Dead Malls Season 5 Episode 19 - Southbridge Mall Revisited
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- Опубліковано 12 вер 2024
- In the far northern reaches of Iowa, amidst the cornfields and beans. Lies a small city, and within that city lies a very small mall. Southbridge Mall in Mason City, is that mall. Once featuring over 70 in line tenants, 2 anchors, and a food court. It was Mason Cities place to be throughout the 80s, 90s and 2000s. It was the cities attempt to bring modern shopping back home. And throughout those golden years, it was a neon filled haven… But today, and as of recent. It sits an empty void. With zero anchors, 1 food court business, and an ailing tenant base. How much longer can Southbridge Mall stay open? Join me today as we explore, tell the story, and see where is going for Mason Cities, Southbridge and let me show you what it’s like to be taken back to 1985…
All music used comes from Stevia Spheres free digital library.. and Desert Sands Feel Warm at Night
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Bro, dead malls have such a vibe (not creepy, I'm not sure what the word I'm looking for is, maybe ominous??). Especially when you think back to your memories of your local dead mall or even old ads/videos of the mall being so full and lively. How people went there a lot, the teens hanging out, etc. I'm 23, and not just due to nostalgia, but just how the designs were then, I miss how colorful everything was. Now? Places like McDonalds, the food court in malls, and what not are just monochrome and boring.
Your exactly right, ominous vibe.. It gives you that haunted mansion feel like parties were once held here. Hallways filled with hundreds of people, all busting about life.. Little did they know that place would be forgotten.
Honestly, thank you so much for documenting my childhood mall (Lakeside) and so many other people's.
Anytime! Absolutely loved it!
Thanks for using my comment! I'm a professional architectural historian and conservator. I've studied the rise and decline of American retail academically. If you want to go deeper here, you can see the lineage of malls from Brutalism in the 50s and 60s. Brutalism was bunker-like, reflecting the fear of the Cold War, but inside it had an intentional aesthetic of 1) honesty of materials, 2) elevation of the pedestrian, and 3) light and air. So, while it was meant to repel the outside world, it was also meant to enliven the inside world. Unsurprisingly, it took off in social spaces in particular--schools, governmental buildings, and malls, but it hung around longer than anywhere else in malls. You can clearly see this in early malls, up until the early 90s at least. They are like big concrete bunkers from the outside, but very open and (as you said) inviting on the interior. You can further connect this to the decline of Main Street retail in America as mostly white Americans began to flee to the suburbs, they recreated a main street atmosphere in their malls. As the Cold War ended and Americans began to feel safe and prosperous in the suburbs, malls also opened up and started incorporating glass and steel to invite the outside in and the inside out. Compare this to malls and retail today--they are almost the opposite, inviting and colorful on the outside, but dead and sterile on the interior--meant to squeeze money out of you efficiently without connecting you to anyone or anything other than products.
I'm telling you, historians of the next 50-100 years will be looking at malls the same way historians today look at farming and late 19th century urban planning.
Your production of Dead Mall videos is probably my favorite (no disrespect to anyone else). I like to watch your videos as the sun is coming up and the sky is pink and purple when I'm not quite awake and still kind of in a dream state. Its like absorbing the dreams of the shoppers in days gone by. It always feels like the end of a great dream. The other time I watch your videos is when the sun is setting and the sky goes from orange red to darkness because it feels like the sun setting on a not too distant, but very different era. Keep up the great videos I find them very relaxing!
I've been to this mall before, it is absolutely wonderful! It's too bad it may be going away.
You're underrated AF bro honestly love your content.
Thank you so much! We’ll get there eventually!
Fantastic video as always! 😁
Thanks!
This mall is a treasure with those neon lights
That mall is still nice. To bad it is dead. The neons were really cool to see. Sad to see these dying. Thanks for another great video.
Welcome back with yet another awesome content. I get goosebumps every time I watch new content. Thank you for the exploration.
I think Buckle , Maurice’s and Vanity were all in the Younker’s wing. Also a Merle Norman cosmetics. We used to have fun at the Kay Bee Toy store by JC Pennies.
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This is great walk video throughout our southbridge mall mason city. Sad this place closure. Have a great day 👍
Marley Station _is_ awesome. I'm lucky enough to live close enough to it to check up on its health every couple months.
That sounds so nice lol, I’ll take the one visit I got to have to it, maybe one day I’ll go back again!
Bath n body has since moved out of mall, Riddles too has moved Claire's has also closed,, I'm permanently banned by the mall management from doing any further videos of this mall, hence why I haven't, Loved the Video
I thought Claire's was still there, though... but I haven't been there since they got rid of Book World and added that ridiculous arena
I was just there 7/8/23 and the Claires was still there for now. Only a matter of time before bankruptcy will be announced. 7 of 30 spaces filled with only 2 being full-time stores. Mall originally had 40 spaces before many got combined or torn out for that arena. The video is out of date considering Bath & Body Works, Pretzelmaker & Riddles are gone (all full-time businesses).
@@Cosmic_Stardust last I knew Claire's was closed, I might be wrong tho
Gotta say, love that neon! Seems like a very quiet mall.
Holy crap! This is in my hometown! I remember back in the 90s when it was booming. I so miss Aladdins Castle arcade😢
Great video! Please visit Brookfield Square Mall in Wisconsin. Brookfield is a suburb of Milwaukee. The mall is dying fast and has less than a 50 to 60% occupancy rate. Keep up the good work!
Thank you so much! I would love to do that one at some point soon! Just need to figure out a time to go to Milwaukee lol
Great vintage mall. Nice. Thanks for filming.
For your deep thinking segment. The malls of the 50's and 60's were all about community. They had a mix of major department stores and mall stores along with local department stores and local stores. Nowadays, the most successful malls prioritize national stores like H&M and Zara. Almost all the successful malls from the 50's and 60's all prioritized money with on trend decor and trendy stores, while on the other side of the spectrum, the small "community" malls all died from malls focused on money. Btw love your content. Keep up the good work.
I forgot to add on this, but the malls that are alive today from the 50's and 60's went from community to money.
You nailed it right in the head! Like you said often times it’s those older 50s and 60s malls that are forgotten about and closed. All because they didn’t cave in and put big name stores in them..
I NEED that vintage retro younkers sign! I hope one day a town will take some of those vintage department store logos into preservation. Maybe your future retail museum can one day! lol Thank you for the relaxing watch!
I hope so too! Thanks for watching!
I love this, you always capture the mood and vibe perfectly
Thank you!
@@NorthCdogg22 all of your content is so well made, your hard work and passion really shows 😊
The pinks and greens! The pinks and greens!
This place is a mix of Pittsburgh Mills and the Westmoreland Mall.
Another great video of a very beautiful mall.
I love the food court in this mall. It probably looks so much cooler at night.
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I love liminal spaces. Thanks for the video!
Anywhere you go I swear there was always an old downtown movie theater named the Strand. I have heard of several of them through the years!
Yup that's correct! I started noticing that a couple years ago.
This reminds me of Westland Mall in Westland, Michigan. Two of the four anchor stores are gone and 50+% of the small store fronts are empty. It feels sad in there.
I have a video on that mall also if you’d like to check it out!
I will. Thanks.
I used to go to South ridge in Milwaukee with Jennifer tasker in 2004 I miss those days so much
This was a great one!! Thanks for bringing us this❤
Glad you enjoyed!
Good Evening Amazing Videos. Hey U Should Do A Christmas Video Series To See what Malls Have The Best Christmas Decor. Have A Blessed Night
That’s a great idea! Thanks!
It was the greatest arcade ever! You have no idea how awesome Aladdin's Castle was!
*Aladdin's Castle. Cinema V closure was the start of the death spiral.
Nice mall still!!! Southbridge in Mason City, IA. LOOKS LIKE Cinema in there? Hope they would open!!! Beautiful!!!
I'm guessing you are visiting Northbridge next. It's one of my favorites. I always stop in when I drive to Des Moines. I'm curious to see if they finished with the new tenants in the former ShopKo.
Your comment about older malls being more inviting to hang out really hit me. This year I have visited several dead malls and in four of them I made laps over and over again after filming. Sometimes I would walk for over an hour. It was so relaxing. I will be stopping at Southbridge again soon, because it is such a wonderful place to visit.
Yessir, Northbridge would be made 10x better if they turned their neons back on but yes I love it also. And it’s definitely worth a revisit, I already miss Southbridge myself and really hope it can continue to bounce back.
Glad to see my hometown make your video series!
Food court had Pizza by the Piece of the Pie, Cookies, Etc. on the corner.
Younkers wing definitely also had The Buckle in the 90s. I believe Wayne’s Ski and Sport was in this area? A Fanny Farmer candy shop on that corner.
But I don’t think we had a Woolworths? Where was that, if someone could remind me?
I worked for Regis Salon (In Oklahoma) for years. Its sad to see that they are all gone now. Some of my best years were when I worked at Regis. So sad.
Great video North!
this mall was sick, once again love the editing and pacing and everything. we love to see it keep it up boss man 💪🔥
Appreciate it!!
Northbridge Mall Albert Lea MN. Welcome to Minnesota!
Thank you sir!
i have to be up super early tomorrow but i’ll stay up to watch this vid 🥰
Yay i always love your video's
Well thank you!
The comment you talked about reminded me of the mall in Auburn, Washington, The Supermall of The Great Northwest or as it is now The Outlet Collection Seattle. When it originally opened it felt similar to what I see in Southbridge and what the commenter described. It has colorful 90's style art pieces hanging from the massive corridor long skylights and bare warehouse like cavernous ceilings. I had it's four themed entrances and it opened with what at the time was the Theme Park of Electronic Stores, Incredible Universe, and it was the go to place for years to come.
Then around the time that our Mega Mall, Westfield Shopping Town Southcenter, decided to do a massive expansion in to the largest mall in the Pacific Northwest, The Supermall started to go down hill and see massively popular store start to struggle. we lost our Sam Goodie and our KB Toys as well as our Toyworks too. The mall tried to keep up the charm that was "The Supermall of The Great Northwest", but it couldn't and something needed to change.
So on the backs of the popularity of the 4 outlet malls in Washington State, Burlington Outlets, North Bend Factory Outlets, Centralia Factory Outlets, and the wildly popular Seattle Premium Outlets, The Supermall of The Great Northwest started it's transformation in to the Outlet Collection Seattle. Today it's no where near as popular or nor does it have as good of a selection of stores as it's counter part the Seattle Premium Outlets, but it's got a Dave and Busters. What other Outlet Mall can Y'all think of that's got a Dave and Busters in it.
I miss the fun of going to the Supermall, as a lot of us who grew up in the Auburn, Washington area in the 90' and Early 2000's still call it, and watching the old roll ads as they'd change back and forth, I remember going and tricker treating there a few times, and of all my favorite places, I remember the Rock and Gem store all brightly lit and glistening.
Every time I go back since the change to The Outlet Collection, it just feels like your walking across a desolate parking lot built bigger then the mall would ever need. I remember when the Regal Theaters opened and it only managed to divert a small number of people from the mall and getting Dinner before or after a movie was a fun way to spend a nice Friday evening. But as you pointed out in during this tour of Southbridge everyone seemed to leave for the Target, Walmart and other one stop shop places, the same happened when Auburn, Washington okayed Walmart to build a Walmart Supercenter in the back corner of the Malls parking lot and in turn taking away a lot of business from inside the mall.
If you ever make a trip to the Seattle area, you should do a video on The Supermall of The Great Northwest, sorry The Outlet Collection Seattle.
Keep up the fun videos as they are a great look back at how malls used to be and at what they've become
I remember Southbridge when I was a child in the late 1980s. Every Christmas season they would display different mannequins of Santa Claus from around the world. That place used to be hopping back in the late 80s and early 90s but started falling off by the late 1990s.
YAY ty DOG we missed you welcome back fam!
Great video! Next mall: Northbridge Mall in Albert Lea?
Yessir! You got it!
WOOO! My local stomping ground mall Marley Station got a shout out by the NorthCdogg22! Great video!! The aesthetic of this mall is beautiful! I totally agree with your statement about modern malls having no "togetherness" in their design elements. Its a track in modern malls, get your stuff and get out. Don't hang around! Not that you would WANT to hang around in these modern malls, they are cold and uninviting and they do that on purpose!
Glad you enjoyed it! I bet you’ll be real excited to hear that I’ll be covering that mall very soon here!
I would help fund a west coast mall tour. Your vids are great.
Supporting the Patreon is the best way to help fund my trips, support over there would be awesome!
Not sure if you will consider it profound but I think of a dying mall as being a sinking ship, we are watching the Titanic, the unsinkable ship, in its final moments of glory all the while knowing that the sea will swallow every bit of it, and there is nothing that can be done to stop it anymore as we drift further and further under. And yet, in all this, it is like a dinner party that has finished, and you have walked into a messy room after all the guests have left, and yet, somehow in the uneaten food still on plates, the partially filled glasses, and the crumpled napkins, you can still hear the echo of the guests. The laughter and conversations are still present in that left over space. And so it is that we go to the mall.
I grew up in South Florida and now live in Georgia. I’ve never seen a Younkers. The very name smacks of something northern though I would have suspected northeast instead of Midwest.
The two anchors that you’d see in Florida but not anywhere else were Jordan Marsh and Burdines.
If you've never seen a hockey/ ice arena in a mall, I suggest you check out the Coral Ridge Mall in Coralville, Iowa. It's actually my local mall, and the arena has been there since it opened in 1998.
I'd been wondering if any of the dead mall channels had ever been to this one, my hometown mall. It's really sad the state it's currently in, and even more so with the progress, or lack thereof, to try and revitalize the area.
I still have many good memories from my childhood, looking through the KB Toys and Musicland/Sam Goody, and playing games at the Aladdin's Castle arcade next to the movie theater.
Trying to remember what was located near Younker's, I want to say there was a pet store called Pet Parade in that wing, though that might have actually been on the other side by Penney's.
I still occasionally go there to get lunch at the pad Thai place. It's quite good and I hope you got something from them.
Hearing the history just highlights to me how the city council here can NEVER do anything, and it's continuing to this very day. The planned redevelopment hasn't moved forward an inch. I'd love to see the place come back, but at this point I'm not holding my breath.
I'd like to give you a couple of small corrections, though. Target had actually been in Mason City since at least as long as the mall itself, just in a different location south of the mall. You actually passed its location on your way into town, down the way from that storage place. In the 90s, they built their current location out west of town and moved out there. Before that, though, there were already two big box retail chains out on the west side of town: K-Mart and Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart even opened the same year the mall did, 1985. So there was already stiff competition on the west side of town. But then everyone got it in their heads that expanding westward was the way to go.
While I don't think anything could have really SAVED the mall from reaching the condition it's in right now, I think it could have gotten some more years if the Cinema V hadn't closed the moment the new theater opened out west of town.
Great video! Thank you for highlighting this one.
Nice vid and nice mall
Thanks!
@@NorthCdogg22 np mate
I don't remember Mason City having a Woolworths. I grew up here,1976 to 1986, before my familymoved to Cedar Rapids which DID have a Woolworths.
Which also means I don't have a lot of memories related to this mall since it opened JUST before we moved...like literally.
I don’t know where Marleys Station is but I like the name!
Glen Burnie, MD
Fans of real-life mysteries will recognize Mason City as the site of the 1995 abduction of local TV anchor Jodi Huisentruit. A case in which a toilet seat was an important clue (no joke).
Really?? I’ll have to look into this!
Northbridge Mall in Albert Lea is next!
Please do River Oaks Mall soon. 💙
I wonder when your gonna visit East Hills mall in St. Joseph mo
It’s on my radar!
Take a look at the former Century III Mall outside of Pittsburgh, was once thriving, has been closed for several years and is now a blighted disaster.
One thing to point out is that the WTC did not have large windows at all, in fact it was a complaint of many that worked or people who visited the towers. Windows were very narrow, limiting the view..designed that way in The hopes it would keep workers more focused on their tasks at hand.
Great episode!
Thanks Scott!
Horse-drawn carriages? Are those as hard to dodge as the silent electric children's trains? 😂Also, those red/orange tiles took me right back to the cafeterias we used to have in our malls. Also, that was interesting sideline on "safe" architecture. So many questions.
It would be interesting to see where the mall is at in October 2023
Great video man! Is the next video Willabrook mall?
Thanks Andrew! And good guess but that’s not quite it!
It's weird that this dying mall is attached to a thriving arena
It is a pretty strange sight, especially considering it was all once mall space
And only a few yards from Meredith Wilson's boyhood home and Music Man Square.
Forward to 2024...
Bath & Body Works HAS closed. Riddles Jewelers has moved out of the mall. For the most part, there is nothing in that mall but service businesses. Due, in part, because of a greedy landlord. In these days, it's difficult enough for businesses to make it, then having to pay exorbitant rent on top of just being able to purchase inventory doesn't make for easy survivability.
The hockey arena is a good, but bad thing. It moved from the North Iowa Events Center (previously the North Iowa Fairgrounds), which didn't do the fairgrounds any favors.
That foot bridge you went under just prior to turning into the mall parking lot? STILL not finished! There is a proposed (for several years now) hotel going in the parking area, which is to connect that foot bridge to the Music Man Square building. Why, I do not know. It isn't like Mason City has THAT much traffic that it is needed to get from one side of the street to the other. And, aside from the Music Man Square, the Community Theater, and the Meredith Willson childhood home, there isn't much for attractions on that side of the street. I can't imagine many who attend the hockey games would be interested in those places.
I've lived in the area for many years, and IN Mason City for just a few years over 15 years ago. The city council never changes - they are STUCK in their wanna be big city ideals, but won't let any businesses which would provide wages that one can actually comfortably live on, in. We are "lucky" in that they did let Kraft-Heinz in.
Any way, there are now just 2 retail businesses in the mall, along with three ice skating teams, a dance studio, a miniature golf place, an axe throwing "venue" . Pad Thai is still in the "food court", and Sports Page bar, which you passed as you walked into the mall, is still there. The Marine Corps use a store front as their Toys for Tots storage, the Parks & Recs has their office there, as well.
A HUGE waste of space that could be utilized if not for such high rent/greed. :(
I'm in town for work as of 07-22-24. Decided when scouting for dinner ideas to try out thr pad Thai restaurant. Which, their food was actually pretty good.
It's a shame that restaurant is stuck in such a life less mall. It's a shame for that mall period.
I remember going to that mall when I was a kid. We went to Mason city for my aunt's wedding and my cousin took me to that mall to get my ears pierced for the 1st time so I kind of remember being there. My hometown has a dead mall too I wish they could tear it down and do something better with it living in MN you see a lot of dead malls because of Walmart's or other things but at least we got the MOA to help us here.
Another great video give updates if hear any new news on it.
Sounds good, thanks for watching!
Lake forest mall is now closed forever
Also wondering if you would ever consider making a season in canada
Now that’s an idea! I’ve always wanted to hit up Canadian malls but to make an entire season out of it would be sweet!
The Brass Buckle was down towards Younkers.
Hopefully you can come back if/when the mall is redeveloped --- one correction for you --- it wasn't Woolworth's in the south wing/main entry, it was Walgreen's
Thanks - I was racking my brain trying to remember a woolworths ever being there!
American malls have such low ceilings… Italian malls have extra high ceilings and make you feel like you have so much breathing room
Every one misses younkers. we have no dept. stores and no place to shop
Its all on the Westside. Kohls, Old Navy, Ross, Five Below, Walmart & Target.
North bridge Mall!!!!!!
Sure everyone else has gotten to it but, Northbridge mall
Yessir!
Two Art Deco theaters were torn down to build this mall, plus many iconic buildings.
True, however almost all of those buildings were extremely deteriorated after being abandoned for years. Retail was moving out of the city to the suburbs anyway if anything the mall kept downtown afloat. It could’ve been much worse without it.
Wait, Bath and Body Works closed? Nope, this mall is absolutely done now. There is no coming back without Bath and Body Works. 🤣🤣🤣
I never thought about "pre-9/11 American architecture"
It’s a pretty fascinating concept once you start to understand
Able to do an episode on Aberdeen Mall (Shoppes at Riverside) in Washington state?
Northbridge Mall in Albert Lea next?
You know it!
Nice seeing the nenos of the food court lights on surprised that there was only one food place in a really dead mall cool they put an area in the mall where the Penny's wing use to be should just demall it and put stores on the outside and make it mix use.
Will there be a video on southridge mall in Greendale? It’s basically 90% of my childhood and would love to see your take on it!
One day! Unfortunately any time I go there and try to get video I get kicked out lol
@@NorthCdogg22 understandable lol
Great video you need to come to buffalo NY one of the oldest malls in the County is dying and about to close
The food court had the Is arcade in a movie theater on the north end of the mall
Footlocker at one point
Where the red tile are in the north end was the movie theater
People really forget that part of what cause less foot traffic is the fact the so much of the US is designed for cars and not people so everything is too spread out which makes it harder to want to go to the mall
Northbridge Mall next??
Yup!
That mall ruined Mason City. I grew up there. Mason City had a thriving downtown. Main street was like the Movie American Graffiti. The mall killed mason city.
Most of this mall seems completely abandoned
the world needs neon lights , Iam tired of the neutral and monochromatic tones
what is the name of the first song you used?
It’s the first track in the album New World Disciples - Desert Sands Feel Warm at Night
I found it, if anyone's interested it's track 3 in desert sand feels warm at night's ambivision.
The hockey arena idea is cool.
With every one of your videos, the indictment of our modern form of supply side capitalism becomes ever clearer - as does the lack of foresight of the mall owners not to incorporate community aspects to keep traffic at each of these malls apart from the dynamic nature of retail business.
South ridge Milwaukee WI
Is the next one it’s sister Northridge?
I grew up in this mall. Got into it with some guys outside the movie theater and my buddy hoofed one of em in the face till his shoe split in two
Good times
Merle Hay Mall?
At one time, they needed such Malls. Marble and granite versions of Eastern Bazaars...
Money was flowing nicely, and folks could spend a day off work leisurely shopping at the Mall. Today, things have changed. The Pandemic cloistered folks at home, a brave new world Covid regimen segregated the world, person from person, two foot space. Today, money has all but vanished, paying off the credit card, the rent, or the mortgage...which are now costing even more. People are broke and hungry beginning of each month. The government's will need to come up with an enlightened masterplan, that shall work in the folks' favour.
Next video Northbridge mall
You should check out westminister mall in Orange County it has an original carousel and it’s very interesting none the less.