On the Mall at Cherry Hill: Then & Now (2021 Update!) - Raw & Real Retail

This is our walkthrough of the Cherry Hill Mall in Cherry Hill, NJ from October 9, 2021. This is a classic old mall (commonly reported as the first indoor, climate-controlled shopping center east of the Mississippi River) developed by The Rouse Company with Victor Gruen, the father of indoor malls as the architect. It opened on October 11, 1961 and has gone through so many changes and renovations over the years as to be nearly unrecognizable from its former self. This is why we decided to do this project. The mall has not changed significantly since our first video here nearly 3 years ago. This is great news, especially considering the times we live in. Cherry Hill Mall was the very first mall we filmed with our current equipment, the DJI Osmo Pocket, and figured we should finally do the place justice. That first tour was primarily a proof of concept, and I hadn't gotten the hang of how to use it by that point. The last couple years, lessons have been learned about how to use the device, and I wanted to make Cherry Hill right. Fortunately many postcards from around 1968 were produced for this mall and we decided to match those pictures up to the same spots in the mall today. Enjoy this look at what the Cherry Hill Mall is now compared to what it once was.
Songs used in this video (in order):
Boney James - Full Effect
Spyro Gyra - Amber Dream
Dave Valentin - Astro-March
Keith Mansfield - Night Bird
David Marriott, Jr. - On the Seventh Day
Steve Gray - Wonder Groove
Steve Gray - Reach Out
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I'd like to say a few words about being an ambassador to your local malls. We have been taking the time to visit all the malls within a reasonable driving distance to check up on them and see how they are doing. Also filming an updated video every year or so, regardless of the lack of many changes, just so there is a video record of the health over time. We think this is an important thing to keep tabs on, especially in these wildly turbulent times. The health emergency has accelerated the impending Retail Apocalypse we've all been talking about these last several years. This was already a big problem, but the restrictions have made the issue 5x worse and likely hastened the death of the enclosed shopping mall.
I know we've all been on pins and needles wondering how bad the fallout is going to be from all of this.
There really is no way to know exactly unless we ALL go and do our small part to make it known how it turns out. I implore you, if you have the means to pick an area you would like to be an ambassador for, and go document your local malls. Whatever your medium, it doesn't matter, any and all documentation is necessary and vital in this day and age. Whether it be on Social Media, Flickr, KZbin, any platform gets it out there and preserves it for posterity. We can't paint this picture unless we all grab a brush...
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We utilize the value-for-value model here at RRR. Our product is free, and we're not asking you to pay for it. If you received value in any way from watching RRR, you can help us by donating, if you feel like it. Any little bit helps us to keep corporations and advertisers out of the decision making process. Your donation will keep us ad-free, and in turn, it will give us the opportunity to get to more far-flung locations to help tell this tale of retail instability.
This is a non-profit project and every penny will go back into the gas tank for future trips!
/ rawandrealretail
ITM

[@cromeo187]

Oh my goodness, I can remember my parents taking me and my sister here in the 70's, eating at Harvest House Restaurant and going to see the tropical birds in that HUGE bird cage. Magical Mall Memories! LOL I miss the Muzak!

[@rogerbanks9104]

There used to be tropical bird enclosures in the Mall when we lived there in the 60s!

[@RawRealRetail]

About halfway through the video, there is an old postcard with the bird cage next to SS Kresge (Abercrombie today).

[@BlackArroToons]

Cool to see Bambergers in the old style before it was updated in this Cherry Hill Mall. Great video, thanks!

[@gordonsabean6860]

From an architectural perspective this mall gets full marks. It bright, spacious and full of shoppers. While the old decor was likely fine at the time, good management has. spent a fair bit of money to get it to its current state. Nice to see a successful mall.

[@BlackArroToons]

Watching through this walkthrough, it's good to see so many shoppers and many with shopping bag purchases at this mall. And in 2021, this mall looks like it's doing really well at this time.

[@RawRealRetail]

This is what I had hoped to see and exactly what I want to showcase! People really want to get our and see each other and the malls are one of the best ways to do it.

[@BlackArroToons]

​@@RawRealRetail Yes, very busy day there at the mall, good timing and a nice choice of mall to visit that day. Great job as usual with the steady camera work and photography also.

[@chm9935]

It's always been a thriving mall as far as I can remember.

[@highsiderider]

Cherry Hill Mall is central to many townships in the area and easy to get to.

[@nikkim2447]

I grew up going here with my family in the 80's. You could enter the Woolworth through the parking lot or inside the mall. We always entered the mall through the Woolworth entrance. The mall popped in my today so I decided to look up a video. I have fond memories of this mall. Thanks for the tour!

[@GoBirds808]

5:12 as a kid in the 80s, I loved the hot dogs at Woolworth’s Cherry Hill Grill. If I recall correctly, there was a small restaurant in Woolworth’s itself, as Woolworth’s was directly behind the Grill.

[@tricountyretail992]

Even though this mall was renovated over a decade ago, it looks so modern that it appears to be brand new.

[@timbuktug3321]

Been going to this Mall since my childhood. Thanks for this video

[@R32R38]

When you showed the fountains I thought for a moment that we'd get some Retail Archeology-esque underwater views :)

[@RawRealRetail]

That guy does love his GoPro cameras! Big fan :)

[@NikoAnesti]

Oh wow, was just here today!

[@RawRealRetail]

It is so comfy, isn't it?

[@cordeliachase601]

I remember when this mall had Strawbridges as a kid. I hated going there! Good times.

[@PaleOpal21]

Love the fountains. Wish they had some plants like in the postcard.

[@RawRealRetail]

The old days were quite lush.

[@huntertomlin3523]

Mall fountain are my favorite our mall had 3 Ben torn down since 2006 one remaining until 2010 our mall was built in 1981

[@PEplana]

I'm glad to see the mall is busy with shoppers and not many vacancies. Even after the trouble PREIT was having with bankruptcy

[@RawRealRetail]

This mall is always a challenge to film, and that makes me feel pretty good. I am very pleased with the foot traffic that day as well.

[@Montera15]

Wow, this mall is really thriving!!

[@RawRealRetail]

It's pretty cool to get to one that is these days.

[@basitk12]

Nice

[@spooktacularhauntswithcole3105]

I really enjoyed this video. Super cool to see old pictures. Just proves how much malls have drastically changed over the years. Nice to see a mall full of stores and shoppers. Don’t mean to bother, but I’ve been seeing that the moorestown mall has gotten lots of new stores. Could you do an update?

[@RawRealRetail]

We were just there 7 months ago we have a video from March. I personally like to wait about a year in between visits unless something drastic happens.

[@JP5466]

One of the only local malls that still has shoppers. The urban folk have changed it a lot though.

[@HappyTreeX1]

7:53 me and my friends many years back bought some gold fish from the PetSmart not too far from here and dumped them into this fountain. lmao. messed up looking back at it. fun times tho.

[@lawriefoster5587]

This seems to be the King of Prussia of South Jersey??

[@ByGraceIGo]

I was hoping to see more of the then and don't want to watch 25 minutes of walking through the mall because it'll chew up my data. I'm 60 years old and this mall is 60 years old. I was born in 1961 and when I was a real little girl I was at my grandmother's house and she was telling me this story about this amazing mall that was built in Cherry Hill and telling me about how there were plants and trees growing inside of the building and there was an atrium of sort. I never have been there but I remember sitting at her feet when I was probably 5 years old and her telling me about this amazing Mall. And then after they opened the Woodbridge mall we didn't talk about Cherry Hill anymore.

[@rl8429]

24:24 Only saw Miniso around the west coast of the US. Looks like they're getting ready to expand their amount of locations nationwide.

[@RawRealRetail]

That was one of the new places we wanted to get a peep at this trip. Nice to see some expansion these days.

[@erikt81a]

I couldn't end watching it because it's hard to see all those face diapers back then, but it's good to have this videos from that period of time just for the record.

[@RawRealRetail]

I know what you mean. Still too many diapers in use today...

[@simonejohnson6091]

🐻♥️❤️

[@whizadree]

Can you do an update for 2024?

[@pkmnan00bis]

Actually surprised Cherry Hill Grill/Diner was still there.

[@RawRealRetail]

I totally love that this spot is still there. Despite name changes and renovations, it is still a landmark.

[@retailhiphop1991]

I visited this mall back in May probably the best in South Jersey.

[@RawRealRetail]

I'm glad that the first one is the survivor.

[@millie173p9]

This mall ai used to go to alot when I was a child

[@arturocuizon69]

How do you know where all the old designs like planters trees and fountains used to be when there's usually no trace at all of the old design when a mall gets remodeled is it cause you were at this mall too back in the day?

[@RawRealRetail]

Research

[@arturocuizon69]

I know I'm going to be saying another thing about watching the video of the place I'm in but if I go to this mall and I watch this video when I'm there and I see the parts where you show where the old designs used to be I can look at them both at the same time what's there now and what used to be there and compare them to see if they look anything alike right cause I'm there instead of just watching the video where you have to wait for the picture of what used to be there to come off to compare it to now which is hard to do if you can't see them both at the same time right?

[@NGISNGIS]

May i know.what camera are you using.? Thanks

[@RawRealRetail]

I use the DJI Osmo Pocket. Thanks for asking!

[@atomicpuppet]

Harundale Mall, in Glen Burnie, Maryland was the first enclosed, air-conditioned mall built east of the Mississippi River. Opened in 1958. Not this mall seen here.

[@RawRealRetail]

A lot of malls like to make similar claims like this. It's no surprise this oft-reported fact isn't accurate. Thanks for pointing that out!

[@normandavidson1372]

The original mall had a personality. This is just a big bland white box. Stark and boring. The original mix of stores was so much better too. Growing up went here at least monthly. Now I've only gone there once in the past two years. New isn't always better.

[@chm9935]

Smh. Another mall that resembles a medical facility.

[@RawRealRetail]

Point me to that medical facility then. That sounds pretty nice.

[@harrylutz7321]

Ahhh…another mall to aimlessly meander and buy superfluous items which are over priced.