For a mall that has been open for nearly 30 years, it has better Google reviews than my local mall. 4.1/5 isn’t that bad really when you’re a mall operator working with a mall at 60% occupancy. It’s probably more alive than other urban malls such as Steamtown Mall in downtown Scranton PA, a city that nearly went bankrupt after the 2008 recession but has still survived to this day probably with the help of their local mall. I’d trade this mall for my local mall any day. The fact that they’re going to tear it down to build an open air space is kinda a waste if you ask me. I hope this mall survives longer than expected.

You gotta let me know when you come back!!! Would love to meet and join you

I go there whenever they're hosting an anime convention or event, which happens several times a year and is always free to the public.

I think last vacant store space with outside entrance was Stein Mart(?)…. I grew up in nearby Dellview neighborhood & 1 yr older than the mall so not much of changes I’ve not seen. The escalator rides from bottom parking level up to 3rd level of original Rhodes Store was quite thrilling for a pre-schooler like me! does anyone remember the name of the old cafeteria style restaurant (similar to a Luby’s) on middle entrance back side where Target now??? I do. Great video/history, thanks a bunch!

I’m local to Merrit Square and a lifelong resident. We can’t and won’t give Namdar any credit for keeping our mall up. But do appreciate you letting us know it could be worse. The anchor spaces: Sears, Dillards,Macys are owned outright by their respective corporation. And probably the only reason this place survives at all. Those parcels are 40+ years old so likely smaller operating cost. JCPenney and Ollies the only major anchors that are leased . The hope of tourism is only a small factor of sustaining this mall. cruise crew used to be a big shopping demographic. Locals used to patronize it quite well. The food court, Sears and 8 movie screens were added in the late 80s. As was the whole wing/corridor leading to Sears. I love how you realized that the narrative of Merritt square demise was related to the opening of Melbourne square was false. As with much of the retail sector tapering down in early 2000s with dot com boom, our area was hit particularly hard by the recession of 2008, which coincided with the shut down of the space shuttle program. Double whammy. This was only a few years after Glimcher acquired the property, which ultimately played a hand in Glimcher defaulting allowing Namdar to swoop in. 😢 it’s gone even further downhill since then. Thanks Namdar. Our small but loyal community would support a mall worth supporting. Locals remain hopeful that high rise condominiums aren’t in the future for the site due to old -grandfathered in- zoning laws together with emergency management concerning evacuation procedure being that we’re a barrier island. Hope this helps fill in any blanks.

I’m local to Merrit Square and a lifelong resident. We can’t and won’t give Namdar any credit for keeping our mall up. But do appreciate you letting us know it could be worse. The anchor spaces: Sears, Dillards,Macys are owned outright by their respective corporation. And probably the only reason this place survives at all. Those parcels are 40+ years old so likely smaller operating cost. JCPenney and Ollies the only major anchors that are leased . The hope of tourism is only a small factor of sustaining this mall. cruise crew used to be a big shopping demographic. Locals used to patronize it quite well. The food court, Sears and 8 movie screens were added in the late 80s. As was the whole wing/corridor leading to Sears. I love how you realized that the narrative of Merritt square demise was related to the opening of Melbourne square was false. As with much of the retail sector tapering down in early 2000s with dot com boom, our area was hit particularly hard by the recession of 2008, which coincided with the shut down of the space shuttle program. Double whammy. This was only a few years after Glimcher acquired the property, which ultimately played a hand in Glimcher defaulting allowing Namdar to swoop in. 😢 it’s gone even further downhill since then. Thanks Namdar. Our small but loyal community would support a mall worth supporting. Locals remain hopeful that high rise condominiums aren’t in the future for the site due to old -grandfathered in- zoning laws together with emergency management concerning evacuation procedure being that we’re a barrier island. Hope this helps fill in any blanks.

The last time I went to this mall (probably 6ish months ago) the whole experience really stuck with me because of how empty and sad it looks, and how many stores looked straight up deserted. As in, many of the stores were locked up and had papers dated anywhere from like 6 months to 3 years ago on their windows saying things like "permanently closed due to failure to pay rent" or something like that... and yet pretty much all of those stores still had lights on in some rooms, and many of them even looked as though nothing had been taken out of them before being locked and closed. All sorts of decorations and signs on the walls, fake plants, what looked like personal belongings... All covered in layers upon layers of dust, enough to be visible just from looking in through the stall windows. Its as though many of the stores quite literally haven't been entered or touched ever since those closed signs were taped up, often from years ago. I was in there for maybe an hour or two, but so many different details stick out to me, even to this day. For example, there were at least 2 people using the second story walkaround as an indoor track, taking laps. All across the mall, the loudspeakers were playing a Sade album (my favorite one, coincidentally and creepily enough) on repeat. Many ceiling lights were out, leaving much of the mall pretty dark. Certain large areas (like an entire old Kohl's I believe) were just straight up barred off with tape or signs. Out of all of the store-stalls in the building, maybe like 10 percent of them were actually open. The rest were cleared out, completely torn down, or filled with belongings left over from previous businesses that at some point ceased operation. I've also seen many people discuss on a local subreddit that the mall only stands to this day because of potential trafficking or money laundering operations running through it behind the scenes. I rarely ever get creeped out, but that entire building has some kind of aura to it.

I live in Leeds and the Merrion Centre is always busy when I go into town, The upstairs has always been forgotten though. Everybody stays on the ground floor.

This is the mall when I went to when u was 8 now I am 17 and it’s so dead at this point

Remodel sucks. Still glad to see the place thriving though

literally loved this mall, it was my childhood

Okay wait what the heck…why didn’t you show the cat cafe? 😢 that’s easily like the most interesting place in the entire mall!

I keep forgetting about this mall. It’s such a nice mall aesthetically. It’s really weird to see this place dying. However, when anchors most of its anchors leave, you know the place is in trouble. Great video as always!

I lived in Antioch from 1996-2001. I loved that mall. Sports Seasons was the best.

The mixed use developments they build at these places are always the ugliest architecture. Boxy cheap looking brightly colored junk which doesnt fit the region at all.

The most interesting section of Stockton High Street was demolished for the Castlegate Centre thanks to those crooks Poulson and Dan Smith.

This is one of my local malls 😮

"Hardcore gamers are not known for their heavy drinking or hard partying antics" oh man you've clearly never worked in the games industry.🤣

0:15 That's not DKC 😅

Definitely disney quest vibes & never knew there weren’t many Dave & Busters in the early 90’s I assumed it was an ultra 90’s thing. Large Bowling alleys were probably the closest thing we have/had in the UK? LA Bowl near me used to have dodgems, laser tag, bowling, pool & snooker and an adults bar and I’ve seen other similar places around the north too.

I met him too, hate this

holy shit man, i met my first girlfriend in that zumiez. i'm pretty sure that old male attractions was just a clothing store lol, never went in there. thanks for taking me back.

So, The Opryland Hotel decorates extravagantly for Christmas. Water Fountain shows with coordinated music and light displays, Christmas scenes, and tons of indoor and outdoor lights, and an outdoor nativity and more. I grew up going with my family, then as a teen with friends, and later as an adult taking my son. I even remember going on an elementary school field trip there once. I need to take my nephew. And book a room for a self-care night for myself since I was curious about staying the night there as a teen.

The memories... its unreal how much time i spent there

Many towns will need to consolidate their retail offering into smaller areas. The waterfront park is designed to be multi use including performance spaces. I have some reservations on how much parking will be available though, as the demolition of the Castlegate Centre also removed a multi storey car park.

I live near the Wonderland of the Americas and I remember when it was a proper mall when I was a child, then when it was basically dead except for the Movie Theater which was the only reason to go there, now it's like Nerd central it has card stores and anime stores and figurine stores the place rocks now, Also I would not call it the outskirts its near the 410 the inner highway ring near the medical center, that's proper near downtown highway sprawl San Antonio, glad you liked our city btw come back

Not quite as dead, but you should check out Willow Bend

I’m from here and didn’t even know we had a mall. Ha.

The malls are now high crime areas with single mothers and their kids running around screaming.

I love your vids like you I love malls and video games and I'd love you make a written list of all the malls featured in this video please. Many thanks in advance.

I love going here when I go to San Antonio, reminds me of going to malls in 90s, especially Austin's Highland Mall before it got converted to ACC.

In 2007 nine were arrested in a sex sting in the men's room at this Sears, it was big news all over Florida

I have so many memories from this mall. The mall opened when I was in Middle School and was still a popular place when I left the area for Chicago in 98' sad to see it die. I bought my first pair of jncos at chess king here.

I'm late to the party but I was exploring that mall a long time ago when it was dying I love going there as a kid in the 90s I went to the subway to generally try to get something to eat thinking that it was open I smelled a weird smell over there also and I kind of picked my head in and was like this is weird I said hello nothing happened so I walked back to the MegaMart by the time I was halfway to the MegaMart dude with the cornrows was like following me with two other guys he was stomping around there like he was Darth Vader the scariest tiny man I've ever seen I thought he was about to confront me but he didn't say nothing just kept walking fast then later on I see on the news what went down and I thought well I'm glad him and his henchmen didn't take me out and put me in the cooler also

Music City never got the kind of freeway visibility Grapevine Mills or Stonbriar got after the Costco was built. Likewise there's no direct exit along 121 north or south bound to get to the mall. The only future I see is for the owner to tear down empty anchors and build apartments/open space in the sea of parking.

The France family gets what they want in Daytona. They funded One Daytona and pushed leadership to approve Tanger so that Volusia Mall would be forced out of business and the speedway can buy that land

the music playing in the mall is so perfect >.<

Thank you so much for making this video! So many interesting things I didn't know about this! And to think that I used to live near the mall for a few years. Heck...now that I think about it, why didn't I take more time coming here to explore?

This is my childhood mall

Sad😢 we used to hang out there when we were kids it had everything now it's just an empty shell makes me wanna cry 😭

As always a great video. I’m intrigued by the standards, with the integrated lights, plant (?) platform, and flag mounts. They designed them large enough that they stand out quite nicely.

Hey Bud, I'm curious what your background is, it's probably quite rewarding to visit firsthand, many shopping malls both here (U.S.) and abroad.👍

BTW, Golden Triangle Mall in Denton, Texas is dying as well. 😢 We still go there, but it's not looking so great. They lost two anchor stores.

Every time we go there, more stores are empty. It's so sad!! 😢 I offered the pizza guy $20 for one of his trays. He has tons of them stacked up. I wanted it for keepsakes before they close the mall entirely. He said no, because they're too busy. 😮 I was like "um, ok" I wonder what will happen to the Korean grocery store.

I love your soothing voice ..just a wonderful joy and it made my day too ❤❤❤

When I saw Music City Mall, I was thinking I did not remembering Nashville ever having a mall with that name.

I used to go here when I was a kid 😭

LAST VISIT WAS IN 2000???? THINK !!! I REMEMBER THE D,I,Y HARDWARE SHOP ! A TEA PLACE ! ITS ALL DIGITAL HICH- TECH ERA ! TIMES MOVE ON WITH FAST MODERN THINKING !!!!!!!!!!!!!! FROM . U.K. (2024).

You should do Rolling Oaks Mall, same town.

its a very pretty shopping centre it sort of reminds me of whiteleys