Merle Hay Mall (Des Moines, IA) - part 1970s, part 2010s

Рет қаралды 4,825

Күн бұрын

Пікірлер: 47

@Man-MadeArchaeology 8 ай бұрын

Awesome video! Much more informative than ours! 😂 We really appreciate you showcasing our video here! We spent an entire weekend, from open to close, figuring out how to gain access 😅 Keep up the great work! 👍

@YodelingLoonRetail 8 ай бұрын

I glad you enjoyed it! Thanks again for allowing me to show the basement for a few seconds.

@NorthCdogg22 10 ай бұрын

Nice vid!! Merle Hay is always a fun mall to walk thru!😊

@YodelingLoonRetail 10 ай бұрын

I like Merle Hay, but I really love Valley West. I'm working on a video / love letter to the place. :D

@charding4000 10 ай бұрын

I think this is kind of cool, it's probably just me though. I saw Jaws in the movie theatre in this mall in the summer of 1975. It was a defining moment for me as a person, I was 11, I'm glad the mall is still a thing and the theatre is still operating! Thank you for the video.

@ChrisMcG4746 20 күн бұрын

It’s not the same theater

@rickyusa1000 3 күн бұрын

My first job was at Merle Hay in 1974. In the summer of '75 I started working at the new Brandeis in Valley West Mall when the south half of the mall opened. In summer 1976 the north half of Valley West opened along with JC Penneys and Petesen, Harned, Von Maur and I switched jobs to work at the oldest mall, Park Fair.

@jasonmartinson7758 10 ай бұрын

Holy crap, a true face reveal at the end! I hope I wasn’t only one who was curious what the man looked like!

@YodelingLoonRetail 10 ай бұрын

Ha, I've shown my fast in a couple of videos! :)

@curtvote1099 2 ай бұрын

Thanks for visiting! There is a basement under the west food court as well. And the Merle Hay tower is spooooky haunted.

@TheRunningLeopard 10 ай бұрын

Due to more and more conventions coming to Merle Hey mall, I’ve come to honestly appreciate it a lot more then even Jordan Creek. I really enjoy being able to hit a Warhammer specific store, a general gaming store, alongside wherever else that catches my interest. Thank you so much for this video! It’s so rare that someone covers one of the malls in Iowa, you’ve earned a subscriber!!

@katiemcfarland6135 5 ай бұрын

I loved the basement in 90s! There was a music store (i think it was a Disc Jockey), a second entrance to the bowling alley, a DV8 store (a hippie shop), a McDonalds and a Mr Eggroll. Around the corner was an army recruitment center. The escalator down to the basement was where the playground is now. And there was a back stairway near where Ross is now.

@YodelingLoonRetail 5 ай бұрын

Thanks for sharing your memories! The old space is so well hidden today. I like learning about the old entrances.

@penbucket 10 ай бұрын

Another great video. I was floored to see an open music store in there. Looked like a nice one. A lot of the completely ubiquitous candy dispensers. And I liked the speaking selfie food review. Some cool music choices as well.

@mollyheffernen 4 ай бұрын

Hi! I can't find my comment on here, but I enjoyed this video as well. Have watched it multiple times. I liked Merle Hay when it had Famous Barr. I am just glad that has local leadership. Namdar and Kohan have enough in Iowa as is.

@gavingrahampawpatrolyescai5761 10 ай бұрын

Hey that’s my mall!

@DyingRetail 10 ай бұрын

Nice video! Your new microphone sounds awesome!

@jenniferburchill3658 4 ай бұрын

I watched one of the spooky Man Made Archaeology videos about the basement!!!

@LuigiGodzillaGirl 6 ай бұрын

I have family that’s lived in Des Moines since the late 90’s, and I’ll take Merle Hay over Jordan Creek any day. The location is more convenient, and traffic is a million times more manageable. I have childhood and teen memories of most of the majors malls in the city; the Disney Store that was in Valley West, seeing Revenge of the Sith on one of the giant screens at MH, wandering JC with my classmates during the state Jazz championships, and I have some very faint memories of the food court in the Kaleidoscope. MH is a shadow of its former self, but all things considered, it’s doing okay. Let’s hope the ice arena thing works out. The death of Younkers was huge blow to just about every mall that had one, and I don’t know what Kohls was thinking by having their new store location detatched. If they don’t want to offer customers the comfort and convenience of an anchor store, I might as well just go to one of their strip mall locations.

@PromoCodeLady 2 ай бұрын

Good Video. McDonalds was downstairs, as well as, Chick Fila, Army or Navy Recruiters, Claire's, and I forgot what else was downstairs. I do recall that there was nothing spooky about any of it. Upstairs I remember the following stores- Banana Republic, Merry Go Round, Bakers, Country Outfitters, Silverman's Orange Julius, Montgomery Wards, Bishop's Cafeteria, Younkers, Hot Topic, Sears, Wilson's Leather, K-Bee Toys and a Flower Shop. That's all I can think of right now.

@YodelingLoonRetail 2 ай бұрын

Thank you for sharing all this great information!

@rickyusa1000 3 күн бұрын

Originally the basement was the bowling alley and the lower level of Kresge's.

@sal 10 ай бұрын

Legendary! Great work, brother.

@YodelingLoonRetail 10 ай бұрын

Thanks, Sal!

@fmrscout33 2 ай бұрын

Fun fact: at the one minute mark where you filmed the display windows just past the bathrooms, was a salon in the 1990s called Sunny's Salon. I got my hair cut there, while mom and dad got their perms. Those windows with the displays of, whatever, looked into the salon.

@RayOutThere 10 ай бұрын

Cool mall, I like how some old school design elements are still showing through

@jasonmartinson7758 10 ай бұрын

Oh, you are right about the smoke It got so bad, one day it left an eerie western sky on a early Wednesday evening which looked so pretty I think I have a picture of it

@vtec73 6 күн бұрын

love going to merle hay mall in the 80's.

@DaremoKamen 6 ай бұрын

My sister was working at Younkers during the time of the fire although she wasn't there when it happened. That lower level had a McDonalds I worked at. There was a video rental place across the hallway so counter workers (including myself) would get distracted by the movies playing.

@pamelaaverrett5848 10 ай бұрын

Very good video! 👍🏻

@seththomas9105 2 ай бұрын

35 years ago that place was packed with people, now most shopping malls are slowly dying dinosaurs. I remember going to see movies there, and eating at F&O's! Shopping at Sears for Xmas or if I needed Craftsman tools. Where did 30 years go?

@GTI_Man 10 ай бұрын

Just recently discovered your channel. Because you’re local to the Twin Cities area, are you familiar with that strange little enclosed mini mall where the Edina Jerry’s is located? (Might be called Grandview, but they don’t brand it well). It’s two levels, with the bottom floor receiving a remodel in recent years.

@YodelingLoonRetail 10 ай бұрын

Do you mean Preserve Village? I knew about the mall, but I thought it was only a mall way. If it has a second floor, then I’m more interested in checking it out! Thanks for the tip!

@GTI_Man 10 ай бұрын

@@YodelingLoonRetail Maybe that’s what it’s called. There isn’t a ton on the second floor. Last time I was there (4 or 5 years ago), there was a yoga or Zumba gym, a travel or insurance agency, and the beauty salon that my grandmother worked at. The Jerry’s hardware used to be on the bottom floor, but I think they broke that up into smaller shops when it moved next door.

@gavingrahampawpatrolyescai5761 10 ай бұрын

I live near that mall and it’s in Iowa

@SuperBuickregal 9 ай бұрын

What about the Kennedy Mall in Dubuque?

@YodelingLoonRetail 9 ай бұрын

It’s on my list. If not this summer then 2015.

@SuperBuickregal 9 ай бұрын

I forgot that I had asked you in another one of your videos I have been binge watching your videos.@@YodelingLoonRetail

@2004jpepper 4 ай бұрын

This mall these days always seems in flux. Some years it has stores and some it feels empty. They do draw in people by having events in the wide hallways like art sales, mini comic or toy contentions and whstnot. It does have one of the only remaining movie theaters in town now that 2 or 3 more theaters closed.