Dying Malls: Decarie Square (Montreal, Qc)

In this video, we showcase Decarie Square, a dying mall located in Montreal.

[@Montrealcyclist]

Haven’t visited this mall for years. On my last visit, there were a cinema/ theatre and a Winners store. The mall looks clean and well maintained. I would pay a visit when it’s convenient. Thanks that Montreal guy.

[@themontrealguy471]

Yeah, the mall is very charming compared to most others, it's really sad that it's in such a dire state.

[@SkyOfTheUniverse]

Thanks for this video. Great series! Very interesting mate

[@themontrealguy471]

Thanks! Hope to showcase these artifacts before they're gone for good...

[@MOSESI]

So this mall in perticular will not die like the rest. It has government offices, lots of them, province and federal, and it has for a long time. My sisters dad is friends with the owner of the mall, he says that the government offices have for a long time covered the operation of the mall, and now that the federal government has set up a permanent massive vaccination site in the mall (you walked by it in the basement floor), holding a large space in preparation for future need, the government rentals are actually turning a profit on their own. Every other store is a bonus at this point. Very low rents, with very high returns for the mall owner. It looks like it's about to be condemned BUT, on paper, it's doing FAR better than most malls in the city. The big sign is the plants. A failing or flaling mall will cut costs, and one of the first things to go is the horticultural technicians, let the plants die and sometimes remove the pots but normaly keep them empty until the place closes, BUT decarie square has healthy plants managed by a top horticultural maintance company. Those plants are thriving and some of them are decades old. No one who is losing money would spend that much on something so unimportant.

[@themontrealguy471]

True, I heard the theatre there is quite popular as well....I imagine it will just remain in its current state with several empty storefronts and half the space occupied by discount chains...

[@MOSESI]

@@themontrealguy471 the theater USTA be huge, when bernie ran it as dollar cinema, and Mike Babins did retro nights there... but those days are gone. That thearier was part of my child hood, every film i DIDN'T see at the chomedy drive in I saw there, Back to the future 1, transformers, feris buler...... all the way up to lion king.