Dead Mall Tour | Stratford Square Mall | Closed
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- Опубліковано 25 сер 2024
- Welcome back to Stratford Square Mall! This was my favorite mall as a kid and my local mall throughout the 2010’s. I visited here twice for this video: Saturday 8/19/23 at 5:30pm and Saturday 9/9/23 at 7pm. It was a nice walk down memory lane and I hope you enjoy the video!
Languages other than English were auto translated
Pictures:
triptothemall.blogspot.com
yelp.com
labelscar.com
pinterest
X
Daily Herald
Stonecity.com
David Whitcomb / Bob Stahman
Via Architectural Record (April 1982)
Music:
Downtown Glow by Ghostrifter & Devyzed
Creative Commons - Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported - CC BY-ND 3.0
Music promoted by www.chosic.com...
Ambient Emotional Sad by LesFM | lesfm.net/
Music promoted by www.chosic.com...
Creative Commons CC BY 3.0
creativecommon...
Art-Of-Silence_V2
Lost Memories by Ghostrifter Official | / ghostrifter-official
Music promoted by www.chosic.com...
Creative Commons CC BY-SA 3.0
creativecommon...
Aletheia - Devon Church
Till I Let Go - NEFFEX
Lofi Mallet - Kwon
Perfect Ten To Me - NoMBe
#deadmall #liminalspace #shoppingmall
The music really gives you that sad, ending, hopeless feel. It is very helpful when viewing these videos of amazing places that are now abused, neglected and run down.
I was and still am sad about Round1 and Cinemark closing, as I used to go to those places almost every Saturday. It only got worse as more places continued to close, such as Hot Topic and Red Robin. I saw a small glimmer of hope when the Bloomingdale officials announced the plan “Re-envisioning Stratford Square Mall” last year. But it’s now been a year since that plan was announced, and no progress has been made. I’m starting to think that even the city officials have given up hope, as have most of us.
The last time I went to Stratford before my 2022 visit was around 2018. The difference was shocking. It’s sad to walk around there now and see it so empty.
The city of Bloomingdale doesn't seem to want it around anymore. I think it's in their plans to demolish it and make yet another damn strip mall. As if there isn't like three strip malls five minutes of the legitimate mall. They could do so much with it. There's still signs of life. So many people still use it as a "third place". Last time I went I saw groups of teens just hanging out, roaming. I also saw a lot of older men and women using the space to walk and exercise! Not to mention, some of the establishments still standing inside the mall are the ones for kids!! So many families take their kids out to Stratford Mall because their kids have so much space to roam and there's security patrolling constantly.
That’s my childhood mall makes me sad driving/going there it’s so depressing what it used to be and it’s basically nothing it’s a shame it’s a beautiful mall
Great pics from the early days . Those are very rare images to see from back then. Well done. Great video!
Thanks so much!
I was just in there today 10-28-2023. I was in shock. It seems like at least 90% of the entire mall is now empty. I was in there a couple of years ago and it seemed like a normal amount of traffic. This looks just like the Chicago Brickyard Mall just before they demolished it. Seems weird because I remember when Brickyard first opened in 1976 Phase One Jewel/Osco and K-Mart. I got a job at that Osco. So strange that just 30 years ago millions of dollars were spent building these and they are just disappearing.
I was in shock too, it’s gotten so empty in just the past few years!
This was me and my kids favorite mall 😢
I used to work here in the late 90’s. It was so busy back then. I last went there around 2017 and could not believe how it changed. So sad
The Fountains this mall used to have look really Beautiful. Great Video!!!! F+L, Corey
Thank you! They were awesome, it’s too bad they took them out
I used to go here
Thanks for the footage. 👣 I love the colors. 🌈 I love Dead Malls.🤎
Circuit City, Sears, Wards, Penneys, Frys, Comp-USA, Radio Shack, K-Mart. The list goes on and on. It just costs too much to do business in the U.S.A. And like this mall - owners refuse to lower rents.
This was my favorite mall to go to as a kid, seeing the original fountain where I used to throw pennies in after getting my ice cream from baskin Robbins right across the fountain. To see that everything has really diminished is sad, it makes me sad that they are going to tear down a piece of my childhood 😢😢😢
It was my favorite too, it’s really sad to see it come to an end. I wish they could’ve saved the structure and repurposed it
Beautiful mall, sad to see it go.❤😢
My friends and I used to go to the Houlihans in the Mall for the free taco bar during happy hour, those were the days. 🌮🍺👍
I loved that they used what resembles giant chopsticks or crafting sticks in the design. When you visit various malls as a kid you often forget what they are called and remember some unique design feature like that to know which one it is. Love the throwback pictures (particularly the fountains-so 80’s).
It’s funny you mention that, this is the only mall I gave a name as a kid but I called it the pizza mall because it had my favorite pizza in the food court (Sbarro)
Love the play list.
It's stunning to think this mall at one time had the national Big 3 (Sears, Montgomery Wards, JCPenney) and the local Big 3 (Marshall Field's, Carson Pirie Scott, Kohl's). Now, only a worn Kohl's remains. It lost a lot of character when they removed the conversation pits outside the anchors and the huge water feature by the food court/movie theaters.
Great video. That is such a nice looking mall. It's sad what has happened to it.
My childhood mall 😢. Luckily we still have Woodfield and Oakbrook!
I grew up in Maywood and my dad use to take me here in the 80s. I now live 10 mins away and can't believe the downfall..
I grew up in Maywood, graduated from Proviso in '58. I've seen of Americas' decline.
Did we ever think in the 70’s these would one day be useless to us? I hung out at ours as did my son. It’s really sad! I’m sure there were many memories made there. Mine is torn down and the city is trying to figure out what to do with the land.
Honestly, they aren't useless but they seemingly pushed every demographic away. A great example of this is the policing of teenagers and older adults using malls as third places. Malls are great places to hang out and to walk and be with friends and family. A lot of older folks use malls to get their steps in or to talk to people!
I used to work at the Carson's they're every Christmas for years was one of my absolute favorite malls just beautiful
I will forever bow to the honor of the legendary Stratford square mall.
I use to get a buttload of phone numbers from girls there when I was a teen lol 😎
I use to work at the old Movie theater that use to be there not the new one. there use to be two Movie theathers in this mall one upstairs one was downstairs. Then worked to take photos for the easter bunny. 2000 ish
a beautiful looking mall inside though
I remember going to this mall as a kid in the 2000s and 2010s last time we came frequently was when Round1 was open loved the arcade and bowling there. That place 'Strada' used to be an Italian restaurant they had some of the best wood fired pizza in the area. Sad to see it dying.
Subscribed! Nice work on the vid! Good music choices!
I like how you showed Bloomingdale Court at the end of the video. The real killer of Stratford Square.
4:15 - I just wish you'd gotten a good shot of the old directory there. They make great snapshots of the way the mall was, versus the way it is now and help make it easier to ID some of the businesses that used to be there.
The Mall Idea is/was just a PITA. You have to walk and walk and walk just to get to the store you want.
I've used to go to that mall on some other time when I was a kid, sadly this mall is going to be abandoned sooner.
The last time I was there was probably in the early 2010s. The revamped movie theater was a relatively new thing. I didn't go there a lot as a teenager because it was difficult to get to by bicycle from where I live, and I didn't have a car, but it was the default local mall (like for back to school shopping with my mom at JCPenny). I remember it as a little kid looking like the pictures from the very beginning, and being curious about the water flowing over the structures and coming out of all the fountains and such and thinking about how I could wander around that mall independently when I got older.
I definitely went to Tower Records regularly after I got a car when I was 18, and once when I was about 19 I went job hunting in that mall by just going around to every shop and asking them for applications.
I actually basically got an offer at the T-Mobile store, but they wanted me to submit a resume and I got anxiety about making one cuz I had never made one before and just never responded.
I fled Illinois in 2015, so that's all in my past.
How is Fox Valley mall looking now? Or woodfield?
I actually have a video on fox valley mall, it’s thriving and they’ve torn down Sears and Carson’s to build apartments and a senior living facility. The apartments are finished I believe and they’re currently preparing to build the senior living facility. I filmed Woodfield in November and it will be my next video once I have a chance to edit it. It is also thriving
9:44
Is Noah's Ark still there?
I didn’t see it
Nothings here anymore