VIA PORT Rotterdam: It's Definitely a Dead Mall! (Former Rotterdam Square). Schenectady, New York.

Join me as I take a look at the VIA Port Rotterdam (formerly Rotterdam Square Mall) in Schenectady, New York. Is it a dead mall? I'd say so! Let me know what you think in the comments!
AKA Via Port Rotterdam / Via|Port Rotterdam / ViaPort Rotterdam.
This video was filmed in November 2023 on a Tuesday around 1:30pm.
If you liked this video, please give me a thumbs up, leave a comment and subscribe to my channel! Thanks!
Source of information:
www.dailygazette.com/news/sta...
www.roadsideamerica.com/tip/1...
www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=23020
www.timesunion.com/tuplus-bus...
www.timesunion.com/business/s...
www.deadmalls.com/malls/rotte...
www.labelscar.com/new-york/rot...
www.timesunion.com/business/a...
www.bizjournals.com/albany/ne...
www.timesunion.com/news/artic...
www.timesunion.com/news/artic...
www.timesunion.com/news/artic...
www.dailygazette.com/news/sta...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Via_Por...
www.timesunion.com/business/a...
#deadmall #deadmalls #mall #newyork #shoppingmall #shoppingmalls #retail #schenectady #malls #mallshopping #fleabittenadventures

[@jenniferburchill3658]

I remember when this mall opened. I was fifteen years old, hobbling with a boot on a broken foot. And no, there were no real refurbishments at any point.

[@fleabittenadventures]

I didn't think so. Thanks for watching!

[@melissahurt317]

If Bath & Body Works closes it is definitely a dead mall

[@fleabittenadventures]

For sure.

[@AWBOfficial994]

Bath and Body Works is the Savior of dead and struggling malls ​@@fleabittenadventures

[@Random62854]

Plot twist: It closed in 2011

[@ronhoover5516]

I predict when the last mall in the US closes, there will shortly thereafter be a new retail phenomenon introduced whereby large enclosed spaces will be populated by stores that were previously only online. Officials will state "people decided they really wanted to see, touch and experience the things they are buying and are tired of the online experience" and, voila, the mall craze will be back. But it'll be awhile yet. Retail is built on sand, and what's in today will be out tomorrow.

[@jenniferburchill3658]

It may happen sooner than you think. AI images are being used to scam people online by promoting products and services that don't actually exist. At least with in-person retail, what you see is what you get.

[@fleabittenadventures]

We'll see in about 20-30 years I guess.

[@rl8429]

Retailers that were exclusively online are already expanding with physical stores at top performing malls

[@lizzard71]

It always surprises me how nice these malls look inside, such a waste with no customers. Also, I like that you drive around the property at the end.

[@fleabittenadventures]

Yes, a waste of electricity too. Glad you liked the video! Thanks.

[@Madness832]

There's a radio station in the mall (w/ a parody of the old MTV logo). That's new!

[@hahayeahokaynope]

Latham Circle Mall in (duh) Latham, NY had WGNA studios upstairs. That, and Mildred Elley school.

[@fleabittenadventures]

Yeah, I wonder if they actually broadcast out of there. It looked empty when I walked past it.

[@ajvintage9579]

Check out Riverfront Mall in Amsterdam, NY. It’s a repurposed dead mall with NY State offices and other businesses inside, and is quintessential 1970s.

[@fleabittenadventures]

Do you mean Riverfront Center? It looks like a strip mall on Google Maps. Thanks.

[@stephenpuliafico8812]

@@fleabittenadventures yes, they call it the Riverfront Center now. It was a smaller enclosed mall. They have some offices in there now and I believe they are talking about reopening the cinema. They have also added a few entertainment type businesses there recently from what I understand. My mother worked there in the early 80s. It is definitely a dead mall.

[@ocsrc]

I remember this mall. It existed before 87. I remember going to see movies at the movie theater in the rear of the mall. It was separate entrance but attached to the mall. I remember driving out to the theater because they were an independent theater and they showed the NC-17 and NR films no other theater would show, back in the 80s and early '90s before the Internet. I remember that they only showed the NC-17 and NR movies at Midnight. The movies were never that great, which was a real disappointment. The other theater that was independent the year that the film Showgirls was released was at Exit 2 Central Ave across from Colonie Center. There was a stand alone box retailer around back and the theater was before you got to that retailer. I remember going to see Showgirls, the NR version, at that theater in the middle of the day and there were about 4 older women and 2 younger couples and myself and that was it. It was really cool because the older women all yelled at the same time in one scene that I took wanted to yell. Really awesome There were some movies that were just incredible seeing in the theater. Event Horizon was one of those films that was incredible

[@fleabittenadventures]

I'm just going off of what I read on the internet and that indicated a late 80's opening date. Could be wrong though. Thanks for all the info.

[@rebeccaponce6767]

I managed the Sear’s Portrait Studio in 2004. Every storefront was open and the energy was wonderful. I managed Torrid in Crossgates in 2001 or 2002. I remember how energetic the malls were. I visited Albany just before the pandemic and all the malls seemed lackluster. Broke my heart. Even Colony Center didn’t have the same charm.

[@AWBOfficial994]

I miss those good times where Malls used to be packed, but now online shopping has taken malls down.

[@fleabittenadventures]

Pretty much, with a few rare exceptions.

[@craglabrake6802]

Thank you for this video! It was cool and interesting!

[@fleabittenadventures]

Glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for watching!

[@craglabrake6802]

@@fleabittenadventures you are welcome Tom!

[@hahayeahokaynope]

I still call it Rotterdam Square Mall. 😂 This was quite a busy mall back in the day, complete with a carousel in the food court. The Time Out arcade, which was in the food court, was pretty sweet. I remember having pictures taken with my cousins at the Sears, which closed in 2016. As far as I remember, this mall didn't really have any real remodeling. The idea when it was taken over was to refurbish the building. That clearly never happened. BTW, The bar/arcade had bowling when we went years ago. I think it was 5-6 lanes.

[@fleabittenadventures]

Yeah, I was going to say in the video that they definitely did not upgrade the exterior. It look horrible.

[@doehunter]

More mall walkers than shoppers.

[@fleabittenadventures]

Yeah, I think so too.

[@MrSgm111]

Those Christmas snowflake decorations really add to the festive ambience ... and why bother with that tiny tree !

[@fleabittenadventures]

I'll bet they put up the exact same decorations every year. They probably don't want to pay for a bigger tree.

[@ajvintage9579]

I believe there was a Sears here back in the day.

[@fleabittenadventures]

Yes, it's next to the aquarium.

[@bradye21playsIndieHorror]

Not sure if 21:36 is clever ("BING-O.K.!") or just too lazy/cheap to repaint. Thanks for the update video although I see absolutely nothing has changed in years.

[@haydenlaisdell8926]

I was there the other day for my 2nd time. To check out the Aquarium and it was nice. But the place is dead. It used to be owned by Wilmorite.

[@fleabittenadventures]

Yes, very dead. If I had more time, I would have checked out the aquarium too.

[@chrislaustin]

First off, that cemetery is creepy AF, and is a perfect example of money trumping decency any chance it gets, but that being said, back to the mall. It's for sure a dead mall, but I would say it's the most "lived in" mall I've seen that I would say is dead. Most dead malls the planters are empty or gone, tiles are missing from the floor and this mall looks well maintain, so can a nice looking mall still be dead? Even though many shops were closed, they had inventory on the floor and looked ready for business, which is something else not typical of dead malls. With the arcade being closed Mon & Tues, maybe other shops have that same policy as maybe the mall is way empty on those days? It for sure looked more dead from the outside, as it needed paint and the asphalt looked beat, but that aquarium art looked amazing. That fountain was insane, and that's a feature I miss as well, but that one was huge(to big IMO), and I can see why it closed, the up keep had to be massive. Every generation since forever loses something with the passage of time and as a kid of the 70's & 80's, the mall is mine, as they are gone or dying never to return. The only thing better than an amusement park growing up for me was a trip to the mall, and in some cases, the mall was still better. I grew up in Los Angeles, so we had some of the best, one of which was "Old Towne Mall" in Torrance. Not to far from Del Amo which is still open and at one point one of the countries biggest and best malls(might still be). Well Old Towne actually had 2 dark rides in the mall, a shooting gallery, carousel and often felt like a Renaissance fair meets a Sid & Marty Croft fever dream. As it had people making things in real time, like candles, metal work, the planters had trees and old style street lamps, it was truly one of a kind. And a lot of it's best stuff was gone or had stopped by the time I became a regular and it was still insanely awesome. If anyone wants to see it, here's a link: kzbin.info/www/bejne/aZLOmoebjMxmnZY

[@fleabittenadventures]

Thanks for watching. Yes, I think a dead mall can be well maintained. Monmouth Mall is a good example. Even Hudson Valley mall is well maintained, but it's almost empty.

[@chrislaustin]

@@fleabittenadventuresYeah, it's just so rare to see, as many "dead" malls have been on life support for ages, so up keep is just not done most of the time(completely understandable). But this place looked great, I wish I was in the area so I could visit as it gives off some of the older mall vibes of my youth.

[@BreakTime10101]

It’s dead Tom. So sad what has happened to all of these malls. And do they think a sign is going to keep people out of the state offices? They need a secured door there.

[@fleabittenadventures]

Yeah, I almost walked in there by accident. Hopefully the doors are locked once you get inside.

[@derryXDINES]

I live 5 minutes away and haven't been there in 5 years, and that was for only the aquarium. There are actually more stores operating in your video than I figured were there!

[@fleabittenadventures]

I didn't count the open vs closed stores, but it's got to be at least 70% vacant?

[@jong.7944]

"They built the mall right next to a cemetery - you can see it right here." OK, maybe they shouldn't really lead with that as their sales pitch. 🤣

[@andysorensen1737]

Imagine the missed opportunities, especially around Halloween!

[@fleabittenadventures]

I think they try to ignore it and hope most people don't notice.

[@fleabittenadventures]

True.

[@Silentbobx]

Such a shame to see all those stores closed up. 😢

[@fleabittenadventures]

It seems to be happening almost everywhere nowadays.

[@jojoruan]

I remember going here alot as a child, there used to be a fish store in one of the smaller store locations close to the center fountain, that was my favorite place. We have goldfish and we bought lots of fish food there.

[@motivatingbibleverses]

A dead mall with a graveyard. Might be a first!

[@fleabittenadventures]

Well, Palisades Center Mall in New York also has a graveyard, a much larger one, but it's not quite as close as this one. There are probably others out there, I'm not just aware of them. Thanks for watching.

[@renardfranse]

Kohan, Moonbeam or Namdar, the kiss of death trifecta!

[@fleabittenadventures]

I haven't run across Moonbeam yet, but Kohan and Namdar for sure.

[@SBX70]

We were there over February break and visited the aquarium which is fun and the new dinosaur fantasy museum. Lots of cool stuff in the aquarium definitely worth the trip!

[@jasonwright2066]

It's definitely a dead mall. I grew up going to this mall when it was Rotterdam Square with family in the late 80's when it opened & through the 90s. It had all your popular stores all the malls had & stayed current until the early 2000's when it started to show its age. I believe its demise was not keeping up on maintenance & updating as the 2 other malls in the area, Colonie Center & Crossgates Mall did. Added with the fact, that area in general has seen an economical decline over the past decade or so. Sad. Would be interested to see you do a walkthrough of Colonie Center and Crossgates Mall in the future.

[@fleabittenadventures]

Makes sense. And I do have videos of Crossgates and Colonie Center coming up. I have a backlog of something like 20 mall videos.... I'll get to them eventually.

[@jasonwright2066]

Enjoy your content. Take your time.

[@bklyncyclist]

I've been to 3 or 4 malls in the last year, after not being in one for at least 10 years, and 2 of those were Colonie Center and Crossgates. And this is because the Tesla Superchargers are there. One of the others was Destiny Mall in Syracuse, which is huge but appears to be dying. The one relatively lively one though was Short Hills in NJ, and every luxury brand store is in there like Prada, Gucci, YSL. etc... Oh, I guess a fifth mall would be Kings Plaza in Brooklyn. Living in NYC though you never went to the mall much anyway, it required a special trip out to the burbs.

[@Steve.Cutler]

When going into places you might be allowed, sometimes you can say "can you tell me where the bathroom is" as soon as you encounter someone. That was a huge kmart!!

[@fleabittenadventures]

Good suggestion.

[@Thomas-yr9ln]

I keep getting the name of it wrong but the mall close to king Road and Tully was my teenage and childhood memories. When I was a little boy it was a Golf course. They knocked a ball over the fence they would give me a dime for everyone I brought back. Then all of a sudden they got really rude and wanted me to hunt them for free. Maybe they thought they would scare a little boy. From that time on every time I found one on the way to school I would hide it in my pocket. After a few months I had quite a collection of golf balls at home 😅😅

[@fleabittenadventures]

Ha ha. Good times.

[@chad2787]

I wonder when that theater originally closed? I worked at a Loews back in the 90s. We were the only one around that wasn't rebranded Sony. It was subsequently demolished around '03 when Sony built a 14 screen cineplex a couple blocks over.

[@fleabittenadventures]

Not sure. I didn't find that in my research. Thanks for watching.

[@RicksTravelogue]

I believe this mall was at one point owned by the same company that owned Wilton Mall in Saratoga, and they too had that kind of water fountain over in the center of the mall.

[@SigmaRho2922]

70% of the tenants were vacant

[@rjdonohue90]

Rotterdam always has fishing and pontoon boats in the middle of its mall, surprised you didn’t see any.

[@isaacsparodys2007]

nice video. I heard of this mall before

[@fleabittenadventures]

Thanks! Glad you liked it!

[@ruby055]

No refurbishments I can see. I took a co op job while in college at Northeastern University in Boston for 6mo. working in nearby Schenectady at GE in late 88 early 89. That interior looks the same. I lived in Clifton Park but used to go every week mostly at lunch.

[@fleabittenadventures]

Yeah, I don't see any indication of refurbishments. Thanks for watching.

[@mikegallant811]

Dead Mall for sure,Tom. Probably also a Haunted Mall.

[@fleabittenadventures]

Could be....

[@OriginalNethead]

If the Bath and Bodyworks pulled out, shutting off the lights was a good call on the power company's part.

[@fleabittenadventures]

I agree. Thanks for watching.

[@teeharris5073]

A beautiful but dead mall no doubt bout that ❤

[@fleabittenadventures]

I agree. It's pretty bad.

[@badassuchiha4875]

I missed this Place I wish they did something & put maybe a JCPenneys & some other Stores around or even other Shoe Store besides Encore which in my Opinions is ok I missed this Place thruout my Childhood I've been so in Love with this Mall & even these Days I hate Croosgates in Albany & many others I didnt wanna be around to much Crowds

[@ronhoover5516]

13:35 What, no candy purchase? LOL

[@fleabittenadventures]

I know. I forgot my quarters....

[@ronhoover5516]

@@fleabittenadventures I kid I kid...keep em comin. Good stuff!

[@The_Amazing_Dip]

Am I the only one that notices that in almost everyone of his videos there's the same music and a baby crying?

[@fleabittenadventures]

Good ear. I got a copyright claim for a few minutes of the video, so I had to mute some of the actual audio and replace it with audio from another video of mine.

[@ripdawg]

this mall still looks like it's in great condition just needs some solid tenants to create a draw to the location. great location

[@arosenweig]

You are better off going to the Albany area malls such as Colonie Center or Crossgates. Both are much better. Kohan is terrible. They don’t care about revitalizing their malls. They need to pay their bills. If Kohan cannot pay their bills, the cities and towns should shut down the company.

[@fleabittenadventures]

I have videos of both those malls coming up shortly. And yes, they are FAR superior malls, no question.

[@arosenweig]

It’s good you have videos of the better malls. Some of the nicer and better known retailers and restaurants will leave the dying malls as soon as they hear Kohan or Namdar has purchased their mall because they are concerned about reputation. I know Apple and Cheesecake Factory try very hard to avoid opening stores in dying malls.

[@arturocuizon69]

Ya this mall used to have a fountain and now they turned it into a display but I think that's just temporary and they'll probably put the fountain back since its still there do you think so or no it's gone for good?

[@fleabittenadventures]

I doubt the fountain will come back. Fountains seem to be out of style at this point for some reason. I hope it comes back though.

[@holidaykrazy]

Looks like the Avenue may have been a Fashion Bug

[@JoJo-ie8sl]

Looks dead to me. I think I read somewhere under 50% capacity for stores is dying and this is way under that

[@fleabittenadventures]

Yeah, it definitely meets that definition. Thanks for watching.

[@madmerlot841]

Dead mall walking but it does look more alive than Emerald Square Mall. My mother visited the Macy's in Emerald Square mall this past weekend and she said it did not look good so I won't be surprised if that store gets closed in the next Macy's wave of closures.

[@fleabittenadventures]

I haven't been to Emerald Square in a while, but I thought it was a little more lively than this, at least on first floor. Hard to say though.

[@madmerlot841]

@@fleabittenadventures The 3rd floor food court at Emerald square had 2 restaurants remaining. The Rotterdam food court looks more lively.

[@yeahhoo86]

Few weeks back I read an article that that stated the the Macy's at the Emerald Square Mall is on the list of closures for 2024.

[@madmerlot841]

@@yeahhoo86 I was looking for that list and haven't found it yet. Do you recall which site posted that list?

[@renardfranse]

should be called rotting damn!

[@fleabittenadventures]

Pretty much.

[@BoomlandJenkins]

"Sears enthusiasts" ... really? Is this a thing?!

[@fleabittenadventures]

Definitely! There's entire websites and Facebook pages dedicated to Sears and Kmart, etc...

[@nonymo99]

go to the king of prussia mall or the mall of america!

[@fleabittenadventures]

Someday

[@stphinkle]

Kohan, Moonbeam, Namdar, CBL, and others are the slumlords of the mall industry.

[@fleabittenadventures]

Never heard of Moonbeam or CBL, but definitely Kohan and Namdar.

[@stphinkle]

@@fleabittenadventures Moonbeam ran several malls into the ground including Century III, Shoppingtown, and Gwinnet Place (a.k.a. Starcourt Mall).

[@kandy-fv3ir]

Its definatly dead it's sad malls are extinct today

[@fleabittenadventures]

I agree. Thanks for watching.

[@reizendecamera]

Rotterdam? uuhm I live in Rotterdam in the Netherlands.

[@fleabittenadventures]

Yes. It's also the name of a neighboring town in New York.

[@johnpritchard-sy3ri]

I think you need to go back to the mall there's other things going on in this mall than you think it's building itself back up

[@fleabittenadventures]

Someday, but it's too far for me to go again anytime soon.

[@avgjoeavglife]

So..... it's not haunted? also the names of towns in New York are wacky LOL.

[@ajvintage9579]

They’re Native American and Dutch names.

[@avgjoeavglife]

@@ajvintage9579OK, that explains it.

[@fleabittenadventures]

Yes. Schenectady is a tongue twister for me.

[@mark3464]

For sure dead!

[@fleabittenadventures]

Yup. Thanks for watching.

[@doehunter]

It’s dead alright.

[@fleabittenadventures]

Yes. Thanks for watching.

[@amberperkins9382]

It's dead

[@fleabittenadventures]

Agreed.

[@12inch_monster]

mom & pop stores in prime spaces are signs your mall is dying

[@fleabittenadventures]

I agree.