At Least They Tried

[@elaineshultz8961]

As a Wadsworth native I quite literally grew up in this mall. All my Holiday outfits, school clothes, Mother's Day gifts (remember Cargo Express?), engagement ring, and even my Homecoming dress were purchased here. I had my first manicure, first makeover, and best haircuts here. Even my podiatrist had a storefront once. I got my ears pierced here, lost my favorite teddy bear, learned to ride an escalator,and lost a tooth in a Milk Dud in the movie theatre. We ate in the smoky JCPenney diner, The Terrace in O'Neils, Friendly's, and the York Steakhouse, and had Brody's Frozen Yogurt for dessert. This was the destination for ALL our shopping and activities. There was even a Travel Agency! Anybody remember that the best roller skater from the Barberton rink was a Sears security guard?

[@satyendrandonibanerjee8682]

And now it's an Amazon distribution center, how does that make you feel that the area is thriving again but now in a different environment than what it was prior ?

[@EarlFaulk]

Totally remember the roller rink. Was that the one with the disco floor in the corner? Used to go there with mom when I was young.

[@charlesallen8368]

The property used to be the Ries Farm. My Great-Great Grandma used to live there. My Grandma told me this years ago

[@toffeemug]

10 years of neglecting Rolling Acres and now it has finally been put out of its misery. Gone but not forgotten. RIP

[@Archmetal06]

This is the best Rolling Acres "Dead" mall video out there and one of the first about this mall to be posted on youtube !

[@Karmy.]

Crazy how this mall was still open when this video was posted

[@philipdefibaugh5683]

I am a second generation worker at Rollin Acres. My father worked at Play Palace back in the 70's-80's and we got all the FREE video game plays we wanted. I worked at American Commodore Tuxedo and Spencers in the 90's-2000's. Best mall ever! Sad it closed.....heartbreaking....😿

[@kimberlysparks5021]

goodbye my friend you maybe gone my memories are forever thank you for the fun and joy in my growing years..thank you for the memories my friend......

[@broker3460]

This place was also a BIG part of my life in my teenage years. But after the Malcolm X movie was played, all hell broke loose and there was rioting, ever since that day that mall was doooomed. Then there was a few people robbed and then the rumors started. People were scared and stopped going! Criminals started coming along with the serious crime, and well, that was that! Thanks Guys for putting another good thing out of business. Yours truly, Tony

[@jigglyboo8787]

ruined by blacks? no way??

[@britanni530]

I remember when I was little in the 80's I loved to go to Rolling Acres mall. We lived by Chapel Hill before it had all the renovations(so I've heard I no longer live in OH). This mall reminds me of my mother who is buried in the cemetary next door. This just makes me sad.

[@V8FordTempo]

the last store of Rolling Acres (JC PENNEY OUTLET) is having it's last day of buisness today (12-30-2013) there will be NOTHING left of the mall after today.

[@Hudsonsguynascarconnor]

Actually,no.Storage of America and Pinnacle Recycling are in the old Target and Sears spaces and also I think someone moved into the vacant Dillard's. Can anyone clarify?

[@LethaWolf30]

I think someone owns it but I'm pretty sure its just used for storage

[@SearsCool]

@@Hudsonsguynascarconnor old man storage or something

[@TotosSword]

Sears Cool it’s on rolling acres street view it says “old main storage”

[@goldenhearts03]

Wow..great video. So sad to see that it went from this to what it is today...

[@EarlFaulk]

The messed up thing is they knew when they built this mall in the 70s that based on population projections that this mall would fail owing to urban sprawl. As long as the investors cash out with lots of dough that is all that matters.

[@davinp]

The mall was developed by Forest City Enterprises and opened in August 1975. In 2000, Forest City Enterprises sold the mall for $33.5 million to Bankers Trust after seeing what was going on a nearby mall. Shortly after it was sold again for $2.75 million and stores started leaving in 2003. That mysterious company did not take care of the maill and finally closing in 2008 after they couldn't afford the power

[@kayeanthony411]

That goodbye part with the fountain in the background is tear jerking after growing up in West Akron..

[@philipdefibaugh5683]

It's super upsetting being a former worker there seeing one of the stores I used to work in shuttered.

[@jmhave825]

thank you for putting this up. Excellent video. wonderful images. I am new to the Akron area, and I discovered this mall due to the JCpenney outlet. Every time I go I walk the mall and wonder about her former glory. From your video I could tell how beautiful she was. It is very sad.

[@Rosanker]

In My Opinion,The Rolling Acres Mall Was The Best In The Passed Years...But It's So Sad How This Famous Place Was Closed

[@manystar]

the first abandoned mall related video i saw, still amazing to watch

[@VNVgirl]

All of them to me are heart breaking to watch because they are just stores sure, but really as kids , malls were really a place to hang out and be yourself away from home for the first time .. it's comforting. It has nothing to do with shopping really in my opinion. It's sad - now we're all disconnected online instead of offline in malls together... :(

[@Archmetal06]

This mall reminds me of Kansas City's long lost "Bannister Mall" Bannister mall was much larger than Rolling acres and has yet been torn down now for over 7 years. So sad that Malls in America are becoming a dying breed. They have been for the past 16 to 20 years already! wow.

[@girlscanbedrummers5449]

Malls were such a beautiful place to vist. I miss trying on clothes personally and not being ripped off online.

[@bradgombeda3908]

actually rolling acreage was larger than banister mall by 200,000 Sq ft. look it up!!

[@VNVgirl]

TONS of rolling acres mall videos... THIS is the only one worth showing - so well done and kind. It's sweet. I still come back to see how it was handled... terribly of course .. so this matters.

[@LethaWolf30]

man would have loved to see that fountain in operation

[@AriKitsune19]

I remember coming to this place alot as a kid. Every weekend, my mom would take me and my brothers here for shopping. When I heard it closed down, I was DEVASTATED. It was like losing a part of your childhood. JCPenney was opened still, but the place just shut down. Me and all I knew who went there, we cried and celebrated the mall's history before it closed for good. I just hope that one day, someone would see the good things this mall brought to the city and maybe bring it back. History can be saved and restored. I hope the city would fix the place up and bring it back onto the map :')

[@tobykind8659]

LightAmari120 they are tearing it down soon

[@AriKitsune19]

I know.

[@toptenextreme]

I might just be young but I'm going to get money and rebuild the mall bigger and better than ever.

[@Matrix803]

Kinda wish you didn't do those filters on your video footage, because now we don't have nice clean imagery of the mall back when it was still in relatively clean condition.

[@crowmigration8245]

So cool to see it clean and some history

[@Archmetal06]

this is one of the best "dead mall" videos ever.

[@briansmith2363]

it surprising such a large mall could die

[@Thevinylking69]

Only in America do we build these super structures then slowly neglect them for 40 years, let 'em sit empty for 5 or 10 years and finally knock em down.......its just sad.

[@thefrozengargon338]

+Thevinylking69 ONLY IN AMERICA? Look at China !

[@PomchillasItems]

+TheFrozenGargon I know right, people don't seem to care that china has whole citys being built to sit empty , millions of empty apartments since the late 90s and still growing . I guess current events to some people arn't a thing :)

[@thefrozengargon338]

***** They're only relevant to some if it's anti-American.

[@PomchillasItems]

Your right , I do seem to forget hating is what people do best since the dawn of time. I tend to want to pretend things could turn out different each generation. I don't know why I want to hold on to that hope for , seems so much like a far distant fairytale. But hey we can dream.TheFrozenGargon

[@davinp]

The mall was developed by Forest City Enterprises and opened in August 1975. In 2000, Forest City Enterprises sold the mall for $33.5 million to Bankers Trust. Shortly after it was sold again for $2.75 million and stores started leaving in 2003. That mysterious company did not take care of the maill and finally closing in 2008 after they couldn't afford the power

[@10156gamer]

Goodbye Rolling Acres.

[@roderickdcrawford9982]

Good bye my friend you were a great mall I hope you haven't lost your fan

[@CorollaLvr2000]

What's even worse is how quickly this mall literally fell apart after it closed in 2008 (both from vandalism and structural issues, leaks, etc)... See the video titled "Abandoned Rolling Acres Mall, Akron 2012"...

[@simpsonfanboy]

There's another video called Abandoned Rolling Acres Mall that was posted in 2009 by Gabriel Troppe, which really provides a picture of what the mall looked like between it's closing in 2008 and 2012 and beyond where it totally fell apart. It really didn't look that bad, and could have been salvaged if the city or someone else who was interested managed to buy the building. Apparently in 2011 the owner of the mall stopped paying for security, which is probably what led to interior to be vandalized and destroyed to the extent that when the city finally managed to take over the mall, they had no choice but to tear it down.

[@itzlucaaa6789]

Was even worse in 2015

[@averywilt2348]

My grandma worked at the Sears

[@kellireeves4527]

Very cool...what years did she work there?

[@averywilt2348]

Kelli Cox I don't know exactly but in the 80's

[@averywilt2348]

StellaGirl360 gaming well then u have a BEAUTIFUL name!

[@VNVgirl]

I loved going to Sears with my mother.

[@goodstuff46]

Thank you so much for posting this, it made me cry As a kid we spent so many weekend here, I can still remember my mom waiting for popcorn from the popcorn cart, or my dad getting ice cream at baskin Robbins. I fell in that orange fountain as a kid. We ate at York all the time andriding the elevator felt like I was something special.my dad would buy us one balloon and find some that were way up top in the high ceiling, he would send one balloon up there and wrap the string around the lostBalloon

[@jclay6680]

I remember ( when visiting the arcade ) you could look down into the pit and see Christmas items set up in it during the season , ( but removed later when the lower section was finished )

[@AJ1952Chats]

I think you've explained it really well. Buildings seem to have their own special kinds of souls made up of years of memories...In a sense, they become like old friends...

[@ContainsIt]

So sad. This always used to be the place to be. I would usually be up there every weekend. After Target opened I worked there for like a year. I'd always go out and eat in the mall for lunch. It was always sad how much different it looked by that point. No one walking the halls. There were probably 5-6 stores open in the entire mall at that point. Alladin's Castle was the name of the arcade upstairs above the food court. R.I.P.

[@glamourgirl2123]

0:20 the only pic so far that I've seen of the main entrance with the original logo... I've seen plenty of that same entrance with the later two logos but not this one...

[@evolutionx11]

my parents worked here when i was 9-12 years old, now im 15 but yea. brings back alot of memories, i used to go there everyday to work with my mom, i made alot of mall friends, as in workers in stores, and other kids that go there basically everyday with their parents too. i once got up the elevator and got stuck, i went to alladin's castle arcade everyday and made very good friends with a worker there that taught me karate moves and how to play this one game, his name was Lee.

[@junechris]

Exactly, when people don't have the extra money to spend from earning a living wage it reduces consumer demand, the vehicle which drives the economy, not tax cuts for the rich or large corporations which is a scam to say the least.

[@JeremyMcCracken]

It hasn't closed up, although it's still pretty empty. It has about 1/5 of the stores in use, plus three of the five anchor stores, the food court, and I believe the theater is open. If you go there during the day it is very possible to not see anyone in sight, but it is open. BTW there are some exterior shots; the one at 5:32 is the outside of the old Target; the one at 5:28 I'm pretty sure is from the building across the street, not the mall.

[@carlosdelucia3203]

Ye,but now its all gone

[@dixiewife47]

Ncely done. I loved Montgomery Wards, and the mall near where I lived. It was THE place for the kids to hang out on the weekends. Its sooo sad to see these places die. The buildings may stand empty, but the memories, we all have of the good times and shopping in them will never go away.

[@Yesterdays92]

Oh, how a video like this teaches us to take nothing for granted. My beloved mall, the one that was new when I was a kid in 1981... is dying now as well. I really never, ever saw such an event coming. Call me a sissy, but your video teared me up. Like the death of a friend, it is hard to see this happen.

[@bonk2001]

Such a cool tribute, beautiful song... reminds me of our mall,"The Mall of Memphis" 1981 - 2003, and demolished in 2004. So sad to see malls die like this ;(

[@myredrose1974]

i miss the 70s and 80s...

[@GaryNolt]

Cool blast from the past.Have some great memories of going to Rolling Acres on the weekend during my teen years in the 70's.

[@edt11x]

Really good video. It really does make you sad for the mall.

[@kaiserbill5711]

the end of the American consumer economy

[@evolutionx11]

my parents worked in Nails pizzaz right behind the elevator in 3:59. I used to go to the phone store next to there to talk to the workers, there was thsi really nice lady that worked in the score right on top of the escalator, she used to give me those stuffed animal toys for free. there used to be an ice cream store around the food court too. so many memories i cant even explain it all. i think out of all the ppl here id have to say i have the most childhood memories, i went there EVERYDAY. =(

[@roderickdcrawford9982]

Good bye rolling acres you we're good to us 🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉

[@brief_illusions]

Saw it open and saw it closed. Hard to watch this video.

[@Chris_WG]

This comment hurt .. I am from California and worked for a Mall called Vallco Shopping Plaza.. it was leveled... such great memories there. Thank you Sandi.

[@rebelrailz.]

This video brought me to tears. Rolling Acres Mall, without even knowing anything about it before, had brought me into liking dead malls and even malls in general. I wish I could have gotten to see this place in its heyday.. It was a beautiful mall. At least I am coming up to see Chapel Hill Mall this summer.. hopefully it'll be still open by late June-early July of 2019..

[@SearsCool]

It is!

[@rebelrailz.]

@@SearsCool Hey, it's been over a year now... I wasn't able to get to Akron last year, but I hope to go soon, once this crazy virus slows down. Any updates on CHM's status? Has it closed, or is it still open?

[@Karmy.]

@@rebelrailz. Chapel Hill seems to be doing very badly

[@Karmy.]

And it's closed for good...

[@rebelrailz.]

@@Karmy. Ah dear... At least the CHM carousel was saved, as far as I've heard... Screw Kohan is all I have to say. He was the main contributor to the mall's downfall, because he did nothing to try and help it. What a terrible man, only leeching money from these burnt-out malls when he could've done *so* much more with them (ex. remodeling, more attractions inside the mall, increased security, etc.) and gained a bunch more money through that. My motto, which is perfectly fitting for this situation, is "Give, and you will receive." Kohan, among many other mall-owners, _never_ do that. I guess it's just the harsh, unfortunate reality of business nowadays...

[@testchannel7806]

Anyone here in 2024? Crazy that this video was uploaded a year before the mall actually closed

[@HarvestmanMan]

Just so you know, the first song is "London" by the Crystal Method. Had to search long and hard to find out what it was.

[@Doyle_Clancy]

I miss the mall😥

[@goodstuff46]

He would bring gown 2 balloons, he was a steelworker and didn't say much, but when he got us those balloons I knew he loved us. My mom passed away andmy dad has. Alzheimer's anddoesnt remember those times so all I have left are my memories. I wish I could go back to that time even if for one moment

[@alexw2k315]

the music in this vid was such a good choice

[@lolahammond9600]

My Grandmother Lives near here and when i was a child (Back When The Front Enterence was wooden)it was very packed Im going to visit there before its completely gone

[@philipdefibaugh5683]

Greed killed off this mall! Teen violence, especially the movie "Menace to Society" caused a near riot at the theater inside the mall. Post 911 paranoia kept many away from the malls. Internet stores claimed the mall customers in that shoppers now could shop in their birthday suits if they wished. Funny that Amazon has a facility in the exact same spot as where Rolling Acres once stood. Rolling Acres, gone but NOT forgotten.

[@2knowtheway]

Thank you for this video. We were just at Sears today...it will be closing at the end of the month. Penney's is soon going to follow suit from what I understand. There are windows in Penney's you can look through and see into the once wonderful mall. Very sad.....beautiful video!

[@HattieLovesCattie]

We have that at one nice swanky mall where I live.The mall is very popular but some teens got into a fight last year so they're really patrolling it more now too.

[@realguy440]

Hi thank you for posting this. Rolling Acres was my favorite mall and I still go there to the JC Penney Outlet from time to time. I noticed the entrance to the mall on the first floor of Penneys is not blocked I will miss it. I agree with the ad in your video that the Court of 12 Trees was a beautiful place. I can't believe what happened. Does anyone know the story? I heard a rumor someone bought the mall and raised the lease rates. Thanks for posting agin.

[@kdrama5962]

That fountain!!

[@wowhaha4871]

I’m surprised that Rolling Acres even went into decline because it’s a bigger mall than both Chapel Hills and Summit Mall

[@Archmetal06]

I'm surprised too but sadly malls around America have become a dying breed for the past 25 years now. Bannister Mall in Kansas city was much larger than all of those malls you just mentioned it was demolished way back in 2009. It was only built in 1980. Nearly made it to 30 years but with the way that things change in certain areas it really does have a great impact.

[@Karmy.]

The area it was in was in major decline, lots of empty stores and restaurants on Romig

[@wowhaha4871]

@@Karmy. that’s true as well

[@wowhaha4871]

@@Archmetal06 I agree. The neighborhood around Bannister Mall eventually became crime ridden and people started going elsewhere because of it.

[@esthergennn]

So sad to see a place once full of life so lifeless.

[@HattieLovesCattie]

That opening sketch pix reminds me so much of the singer Bobby Sherman.His hair was just like that.Its so depressing to see the old malls abandoned.

[@jgplmp1984]

This is a great video. I was a total Rolling Acres Mall rat when I was 12 and 13. Me and Barb( you know who you are-roving around, watching scary movies, buying custom made t shirts) It was great fun. I miss our mall(and I hate to shop).

[@IAmNotAFunguy]

I just heard today in the news that the mall will be closing sometime between October 27 (This Monday) and October 31 (This Friday). The owner chose not to pay the electric bill so the moment the utility shuts off the mall's power, the mall will be closed. The 8 stores in the mall itself that are still open have been told about the power outage and closing and that they will have to either move or close. Sears and JCPenney Outlet will remain open.

[@TylerBowmann]

When this video was made the mall was still open, but it closed on October 31 2008. The only stores that are left are sears and JC penny.

[@rankful]

this is the first rolling acres video ever posted.

[@totteacher1646]

thanks for sharing..so many memories in kenmore..i loved this mall!

[@kevinf26]

it's so sad to see that happen. I thought that was going to happen to Bay Shore Mall on Long Island, NY. When i went there a month ago it was dead empty, but just this past saturday i saw that there was only one empty store and the mall was booming again. -KEVIN-

[@Turtle3000GT]

Did all my school shopping there every year but now Romig Road is dead as hell such a shame, gotta go to Fairlawn now to do anything

[@IAmNotAFunguy]

"Rolling Acres Mall:Where value never takes a vacation." Oh, it's taken a vacation all right-a permanant vacation!

[@ItsaRomethingeveryday]

I feel a strong connection to this mall via all the videos from it I've watched, Good Up

[@HattieLovesCattie]

I probably passed old Anaheim Plaza but its been over 20 years.The only small mall I can remember is the one in Buena Park near Knotts Berry Farm.That mall still open?I know they had some gang problems.

[@PunmasterSTP]

The "Court of the Twelve Trees" looked so nice and fancy. But now it's gone 😥

[@daraka1754]

There was video from the mall in 31.10.2008 but it was deleted, it was from the last day of operation of this mall

[@Karmy.]

Yeah the person whose video it was privated it because he was tired of it being used without permission

[@johnnyhotcakes5217]

i coulda sat at that fountain for hours if i were around back in the day

[@christopherchristopher2153]

I did as a 5 to 12 year old

[@johnnyhotcakes5217]

@@christopherchristopher2153 I went in there right at the begining of the end in 2001 and now I will be working at the Amazon there

[@christopherchristopher2153]

Johnny Hotcakes that is great you get be apart of that great history of that Property

[@olsharky]

my friends and i used to go to that arcade and the music stores there,i moved out of Akron in 2000 i really hate to see that mall go belly up

[@HattieLovesCattie]

I have been to the BP Mall but don't really remember it.I always went to Westminster Mall as I lived in H.B.and Fountain Valley before moving east 15 years ago.See's Candy store still at BP mall?I heard they had gang problems there.How many stores does BP mall have?

[@littlelilith2]

I grew up with this as our closest mall through the 90s.. even back then, half of the stores in the building were out of business, and half of the ones left were really strange stores where nobody wanted to shop (unless you want a blue velvet pimp suit--anybody remember that store??). It's not surprising it went out of business. It didn't help that for many years, it was 15-20 years outdated, and yes, as fewer people were shopping there, more people with bad intentions starting hanging around.

[@CubsFan2812]

@LovinLife7777 I just made a comment like that on another video. I feel your pain. I was born in 1980 and I remember my elementry school dying when I was in high school, I visited it and the memories i had with my friends there were haunting. I cant imagine the Water Tower Place, now my local mall, dying like this. It's just so sad and disturbing. As for the maker of the video, Great job!

[@goldendragon35]

thanks for text reply. great vid on what is happening. do you know what happened to the mall? looks like ghost town

[@CowgirlXena]

Never been to Ohio but I got interested in dead malls yesturday and been looking at vds. This has nice music. Whats the song called?

[@lolahammond9600]

Every time i hear the 2nd song i wanna cry cause i heard the mall was better than the other malls in the city i think it was three in total

[@districtline]

How sad. That was a pretty damned impressive-looking mall in it's heyday.

[@HattieLovesCattie]

I used to live in the Huntington Beach area.I do know the mall there closed and became something else.What other malls have closed in Calif.?

[@tsunyanko592]

HattieLovesCattie the village in orange barely has any shops, and Westminster mall has had way better days. Laguna hills also has no shops except JC Penney but its going through renovation so maybe that will help. Carousel Mall is San Bernardino is completely dead and will most likely be torn down. but in general californias malls are doing pretty well. i think its cause they are in better areas and people have more money to spend here

[@KLEBRUN]

Great video. Really drives home the sad feeling of what this mall has become. Sorry to see that, like other malls with fountains, an ugly fence/barrier had to be put up to keep kids from getting hurt because many parents today don't teach them to respect property. More likely they would be the first in line to sue the mall.

[@adams0960]

In Columbia, MO. where I used to live they had to implement a policy where anyone under 17 had to be accompanied by an adult to be in the mall after 6pm everyday.

[@Turtle3000GT]

Some guy just got killed from trying to steal copper wire off the roof, the place will probably just sit and rot away like everything else on Romig Rd

[@markkopczinsky7803]

sad to see the mall torn down my mom and I spent weekend shopping there spent my childhood at the mall so sad

[@AaronC143]

I miss this mall. I used to come to Rolling Acres Mall all the time. This was my favorite mall back in my childhood and teenage years. It sucks what happened with this mall. Now Chapel Hill Mall is out of business. So now, Summit Mall is now the only mall open in Akron now and they're still going strong. Carnation Mall in Alliance, Ohio was just torn down, they're building a Meijer in it's place. Shenango Valley Mall in Hermitage, Pennsylvania is now going out of business at the end of May. They're now losing their last anchor store which is JCPenney. It's gonna be torn down later this year. I miss these malls. At least the Summit Mall and the Belden Village Mall are still open as well as the Eastwood Mall in Niles, Ohio. These malls are still going strong to this day.

[@A51498]

There're were too many malls in Ohio, in northern Ohio there were 11 or 12; Westgate, Midway, Erieview, Tower City, Euclid Square, Randall, Richmond, Beachwood, Great Northern, Southpark, and Great Lakes, now only four of the original malls are used Southpark, Great Northern, Great Lakes, and Beachwood, a handful of the stores at all three malls are not really chain stores anymore, and Great Northern, Great Lakes and Southpark have announced some sort of redevelopment and rezoning, and those three also have at least one empty corridors Great Northern's Sears wing, Southpark's Sears and Macy's wing, and Great Lake's Sears and Macy's anchors are closed and both ends have empty corridors. I think Great Lakes would be the first to close, then Great Northern or Southpark (depending on which one redevelops first, I think Great Northern will redo first then Southpark would die or stagnate), Beachwood is most likely going to outlive all the malls in Cuyahoga county.

[@ms.nunnayabizness9020]

I am loving this.

[@goldendragon35]

great video. sad, but great

[@scott3006]

What is the metal structure at 1:15 time ? and when was it removed?

[@nanogaming7949]

The metal structure was a fountain which was removed before 1992.

[@scott3006]

Thank you..

[@kcc7565]

Nano Gaming I thought it was an elevator lol

[@LovinLife7777]

I never even visited this mall and this video made me a bit blue. As a child of the 70's there are few sights sadder than watching a mall - symbol of life, fun, and activity - die a horrible death like this. Just awful. Sad as it is, this video captures this all-too-common sight across the country since the early part of this decade. Well captured.

[@thomesocksup]

I used to go there alot. Summit, Rolling Acres and Chapel Hill. Those were my old haunts.

[@st3phenJC]

i love exploring abandoned places, makes me wonder and sad too bad i live in new york, no abandoned places over here :( can you tell me why it was abandoned and how long because i saw some lighting in some of your images

[@LethaWolf30]

I know this is 10 years overdue but Rolling Acres sat abandoned from it's closure on Halloween of 2008 to it's demolition in the summer of 2017. The mall shut down because they simply couldn't afford to stay open. They lost a ton of stores from 2000 to 2008 including Target, Dillard's and Macy's. Remaining stores at the time of closure were a few churches and a couple small "Mom and Pop" stores. Sears and JCPenney Outlet were the only anchors still operating but they owned their spaces and the mall wasn't getting any rent from them. They had some debt and couldn't afford to pay for electricity in the end. Sears and JCPenney stayed open for awhile after the mall shut down, Sears closed in March of 2011 and JCPenney left in December of 2013. The mall was the most widely explored abandoned building in the country due to the owners (a shady corporation known as Premier Ventures) being completely nonexistent for almost a decade. You can still find a lot of video tours here on KZbin during the years leading up to demolition. The city was finally able to foreclose on the property because the owners weren't paying property taxes and that is what ultimately lead to the demolition of the property. At the time of foreclosure all of the former anchor department stores except the former JCPenney were occupied. The former Sears was and still is to this day a recycling center called Pinnacle Recyling. The former Dillard's was a storage facility for boats and large vehicles called "Old Main Storage". The former Target was also a storage facility called "Storage of America" which has since moved to the former Macy's at the now defunct Chapel Hill Mall across town. The former Macy's was also being used for... (wait for it) storage! But in this case it was document storage owned by an attorney. JCPenney donated their store to the city and it was demolished along with the rest of the main mall structure. The other anchor buildings remained standing till Amazon purchased the property from the city. Amazon bought all the remaining buildings (except Pinnacle Recycling) and tore them all down for a new shipping facility which opened in November of 2020. During the time the mall was abandoned it saw scrappers who took every piece of metal they could get including all the metal rails and escalator floor panels. Vandals who broke everything and sprayed graffiti, and thousands of urban explorers. Two deaths occurred at the property, one being a scrapper who tried to cut cable from what turned out to be a live electrical box and a suicide by hanging. A body was also dumped in a shallow grave in the woods behind the building by the Craigslist killers at one point as well. Most notable explorers of the mall were Dan Bell and Seph Lawless. The mall also saw stardom when Viceland shot part of their pilot episode of the show "Abandoned" at the building. In that episode it was stated that back when the mall was still open a child was crushed by the elevator but I've never found any evidence indicating that was an actual event.

[@st3phenJC]

@@LethaWolf30 Although a decade later I still appreciate the info and still find it interesting. Very well written. Thank you!

[@st3phenJC]

@@LethaWolf30 The most notable abandoned place I've been to is Kings Park Psychiatric which has a vast history dating back to the 1800s. Still, although abandoned since the late 90s, holds the record for the world's largest psych facility ever in operation. A place that started out with good intentions that went through a very dark period as far as inhumane acts. Cool stuff but I'm sure you know plenty of the place!

[@campermike8879]

Sad to see these places die like this. When a new mall is built the old one gets ignored as every one rushes to the fancy shinny place. Less customers so stores close. As the stores close the owners can no longer afford to keep the place up. As it falls apart fewer people want to shop there. Silly we keep building new stores taking up more and more land. Think George Carlin put it best when it came to shopping

[@AlwysBanned]

had nothing to do with a new mall, go look at the neighborhood and the "groups" of people that cling around there. stores where being stole from and started closing and it was a domino effect.

[@Gangularis]

***** you're an idiot. The perception of crime is what drove people away, not actual crime.. Every single mall is full of shitty teenagers trying to shoplift. Rolling Acres had multiple problems. One of the major ones being horrible freeway access.. Go to chapel hill, the demographic is no different, but it's still open. Rolling Acres down fall has nothing to do with "liberalism".

[@Gangularis]

***** you're just an idiot trying to make a sad situation political.

[@AlwysBanned]

Gangularis Guessing you have never been to Romig Rd. it has 2 highway exits less than a mile away allot closer than summit mall. Also "every single mall is full of shit teenagers" - thats like saying every single city is full of shit teenagers but you'll never see me moving to cleveland, same with people who said "I wont have my store in that mall"

[@Gangularis]

Matthew Starcher wrong. I lived off of Romig road less than a year ago. The freeway access to rolling acres is a tragedy and a joke. Your desperate analogy is also a joke.. Comparing a city to a mall is beyond moronic.. In fact downtown Cleveland's mall is still open.. So how do you explain away that in your idiotic analogy?

[@C20StudiosOfficial]

song name of the sad song? they said the mall will be destroyed

[@shammydammy2610]

"At least we tried" by Moby.

[@C20StudiosOfficial]

shammy dammy thx

[@MrGchiasson]

I'll always miss the 'heyday' of the late 70's through the early 90's. The business feeling was "Porsches & Perrier' ...just 'Go for it!" We'd go to the 'upscale' malls and they were always busy.. People just enjoyed window-shopping...to see what was new. We saw the beginning of the declines by mid 90's... It's been downhill ever since. Now it's depressing to see the 'closed' signs and the look on people's aces... they also have 'closed' signs in their eyes...

[@goldendragon35]

have any pictures or videos of any of these malls?

[@EarlFaulk]

Unions in general exist for the benefit of the bureaucrats that run them. I remember one of our managers got a job with the UFCW and as a perk he gets a free car every year and reimbursement for various "expenses". The biggest mistake they made was letting high school kids vote on the contract as most of them would be leaving anyways in a few years. So what happened? Pay tiered system was put in place which allowed targeted lay offs

[@Xbb.1.5]

@HaloProductionz1 Maybe but the reason I stopped going to certain malls is because of the violence and rude behavior of certain groups of people and everyone I know stopped for the same reason. It was not inadequate maintenance It was inadequate security.

[@KONEV532]

This deadmall should be a DEVO museum!

[@Psuedo3D]

What is the name of the music in the beginning?

[@DoctorOlmosTheRapper]

Pseudo3D London by the Crystal Method