Livingston Mall? More Like Deadingston Mall, Am I Right? Let's Explore this Wonderfully Dead Mall!

Рет қаралды 9,084

Ай бұрын

Join me as I take a look at the Livingston Mall in Livingston, New Jersey. Is it a dead mall, a dying mall or is it doing just fine? It looks like a dead mall to me! Let me know what you think about this mall in the comments!
This video was filmed in February 2024 at about 12:45pm on a Wednesday.
If you liked this video, please give me a thumbs up, leave a comment and subscribe to my channel! Thanks!
Sources of information and historical photographs:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Livings...
www.costar.com/article/102753...
/ livingston_mall_living...
www.tripadvisor.com/Attractio...
patch.com/new-jersey/livingst...
i.pinimg.com/originals/18/d3/...
www.msn.com/en-us/money/compa...
www.tapinto.net/towns/livings...
www.tapinto.net/towns/livings...
Raw & Real Retail
• Livingston Mall - Raw ...
#deadmall #deadmalls #mall #malls #newjersey #shoppingmall #shoppingmalls #retail #livingston #livingstonnj #nostalgia #fleabittenadventures

Пікірлер: 111

@toysRrobloxYT Ай бұрын

I'm surprised you don't have like 50k or 100k

@kjquinn7856 26 күн бұрын

I remember the Livingston Mall from its heyday in the late 1970's and 1980's. Epstein's was a local department store with branches in Morristown and Somerville. Hahne's was acquired by Lord & Taylor. Bamberger's was owned by Macy's and the name was changed to Macy's in about 1986. The mall included GAP (when it was "The Gap"), Wilson's House of Suede, Carlin's (a local men's store), a Singer Sewing Center, Crosstown Traffic (a unisex salon), Kleinsleep (mattress store), Kid's Place, a number of shoe stores. Livingston Mall never had a food court and was about five miles from The Mall at Short Hills, a very upscale mall that attracts shoppers from Manhattan on weekends because New Jersey does not tax clothing and shoes.

@charlestonpinballarcade Ай бұрын

Hey Tom! Sorry to hear the dead mall views are down. While you have definitely posted way more dead malls than I have and have many more viewers… I have also experienced the same trend. My older dead mall vids pulled way more views than my newer dead malls vids. This is why I just post what interests me and I let whatever happens just happen. I definitely receive your notifications when you post but I think the genre is soooo saturated at this point. Anthony from aces adventures was saying the same a few days ago. Either way, your videos are great and you have a very good skill for voiceovers and a friendly tone. 🎉🎉🎉

@Frank-Discussion Ай бұрын

in 1972, my mother went into labor with me at the Livingston Mall. I visited there many times with my Grandmother many times in the 70s. I always loved going there

@danielrocha8266 Ай бұрын

Man is crazy I grew up going to this place I had my teenage years where we hung out at the mall ! This was early 2000s I would have never thought this would be the malls future

@user-nx1gz3vc5g 5 күн бұрын

I loved going to this mall. When I drive by now my heart breaks.

@THERVDJ Ай бұрын

Great video on a local mall 20 minutes from my house. This was THE mall to go to when I was in high school. I did a video on those mall a couple months ago. It was so weird walking around in there after not being in there for so many years. The white marble anchor on your left was a Lord and Taylor. We were literally there a couple weeks ago doing my daily walk after my back surgery, and it looks more dead by the week. The only escalator that was working was in the Macy's and it was only the down escalator. I hope you went to go visit the upscale and very busy Short Hills mall. Big money stores in a big money town. Thanks again!!

@VladisRed Ай бұрын

Such malls looks like as the relics of ancient times of ancient empire

@Ryu0rKen 10 күн бұрын

I used to take the public bus to this mall when I was in high school to visit their awesome arcade in the 90s. It was still thriving back then. Most malls in NJ don't die out because of the condensed population there so I am shocked this one has.

@francoismichal5697 Ай бұрын

WoW the playland use to be the Kay Bee Toys I managed, around the Cabbage patch craze, we took in 40,000 a day black friday and C'mas time. Next to Sears, Italian touch pizza, Alwilk records. When walking in a mobbed Bagel shoppe and a pet store, This was around 1985. This was the palce to go! Maggies Pub upstairs.

@user-yj5fp2go1x 19 күн бұрын

How very depressing. I worked at this mall from 1978 to 1980 at the B. Dalton booksellers. I'm surprised to know it has been open this long.

@Perfidious_Hollow Ай бұрын

I wish I had been alive to see a mall in the 80s. I was a baby in the 90s so I don't even remember what a mall was like then. Seeing them now is depressing.

@doriclogos4322 2 күн бұрын

I'm from CT and when i used to stay at my grandparents I used to always go to Livingston Mall.

@toddgelineau6536 8 күн бұрын

This is a very attractive mall. Unfortunately, the number of mall retailers continues to decrease as more and more companies go under making it extremely difficult to fill these very large malls unless they get creative. They, of course, can go in the other direction and fill spaces with local stores which are most often the kind that actually detract from the attractiveness of the malls.

@wendyjay 24 күн бұрын

In the 80s-90s, Livingston Mall always suffered a *little* for two, somewhat opposite reasons: being the closest mall to Newark and its struggling suburbs (at least until Jersey Gardens opened), and for being surrounded by towns where people are either genuinely rich or heavily invested in pretending they are. New Jersey in general and Essex County in particular are extremely segregated, and Livingston's diverse customer base gave it an undeserved stigma that never really went away, even as the first-wave white-flighters behind it died off or moved farther out. If it were a bigger mall (Willowbrook), or in a more strategic location (Quakerbridge), or had anything to make it stand out, that might not have mattered, but it did. When malls in Livingston's position do survive, it is because they are able to pull off a deliberate upscale shift on top of being well positiomed for expansion. (Columbia Mall in MD is a great example of that.) With Short Hills so close by, that wasn't an option. I'm honestly surprised Livingston took this long to die off, but sad that it did all the same.

@MrSloika 15 күн бұрын

Like Chris Rock said, 'There are two kinds of malls: The mall where the white people go. The mall where the white people used to go.'

@georgef551 Ай бұрын

Dr. Livingston? I presume? No. Dr. Kevorkian. (Shows my many gray hairs on that one.)

@whitetyger06 27 күн бұрын

I used to work at this mall from 2019-2021 at Skechers and even when I first arrived pre-pandemic it was on the decline. After the shutdown and eventual reopening it steadily got worse and worse until I left. I recently learned that my store closed in January of 2024, presumably after their lease expired, and I'm honestly not surprised of the current state of the mall but it's still sad to see a place that I once enjoyed working at and going to become what it has become. Whatever they do with it in the future I hope they finally do this area justice.

@StephanieG1 8 күн бұрын

It is a nice looking mall.

@d.l.n.7133 5 күн бұрын

I worked at the mall in 1974- 1976 during summer breaks at a little clothing store called Ups& Downs also a big sporting goods store owned by Grace Corporation called Herman’s World of Sports . There was a fantastic upscale jewelry store called Ruth Satsky . The mall was packed , it was a big hang out for teens from Short Hills, Livingston , Madison and other areas. Haines was a NJ local department store with several locations . It was bought out by a larger Co . Lord & Taylors moved out of Millburn to that store , but it was never very good there , the merchandise was lower quality and the store was smaller than the Millburn store. Bamburgers another NJ department store with several locations was bought out by Macys and again the merchandise suffered in quality at this mall.

@cairnmom3228 Ай бұрын

Tom, we enjoy your videos. These mall tours are fascinating! Did your dentist appreciate the the Skittles encounter? Ouch!

@user-qv8vd8wu3y Ай бұрын

Thanks for documenting this one. I used to go there as a kid and I still remember that ugly silver sculpture. I haven't seen the mall in so many years it looks entirely unrecognizable to me. It is deffinately dead! Deadingston Mall is right lol! I'm going to head over there some time soon to see it myself. I don't have high hopes for it's lifespan.

@justcruisinthroughyoutube9734 Күн бұрын

I was there yesterday because I was in the area and every once and while I like to check up on this mall and see how it's doing. The majority of the stores were closed because the mall's AC wasn't working and the weather was in the 90's so it was hot and stuffy throughout the mall. The Hot Topic was still open and it was very hot in there. I was shocked that the employees were even working in that heat with just a single fan. They understandably closed early not too much later. The Macy's was open and had better air conditioning though it was pretty empty for a Macy's of all places. This isn't the first time that the AC has had problems. My mom went there last year in the summer and the AC wasn't working then either and most of the stores were also closed. Additionally, all the escalators were out of order the elevator was also still out of order. I feel like who or whatever owns this mall is just letting it die at this point. Every time I go, it just seems to get worse. I'll admit, it is fascinating to see the decline and at least the Barnes and Noble is still fun to look around in. Great video btw I subbed

@ChuckD008 8 күн бұрын

Lol I remember the Livingston mall. it had KB Toys, its where I got my first GBC & OG Pokemon, I'd go for haircuts, and it had a pretty rad food court. It def always felt less compared to the Short Hill mall tho. Fun to see what it's like now cuz I def havent been in over a decade

@Gizmo-nr8cs 10 күн бұрын

Wow Is this how thisa mall is now WOW

@zoestern8873 Күн бұрын

This is one of my local malls. I was just there a few weeks ago and it’s so sad coming in here. I usually just go for Old Navy. Barnes and Noble is pretty busy. I was shocked when I saw found out there’s a popeyes there

@danadowning2065 27 күн бұрын

LOL... those Skittles had to be years old... and keeps eating them

@shannonyoast6906 Ай бұрын

As always great video 👍

@reginabeasley872 Ай бұрын

On the 2nd level there once was a Roy Roger's and Nathan hot dogs

@amandaquintieri9029 13 күн бұрын

Simon really made all their malls look exactly the same, looks so much like the Rockaway Mall which is putting up a fight but is on its way to dead mall status.

@gdn86 9 күн бұрын

This is every mall in the country in one phase or another. Only specialized retail outlets can compete with online stores, and even then it's difficult. Walmart, Amazon, Ebay and Home Depot/Lowes are all we have left.

@OriginalNethead Ай бұрын

Re the pianos: I doubt they put them away. Generally you'd lock something up to keep stick fingers from walking off with it. A thief would need a forklift, so odds are they're safe. Besides, you can't give away pianos now, so even if a thief had a forklift, why bother?

@OLIVIAUSSIE Ай бұрын

Livelier than some but definitely looks to be dying and I see why. "The Thing"..I'm surprised any of us made it through that, some of us didnt and are sincerely still missed! Thank you for the tour Tom:)

@johnburke1317 Ай бұрын

Nice video 😊

@AnimeNation25 11 күн бұрын

i use to go to that mall when i was a little girl in the 1990's to early 2000's its sad seeing that mall start to fall it looks like no one is wanting to rent a space there to have a shop of any kind and it looks like the guy isn't caring enough to keep the whole thing lit. i am glad cohen's is still there surprisingly but i guess with taxes on the rise up there its hard to get anything fixed.

@M2THE49sGamingZone 10 күн бұрын

Gosh... anyone remember in the late 90's the WB store and that cool science store (can't remember the name) that had the glow-in-the-dark section in the back?

@autumnb9194 10 күн бұрын

Another NJ mall with a similar vibe is the Hamilton Mall. It even seems as though they are owned by the same company.

@richconroy5559 22 күн бұрын

That early Bambergers Pic had the giant silver whale tale sculpture I always loved

@emperatrizmaria986 2 күн бұрын

Today only 10 people walking around so empty at 3:30 pm 😮

@cottagefa1ry Ай бұрын

i went here all the time as a kid in the early 2000s. crazy to me how different it is now

@btk22279 Ай бұрын

Was only here once. Like 2017 or 2018. Don't remember much.

@CaptainKielbasa Күн бұрын

Right now, Livingston is dead, Rockaway isn't too far behind. Short Hills is always packed and Willowbrook seems to do well.

@chadwik4000 18 күн бұрын

from the thumbnail I thought this was going to be urban exploration of a legit closed mall

@Madness832 Ай бұрын

I kept thinkin' of malls, in MA, that you mightn't have covered: The Cambridgeside Galleria; Shopper's World (Framingham); The Natick Mall and The Northgate Mall (Revere). Also, maybe Southbay Center (although, not a mall, when it opened, folks from Southie often called it as such).

@JH-kd5zu Ай бұрын

I haven’t been to Livingston Mall since early 2018 after moving, and it shocking to see how far it’s fallen in 6 years. I wouldn’t exactly have called it bustling then, but level of neglect and empty stores is sad. Like others, spent a lot of time there in its “glory days” of the late 80’s/early ‘90’s, it was definitely the place to be for kids in the area compared to the stuffy and snooty Short Hills Mall, where they kicked out for even looking into some of those stores. Livingston used to have one of the only sit-down Nathan’s as well as Sbarro, and an Applebee’s right where you walked in. All long gone sadly, even the Nathan’s in the food court seemed to be gone. Doesn’t surprise me to hear the town is trying to figure out a way to take that property over and redevelop it, I’m sure they’d love to use this land for higher end residential and retail purposes. Wonder if you’re going to visit Willowbrook in Wayne too, that was another childhood mall hot spot of mine that was also showing signs of being on the path to dead when I left the area.

@brucesumter4327 Ай бұрын

wow so cool malls that one is doing real good like our in Barlesvillle,oklahoma not doing to good they got some store like Diller Dunham's sports some local small stores also local Book's store ty for video i am so glade that maall you are at video doing good ty for video

@renegarza23 Ай бұрын

Greetings, I would go with Deadington Mall. This mall seems like our community's dead mall known to be as Amigoland Mall. In other words, you can observe and appreciate the scenic struggles from trying to keep the big ol' retail stores to allowing the eventual dying Pop-&-Mom stores. Geez, I am seeing a repetition or a syndicated re-run of the struggling dying malls... Hopefully, the Deadington Mall can become a technology school/training center- like Amigoland Mall renamed to the ITECC building.. Anyways, an excellent mini-documentary of a dying mall. Thank you, and be safe out there.

@RollerskateKyle Ай бұрын

The yellow painted store with large windows across from Barnes and Noble was an Applebees that has been closed for around 15 years

@AMGW Ай бұрын

Can you do willowbrook mall in Wayne NJ?

@Candie-kv6fh Ай бұрын

I love all your videos I would say pretty much a dead mall looks like they haven't really updated the outside at all

@Aliencat197 Ай бұрын

It would be so cool to see a silent hill 3 mall tour on this Channel! If you don't know silent hill 3 is a ps2 game featuring a very dead mall

@GhostReaper2043 Ай бұрын

thats actualy called the Central Square Shopping Center

@madmerlot841 Ай бұрын

Livingston Mall looks healthier than the Emerald Square Mall if you go by the food court math. Livingston Mall does a very poor job of hiding it's dead space. Yikes.

@andysorensen1737 Ай бұрын

I was honestly surprised the food court was as full as it was, so that’s a plus?

@freebread_ Ай бұрын

Leonard Cohen on the piano at 16:17 was rather fitting

@Cassie00111 Ай бұрын

good ears

@melissahurt317 Ай бұрын

The lighting....or rather the lack of lighting combined with the dark carpeting on the second floor only adds to the sadness

@bobwigg761 Ай бұрын

I don’t remember the exact location of Epstein’s, but I did go to the one in Morristown across from the Green. I watched that building get torn down. In the ‘70s, Livingston Mall had a large Nathan’s with murals of Coney Island on the walls. I think the Sporting Goods store was once a Herman’s. I remember how busy this Mall was when it opened and into the ‘80s, sad to see such a decline compared to back then.

@larryk731 Ай бұрын

Brunswick square mall east brunswick nj qualifies (in my opinion) as a dying mall that's nearly fully occupied. The front facing part is reasonably busy, the interior just strange.

@andysorensen1737 Ай бұрын

The irony of hearing Styx’s Fooling Yourself as you try to fool yourself into thinking this isn’t a dead mall is a bit rich.

@RowletGod69 Ай бұрын

Would you ever do a mall tour of queens center mall and bay plaza mall in nyc?

@fleabittenadventures Ай бұрын

Maybe someday, but I find NYC kind of intimidating.

@Nothinghere00006 12 күн бұрын

Kinda has Emerald Square vibes

@Thomas-yr9ln Ай бұрын

Go to all the San Jose malls.

@dranziken 23 күн бұрын

oh god can you put a timestamp on the screen for when the close up mouth sounds are over so people can skip? I had to pause the vid because of the sheer strength of this grimace my face has curled into. If this wasn't my childhood mall I'd have clicked the back button

@fleabittenadventures 23 күн бұрын

No.

@reginabeasley872 Ай бұрын

The best malls are newport and jersey gardens

@charlesdeens8927 18 күн бұрын

Aint no malls making a comeback. People have switched to shopping online. Its far more convenient to shop from your PC or phone, read comments about the items you're interested in, research competition, etc. Not to mention return policies are easier on sites like Amazon, and most times pricing is better. The only big box stores that are surviving are ones that sell groceries like Costco, Walmart, BJ's, etc.

@MrSloika 15 күн бұрын

Prior to e-commerce there was mail order. Sears, JC Whitney, Gander Mountain, there were tons of mail order catalogs. Before e-commerce mail order took in 10% of retail dollars. Today e-commerce takes in about 16%. That alone can't account for the brick 'n mortar retail apocalypse. Retail was killed off by a convergence of factors. Aging out of the Baby Boomers. Destruction of middle class. Young people delaying marriage and family...if they do it at all. It's not just retail that's on a downward spiral, all of US Murica is circling the drain.

@reginabeasley872 Ай бұрын

There once was a warner bros studio store ( licensed looney tools items ) Applebee's a pizza shop on the lower level now its a dead mall

@Officialbladenwordcounter Ай бұрын

For the algorithm

@eddieo6466 Ай бұрын

Is Roy Rodgers still in business??

@unavailable._exe Ай бұрын

man you should check out the lilac mall in rochester nh, its the most dead, pathetic mall ive ever seen.

@fleabittenadventures Ай бұрын

The inside of Lilac Mall is closed, right?

@pbz086208 12 күн бұрын

Kohan is the death of a mall...sucks the remaining life out then sells the property to an Amazon or similar....

@ShaneMclane-PrivateEye Ай бұрын

That mall seems kind of creepy.

@mark3464 Ай бұрын

Why would anyone go here when there is the mall at short hills

@PeterNancarrow Ай бұрын

Tombston mall?

@SSNESS Ай бұрын

This is a black mall

@toysRrobloxYT Ай бұрын

Go to Columbiana place and columbiana center mall in Columbia south carolina columbiana center is thriving and columbiana place is dead

@charlestonpinballarcade Ай бұрын

The malls down here in SC are beyooooond boring. Columbia Place at least has an element of creepiness in the dark unoccupied parts but Columbiana is zero special. It’s really not worth Tom’s time coming here unless he’s vacationing down south.

@toysRrobloxYT 12 күн бұрын

@@charlestonpinballarcade columbiana center mall has all stores open and it also has a Dave's and busters

@johnrcornell Күн бұрын

These developers are idiots. Lower the rent to cost until it’s full and then increase it

@Twinkie989 26 күн бұрын

I went today to return some candles. It was insane. I thought Willowbrook was dying, but man... this was bad. A bunch of stores you showed were closed today.

@timothyd1496 21 күн бұрын

Willowbrook is probably 90%+ occupied.

@Twinkie989 19 күн бұрын

@@timothyd1496 Now it is. After Covid, the one wing was pretty abandoned.

@timothyd1496 16 күн бұрын

@@Twinkie989 But you just said Willowbrook is dying. Willowbrook was nowhere even close to as bad as this.

@SSNESS Ай бұрын

FDA says Doritos and Skittles aren’t made for human consumption because of the chemicals.

@renegarza23 Ай бұрын

Old news, buddy, my parents and siblings knew that as we consumed them in mid-80s to my college years

@charlestonpinballarcade Ай бұрын

That doesn’t apply to Tom. He’s not human! 😂😂😂

@GhostReaper2043 Ай бұрын

Oh let me guess, you are one of those types of people well, please give me a brake thats fake news besides the FDA isn't in control on what I do or eat. So mind your business thank you but no thank you.

@Cassie00111 Ай бұрын

I like how fleabitten keeps eating the skittles as he determines their advanced age. lol

@mikegallant811 Ай бұрын

The hell with them! Those are two items I happen to still love!

@sirmister4411 Ай бұрын

Well I guess soonit will be demolished and then build an Amazon warehouse in its place Cause it’s on it way out with one foot in the grave

@Cassie00111 Ай бұрын

dead mall for sure .... when malls have stores that aren't open when the other stores are open, then the mall is dead. thriving malls require their stores to be open certain hours.