Dead Malls Season 5 Episode 21 - Watertown Mall
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- Опубліковано 12 вер 2024
- Silent night. Holy night. All is calm. All is bright.. All is calm, but nothing is bright in this liminal hell-scape.. This is Watertown Mall in Watertown, South Dakota. A ghost mall, one without a story.. It’s architecture and abandoned storefronts paint a story of a long gone era. While we may never really know the history of Watertown Mall. We do know it was once the pride and joy of its city. A place where anyone could be who they wanted. A lala land of make believe, where vaporwave tracks were cued on repeat while people busied it. So prepare yourself for what it’s like to be thrusted into a never ending small town Backrooms as we explore and tell the short story, of Watertown Mall, in Watertown, South Dakota.
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What are you going to do today Dead Malls? “Whatever I want!” “Gosh!” 😂
😂😂😂yes! You got the pin my good sir!
Babe wake up new dead malls video dropped
That’s one of the cleanest and organized thrift store I’ve ever seen!
Oh yes angels attic is beautiful and the staff are super sweet it’s amazing there!
It’s awesome. Certainly rare to have such an uncramped thrift store
I used to come here all the time in the late 80's and early 90's and back then the mall was full and busy. I remember K-Mart, Herbergers, JC Penneys, Hallmark, Riddles Jewelry, Godfathers, Vanity, Maurices, Osco Drug, B Dalton Books, Spurgeons, ProEx photo, Penguin Ice Cream....lots of fond memories there!
Yup, used to be amazing. (I live in town ~30 miles from it, back in the 80's it was the go-to place for everything.)
Now? I drive past it once a week on my way to do all the shopping at Walmart. Losing JCPenney's (far west store) and Herberger's (South far store from central entrance) were basically death blows.
I grew up in Watertown. I remember when this mall was really busy and pretty much full. That store you asked if it was a Sam goody, you were right it was. I used to work at jcpenny when I was in high school as a maintenance man. That was until 2001, and by then the Mall was dying. Kmart was gone by then. As a kids, alot of time was spent at the mall and it was always busy and seemed to thrive. I loved that place and alot of the stores. They had a restaurant next to that nail place at one time. Godfathers pizza and senior Max's have been in the same places for pretty much the whole time the mall has been open. Dunhams still has part of Kmart behind the Dunham's walls and so is the little Ceasars pizza place is there in the Kmart too. It's a time capsule. I could still remember where all the stores were as a kid.
I knew it was a matter of time before this mall would get documented. I haven’t been to Watertown mall in years. My brothers, mom, and I would frequent Watertown mall every Sunday growing up after our drum lessons at Linder Music down the road we would eat at God Fathers Pizza for the buffet. In 2005 my older brother would purchase the CD “Sam’s Town” by the band The Killers at the Sam Goody. We would listen to it on the 45 minute car ride home. That album would go on to become my favorite album and the killers would become my favorite band. Watertown mall has a special place in my heart. It’s a shell of its former self but that’s what time does. Thanks for documenting.
5:40 was electric rainbow arcade later turned into small rc car track
6:40 was mr. t's resturaunt and bar
12:10 was the radioshack, i even have a rug from there in my living room!
12:50 is where you'd bring photos to be developed
Electric Rainbow...electric crayon was a tattoo parlor in sioux falls
Express Photo
Thanks for doing a video on Watertown, SD. I'm from SoDak and totally agree! this mall is dead and not thriving....
Great video! Love, how vintage this mall is!
Thanks Andrew! And same here.
Watertown mall: Where the pool of customers dried up long ago.
But it all seriousness, thank you being the highlight of my morning with a new video!
My pleasure glad you enjoyed!
They sure don’t make malls like this anymore! I don’t see these places being around in 50-100 years sadly! Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for watching!
I recently moved to Watertown in November 2023, which was about one month after this video was released. I've been to the mall a couple of times for specific stores. During one visit, I went to Angels Attic, a thrift store. It's well-run and kept clean.
My dad and I went on an hours long road trip to this mall when I was in 2nd grade, sometime around 1998 +- a year or 2. He let me play in the arcade (anyone remember the name?) all day. On the way back he broke the news to me that my mom and him were divorcing. Forever have a melancholy attachment to this place.
Electric Rainbow was the arcade
It's interesting that smaller malls don't accumulate more local stores than they do. Also, there was a recursive eeriness to old mall-type electronics, etc. in a mall-based thrift store.
Right?? It was like a graveyard of 80s and 90s tech..
The price they charge to rent a storefront isn't justified with equivalent foot traffic. In the dead mall we have in Bluefield WV people pay to setup small fleamarket/yardsale style booths within the mall for this reason.
Love the smaller malls! This mall built in 1977. 47 yrs old and building still looks like new! Glad its still open! Favorite storefront Bath and Body Works! Watertown in SD nice. Old Covered fountain?
Market Street Mall? If it is i know it will be an awesome episode like always, keep up the good work!
Yessir you got it! And thanks!
Now what market street mall? I live next too a mall here in Marshall MN that is called market street mall and man deader then hell it only has 3 stores. I Miss the On cue and the B Dalton and Clare's stories there and we had a doctor clinic in there. When I was a kid the JC Penny's Woolworths and a video store and a arcade was so fun now it's just a eye sore to see.
Thank you for showing us the old Radioshack.
My gift to you 5 back to back replays. Nothing new I usually do so. Love your videos and content.
Thank you!
One thing I've noticed all these dead malls have in comon...not many employees in any of the stores that are left. Some feel like you could just pick something up and walk out and no one would stop you.
very true, in these small town malls that have hallway display stands with zero security. Makes me question the true integrity of these small rural malls and their safety.
I'm always amazed at the things that these places get converted to. I've never seen a thrift store in a mall before. It seems so out of place. It made me think of that one mall you showed where it was converted into local government offices. My wife was just telling me that one in Austin got converted into a school campus. It's interesting to me what they do with the carcasses of these dead malls.
It amazes me also in that way, just how they can repurpose these malls. One of my local malls was recently torn down and in the process of being turned into a thriving mix of retail, offices and living spaces. Curious to see the future of this one.
Watertown is like the thrift store capital of the world. They have SO many thrift stores, including another one just as big as the one in the mall!
Awesome to see you come to Watertown SD I live like 5 miles away it’s sad to see it lose business the only really good store is dunhams!!
Great video! That Kmart gives me a standalone store vibes with the exterior block construction. I'd love to see what is in the original part left.
Right?? It’s gotta be like an abyssal darkness abandoned storefront in there
@@NorthCdogg22 I'm always fascinated with Kmart's I was in management with them in North Alabama in the 80-90's.
@@NorthCdogg22 The back half of that K-Mart retail space gets used for a haunted house each year around halloween actually, its basically untouched and just crumbling with age when you get beyond the plywood walls of the haunted house, there's even still the remains of i think what was a small little ceasar's counter in the corner. At least last I know from before 2018 from when I volunteered for the haunted house.
I worked some shifts in this mall around 2015 I want to say. I worked for Vanity and this old mall had one of the coolest stores! I wish I had taken a picture of the VANITY logo above the register. It was very old original logo font. Thanks for sharing was stoked to come across this one.
You come across as a class act man! Love your videos.
Thank you sir!
Those dolls. My Mom had at least two of the angels in the white dress, and one of the Santas. They were sold through a company called Christmas Around The World, which operated similarly to Avon. Mom was a rep. We still have a bunch of stuff she got through them, mostly Christmas decor, of course, though I'm not sure where those dolls went. But that's okay. I'm fine with them staying lost, lol. They were pretty. But at least one year, when Mom decorated the house for Christmas, she put an angel in my, and my sister's, front facing windows. She put tri-fold cardboard behind them to block out the light and protect our privacy. But she had them running after we went to bed, and the repetitive _creak... creak... creak..._ of the animatronic movement drove me absolutely BONKERS! LOL thanks for unlocking a core memory! 😊😂
I really enjoy the background information that you gather. The stories are interesting.
Thank you!
lol @ the "Now Leasing" signs. Hey, just discovered your channel. I really enjoyed the video and your commentary. Going to check out your other videos. 👍
Thank you! I hope you enjoy the other episodes!
Fantastic video!
Glad you liked it!
I got sad and came here lifted my spirits up. Thank you for the contents.
This is definitely one of my favorite episodes so far. This place in my opinion perfectly showcases all the features of a small town South Dakota mall. Also, I can’t confirm, but considering it’s nearby and smaller cousin, The Yankton Mall once housed a Sam Goody, it wouldn’t be at all unlikely.
when u were getting lost in that thrift store, did you think to yourself “what if the back rooms are real and i’m abt to clip in” cause that’s what i was thinking watching lmao. what a unique place! i’m so glad u captured it
Oh yeah there was definitely a part where that’s all I was thinking lol
I love the use of the Coke song in the former Coke play area. Nice touch.
Grew up there 83 thru early 90s. There was a MusicLand in there at one time. Think it moved out around 87. BDaltons, Osco Drug, even a cheese store, and a Baskins Robins.
love it.. great work love your intros I’ve watched every season every episode and always look forward to the next
9:15 I like those old lamps right there. Especially that one in the far left. That one next to it looks a lot like the one my grandma gave us. I also like that couch seen shortly after the time. Floral couches should make a comeback instead of boring gray/white single colored couches.
I think I ate at Senor Max's back in the 90s.
6:07 with all the mirrors, was probably a jewelry store
The store you thought was Sam Goodie was once when i was a kid a TV and appliance place locally owned then it was most resent was a Gold Galaxy. the place right across from there was the arcade and the wooded outside building next to that was a claire's back in the 90s then it was a nail salon and last was a hot tub place. Aside from the mall Watertown has a better shopping and feel downtown area.
Hey if you are ever back in Michigan you should come to Frenchtown Mall (Mall of Monroe) they used to be so alive, they had a Target, Sears, GameStop, various restaurants and now it's just a movie theater, Bath & Body Works, Spencer's, and independent stores.
If you need a guide hmu and I'll show you around from what I can remember.
Down in the old jcpenney wing from as far back as i remember. On the right side was the thrift store angels attic. It occupied both these final two spots. Harbor freight now sits there. There was a play area in the middle for a long time. Once there was a suit maker there before my time. I purchased a suit from the thrift store in that was tailored in that mall
You know it's old and from the 70s when it has poured terrazzo flooring! Great video!
My family moved here to Watertown from Southern California five years ago. It was quite a change in many ways! The first time I took my kids to the mall they were kind of creeped out 😂 I wish they hadn’t gotten ridden of the indoor play area (the section with caution tape and no flooring). It was the only place in town I could take the kids to play during the long winter months.
The Angels Attic thrift store is where Herberger's was located and Dunham's is where Kmart used to be. Growing up there was a Jo-Ann's Fabric, Osco Drug, Radio Shack, Vanity, The Little Dipper (ice-cream shop) and Sound Decision music store.
Very random thing to see my local mall pop up on my front page while looking for something to watch on lunch....
I only moved here in '03 so I missed a lot of the "heyday" but when I first was here, it definitely had a lot more life than it does nowadays. I spent several years working at Office Max (currently Planet Fitness) which did not actually connect to the inside of the mall, but was in the building. I definitely remember JC Penney and Radio Shack. Occasionally I'll still find a reason to go to Dunham's, though not often anymore. Godfather's is probably the place I visit most in there.
I miss Mr. T's though! Decent burgers and fries there...
I have no insider information but having worked in the building, I did hear rumors that a lot of the problem here is the mall management wants way too much in rent for a unit; obviously this isn't just a Watertown thing, but it makes sense to me.
Dang it! Now that 'It's the Real Thing' Coke song will be in my head for the next week, dude! Aw well...
Another excellent video!
I imagine it's a cleaned one of this mall, seems pretty fine mall.
I've lived here in Watertown for the last 5 years and I've never really bothered to check out the mall. Kinda surreal to see it show up on UA-cam like this lol.
Back when I worked at Payless there it was owned by 2 brothers out of New Jersey who refused to pay for any property repairs and upgrades that were needed despite continuously jacking up rent prices. They did the same thing to our movie theater which is why when a new company took over they just built a brand new modern cinema complex.
That tile floor looks 60s or 70s to me. You seem to be the only one pumping out regular dead mall videos.
16:26
Ngl those skylights remind me a lot of the skylights that flooded some of Euclid Square Mall
I can’t definitely see that
The old k mart is storage now for the grocery store next to the mall I know cause I’ve worked at both the mall and the grocery store lmao
I follow a UA-camr who lives in Watertown. She mentioned that the mall there is dead.
I can confirm, it’s quite dead
Ummm this channel is called "Dead Malls" 🙂
Ooh what UA-camr I’d love to support someone from my town!
@@aubriannablais3624 crystal Tara she does lifestyle , homemaking. Her hubby owns the sign business in town. Last name is Stein. They just built a huge home close to a gold course, she is struggling to decorate such a massive space
What UA-camr?
Oh dope! I never really realized Watertown had a mall. Might have to check it out.
Interesting video! Thanks.
Honestly an amazing mall threw and threw. Every store front I saw really did throw off that small town mall vibe. Great video as always, and a question that I have to ask is just what was that awesome music in the intro and the outro?
Thank you! And it’s called A Song for Lovers - TUPPERWAVE
That “Sam Goody” looked like a Payless to me.
You should have gone a bit further north to check out the Moorhead Center Mall. The mall part was very dead, but still housed the Moorhead City Hall and a few successful restaurants/bars. The anchor used to be Herberger's, but for years it was a furniture store. I bought a mattress there which ironically was probably more business than I've given to other live malls in the area over many years. The mall is partially torn down (as of early 2024) and is going to be redeveloped. The sad thing is that they torn down a really great section of downtown to build it in the 70s. I'm sure those blocks were pretty run down, but look at Fargo's Broadway to see what could have been if they hadn't demolished the old buildings.
I think you should revisit Jamestown Mall sometime soon because demolition plans are official. Also, part of the Dillard’s wing collapsed due to a fire and would be interesting to see the aftermath.
Jamestown is too dangerous for anyone to go into, particularly if it’s only gotten worse since the last video.
The Video Rental Stores a decade or so ago and then Shopping Malls fading into the forgotten. The first 18 years of my life in these things that were fixtures in my weekly routines are just being phased out by humanity and our ever changing habits and trends.
Nice video 😊
Thanks mate!
This mall is still open 😮😊
Rural malls are like many rural areas in general. Either dying, dead, or fighting to survive. At least this mall isn’t dead. Hopefully it’s future is better than its present.
I truthfully hope this one is able to make it, I find a fond appreciation for these small-town malls
The one you asked if it’s “Sam goody?” Was a Payless when I was a kid in the late 90s
I lived in this area my whole life and the mall has definitely seen better days. I have fond memories of going to the "Electric Rainbow" arcade and looking at CDs at Sam Goody. This was all probably 20 years ago now tho 😕
angels attic is the goat i love that store
My parents used to drop me and my siblings off in the rainbow arcade in this mall a long long time ago. It was basically the Super Walmart store that moved in that slowly killed the mall and quite a few other department stores in town. It was the convenience of having everything a mall had in just one store that really did it. I think I personally would prefer the old mall over having a super walmart today though. Still have old memories of the k-mart store and the pizza place in the back of it.
I grew up here. Not in the mall. In Watertown. The town outside the mall next to the water. If you make it down south please check out the Vicksburg mall.
I haven't seen a Godfathers pizza in year's.
i think like 90% or more are in gas stations like Hucks now..
That Godfathers just closed actually
Godfathers relocated to a gas station on hwy 20 I believe. Although it’s not a sit down place anymore, unfortunately :(
I think the small wood store front was a hickory farms store. They had one here in Tampa back in the old days. Thanks for another great video.
That makes a lot of sense, thanks for watching!
My mall. ( Park City Center, Lancaster, PA) had a Hickory Farms. I remember going into it only once as a child in the 90's, so many meats.
What's those music effect? Sound like listen in a big square, I like it❤
they got a harbor freight now, gave the building a little more life lol
I used to work at Angels Attic around 2018-2019. The owner is such a sweet lady. I was only job shadowing as an internship to complete my college, so I was only there for a good 2-3 months, but Angels Attic is absolutely a time capsule.
Christmas dolls be creepy
Dunham Sports seems to be common in dead mall. Shoe Dept is another one.
Especially in Midwest malls
I'm surprised that Dunham Sports is in many states I thought they were in, MI, OH, IN, Illis, WI only. Yeah, in dead malls Dunham has 2 stores in Kazoo one near Crossroads mall took part of where Sam's Club use to be moved down the road, one that use to be a national crafts store was in a de-malled Maple Hill which is a strip mall. Bath & Body Works as well.
I'm from Watertown, NY and our mall, Salmon Run Mall, is also dying.
This is so fun to find!! I live here, and grew up in this mall, and still go there occasionally lol. If I remember right, the mall was built in 1977. It used to have Osco Drug where Planet Fitness is, and in the other half of Dunham's, our local Lion's organization does a "haunted mall" attraction, to raise money for their group, it's pretty fun! When you were here, they were getting ready to move in Harbor Freight, where you guessed it, Sam Goody used to be lol.
I've tried to get a roller skating rink in there, but the owners and leasers are so difficult to work with, not worth it to try and use the empty space. Anyways, nice video, you've captured the essence pretty well! It's definitely a dead mall.
i dont know if you grew up around watertown, but our mall back in the early 2000's and im sure 90's ( i was born in 96) was so cool we had an arcade that eventually moved to sioux falls due to the lease prices being so expensive here. we had a great bar and grill called Mr T's, pet store candy shop. I loved it as a kid and it makes me sad that the property owners just kept raising the lease prices even though no one is there. i think theyre based in NY so maybe they are using new york prices, but anyways i imagine our mall to be abandoned by 2030
The locals pronounce the Mexican Restaurant pictured as Senior Max’s. I wish I was kidding, but I’m not it’s even on radio commercials with that pronunciation.
The former Herberger's reminds me of the former Younkers in Davenport, IA. Do you think there will be any more Iowa videos?
Oh yeah, there’s much more Iowa videos to come, I just need to work through the rest of Season 5 first
@@NorthCdogg22: No hurry. Forgot to tell you someone successfully made it through River Hills Mall in Mankato with a camera.
Also, Vertical Jump in Dubuque at Kennedy Mall is now the Fun Station. Hopefully they make it into more of a play area.
@@mollyheffernen I’ve been through Kennedy a few times recently, it’s crazy how much it’s changed, the food court went from dead to nonexistent
Hello mateeee
I grew up here bro, my dad used to carry me around during christmas time and I'd look up at all the christmas lights- it felt like I was in a stereotypical new york christmas movie- It used to be so alive until some new owner from New York or something bought it. We all mourn it- there's literally not a time my friends and I hang out that we dont thingg "I wish the mall was good"
Bruh that looked so creepy and market street mall?
yessir!
The perfect amount of commentary ❤️
It was kind of funny yesterday I was at angels attic getting some old hot wheel cars
Watching this video is creepy, like opening a tomb, seeing the skeletal remains of what was once alive. When I moved to Watertown in the early 1980s, the mall was new, clean and attractive, and had stores you didn't find in other small towns. People from as far as 100 miles away would drive there on weekends to shop there with a side trip to the HyVee grocery store next door. The mall back then even had a year-round Swiss Colony store which was remarkable for a small town, a Musicland store (at least I thought it was Musicland, other commentators say Sam Goody), the book store, Kmart, JC Penney, Herberger's, and a good Osco Drug store. Swiss Colony must have pulled out by the late 1980s but the others were still there until they started disappearing around 2000.
opening song is fire
Thank you sir!
I'm pretty sure the opening song played at my old Arby's at DuBois Mall when I was a child in the 90's. I remember hearing it as I ate lunch or dinner and my mom worked there.
Addendum to my previous comment that has mysteriously disappeared: According to an august 1978 paper from the Argus Leader, the Watertown mall was set to officially open that week. That is closest I can get to an opening date.
Not sure why that got lost either, but yeah! I read a Kmart opening in 1977 article, so I can definitely see the mall still finishing up construction and opening by 78
@@NorthCdogg22 might be good to get a subscription for newspaper archive sites. It's not cheap, but it's a once a year payment, and it really helps paint a picture for some of these middle of nowhere places. They've pulled through for me where some so-called "experts" in mall enthusiasm either can't, or don't.
The hyvee store uses the back half of Kmart for overstock
I guess I am lucky. Most of the malls I knew about and shopped at when I came to WA in 1978 are still open and viable. Although they have a different mix of stores now. 1 Mall was torn down because it was small and unviable . Was replaced by big bus transit facility plus a strip mall which is doing ok. 0:53 Other partially torn down for a light rail facility but some of it still there and still viable. I have not had the experience of going to a mall when I grew up or caeme of age and now as s senior seen it turn into what you are talking about. Although iI have not visited the places I grew up in CA since last time 1992 because all the relatives I visited died and no reason to go there.
I live in Watertown. It’s weird seeing places I frequent in a video such as Target and Menards.
Dead malls are creepy yet wonderful at the same time
God I remember Hall
Tell you what. My proposition is that we trade you some of our Hallmark stores, and we get some of your still open Toys R Us stores back in the US(since the Toys R Us sections inside Macy's don't cut it). Is that a fair trade?
Lets goooooooooooo
Godfather's Pizza left the mall on December 17 2023. 😢
I said it before and I say it again: people's buying mentality has change. Seems like Costco and BJs have the perfect formula. Today Sunday, there's hardly a parking spot available in both stores.
You HAVE to go to Señor Max’s though. Try the nachos!!!
Ngl lived in that tiny town for years and even with nothing else better to do I maybe went to that mall 3 times total.
I dont miss Watertown.
Neither do I! Sundays were killers with absolutely nothing to do. No Sunday newspaper, even the library was closed.
08:48 WE CAN DO IT! (no, you can't)
This is wild to me. I frequent Watertown all the time and the fact that a random UA-cam recommended video is of a mall that I grew up visiting is weird
I've driven past that mall a couple times a year and finally went inside...didn't think anyone would ever make a video about it
We shop there every once in a while😊.