DEAD MALL: Sunrise Mall in Corpus Christi Tx

This is the Sunrise Mall located in Corpus Christi Texas. Ask any locals between the ages of 30-50, and you will see a smile come to their face, for this mall was a sanctuary to yesterday’s youth, and now it sits as a time capsule of nostalgic memories of what was. I shot this video primarily to focus on the beauty of what was, nothing else. Please enjoy.
Song Credit: Washed Out-Feel It All Around

[@marleyfrankenstein2167]

Sometimes i still go here. Sometimes you just want to wander and imagine what it was like before.

[@scaramouchescaramouche9369]

Marz And Starz yea I always wonder what all the closed down stores would be and all the people wandering around

[@TheSampageslice]

I want to go explore the this shut down mall.

[@tomswinburn1778]

I did some work in this mall, installing chill water air handlers and heat coils in a couple of different stores. Brand new at the time. I wasn't. Guess that makes me an old goat. I left Corpus permanently in the late 70s, never to return but for short visits. It is hard for me to believe this mall has fallen so far. And a little sad. Happening to us of my age too. My old high school, and a couple of others are having their 50th reunion at the end of this month. I'm not making the trip for few of the people I knew are on the guest list. Things change. Not always for the better. Early and mid 70s the big downtown anchor stores were being shuttered. That was probably painful for those who frequented them as kids and young adults. Greetings Corpus. I miss the old you.

[@tylerlondon5052]

Getting old means watching things that meant something to you die.

[@jenniferfelan694]

This is where they shot the mall chase scene for the movie "The Legend of Billie Jean"

[@drinklords8453]

Time 3:15 I spent much time right there. Diamond Jim's arcade was just to the right of that frame. The 80s were cool at that mall. That arcade used to occupy the space just below where it's located currently. Many memories of that mall. Every Saturday. Heck they even let you smoke in the mall back then. Last time I was there it looked the same as it did back.in the day. Except now it's empty.. Sad

[@gabyrivera2877]

Wait really? I live in Corpus Christi

[@robcoffin2172]

i remember corn dog 7, orange Julius, sbarros pizza, wendys, chic-fil-a, kb toys, Walden books, whataburger at this mall

[@SeanCC]

Orange Julius was at Padre Staples. Before I got my license I used to cut through the mall as a shortcut and would pick up an Orange Julius on the way (or rather, back then they had the Strawberry Cream Supreme, which you could add an egg to for thickness).

[@indiglo1971]

@@SeanCC There was an Orange Julius at Sunrise Mall. It was down by Frost Bros.

[@SeanCC]

@@indiglo1971 What year(s) though? Not in the '86-89 era that I recall.

[@indiglo1971]

@@SeanCC It may have been before your time. There used to be a Brewer's Ice Cream down there also. I spent a lot of time at that mall. My brother used to own Sunrise Clock Shoppe that was next Cutlery World in that same area. There was an incredible arcade called Diamond Jim's close to Frost Bros also.

[@omgubler]

It's funny because Sunrise Mall used to be the popular mall and Padre Staples was the dead mall. Now it's the other way around: Padre Staples Mall (now La Palmera) has since been renovated and that's where everyone goes, while a e only people that go here are for the dollar cinema, Sears, and Funtabulous.

[@rra022001]

La Palmera? A marketing joke? WTF! Well those who are native to Corpus know it as Padre Staples. Yea, sunrise mall was the preferred mall vs Padre Staples back in the late 80s early 90s...

[@SeanCC]

In the early/mid '80s Padre Staples was the "old people" mall. It was really drab and had the cafeteria. But around '89 Padre Staples got the new wing and the new theaters and food court. The theater was the most modern in town at the time, though both malls felt the hit from the expansion happening at Moore Plaza. I went back to visit in the late '90s and early '00s and both malls were just depressing and Padre Staples was barely half full it seemed, and the theater was shut down and vacant. I was looking on Google Maps and it seems to have come back, based on the higher end shopping I see, and the amount of cars in the lots during the time of satellite photography. It's got a PF Changs now which I don't think would still be there if the mall wasn't doing okay. Sunrise looks like this would imply. Lots mostly empty, little or no signage outside.

[@oneremains1712]

Sean Cunningham, I've been to both La Palmera and Sunrise MANY times and yeah. Sunrise, desolate. La Palmera, you can't find less than 10 people in every store.

[@TheSampageslice]

Every Sears locations are shut down. I think.

[@SouthTexasHouseCat]

I can't tell you how many concert / band t-shirts that I bought from there growing up at Rich's and Rock n' Roll Plus. So many great memories.

[@desenberg8874]

SouthTexasHouseCat I use to love that store!

[@peachmangoplum]

cant believe i didnt see this while i was in corpus! i really love dead/abandoned malls. im from Chicago and came for a day to see the Selena museum and her grave. thank you for making this!

[@KicrFilmsRG]

Thank you for watching!

[@Cristian.Cortez]

the malls not abandoned its just not very used although the places still there are awsome

[@friendlyfriends5046]

Ellie Nash I live here and it's quite small but fun because everyone is very unique and hs different styles of tastes but still it's like when I meet a stranger it just feal like you just met them by soul!

[@UltimateManager]

NOOBYVERS ROBLOX Im going to Corpus Christi on Christmas Eve!!!!!!

[@Cristian.Cortez]

NOOBYVERS ROBLOX corpus is getting really urban we use to be know as a town now were a city and agriculture is going down it sucks

[@DutchessCottonPuff]

I remember the day this opened . We'd just come from the old Benjamin's and decided to go before we went back home to Port A . Really hard to believe it's been that long ago .

[@stephenfallis9374]

I did all of the drywall finishing for the ocean mural and the skylight domes in the entry hallway. You see in the beginning of this clip. Thanks for the excellent footage produced in this, this mall is epic.

[@toppcakes]

justchuck fallis :: walked around this mall today and my family and I had to stop and admire the beauty of the mural. Well done!!!

[@stephenfallis9374]

Sara Toppin thanks

[@rbagel55]

I worked for Gunn Tile and we did all the floor tile here, hard work.

[@TJDrones]

When I was watching this, I had gotten about 3 minutes in, and I completely forgot that I was even watching a mall from the present. Great filter, I totally felt like I was in some sort of time warp. I don't think the mall was ever once updated, It feels "original" still... simply an awesome job, and great music selection. Short plug of my own: I've got a Dead Mall video up on my own channel if anyone wants to check it out... I also got kicked out by security while in the food court, lol. Good luck on your next project.

[@KicrFilmsRG]

Thanks for watching!!! Enjoyed your channel!

[@Vendzor]

Went with a very good friend of mine a while back. had fun at the two arcades just enjoying youth and the high school years of semi-freedom with Electric Light orchestra playing on the radio. Good times indeed...

[@kasandragarcia8587]

this mall needs to be bright back to life

[@elizabethg7954]

Omg i see so many people in the comments like "this is so cool"LOL i live in corpus and the only thing cool in there is the dollar cinema

[@goveeuh]

You're the only person who said "this is so cool" And if you think the only cool thing in Corpus Christi is the dollar cinema, then you have not been to many places.

[@elizabethg7954]

govea2000 As you can see in my comment I typed LIKE "this is so cool"as in not necessarily that but to that extent.And it was in my opinion,don't take it to far.

[@goveeuh]

Fan Warrrior 13 Yes I know you said Like, but I don't see a comment similar to what you said. And I know it's your opinion, of course.

[@elizabethg7954]

govea2000 Yes there is they either say "I love it" or "cool" or something to that effect and I apologize for assuming that you were not informed that my comment was an opinion.

[@therodriguezfamilydog7604]

Is the mini golf place still there?? I haven't been in like 6 months lmao.

[@davewf77]

So many of my teen years wasted in that mall. Sad to see what has happened to it. But like the rest of Corpus pretty much down the tubes. My poor hometown....

[@moviestarmemories630]

If mayor Nelda ans her city council pets keeps raising taxes it'll be a ghost town soon.

[@DutchessCottonPuff]

Port Aransasn here but I hear you . I couldn't go back if I wanted too .

[@mr.buentello68]

I've been working the plants here in Houston for the last 4 years and yes I know my hometown has gone down the drain but I'll always love and miss it...

[@nochilllol7429]

OMG I LOVE THAT MALL!!! AND I LOVE CORPUS CHRISTI!! born a and raised 😎

[@nochilllol7429]

sadly the last time I saw it everything was closed except the movies,a snow ice rink for birthdays and a mini golf course

[@lordoftheskies4029]

You definetly a CORPUTA 😂😂

[@marleyfrankenstein2167]

Me, too! You should visit it sometime. It is very nice to wander in. Some stores, i believe, are still open!

[@awesomebush8711]

@@nochilllol7429 I remeber the ice skating rink and they had some nerf gun thing behind it.

[@ZFKATNBADGER40]

Eerie, regarding how this was the go-to mall from its grand opening til about 2000-2001ish it was downhill from there. I remember 1 store closed and everything around it followed en suite, like a ripple effect.

[@stephenfallis9374]

When this video begins you will see a ocean mural thats 50 yards long. And above you will see 3 dome lighted ceilings. In the year 1993 I and my girlfriend moved to corpos Christi on a whim. And i grabbed a drywall job in a store about to open connecting them to the mall with that hall way. The crew that finished the wall and domes had done a botched job so the company ask me if i could fix the humps in the wall so the artist could draw his mural. So i spent a couple of weeks in that hall fixing the wall. Then another month of december finishing the newly rocked light domes. That eventually had sea gulls painted in them. I miss malls they were a great place to watch people and all their uniqueness of fashion and character. I was 24 now im 52 and my work is still there.

[@pizzarat2321]

I visited this mall very recently and it's sad to see how much more downhill it's gone since the time this was filmed. Half of the few existing tenants shown are gone now, the fountains were no longer operating, and The Port was completely blocked off. Really depressing stuff. edit: I forgot to mention that the sign at the main entrance was falling apart and looked as though it was barely staying intact. This mall is virtually forgotten and does not seem like it will be revitalized anytime soon.

[@rodneyashcraft4440]

Thanks for doing this. From Refugio County and left in 1988. Did a lot of shopping there.

[@samboyes2616]

They should really try to start it back up rent the small stores cheap and have a big event there so people will start using it again so upsetting to watch such a big part of corpus go down hill it’s been like this for years and nobody’s tried to help it

[@GaryHardin]

I see Billie Jean's ghost...

[@divinagraciadomingo5911]

0:29 sears 1:41 factory shoe warehouse 2:11 pretzel world 3:13 burlington

[@mandimandi4377]

Yupppp I live in cc tx and this mall is dead as hell!! Believe it out not some old man was killed in the bathroom

[@mandimandi4377]

+DogFoot23 lmfao :D

[@Jinaria101]

How did he die was he murdered?

[@lordoftheskies4029]

Believe it or not , i got blow jobs in those restrooms. Lol

[@Jinaria101]

@salemx__x Oh my god that’s awful

[@TheSampageslice]

@@Jinaria101 He was stabbed to death with a knife.

[@christina.lynn97]

Man I remember going to that mall for the dollar movie theater, glow in the dark mini golf course, & the arcade I got invited to go to for a classmates birthday party! Such great memories I have of that place! Loved the mural growing up! When I was watching season 3 of Stranger Things and the mall scene came up, that reminded me of THIS mall!

[@DRNEGOLICIS]

It's sad, raised here, this place was booming in the mid late 90s when padre staples mall was the dead one, it's now called la Palmera mall

[@cathie3486]

this is so sad :( i miss the 80s sooooooooo much

[@albertricaldayiii4067]

Rock n roll plus 😥

[@joweiss6374]

Great location for a remake of the Langoliers.

[@ManuelLopez-ns5pn]

Awesome video I remember mens warehouse, riches rock n roll Express The pizza place Dollar movies Was fun

[@nole8923]

The famous Sunrise mall where The Legend of Billie Jean was filmed. Dan Bell did an excellent KZbin video on this mall about the same time this video was made. I remember when the movie came out in 1985. I was dating a girl I fell in love with at the time. I didn’t see the movie in 1985, but I absolutely remember the theaters playing that movie and.seeing it list on the front facade of the theater. I remember that time and how it seemed things were happier then and didn’t suck like today. Life was more about living then instead of it being about worrying about your job and paying bills like today. Malls are dying because the quality of life and standard of living has declined. People no longer have the time or the money. Mainly the time.

[@JourneyWithDavaoJack]

I just went there last week not realizing it was so "dead". I did not have time to browse so I finally made it to the La Palmera which was very nice. I can see though that SUNRISE MALL was an awesome and lively place in it's earlier days.

[@carlostrujillo3854]

Sad to see business going down cuz the pandemic it's like this in my city as well hope everyone success and business to rise

[@dirtyface-capone7622]

Trying to picture what this mall was like in the 80's/90's.Closed my eyes & imagined Selena Quintanilla walking past me with shopping bags and a huge smile on her face.

[@ral8031]

It was amazing! It's sad to see it like this.

[@LethaWolfStudios]

Mall security can be such party poopers

[@SC75InvalidNickname]

I remember going to this mall when I was little, it would be sooo packed with people land now ,it's very vacant . from what my mother has told was that they built the La Palmera mall after sunrise mall and it wasn't very popular, then when they changed the name of it and re did everything it really became a major mall, and now sunrise is dead. ..

[@kistelkistel]

It was always the better mall even before the name change back when they had the carousel too

[@ravendaniels9628]

I remember this mall full of people back min the 80's! The movie theater, first girlfriend. Miss them years.

[@ravendaniels9628]

Full of people, it was teenage years, Fast Times at Ridgemont High times.lol

[@DragonAngel26]

great video makes me want to go film it

[@drewski4232]

So much potential and such a waste of space but i dig the creepy vibe you get just by walking around in there.Oh and I also have a lot of fond memories going in there too.

[@sinisterm2530]

Yo I know that I'm 4 years late to this video but that Dorothy walkthrough is now covered up with boards I've been inside of it in Banning it's pretty cool

[@TheSampageslice]

I don’t know why this mall was forgotten. It had a lot of good stores.

[@derekdavids4844]

omg washed out!! great music choice

[@jacquelineperez4]

Sad that they closed half of the mall my dad and I used to go to the arcade together and see the old man that worked there on the weekends

[@EVOLutionary3D]

AYE I WENT THERE TODAY XD

[@DeVineVault]

Thanks for this video. I just arrived at Cc TX and I was looking for stuff to do lol at the damn security. 😩😂

[@frquentc3289]

I loved the under water mural as a kid

[@0ralemihente74]

It's been so long in the 90's .. I do not remember if my ex boss Roy Smith owned that mall or the other one .. I used to go to them malls & weiners .. thunderbird .. trade center L0L .. you all stay safe

[@audreymaguai]

My mom talks about how it used to be the hot spot for everyone back then , now it’s just dead :,( but they do play some really cool 80s music there ;)

[@Cristian.Cortez]

my two favorite places are pretzel world and that place with the train

[@Collaps_ing]

Lol at least there is still a Sears there 😂💯

[@makeeverythingsparkle1611]

You should have checked out the courthouse in corpus.

[@raycarrell2414]

Corpus Christi native here, too bad the old courthouse has not been redone. Last I was there it was in great decay, about 20 years ago.

[@SoCalFreelance]

I purchased my first cell phone there in the mid-90's

[@Soldelaida]

I bet Selena went here

[@audreymaguai]

Marisol Lizarraga probably :,)

[@nightreader1264]

What a great mall.

[@gregcripps7291]

I do love the dollar cinema.....and occasionally Burlington Coat Factory.

[@northstarnetwork6496]

The mall is as close to North Korean as you're going to get.

[@northstarnetwork6496]

protossrock1 hardly any food and no photography. But security is gone so its anarchy now

[@danielslosson5231]

Gay

[@MalvinJackson]

i want this song... my wife hates it..i can use it to piss her off...lol

[@KicrFilmsRG]

Malvin Jackson it's called Feel it all around

[@MalvinJackson]

thanx

[@captain0981]

RIP SUNRISE MALL 1981-2018 Cause of death: Padre Staples/La Palmera mall took over the mall industry in corpus

[@888ssss]

this mall is now closed down but the ghost of jay camo is still being reported on the upper floor and several workmen have refused to work here.

[@damndevil13]

damn that's depressing. I use to work for a small business here back in 2000 when I was a teenager.

[@savannahtrevino5342]

Corpuschristi HR-TEXAS

[@nashstewart2896]

Hey, Kicr what kind of the camera that u used ?? I really like the vision that u film at the dead mall and that remind me of the movie is ' The Legend of Billie Jean" that was like 1985 !

[@mizzmuhree9297]

Lol I hated that mall when we lived there. Smelled like rat but we would go to service our vehicles at sears so we browsed at times. I used to tell my husband “I wish I could turn into a giant just so I could spit on it” lol I have no idea why I hated it. Maybe the smell and ghost empty feel it had.

[@heatherrega1816]

It’s getting worse. They closed the interior part of the mall. A few weeks ago some thugs broke in and tags inside. Yesterday a sign fell because of the hurricane.

[@fronk794]

I live right across the street from that lol

[@MalvinJackson]

love this song... plz who sings it...by the way..this is a beautiful mall....sad

[@drunkfromhell2656]

It was a lot better in the 80's

[@richunggoy3960]

When I was in high school in the 80's this mall was the shit. All run down now

[@harleycassiequinnmccree152]

I wanna go here

[@desenberg8874]

I was there a few days ago and I felt like it was haunted lol

[@TheSampageslice]

Me and my family were at Burlington and I needed to use the restroom so we had to go inside the mall to use the restroom and it was scary and dark and I kinda had a weird vibe.

[@catherinebenton3637]

Used to shop there went to the 1.09 movies

[@linda409]

I went in there thinking that mall was the La palmera mall....boy was I wrong

[@captain0981]

My mom remembers kb toys when it was in that mall

[@bossdawg3540]

What is the song playing?

[@josephdegarmo3702]

Are there any open stores left? I remember when I was in town two years ago and paid a visit to this mall. There was an arcade room where you could play any game for 25 cents per credit.

[@Vendzor]

Both arcades are still there

[@itsgrivix]

yeah some stores are still there

[@sergiogrimaldo5712]

this mall must have been packed with people back in the 80s ive been inside theres still a movie theather open and a few food courts its like you walked into the 80s i actually worked helping built the Freedom Fitness gym that is there the gym still gets pack with people

[@scaramouchescaramouche9369]

Damn at least it looks nice than, now there is only the glow in the dark golf some shops and a cinema

[@sandraluz79]

I always went here but they built a new mall next to it

[@amyhorne5572]

This mall looks and smells better than current rat and mold infested la stink. Need to move everything back to this one

[@melindaploch6846]

It has closed.

[@heyitsjazzxox5548]

I go to that mall I think it’s nice

[@MalvinJackson]

plz...somebody tell me the name of this song...lol

[@leilani6834]

Malvin Jackson it's in the description box

[@roseymanatee9191]

I call that the old mall..

[@paulz.seamehn9912]

Nothing is understanding in this video

[@indiglo1971]

Your comment is hard to understand, too.

[@laur3n781]

I live in corpus Christi

[@lordoftheskies4029]

Lauren Martinez Then u definetly a Corputa

[@harleycassiequinnmccree152]

Unguarded stuff steal them all

[@acidpuppi]

la Palmera m8

[@twigagawizard]

So sad...

[@savannahtrevino5342]

HR TEXAS