Superstition Springs Center Live Mall Tour | The Quest For The Organ Store

This video is from the live video tour I did of Superstition Springs Center in Mesa, AZ. A few hundred viewers joined me for the tour which was live streamed on KZbin.
Twitter: @Ret_Archaeology
Instagram: @Retailarchaeology
Facebook: @RetailArchaeology
Patreon: / retailarchaeology
Check out my retro video game and toy channel!
/ madapeproductions
#RetailApocalypse #DeadMall #DeadMalls #RetailArchaeology #Sears #Macys #JCPenney

[@NatalieGoik]

It's a trip how familiar these malls look despite never being there. This looks just like a mall in Ontario.

[@Steve-wf3vv]

Nice to see a mall that’s busy, well maintained, and almost fully occupied.

[@shineeteentop24]

The whole time you were looking for the organ place I was internally screaming "go downstairs/go the otherway!!" and after 10:15 I was like you can literally hear the organs right now 😂

[@TheMaguirre8]

shineeteentop24 sammeeeeee it was killing me!

[@Sanbika89]

He literally went everywhere the store wasn’t!😂

[@SpaceGamblerJR]

thee old ford dealership store.

[@rpudates2834]

Wow, can't believe that organ place is still there; what a throw back to the 80s. I can't believe they sell enough organs to stay in business. As a kid, I used to work at the arcade (called Pocket Change) in the food court at the north end of the carousel; that arcade was always packed full back in 1994.

[@lunabunny_0521]

Wow I remember Pocket Change I used to go there a lot as a kid, it was a cool little arcade. Sad it's gone.

[@keithcrandall1369]

@@lunabunny_0521 yes, fond memories of Pocket change. My Mom would always give me $5 every single time we went to the mall for the arcade...and then I would usually go next door to "Fajita Prima" next door for lunch....Big part of my childhood;)

[@UniverseWorldWide]

This is my mall this is so weird seeing in on a popular channel .I didn't think that anyone really cared about the state of AZ except for the Grand Canyon.

[@cranimal-rossing]

i have really fond memories of coming here when I was younger during christmas for shopping and Santa and it was always PACKED. went there this year, dead :/ sad, it was a nice mall during it's time.

[@bighashgang1990]

Yep I too miss the 90's Christmas time at this mall was lit

[@jeffh7103]

Please keep posting to KZbin. Moved from AZ a while ago and love watching them seeing how things have changed. Thanks for doing it. Ur awesome.

[@wulfone5961]

Looks like a nice mall. I can only imagine how busy it would have been back in the early 2000's and 90's. The malls near me were pretty busy all the way up to 2005-2006. But after that they are started turning into ghost towns around 2007-2008 and never recovered. I remember going to malls in the 90's and having to drive around looking for a parking spot.

[@donaldingram3811]

Nice of you to post your Mall tour. I usually can't catch them live. So at least I can watch it and enjoy.

[@RaiderRush2112]

I'll never forget in 2006 hanging here all day with a couple friends we were all 15-16 and one of my friends started flirting with the old lady in the wig store and saying how he needed a new look and all this crap. We were looking for a wig just to wear and take MySpace pics lol. Anyways looking at the prices $30-$100 for one wig we decided to leave but as we left the lady literally gave my friend 2 wigs for NOTHING and we wore them around the mall the rest of the day...makes me wonder what she was thinking but it was hilarious. Good memories thanks for these videos

[@realdealio1]

I like live mall tours with your running commentaries

[@garrettguadiana1327]

I remember this mall. I don’t ever remember it being that busy with people. Most of the stores are still in the same place even from the 90’s

[@colewhiteley9951]

King of Prussia Mall is a mall near Philadelphia, PA - and yet it's huge and well alive. They have like 3 different parking garages and 6 anchors I believe (Dick's, Macy's, Bloomingdale's, Nordstorm, Primark, and Lord & Taylor's). It takes like 2 hours to do a full walkthrough.

[@Biodham]

Wow, the Superstition Springs Mall, so surreal to see someone covering this on KZbin like this. Wish I would caught the stream at the time, but alas.... I remember when I was kid going there back in the mid-90s and early 2000's... I miss that gaming arcade where the Sprint/At&T phone store was. Broke my damn heart when they shut it down and replaced it with that generic phone store. :( Regretted not going there more often. I have noticed throughout the years they really dropped the ball in variety of stores. Now there is mostly clothing stores (with over priced stuff a lot). Although they now have the Book Vault there, which is very nice. :)

[@bighashgang1990]

I no this is 2 years old but I too grew up going to this mall in the 90's as a kid, I too miss the arcade upstairs in the food court, I also miss Beyond Image that store was the shit, I miss the outside area too where the big Gila Monster slide was and how it used to look compared to now days, I still live in Chandler but haven't been to east Mesa in forever, usually go to San Tan or Chandler mall

[@jamesdeibler1423]

I have a suggestion. Retail Archaeology needs to take a video tour of Arrowhead Towne Center in Glendale, AZ. This mall has six anchors including JCPenney, Dillard's, Sears, Macy's, Dick Sporting Goods and Forever 21. Arrowhead Towne Center was built in 1993 by Westcor. Please spend your money in Glendale, AZ to support city services such as fixing up roads and building new libraries and parks.

[@shineeteentop24]

so glad you did another video on Superstition! :D wish you could have shown the two level/story carousel a bit more though it's so cool to look at

[@bighashgang1990]

I grew up going to this mall in the 90's and I have soooooo many memories of going there throughout gradeschool and Jr. High, we chased so many girls there lol used to be a poppin mall, there used to be a big Gila Monster slide outside in front of the movie theater, the entire outside area right there looked waaaay different and had a different amphitheater style area, this mall is still open and actually still gets a ton of visitors because there's no other malls that far east in the valley so it gets all of east Mesa lol

[@Idelia412]

I like your uploaded videos versus live videos. You would not believe how many live videos I have missed.

[@Fracpanda7414]

My aunt lives down the street from that mall. Leisure world the retirement center the one with big globe in the front. I used to work at the Walmart behind that mall.

[@akkid89]

Noooo! That playground was my favorite childhood memory :(

[@yumyumbacon1234]

Ah! I live in AZ and that's my favorite mall. I wish I could've went there when this was going on!

[@letsreview608]

I live in Arizona! I go to that mall all the time

[@jasburger]

Its Tessa Same

[@andremcdaniel1415]

That quality jewelry plus I think was a suncoast back in the day I remember it being there

[@RaiderRush2112]

Holy shit where has time gone...I remember when this mall opened on Black Friday for the first time not long ago..well maybe 5-7 years. The place was a total mob!

[@Orange_Laowai]

I am surprised that there are a lot of dead malls out in Arizona.

[@lunardum]

Ghawk Yeah. Out here in AZ there's about two or three malls that are dominant here, but besides that, the others are left to rot.

[@jenniferlynnkarr]

I knoooww, I used to visit a lot of these malls when I was a teenager, they've all but died since I left phoenix.

[@RaiderRush2112]

Ghawk ever since Chandler Fashion opened I feel the rest in the area have gone down. I'm afraid of getting shot in the day time going to Mills mall that's how bad that has gotten.

[@halo12345678ful]

Even tho there isn’t anything else to do we still let malls rot

[@f15teenyears]

I was thinking that too. I mean, it seems that so much of the United States is -- I'm jealous! In Canada we have a compulsive updating and demolition problem. It really ruins it for UE aficionados like me :(

[@SteelHex]

It's not as busy as it used to be in the pre-internet era, but it's not dead. The malls that successfully adapt rely on stuff that you usually buy in person, like food, drink, clothes, shoes, cosmetics, luxuries, etc. You can buy clothes and shoes online, but only if you have tried them on first. Since you can't smell perfumes through your screen, you still need to buy them locally. Few people trust internet sellers enough to buy expensive jewelry from.

[@courtneyjohnson7386]

Wow this mall is not dead ..very nice :)

[@lloydsetty]

Just watched your live stream post, wish I could have caught it live, hopefully next time! Keep up the good work!

[@jeffreymoen4159]

You should film the Paradise Valley Mall. It's interesting, because it's not in a bad area, but it's been drowned out by Fashion Square, Desert Ridge, and the Scottsdale Quarter/Kierland Commons. It's not completely dead like Fiesta, but it is definitely struggling and a depressing place to visit. They even have the sad train that drives through the building.

[@xMewWinx96x]

To be honest, even though I knew it would probably be a piano store, I was kind of hoping there would be at least some organ trafficking going on at that store.

[@bighashgang1990]

Na that's the malls in west central Phoenix 😂 this an east valley mall

[@boijorzee]

It's no wonder malls are dying. Large retailers are unwilling to invest in their stores because they see the margins dropping since the internet took off. Most retail stores have been understaffed for a long time as well making it extra unpleasant for the customer to go. It's a vicious cycle that will continue for some time.

[@SpearM3064]

boijorzee Internet is not as much of an influence as most people think. Despite how big Amazon's gotten, Internet retail only accounts for about 10% of the sales, and they hit the big box stores more than the specialty stores in the malls. I'm not going to say it isn't a contributing factor, just not as big of one as most people think.

[@joshuap7865]

it was an arcade back in the late 80s early 90s it was in the strip mall across from fiesta mall. I think there was a and theater there at the time. the really cool thing about it was it cost a dollar fifty to get it in and all the games were a nickel

[@singrdave]

Fletcher's Music Center at Arrowhead Mall was my first job out of college (1995). I HATED THAT JOB, it paid minimum wage plus a commission on organs sold. But with an associates degree from Eastern Arizona College, sales and customer service jobs were all I could get. Stayed there about six months, never sold a single organ. When I went to quit, the manager Rick told me I owed the company all the wages they'd paid me since I started because I hadn't actually brought in any revenue. Then he let me off the hook after I told him I knew what a "draw against commission" was and there's no way I'd have taken this job if that was the case.

[@cancerenhancer8834]

I remember the arcade when it was in the food court, I think it's the AT&T store now. It wasn't much to look at then either.

[@kimberlyespinoza280]

It was built when Phoenix area was booming. It stopped in middle 2007.

[@wds338]

I like your Nes video game intro.

[@nancydarling4918]

Good video! Thanks for sharing.

[@edmundo200]

I can't believe I watched the whole video.

[@maggiedean5691]

Also I found this dead outlet mall in Fremont Indiana. It's 3 sections and one only has 3 stores left out of a huge complex and the other 2 have gone down hill too. There's a funny little pickle store there though and a cool model train store.

[@lychee-dj9qo]

i love this channel! come to the mid-atlantic we have hella dead malls and stores here!

[@nancydarling4918]

Good video. Thanks.

[@MidagedgamerBlogspotter]

Don't know who Fletcher's is but I remember when every large mall had a Schroder's Music that sold pianos and organs. Someone was always playing and I took lessons at the one at Paradise Valley Mall when I was a kid. This mall I remember going to when I first moved into mesa 25 years ago. I'd hit the B Dalton Bookseller and Babbage's frequently. Later on it was Ruby Tuesdays and then the Cheesecake Factory when friends came to this side of town. Now Ruby Tuesday's is a pit.

[@patricksaxon3983]

Fletcher Music Centers has many store in Arizona and Florida, the reason why you may not had heard of Fletcher Music Centers, they mostly accommodate the elderly and retired, feature both Lowrey and Estey. If you were to hear these instruments plays, you would be amazed as they sound like you are playing with a real band. But playing one finger chords and easy play. It is considered recreational music, but not real learning music as it is almost like playing a Baldwin Fun Machine. It is too bad that Lowrey has limited the market to only elderly and retired as they are so much fun to play on. But very expensive, but the moment that a Lowrey is sold and moved off of the showroom, it depreciates badly. I bought a used Lowrey Royal for $1,800 dollars and the woman who bought it new in 2008, paid $40,000 for it. They are way over priced and not worth the money.

[@SteveHolsten]

Sears are all closing in my area of SE MO & NE ARK. It seems so sad.

[@rwdplz1]

I just spent the week in Arizona, how the hell do you people put up with 100+ temps every freaking day?!?!

[@Sb129]

Actually been pretty cool this May

[@jptang1701]

What's you're monthly electric bill in the summer?

[@craft7185]

We get used to it.

[@stevedosela6701]

The same way Chicago deals with it's 32- temps during the winter. It's temporary, and it will pass. Hahaha

[@Almighty_cornholio]

You get used to it

[@SteveHolsten]

I quit smoking 8 yrs ago. I miss smoking in the malls waiting on my Mom & Ex to finish back to school shopping & etc.

[@fixedimage.]

great video!!!!

[@nancydarling4918]

Great video. Thanks.

[@TRecFilms]

👍 i was just there. I was surprised at the amount of stores they had compared to Metro mall.

[@maggiedean5691]

This mall doesn't seem too dead. Is this just an off day or am I used to them being totally dead.

[@DavinDaGeek]

Keep up the great videos man.

[@f15teenyears]

You really DO live in opposite ends of the country from Dan Bell! (I think Baltimore is in the northeast? lol and you're in the southwest-ish). It's a shame because you guys (and Mark and Will too of course) would do an absolutely RAD dead mall team up!! I have watched his entire Dead Mall Series and now working my way through yours. We don't have so many dead malls in Canada, so I have to live vicariously through you guys.

[@KoubuPilot]

I see that Tie One On necktie store closed. The only place I've ever seen a store like that was the former Crossroads Plaza in Salt Lake City. Keep in mind that mall wad across the street from Temple Square. The DQ/Orange Julius also used to have Karmelcorn.

[@KoubuPilot]

Superstition Springs is 3rd or 4th largest mall in the Phoenix area. I know it's larger than Fiesta, but I don't remember if Chandler is larger. Metrocenter was the largest until Scottsdale Fashion Square expanded.

[@FriendofSonic]

ahhhh I was here in the mall a day before. I could have professed my love. oh well

[@Aidan_Au]

"I have always believed that, you will never realize your potential. You will never realize how far you can go, until you have gone too far. " - Justin Ross Lee

[@rgrndu]

When did Suncoast close? It was next to Zales, across from food court.

[@jomarluke]

I thought the organ store was right below the escalators by the food court?

[@pearl7226]

Dude since you do alot of Arizona malls you should check out El Pedregal mall

[@rootsm3]

This mall seems like it's doing okay. But it feels like it's not going to be long before it falls. Sad to see that they're just tearing these malls down instead of just turning them into housing like that one mall did.

[@SpearM3064]

+rootsm3 "That one mall" was able to do that because of its small size (tiny, compared to modern malls) and a cooperative city council willing to rezone as "mixed purpose" to keep the historic building intact. In addition to trying to convince the city to rezone, it would cost WAY too much to convert most other malls to housing, because they were not designed for that purpose. It's actually cheaper to tear them down and build new housing in its place.

[@kiwiseeds968]

actually, i go to superstition mall daily, and only on some days its busy, its the only mall thats busy suprisingly, but the Chandler mall is the busiest in az in my opinion

[@huntertomlin3523]

Is the fountain still working

[@cmwuscfan]

Hey in your live stream you mention that you were going to be at comic con. We you there when the guy tried to kill the Green Ranger?

[@InfinityPets]

The roof of the mall looks so similar to Westfield North County here in San Diego, It must of been made by the same company!

[@mcgibs]

This mall looks pretty freakin huge.

[@patricksaxon3983]

It is not like it used to be back in the days you would find at lease 2 or more organ stores in the mall. Fletcher Music Centers are only located in Arizona and Florida for the elderly and retired. They feature Lowrey and Estey, and they are very expensive, but depreciates as soon as they are sold and moved off of the showroom floor as no one wants them any more. The days of the home organ market has depreciated so much and no longer popular any more like it used to be.

[@jackietatum2245]

wow, I don't remember a Mervyn's ever being at this mall... and, I'm a Mesa OG.. must not have cared about that store at all haha

[@thereallife3879]

if you want see a dead mall check out the auburn mall in auburn maine

[@ericscarburry8527]

The Oregon store is way farther north

[@mifetish]

please do a christown / spectrum mall video.

[@relled]

you gotta do a video on a blockbuster, movie rental shops etc.

[@bobbrown8661]

Doesn't look too bad. Looks like las Vegas fashion mall on a Monday morning

[@herbquintana4807]

Wasn’t the organ store downstairs by the entrance under the carousel?

[@bighashgang1990]

Yes

[@bighashgang1990]

It's now a hobby store

[@guppy2816]

You guys still have Pac Sun! Lol They all closed where I live

[@stevejobs6800]

Meanwhile in the Philippines, so many huge malls with crowded people.

[@AndrewGuerrero-gm8ls]

when was this taken??

[@rbfly8456]

The owner of ZAP arcade has 2 locations, also he is a local KZbinr called Joystick and goes to asu.

[@fallenmidori]

pour one out for that dead-ass hallmark store down there

[@MistressGlowWorm]

I want to see the Quality Jewelry store.

[@Mike78777]

i like the song at the end of the video do. u konw. the artis and song

[@Drac39]

Visit the Tempe Marketplace for this ASU alum

[@joshuap7865]

do you remember wonderland nickel palace by fiesta mall.

[@charlesmurphy1510]

Joshua P no.

[@lilianzamorano]

it is a quite busy mall.

[@loganknowsnoneofyourbusine263]

mia not eve close. The two main malls near me are more busy in the last five minutes than this mall is right now.

[@lilianzamorano]

i mean by today standards. Amazon kill more American jobs than China ever did.

[@charlesmurphy1510]

mia I've never bought anything from Amazon.

[@TheMaguirre8]

I graduated that day lmao

[@jpao908]

If I used Snapchat and they came after me...I would not visit the mall! Otherwise a great video to see what the retail landscape is like in Phoenix!

[@huntertomlin3523]

Does this mall have a fountain

[@huntertomlin3523]

Never mind I see the fountain

[@leedaniel2002]

wish i could have caught the stream

[@luissergioperez-becerra3225]

FITH!!!!

[@TankBulldog75]

Is the pet store still there

[@cranimal-rossing]

i was there recently and sadly it shut down :/

[@rosemiller3147]

That mall isn't dead anymore it be crowded in there

[@galiffrey1]

Hey Eric what high school did you go to?

[@presley1712]

galiffrey1 went to the school of hard knocks

[@galiffrey1]

Presley 17 Funny I only asked because I went to high school on mesa az and I think we were the same age so I thought it was a possibility we graduated from the same highschool

[@presley1712]

galiffrey1 yeah man I was just joking around. I spent some time in Arizona growing up myself. that's why I was checking out this video

[@galiffrey1]

Presley 17 I'm a native of 40 years. went to salk elementary. Fremont Jr. high and red mountain high.

[@presley1712]

galiffrey1 I had family that lived in Scottsdale. So during the summer we could spend a couple of weeks there. Hang out at the malls arcades etc.

[@michaelcoble5967]

A rip off dipping dots ice cream machine...LOL I go to the kiosk, "Id like a thimble sized cup please, and how much is that? Well that will be $7 please" LOL

[@SymbolOfPeace8]

What mall is the most thriving in AZ?

[@bighashgang1990]

I no this is 3 years old but the answer would probably be Chandler Fashion Center

[@aracelixxp]

aye

[@yvetterivera2531]

Wow Dude SERIOUSLY if A Zombie Apacolips comes great place to crash why those movies now revolve around malls ? lol

[@JointSpecialistTV]

Are you not allowed to record in the mall? Why would they care?

[@charlesmurphy1510]

JointSpecialistTV they don't like it. Security reasons is why they care.

[@MrTheGuitarNerd]

Probably also has something to do with showing that the entire structure of mall(s) is disintegrating. Bad publicity.

[@charlesmurphy1510]

MrTheGuitarNerd Malls are private property even though they are open to the public. The mall owners have the right to impose rules restricting photography if they so desire. This is the case in most malls today.

[@MrTheGuitarNerd]

Yeah, I know all that, thanks. Have a good evening.

[@wulfone5961]

Also I notice a lack of young people in the mall, except the two guys that walked out of Game Stop. I don't see anyone in the video that looks to be younger than 40 or older. I saw more people with grey hair. Where do all the young people go? I mean when I was teenager a lot of people hung out in malls. I guess when you are broke and can't find a job malls are useless. This goes for everyone. Except seniors with SS money.

[@mayanicole8400]

WulfOne the young ones go to San Tan Mall, or at least I've seen tons of younger ones there.

[@hotelchannel2824]

I see teenagers go to that mall quite a bit he probably just didn't pass any

[@calihustler08]

His video 📷 is all messed up

[@josephrobles6290]

go to desert sky

[@Aidan_Au]

That Justin Bieber's song killed them......

[@brandell4638]

I had to stop watching I was getting motion sickness from it. Oh, I still feel nauseous

[@ratedimmortal]

Hey, love your video's! i would love to see you do a video about the Arizona Center. It's going thur a remodel cause of the new owners. It's a dying outdoor mall in downtown Phoenix that is trying to come back to life. Message me and come over to my restaurant and do an review! it would be greatly appreciated.

[@dr666demento]

An organ store that still exists? Those used to be a mall staple, trouble is, few people want electronic organs anymore. Keyboard synths replaced them. Hippies 'r' us, let me guess, it's mostly ''tobacco and tobacco accessories'' (at least in some states now they can be honest about what it's for ;) and who can blame them for moving away from Sears? That aroma of death probably bothered them. A surf shop in AZ, wow (psst, just tell 'em it's all beach, ignore the cacti) It ain't really an arcade if it has nothing but crane-type games (and yeah, they're rigged, typically you have to spend at least $5 to get something worth 50 cents) at least it has some video games. I don't think Sears is deliberately blocking, just a dead spot. But then again what Sears isn't a dead spot? On purpose, just like what's happening to Toys R Us. He'll leave nothing but a dry husk.