My aunt used to work at a Caldor in Connecticut (the Branford, CT store) at the courtesy desk in the early 1980s, back around the time I was born.. To this day, although that particular Caldor closed down years ago and became a Kohl's, she and a group of Branford Caldor ex-employees still get together once every few months to go out somewhere and eat. She even keeps a regular friendship with another lady she met over there, and this other lady's son and I grew up as lifelong friends from the time we were both in diapers. Beyond that, I remember my mother buying me my first Gameboy back when I was barely nine years old from that same Caldor's electronics department. So yeah, lot of fond memories for me there. An update since this post went up: My aunt's friend recently lost her life. The Caldor employees group my aunt rolls with plans on mourning her passing and celebrating her life well lived when the Corona crap blows over and they can physically get back together again.
Wow! This.is.awesome! I was born in 1983 and went to malls all the time in the mid to late 90’s and at the time, I NEVER thought I would miss the 90’s so much!
Caldor was so ahead of it's time. Like, it's just so strange they aren't still dominating the market, their final logo/store designs looked so modern!! It's weird they're over 20 years old and long dead. R. I. P. Caldor.
I am from the area, too, though more near Albany, NY. Although my family would go to Lake George for day trips in the summer, so I've been in this Caldor a few times! So surreal. I do recall Crossgates had a two-level Caldor with an escalator. I guess Best Buy has the space now. And the Caldor at the late Latham Circle Mall even used to have freezers up front, selling some actually pretty tasty T-bone steaks! Ah, childhood/teen memories. We predominantly went to either the Caldor in Latham or the one in Clifton Country Mall, now Clifton Park Center. And that wing of the mall no longer even exists anymore, from what I'm told. (I recall the Caldor in Clifton Country Mall was across from a bank and situated right next to McDonald's.) I miss this store. Walmart/Target don't come close.
My late mother started work at Caldor in Albany the day it opened until they closed the location in mid 1990s. The went to work at the Crossgates Mall store for a very short time until being assigned to the Crosstown location in Rotterdam until all the Caldors closed. She loved her job so much, rarely called out sick. Times were so great back in the 80s and 90s.
I have been looking for vintage aviation mall footage from the 1990s for years and finding this made my, probably, month. I went to that mall (still my local mall) all the time when I was a kid. I remember going to Caldor all the time and I have vivid memories of it. It is so cool to have those memories confirmed to be accurate. I remember the last time I went before it closed. My mom bought me a pair of disneg sneakers/ or dress shoes because they were going out of business and they were having huge sales. We had to hurry because we were rushing to the Hoyt cinema which was right next to Caldor to see the reissued Little Mermaid film. I didn't have the best childhood but I remember going to Aviation Mall with my Mom and my brother and just having the best time. Whether waiting for my Mom to try on different sweaters at Northern Expressions or shopping for Barbies at Kay Bee toys they were some of the best times. This video also helped me confirm that there was water fountains in the jungle display between Caldor and the movies. I am so, so happy you guys uploaded this. I've been a fan of Deadmalls since I found you guys in 2011 and I hope to stay tuned for more great content.
This is the best thing I will see on the net today. Priceless footage, hope you guys keep finding these hidden gems. Electronics departments were so much better back in the 90's.
I wish I would’ve bought a camcorder back in the day to record my area. I had a lot of strip malls😏. I remember Circuit City, Gateway computer, Caldor, Ground Round, coconuts, Pathmark and Tower Records. All within 10 miles.
I love how the NCR registers at Caldor would make those little bloops when the cashier typed anything and then the dot-matrix printers would make the entire checklane shake when it would print out the item on the receipt. I think they were a little out-of-date even for the 90’s but Stern’s and Filene’s had them too.
The prices were high on that commercial even for the time period. Only went to Caldors a few times. It was on the highway and we had no car. So only went to Bradlees,Kmart Ames. All expensive as well. Now we are losing Kmart probably. Cant have nothing.
Wow thank you for sharing. So glad he went for electronics that's exactly what I hoped to see. We didn't have Caldor here but this video definitely took me back.
Carl, I was actually stopping in to say hi to my co-worker Gerald, the guy you see with the glasses and mustache in electronics. It was my day off. I worked in electronics when I was 19.
I remember the last time I was there, late spring of 1988. A buddy I was with got busted trying to steal a couple of cassette tapes, even though I pleaded with him to leave because the woman walking around was obviously an undercover store employee. Anyway, his parents got called to take him home. Our family moved away from Glens Falls at the end of that summer. I haven't seen or heard from him since.
Thank you for sharing this. I remember Caldor, my family shopped there many times when I was younger. I also remember going through my local store one last time right before it closed. Most of it was blocked off, with all the merchandise condensed in the middle of the store. When that store finally closed, it just stayed there, abandoned, for several years before it was finally torn down and a Lowe's put in it's place.
There was a Caldor less than a ten minute walk from where I sit now that everyone around here used to frequent. It's become a Kohl's, which is a fine store, but lacks an electronics section. Who doesn't want a stereo with mega bass?
Update for 2020, Ollie's Bargain outlet has taken this spot and closed off its interior entrance.....the beautiful entryway in front of the interior entrance is still there though.
When Caldors closed here, they had a huge close out sale. everyone was told low key, “a bag of stuff is $1” and the store was cleared in 5minutes. Madness. Had a ton of stuff tho.
I used to go to this Calder in Queensbury all the time when I was in middle school. Great store. Too bad he didn’t take a left when he walked in, that’s where the sports and toy sections were…
I was born in ‘94 so the only memory I have of caldor I was 3 or 4 years old and was on there looking at the dinosaur toys with my dad. Shame I don’t have many memories of it since it closed and I was very young
I remember when Caldor took the lease of Alexander’s on the Grand Concourse in the Bronx. My momma and I would shop both banners at the same location when I was a kid.
I grew up in Queensbury and spent many days at the mall. I moved away when I was 13 (1994) and haven't been back since. It would be cool to see a tour of the mall (especially back in the 80's).
Interesting to see that first commercial - the "entertainment center" looks very familiar (not sure if the one we have was from Caldor or one of the other similar chains back then, but it's definitely that design).
The Riverside Conn store had 2 floors with a huge staircase in the middle of the store .It had a nice automotive section on the basement level and a very cool dept with model cars ,electric trains and slot cars .
I grew up with Caldor as kid in 80s and early 90s. I grew up around the Philly/NJ area and in my community Caldor closed down I believe in 1993. People were excited when Wal-Mart came around to us in '95. But I will always remember Caldor
Yet another store I missed and can only get to witness through awesome people saving pieces of history for me. I looked this up to see if this was a real store when I watched the great Cinemassacre Video opening and they said it was in the Voorhees Shopping Center next to Caldor so I assumed that was a fantasy realm or something. Little did I know it was very very REAL!
(Brian) this is true! As a former employee of that store, I can attest. we had to make sure those aisles were pristine before we were allowed to leave each night!
I never knew they originated upstate NY, until I read about it recently. The store carried a better product line than at mammoth mart, kings, mars etc.
It's such a shame that we'll never know how it'll do in today's time. It may even be able to put Walmart out of business. It was such a quaint little store. I miss it already.
Was this caldor in New Windsor NY? Looks so similar to the one that was located there. It was a mall just like that but was demolished and built into Kmart which is now closed
Wow amazing to see a rainbow 70s style Caldor interior. I grew up in the Suburban Philadelphia area, so Caldor was a latecomer. The bulk of the Caldors in my area were 90s builds and had the red color scheme like in the commercials, and most had the Nathan's hot dog stand. Even as Walmart had usurped business, Caldor held its own in presentation, the stores were clean and competively priced. Overexpansion and resulting indebteness Walmart's increasing strength in the area became too much for them to bear. What really did them in was a infamous ad featuring two boys playing Scrabble in which one of the words spelled out was "rape" this bad publicity, and the fact the company was also bankrupt, plus the threat of Target sealed their fate
@@ChristopherSobieniak I know that, I'm just saying you'd think a portable device that can only play CDs would be cheaper than a full fledged boombox with AM/FM Cassette and CD player.
Was this Mall carpeted at one point? I went to the theater here years ago on a middle school class trip and remember fucking with one of those coin spinning things.
Target, though this store does not show it. Most stores were updated in the 90's with brighter colors newer logo and neon ect if you look at a target store from the 1990's and a caldor store from then you will find they are alot alike
It just looked that way, but it wasn't, just the area Caldor's was in. (Although with Bon-Ton gone, it now IS dead since there is nothing there anymore). There is actually an indoor movie theater not far from this location in the mall that is still open to this day, btw.
The mall wasn’t dead in the 90’s (although except for the holidays it is now). As Ryan said, Caldors was in a section of it’s own in the mall and by that time Walmart had come to the area and killed off any chance Caldors had. There was no reason for anyone to go in that section of the mall anymore.
At first I thought this Caldor employees were going to stop you from filming as they would definitely do in today's world but then I realized they were probably glad to have extra business coming in lol
I'm turning 30 in a few months and hearing those automatic doors open made a ton of memories come back.
My aunt used to work at a Caldor in Connecticut (the Branford, CT store) at the courtesy desk in the early 1980s, back around the time I was born.. To this day, although that particular Caldor closed down years ago and became a Kohl's, she and a group of Branford Caldor ex-employees still get together once every few months to go out somewhere and eat. She even keeps a regular friendship with another lady she met over there, and this other lady's son and I grew up as lifelong friends from the time we were both in diapers. Beyond that, I remember my mother buying me my first Gameboy back when I was barely nine years old from that same Caldor's electronics department. So yeah, lot of fond memories for me there.
An update since this post went up: My aunt's friend recently lost her life. The Caldor employees group my aunt rolls with plans on mourning her passing and celebrating her life well lived when the Corona crap blows over and they can physically get back together again.
I remember buying Atari and Colecovision cartridges there. Spent many an hour flipping through the vinyl records in the music section back in the day.
Wow! This.is.awesome! I was born in 1983 and went to malls all the time in the mid to late 90’s and at the time, I NEVER thought I would miss the 90’s so much!
This is a beautiful piece of retail history, thanks!
The way the decor is in that mall it just screams 70’s and 80’s; I’d say borderline early 90’s.
That entrance is still full of plants
Caldor was so ahead of it's time. Like, it's just so strange they aren't still dominating the market, their final logo/store designs looked so modern!! It's weird they're over 20 years old and long dead. R. I. P. Caldor.
5th like
I am from the area, too, though more near Albany, NY. Although my family would go to Lake George for day trips in the summer, so I've been in this Caldor a few times! So surreal. I do recall Crossgates had a two-level Caldor with an escalator. I guess Best Buy has the space now. And the Caldor at the late Latham Circle Mall even used to have freezers up front, selling some actually pretty tasty T-bone steaks! Ah, childhood/teen memories. We predominantly went to either the Caldor in Latham or the one in Clifton Country Mall, now Clifton Park Center. And that wing of the mall no longer even exists anymore, from what I'm told. (I recall the Caldor in Clifton Country Mall was across from a bank and situated right next to McDonald's.) I miss this store. Walmart/Target don't come close.
My late mother started work at Caldor in Albany the day it opened until they closed the location in mid 1990s. The went to work at the Crossgates Mall store for a very short time until being assigned to the Crosstown location in Rotterdam until all the Caldors closed. She loved her job so much, rarely called out sick. Times were so great back in the 80s and 90s.
I miss Caldor :-(
Me too, it was the best super store since my childhood days.
@@robberblack8899 Me too. XD
@@MrCraigblaze awesome
@@robberblack8899 thanks.. XD
@@MrCraigblaze you welcome
I have been looking for vintage aviation mall footage from the 1990s for years and finding this made my, probably, month. I went to that mall (still my local mall) all the time when I was a kid. I remember going to Caldor all the time and I have vivid memories of it. It is so cool to have those memories confirmed to be accurate. I remember the last time I went before it closed. My mom bought me a pair of disneg sneakers/ or dress shoes because they were going out of business and they were having huge sales. We had to hurry because we were rushing to the Hoyt cinema which was right next to Caldor to see the reissued Little Mermaid film. I didn't have the best childhood but I remember going to Aviation Mall with my Mom and my brother and just having the best time. Whether waiting for my Mom to try on different sweaters at Northern Expressions or shopping for Barbies at Kay Bee toys they were some of the best times. This video also helped me confirm that there was water fountains in the jungle display between Caldor and the movies. I am so, so happy you guys uploaded this. I've been a fan of Deadmalls since I found you guys in 2011 and I hope to stay tuned for more great content.
This is the best thing I will see on the net today. Priceless footage, hope you guys keep finding these hidden gems. Electronics departments were so much better back in the 90's.
Omg CALDOR the rainbow in shades of browns, why did you leave us old friend?
Caldor going out of business was the final nail in the coffin for my favorite mall going out of business.
RIP Caldor and Clifton County Mall.
I remember my dad took me there when I was a kid to buy the Nintendo game system. I was so happy.
Caldor was our favorite store in Connecticut back in the 60s.
I wish I would’ve bought a camcorder back in the day to record my area. I had a lot of strip malls😏. I remember Circuit City, Gateway computer, Caldor, Ground Round, coconuts, Pathmark and Tower Records. All within 10 miles.
Born and raised in Southern California,I’ve never heard of this store. I’m in my 40’s too🤷🏻♀️ I still enjoyed the old footage and commercials though.
I love how the NCR registers at Caldor would make those little bloops when the cashier typed anything and then the dot-matrix printers would make the entire checklane shake when it would print out the item on the receipt. I think they were a little out-of-date even for the 90’s but Stern’s and Filene’s had them too.
Thanks for posting this! I remember getting my first bike when I was a was a kid at this store in the early 90s.
Damnit, now I feel like shopping in an old '90s department store. Lol.
I grew up in the Northeast, but I had no idea this chain even existed, until it was mentioned in a Cinemassacre promo, hehe.
Looks just like my old Caldor! Thanks for uploading this!
I worked at store #70 for a year (1992-1993) right after graduating high-school. Sad that bigger chains took over.
Barely left anywhere to shop except Walmart target and amazon
Wow this is some great video footage from the past!
Way cool, these videos are priceless man. We're forever indebted to you for sharing with us these masterpieces.
Lovin these uploads, keep em coming, its nice to see a fresh new perspective on malls from you
10th like
Caldor in Bronxville was my go to store for xmas shopping in the late 70's.
That mall had some serious character!! I'm assuming it's been completely renovated
One could debate if the huge Target that was built here over a decade ago is actually helping to keep this mall afloat...or speeding up its demise.
Not completely that area outside Caldor is still the same.
Wow those lists of CDs I can't believe how old I am
Did you see the one by the wallflowers ?? Xd
I bought my last favorite coat at Caldor in The Lincoln Mall in RI. Loved Caldor..Miss it a lot
Alor of people don’t realize Calder was once the biggest department store in the world. Bigger than Macys and Jcpenney
The prices were high on that commercial even for the time period. Only went to Caldors a few times. It was on the highway and we had no car. So only went to Bradlees,Kmart Ames. All expensive as well. Now we are losing Kmart probably. Cant have nothing.
Wow thank you for sharing. So glad he went for electronics that's exactly what I hoped to see. We didn't have Caldor here but this video definitely took me back.
Carl, I was actually stopping in to say hi to my co-worker Gerald, the guy you see with the glasses and mustache in electronics. It was my day off. I worked in electronics when I was 19.
I remember the last time I was there, late spring of 1988. A buddy I was with got busted trying to steal a couple of cassette tapes, even though I pleaded with him to leave because the woman walking around was obviously an undercover store employee. Anyway, his parents got called to take him home. Our family moved away from Glens Falls at the end of that summer. I haven't seen or heard from him since.
Thank you for sharing this. I remember Caldor, my family shopped there many times when I was younger. I also remember going through my local store one last time right before it closed. Most of it was blocked off, with all the merchandise condensed in the middle of the store. When that store finally closed, it just stayed there, abandoned, for several years before it was finally torn down and a Lowe's put in it's place.
Latham? Sounds like the fate of that one, but I'm sure others could have had the same.
This is great footage. I like how the TV's and the CD's were shot, too. Truly a moment in time captured.
Caldor had those hot pretzels at the courtesy counter. Oh to be a kid again.
There was a Caldor less than a ten minute walk from where I sit now that everyone around here used to frequent. It's become a Kohl's, which is a fine store, but lacks an electronics section. Who doesn't want a stereo with mega bass?
Nifty! I used to go to that mall - I didn’t know there used to be a Caldor there.
Foo Fighters, Meredith Brooks, and The Wallflowers. This brings back memories. 4:20
Update for 2020, Ollie's Bargain outlet has taken this spot and closed off its interior entrance.....the beautiful entryway in front of the interior entrance is still there though.
When Caldors closed here, they had a huge close out sale. everyone was told low key, “a bag of stuff is $1” and the store was cleared in 5minutes. Madness. Had a ton of stuff tho.
I used to go to this Calder in Queensbury all the time when I was in middle school. Great store. Too bad he didn’t take a left when he walked in, that’s where the sports and toy sections were…
If only I knew then what I was filming!!
@@DeadMallsMediado you have any more videos of way back when in this mall? Or any photos of this mall in 1980s and 1990s? Gibson girl, ground round.
I was born in ‘94 so the only memory I have of caldor I was 3 or 4 years old and was on there looking at the dinosaur toys with my dad. Shame I don’t have many memories of it since it closed and I was very young
I remember when Caldor took the lease of Alexander’s on the Grand Concourse in the Bronx. My momma and I would shop both banners at the same location when I was a kid.
I grew up in Queensbury and spent many days at the mall. I moved away when I was 13 (1994) and haven't been back since. It would be cool to see a tour of the mall (especially back in the 80's).
Interesting to see that first commercial - the "entertainment center" looks very familiar (not sure if the one we have was from Caldor or one of the other similar chains back then, but it's definitely that design).
The Riverside Conn store had 2 floors with a huge staircase in the middle of the store .It had a nice automotive section on the basement level and a very cool dept with model cars ,electric trains and slot cars .
I grew up with Caldor as kid in 80s and early 90s. I grew up around the Philly/NJ area and in my community Caldor closed down I believe in 1993. People were excited when Wal-Mart came around to us in '95. But I will always remember Caldor
Yet another store I missed and can only get to witness through awesome people saving pieces of history for me. I looked this up to see if this was a real store when I watched the great Cinemassacre Video opening and they said it was in the Voorhees Shopping Center next to Caldor so I assumed that was a fantasy realm or something. Little did I know it was very very REAL!
That brown/orange/yellow trim! Did you have any Service Merchandise stores by you?
Good video. Thanks.
I wish there was footage of these stores from the early 80s. Late 90s is fine, but the early 80s was on a whole different level.
You're a genius Brian
Look at how neat, clean and well organized that store is. Walmart looks like a total dump compared to the department stores of yesteryear.
(Brian) this is true! As a former employee of that store, I can attest. we had to make sure those aisles were pristine before we were allowed to leave each night!
my dad actually helped build the mall and caused a county wide blackout as they had him dig in a bad area.
Was this Calder in upstate New York one of the last ones in ny #save thekmarts!!!!! I like your photos
This is amazing!
I never knew they originated upstate NY, until I read about it recently. The store carried a better product line than at mammoth mart, kings, mars etc.
Is that wood paneling on the Caldor mall entrance?
YES
Thanks for the upload. XD
It's such a shame that we'll never know how it'll do in today's time. It may even be able to put Walmart out of business. It was such a quaint little store. I miss it already.
Walmart is the reason why stores like this no longer exist.
Was this caldor in New Windsor NY? Looks so similar to the one that was located there. It was a mall just like that but was demolished and built into Kmart which is now closed
This was in Queensbury NY I believe
Glen Falls NY
Use to love caldor.
I was not alive to watch the previous store to die, but it was hard to watch the Bon•ton go.
Best store
The wallflowers .. bringing down the house ??XD this was yesteryear..XD Caldor"s was called the "Bloomingdale's of discount shopping.. XD
Great stuff! You got any Zayre?
Wow amazing to see a rainbow 70s style Caldor interior. I grew up in the Suburban Philadelphia area, so Caldor was a latecomer. The bulk of the Caldors in my area were 90s builds and had the red color scheme like in the commercials, and most had the Nathan's hot dog stand. Even as Walmart had usurped business, Caldor held its own in presentation, the stores were clean and competively priced. Overexpansion and resulting indebteness Walmart's increasing strength in the area became too much for them to bear. What really did them in was a infamous ad featuring two boys playing Scrabble in which one of the words spelled out was "rape" this bad publicity, and the fact the company was also bankrupt, plus the threat of Target sealed their fate
i remember Caldor when i was a kid. We didn't shop there because my mom kept saying that everything is overpriced
A boombox with a CD player was cheaper than a portable CD player? Crazy!
Don't forget this was over 20 years ago and minimum wage was probably still under $6 most states.
@@ChristopherSobieniak I know that, I'm just saying you'd think a portable device that can only play CDs would be cheaper than a full fledged boombox with AM/FM Cassette and CD player.
The portable CD player was newer technology so it was more expensive. Kind of like how a mini tv would’ve been more expensive.
Was this Mall carpeted at one point? I went to the theater here years ago on a middle school class trip and remember fucking with one of those coin spinning things.
In the alcove / atrium there in front of Caldor, it used to be carpet, yes.
What is Caldor comparable to today?
Target, though this store does not show it. Most stores were updated in the 90's with brighter colors newer logo and neon ect if you look at a target store from the 1990's and a caldor store from then you will find they are alot alike
Ironically enough, there is a Target attached to this mall, built around 2004 or so.
I remember caldor lol
was that caIdor reporposed into another store if it did what did it become.
It was a Bonton for about 20 years, now it is Ollies Bargain Outlet
the mall looked dead back then! maybe it was just closing or opening time?
It just looked that way, but it wasn't, just the area Caldor's was in. (Although with Bon-Ton gone, it now IS dead since there is nothing there anymore). There is actually an indoor movie theater not far from this location in the mall that is still open to this day, btw.
The mall wasn’t dead in the 90’s (although except for the holidays it is now). As Ryan said, Caldors was in a section of it’s own in the mall and by that time Walmart had come to the area and killed off any chance Caldors had. There was no reason for anyone to go in that section of the mall anymore.
At first I thought this Caldor employees were going to stop you from filming as they would definitely do in today's world but then I realized they were probably glad to have extra business coming in lol
They were my co-workers, glad to see me. They obviously didn't care at all!
@DeadMallsMedia Well that makes a whole lot more sense, lol!
Venture declared bankruptcy in Feb 1998 and was gone by august 1 1998
I stole a really cool watch from Caldor. Lots of buttons on it.
ahhh....tube TVs. Its hard to believe but 20 years ago, LCDs did not exist. (yeah, yeah, they did exist but they were not main stream yet).
Caldor/Venture were supposed to be merged by 1988
That mall is very 70’s!
It's been done over since then. This was filmed in the early 2000's.
@@DeadMallsMedia Looks like the Caldor footage was filmed in 1997, I can tell from the music albums sale signage
@@TimurD1905 Filmed July 20th, 1997
@@DeadMallsMedia Wow, that’s awesome! I was born on July 21, that would have been crazy if it was the same day!
MALLS AND RETAIL YESTERDAYS THANKS FOR PAST VIDS.
Was that the Newburgh Mall?
No, but the Caldor in the Newburgh Mall was similar.
Target 2: Electric Boogaloo
Hmm
Jeffrey Dahmer cameo at 3:10