as the one at Champys Fun Zone behind the Perkins restaurant in Plattsburgh. And if you go there you'd love it. TWO floors of games + laser tag + mini golf + bumper cars.. etc..
No one goes to the one at the mall except for people waiting for the movie theater. Everyone goes to Champy's Fun Zone down the road.
OMG?? i love this place so much, i come here and mallrat all the time :3
btw: one of the stores that used to be in that big hall area was borders before the company went out of business
When my wife and I go to Plattsburgh we prefer this mall to the other one in Plattsburgh. But we’re used to St. Lawrence Centre mall so anything is an upgrade. My wife and I grew up at the St. Lawrence Centre during its hay day!
I remember a time when parking lots of the Pyramid Mall & Champlain Mall were jammed packed
went there in my childhood when we had a trailer/camp site back in the day. a few years ago we sold the trailer and the land in Altona. it really didnt become a common place to visit 10yrs ago or so but so many memories of childhood in that area. the mechanical wonder ball/bell. my father surprisng us with super nintendo NES when younger. then we played that a few years later during a thunderstorm. power surge RIP NES. this was in the 90s where i had alot of memories
Born and raised in Plattsburgh. I have the history of fun zone it used to have a lot of cool arcades including a jumping jackpot a DDR machine and some old games that went extinct they stopped using quarters around 2018 or something I'm not sure but they have a lot of history of it but there are 2 arcades in Plattsburgh Ny Funzone and Champy's fun city and I prefer going there because of the better prizes it might be in the edge being a dying mall because the locals wanted new stores and food places. I still cannot believe they closed foot locker and the only one nearby is in Albany NY but thank you so much exploring the mall
I miss Service Merchandise and Radio Shack
Me too!
That mall is actually lively. I go often to the bazaar location. It’s a great place for card games and retro video games
The store with the commodore 64 (Bazzar trader) used to be in the closed off location near the former gander mountain. Moved to bigger/current location shown in video after Dress Barn closed. And is a branch store of the Vermont gaming acadamy in the burlington mall in Vermont.
Kohls is actually using a lot of mall space, there used to be a court outside sears with a radioshack and kaybee. that storeless hall you showed is new
This mall somewhat reminds me of the existing mall in my city. Our mall was originally built as an open air style shopping center. Then in the late 1970’d to early 80’s, they infilled the interior circulation and was to an enclosed style utilizing a tension fabric roof similar to the one in this video. Our mall was originally single story except for anchor stores which were multi-story. Then, in early 1990’s, they demolished the majority of satellite shop buildings and replaced everything with a two story mall. They added a new Sears and JC Penney. The old JC Penney was renovated into a Robinson May, which went out of business, then the two-story space was turned into a Target, which is what it is today. The Sears went out of business around 2017, and that space remains empty to this day. The current JC Penney is still open, but doesn’t open for business until late morning. There was an original Broadway Department store, which was bought out by Macy*s in the 1990’s, I think. Today, our mall has less open stores than the mall in this video, including a vacant Abercrombie & Fitch and Hollister. There is also an exterior section of the mall that currently has a Trader Joe’s, Ross and a gym.
As someone who moved up to the ADKs from CNY (home to malls like Destiny USA and the famous dead Great Northern mall, both a 30 ish minute drive from home), Champlain Centre has an odd charm reminiscent of Great Northern that I am happy to travel a whole hour to go there.
as a local, more and more stores are either closing or relocating out of the mall. for example bath and body works, the seasonal spirit halloween, best buys, and many more. there used to be a burger king, subway, toca bell, another sub place, and another chinese place in the food court too, but they all closed.
That hall at 2:50...? The left side used to be a Borders, and then, when that shut down, it became an RC racetrack, and then... several other stores, I believe? On the right side used to be... I want to say it was a nail salon for a while?
The chinese place in the food court is one of the top two chinese restaurants in Plattsburgh. Swear to you, first day of the mall being open again after the Lockdowns? There was a line stretching from their counter to the arcade across the court.
I was almost in that line, and the guy who runs it with his parents was *pissed* because the governor said one thing about opening up, so he stocked up on food to open with, and then the opening got delayed and wouldn't reimburse anyone for the wasted costs.
Nice video BTW. I wouldn't normally watch videos like this but since I live here.. hey why not?
And yes.. the food court SUCKS. We lost Best Buy. We lost Sears (a long time ago). We lost a lot of stores.
Oh.. but in case anyone is wondering there's still a GameStop in the mall AND we have another GameStop in consumer square lol. So TWO GameStop's in this small ass town.
its gotta be doing ok, not a lot of empty storefronts but food court being more than half empty seems odd
At about the 2:54 time mark right where you're walking through used to be a barns and noble book store the exit/entrance used to be closer to the entrance to Kholes. And where Kholes is now used to be a sears.
Man, I wish we still had that barnes and noble now that I can drive to platts and now that I'm reading more
Their used to be a rue 21 and a toysrus that later became a wendells furniture, then a rc track then it was spilt into a hallway
The mall has done some small renovations those skylights weren't originally their
I was born in the late 80s and split time between Essex county and North Florida. I can’t tell you the amount of hours I spent at the mall growing up. Hundreds, possibly thousands of hours. It’s really sort of depressing to see what it’s become, sort of like a house that is the same as it’s always been as far as decor and the walls, but everyone who made it great moved on. The anchor stores were better back then, and were thriving. Sears and Penney’s were killing it, Service Merchandise too. I remember going to a lot of movies in those theaters…Curse of the Black Pearl, for instance. I thought losing Sears was going to kill it, because they sold stuff and had an auto service department, but it didn’t.
Honestly, the anchors are kind of ok at the moment but the real issue is that people aren’t going to the mall. From what it used to be around 2000, it’s probably 10-15% of the customer count. Maybe a lot of those customers just go to Target or one of the other anchors, but the actual stores in the mall? Can’t believe a lot of them are still there. There used to be am FYE in there as well; that’s gone.
I like the nostalgia of it. I honestly don’t think it needs a *major* renovation. Frankly, I don’t think they could afford it. But they have to figure out a way of getting more people in there, and honestly, they’ve gotta figure out how to get younger people (teenagers, college students) in there. They drag their parents in there, and that mall used to be a place where teens went to hang out. Not anymore.
It’s really bittersweet sad for me. I love that it’s still there, despite the amount of times I thought it was going to fail. I love that so much is the same (the gizmo, the theater being there, the JCP). I love that the floors look the same as they did when I first stepped through those doors 30 years ago. But man, it’s just so sad to see how far it’s fallen over that period. It was such a great place
Where Khols is used to be Sears, and where Target is used to be Ames (there was another store there for a short time, but I don't remember the name. Hobby Lobby is where a bookstore used to be (Borders?).
13:20 The Toys R Us did close in 2002, and Borders opened in 2005, it was vacant in between. It was on the left of where that large entryway in front of Kohl's is. After it became Borders and then Wendell's futniture, they did a renovation of that part of the mall to move the entryway into where that store was, and they brought the storefront of Kohl's up to the place where the original entryway was. The rest of the space is still there, but vacant, to the right side of the Kohl's entrance.
They Actually tore down the original mall entrance next to sears to build the Toys R Us, it was the same as the other pyramid covered entrances with a bank on one side.
@@StirlingBanfield Conroy & Conroy Construction bought the Pyramid top that cars parked under after the mall had that entrance reconstructed. Even though the company is no longer Conroy & Conroy the small building they made out of the pyramid roof-top is still at their location when you turn off of Route 9 to go into Beekmantown.
@@Slane583 whats the cross rroad, trying to find it, because the 22 is in beekmantown, not the 9?
@@StirlingBanfield If you're taking route 22 through Beekmantown turn off onto the Spellman Road by the school and follow it until you get to the end. I think Conroy & Conroy's old location is either before or after a small motel/apartment building (Not the Stone Helm) just before you turn onto route 9 at the light. The building they originally made out of the pyramid roof should be off into the back if it's still there.
The opposite would apply if you were to take route 9 going toward Beekmantown coming from Chazy. You would turn onto Spellman Road from route 9 and just a short distance in Conroy & Conroy's location would be to the right and the building they made from the pyramid roof would be off into the back.
The company that sits there now is no longer Conroy & Conroy but I think it's still a construction business. They might have just changed names over the years. I am also not 100% for sure if the building they made is still there because I haven't been paying attention lately. I don't see why they would get rid of it. But also keep that as an option incase it's not there.
@@Slane583 see it!!! cool
Hi from Champlain ny!!!
the tower thing doesn't work at all anymore when I was a kid it was running constantly a few years ago only half of it worked within the most recent years though it completely stopped running sadly
When facing Kohl's, i believe Rue 22 was on the right. That was not an original, but was later ish. The grey stairs you passed used to be Hollister. In the 2010s (give or take a bit), there was a childrens place. The Sears used to be jumping. Our food court is sad. We used to have Taco Bell, Subway, BK, and another chinese place. The arcade is a disappointment. A large issue with the stores and restaurants that closed is the rent pricing. Thr cinema used to have a small ice cream cooler with pne of my favorite ice creams, Dibs. The ball macjine was functional during my only black friday there, i believe maybe 2021 or 2022. So many Canadians were fsscinated by it.
Where Kohls is now was Sears for a really long time. Toys R Us was to the right of that if you were facing the Sears Entrance. Toys R Us was easily one of the biggest stores and when it closed that entire section was redone to make room for borders and change the exit location to the hallway you saw that looked like it had stores on both sides...that would have been inside the Toys R Us when it was open. Other mall stores were Kay Bee Toys, Radio Shack, FYE, Record Town, Glen Peter Jewelers, and Periwinkle's Fine Jewelry. The arcade used to be called the Golden Dollar and prior to that it was called Just Fun. Food Court used to have a Roman Delight Pizza, Subway, Burger King, and Taco Bell. The current Chinese place called "China Cafe" has had a few different names over the years like "Flaming Wok" but owned by the same local family. BEST Chinese food around, gets most of the food court business.
5:13 There's the car that drove through the door...
Ha ha! I wonder if a car did drive through the door though. I couldn't find any news articles on it though.
Hey, I live in that area, I go there regularly. It’s, kinda sad
Edit: to answer about the hallway, if I remember correctly it used to be a storefront, and an alike entrance was up by the kohl’s (used to be Sears). Mind you this was back around 2016 and I’m uncertain. You’d think I’d remember since I worked in the gander mt across the way.
I’m updating this as I watch it. You saying Wendell’s reminded me that the area with the bounce houses and the walk-in was the Wendell’s.
There was also a Hills department store in this mall in the late 80s. Not sure when that closed down. I live in Montreal the Champlain malls were always packed from the 70 all the way into the late 90s. Makes me very sad to see this mall hanging on a limb. 😞
The trend of out facing the stores in many malls to entry from outside only is becoming the norm. It's now a common practice and actually increases retail foot traffic in many areas and reduces rent. Expect new cluster retail to be made in external/outside access only shopping. Think Legacy Place Dedham MA as a example of what the future of retail holds. Most lenders today will not issue a construction loan for a all interior mall
If memory serves, there were no stores along that long hall. I think there might have been some kiosks and displays though. Also I just saw where Pyramid mall defaulted and Deutsche Bank, which held the loan, just bought it. There are few stores that seem to do a lot of business, like Target, Old Navy and a couple of others. There are a lot of empty spaces. There used to be lot more stores and there are only a couple food outlets left in the food court. Who knows if it will survive? I sure hope so.
I remember it had windows when border book store was there.
I'm from Vermont and I go to this mall yearly. It is normally really busy, so I am surprised how empty it looks when you came that day. The go-to place was always the arcade.
Except for the food court it looks somewhat alive. I wonder if they get cross border traffic. I
It looks in a lot better shape than malls that are semi-dead and a lot better than Simon malls.
The food court used to be better it had Taco Bell, Burger King, Subway, Quiznos etc now it has the china cafe,sbarro pizza and a gyro place
Auntie Anne's is down the hallway
👍
Borders Books and Music opened in 2002. I know because I worked there when it opened. As far as foot traffic, not all stores open at 10:00. Some stores open at 11am. It does not have the foot traffic it used to but that is because the exchange rate keeps a lot of Canadians from coming here. Also several stores closed during Covid. It definitely needs a facelift. Maybe the new owners will do that. It's not as good as Crossgates Mall in Albany but much better than Aviation Mall in Glens Falls.
Hey, I went there last year on a quick trip to pick up some speakers my husband got from a guy in Vermont. Sure, it wasn’t very busy, but what mall is these days. Not like the heyday of the glorious 80’s. It was my first exposure to Five Below stores. Found a lot of neat stuff in there. The Chinese take out in the food court did a rollicking business on a Sunday.
wow so cool malls happy Belate mERRY CHRISTMAS
Merry Belated Christmas to you too!
@@fleabittenadventures keep up the Good work be waiting more video have a good weekend
I remember driving down to plattsburg with my dad in the 90's from montreal to go shopping, they had two malls north and south. I went back around 2005 and it was completely dead nothing like what i remember from my childhood
The Salmon Run mall in Watertown has one of those clock sculptures in it.
used to go here as a kid! last time i was over there is was pretty empty compared to years ago
there used to be a Ralph Lauren Store in there and the stores were way better back in the 90s in there I also rememeber the kaybee toy store. Also the Movie Theather was great with all the latest movies along with the arcade and foodcourt all beside each other. I also remember there being 2 malls not to far from each other. thats how great it was those times will never comeback. Thanks for posting the video.
The other mall was Pyramid Mall I believe.
There was a Borders at one point and Toys R Us before that. Probably others in between. ( in the space you asked about) oh yeah after Borders there was some furniture store, maybe Wendell's which is a Burlington Vt based store.
It's been a very long since I last visited that mall. I still remember the time K.B. Toys was where the Shoe Dept. is, I remember watching that huge Gizmo tower go, I remember looking at all the camping and hunting gear in Gander Mountain, I remember looking at the books in the Borders, I remember I watched Kung Fu Panda at that movie theater, I remember spending a while in the Fun Zone, I remember buying prank stuff at Spencer's, and I remember seeing Best Buy there (I don't remember actually going inside because there was a Best Buy near where I live. And I remember the main attraction for me and my family was eating at the Taco Bell! I still remember the first time I drank Baja Blast in that food court. Those were the times my family would take our twice-a-month visit to Plattsburg because my mom had a post office box in the plaza attached to the Price Chopper a few miles away from the mall. Good times, man.
I have such strong memories and nostalgia for this mall. I’m a life long Montrealer (in the burbs west of MTL) but my grandparents had a weekend home that we spent so much time over the years.
This mall used to be so full of life and people, particularly back when it felt like Quebecers were all over the place there. From Hills to Same Bat Channel, to Kaybee Toys, and awesome food court with & arcade, I love this mall. I really need to revisit.
If you ever do visit don't be too disappointed with it. It seems like all they do now is cram clothing stores into it. I still visit on occasion when I feel like walking around. :)
@@Slane583 Well if you ever saw my local mall, you'd agree that Champlain Centre is a mecca of commerce! :)
I don't think I'd be overly disappointed either way. It wouldn't be about shopping. It would just be about being in there again...maybe hitting the arcade would be a must. Wasn't it called "Just Fun" back in the 80's/90's?
@@kyleroussel I don't disagree in the least. But I do believe they need to give more options. There's only so many shoe stores, clothing stores and beauty salons you can cram into the same location. Hopefully it'll get better in the future because it'll be sad to see the place close. There's not really many attractions in this area. :)
@@Slane583 I hear you. Malls everywhere are lifeless and void of any feeling of community. The ones that survive are these glossy, immense things that don't have much to offer except for one generic, replaceable store after another. It's sad. If I still lived in your area, I'd probably feel the same way as you do. In my head that mall is frozen in time, in the early 90's when it was probably at its peak. I even think back to the Pyramid Mall. I've got fewer memories of that place, but they are no less powerful than my feelings of Champlain Center North. I knew the Pyramid Mall had a long death spiral, but I was really sad to find out that it was demolished and replaced with Lowes (?) and other boring stores.
@@kyleroussel People don't realize it a lot of the time. But there is actually ONE piece of the Pyramid Mall that still exists and it's still operational. And yes, sadly the vast majority of the mall was demolished several years ago and replaced with a LOWES.
But, the last piece of the Pyramid Mall that does still exist actually sits right next to LOWES. Currently the building is a Running's store but it actually used to be the K-Mart that was originally part of the mall. It was operational as a K-Mart up until the K-Mart company went bankrupt in recent years. When it closed it sat for a little bit until Running's went into it's place.
My father used to bring us to the Pyramid Mall just as much as he brought us to Champlain Centre. My fond memories of going into the Pyramid Mall was taking one of the main entrances in that lead us to the stairs we took to get to the lower level. The lower level had a water fountain and some other neat features.
Sadly by the late 90's it was a literal ghost town. The only stores that were still operational were K-Mart, a small music store and a large arcade. There may have been a couple of others but there was literally nothing left. They waited for stores to slowly clear out before they started demolition. In 1999 they demolished the mall but in the process they separated K-Mart and made it its' own building.
I don't know how often you come this way but if you ever stop to Running's for anything stand and look at the outside entrance of the store for a moment. You'll notice on the wall the red tiling that was K-Mart's indoor facia when that part was a hallway. All they did to it after the main mall's demolition was add sliding doors into the stores entrance you'd walk into from the mall itself. They left the wall as is and it still remains that way.
Another part of the building that is also stuck in 1970's K-Mart land are the men & women's restrooms and the hallway leading to the office area next to the restrooms. Everything else on the main floor was remodeled to fit Running's design. :)
Fleabitten Adventures, can you please do a video at the Dover Mall in Delaware?