I’ve lived in this area my entire life. I remember the hype leading up to this mall opening. I’m 28 now, and on grand opening day I was 11. From day one the mall has never operated at 100% capacity, truly doomed from the start. Like others have said, most of the retail was not “premium” and was more value oriented, attracting middle to lower middle class clientele. There were heated debates for years about including or not including the local bus route to bring in more customers, may be one of many reasons to blame. Some stores were very niche and made you scratch your head. The NASCAR place never opened. Ever. There have been rumors too about how some of the current anchor stores can also be blamed, as there were restrictions to what other stores are allowed to operate if store XYZ is there, etc. Other malls you mentioned in the area, some are doing well, some are on life support too. Ross Park Mall is a phenomenal mall, and very high end. The galleria itself is an amazingly big structure, being it is single story. If you start at one entrance and make a complete lap of the mall, it’s just over a mile, so a mall walkers paradise. In my High School days, this was the place to be on a Friday night. Last time I made a lap through there just a month ago it was so sad to see it’s just about done. Every time I’m in there it seems like there’s always another store that’s gone. What is amazing though is the entire “campus” surrounding the mall is doing incredibly well. Restaurants, big box retail, shoe stores, coffee shops, grocery stores and the like are all thriving, so long as they aren’t actually inside the mall. It’s only a matter of time before the Galleria is finally closed for good, so to any dead mall fan who wants to make the trek that may be reading this, do it before it’s too late. You will be amazed at how a gigantic structure as this can be so very dead.
Please don`t forget about all of the tax money that was put in to bring the mall in. The money to build the 28 ramps and bridge and the money that is still being spent to maintain them.
I used to come here as a child for the theater and the Hot Topic. We went inside here a week ago and it was so depressing. There was one restaurant in the entire food court. It was dead silent. Such a tragedy seeing a pillar of my childhood decay.
I used to deliver medical supplies and beds in PGH from like 2005-2009. I used to stop at all the malls to walk around on my lunch breaks. I stopped at this one often. Even back then when it was new, it was never really busy. Maybe 100 ppl in there at a time. Nice mall, but never worked. Nice video.
Ten Reasons Malls are Dying: 1) People shopping from home via web browsers on computers and sell phones. Amazon took over a lot of the business that retail cannot compete against well. 2) Consolidation of the department stores with how many mergers have occured over the years (for example, if you follow Macy's alone they have taken over about 30 other store chains). Dillards, JcPenney, and others have also bought out several store chains over the years leading to downsizing too. 3) Decline of the department store. Specialization of stores like Ikea, Home Depot, Best Buy, etc has killed traditional department stores. 4) The changing demographics of society. Real wages have not increased much leading to less disposable income. Millennials and Gen Z are preferring cheaper, smaller, and less formal living spaces and new urbanism over suburbia. This has killed some of the furniture markets and high end formal china markets. 5) Leveraged Buyouts. These buyouts create lots of debt and have a high risk of downsizing a chain or driving it into bankruptcy. This is what killed or downsized chains like Toys R Us, Guitar Center, etc. 6) Decline of the Electronics Stores caused by smart phones, Smart TVs, computers, and internet streaming. It used to be that people valued going into stores like Camelot Music, Suncoast, Sharper Image, Radio Shack, Software Etc, Sam Goody, The Wherehouse, Fry's Electronics, Circuit City, Computer City, Compusa, Babbages, Electronics Boutique, HH Gregg, Media Play, Tweeter, Montgomery Ward, Sears, Toys R Us, etc for TVs, Radios, gadgets, landline phones, remote controlled cars, video game systems, records, CDs, etc. Now that everything is streamed via Amazon Prime, UA-cam, NetFlix, Hulu, etc and that smart phones and TVs do everything, the number of standalone gadgets declined forcing these stores out of business. UA-cam user 8-Bit guy has a great video on this. 7) Real Estate Flipping Operations. Some chains are now being bought for salvage and instead of keeping the store alive they are bought to flip or sell off the chains real estate. This is what happened with several chains, often in conjunction with a leveraged buyout. 8) Area is Over Malled: There are too many malls in an area and they compete with each other for customer base. 9) Negative Events inside a mall: Examples include crime, shootings, robberies, killings, or being in a bad neighborhood. 10) The COVID-19 Pandemic and all the lockdowns and social distancing makes being in a mall less fun and more risky.
Excellent list. I would also include that there's no stores in the malls for men's clothes or hobbies. They're all in strip malls or standalone buildings. Plus, f3minism has taken its toll on women. They no longer dress feminine or dress to impress. In the olden days, the ladies bought new clothes every weekend. That's no longer the case. Leggings and sloppy Target shirts rule the day.
@@spunkyb5249 I think part of it is society is less formal today and I think some of it is due to global warming and people wearing more lighter weight clothes and less layers. I also think the disposable income decline also contributed to this trend.
Awesome vid!!! Always a great time. Just a side note to clarify some confusion for people that are new to this story…. The $100 thing was a formality for the bank and courts. No one entity or individual (other than the bank) would have been able to “buy the mall” for $100. I believe there was a lowest opening bid for the property and no group/company was bidding so the bank “bought the property back”…
Wonderful video as always. This mall cannot hang on much longer, so I’m thrilled to see it documented. This is a “neighborhood store” for Macy’s, meaning it will close within three years. My bet is it will be on the closures list they release in January, but it could be 2023, they’re only waiting out their lease at this point. Once they are gone, I think this mall will be in a true death spiral. I never understood why this mall was built. Pittsburgh has been notoriously over-malled for decades… so why in the world would the Mills Corporation go through with building this monstrosity? Just goes to show their questionable/shady financial decisions during their final years.
I love the mid 2000s architecture and interiors with its light brown to dark brown wood finishings and floors splashed with some blues and other pastel colours having this cozy warm feeling but still looking modern. I could hang out in those malls all day and feel at home. Because I think that’s when there was this star bucks cozy coffee shop boom. I think Now a days the malls are white bland and boring I get headaches when I’m there and leave almost immediately when I’m done my shopping
@@AcesAdventures1 Agreed, the cold sterile look is horrible and boring and doesn't make you want to stay longer. My favorite era of Mall interiors was the late 70s early 80s with lots of real wood, warm colors, large fountains, greenery, and natural lighting too. A huge part of the problem especially in PA are the state is taxing the heck out of businesses and good income earners as well, they are driving investment out to other states with lower taxes, and high spending consumers as well. I used to live in Chester County PA (near West Chester) and even though it is one of the highest income areas in the country the state driving people out with their outrageous taxes and other strict regulations.
@@watershed44 I don’t think it’s cold and sterile it’s warm brown woods and splashes of colour are nice in my opinion, todays malls are cold and sterile. But late 70s 80s and 90s will always my my favourite
@@eatrunandtravel You misunderstood what I said. I was saying that the trends in malls for the past15 years has been the cold and sterile look. The 1990s had color, but I didn't like the weird contemporary styling much. The mid-late 70s and early 80s were best, because they used a lot of natural light and med color wood, paint colors were warm, some mirroring, LOTS of large fountains and greenery, and natural lighting from skylights in the USA.
It is creepy seeing an abandoned intact mall like this, because it's in good physical shape, compared to your other vids. In particular, it seems so clean! Enjoy a healthy and happy new year!
I live near this mall and it's not abandoned abandoned. It's still open it just has hardly any stores and more than half of the places are empty inside of it. A good amount of people still go there sometimes, but it does look abandoned cause theres hardly anything in it. That place used to be packed full. It's sad theres like nothing there now.
It shocked the hell out of me that Namdar actually got a small movie theater chain to set up shop in the former Cinemark. I think they can only run 8 screens because Cinemark took all of the movie equipment and that's all they could afford to rebuild, so it's only partially filled up.
I typically watch dead mall videos, and retail content in general, for one of 3 things - vintage aesthetics, signage left behind, or to see the current state of a place I have visited before. However, this video intrigued me. I couldn't believe that that building was only 15 years old being so empty. Your explanations were good as to why malls, and retail establishments in general, are struggling. There is no one answer, and different factors contribute to each place's demise. It's sad to see but I appreciate your work and documenting these places. Well done video as always.
On February 19 2022, my wife and I searched for a random mall to go visit. Pittsburgh Mills popped up. We are in Ohio and wasn't familiar with the location. We were surprised to find it nearly empty of stores. Several of the very few stores that were still there had "Store Closing" signs. It still looks beautiful on the inside. The store directory shows what used to be.
Ah...Caldor...was one of my favorite places to shop, back in the Day...here in Connecticut...have not thot about them in many years....thanks for the memories ..😁😁😎
Another idea for Ace's Adventures: Do a video tracking of department store mergers and defunct department stores. This might be more like a scroll credits type video but it would be very powerful when you look at what stores were bought out and how many consolidated into others.
@@AcesAdventures1 this would be more graphics and tables but could be very powerful. I think a slow scrolling list of all the defunct stores and who they sold or merged into would be powerful.
Great video Ace I go to Pittsburgh Mills to take pictures of it inside and outside.Station Square is a skeleton of its former self ,after they opened South Side Works that hurt SQ now South Side Works is now half gone . Keep Up your GREAT Work !!!😎🇺🇸🙏🎄
I grew up close to Pittsburgh and went to the Mills when they opened. I remember thinking that it was an incredible structure but it felt kind of half assed. the stores were cut rate and there was never a premium vibe. they never were able to pull the big brand named stores from Ross Park. Ross park is still kicking to this day. but additionally Pennsylvania is dying out. years of bad policies and a record of being one of the worst states to start a business pushed a lot of us to move elsewhere for better opportunities. my hometown has almost no young people w a average population 60 and older. i’d say over 70% of my graduating class moved fully out of state. A change in leadership and policies to bring more companies back would be a start, but there’s no luck for that happening on the horizon anytime soon, or ever.
Brock Vanleer You nailed it! PA is driving business investments and high income earners out of the state and has been doing so since the late 1970s! The ironic part is that these gov't stooges are biting the hand that pays their salaries and eventually they too will disappear because there will be no tax base to pay them.
I live right by this mall and I'm going to be so sad to see it go. It was such a blessing (and still is) during COVID to take my kids up to the play area on rainy days and do laps around the mall. I really wish they could do something with the space... maybe turn it in to a retirement community?
My name is Mark Harley I worked in Cheswick a town below the mall. The developers came in and bought the farm owners property and those that would not sell the eminant domained them. It was 10 years in the works befor the mall was built. It killed The Highlands mall that at one time was a great place to shop. The reason they did not want bus stops there is they did not want the trash from the City Of Pittsburgh ruining the mall and outter stores. I worked at Bunting Graphics when the mall was built and had a hand in building all the sinage and directional signs. Even the big tower sign on route 28. The interior sinage was fresh and new and has stood the test of time. He mall never felt right and they never had the draw sytores needed to get people there. Even the anchor stores were not like the others in malls close by. The best thing that could happen to this property is to make it into a retirement community as in Allegheny County there are enough elderly to go around.
We lived just a few miles from this mall and we're really excited as it was being built and opening back in 1996. All retail experts were against this mall being Built. The developer General Growth Properties were hoping to pull in wealthy residence of the nearby town of Windermere. ( Former home of Tiger Woods) Thus creating competition between them and the Florida Mall which they were in no way going to win. The mall never reached over 80% capacity and plans for a 5th department store never materialized. Crime is now rampant surrounding the mall so I would advise caution if visiting at night.
Thank you for your time that you put in these excellent videos!!! I love malls, but I agree we don't need that many malls. It feels that they want to put a mall in every suburb. I feel some suburbs, not all have more malls then grocery stores. 😁
I remember when Dan Bell visited this place in 2017 and it was just starting to die but it still had some stores and attractions left. It's surreal seeing this place abandoned and empty knowing it used to have a bit of life left 5 years ago. Feels more like a Liminal Space video than a dead Mall video.
I watch Kmart being built 1962. I watch it close 5 years ago. There's no more Sears no more Kmart here in Northern Indiana that I know of at least I don't think so
Most accurate statement in this video: Galleria at Pittsburgh Mills should NEVER have been built. Greater Pittsburgh has been either declining or stagnant in terms of population and personal income since the steel industry collapsed. Given the timeline of this mall's planning and construction, everyone involved should have known better.
This “might” have done well in the Cranberry / Seneca Valley area, but those folks in the new big money developments north of Wexford just drive down to McCandless Crossing and and Ross Park Mall. Putting this mall on the 28 corridor heading to New Ken, Natrona Heights and Kittanning was moronic. Those are all dying towns (with amazing history helping to build this country) since the industrial mills left decades ago. The average income the further you head up 28 falls off a cliff once you are past Fox Chapel.
It was insane to me that they built this out of nowhere mall in an area that could not support a strong retail area, and this was already known by this point! It's not like the industrial flight was just happening in the early 2000's- anyone building in that area would have already known that these were dying towns. It's the reason why the biggest thing built in Indiana, PA in recent years was like a Walmart and a TJMaxx!
Yeah location was definitely one of the nails in the coffin for this mall. For anyone that doesn't live out there is was a pain the ass to get to. The main draw for me and my brother is at the time it had one of the few theaters in the area that had an Imax screen. That was really the only reason we went out that way.
@@bassplayer2011ify IMAX was definitely cool. It’s nuts because even when the mall was built, if the executives planning the construction drove up and down 28, stopped off at a few of the towns north of Fox Chapel, there is zero way they would have said “oh yea, we need to build a really nice mall here”…. Moronic! It’s like someone took demographics from other areas around the city with higher household incomes and threw them into the mix. The older folks of Pittsburgh still think crossing a river is a day trip….
It's especially fascinating seeing these places because I'm from Western PA, from the Cranberry by Oil City, and because I now live in a different country not yet experiencing this trend, Thailand, in Bangkok. They're still building malls here, even though the writing is on the wall about overbuilding and online shopping uptake.
Another terrific video! Can anyone help me in naming what artist(s) did the music starting at the 16:14 minute mark and until the end of the video itself? Loved it and want to add it to my SynthWave collection. Thanks for any one’s help! Keep these fun videos coming!!
The theater did reopen. I forget the company that took it over but that is back open, the rest of the place is dead. Nobody in Pittsburgh wants to deal with PA 28 when they don’t need to.
@@AcesAdventures1 How long is the theater going to stay open in a dead mall?Covid and technology has driven folks away from movie theaters.I am one of those who hasn't been to a theater in years.At home---you can start and pause the movie when you want to -like get your own "concessions" and go to the bathroom.Your remote"clicker" doesn't work in a theater!And----NO trailers or ads!
@@rexoliver7780 I think theaters need to evolve or die. I live in a mid-sized city of half a million. Before COVID we had 9 theaters, 8 of them with 6 or more screens. Three at least are never going to reopen. They are the old shoebox theaters and good riddance. I went to my first movie in 15 months last July. It was in what used to be one of the busiest theaters of the bunch. It was a Friday night one week after opening week of a fairly big film. I was ALONE in a massive auditorium. I spoke with an employee about it and he said that was not unusual now. Definitely not a sustainable business model. This is a 16 screen fairly new AMC megaplex attached to a fairly busy mall. I predict it won't last. Oddly enough, one of those "dinner theaters" opened during the height of the pandemic ironically in a defunct K-Mart. It's doing great! Maybe that's the secret; make it gimmicky or people will stay home.
@@MuneageDaydream honestly the cinema industry could disappear and no one would miss it. Hollywood puts out garbage and are surprised no one is watching anymore.
Many dead malls don't have power. Ohio has been hit hard too. Northlake Mall in Charlotte is still open but in receivership. They have had some shooting there, one on Christmas eve several years ago. Violence never helps
I remember seeing the slow decline of Parkway Center and the old Washington mall (not crown center the other one that was on Oak Spring Road just off of highway 19 that had a Toys R Us as an anchor store). Both of them were pretty much dead by the early to mid to 2000s. Robinson was the final nail in the coffin for PWC. I'm not sure what killed the old Washington mall never lived close enough to it to go regularly. Main reason for going there was they had a Silver Mine and I was collecting state quarters at the time.
I used to do a lot of work with the Pennsylvania Department of Education, and would stay in the Tarentum area (literally right next door to the mall) when I was visiting the Pittsburgh PaTTAN. That mall is beautiful on the inside - and spotlessly clean - such a shame that it never took off like it should have. The area around the mall has several restaurants, stores, and hotels, but it all feels like a dead end because all of the roads wrap around each other back to the on/off ramp for the mall. There are areas of Pittsburgh that would have been much better suited to this project - perhaps the Cranberry area?
Ace is correct in the there is no universal reason. But if you must have one that fits most scenarios it is that overmalling has spoiled due to the loss of protection from distance and safety concerns. We don't live as we did in the heyday of malls. Getting lost, running out of gas, as a new driver your jalopy breaking down, or going far away with the family's only car is no longer an issue. Therefore is no need for malls everywhere. Of course, there are other factors like the consolidation or loss of nameplates and the disappearance of regional industry. They all have some impact. But in the end for most malls, they were given a short life span before even the first bit of dirt was moved. They came and served a purpose and now their natural end of life as just a mall is coming or has come. And now all we can do is be thankful for people like Ace and Sal who document these places for us and future generations to see.
For me it a personal reason for watching any mall vid, didn't matter who the creator was, initially, However over time all the that has changed, Creators like you, and those you also mentioned took it to a whole new level, a definite plus, keep doing what you do, cause we will always be watching, I grew up during the 70's&80's malls were doing significantly better back then compared to nowadays, Liked the vid, Happy Holidays
Remember when a lot of failing malls became outlet malls instead? They were just all outlet stores. I don't even see those anymore. At least not where I live.
Awesome work Ace!! I absolutely love your content. I think it's extremely important for us to document these places before they are a thing of the pass. Keep up the good work and Merry Christmas.
Is this mall open still? I was wondering how it can be. I then looked it up and saw the Wikepedia article on it. I also saw there is an active website. Guess I answered my own question. I cracked up at the old people and the Jazz keyboardist singer. That Max Headroom guy was from what year? I forget..
Arundel Mills Mall in between DC and Baltimore is ironically a booming vibrant mall. Must be the location and casino anchor. Not too far from booming Columbia Mall too.
FYI: Kmart bought / "merged" with Sears in 2005, SIXTEEN years ago. Since then the company formed to manage both companies (Sears Holdings) declared bankruptcy and a bankruptcy court actually sold the remnants back to the same person (Eddie Lampert) who took it private in a company called Transformco. As of today the company has less than 30 stores combined between the two chains in the US.
@@AcesAdventures1 Fast Eddie Lampert is a financial vampire who has literally sucked the blood out of Sears since he has been there! No reinvesting back into the stores to update them at all. I think the guy is a criminal since he clearly wasn't acting in the best interests of the company's long term health.
I remember when it was still active enough to have a sky trail line or still options at the food court the day they closed the game stop was the day we all knew they were done😂😂😂😂😂
Did it ever occur to you that some of the problem might be that some people own property that they want to develop, but since it's zoned for business instead of housing, they're forced to build malls or something similar in order to make any money?
Man I dread to see the size of the bribe to the security guard for that explore! I'd kill for a mall like this here in Devon, England - our idea of a mall is something a quarter of the size, if they could pick that place up and drop it over here, it would probably do well.
Here’s a fun fact! My girlfriends grandparents owned the property before the mills bought it. Apparently they were royally dishonest, offering discounts and many benefits that they never held up to.
I’ve lived in this area my entire life. I remember the hype leading up to this mall opening. I’m 28 now, and on grand opening day I was 11. From day one the mall has never operated at 100% capacity, truly doomed from the start. Like others have said, most of the retail was not “premium” and was more value oriented, attracting middle to lower middle class clientele. There were heated debates for years about including or not including the local bus route to bring in more customers, may be one of many reasons to blame. Some stores were very niche and made you scratch your head. The NASCAR place never opened. Ever. There have been rumors too about how some of the current anchor stores can also be blamed, as there were restrictions to what other stores are allowed to operate if store XYZ is there, etc. Other malls you mentioned in the area, some are doing well, some are on life support too. Ross Park Mall is a phenomenal mall, and very high end. The galleria itself is an amazingly big structure, being it is single story. If you start at one entrance and make a complete lap of the mall, it’s just over a mile, so a mall walkers paradise. In my High School days, this was the place to be on a Friday night. Last time I made a lap through there just a month ago it was so sad to see it’s just about done. Every time I’m in there it seems like there’s always another store that’s gone.
What is amazing though is the entire “campus” surrounding the mall is doing incredibly well. Restaurants, big box retail, shoe stores, coffee shops, grocery stores and the like are all thriving, so long as they aren’t actually inside the mall. It’s only a matter of time before the Galleria is finally closed for good, so to any dead mall fan who wants to make the trek that may be reading this, do it before it’s too late. You will be amazed at how a gigantic structure as this can be so very dead.
Perfectly said. It is so sad. Last time I was there was about a year ago and it was so sad. I don’t see it standing open much longer.
Please don`t forget about all of the tax money that was put in to bring the mall in. The money to build the 28 ramps and bridge and the money that is still being spent to maintain them.
I loved that you and Sal got together to document a dying mall. That was the perfect Christmas gift to all of your fans. Thank you. Merry Christmas 🎄!
Ty!
I used to come here as a child for the theater and the Hot Topic. We went inside here a week ago and it was so depressing. There was one restaurant in the entire food court. It was dead silent. Such a tragedy seeing a pillar of my childhood decay.
I was there today and there are now 0 places to eat at the food court. It’s an absolute ghost town.
Skipped school back in high school in 2008 to come here and see max pain in theater
Interior of this mall is beautiful.
Love the music, Thank You
I used to deliver medical supplies and beds in PGH from like 2005-2009. I used to stop at all the malls to walk around on my lunch breaks. I stopped at this one often. Even back then when it was new, it was never really busy. Maybe 100 ppl in there at a time. Nice mall, but never worked. Nice video.
Seems incredible that these malls are closing. So much as changed in the last 5v- 10 years. Life is different.
Bev Olson
Different, and definitely NOT in a "better" way.
Still one of the very few dead mall producers that can really nail the feelings with video and sound!!!
Ten Reasons Malls are Dying:
1) People shopping from home via web browsers on computers and sell phones. Amazon took over a lot of the business that retail cannot compete against well.
2) Consolidation of the department stores with how many mergers have occured over the years (for example, if you follow Macy's alone they have taken over about 30 other store chains). Dillards, JcPenney, and others have also bought out several store chains over the years leading to downsizing too.
3) Decline of the department store. Specialization of stores like Ikea, Home Depot, Best Buy, etc has killed traditional department stores.
4) The changing demographics of society. Real wages have not increased much leading to less disposable income. Millennials and Gen Z are preferring cheaper, smaller, and less formal living spaces and new urbanism over suburbia. This has killed some of the furniture markets and high end formal china markets.
5) Leveraged Buyouts. These buyouts create lots of debt and have a high risk of downsizing a chain or driving it into bankruptcy. This is what killed or downsized chains like Toys R Us, Guitar Center, etc.
6) Decline of the Electronics Stores caused by smart phones, Smart TVs, computers, and internet streaming. It used to be that people valued going into stores like Camelot Music, Suncoast, Sharper Image, Radio Shack, Software Etc, Sam Goody, The Wherehouse, Fry's Electronics, Circuit City, Computer City, Compusa, Babbages, Electronics Boutique, HH Gregg, Media Play, Tweeter, Montgomery Ward, Sears, Toys R Us, etc for TVs, Radios, gadgets, landline phones, remote controlled cars, video game systems, records, CDs, etc. Now that everything is streamed via Amazon Prime, UA-cam, NetFlix, Hulu, etc and that smart phones and TVs do everything, the number of standalone gadgets declined forcing these stores out of business. UA-cam user 8-Bit guy has a great video on this.
7) Real Estate Flipping Operations. Some chains are now being bought for salvage and instead of keeping the store alive they are bought to flip or sell off the chains real estate. This is what happened with several chains, often in conjunction with a leveraged buyout.
8) Area is Over Malled: There are too many malls in an area and they compete with each other for customer base.
9) Negative Events inside a mall: Examples include crime, shootings, robberies, killings, or being in a bad neighborhood.
10) The COVID-19 Pandemic and all the lockdowns and social distancing makes being in a mall less fun and more risky.
Excellent list. I would also include that there's no stores in the malls for men's clothes or hobbies. They're all in strip malls or standalone buildings. Plus, f3minism has taken its toll on women. They no longer dress feminine or dress to impress. In the olden days, the ladies bought new clothes every weekend. That's no longer the case. Leggings and sloppy Target shirts rule the day.
Not to mention these terrible trade agreements
@@spunkyb5249 I think part of it is society is less formal today and I think some of it is due to global warming and people wearing more lighter weight clothes and less layers. I also think the disposable income decline also contributed to this trend.
It's so sad to watch them close .I love the urban exploration and the limitations spaces.
That was a well rounded video with great opening graphics and a funny ending 🤣
Awesome vid!!! Always a great time. Just a side note to clarify some confusion for people that are new to this story…. The $100 thing was a formality for the bank and courts. No one entity or individual (other than the bank) would have been able to “buy the mall” for $100. I believe there was a lowest opening bid for the property and no group/company was bidding so the bank “bought the property back”…
Ty so much!
I am from the area and never understood what that meant. Thank you!
I imagine Dr. Audrey today is saying "I told you so." Better to have a shopping street these days than an enclosed mall.
I've been watching your videos for years now and I'm now convinced that you are the best! Keep up the great work!
Ty so much :)
That is such a beautiful movie theater! I hate it that this mall is abandoned, it looks like it has more potential to stay open!
It did reopen!
That intro was something else!!
You called it -- the death of retail is NOT the internet. Rather, it's too much retail.
So true. Monroeville mall is still standing but only because it's a great location.
Wonderful video as always. This mall cannot hang on much longer, so I’m thrilled to see it documented.
This is a “neighborhood store” for Macy’s, meaning it will close within three years. My bet is it will be on the closures list they release in January, but it could be 2023, they’re only waiting out their lease at this point. Once they are gone, I think this mall will be in a true death spiral.
I never understood why this mall was built. Pittsburgh has been notoriously over-malled for decades… so why in the world would the Mills Corporation go through with building this monstrosity? Just goes to show their questionable/shady financial decisions during their final years.
I love the mid 2000s architecture and interiors with its light brown to dark brown wood finishings and floors splashed with some blues and other pastel colours having this cozy warm feeling but still looking modern. I could hang out in those malls all day and feel at home. Because I think that’s when there was this star bucks cozy coffee shop boom. I think Now a days the malls are white bland and boring I get headaches when I’m there and leave almost immediately when I’m done my shopping
See i hate it, give me pastels
@@AcesAdventures1 I agree. It looks like everything else now. Doctor's offices, airports, office buildings, chain restaurants. All the same blah.
@@AcesAdventures1 Agreed, the cold sterile look is horrible and boring and doesn't make you want to stay longer. My favorite era of Mall interiors was the late 70s early 80s with lots of real wood, warm colors, large fountains, greenery, and natural lighting too. A huge part of the problem especially in PA are the state is taxing the heck out of businesses and good income earners as well, they are driving investment out to other states with lower taxes, and high spending consumers as well. I used to live in Chester County PA (near West Chester) and even though it is one of the highest income areas in the country the state driving people out with their outrageous taxes and other strict regulations.
@@watershed44 I don’t think it’s cold and sterile it’s warm brown woods and splashes of colour are nice in my opinion, todays malls are cold and sterile. But late 70s 80s and 90s will always my my favourite
@@eatrunandtravel You misunderstood what I said. I was saying that the trends in malls for the past15 years has been the cold and sterile look. The 1990s had color, but I didn't like the weird contemporary styling much. The mid-late 70s and early 80s were best, because they used a lot of natural light and med color wood, paint colors were warm, some mirroring, LOTS of large fountains and greenery, and natural lighting from skylights in the USA.
Thank you for actually putting in the title where this place is. Because people who go out exploring old abandoned places never put where it is
It is creepy seeing an abandoned intact mall like this, because it's in good physical shape, compared to your other vids. In particular, it seems so clean! Enjoy a healthy and happy new year!
You also Bob
I live near this mall and it's not abandoned abandoned. It's still open it just has hardly any stores and more than half of the places are empty inside of it. A good amount of people still go there sometimes, but it does look abandoned cause theres hardly anything in it. That place used to be packed full. It's sad theres like nothing there now.
It's not abandoned.... hardly anything there though
Very well put together Anthony I really enjoyed it.
It shocked the hell out of me that Namdar actually got a small movie theater chain to set up shop in the former Cinemark. I think they can only run 8 screens because Cinemark took all of the movie equipment and that's all they could afford to rebuild, so it's only partially filled up.
Crazy arrogance
I typically watch dead mall videos, and retail content in general, for one of 3 things - vintage aesthetics, signage left behind, or to see the current state of a place I have visited before. However, this video intrigued me. I couldn't believe that that building was only 15 years old being so empty. Your explanations were good as to why malls, and retail establishments in general, are struggling. There is no one answer, and different factors contribute to each place's demise. It's sad to see but I appreciate your work and documenting these places. Well done video as always.
On February 19 2022, my wife and I searched for a random mall to go visit. Pittsburgh Mills popped up. We are in Ohio and wasn't familiar with the location. We were surprised to find it nearly empty of stores. Several of the very few stores that were still there had "Store Closing" signs. It still looks beautiful on the inside. The store directory shows what used to be.
A stunning and insane situation.
You always do a great job, on your Mall videos.
Love the music
I love some good tunes
@@AcesAdventures1 hey, what’s the song during the latter part of the video? I must’ve missed it! But great video, too!
Ah...Caldor...was one of my favorite places to shop, back in the Day...here in Connecticut...have not thot about them in many years....thanks for the memories ..😁😁😎
Another idea for Ace's Adventures:
Do a video tracking of department store mergers and defunct department stores. This might be more like a scroll credits type video but it would be very powerful when you look at what stores were bought out and how many consolidated into others.
The biggest issue would be filming these places
@@AcesAdventures1 this would be more graphics and tables but could be very powerful. I think a slow scrolling list of all the defunct stores and who they sold or merged into would be powerful.
Awesome opening!!!
Merry Christmas 🎅 🎄 Ace Great video.
🍻 Cheers from Oklahoma
It takes days for the intro song to get out of my head, thank you ace's adventrues, LOL 🙃😂
That’s the point lol
@@AcesAdventures1 if you want to see a living time capsle of a busey mall with 1980s/1990s appeal, you should check out Town East mall, Mesqiute TX
Great video Ace I go to Pittsburgh Mills to take pictures of it inside and outside.Station Square is a skeleton of its former self ,after they opened South Side Works that hurt SQ now South Side Works is now half gone .
Keep Up your GREAT Work !!!😎🇺🇸🙏🎄
You and Sal did a good job.
Ty!
My first Deadmall adventure was May of 2007, Bannister Mall's last day,
I grew up close to Pittsburgh and went to the Mills when they opened. I remember thinking that it was an incredible structure but it felt kind of half assed. the stores were cut rate and there was never a premium vibe. they never were able to pull the big brand named stores from Ross Park. Ross park is still kicking to this day. but additionally Pennsylvania is dying out. years of bad policies and a record of being one of the worst states to start a business pushed a lot of us to move elsewhere for better opportunities. my hometown has almost no young people w a average population 60 and older. i’d say over 70% of my graduating class moved fully out of state. A change in leadership and policies to bring more companies back would be a start, but there’s no luck for that happening on the horizon anytime soon, or ever.
Brock Vanleer
You nailed it! PA is driving business investments and high income earners out of the state and has been doing so since the late 1970s! The ironic part is that these gov't stooges are biting the hand that pays their salaries and eventually they too will disappear because there will be no tax base to pay them.
I live right by this mall and I'm going to be so sad to see it go. It was such a blessing (and still is) during COVID to take my kids up to the play area on rainy days and do laps around the mall. I really wish they could do something with the space... maybe turn it in to a retirement community?
Love this video. I grew up going to this mall. How did you get into those closed off places?
It's called trespassing
I wonder if the designer of this building also did Sawgrass Mills in FL. The interior of the galleria looks almost identical.
Excellent video! Thanks.
Ty Nancy and Merry Xmas!
My name is Mark Harley I worked in Cheswick a town below the mall. The developers came in and bought the farm owners property and those that would not sell the eminant domained them. It was 10 years in the works befor the mall was built. It killed The Highlands mall that at one time was a great place to shop. The reason they did not want bus stops there is they did not want the trash from the City Of Pittsburgh ruining the mall and outter stores. I worked at Bunting Graphics when the mall was built and had a hand in building all the sinage and directional signs. Even the big tower sign on route 28. The interior sinage was fresh and new and has stood the test of time. He mall never felt right and they never had the draw sytores needed to get people there. Even the anchor stores were not like the others in malls close by. The best thing that could happen to this property is to make it into a retirement community as in Allegheny County there are enough elderly to go around.
Love this mall so huge
Merry Christmas ace
We lived just a few miles from this mall and we're really excited as it was being built and opening back in 1996. All retail experts were against this mall being Built. The developer General Growth Properties were hoping to pull in wealthy residence of the nearby town of Windermere. ( Former home of Tiger Woods) Thus creating competition between them and the Florida Mall which they were in no way going to win. The mall never reached over 80% capacity and plans for a 5th department store never materialized. Crime is now rampant surrounding the mall so I would advise caution if visiting at night.
I still think it was a massive mistake
Thank you for my future Christmas viewing. Santa just showed up, gotta go.
Merry Christmas Lesko! 🎄
Nice footage
Thank you for your time that you put in these excellent videos!!! I love malls, but I agree we don't need that many malls. It feels that they want to put a mall in every suburb. I feel some suburbs, not all have more malls then grocery stores. 😁
The mall as you know it will be gone in 20 yrs
Thanks Anthony, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year
You also!
"The Mills Corporation indirectly spawned Moonbeam and Mike Kohan"
🤣🤣🤣
Merry Christmas 🎄😘💝
Merry Christmas to you also Jane
I remember when Dan Bell visited this place in 2017 and it was just starting to die but it still had some stores and attractions left. It's surreal seeing this place abandoned and empty knowing it used to have a bit of life left 5 years ago. Feels more like a Liminal Space video than a dead Mall video.
I watch Kmart being built 1962. I watch it close 5 years ago. There's no more Sears no more Kmart here in Northern Indiana that I know of at least I don't think so
✔️Merry Christmas to all... 🎄🎁🎅🏻 Merry Christmas Anthony!!
Merry Christmas! 🎄 ☃️
@@retroholic5628 have a nice Christmas 🎄
Dude this slaps all up, you nailed it. 🙌🏻 Thank you for the fantastic tour and history and a happy healthy holiday to you and yours!
Ty ty!
At least Crossiron Mills north of Calgary hasn't become something like this. What's next door to Crossiron is a different story though.
Dude great content 💯💪🏻
Most accurate statement in this video: Galleria at Pittsburgh Mills should NEVER have been built. Greater Pittsburgh has been either declining or stagnant in terms of population and personal income since the steel industry collapsed. Given the timeline of this mall's planning and construction, everyone involved should have known better.
This “might” have done well in the Cranberry / Seneca Valley area, but those folks in the new big money developments north of Wexford just drive down to McCandless Crossing and and Ross Park Mall. Putting this mall on the 28 corridor heading to New Ken, Natrona Heights and Kittanning was moronic. Those are all dying towns (with amazing history helping to build this country) since the industrial mills left decades ago. The average income the further you head up 28 falls off a cliff once you are past Fox Chapel.
It was insane to me that they built this out of nowhere mall in an area that could not support a strong retail area, and this was already known by this point! It's not like the industrial flight was just happening in the early 2000's- anyone building in that area would have already known that these were dying towns. It's the reason why the biggest thing built in Indiana, PA in recent years was like a Walmart and a TJMaxx!
Yeah location was definitely one of the nails in the coffin for this mall. For anyone that doesn't live out there is was a pain the ass to get to. The main draw for me and my brother is at the time it had one of the few theaters in the area that had an Imax screen. That was really the only reason we went out that way.
@@bassplayer2011ify IMAX was definitely cool. It’s nuts because even when the mall was built, if the executives planning the construction drove up and down 28, stopped off at a few of the towns north of Fox Chapel, there is zero way they would have said “oh yea, we need to build a really nice mall here”…. Moronic! It’s like someone took demographics from other areas around the city with higher household incomes and threw them into the mix. The older folks of Pittsburgh still think crossing a river is a day trip….
Merry Christmas To Anthony And All The Loyal Viewers
Absulutly love tge editing done to home sweet home
It's especially fascinating seeing these places because I'm from Western PA, from the Cranberry by Oil City, and because I now live in a different country not yet experiencing this trend, Thailand, in Bangkok. They're still building malls here, even though the writing is on the wall about overbuilding and online shopping uptake.
Another terrific video! Can anyone help me in naming what artist(s) did the music starting at the 16:14 minute mark and until the end of the video itself? Loved it and want to add it to my SynthWave collection. Thanks for any one’s help! Keep these fun videos coming!!
I'm trying to figure out the same thing! The music at the end is fantastic and I'd like to support the creator
@@gaminwithgc i will post the link shortly
I remember when this mall was the thing, the joint where everything happened. It makes me sad it’s gone.
The theater did reopen. I forget the company that took it over but that is back open, the rest of the place is dead. Nobody in Pittsburgh wants to deal with PA 28 when they don’t need to.
That would be so odd to see it open now
@@AcesAdventures1 How long is the theater going to stay open in a dead mall?Covid and technology has driven folks away from movie theaters.I am one of those who hasn't been to a theater in years.At home---you can start and pause the movie when you want to -like get your own "concessions" and go to the bathroom.Your remote"clicker" doesn't work in a theater!And----NO trailers or ads!
@@rexoliver7780 I think theaters need to evolve or die. I live in a mid-sized city of half a million. Before COVID we had 9 theaters, 8 of them with 6 or more screens. Three at least are never going to reopen. They are the old shoebox theaters and good riddance. I went to my first movie in 15 months last July. It was in what used to be one of the busiest theaters of the bunch. It was a Friday night one week after opening week of a fairly big film. I was ALONE in a massive auditorium. I spoke with an employee about it and he said that was not unusual now. Definitely not a sustainable business model. This is a 16 screen fairly new AMC megaplex attached to a fairly busy mall. I predict it won't last. Oddly enough, one of those "dinner theaters" opened during the height of the pandemic ironically in a defunct K-Mart. It's doing great! Maybe that's the secret; make it gimmicky or people will stay home.
@@MuneageDaydream honestly the cinema industry could disappear and no one would miss it. Hollywood puts out garbage and are surprised no one is watching anymore.
The movie theater is open now. I just went there. This place is in my backyard.
That’s good to hear!
Kansas City at one point had 11 active malls, we are down to 4 now.
Just wondering what are the four you're referring to? I lived there yrs ago
@@kerrydahl4526 Oak Park Mall, Ward Parkway, Independence Center and The Landing.
Thank you very much! Spent my younger years at Metro North and Bannister malls in particular.
Great video
Ty!
Many dead malls don't have power. Ohio has been hit hard too. Northlake Mall in Charlotte is still open but in receivership. They have had some shooting there, one on Christmas eve several years ago. Violence never helps
There is one of those HUGE malls in Concord NC. Same neighborhood layout. It seems to be doing well and is owned by Simon
I remember seeing the slow decline of Parkway Center and the old Washington mall (not crown center the other one that was on Oak Spring Road just off of highway 19 that had a Toys R Us as an anchor store). Both of them were pretty much dead by the early to mid to 2000s. Robinson was the final nail in the coffin for PWC. I'm not sure what killed the old Washington mall never lived close enough to it to go regularly. Main reason for going there was they had a Silver Mine and I was collecting state quarters at the time.
My friend has the Parkway Center Mall sign
Looks a lot like the St. Louis Mills mall.
Thank God that Rock n roll music ended at the beginning of the video. That was a nightmare.
Well that is one of the more interesting covers I've heard for Motley Crue
I used to do a lot of work with the Pennsylvania Department of Education, and would stay in the Tarentum area (literally right next door to the mall) when I was visiting the Pittsburgh PaTTAN. That mall is beautiful on the inside - and spotlessly clean - such a shame that it never took off like it should have. The area around the mall has several restaurants, stores, and hotels, but it all feels like a dead end because all of the roads wrap around each other back to the on/off ramp for the mall. There are areas of Pittsburgh that would have been much better suited to this project - perhaps the Cranberry area?
Missed the premiere because I was out with family/friends, but this was good, Anthony.
Merry Xmas!
Ace is correct in the there is no universal reason. But if you must have one that fits most scenarios it is that overmalling has spoiled due to the loss of protection from distance and safety concerns. We don't live as we did in the heyday of malls. Getting lost, running out of gas, as a new driver your jalopy breaking down, or going far away with the family's only car is no longer an issue. Therefore is no need for malls everywhere. Of course, there are other factors like the consolidation or loss of nameplates and the disappearance of regional industry. They all have some impact. But in the end for most malls, they were given a short life span before even the first bit of dirt was moved. They came and served a purpose and now their natural end of life as just a mall is coming or has come. And now all we can do is be thankful for people like Ace and Sal who document these places for us and future generations to see.
Love the letsgetshopping banner there..not doing any shopping at this mall😂
For me it a personal reason for watching any mall vid, didn't matter who the creator was, initially, However over time all the that has changed, Creators like you, and those you also mentioned took it to a whole new level, a definite plus, keep doing what you do, cause we will always be watching, I grew up during the 70's&80's malls were doing significantly better back then compared to nowadays, Liked the vid, Happy Holidays
Merry Christmas!
Remember when a lot of failing malls became outlet malls instead? They were just all outlet stores. I don't even see those anymore. At least not where I live.
Awesome work Ace!! I absolutely love your content. I think it's extremely important for us to document these places before they are a thing of the pass. Keep up the good work and Merry Christmas.
TY TY
They also had a legendary store called David Bryan’s iykyk
cool beans, thnx
Is this mall open still? I was wondering how it can be. I then looked it up and saw the Wikepedia article on it. I also saw there is an active website. Guess I answered my own question. I cracked up at the old people and the Jazz keyboardist singer. That Max Headroom guy was from what year? I forget..
Arundel Mills Mall in between DC and Baltimore is ironically a booming vibrant mall. Must be the location and casino anchor. Not too far from booming Columbia Mall too.
FYI: Kmart bought / "merged" with Sears in 2005, SIXTEEN years ago. Since then the company formed to manage both companies (Sears Holdings) declared bankruptcy and a bankruptcy court actually sold the remnants back to the same person (Eddie Lampert) who took it private in a company called Transformco. As of today the company has less than 30 stores combined between the two chains in the US.
I know, hard to believe Kmart thought it was a good idea to buy Sears when they were already struggling
@@AcesAdventures1 Fast Eddie Lampert is a financial vampire who has literally sucked the blood out of Sears since he has been there! No reinvesting back into the stores to update them at all. I think the guy is a criminal since he clearly wasn't acting in the best interests of the company's long term health.
Wow had to go with a motley crue song love it🤟🤘🤘
Heck yes
I remember when it was still active enough to have a sky trail line or still options at the food court the day they closed the game stop was the day we all knew they were done😂😂😂😂😂
I apologize if you answered this already. Any particular reason you waited a year to upload?
That mall looks like Grapevine Mills in Grapevine Texas
That was a nice mall about 12 years ago. Was kinda set up for failure though. Spent a lot of time there.
Did it ever occur to you that some of the problem might be that some people own property that they want to develop, but since it's zoned for business instead of housing, they're forced to build malls or something similar in order to make any money?
Ross park mall was anything but dead on a June 2021 afternoon visit this summer , very few stores closed and many people throughout 🙂
Man I dread to see the size of the bribe to the security guard for that explore! I'd kill for a mall like this here in Devon, England - our idea of a mall is something a quarter of the size, if they could pick that place up and drop it over here, it would probably do well.
Song ID around 18:33 please? Great video
If I patreon any chance of sharing that song ID?
Here’s a fun fact! My girlfriends grandparents owned the property before the mills bought it. Apparently they were royally dishonest, offering discounts and many benefits that they never held up to.
Congratulations on your decisions. Looking forward to your vlogs. Will you at some point meet up with Jordan? Happy New Year!
Jordan the Lion?
@@AcesAdventures1 Yes, there friends
Movie theater is open!!!!!
The mall back in the day was like being able to walk through Amazon...
sort of
What month was it recorded?
A year ago