Pheasant Lane Mall: Is It a Dead Mall? Nope. Prove Me Wrong! Nashua, New Hampshire.
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- Опубліковано 13 жов 2024
- Join me as I take a look at Pheasant Lane Mall in Nashua, New Hampshire. Is it a dead mall? Nope, not yet! Let me know what you think in the comments!
This video was filmed in November 2023 on a Saturday around 10:30am.
If you liked this video, please give me a thumbs up, leave a comment and subscribe to my channel! Thanks!
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#mall #malls #newhampshire #nashua #shoppingmall #shoppingmalls #retail #nostalgia #sears #jcpenney #macys
Pheasant Lane Mall is always busy. The whole Daniel Webster highway in Nashua is a thriving area
Especially during the holidays
As a Lowell resident yeah, this place isn't dead at all
Pheasant Lane Mall is doing quite well since it is located in Nashua, NH which is tax free. The mall draws lots of customers from Massachusetts who are looking to avoid paying sales tax. If you park on the southern end of the mall, you will be in Tyngsborough, MA.
Yes. That's what I read.
Yeah. I imagine they still get a lot of traffic from Massachusetts even with people buying online more these days because of the law requiring online retailers to charge sales tax based on where the buyer lives instead of where the merchant is located.
If you buy online and pickup in store, sales tax is based on the store’s location. With that being said, if you live in Massachusetts and pickup your order in a New Hampshire store, you will not be charged sales tax.
I think that's only stems the tide, this mall won't be around forever.
@@fleabittenadventures And also said.
Holy shit that was a nostalgia blast. I was born in 98 and I remember the old style. Seeing it again, I really miss it. There was a Disney store near/at the Brookstone location, and at the very back there was a huge silver screen that would play all the Disney animated movies back to back. They had all sorts of stuffed animals and toys; it felt like a mini Disney World.
My girlfriend used to want us to go in to the Disney store every time we went to the mall. I dont know if it's still there or not. Only time ive been there was if I needed to go to the Apple Store which is near one of the entrances. you didn't have to go far too run into the Apple Store then get out before you ran into to many people.
the Disney store was pretty magical, but as angsty teens we had to pretend to hate it.
Cool find w/ a quirky history. Thanks for posting!
Shortly after this mall opened it was closed down, there was a vibration in the building, and the city of Nashua closed it down. The vibration was deemed okay by the engineers. A lot of people made the second floor vibrate. It was designed that way. To this day it still vibrates
Weird. I didn't notice that, probably because there weren't enough people there.
Tanger Outlets at Foxwoods there is always vibration. it feels like getting stuck in traffic on the old Boston elevated Highway. it is weaking in the knees for time if you are standing still.
You could feel it in Lechmere the most.
There were plenty of rumors claiming the mall was only going to be kept open through the Christmas season the first year it was open for greed/money reasons. The rumors insisted the bouncing/vibration was going to cause a catastrophic collapse therefore it was a huge public safety issue. I always suspected the rumors were started by competing entities, most likely those in Massachusetts. I don’t recall the mall ever being closed by the city of Nashua. The motion was definitely more noticeable near Lechmere.
@@Hippoopiit was only briefly closed, maybe a day or two
Yes the old drive in screen was used as a "thanks for shopping..." Sign for years up on the hill on the Massachusetts border. I think it was taken down about 20 years ago to build the restaurant up there if I recall.
Thanks for the confirmation, and for watching!
It was longer than 20 years ago, but yes.
The tngsboro drive in where the movie screen came from showed porn movies towards the end
I'm working at the Sunglass Hut at this mall now. It's pretty busy for New Hampshire standards! It's always been my childhood mall growing up and seeing the changes even happening to this day is always interesting. Great video!
I went there every sat with my Grandparents from age 10-16. Im 53 now. Use to love the arcade, the "Dream Machine ", and Tape World for my music, Spencer gifts, Lechmere, where my Grandpa bought me OG Air Jordan 1 in 1984 and Olympia sporting goods. Love that place.
Dream Machine! now that brings back memories ! we had one in the Watertown MA mall.. very familiar with Pheasant ln and Burlington Mall though!
@@midnitemonty i use to go to Burlington Mall too. Mall Cop was filmed there I believe.
I have a picture of dream machine in a video I have online, and I think you meant 86 because in 84 that's when they started building it
@midnitemonty I remember talking the bus from Waltham to the Watertown mall and hanging out in the Dream machine and the Strawberries record store all day.
@@finbah5706yes most of it and some of the edited scenes were done at Braintree mall.
Pheasant Lane was one of the first multi-story Target stores, and has a special cart escalator in the middle of the store. There was also a rumor that you could feel ground tremors while using the mall elevator, but this could never be confirmed.
Cool. I didn't know that about the cart escalator.
The "ground tremors" legend is true. Well, it WAS true. It was actually the building vibrating with the movement of people in the mall when it was busy. It was not rare. It used to be VERY busy on a more regular basis.
That section vibrated since the mall opened when it was Lechmere. People freaked out at first. Got used to it. Still vibrates.
For sure not a dead or failing mall! Nicest mall I've seen in a long time. Storefronts are filled and open, with only a few stores empty. Also stored are filled with merchandise unlike some malls that are failing!
I love the cart escalators in Target. I've never seen them, though I knew they were a thing. Great video!! Just found your channel and I'm really enjoying it!
this is the worst mall in the area as well
Yay my local mall is featured! Yeah this mall can get crazy busy on the weekends and around the holiday season. I do Uber eats and I will sometimes get orders from the mall food court, or get orders for packages to be picked up from the Apple Store or Sephora, finding parking at those times can be a PITA. During the pandemic the vacant Sears, I believe it was the upper level was used as a make shift clinic to administer the covid vaccine, I got my first shot there.
Good to hear! Thanks for watching!
Don't even try to drive on Daniel Webster during holiday season 😂
As someone who shops here regularly, I believe this will be one of the last malls to bite the big one. It's recently undergone extensive renovation, there's a new Casino going in where the Sears used to be, and it's tax free. If you look at a map there's about a 10 mile dead zone into the state of Massachusetts from the border South of Nashua where large retail chains are few and far between and it's my belief that for many the cost of the sales tax is worth more than the inconvenience of driving that distance. I think that's unlikely to change any time soon.
My first retail job was at Record Town. I wandered in while they were building the mall and found the store being stocked with merchandise. I asked the guy doing it if they were looking for help and he hired me on the spot. My first job was unpacking and displaying the new Prince CD "Parade."I eventually worked at around five different stores there: Record Town, Electronically Yours, Schatz Stationery and a refrigerator magnet kiosk. Also bought all my Swatch watches there, dressed head to toe in Chess King. Good lord I'm old.
Swatches!!!
My childhood mall was Steeplegate in concord (now closed) but I went to this one a few times too. Back in the 90s it had a really good arcade in the food court but of course that's gone. If I remember correctly, the arcade used to be in the corner where the vietnamese place and the restrooms are,if you were to push all that back a bit, and the thailand express was a Taco Bell.
The casino thing is horrible. I’ve seen that happen in a few malls… there’s big fanfare at opening, some initial flow of local drunk party folk that come in for a show if there is a small theater for bands to plays… then it dies off to the sad scene of old folks and the poor spending their monthly check at the casino. It’s just not what our country needs at this time in history.
They were planning something similar in Emerald Square...my guess is that it never panned out.
Yeah, I doubt it will help the mall at all, but we'll see.
Probably because Emerald Square is dead. It's probably too far gone for a casino.
> 7:44
> 7:44
I spent my formidable years at this mall. Was born in 85 and lived in Hudson from 89 to 2000. This mall looks exactly like every other Simon mall and has lost its character. I preferred the old tiles and the grand staircase by the food court that was removed. The curved railings were great and allowed you to peer over the edge and yellnat your friends down below. There used to be a Charlie's sit-down restaurant on the second floor close to the food court. Like others had said there was an amazing Disney store, a Natural Wonders store, there was even a Friendly's ice cream restaurant in this mall. Bought my first skateboard here and made this a place to hang out before or after a movie across the street in Tyngsborough, Massachusetts. Spent my early teenage years doing looser laps with my best friends and meeting new people, friends from school, or looking for chicks to talk to. There was even a glass-encased pheasant near the center of the mall explaining the name. There was a glass-encased Gibraltar pool display I always begged my dad to get for our house. Before dairy queen and orange julius merged, there was a mall cart on wheels that was an orange julius.
why don't you perform a corporate takeover on Simon? :)
@thesnare100 lol to what purpose? I don't have the funds or means and malls in general have lost their place for Americans.
@@jimmbrooks I meant so you can make it the way you want it, not the typical Simon style mall you don't seem to like.
used to go there quite regularly about 20 years ago when I was at college. Used to skip class just to get out and get an Auntie Annies pretzel lol. Ah those were the days....
I live in Mass, and every time I go there, it's packed. The food court is great and uses Door Dash
During Christmas season in the late 80's there would be a million people in that place a day, easy. The parking lot was full to the max. I remember when it was being built thinking "there is no way they need a parking lot that big." Oh ya they did..
Fun fact: I knew a welder that worked on the structure. At the junction of every truss to column attachment there is supposed to be 4 bolts, & 2 welds per side of every plate.
They used 2 bolts, & just welded the 2 opposite corners. He even showed me, swearing the place was going to collapse first year. It never collapsed but the floor shakes like a mofo in certain areas when it's busy. There's a whole world behind all of the stores too. used to get chased out of there all the time
Worked in this mall for about 3 years at Newbury Comics. Even after Covid-19, our sale numbers stayed the same. This mall always seems to be busy... at least on the Target side. You can thank the no sales tax in NH coupled with downtown Nashua having a ton of retail. And yes, the mall is never busy at 10:30 lol. Saturdays picked up heavily around noon.
I don't doubt your sales claim, but Newbury will do ok wherever you put it. It even did well where it originated (the current AT&T standalone store just outside the mall by Home Depot) and that location sucked with very little parking and terrible vehicle access.
@@chfpontiac5849 You're probably right - Newbury Comics is a major attraction for a lot of people who shop at this mall. I do recall their old Nashua location doing well, too, but that was before my time with the company. I'd also attribute Newbs' success in the Pheasant Lane Mall to being right next to the Target and Blaze Pizza, by FAR being the busiest area of the mall. Helps with foot traffic!
@@UntitledKirk Yup. They are successful in their own right but I will agree being right outside Target sure beats the heck out of being right outside Sears! 😆
I used to work at target when they opened the store back in 99-00, those are stairs at the back for the stock room, there is a third floor that isn't accessible by the public. To my knowledge, no one has gotten up there to slide down. But I had many races up and down those stairs avoiding managers. It maximized the space within the building and allowed extra egress from the 3rd floor.
The Pheasant Lane Mall is not on the way out, I haven’t been there in recent years but, as you can clearly see, it is quiet because of the early time. I got quite a scare for a moment, when I read the title of this video. I’m one of the Massachusetts-ians that occasionally makes the trip north to these parts. Love ❤️ your video, especially those places that have degraded unlike this place(Haven’t been to those other places in years, I will have to check them out sometime.).
Another great video and dive into mall history. I never knew certain states didn’t have a sales tax, I assumed everyone did. (I’m up in Canada though). Thanks again for another great video. Also, FYE still exists?!
Glad you liked it! Thanks for watching! Yes, there are a few FYE's left, at least in the northeast USA. It's really the only music store, other than Newbury Comics, that I can think of.
@@fleabittenadventures Also bull moose records in NH and Maine
I remember that staircase and running up it. It was a much more interesting layout than it is now since they changed it to the bland one. I also liked the design and colors of the original interior. It had a cozier feel and the lanterns are no longer.
Opened the year I graduated High School in 1986 . I remember the first time going packed to the rafters. The glory days of malls.I met my ex wife she worked at Ormond and I worked at Record Town. Every time I walk by where the store was I’d tell my kids you exist because of this place 😂. Both of my kids did a stint there . As far as today it’s still decent. I kind of miss the Christmas crowds . The last era when teenagers dominated and hung out was back in 2010 after that not so much.
The mall I went to during my childhood was the Mall of New Hampshire up in Manchester. Haven’t been there since Sears still existed. Now the former Sears location is shared space with Dicks Sporting Goods and Dave & Busters. Where I’m at now, I live about a mile from the Broward Mall (used to be known as Westfield Broward in Plantation, FL). The former Sears here closed back in 2018 and work began to have Golds Gym, Gametime, a bowling alley, and restaurants but ran out of money so that barebones construction site where all those venues were to be located is abandoned making the mall look run down.
There used to be 2 gamestops in this mall . So random !
There used to be 2 GameStops in the mall, and then one in the strip mall across the street, lol.
The GameeStop on the bottom floor used to be an EB Games, so they were competing. Then GameStop bought EB Games, and for some reason they just converted the old EB Games to a GameStop and kept it open for years and years.
It was gamestop and eb games before eb sold
I work at this mall! During the summer away from holidays it’s super dead, come in on a Wednesday afternoon and it’s almost barren. Away from the Christmas season, there’s quite a few empty slots (which just recently are starting to fill up!)
I’ve noticed it’s a lot busier on the target side, and a lot of people come to the mall just for there.
I love this mall, but working at a store which I sit and see almost nothing is….. sad.
I can't tell you how many times I ordered the Orange Chicken from Panda Express on my lunch break back in the early 2000's from here lol.
EDIT: Bummer, it looks like it closed up shop... if I remember correctly, it used to be in the Charley's Philly Cheese steak store front. 😔
Nice video! The other comments have been really interesting to read too. A couple things to add to them:
1. The Buffalo Wild Wings used to be a Joe's American Bar and Grill.
2. The Red Robin and Burton's were originally not part of the mall and were added to the footprint when Dick's went in. The Blaze Pizza also added its external entrance whenever it was added to the mall. Prior to that, whatever the store was, was only accessible from the inside.
3. The food court used to have a Taco Bell and either a Burger King or a McDonalds. I believe it was BK though, where the Big Burrito is now. Taco Bell was where the China City or Charley's is now.
4. After the Sears closed it was used by the state as an immunization point when the first covid vaccines were released.
5. The empty storefront next to the Verizon store was once a Hallmark Store.
6. I believe the "slide" you referenced outside of Target is a stairwell, although I'm not sure what it's purpose would be since that side of the Target is storage/inventory.
It was a Burger King. I also remember Miss Field's Cookies and the candy store right before the food court.
The food court's gone through a lot of changes over the years. When I was a kid there used to be an arcade there. The food court also used to have "multi levels" and a massive clock in the center. You could walk up a gentle ramp and sit at tables in each of the levels.
I was in that mall once in fall 1993. It seems to have held on well even though a lot of stores have changed.
It's definitely doing better than most of the malls I have been to.
Pheasant Lane is definitely not dead. I was there a couple weeks ago. The one thing is, the Famous Footwear place is always closed, and one time I brought it up with the manager, and she was like, "No, I just went on break for 30 minutes." I was like, "Yeah, well, I've been here three times this month, and every time I've been here, the place is closed!" I needed some tennis shows, ya'll.
I worked at the PLM back in the late 80's; always very busy especially Friday & Saturday nights with the "mall rats". Looks like PLM is still doing pretty well, but all malls have slowed down or closed like FleaBitten said. Sad to see.
FUN FACT: I went to my first 2600 meetup (The Hacker Quarterly) in early/mid 1997 at the food court here.
was just there this week. When I was there it was close to closing time for the evening.
Thank you for sharing about JC Penney needing to cut off part of the building - had no idea. Across the street from where Sears used to be is Dollar Tree. The DT is considered Tyngsboro, which throws me off.
I used to work there years ago at American Eagle. When I first worked there it was close to Target, we had to move everything to the other side of the mall, where it still resides. Quite a process! Learned about the backend of stores behind the storefronts.
The mall is definitely quieter than what I remember.
They did change the stairway. When I worked there in early 2000s, the staircase was like you showed in that spot before FYE.
Some stores they used to have: The Limited, NY&Co, and a store that had all their items made in the USA. The USA store downsized to a store called Spangled, but they also closed.
Newbury Comics used to be across the street from the mall, in a plaza with two other stores.
I miss that mall. Loved it when I lived in Billerica 😢there’s a dead mall in Newington near my current home. Sad😢
I was here when it first opened. There was major concerns due to it shaking (still does). They did use one of the drive in screens as a billboard. That was there until the past decade or so.
lol..first thing i thought was the shaking......my sisters got there license in 86 and i would beg to go with them here..
nope it was over 30 years ago they had that sign with the original double pheasant logo
I was 16 when it was built. I lived in Tyngsborough (and still do). Worked one summer at Jeans West at the mall, probably in 1988. Having said that, I hate shopping and crowds, so I’ve usually avoided the mall if I can. Some of these photos brought back memories, however.
@31:21 at the end of the video going past Target 🎯 is the enclosed emergency exit stairway from the second floor. It was originally opened after they built and Target than they realized an exterior emergency exit from the second floor was completely unsafe and useless in a four season climate that could lead people to a snow and ice covered nightmare during an evacuation, so it was enclosed and actually as a bonus looks much nicer.
Oh THAT'S what that is, lmao. I was always wondering why they had this weird ass external staircase, I figured it was part of the serviceways or something.
Best days are behind it. I’m from thr area and this place was packed and traffic was bad getting in and out. Now it seems to have different stores come and go and never hard to find parking now. Dicks sporting goods is a good anchor though and they have better restaurants now than before. I think the casino is a good idea. This part of Nashua doesn’t have a lot of people actually living there,it’s a large shopping area but it needs some e new blood. Some of the plazas just north are losing stores and retail is kind of dying anyway.
Casino is a bad idea IMO. But this is a very nice mall! Is the slide some kind of conveyor system designed to move products maybe?
Yeah, I don't think the casino is going to help the mall, but who knows. I have no clue about the slid thing. I may just be a weirdly designed roof.
I go there all the time always crowded on weekends and was busy black Friday
Good to hear! I guess I was just there too early.
16:25 I remember that being a Quiznos many years ago, not sure if anything was ever there before or after. Also, in the food court, the restroom area and parts of the restaurants around it were a Dream Machine arcade.
The drive in was on the southern-most section of the property closest to the street, DW Hwy. The movie screen was faced towards the mall and you could see it as you drove out from the mall to the street and it would say something like "Thank you for shopping at the PLM". I haven't been there in a while, but I believe that there is a fenced in portion of the parking lot in that corner where the screen was that they were using to store snowplows, etc. That section was originally part of where you would park for the drive-in. The rest of the mall property was actually farmland that included the oldest standing building in Nashua at the time, a farmhouse from the 1600's -- so they say.
I actually live not too far from the Pheasant Lane Mall. I'm in Massachusetts, but I'm up the road from the border to NH. I've been going there since I was a kid (over 30 years or so). Definitely changed a lot since the 90s, especially after the mall renovations. I agree with you, I kind of like the old style of the mall better. Maybe it's just the nostalgia of it? Some of it did look a little dated from when it opened back in the mid 80s, but I still prefer it over the bland modern color scheme and style today. Many stores have come and gone in that mall over the years. I don't think this is a dead mall yet though. A lot of people still shop there, most likely on the weekends and especially during the holiday season. I've gone in during the weekday in the morning and it is pretty quite, but most people are at work. It definitely isn't as busy as it once was though. I think once online shopping became popular, that really did take away some of the business. Oh, to answer your question about the stairway to the mall foodcourt, they did change the layout of that stairway. I remember some of the stores that used to be in the mall and the restaurants in the food court, if you are ever interested in wanting to know more. I'd be happy to share! 🙂
Cool! Thanks for the info! If I ever do a follow-up video, I may ask you for that info! Thanks.
@@fleabittenadventures Sure thing! I'd be happy to answer any questions you might have.
Your story sounds basically just like mine~ age and location same thing. I live in a small town just south of the NH border and growing up it was always " Well we can go to the grocery store, or 20 minutes north to Nashua "
Also used to spend my childhood in the DREAM MACHINE! before they closed it down. I loved that arcade so much!
Definitely the same spot in the photo by the food court. I remember when those stairs were rebuilt not too long ago (at least it doesn’t seem that long ago 😅). You can see the Kay Jewelers, Claire’s and Starbucks in both the old photo and your video.
Hey Tom, random question. Growing up I remember going to a cool store in Marlboro, MA called The Whiz or just Wiz (I think). I was wondering with all your New England travels if you've ever been to that place and if you might know the story of what happened to it?
I moved back to MA about 7 years ago and was sad when I heard it was no longer around.
No body beats the Wiz. HAHAHAHA
We used to have Nobody Beats the Whiz in Connecticut back in the 1990's, but I believe they went out of business in 2004.
I still remember the theme song.
That was the scariest abandoned mall ever. Sears had to move their cashiers in the back of the store (south side) as they would have to charge sales tax, so they made that the service department. The sears checkout was interestingly 30 feet from the exit doors, on the NH side of the border. Can go walk up the tracks and explore the removed WR Grace plant.
This is my hometown mall! I admit I do miss the old design with the green and orange tiles, and the Food Court used to have tiered seating in the atrium and railings to divide the seats from the walking paths. The chairs that they used in the remodel are wicked screechy and the sound carries everywhere. The Vietnamese restaurant was a Taco Bell until a few years ago. Orange Julius used to be upstairs above Auntie Anne’s so that part of the mall smelled like baked goods. Lush at the entrance to the Food Court was a Mrs. Fields until maybe the remodel.
I remember when they built the Target and the cart escalator was SO cool. We call them “carriages” here. My older sister pushed our carriage into it while my baby sister was still sitting in the cart and everyone stared at us as she went down the escalator 😂. I worked at the Bath & Body Works from 2012-2014 when it only had one entrance. We were told it was one of the largest in America and we were an A+ store in terms of volume of goods sold. The parking lot is so big that I think Tyngsborough High’s marching band practiced in the back, also some cheerleading practices too. On the first floor next to Target was Payless and also a Debby’s Pet Land. My dad used to take us to the mall for lunch so we could all pick what we wanted, and then he’d take us to Debby’s so we could pet the rabbits!
I will defend this mall to my dying breath, and I wish it many more years of success. I’m not a fan of Sears being used as a casino, it would be nice if they turned it into a movie theater even though AMC is right across the street. I also feel like there used to be more kiosks in the hallways. I can confirm that the second floor still shakes and working at Bath & Body we DEFINITELY felt it. I think there was a faulty vent above Chick-fil-A because the smell of fries would fill the store and we would all be starving! Thank you so much for covering my mall!
Also, the space next to Dick’s was in fact a Quiznos and then a tux rental place that I think opened seasonally. I rented my Prom tux from there in 2010. The mall is way closer to the Merrimack River than you realize, and there are train tracks alongside it. There was a plan to extend the Lowell Line MBTA to Manchester and there would’ve been a stop at the Pheasant Lane. Not sure how the stop would be built, but maybe they’d take up some of the parking lot with a parking garage and build a pedestrian bridge. My family would always park by Sears and enter the mall through there, it was our little secret because there was always a spot available and you didn’t have to circle the mall endlessly praying for parking!
Watch out for those shoe cleaners. Theyre like NYC tourist traps. Ignore them. They will hail you down like Chris Hansen telling you to "have a seat right over there." Lol
Amazing I love 20 mins from here and used to come here as a kid. It’s so sad
I love waking up and encountering another New England UA-cam channel to sub to
This place was rockin' in '88. And Rockit Records across the street was the only place outside Boston that had good music.
i remember first floor had a small kiosk type place that sold skateboards....they would custom make what you wanted...tony hawk boards etc....the good stuff
Rockit records is missed. Bought and sold many used albums there.
@@anonemous4529 And they had those MASSIVE billboard posters.
@@workingshlub8861The Skate Pit
I loved Rockit Records
5:20 yes they changed the stairway. i don't understand why, unless there was some kind of structural problem with the original stairway when they renovated, The bottom of the original stairway had a big plant section around it, as you can see in the photo where you could sit on the side of it.
Not a bad mall. Manchvegas mall is 5/10, Pheasant Lane is 7.5/10. Usually very busy on weekends. Close to tons of shopping on the main road so it will always do well. If I'm bored on a Sunday, my family and I will walk it for an hour or so.
Thanks for watching!
Phesant Lane I was there in October, there was nothing there that indicated that it was closing or dying. The place was pretty hopping on a Friday night.
I remember when that mall was being built. I remember there being a small place to eat when you left Lechmere from the inside downstairs. Next to it was Tweeter i believe or some store like that. I brought my first Yamaha Receiver there. Then crossed street to Rocket records.
Rocket was awesome for magazines and import’s. Before Nashua you had to go to Saugus.
Ah yes, my home mall. My favorite part about this place is that for the longest time there were two different GameStop stores running at the same time. The other one was where Bath Busters is now.
That's a kwik e mart now
I have so much sentimental value in this mall. I was born in 89 and have gone all through out my whole life. First place I drove to after I got my license. First dates, waiting for midnight release of halo 2, hangouts, a high school job, you name it. Like you I loved the older version before they redid it. Waaaaay back in the early to mid 90s half of the food court was arcade!
I grew up in Nashua and even worked at that Target during the renovation, I thought the carpet was terribly designed and still do. Fun fact from my time at that Target, the technical term for a cart escalator, is a Vermaport, named after the manufacturing company. They're so seldomly used that if you look them up on Wikipedia you actually get a picture of this Target's Vermaport. That "slide" was actually an employee staircase from the upper level back room to the lower level so that you didn't have to go down the escalator in the middle of the store, or take the freight elevator in the back room which terrified me.
That being said, the stairs you were asking about were in the location you thought but were torn down for the more compact version that's there now. I've seen a ton of things come and go, I think the weirdest thing was a CVS, there was also a pet store that got shut down presumably due to the tighter restrictions placed on puppy mills.
Another odd artifact was there were 2 Gamestops in this mall at one point since there existed both a Gamestop and EB Games before Gamestop bought EB Games. So after the acquisition, the EB Games, which was on the first floor next to the Sears, was transitioned to a Gamestop. This made it kind of funny, when one didn't have something, they'd just call the other and be like "Yeah, he'll be there in 5 minutes." and I'd just walk across the mall for the thing I wanted.
Pretty great walkthru. I kinda play a game like Where's Waldo while watching these vids except my version is "Where was Radio Shack?" Thanks for showing a pic of that.
Glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for watching!
Radio Shack at 13:51 was on the ground level on the left as you are facing Target. It's is the Za Za store now.
@@paulromsky9527I remember radio shack being where blaze pizza is now, on the upper floor
@@dmw1085 OK, I was only there twice, so maybe it was right above it on the 2nd floor.
I used to work in Sears which was long closed down and is now being converted into a casino of some kind. The success of this mall is undoubtedly from it's location, being in Nashua NH and close to Lowell MA which are fairly high population centers by New England standards. Plus with NH having no sales tax, this mall gets extremely busy on any national holiday that runs sales. Only issue is that there's no southbound Exit 1 coming off Route 3, so anybody coming from further north in NH has to get off at Spitbrook Rd which can have pretty bad traffic at times.
I worked at this mall in 2011-2012. I can not remember what was like in there before. But I was working there while they took up the tiles, I remember walking around the materials in the employee hallways that lead to the dumpsters and parking lot.
You’d think Penney’s would be the next to close, but given they’re owned by Brookfield and Simon it gives them a LOT more leash than they typically would have. After all, if Penney’s goes, so does a whole bunch of anchor space you now have to find tenants to occupy.
As for the casinos, Hudson Valley has one and we can see how much traffic that drives there.
We'll see....
I remember this mall opening when I was still really young but went there a lot with my parents all the way into my teens when I got my license. The staircase that went from the food court area to the second floor was an L shaped staircase with that little platform in between. The food court used to have a fairly large arcade to the left of the entrance doors in it, I used to play games all the time it was actually the first time I ever played the stand up of the original Mortal Kombat. Where that T-Mobile store is now used to be an Electronics Boutique way back when. And the back corner parking lot where Sears used to be near the back entrance that goes to the on-ramps to Route 3 and towards Tyngsboro was the main lot of where the Drive-In Theater was and where the screen was used as a sign was for a time. Last time I came to the Pheasant Lane was to the Apple Store before this whole remodel so seeing this on video was kind of new to me cause I haven’t been in so long.
I worked at the Lane Bryant back in 1988. There was no screen used for the signage. In fact, the drive in was further down in the back towards the parking lot for Target and Macys.
Definitely not a dead mall. I live in the merrimack valley area and it serves us greatly because of no taxes. Come by on a weekend afternoon/night and it's packed
Ey thanks for visiting!
Some things that i know about the place:
* Used to be an arcade in the food court where the bathrooms are now. Feels like alot of simon malls had that as a standard food court feature.
* There used to be taco bell and burger king in the court for years till they shut down in the past few years.
* At one time there were 3 chinese food places in the mall. The 2 current ones and "texas bbq" (that also sold chinese food).
* Red robin and burtons were added when Dicks moved in.
* There used to be 2x gamestops on opposite ends of the mall. One used to be eb games. Additionally there was another gamestop across the street.
* Longest running stores i can remember other than the big ones: FYE, Hollister (the place with the shutters), American Eagle. Forgetting a few im sure.
Its definitely not dying anytime soon. Feels like its picked up in the past few years actually.
I remember when fye used to be called record label and the Mall of NH in Manchester was just one strip and how Concord NH had a mall with a movie theater in it. Oh how so much has changed since I was a kid. I used to love to go to the pheasant Ln Mall just because of the 2 floors😂
I used to go here often when it first opened. There were many unique and specialty stores that made it a fun place to spend time, but slowly those stores closed and were replaced with stores targeting rich bored middle aged women or entitled teens. A couple of decent restaurants closed and mediocre chain eateries are all that's left. I actually haven't been there for a few years because the stores that I frequented either went out of business or converted to internet only sales. Times have changed. Those were the good old days because becoming elderly sucks.
When I was a kid/teen I would visit the Newington Mall and Foxrun Mall in Portsmouth NH. The Newington Mall had Montgomery Wards as an anchor store and several shops in the interior. Then years passed and when Montgomery Wards closed the mall was renovated to be more of a strip mall. They even cut a road through it to later build a movie theater just behind the mall. Fox Run mall is as it was way back when but visiting there... Often times there is very few shoppers walking around the mall on any given day. As for the Pheasant Lane Mall it's nice to see that it has some renovations done. In 1998 when I lived in Nashua the mall had an '70 - 80's" feel to it. As for a Casino? Well I am on the fence with that. It will bring revenue to NH ... It will give Foxwoods some competition that's for sure.
Someone below said they remember the drive in being on this location. I remember the Tyngsboro drive in - and I think it was primarily down the street, over the boarder where Max's Country Golf is now. It seems like the big screen had it's back to the road and was situated at the left side of the current entrance to Max. Parking sprawled out from there towards where the mall parking extension is. Maybe I'm wrong, we used to go there as kids.
I hope J.C. Penney doesn’t shutdown anytime soon because that’s literally what is keeping my local mall open.
J.C. Penney is actually partially owned by SIMON real estate so I doubt they are going anywhere anytime soon. I compared Penney to Macy's on the same day and Penney was in much better visible condition.
The space upstairs immediately next to the Dicks Sporting Goods entrance used to have a Tuxedo rental place. Mr. Tux I believe
I go to the Pheasant Lane mall a lot, its very close to where I live. It is usually crowded. I think you got there at a off house. I go there at weird times as I work nights and it can be pretty busy at noon on a Monday. You just got there at a slow period. They are building a casino in the old Sears store, which will likely make it even more crowded.
I grew up in Tyngsboro, so I've been going to this mall for over 25 years. The mall is definitely doing well today, compared to other physical stores. But it's nowhere near as busy as it used to be in the days before online shopping, especially during the holiday seasons. You'll notice this mall has a SHIT LOAD of parking, including a separate unused parking lot that has been closed for ages. Back before online shopping was popular, they actually NEEDED all of that parking space.
You are partially correct about Massachusetts sales tax. There is no sales tax on clothes under $175.00.
The side doors near Lenscrafters, I go
there for annual exam and glasses,
is open earlier than the main entrances,
I think for the Walkers. 😊
They did update staircase, as the iFixPhones was the Crabtree & Evelyn.
PL is my hometown mall. Fairly busy, clean. I either there about 20 years ago.
I’m sure Simon opening an outlet mall 10 minutes north didn’t help.
Target attracts significant traffic.
A very large Amazon grocery store is opening just fuel the street soon.
I grew up in the area and have moved back here. The mall is dying. It needs something more to diversify it portfolio. The Casino may save it. But there is also a lot of hope the Casino will push forward plans to extend the Boston commuter rail up from Lowell MA top Nashua NH and even up to Manchester NH. If that happen, will be a Major win for NH.
I used to work at that Target, from 2005 to 2010. Where the Newbury Comics is used to be (I think) a Walden Books. I know it used to be one of the book stores. I don't remember it being a KB Toys.
The stores on the lower floor, to the right of the Target entrance as you're leaving it, used to be a pet store. On occasional, mice would find an escape, and they'd enter Target looking for food. The grocery area and cafe were just inside that door.
The spot where the Christmas stuff was set up, that was where the mall had this thing called the DTour. It was a concert, and booths showing off products, and video game demos. It was a fun time. The one they did in 2007 had the Plain White T's performing.
If memory serves, while leaving Target on the bottom floor, there was a K-B Toy on the right side of the mall where the left half of the Za Za Shoe is in this video. I'm not sure if the Radio Shack is where the right half of Za Za is now or directly above it on the second floor where Blaze Pizza is. I'm fairly certain the pet store, Debby's Pet Land, was where the Body Art store is now. The store fascade and entryway still hint at the pet store origins for those who remember, minus the "doggy in the window" kennels on both sides right at the front where people walking by in the mall would see them. One can only imagine how many terrible, impulsive life choices were made with that tactic over the 20+ years the pet store existed! Spencer's has been there in that same spot since Christ was Corporal. May have been there since the mall's opening or darn close to it.
OK, coming in from the entrance to the side of Sears where the Radio Shack was there was a store that sold knives and swords. Coming out of Sears on the top floor to the right at some point was Sharper Image. On the bottom floor coming out of Sears there was a Suncoast Video Store where I bought a number of movie posters. Walking further down towards the food court there was a candy store with a big open bin of candy kind of in the back middle of it and after that on that same side was Miss Field's Cookies RIGHT before the food court. By Target, coming out of the top exit into the mall by the exit on the right was a place selling different flavors of caramel popcorn.
One thing I have to say having been gone since 1994, the changed railings and the Eurotile carpet tiling (which is the type of carpet tiling they used) on the top floor are hideous. It makes the place feel more enclosed, less spacious as does the removal of all the foliage. (Which probably doesn't do much for the indoor air quality either, but that's another story.) I'm glad to see it's doing as well as it is, but, honestly, it looked better the way it was. They've McPrisoned this mall's aesthetic. It's no better than what McDonald's has done with their restaurants.
That side of the building that looked like a stairway going up the outside wall....there used to be a big outdoor gear store (REI, EMS) was the store behind it. It had that Alpine scene related to the store itself.
My first thoughts on a casino and my first question even. Did Nashua and Tyngsboro decide to move the property line that is just on the outside of the old Sears building which was done due to the no sales tax in New Hampshire when it was originally figured out between the two towns. And are they moving it a second time now so that the casino can fall under Massachusetts rules?
In the mid-2000's there was a row of stores on the second floor that were a bridal store, a mattress store, and then a maternity clothes store. Lots of jokes were made about that. It was also well known by teenagers for having very assertive security, because of the northern MA teens that would go there for cheaper shopping and food.
The Massachusetts line cuts through JCPenney and the old Sears. I believe the actual workaround is that they didn't/ don't have registers in Massachusetts. I'm curious how the casino is going to handle the situation, as a good portion of the Sears building is in Massachusetts. You can see the line on Google maps
So to my knowledge they actually were planning on building it part in Massachusetts and part in new Hampshire, the restaurants and food would benefit from Massachusetts from the lower meal tax, while the shops would be in New Hampshire to benefit from the sales tax. Idk if they're were gonna try to build half and half right on the boarder or just try to get away with the corner, but that's why it was cut out, because Mass said if you want to benefit from meals you need to pay sales
This is my hometown mall and both my sister and I worked here at times in our lives. It was great to see photos of the old style. It used to be really packed in the 90's especially the holidays, the overflow parking would stretch across the street. Now it still is busy enough but not at its peak. I worked in one of the Verizons when there was two in there over a decade ago. It was the only local Chic fil a for a long time and the best Sarku Japan.
I grew up in the boarder town in Mass. The only thing that might have been in dicks during that time is a Spirit Halloween, but I'm not 100% they usually pop up in the stores that have recently gone out of business, at least in Nashua. It had been boarded up for a while when Macy's moved so I dont have an exact time frame.
The stairway was changed, and that is the location.
Originally where Buffalo Wild Wings is was an American Joe's Bar and Grill.
That Santa set up has been in that exact location as long as I've been going to is as a child
The fire pizza was a radio shack. There was a sharper image store near the second floor games stop and somewhere on the second floor there was also a Disney store I think where Talbot's was, I know it was mid second floor on the KB toys side
There was a pet store where the body art/piercing place was, I got a dog there. Next door to that on the left was a photography studio
For a bit that pheasant mural had a little almost convince store in it, but I can't remember what was there before that.
Victoria Secret has always been there. Build a bear workshop used to be I think where zumiez is, I remember it being on kind of a corner
Where DQ band I think part of lush there was a Mrs Feilds cookies
An Olympic sport store was next to the old Sears on the right on the first floor.
The simply spa used to be another GameStop, there were 2.
There was previously a burger king where big burritonis, pizza Regina where sarbos and an Arby's where chic fil a was I think, but that would she been quite a while ago, maybe it was next to it
Also there are train tracks behind the little lot across from the target parking structure.
And those are just stares because it's split level, for emergencies
The Disney Store was where the pitch black painted Aionn Fashion store is at the 4:56 and 9:47 marks. The K-B Toy was downstairs between Debby's Petland and Target. Victoria's Secret has been there quite a while but not always.
Hannoush Jewelers. The Hannoush family has their own sub division in West Springfield Mass - Hannoush Drive. Pretty sure at one time it was a private road. It looks public now. Some tacky looking houses. Spanish tile roofs in Massachusetts looks silly. No idea if these days they are all the Hannoush Family.
Interesting!
The state line was on the south end of Sears, not JCP. You can do a google earth view and see the actual state line at one of the Sear's entrances on the south side of the building. The Tyngsborough Drive-in was in that part of the parking lot with the screen to the south facing NH.
I used to go to arcade in early 90’s. 12/13 years old. We d get stoned outside, play arcade’s and the escalator, if you rode it to the top step then jumped hard on it the whole thing would shut down.
I remember going here as a kid in the late 90’s early 2000’s. Target had an escalator in between the people escalators that would transport your cart up or down. I remember my mother worrying something would fall out of the cart. I also remember KB toys being on the bottom floor, perhaps they moved at some point. Lastly Newbury Comics, funny to see them in the mall as they used to have a separate stand alone store just on the outskirts of the mall parking lot near Home Depot. I haven’t been there for years. Actually probably the last time I was there was when my wife and I bought our exercise equipment from the soon to be gone Sears. We keep it in great shape by not using it 😆
Residing in NH for 46 out of my 47 years of life , this doesn't surprise me that most of the Malls in NH are still active.
Not only does NH not have a sales tax , i find that the citizens of NH are fairly active as many of us dont enjoy "sitting around" per say..
Are the malls as active as the 1980's or 1990's ? No theyre not ,but theyre doing better than most states.
The mall is nice and looks like it’s doing well for malls in 2023 anyway. I do like the older style better before renovations. It looks bland to me as well. That’s super interesting that the border for the 2 states is that close. I don’t know how well the casino will do especially with the economy being the way it is. I’m from around Atlantic City, NJ and I don’t know if the casinos there are doing well. It’s kind of weird being in a mall but maybe it will do okay.
NH has money limits only charity gaming. so there will be more restaurants in there and only a few slot machines compared to a regular one. It would be cool if Mass allowed it they could come to an agreement with NH. They allow regular casinos. Lately NH is allowing bigger ones. But still have money limits.
Interesting. I didn't know that. Thanks for watching!
Pretty much.
3:13 - The year 2006 is when Macy's took over The May Company department stores.
well the algo brought me here, and since this is the closest mall to us I can confirm it is usually very busy but not at the hour you visited. so if you *want* to go when it's not busy, do so right when it opens. if you go in the afternoon it can be mobbed. after it gets colder in the fall, forget it unless you really like people. I wasn't here in the late 80s and 90s but have been since 2000ish and it seems to be the same as always. not doing better or worse. The Apple store is always crowded inside and people standing around in front of it too.
I live in Nashua NH. It was a big deal in this area when this mall opened. Shopping in store is not what it used to be. I still go in when I want to browse in person. I do miss Filene’s an Sear’s.
This is my local mall and I was just there last week on a Tuesday and it was a little busy so it’s definitely one of those malls that people still go to
We lived halfway between Burlington and this mall. It was 50/50 as to which way mom would go as Burlington seemed bigger, but PLM was tax free. I always preferred PLM because of dream machine arcade
This is a great blast from the past. I’m 50 and used to spend a lot of time there as a teenager. I’m always shocked when I see or hear this mall is still alive. I think part of its the location and the other part is that its tax free NH and true the highway spits you right out in front of the mall. I used to purchase CDs at Lechmere in their unnecessarily large and wasteful cardboard sleeves and then head over to Orange Julius, followed by some Mrs Fields cookies. Would be interesting to know what the original restaurants were at the mall. I was only interested in Food court offerings at the time. 😂