🐿️Pinecone Attack

c/dying-malls-club

8

maxhart•15d ago

Lost power at the food court kiosk for 3 hours last weekend

I run a little photo booth rental out of the old kiosk near the food court at Westgate Mall here in Tucson. Last Saturday around 2pm the whole wing went dark, breaker trip or something. I had to cancel 4 bookings and refund about $120 total because the backup battery only lasted 45 minutes. Is there a way to run extension cords from another outlet without tripping things again?

18

robert275•17d ago

Question about mall directory maps: used to memorize them as a kid, now I just pull out my phone.

I remember walking the Boulevard Mall in Las Vegas back in 1995 and my brother and I would race to the directory to plan our route, but now when I hit the Galleria at Sunset last week I just opened Google Maps without even glancing at the kiosk - has anyone else stopped using those old maps entirely, or do you still find them useful for some reason?

5

jade47•17d ago

The week I took photos of 3 different dead mall food courts changed my mind about something

I used to think all dying malls were sad and depressing, but last Tuesday I went to the old Westfield near St. Louis and saw a guy playing checkers alone at a folding table in the empty food court. Then Wednesday I hit the Lincoln Mall and found a lady running a small vintage shop out of a former Foot Locker. By Friday, I realized these places aren't really dead - they're just waiting for people to make them into something new. Has anyone else noticed weird little reuses like that in your local dying malls?

28

emeryn83•17d ago

That food court lady said the orange julius tastes better in a dying mall and I think shes right

I was grabbing a pretzel last week at the Northpark Mall food court in Dallas and the lady working the orange julius stand told me the mix sits longer in slow malls so it gets colder and thicker. I thought she was crazy but honestly the drink was way better than the one at the busy Galleria. Has anyone else noticed certain things taste different in dead malls or is it just me?

6

milabaker•20d ago

Talked to a security guard at the old Galleria and he changed my view on mall decline

Guy told me he's worked there since 1998 and said the food court died when they removed the fountain because kids stopped hanging out there. He said the fountain was the 'heartbeat' and once it went, stores followed within 18 months. Has anyone else noticed a weird detail like that being the real killer instead of online shopping?

9

barnes.morgan•22d ago

Found an old arcade still running at the Green Hills Mall

I was walking through the Green Hills Mall last weekend, checking out the empty storefronts. Way in the back corner, near the old food court, there was this tiny arcade with maybe 6 machines still plugged in. A guy who worked there said theyve been there since 1998 and refuse to leave. It felt like finding a time capsule in all that dead space. Has anyone else stumbled on something still running in a mostly dead mall?

15

sullivan.elliot•22d ago

Showerthought: walking a dead mall is way better than taking photos of it

I used to spend every trip to the half-empty Galleria in Dallas snapping pics of empty corridors and boarded up stores. But last month I just walked through without my phone, just listening to the echo of my own footsteps and the distant Muzak, and it felt more real than any photo I ever took. Has anyone else stopped documenting and just experienced the emptiness instead?

18

wyattbennett•22d ago

Spent 45 minutes hunting down a dead mall's key for a bathroom that's been locked for years

Finally found it hanging on a rusted peg in the janitor's closet behind three stacked boxes of 1990s-era cleaning supplies, and I still have no idea why anyone bothered to lock a toilet that hasn't seen a flush in probably a decade.

14

robin777•24d ago

That $8 mall directory map I bought for decoration is actually super useful now

Found this old mall directory map at a flea market for 8 bucks. Bought it cause I thought it looked cool and the vintage 90s layout was funny. Turns out it's got the original store names and numbers, and last week I used it to trace where all the empty storefronts used to be. Now I'm weirdly obsessed with mapping how the place decayed over 20 years. Anyone else start treating old mall maps like historical artifacts?

23

elliots49•24d ago

Found a stat that claimed 60% of all US malls from the 1980s are already gone or repurposed

I was poking around on the DeadMalls.com site last Tuesday, one of those late night deep dives you do when you can't sleep. They had a report from some urban planning group that said out of roughly 2,500 enclosed malls built between 1970 and 2000, over 1,500 have either closed entirely or been converted into offices, churches, or apartments. That number blew my mind because I always thought malls just gradually faded away, not that they got completely gutted and turned into something else. I mean, there's a former Sears in my town that's now a indoor trampoline park. Has anyone else run into a specific stat like that that just made you stop and think about how quickly things change?

7

susan_nguyen•25d ago

Saw a fountain running in a mostly dead mall last week and it felt wrong somehow

I was at the old Oakwood Mall in Tulsa last Friday, and maybe 15 stores are still open there. The food court is completely empty except for one Sbarro that looks like it's holding on by a thread. But here's what bugged me, they still had the big fountain in the center running with all the water and lights going. It cost me $0 to stand there and watch but I kept thinking about the electric bill and water treatment costs for a feature nobody is around to see. My friend said it makes the place feel less sad but to me it felt like putting makeup on a corpse. Has anyone else noticed malls keeping up expensive stuff like fountains or escalators when the foot traffic is basically gone?

11

faith_schmidt•26d ago

I finally walked through the old Willow Creek Mall last week

It used to be the place to be back in the 90s, you know? Now there's maybe 10 stores left and the rest is just empty storefronts with old signs still up. The weirdest part was the food court - only the Chinese place was open and the guy running it said he averages maybe 12 customers a day. Has anyone else seen a mall where the carousel was still standing but not running? That really got me.

1

carter.jennifer•26d ago

Debate: Is it worth fixing a dead mall's food court or just bulldoze it?

I spent almost 4 hours last Wednesday trying to track down a leak in the old food court ceiling at Westbrook Mall, and I still haven't fixed it properly. Some people say you should patch up these old spaces for events or pop-ups, while others think it's cheaper to tear them out and start fresh. What's your take, should we sink time into saving these areas or just call it quits?

17

betty_shah•29d ago

Had to choose between the food court or the arcade for my mall meetup last weekend

I picked the arcade since it had power still, but half the machines were dark and the pretzel stand next to it was selling day-old stuff half off. Anyone else run into spots where you gotta gamble on which part of the mall actually works?

23

barnes.morgan•29d ago

Found a food court fountain that still had water and plants growing in it last Tuesday

I tried counting the dead plants in the planters near the old Orange Julius and realized the fountain was the only thing still running, so I tossed in a penny and made a wish for the mall to get some kind of revival. Has anyone else found weird signs of life in these dead zones, like a vending machine that still works or a janitor who just keeps the lights on out of habit?

21

ross.william•1mo ago

Noticed the food court at Valley View Mall has been completely dark for 3 months straight

Walked by last Tuesday and all 8 stalls still have their menus up but the grease traps are totally dry, so I'm guessing they pulled the plug on the whole thing when the last anchor store left back in November.

4

perez.christopher•1mo ago

Walked through Century III Mall in Pittsburgh last week and it reminded me how malls used to feel alive

I checked out Century III Mall in West Mifflin last Thursday. Place is almost dead now, maybe 10 stores open. But I walked through it and compared it to the Monroeville Mall about 20 minutes away. Monroeville is still hanging on with a movie theater and some chains. Century III has that hollow echo where the food court used to be. The difference is Monroeville got a renovation in 2015 that cleaned up the floors and lighting. Century III just let everything fade out over time. Sad to see both of them sliding down, but the contrast is stark when you see them back to back. Anyone else near Pittsburgh notice how fast this one fell apart compared to others?

16

tessa_kim3•1mo ago

My dad said a dead mall is a time capsule and he was right about the one in Akron

He told me that back in 2015 when we walked through Chapel Hill Mall and I rolled my eyes. Six years later I went back and saw the same arcade carpet from 1992 still there with the gum stains, and suddenly I got what he meant. Anyone else have a relative who called something years before it made sense?

25

the_miles•1mo ago

People keep calling that old mall in Jersey 'abandoned' but it's not

Saw someone post about the Monmouth Mall again saying it's totally dead, but I was there last week and the movie theater still has lines on Friday nights lol. Have any of you actually been inside recently or just judging from the empty parking lot?

17

brian303•1mo ago

Unpopular opinion: dead malls have better lighting for photos than any studio I've been in

My friend who does real estate photography told me last week that he shoots all his portfolio shots at the old Westgate Mall because the overhead fluorescents create this weird soft diffused effect you just can't replicate, and honestly after seeing his work I get it, but has anyone else noticed how the emptiness changes the way light bounces?