I worked at the mall back in the late 70s as a teenager. I was a waiter at Ciro’s Top of the Mall, which was a great nightclub where a lot of celebrities and big politicians would come in. Then at National Record Mart. So sad to see all of it gone. I haven’t been back to the area since the early 80s, but I have great memories. I’m glad I was there when it was in its prime.
This breaks my heart seeing this mall die. I grew up coming to this mall with my mom. I lost my mom when I was 17 and have the fondest memories of coming to BVM. We used to have girls day out once a month when I was a young teen up until she died. She would let me pick out a new top and take me to Kings for dinner afterwards. I had many dates at this mall and met many of my friends there to hang out. It was the place to be back in the late 90s. I still remember all the smells and the fountain we would toss pennies into. Thanks for making this video Ace! Brought back all the amazing feels of the splendor and depravity of adolescence.
I remember when “Saturday Night Fever” came out and my dad and I went to the movies at Oglethorpe Mall to see it. And we were singing “How Deep Is Your Love” while heading home from the movies that night. Awesome memories
This makes me so sad to see. I grew up with that mall and back in the day it was a hopping place. Last time I was there there was absolutely nothing left. Thank you for sharing and for the pictures. Brought back so many memories.
This is the mall I grew up going to, less than ten minutes away from home. I've been to this mall dozens upon dozens of times and it's depressing beyond belief what it's become. I remember so clearly what it used to be. I would sit by the fountains with my pap playing Game Boy under the skylight after he stopped by the lottery counter next to the Hallmark. My uncle worked for years at the Boscov's here and my mom worked at both the Victoria's Secret and Disney Store inside this mall at different points. So many memories of this place being full of life, and I still dream now and then that I'm back there again walking around. Thanks for getting footage of the neon inside Boscov's, by the way. I really appreciate that.
I absolutely loved the slideshow and The Bee Gees! Thank you- It took me right back to the 70s. I was in my 20's. For me the 60s-70s were the best. Can't comment on the anchors. I'm from Pittsburgh many years ago. Sad to see this so empty.
I’d only ever heard of them from Johnny Carson 😅 I’d never actually seen one. I grew up in the South (“Saath”) Hills and the malls never did have that. So I was surprised to see it here. (I assume it’s no longer there?)
Been to that mall 100's of times. Went to Chi-Chis back in the late 90's with a friend and his future wife. We told the waitress it was his birthday so they brought out the big sombrero and sang happy birthday to him. Funny thing was none of us had any idea when his birthday was. There was also an awesome pizza place in there back in the 80's. Huge thin crust pizza. Can't remember what it was called now. We still go there occasionally. It isn't as dead as this video depicts but it definitely isn't what it used to be.
Everyone is right about the music. Somehow you picked the perfect songs, and just set the mood wonderfully. Also, one thing that strikes me about old mall photos, is how bright and open the stores were. How you could see from the front, all the way to the back wall, from all the way outside, in the mall concourse. So interesting-and sometimes sad-how things change. Awesome video as always, Ace! ETA: the burp/hiccup at 15:50 😂😂😂😂 Oh God! I love you Ace!! Please don't ever change!!
Man, it's crazy seeing what that mall used to be. I remember how packed it always was when I was a kid, and all the cool events they would have there. When I still lived in beaver county, I'd stop in and it was a ghost town. It's such a shame. My first job was there at a sports collectibles store
SAD TO SEE , I WAS BORN IN THE AREA AND THE MALL WAS THE COOLEST HANG OUT....I REMEMBER THE ARCADE BY ANTHONYS PIZZA......AND WHO CAN FORGET WOOLWORTH , GIMBELS, SAM GOODY.....THE MEMORIES!!!! AWESOME JOB ACE!!!!! THANKS
LOVED the colorized photos from the opening of the mall! Even though I grew up in Tulsa, those stores brought back memories of local malls when I was growing up. I assumed it was original color; great job!
I immediately thought, “This is the Chi Chi’s mall!” - glad you brought that up because that is immediately what I thought of when I saw this mall video.
ACE... love the intro and outro music choice. Yes... I know that you are a professional DJ as well, but seriously it fits so well. I can only hope that there is some way an indoor mall renaissance can still happen, but we still don't see it. Online shopping is convenient to an extent... but returns are a pain more than not with shipping. Updates to existing architecture only go so far, but I will always have a place in my heart for the personal customer service that any online shopping lacks. Thanks again for sharing this gem with us... not caring about the IP UA-cam world and just playing music like it should be. Music is for everyone.
In the 80s, it was a treat to drive to Beaver Valley (30 miles from my house). Now, I live 2 miles from the mall and I couldn't tell you the last time I walked through it. It's too sad.
I like the look of this place has had updates over the years but still retains a lot of 70s/80s look to it as well . Love the fountain ..Well kept as well, sad to see that there is very few stores left but same story different mall as usual ....
Hearing it pronounced like "mon-uh-cuh" was so jarring. I've only heard it as "muh-nah-cuh" I used to love coming here with my mom and sister as a kid. It was always my favorite place to shop, especially for the Auntie Annes. I've not been back since FYE closed. Its only really worth stopping by now to take a walk or when there's some event going on. A while back there was a little market setup around the fountain which was nice. I got a ring from there. I wonder where I misplaced it around here, cause I quite liked it and this just reminded me. This was a really nice video, thank you for making it! I hope this mall may one day find new life and bring great joy to its visitors once again
Back in the early 2000's I lived in nearby New Castle, PA and Beaver Valley was one of the malls that me and my then wife would frequently go to. (the others being the ones in Sharon and Butler, PA and Youngstown and Niles, OH). But wow it's so sad to see how many empty store fronts are in that place is now. I remember the ChiChi's incident too. We dined at that ChiChi's under a month before that happened.
The Gray Drug, the Foxmoor, the Waldenbooks, the Orange Julius -- all were huge components of the Westland Mall in Columbus, OH, which I've been so far striking out in finding many detailed photos of. But those were the storefronts I remember. Thanks again (and really wish the notifications thingie would work.)
Beaver Valley Mall confession: As a teenager back in the year 2000, I poured a champagne sized bottle of bubble bath into the fountain by what was once Kaufmans. I bought it at Spencer's and opened the bottle inside the bag, allowing the bag to fill with bubble bath juice. I then tore one of the bottom corners off the bag and leaned over the fountain, letting the fluid pour out into the water. It far exceeded any expectation I had, as bubbles and foam poured over the plants and then onto the floor. When it shot in the air, bubbles would float around up high and carried quite an impressive distance before popping. It was epic.
@shainahullihen1159 Nope 😈 The way I did it.. just letting the bubble bath pour out of a hole in the bag.. made it impossible for them to tell what had happened. Lol.. I wouldn't do it today as an adult, but as a teenage male, I didn't even hesitate.
Monaca (pronounced as Mon-ack-ah) used to be such a flourishing and thriving area. I’m happy that this mall hasn’t been left to crumble and still has a certain level of order to it. Not everything has to go the way of C III, and be ravaged by time. 😢
Awesome vid as always! I used to visit this mall often when we lived in Pittsburgh. Monaca is a very depressed town. The jobs left, the people left and they’re not coming back. Sad
As a Manxman reminiscing about my time in Beaver in 1981 and 1985 as young man visiting family, the mall holds so many happy memories. You chosen tune could not be more apt The Bee Gees, three of the most famous Manxmen from my country, the Isle of Man. Very sad to see the changes.
Anchor stores are a product of the rise in consumerism back after WW2. This up and coming generation places no value on consuming stuff that pretty much every store has. Some of the smaller malls are getting repurposed as niche market swap meets, complete with anchor stores turning into grocery stores. Lots of tattoo artists are showing up in these smaller malls as well. I guess it's more about services than stuff. Anyway, my 2 cents, great video as always!
It's not just values, it's also economics. It's hard to buy stuff when you can't afford your own house to put it in! Home ownership and renting among millenials and younger is lower than for older generations.
@@sylkates I agree that within my family we have some of the younger generation still living at home with no interest in having a job. Or they go out looking and turn down any offers because the pay is only 15 dollar and hour. So I guess zero dollar an hour looks pretty good to them, and mom and pop pay their way in life.
@@iworkout6912 personally, as a millennial, I work my ass off, and all I can afford with it is an apartment in this area. I can't begin to afford a house like my parents had. Student loans really eat into my savings power for home buying, and the region is just so incredibly expensive. I can't move because I have to be close to my elderly family. When they bought a house here in the 70s, it wasn't so incredibly unaffordable for them, and they didn't even have college educated jobs like I do. If you do any actual research at all into how the economy has changed since the '70s, millennials aren't poor because they want to be. They're poor because the economy has changed so much around them. The idea that the millennials want to be poor or because we eat avocado toast, is a sick joke that boomers invent to feel better about how much worse their younger relatives are doing. Anybody who was only old enough to buy a house after the year 2008 is having a much harder time than anybody who bought a house before then. It's that simple. And before you say, just move in with your elderly relatives in this area, yes that's in the cards eventually. They're very hard to live with. But once I am forced by circumstances to do that, there I go with being another millennial living with family, instead of on our own. I still won't have a chance to buy new furniture in a local mall, because their 1970's furniture technically still exists.
@@sylkates Or you could be like me and leave. I went to the Balt-DC area like a lot of people. This was right after the mill collapsed. Just recently came home after my husband passed. Funny how things changed Some got worse and some improved and some stayed the same. The roads however never changed. PA road are pretty much how they were in the 80’s when I left😢
I really enjoyed the pictures in the beginning of the video with the Bee Gees playing. Ahh the days of the thriving malls. I think there are so many factors for closing malls; economic recession, online shopping, big box stores, crime, kids would rather stay home and play video games or they are in organized sports, people would rather just pop into one store instead of having to walk through the mall, etc. I always loved the mall at Christmas time. I was just thinking last night that my kids didn’t grow up with the nostalgia for the malls my husband and I do. Our first child was born in 2005 and although I used to go to the mall with friends when they were babies, malls were already starting to go under. 😢 I don’t know if anchors necessarily have to do with the success of malls anymore. They probably pay a higher rent which may be beneficial for the smaller stores.
Watching videos about these malls freaks me out. Hard to believe that in 0nly about 20 years, these things have, or are, going out of existence. I still cannot believe Sears, once the largest retailer in the US, with over 350,000 employees, is almost gone. Thanx for posting
The Beaver Valley Mall’s demise can be laid squarely at the feet of the owners! It’s not the anchor stores. It’s not stores not wanting to be in the mall. It’s the greedy owners! Examples: At the end of the 2020 (Pandemic), the owners raised the rent. Yankee Candle’s corporate office received the notice in December. The owners refused to negotiate. So, Yankee Candle closed their store. The Hallmark Store wanted to renew their lease but the owners said no, forcing Hallmark to leave. And Antony’s Pizzeria, a fixture at the Mall since 1987, was forced to close because the Mall’s owners refused to budge on the new lease amount, even though foot traffic had diminished. The owners would rather have an empty Mall than work with their tenants! That way they can blame the tenants and the people of Beaver County for the Mall’s demise rather than their greedy selves!
I agree with you 💯. My aunt used to own the Candy Express in the mall and I can remember her telling me how much the rent was. She finally had enough and pulled out after 18 years there
Needed that sing a long to sooth the Sunday scaries - great music pick. 👍🏼My last visit to this mall was 2017 and gee wiz the wind was let out of her sails
I loved this mall. So many memories there. Grew up in the 80s so I remember it even before JC Penney was built and the front entrance where the food court is now had benches, fake trees, etc. Arcade 2000 was nestled in the front corner on the left, by Hickory Farms and Roy Rogers was where Chick-fil-A is now. I love the colorized photos; I miss the old "rock and pebble" aesthetic that went away with the remodel in the early 90s. Took my kids here often when they were little; they miss the mall as they knew it back then as well. It's so sad, what it has become. Thanks for the vid, really enjoyed it.
Hope you got a chance to visit Pinball PA just down the road while you were there. 400+ Arcade games and Pinball machines all on free play with admission! Great place!
Its crazy that this just popped up on my YT home page - this was my mall when i was a kid! Born in the 90s so a lot of the cool looking 70s stores were already long gone, but I have such fond memories of going there and sitting at the fountain or going to the Disney store. Every time I drive past, its a little more decrepit and a little more dead. The last time I was inside it was dead silent like a ghost town. It's so depressing. Our whole area is really suffering. They don't call it the rust belt for nothing.
thanks for the video, keep making them, it is sad, i think about all the people that lost their jobs, when i moved here in 2012 during the recession from calif. the mall was full of stores, and got busier when the economy started to improve around 2013, i read somewhere a middle eastern family bought the mall and jacked up rents, stupid because now they make less money because everyone left. I remember buying stuff for my new house at sears, jc penney, boscovs, kitchen store etc.... i use to go there all the time in winter and walk laps when it was snowing.
I remember how crowded this mall used to be . I worked at JCP numerous years in the 90's. The food court used to have the BEST pizza ! So so sad to see it like this. P.S. It's "Ma-nack-ah" lol
The intro with the Bee Gees and pictures of the stores back in the day. That Spencers store looks soooooooooooo different and tame compared to what I remember when I would stop in. Hehehe.... Oh and Radio Shack!!!! Anybody want to go to The Tweed Shop? 😁
This was my High School years, remember going there quite often, so sad I'm losing apart of my late teens, has moved to Beaver Falls, PA in 1996, and graduated High School in 2000, loved that mall, so sad it could be gone
Just coming back to this video after seeing your newest on Johnstown. My elderly parents just moved to Beaver a couple years ago, not long before this video came out. There seems to be a lot more residential development as Yinzers sprawl further outbound from The ‘Burgh; many like my parents emigrated to Beaver from Cranberry Township. (CT itself saw a huge boom starting in the late 90’s as people sought a bedroom community within relatively easy reach of Dahntahn, but with half the property tax rates of Allegheny County. Yet to my knowledge CT has never had a nearby mall constructed since then. And yet Beaver Valley Mall has not / cannot be revived.
You do have a valuable point with the anchor stores. They may be a little better but it's hard to say how much better without anchor stores. Thanks for the great videos.
i used to love coming to this mall because it had tons of places that we dont have locally anymore and now i have to travel 2 hours to go to some of those stores
Love the video, the music really set the mood. I haven't been keeping up with your posts exactly, but it looks like you have a gimbal-mounted camera now, very smooth video and it looks great.
That album was a soundtrack to part of my childhood. (circa 1978...and yes I was singing the harmonies on the track, 'cause I'm old like that.) It was the highwater mark for disco; also the beginning of the end. Totally appropriate. BTW - this didn't get demonetized. YAY!
My gramma used to take my sisters and me to this mall. I lived on the other side of PA. I remember this mall when it was thriving. Sad what it's become.
This was the mall my mom took me to in the 90s all the time, the fountain as a kid was HUGE, like the size of a mountain (in my kid eyes). Her and I went there in 2013 and it was dead then.
Looks like a beautiful asthetic to this mall. Sad it is dying. As to the anchor stores. You are right, they don't have everything anymore. Nowadays everyone flocks to Target, Ikea, Costco, Home Depot, and Lowes for things for the home. Years ago it would have been Sears, JcPenney, Montgomery Ward, and a whole host of others. It seemed that the mall anchor chains died off in vary different ways. Macy's took over about 30 other chains over its lifetime through a series of mergers over a few days. Others died other ways like Eddie Lampert running Sears into the ground. Still others were the result of bad management. Others went bankrupt. I think Shopping malls were a relic of a simplier time in society and in today's digital age and millennials preferring smaller homes and the age of too much debt and less kids, and less consumption, the concept of a mall is slowly fading away. I almost think one should be bought and turned into a museum of retail showing the relics of the past and the rise and fall of the different ages of the mall revolution.
Surprisingly, Monaca does not have a Costco or Best Buy. There is a Lowe’s but I do not recall seeing a Home Depot. The nearest of these are in Cranberry Township. But a lot of people (including my parents) seem to be moving from Cranberry Township to Beaver (after having already moved 20+ years earlier from Pittsburgh to Cranberry Township 😅).
I am always caught in a mix of hating (I hate to see this happen, growing up in the 90's though two malls i use to go to are apparently going strong still) and loving (that people like yourself are paying tribute to these places. I think there are so many factors and yes Online Shopping is one, but also in some areas ... there are SO MANY malls in a "small area" ... when things take a down turn or trend change shopping wise ... they were not going to survive. I still say so many of these places that are NOT run down and some look really nice (even sort of a time capsule in terms of some of the designs (I say that in a GOOD way for the most part) ... these places could be repurposed WITHOUT TEARING them down. Say make the anchor stores grocery stores and then have indoor (esp in colder climates but also hotter/humid climiates comes to think of it. Have part of them be trade/tech schools teaching people skills (say esp the less fortunate/homeless , but anyone really) ... turn some of them into schools where each of the small stores inside could be classroooms and then the anchor could be like a big gym or something. I have seen some malls on channels in BAD shape ... I am talking about the ones still doing good ... and the asttetic (sp?)/ layout of some of these places is so unique ... it's a shame to see certain ones go in place of a cookie cutter "super Walmart" or something.
You are absolutely correct! In my area there were 2 mall developers that owned 5 malls,If they had issues it effected everything. Its really no different how corporations do franchising nowadays,they sell all of the franchise rights to one person or company,thats why you see them fail like a house of cards . Krispy Kreme did it in my state,as did Tim Hortons they are all gone now!
I wouldn’t blame the Internet so much as the Big Box craze of the 90s and the rise of stores like Target, Walmart, Hone Depot, etc. Target and Walmart have especially hurt the traditional department store by having a similar amount of space and categories but at a discount. And with Walmart and Target adding grocery sections (especially Walmart), they have become more one stop shop than ever.
I work at the chick-fil-a in the mall and the malls rent is extremely high. its really sad to see the mall down the drain but since covid the wrong store closed so no one came to the mall anymore.
That’s something you don’t see too often in a mall: self storage units. Anyway, you should know that your friend Kohan just got his mitts on one of Detroit’s local malls, Fairlane Town Center in Dearborn, Michigan. Come by before it turns into a Kohan Kalamity.
Its awful to see any mall go by the wayside and start to fall and collapse. I hope our mall here continues to buck the trend and survive. The Ohio Valley Mall has been operational since 1978, had 5 anchor stores come and go including Kmart, Sears, and Macys but still maintain a presence. Plus the only mall left in the country to have a Sam Goody.
I just moved to Hopewell PA and was at this mall a few weeks ago because it's the closest chick-fil-a to my apartment. The food court was in fact the only place people seemed to be.
Go there often. Shop at Boscovs and Penneys there. Sad to see it the way it is... just like Eastern Hills in Amherst, NY. Another mall from my past (worked there). The fountain is still awesome.
Idk, in this day and age where everything has to be over the top to be relevant, I kinda like the understated vibe of this mall. It's mostly dead, yes, but for what it is, it's not in bad shape. I'd like to see it make a comeback! Boscov's is a nice clean store so maybe there is some hope for the mall.
Funny that you use the Bee Gees to intro this video. You see they grew up not far from me on the east coast of Australia in a seaside suburb called Cribb Island... They leveled the suburb to extend the Brisbane airport in the early 1980's. Lots of info on the Google if you are interested in a demise of a whole seaside suburb!!
This is the first time since they closed that I have seen the old Orange Julius or the Harvest House Coffee Shop. I used to go to both frequently. And in color yet. Now we need a photo of The Yum Yum Tree and B Dalton book store. Yes, this mall once had two bookstores. And a picture of the Christian bookstore would be nice.
Awesome video. I'm willing to bet the video got instantly demonotized due to the bee gees song. But in all seriousness it's kinda sad seeing all these properties that were once, hustle and bustling back in the day, now closing and deteriorating. It's quite sad. Keep doing what you do ace. Doing great.
So sad to see this…grew up in Aliquippa Pa 5miles down the road…grew up in this mall…my parents first date was at Ciro’s “Top Of The Mall” it was a legitimate supper club that hosted some major Hollywood level acts…so sad to see such memories die….
I like to read and watch these videos also to see what the properties were before the malls were built. Often they were Farms are former industrial sites. I would like to see negotiations that happened at the time that these huge things were built and the attitudes of those communities at the time towards shopping malls. Were they a safe bet at the time? It seems so considering how populated allow these models were even if there were too many of them ultimately or if some of them were not located very well. The small seems to have made it out better and longer than others would have. It's still nicely maintained for sure and I hope it's he's some kind of Revival because it's already renovated for it.
The video was recommended to me because Goolag knows that I’ve lived in Monaca/Beaver County my whole life, and have been to this mall well over 100 times
Just six years ago, the Beaver Valley Mall was alive. I wouldn't claim this mall was "thriving" in 2017, but it was still alive. Clearly this mall had seen better days in 2017, but it was still hanging on for the most part. Most storefronts were filled, and at any given day there were shoppers there, activity, etc. It really died fast during the past five or six years. My question is, why?
Somehow the local mall near me in Burlington MA is still thriving with the redevelopment of the Sears into an internal inline store corridor and the outside of it was turned into outdoor restaurants with no inside face. They did the same to the old Sears auto center. Apparently, the closed Lord and Taylor is going to become lab space! I miss the good old days of the blue neon, peach tiles, lush plants, and calming water fountains. Now it's just a drab, grey interior with all of the "minimalist" modern look.
I worked at the mall back in the late 70s as a teenager. I was a waiter at Ciro’s Top of the Mall, which was a great nightclub where a lot of celebrities and big politicians would come in. Then at National Record Mart. So sad to see all of it gone. I haven’t been back to the area since the early 80s, but I have great memories. I’m glad I was there when it was in its prime.
This breaks my heart seeing this mall die. I grew up coming to this mall with my mom. I lost my mom when I was 17 and have the fondest memories of coming to BVM. We used to have girls day out once a month when I was a young teen up until she died. She would let me pick out a new top and take me to Kings for dinner afterwards. I had many dates at this mall and met many of my friends there to hang out. It was the place to be back in the late 90s. I still remember all the smells and the fountain we would toss pennies into. Thanks for making this video Ace! Brought back all the amazing feels of the splendor and depravity of adolescence.
It was the place to be in the 70’s too. That place had a lot of impact on those of us in Beaver County😊😊
My grandpa helped build that mall, and my brother worked there for years.
That song just took me back to a simpler, happier time. Thank you ❤
Thank you!
I remember when “Saturday Night Fever” came out and my dad and I went to the movies at Oglethorpe Mall to see it. And we were singing “How Deep Is Your Love” while heading home from the movies that night. Awesome memories
1977 the year I graduated from HS
This makes me so sad to see. I grew up with that mall and back in the day it was a hopping place. Last time I was there there was absolutely nothing left. Thank you for sharing and for the pictures. Brought back so many memories.
So sad
This is the mall I grew up going to, less than ten minutes away from home. I've been to this mall dozens upon dozens of times and it's depressing beyond belief what it's become. I remember so clearly what it used to be. I would sit by the fountains with my pap playing Game Boy under the skylight after he stopped by the lottery counter next to the Hallmark. My uncle worked for years at the Boscov's here and my mom worked at both the Victoria's Secret and Disney Store inside this mall at different points. So many memories of this place being full of life, and I still dream now and then that I'm back there again walking around.
Thanks for getting footage of the neon inside Boscov's, by the way. I really appreciate that.
Too bad they are gutting most of them
Thanks for another great dead mall video. Don't ever think that all it takes to produce these films is unappreciated.
ty ty :)
I absolutely loved the slideshow and The Bee Gees! Thank you- It took me right back to the 70s. I was in my 20's. For me the 60s-70s were the best. Can't comment on the anchors. I'm from Pittsburgh many years ago. Sad to see this so empty.
It’s hard to see it like this. Back in the 80s it was a swinging place. My Mom loved to shop here. 😢
Frederick's of Hollywood...now there's a throwback to better times 🤩
I’d only ever heard of them from Johnny Carson 😅 I’d never actually seen one. I grew up in the South (“Saath”) Hills and the malls never did have that. So I was surprised to see it here. (I assume it’s no longer there?)
I saw one...once...
Been to that mall 100's of times. Went to Chi-Chis back in the late 90's with a friend and his future wife. We told the waitress it was his birthday so they brought out the big sombrero and sang happy birthday to him. Funny thing was none of us had any idea when his birthday was. There was also an awesome pizza place in there back in the 80's. Huge thin crust pizza. Can't remember what it was called now. We still go there occasionally. It isn't as dead as this video depicts but it definitely isn't what it used to be.
Everyone is right about the music. Somehow you picked the perfect songs, and just set the mood wonderfully. Also, one thing that strikes me about old mall photos, is how bright and open the stores were. How you could see from the front, all the way to the back wall, from all the way outside, in the mall concourse. So interesting-and sometimes sad-how things change. Awesome video as always, Ace!
ETA: the burp/hiccup at 15:50 😂😂😂😂 Oh God! I love you Ace!! Please don't ever change!!
Things were so much better
Man, it's crazy seeing what that mall used to be. I remember how packed it always was when I was a kid, and all the cool events they would have there. When I still lived in beaver county, I'd stop in and it was a ghost town. It's such a shame. My first job was there at a sports collectibles store
SAD TO SEE , I WAS BORN IN THE AREA AND THE MALL WAS THE COOLEST HANG OUT....I REMEMBER THE ARCADE BY ANTHONYS PIZZA......AND WHO CAN FORGET WOOLWORTH , GIMBELS, SAM GOODY.....THE MEMORIES!!!! AWESOME JOB ACE!!!!! THANKS
LOVED the colorized photos from the opening of the mall! Even though I grew up in Tulsa, those stores brought back memories of local malls when I was growing up. I assumed it was original color; great job!
ty :)
I immediately thought, “This is the Chi Chi’s mall!” - glad you brought that up because that is immediately what I thought of when I saw this mall video.
You really do an awesome job with these videos Anthony. You took me back to 1978.
Ty :)
ACE... love the intro and outro music choice. Yes... I know that you are a professional DJ as well, but seriously it fits so well. I can only hope that there is some way an indoor mall renaissance can still happen, but we still don't see it. Online shopping is convenient to an extent... but returns are a pain more than not with shipping. Updates to existing architecture only go so far, but I will always have a place in my heart for the personal customer service that any online shopping lacks. Thanks again for sharing this gem with us... not caring about the IP UA-cam world and just playing music like it should be. Music is for everyone.
Agreed, I choose music over money
In the 80s, it was a treat to drive to Beaver Valley (30 miles from my house). Now, I live 2 miles from the mall and I couldn't tell you the last time I walked through it. It's too sad.
I like the look of this place has had updates over the years but still retains a lot of 70s/80s look to it as well . Love the fountain ..Well kept as well, sad to see that there is very few stores left but same story different mall as usual ....
Hearing it pronounced like "mon-uh-cuh" was so jarring. I've only heard it as "muh-nah-cuh"
I used to love coming here with my mom and sister as a kid. It was always my favorite place to shop, especially for the Auntie Annes. I've not been back since FYE closed. Its only really worth stopping by now to take a walk or when there's some event going on. A while back there was a little market setup around the fountain which was nice. I got a ring from there. I wonder where I misplaced it around here, cause I quite liked it and this just reminded me.
This was a really nice video, thank you for making it!
I hope this mall may one day find new life and bring great joy to its visitors once again
FYE closed?! Jesus. I haven't been there in years, I no longer live near Beaver County. That's such a shame
Back in the early 2000's I lived in nearby New Castle, PA and Beaver Valley was one of the malls that me and my then wife would frequently go to. (the others being the ones in Sharon and Butler, PA and Youngstown and Niles, OH). But wow it's so sad to see how many empty store fronts are in that place is now. I remember the ChiChi's incident too. We dined at that ChiChi's under a month before that happened.
The Gray Drug, the Foxmoor, the Waldenbooks, the Orange Julius -- all were huge components of the Westland Mall in Columbus, OH, which I've been so far striking out in finding many detailed photos of. But those were the storefronts I remember. Thanks again (and really wish the notifications thingie would work.)
I’m always ecstatic to see your videos on my feed. Your videos keep getting better! Ugh this mall is so gorgeous.
Thank you so much!!
Beaver Valley Mall confession: As a teenager back in the year 2000, I poured a champagne sized bottle of bubble bath into the fountain by what was once Kaufmans. I bought it at Spencer's and opened the bottle inside the bag, allowing the bag to fill with bubble bath juice. I then tore one of the bottom corners off the bag and leaned over the fountain, letting the fluid pour out into the water. It far exceeded any expectation I had, as bubbles and foam poured over the plants and then onto the floor. When it shot in the air, bubbles would float around up high and carried quite an impressive distance before popping. It was epic.
I remember rumors of someone doing this..
Yep. You were at the Mall alright😂
@edenisburning, did you get in trouble? I had a champagne bubble bath too but in rose scent. I never got to use it cause my mom threw it out 😢.
I did the same thing in 06 only it was a hand full of dishwasher tabs
@shainahullihen1159 Nope 😈 The way I did it.. just letting the bubble bath pour out of a hole in the bag.. made it impossible for them to tell what had happened. Lol.. I wouldn't do it today as an adult, but as a teenage male, I didn't even hesitate.
Monaca (pronounced as Mon-ack-ah) used to be such a flourishing and thriving area. I’m happy that this mall hasn’t been left to crumble and still has a certain level of order to it. Not everything has to go the way of C III, and be ravaged by time. 😢
Drives me nuts when they say it wrong
I live in monaca this is sad
They could change it by doing community things and other things to bring ppl in…but they won’t.
@@paulakline4425 when Siri says it, or any GPS thing, it says Monaco
I know I’ve heard so many ways they have said Monaca. But I’ve lived in beaver county most my life there are many things ppl say wrong.
Awesome vid as always! I used to visit this mall often when we lived in Pittsburgh. Monaca is a very depressed town. The jobs left, the people left and they’re not coming back. Sad
This town isn’t depressed I have lived here my whole life and it is far from depressed
As a Manxman reminiscing about my time in Beaver in 1981 and 1985 as young man visiting family, the mall holds so many happy memories. You chosen tune could not be more apt The Bee Gees, three of the most famous Manxmen from my country, the Isle of Man. Very sad to see the changes.
breaks my heart to see what's become of this place. i have so many great memories of coming here as a child and teenager.
Anchor stores are a product of the rise in consumerism back after WW2. This up and coming generation places no value on consuming stuff that pretty much every store has. Some of the smaller malls are getting repurposed as niche market swap meets, complete with anchor stores turning into grocery stores. Lots of tattoo artists are showing up in these smaller malls as well. I guess it's more about services than stuff. Anyway, my 2 cents, great video as always!
It's not just values, it's also economics. It's hard to buy stuff when you can't afford your own house to put it in! Home ownership and renting among millenials and younger is lower than for older generations.
@@sylkates I agree that within my family we have some of the younger generation still living at home with no interest in having a job. Or they go out looking and turn down any offers because the pay is only 15 dollar and hour. So I guess zero dollar an hour looks pretty good to them, and mom and pop pay their way in life.
@@iworkout6912 personally, as a millennial, I work my ass off, and all I can afford with it is an apartment in this area. I can't begin to afford a house like my parents had. Student loans really eat into my savings power for home buying, and the region is just so incredibly expensive. I can't move because I have to be close to my elderly family. When they bought a house here in the 70s, it wasn't so incredibly unaffordable for them, and they didn't even have college educated jobs like I do.
If you do any actual research at all into how the economy has changed since the '70s, millennials aren't poor because they want to be. They're poor because the economy has changed so much around them. The idea that the millennials want to be poor or because we eat avocado toast, is a sick joke that boomers invent to feel better about how much worse their younger relatives are doing.
Anybody who was only old enough to buy a house after the year 2008 is having a much harder time than anybody who bought a house before then. It's that simple.
And before you say, just move in with your elderly relatives in this area, yes that's in the cards eventually. They're very hard to live with. But once I am forced by circumstances to do that, there I go with being another millennial living with family, instead of on our own. I still won't have a chance to buy new furniture in a local mall, because their 1970's furniture technically still exists.
@@iworkout6912 Go away.
@@sylkates Or you could be like me and leave. I went to the Balt-DC area like a lot of people. This was right after the mill collapsed. Just recently came home after my husband passed. Funny how things changed Some got worse and some improved and some stayed the same. The roads however never changed. PA road are pretty much how they were in the 80’s when I left😢
Great video as always. You always pick the best music to use. Loved the 70's pictures of the stores. Thanks
love the vibes
Love the music and what a great original opening look slideshow , thanks for the awesome video Ace !
Thank You :)
That water fountain is amazing!! Nice to see it working. Excellent job capturing on film Ace👍
Thanks 👍
I really enjoyed the pictures in the beginning of the video with the Bee Gees playing. Ahh the days of the thriving malls. I think there are so many factors for closing malls; economic recession, online shopping, big box stores, crime, kids would rather stay home and play video games or they are in organized sports, people would rather just pop into one store instead of having to walk through the mall, etc. I always loved the mall at Christmas time. I was just thinking last night that my kids didn’t grow up with the nostalgia for the malls my husband and I do. Our first child was born in 2005 and although I used to go to the mall with friends when they were babies, malls were already starting to go under. 😢 I don’t know if anchors necessarily have to do with the success of malls anymore. They probably pay a higher rent which may be beneficial for the smaller stores.
Ty!
Killed Beaver Falls tho
Great video! Nice looking mall. Thanks for filming.
Thank you too
Watching videos about these malls freaks me out. Hard to believe that in 0nly about 20 years, these things have, or are, going out of existence. I still cannot believe Sears, once the largest retailer in the US, with over 350,000 employees, is almost gone. Thanx for posting
The Beaver Valley Mall’s demise can be laid squarely at the feet of the owners! It’s not the anchor stores. It’s not stores not wanting to be in the mall. It’s the greedy owners! Examples: At the end of the 2020 (Pandemic), the owners raised the rent. Yankee Candle’s corporate office received the notice in December. The owners refused to negotiate. So, Yankee Candle closed their store. The Hallmark Store wanted to renew their lease but the owners said no, forcing Hallmark to leave. And Antony’s Pizzeria, a fixture at the Mall since 1987, was forced to close because the Mall’s owners refused to budge on the new lease amount, even though foot traffic had diminished. The owners would rather have an empty Mall than work with their tenants! That way they can blame the tenants and the people of Beaver County for the Mall’s demise rather than their greedy selves!
I agree with you 💯. My aunt used to own the Candy Express in the mall and I can remember her telling me how much the rent was. She finally had enough and pulled out after 18 years there
I remember GREY DRUG. We had one at the Great Lakes Mall in Mentor, Ohio.
Needed that sing a long to sooth the Sunday scaries - great music pick. 👍🏼My last visit to this mall was 2017 and gee wiz the wind was let out of her sails
I loved this mall. So many memories there. Grew up in the 80s so I remember it even before JC Penney was built and the front entrance where the food court is now had benches, fake trees, etc. Arcade 2000 was nestled in the front corner on the left, by Hickory Farms and Roy Rogers was where Chick-fil-A is now. I love the colorized photos; I miss the old "rock and pebble" aesthetic that went away with the remodel in the early 90s. Took my kids here often when they were little; they miss the mall as they knew it back then as well. It's so sad, what it has become. Thanks for the vid, really enjoyed it.
JC Pennys was at Northern Lights in Baden before it went to the mall
That reverb "Let it whip" hits different 😤
Wow-such a pretty mall-so sorry to see it go. 😮
Hope you got a chance to visit Pinball PA just down the road while you were there. 400+ Arcade games and Pinball machines all on free play with admission! Great place!
This was great, Ace! You really killed it with the music too. 🙌🏽
Its crazy that this just popped up on my YT home page - this was my mall when i was a kid! Born in the 90s so a lot of the cool looking 70s stores were already long gone, but I have such fond memories of going there and sitting at the fountain or going to the Disney store. Every time I drive past, its a little more decrepit and a little more dead. The last time I was inside it was dead silent like a ghost town. It's so depressing. Our whole area is really suffering. They don't call it the rust belt for nothing.
thanks for the video, keep making them, it is sad, i think about all the people that lost their jobs, when i moved here in 2012 during the recession from calif. the mall was full of stores, and got busier when the economy started to improve around 2013, i read somewhere a middle eastern family bought the mall and jacked up rents, stupid because now they make less money because everyone left. I remember buying stuff for my new house at sears, jc penney, boscovs, kitchen store etc.... i use to go there all the time in winter and walk laps when it was snowing.
I remember how crowded this mall used to be . I worked at JCP numerous years in the 90's. The food court used to have the BEST pizza ! So so sad to see it like this. P.S. It's "Ma-nack-ah" lol
The intro with the Bee Gees and pictures of the stores back in the day. That Spencers store looks soooooooooooo different and tame compared to what I remember when I would stop in. Hehehe.... Oh and Radio Shack!!!!
Anybody want to go to The Tweed Shop? 😁
Loved this!! I'm doing a nursing project on our area!!! Enjoyed the memories. Sad
This was my High School years, remember going there quite often, so sad I'm losing apart of my late teens, has moved to Beaver Falls, PA in 1996, and graduated High School in 2000, loved that mall, so sad it could be gone
Just coming back to this video after seeing your newest on Johnstown. My elderly parents just moved to Beaver a couple years ago, not long before this video came out. There seems to be a lot more residential development as Yinzers sprawl further outbound from The ‘Burgh; many like my parents emigrated to Beaver from Cranberry Township. (CT itself saw a huge boom starting in the late 90’s as people sought a bedroom community within relatively easy reach of Dahntahn, but with half the property tax rates of Allegheny County. Yet to my knowledge CT has never had a nearby mall constructed since then.
And yet Beaver Valley Mall has not / cannot be revived.
You do have a valuable point with the anchor stores. They may be a little better but it's hard to say how much better without anchor stores. Thanks for the great videos.
ty!
Bee Gees How Deep Is Your Love didn’t come out until 1977. Thanks for the video. Interesting!
70-77, same era lol
I had been back at this mall in 2014 for a event for my employer and it was pretty lively then. Sad to see it empty.
Love this song too.
i used to love coming to this mall because it had tons of places that we dont have locally anymore and now i have to travel 2 hours to go to some of those stores
So many memories from here, it's tragic to see it go away.
Like that music your videos are cool keep doing them
Love the video, the music really set the mood. I haven't been keeping up with your posts exactly, but it looks like you have a gimbal-mounted camera now, very smooth video and it looks great.
This mall looks in such great condition too.
The intro music, bravo again dude!
Ty ty :)
I miss the record stores and the arcade. Grew up in Rochester and would go every weekend
I bought my first record there at National Record Mart in the early 1970s
That album was a soundtrack to part of my childhood. (circa 1978...and yes I was singing the harmonies on the track, 'cause I'm old like that.) It was the highwater mark for disco; also the beginning of the end. Totally appropriate. BTW - this didn't get demonetized. YAY!
oh it did, but I don't care, I do this for the passion not the cash lol
Saturday Night Fever & Grease. 77-78
My gramma used to take my sisters and me to this mall. I lived on the other side of PA. I remember this mall when it was thriving. Sad what it's become.
Gotta love the Boscov's neon! Excellent video Ace!
This was the mall my mom took me to in the 90s all the time, the fountain as a kid was HUGE, like the size of a mountain (in my kid eyes).
Her and I went there in 2013 and it was dead then.
Sad to see. First it was the town's Main Street. Then the mall. It's important that any town has a focal point for people to meet..
The suburban malls I used to frequent (that closed) followed a similar pattern; they lost major anchors, closed, and put small stores all around.
Yet this mall seems to have fully occupied anchor spots but very few inline tenants.
Looks like a beautiful asthetic to this mall. Sad it is dying.
As to the anchor stores. You are right, they don't have everything anymore. Nowadays everyone flocks to Target, Ikea, Costco, Home Depot, and Lowes for things for the home. Years ago it would have been Sears, JcPenney, Montgomery Ward, and a whole host of others. It seemed that the mall anchor chains died off in vary different ways. Macy's took over about 30 other chains over its lifetime through a series of mergers over a few days. Others died other ways like Eddie Lampert running Sears into the ground. Still others were the result of bad management. Others went bankrupt. I think Shopping malls were a relic of a simplier time in society and in today's digital age and millennials preferring smaller homes and the age of too much debt and less kids, and less consumption, the concept of a mall is slowly fading away. I almost think one should be bought and turned into a museum of retail showing the relics of the past and the rise and fall of the different ages of the mall revolution.
Surprisingly, Monaca does not have a Costco or Best Buy. There is a Lowe’s but I do not recall seeing a Home Depot.
The nearest of these are in Cranberry Township. But a lot of people (including my parents) seem to be moving from Cranberry Township to Beaver (after having already moved 20+ years earlier from Pittsburgh to Cranberry Township 😅).
Awesome song choice in the beginning
Ty!
I remember when they added that large fountain in the mid 90s or so. It still looks pretty nice for a dead mall.
I am always caught in a mix of hating (I hate to see this happen, growing up in the 90's though two malls i use to go to are apparently going strong still) and loving (that people like yourself are paying tribute to these places.
I think there are so many factors and yes Online Shopping is one, but also in some areas ... there are SO MANY malls in a "small area" ... when things take a down turn or trend change shopping wise ... they were not going to survive.
I still say so many of these places that are NOT run down and some look really nice (even sort of a time capsule in terms of some of the designs (I say that in a GOOD way for the most part) ... these places could be repurposed WITHOUT TEARING them down. Say make the anchor stores grocery stores and then have indoor (esp in colder climates but also hotter/humid climiates comes to think of it. Have part of them be trade/tech schools teaching people skills (say esp the less fortunate/homeless , but anyone really) ... turn some of them into schools where each of the small stores inside could be classroooms and then the anchor could be like a big gym or something.
I have seen some malls on channels in BAD shape ... I am talking about the ones still doing good ... and the asttetic (sp?)/ layout of some of these places is so unique ... it's a shame to see certain ones go in place of a cookie cutter "super Walmart" or something.
You are absolutely correct! In my area there were 2 mall developers that owned 5 malls,If they had issues it effected everything. Its really no different how corporations do franchising nowadays,they sell all of the franchise rights to one person or company,thats why you see them fail like a house of cards . Krispy Kreme did it in my state,as did Tim Hortons they are all gone now!
Come to Fort Steuben Mall !!! Sad to see this happen to these icons of most of our youth .
New Subscriber here...found your videos through Sal...I love it, can't wait to binge the rest of your content ! 🤘
Welcome aboard!
I wouldn’t blame the Internet so much as the Big Box craze of the 90s and the rise of stores like Target, Walmart, Hone Depot, etc. Target and Walmart have especially hurt the traditional department store by having a similar amount of space and categories but at a discount. And with Walmart and Target adding grocery sections (especially Walmart), they have become more one stop shop than ever.
I ate at an attached restaurant to this mall a few years ago when I was in Monaca for work.
I work at the chick-fil-a in the mall and the malls rent is extremely high. its really sad to see the mall down the drain but since covid the wrong store closed so no one came to the mall anymore.
I spent my adolescence hanging out at this mall in the 1970's. So sad to see it now.
That’s something you don’t see too often in a mall: self storage units. Anyway, you should know that your friend Kohan just got his mitts on one of Detroit’s local malls, Fairlane Town Center in Dearborn, Michigan. Come by before it turns into a Kohan Kalamity.
I saw, I don’t know how people can sell anything to him
My first job was at the Roy Rogers in the Beaver Valley Mall back in ‘97.
Its awful to see any mall go by the wayside and start to fall and collapse. I hope our mall here continues to buck the trend and survive. The Ohio Valley Mall has been operational since 1978, had 5 anchor stores come and go including Kmart, Sears, and Macys but still maintain a presence. Plus the only mall left in the country to have a Sam Goody.
I just moved to Hopewell PA and was at this mall a few weeks ago because it's the closest chick-fil-a to my apartment. The food court was in fact the only place people seemed to be.
Go there often. Shop at Boscovs and Penneys there. Sad to see it the way it is... just like Eastern Hills in Amherst, NY. Another mall from my past (worked there). The fountain is still awesome.
Eastern Hills mall once Macy's, Sears and Bonton closed in all the malls , once the anchors are gone, the mall isn't too long after
Top marks for the mall cleaners. The tiles are shining.
Yes they are
More babies will bring prosperous future. Community and traditional family bring wealth.
I worked for many years at Mickey's Barber Shop miss you Mick
Idk, in this day and age where everything has to be over the top to be relevant, I kinda like the understated vibe of this mall. It's mostly dead, yes, but for what it is, it's not in bad shape. I'd like to see it make a comeback! Boscov's is a nice clean store so maybe there is some hope for the mall.
Funny that you use the Bee Gees to intro this video. You see they grew up not far from me on the east coast of Australia in a seaside suburb called Cribb Island... They leveled the suburb to extend the Brisbane airport in the early 1980's. Lots of info on the Google if you are interested in a demise of a whole seaside suburb!!
(Opening slide show) Oh man, back when malls had drug stores and dime stores and book stores and even a grocery store! Miss that...
This is the first time since they closed that I have seen the old Orange Julius or the Harvest House Coffee Shop. I used to go to both frequently. And in color yet. Now we need a photo of The Yum Yum Tree and B Dalton book store. Yes, this mall once had two bookstores. And a picture of the Christian bookstore would be nice.
Awesome video. I'm willing to bet the video got instantly demonotized due to the bee gees song. But in all seriousness it's kinda sad seeing all these properties that were once, hustle and bustling back in the day, now closing and deteriorating. It's quite sad. Keep doing what you do ace. Doing great.
Never thought that day would come ☹️
You would not believe the sigh of derision you got from my wife when you pronounced Monaca, Monica. Phonetically it is pronounced Monacka lol
My apologies, I is not local 🤣
@@AcesAdventures1 LOL No worries my brother, it was just funny so I thought I would share it.
I love visiting this place I live near it its like a hour away
So sad to see this…grew up in Aliquippa Pa 5miles down the road…grew up in this mall…my parents first date was at Ciro’s “Top Of The Mall” it was a legitimate supper club that hosted some major Hollywood level acts…so sad to see such memories die….
I like to read and watch these videos also to see what the properties were before the malls were built. Often they were Farms are former industrial sites. I would like to see negotiations that happened at the time that these huge things were built and the attitudes of those communities at the time towards shopping malls. Were they a safe bet at the time? It seems so considering how populated allow these models were even if there were too many of them ultimately or if some of them were not located very well. The small seems to have made it out better and longer than others would have. It's still nicely maintained for sure and I hope it's he's some kind of Revival because it's already renovated for it.
Really enjoying your abandoned videos ! new sub ✨
The video was recommended to me because Goolag knows that I’ve lived in Monaca/Beaver County my whole life, and have been to this mall well over 100 times
Wow, didn’t even know you were in my hometown mall, crazy how much its changed.. also its Mo,Nah,Ka
Just six years ago, the Beaver Valley Mall was alive. I wouldn't claim this mall was "thriving" in 2017, but it was still alive. Clearly this mall had seen better days in 2017, but it was still hanging on for the most part. Most storefronts were filled, and at any given day there were shoppers there, activity, etc. It really died fast during the past five or six years. My question is, why?
Read my post! Greedy owners!
Somehow the local mall near me in Burlington MA is still thriving with the redevelopment of the Sears into an internal inline store corridor and the outside of it was turned into outdoor restaurants with no inside face. They did the same to the old Sears auto center. Apparently, the closed Lord and Taylor is going to become lab space! I miss the good old days of the blue neon, peach tiles, lush plants, and calming water fountains. Now it's just a drab, grey interior with all of the "minimalist" modern look.