Wonderland of the Americas (San Antonio, Texas) : NOT Just Another Dead Mall!
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- Опубликовано: 21 июл 2024
- Is Wonderland of the Americas a dead mall? Once known as the Crossroads Mall, this place is clearly struggling - empty units, failing infrastructure, etc. - but it's not quite that simple.
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In this walking tour, we'll explore the regular market and encounter some of the people who are keeping this place going. We'll also look at how local competition, like North Star Mall and the Shops at Rivercenter, are making life more difficult for this place.
Ultimately, we'll see why this place has been going strong(ish) for 65 years and how it might just offer a viable template for other malls in the US.
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Intro: Jingle Punks - All This Down Time (pitched down)
Music:
waterfront dining - manifest nautical
Aristotle's Hard Drive - l o s t 渡航
waterfront dining - dreamboat
Courtesy of Musical Shores (waterfrontdining.bandcamp.com...) and Dreams On V/H/S (aristotlesharddrive.bandcamp....)
#deadmall #deadmalls #deadmallseries 
Развлечения
![I LOVE SAN ANTONIO [23 Reasons Why…]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/8EAUaVj5EsQ/mqdefault.jpg)
Not the outskirts of San Antonio, Balcones Heights is in San Antonio. San Antonio engulfed a lot of the surrounding small towns, and is still growing.
Came here to say, Balcones Heights is just outside of downtown, middle of SA. The city is way too big for it's own good, it's taking after LA and Houston. Outskirts in the same direction would be either Helotes or Leon Springs.
Came here to say that too
@@Rudofaux they won't. Joining or annexing requires a citizen vote now, and nobody wants to be part of the high tax, high crime dump that is SA proper
I wouldn’t classify “outskirts” as anything within 1604 at this point.
SA is still the best city in Texas, is it growing? Yes, but it still carries a small town charm
It's so strange seeing somewhere I went to as a kid in a random youtube video on my feed 😂
Brought back good memories
I'm just glad it found its way to you!
Same lmao just passed their today 💀
I love the Wonderland Mall for its resiliency. Whoever's running operations here has some VERY creative ideas to keep people coming through the doors.
It's in an old city
The "little shops" basically being a mini flea market is a great idea.
It definitely is.
The seemingly random Christmas photos in the Rivercenter are actually historic photos of the old department store Joske's, which was extremely influential in San Antonio. Joske's was founded in 1869 by a Jewish immigrant fron Germany and eventually expended to become the largest store in the south at the turn of the century. That beautiful art deco exterior you noticed is what's left of it. Their Christmas window displays were a big deal during the holiday season. My dad got his first job as a child when he got hired to sit in a toy airplane in the Joske's holiday window display and look like he was having the time of his life for 35 cents/hour.
Big investors from houston are rennovating this mall with big plans. Thats why there is so much happening, and its doors are still open. The construction area used to be a stein mart. the Hobby Lobby has been there forever. The back section of what is now Ross, used to house a burger king about 25 years ago. Anytime id go with my mom on a Saturday, the same group of senior citizens would be meeting there for breakfast. There used to be a movie theatre there in there, where I saw Lion King when I was 4. There were under-floor fountains that used to run, where many trees used to be. The chinese restaurant in the food court has been there 30+ years. This unlocked many forgotten childhood memories for me as a San Antonio native. Thank you for the video!
Here in San Antonio, WotA and Rolling Oaks Mall have both turned into independent retail 'community centers' as it were. I love them!
And Ingram Park Mall is where you go if you wanna get human trafficked
Last year we found the coolest little shop in rolling oaks. I went to San Antonio a week ago and was looking forward to going again but it was gone😭 They sold scented oils and you could make your own scent. We asked everyone about it and it's almost like I imagined it because no one knew what I was talking about. But I'm not crazy, I have perfumes to prove it 😅
Are you familiar with the shop I'm referencing, or have any info about it? I don't even remember the name.
I just wish they would fix the escalators at Rolling Oaks. They have one rickety elevator by the food court and the escalators on either end have been broken for years. And I don't think they even have stairs.
Obviously you can probably get up and down in some of the department stores. But the mall has made little effort on this front.
I love the anime/food/ seasonal events they have ,they always bring amazing vendors and a good reason for a lot of people to come by
@@colin1818yep, gotta go through Dillard’s for the escalators
It used to have a full sized two story carousel that was the coolest thing ever when I was a kid. They ended up selling it to a church of all places, wish we still had it!
I remember that! Coolest thing ever! 🤗
One of the events that would drive alot of traffic was Mini Mini Con, an event sponsored by San Japan (anime convention) as a free one day event. This year the MiniMini con was not held at Wonderlands since they are partnering with 2 other events at the Boeing Tech center and space may have been a concern. There isn't word yet if the MiniMini Con will return to Wonderland. But this is a case of several of the not quite dead malls in the San Antonio area staying alive by having mom and pop stores and hosting 1 or 2 day events that wouldn't have the attendance to occupy a convention center but provide year around events for folks of various hobbies.
Mini Mini was always a fun time to fill the void before San Japan.
I particularly love Monster Con… XD I had wanted to go to Monster Con for YEARS. Finally got to go for the first time in 2022. Might go again this year. Don’t know yet.
They ended up canceling it a few weeks before it was supposed to happen 😭 I miss it being at wonderland! It was always so fun and nostalgic.
A mall with not one but two independent video game stores in it?! Wow.
Yeah, most stores in here were independent except for the anchors actually! No shortage of places to get Pokémon cards and such either.
If you're talking about Geeked Out, that's actually a TCG shop
There’s a really cool retro games store in there and then yeah the other guy is right, there’s a lot of other D&D/trading card stores that you would think are games and stuff but it’s not really. Cool mall tho. That raceway doe. Y’all remember when it used to downstairs next to the sbarro and that small lil food court??? The raceway even still has that Simpsons arcade cabinet like the old times! Or what about that bijou theater too? Cool lil place that I miss it was like a secret theater.
I MISS THE BIJOU!!!
was super sad when the bijou theatre in the mall closed. it was right by the "palm pavilion" and it showed amazing independent films.
San Antonio native here who went to this mall in its mid 90’s heyday as a young child. Absolutely beautiful video. I have so much nostalgia for that place. There used to be an arcade downstairs by the foodcourt. That area is closed off now. Played Mortal Kombat 3 for the first time there when it launched. Im pretty sure that exit under construction you went out of toward the end was the old Montgomery Wards. That’s where I got my copy of Zelda Ocarina of Time as a young lad
Tilt and Aladdins Castle!
Dude! I picked up Ocarina of Time from there a few months ago
The Bijou theater here was fantastic, the only place in the city where you could reliably see great indie films. Santikos made some poor managerial decisions that eventually killed it.
YES! I miss it so much man. They remodeled it before closing it which was a mistake because it looked so fancy originally
@@Rudofaux The Bijou closed permanently in 2022, so nothing that happened in the aftermath of COVID was his fault. He'd been in his grave over seven years by then.
The Bijou was so good! I got kicked out of Kids for being underage at that theater. 😂
@@WaitingtoHit I miss it so much 😭
As someone who worked for santiko a while back, even back then the Bijou made no money and was a money hole, they kept it around as long as they could
As a San Antonian I'm so happy you made this. I live on the other side of town and worked at Northstar Mall but will still go walk around this one.
You're very welcome! All about preserving these spots whenever and wherever I can :)
4:35
Yep❤️I worked there for almost a decade up until 5 years ago and was always busy. People would say malls are dead and I would say ‘Yall haven’t been to north Star and south park in San Antonio. I would always to go wonder land mall when I was a kid. It was busy then in the 80s, early 90’s. They had a movie theater that showed independent movies but unfortunately closed down not to long ago. But I go now and I never get a weird vibe there. It’s still very much loved❤️
San antonio is 20 years in the past
Agree 100%!
@@josiahamaze New York just starting using trashcans lmfao youre barking up the wrong tree lil bro
10:23 that mall entrance will soon be converted into a Five Below!
In the late 80s and early 90s, the mall scene in San Antonio was pretty crowded. There was Ingram, Windsor, McCreless, South Park, Westlakes, Rolling Oaks, Central Park, North Star, Rivercenter, and Crossroads.
How many of those have closed down now?
@@paulmccartney1982life long san antonio resident here, I know ingram, and windsor are long gone, rolling oaks, north star, and river center are all very much alive and well, the others not sure
@@goldsteed8832 South Park Mall is still alive and kicking.
Yall are forgetting la cantera.
@goldsteed8832 pretty sur3 Ingram is too. Soon to be a dead mall I predict
The Christmas posters in Rivercenter Mall are from Joske‘s renowned Christmas display. Joske’s was a popular department store back in the day with a gorgeous annual Christmas display. Rivercenter is housed in the same building Joske’s was.
Love this fact! Thank you for sharing that. Do you happen to know how long Joske's has been gone?
@@DeadMallWalking it’s been gone since the 80s, I think. It was about the same quality as Dillard’s.
I really enjoyed your video. I love dead malls and I was excited to see a mall from my hometown. I call that mall Crossroads. I believe the original name was Wonderland, then it became Crossroads somewhere in the 80s or 90s, then it became Wonderland of the Americas.
Wow! Joske's! What a blast from the past! So many great stores no longer with us. 😢
10:35 That area is usually reserved for Spirit Halloween whenever Halloween approaches. Or for convention spaces
As a child in the 60’s, we came here often. When I was in middle school we used to ride our bikes to the Wonderland Mall - traffic on Fredricksburg Rd was much less intense. It was the biggest thing - the ONLY place - for one-stop-shopping in that part of San Antonio. Furniture, food, clothes, toys, movies, arcades (which were always busy, given that video game consoles hadn’t been invented yet)… it was a great place to be. When I see you walking around freely on a Saturday, I feel a bit depressed. It’s still open, but it’s a far cry from what it once was in the 60’s and 70’s. I remember crowds of people moving purposely through Wonderland, not a handful of folks milling aimlessly around. I remember that there were so many people there on a Saturday that my sisters and I were told to hold hands (which we hated) in some sections so we wouldn’t be separated and get lost! (Which happened once to one sister - couldn’t find her for over an hour!) I’m very surprised that most of the upper mall space wasn’t turned into a Senior Living Center made up of dozens of small apartments; it seems like that would be a good fit. There’s lots of flat space to walk; it’s totally air conditioned; parking is very close; clinics and doctors' offices could be inside as well. And of course, it’s still centrally located within a huge, thriving residential area. (sigh) Brick & mortar shopping may be on the decline, but we’ll always need SOME PLACE to visit to get a “hands on” opinion of merchandise. And there are so many possibilities for all that space! I hope San Antonio does more upscaling of that part of the city; it would improve the Wonderland Mall as well.
My heart goes out to everything you mentioned. All of it so true! I miss Montgomery Ward, The Bijou, the pretzel place downstairs, and all those awesome shops and the old arcade. Such memories. It definitely has a different feel and is sad to see it so empty on the weekends. It used to be crowded any day of the week and yes, traffic was so much less intense back then. Miss those times... They sure have changed! My guy hates walking around there because it depresses him. I continue to give it the love and support it has earned, especially since I live so close by. Thank you for your comment and insight.
I _really_ like the Little Shops at Wonderland. I think more dying malls should do that!
Wish you could’ve seen the underground (literally) art house theater near the entrance you went into before it closed down after Covid. It was my favorite :(
Another cool San Antonio mall story: about 16 years ago a tech company, Rackspace, occupied a then dead Windsor Park Mall. Occupied it for about 14 years. 2 years ago they moved to a more traditional office space.
This mall is effectively an event center now. UFO convention, Halloween events, Anime conventions, International Food Events, etc. The new arcade is going to bring some interest for parties and events too, and this city has been getting filled with Japanese style arcade parlors.
From a local SATX girl. Thank you for seeing the beauty in Wonderland mall it’s truly my favorite place to shop ❤️
I grew up in this mall when it was Crossroads and had 2 arcades and a movie theater, it was packed in the 90s. I'm in my late 30s now. I'm there at least twice a week to get some exercise and chat with everyone at the shops. It just feels like home at this point in life. Absolutely love it there.
I grew up in this mall, when it was The Wonderland Mall.
I was around and a kid at the time it was already pretty dead but I’ll never forget the raceway. Used to go when it was located downstairs in the back where they put all the trading card stuff now. There’s something special about this mall fr
I live in SA and haven't been there in years. I think I will go check it out. Especially the arcade!
Some vintage gems in there for sure! An original Simpsons cabinet 🤩
Thank you for making this tribute to Wonderland/Crossroads! I moved to San Antonio right after it started being called "Crossroads" and many people still referred to it as Wonderland Mall. I've been away from San Antonio for many years, and I'm still strangely nostalgic for this mall, and really all of the San Antonio malls.
I've never been to this mall.
My mall was Windsor Park Mall, which closed down years ago.
North Star is the rich person's mall.
I live blocks away from Mall de Las Aquilas in Eagle Pass, which is still alive but has taken some losses.
I liked that mall in EP
My boyfriend sent me the link to this video, and it was such a surprise to see my old favorite mall being talked about on you tube! So much nostalgia & loyalty is what makes me continue to visit even tho it has changed alot over the years! I have wonderful memories of spending thousands of hours roaming that mall and all it's stores since we moved here to SA in 1977. I live 5 min away. So many memories of going with my family who are now gone. I still go for every horror convention, which is a shame that he failed to mention in the video. It may have lost alot of shops over the years, but still has plenty of life in it. I will always support it. ❤ And Goombas, Rico's and the Chinese restaurant are freakin' delicious! So convenient to go for lunch seeing how I work right next door at Target. 🤗
The lower floor of this mall used to be the site of a Career Point College cosmetology school. I remember the halls being dark and empty with a bunch of creepy wig heads looking out through the windows lol
Sounds like the perfect liminal hell :)) haha
San Antonio resident here.
I've shared in your sentiments walking through here before. They host a bunch of events there, chief among them food festivals and anime conventions. You don't want to go there when both are going on at the same time. Last year was a free con in collaboration with San Japan, located chiefly in that empty lot at 10:20. Sadly, they are skipping out this year due to charging for badges (although very affordable) and not getting enough people to bite, or so I had inferred.
It's rare that me and my buddies would go out there. I am aware there is an arcade with some VR stations. But unless there is a Pump It Up cab in there, preferably Prime 2 or higher, it's hard to get me in. Haha. I will say that the coffee shop is pretty nice, and Goomba's wasn't there when I went last year. Not a bad pizza joint, but it seems to like to spawn others like Ray's and Mattenga's (my personal favorite; go to the Schertz location if you can!)
Glad to had went through here and was happy to see this video.
I've come by for San Japan a couple times now, but never heard about this place. I hope they reinstate events at some point!
This mall has always amazed me. Its always empty and yet its still running. Funnily enough, my classmates were able to shoot their short film here late at night (like 2am) by just walking in, like there was no security or locked doors. They said other people were just walking in too so idk whats up with that lol.
When I was in high school, that was a mall with plenty of stores and visitors. I can remember the diner inside of one of the stores. A cup of coffee was .25 with free refills.
I'm glad you mentioned the community events, you're completely right that it's just as much of a community center as it is a mall. I've lived in San Antonio all my life, and as a kid we used to go here all the time for the slot car racing (and they used to have more tracks). Those gigantic empty spaces are FULL of vendors whenever they have one of their cons, and this mall can get really really packed during the events. It did recently lose one of their bigger events and the arthouse theater that was here closed during the pandemic (the mall's biggest loss imo), so I am still a little worried about it but the community events are definitely what's keeping it alive.
The bijou is missed, but the teal steel framing is so lovely and nostalgic. Love getting my boots at cowtown boots!
Nice! I took a look in Cowtown Boots, but figured I wouldn't be able to pull 'em off back in the UK, haha.
I used to think mall was just another cruddy mall, but it has some really cool quirky shops and frequent events like indoor flea markets.
I grew up in San Antonio and I did go there one time while in school. We watched Life of Pi in the theater that was there. There was another mall but it was closed and purchased by Rackspace.
And now Rackspace moved out of there. Idk what SA/Windcrest will plan to do with that giant space now
@Unknown-us6xh Wow! What a shame. I remember everyone's dream was to work there.
Been to a fair few "non-mall" things at Wonderland. The mall operators leave host to job fairs, book fairs, ect. One of my old bands even played a show here for a Fat Tuesday celebration they threw in like 2010. It's not surprising the mall is still going with how many extra curriculars they host at the mall.
Great video, love seeing a place from my childhood/young adulthood through the eyes of someone outside of locals
Excellent take on this mall's distinguishing multicultural appeal, and all the effort still being put into keeping it alive.
If you're ever back in Texas again, I'd love your take on Greenspoint Mall here in Houston. The locals consider it dead and call it "Gunspoint", but I've always wondered how much of that reputation is deserved and how much is just people stereotyping the mall based on its predominantly African American customer base, and all the businesses inside that cater to that community.
I was pleasantly surprised when I saw this in my recommended, as I love dead mall videos and being a local myself. It seemed like a great watch and it was. Funny little story actually, many iconic figures have actually came through this mall before. I remember when I was younger, we had randomly stopped during a convention they were having. The best way I could describe it is, comic con but for horror. I specifically remember the “Knight Rider” car being on display, as well as my Aunt getting a picture with Robert Englund. Aka Freddy Krueger. I don’t know if they still host these conventions, but I just remember being so close to him. As, there really wasn’t a line. It seemed so under the radar, but it was so cool. That’s one reason I love Wonderland so much. It’s always been unique and comforting, even if it does give off backroom vibes a little lol.
This place is amazing . It used to have a functioning movie theatre with curated films
Yay, an actually good video on this place! Always glad to see a mall from the 60s reinvent itself, and still hang around. This place has some charm do it. That’s hard to find another places. The floors in here and the skylights are incredible! Great video!
Thank you, man! Much appreciated 🙌🏻 The floors were so shiny, it was like they’d all been freshly buffed. And the skylights are just gorgeous 🤩
I just went to an optometrist appointment at Wonderland today. Happy to see this video
I spent a lot time at crossroads mall when I was kid. My grandparents lived about mile away. I walked there it was a different time in the 1980’s thanks for sharing. 😊
Whoa! I used to live in SA for a few years as a child. This brings back memories. Thanks for the trip in down memory lane!
Lovely video! I love this mall and visit frequently with friends. We usually go to Heroes Retreat right off the food co… ahem, Palm Pavilion 😅, to play Warhammer 40k, and we sometimes go upstairs to Geeked Out to play card games. An old friend of mine owns Flashback Games, and we often eat at Goomba’s or the Chinese spot run by a nice old lady.
I’d love to see the mall filled with more businesses and visitors in the future, and I thank you for the time you took to make this video.
I still love coming here from time to time! It's one of those weird, nostalgic places I've been visiting since my childhood.
oh i remember this place. i went here for a convention once!! so weird to see all the familiar sights in a youtube video hahaha. i have such distinct memories of seeing people in specific places that you shot here.
Recently a local and loved live theatre company called “Wonder Theatre” moved into the mall. It’s super rad and has helped breathed life into the space. Love seeing shows there!
Hey! Good to see one of my favorite places mentioned in a video. It's a shabby old place with dirt in the corners and scuff on the tiles and I love it all the more for it. It has character and shows it, even if I hate that the down escalators are always out of service.
That spot you mentioned, with all the construction? That used to be an open space and people would use it to due dance classes, workouts, and even small LARP sessions. Also, the Bexar County Election Commission used that area as a voting center. They're downstairs next to Security, now.
Also, one thing you see a lot of there is people using the area as a walking track. There are track markers on the walls somewhere if you look telling you how far you've gone. Lots of old folks use it as an indoor track for exercise. They're on both levels!
Those vendors are there every other weekend. Every weekend in some parts of the year. There's a huge horror scene there that always shows up, and there's miniature free conventions there happening at least once a month that gets some of the talent to show up and sign autographs. Think the Little Shops but way busier and everywhere.
And we can't forget my favorite part of the Mall, Heroes Retreat. A bustling miniature wargaming store that often hosts big crowds inside playing all kinds of games. Its sister shop, Geeked Out, is the same but for TCGs.
Thanks for coming out, bud!
as someone who lived and grew up in san antonio, it's nice to see one of the placed i love being covered. thank you for this video and bringing eyes to this mall
Oh I live near here and that lim space at the end is for a Five Below store opening there really cool to see!.
wonderland mall always has events going on i LOVE that place so much. it’s so cozy and so cute i hope it never goes away
It's been around for a while, so I'm very hopeful it sticks around for a long time to come!
I have such a deep love for this place. Not only is it perfect mall nostalgia, but they put on events fairly often and the mini market is full of cool classic media. Also I’m pretty sure that taped off corridor near the end of the video is what’s left of the steinmart
Thank you for coming to SA we appreciate you ♥️
La Plaza Mall in McAllen TX will surprise you. Beautiful, modern, buzzing, and great restaurants including Texas De Brazil. Might have something to do with the tourism and shoppers from across the border, and winter Texans who travel here every year.
I almost feel bad for not going more than I do. Feels like I’m taking it for granted as I’ve been to a couple dead malls in Connecticut. It’s sad to see. Almost like a piece of my childhood is withering away.
Bridge St Towne Center in Huntsville AL, while not an indoor mall, is a beautiful set up with plenty of shops and restaurants. I felt like it might be the way of the future tbh. Its locals are lucky to have it. Good restaurants, a theatre and hotel nearby, and Texas BBQ! I’m kinda jealous lol
Thank you for the video. It’s a reminder to get out and enjoy these places we once enjoyed when we were younger with our families. I need to get my kiddos out there walking around and enjoying the day, the people, and the experience!
Amazing video !
I LOVE WONDER LAND!! Flashback is my favorite local game shop and i love CD sam’s and all the other little specialty shops. :)
It was so cool to see CD Sam in this video since a close friend of my family owns it. And I used to spend hours chatting with the employees and just hanging out.
Been going to this mall since the 80’s, and every Saturday it was busy. It wasn’t until the first renovations when I noticed the decline of it. But you know I still reminisce. I spent a lot of time at Aladdin’s Castle Arcade, and one point going to Club Image yes there was once a dance club. I sure do miss the Bijou Theater. I have this wild plan of bringing back a classic arcade reopen Aladdin’s Castle I hope in the near future.
I love that you covered this mall! I have a lot of good memories going there as a kid. The Palm Pavillion used to have a smoothie place under the escalators that had the best smoothies I ever had in my life. Better than smoothie king.
I agree that Wonderland is very smartly managed - the medical and immigration offices have a great location there. And part of the mall used to be a nursing school before the school was shut down a few years back due to fraud! I think it was Kaplan but I could be wrong.
The stunning old building is the old downtown Joskes department store. Many fond Christmas memories there.... think the mall at "Christmas story"
I wager those Christmas posters were from the Joskes. Looked like it
I have so many memories from my childhood of this mall!
The interior with its glossy tiling, and green painted metal, indoor vegetation, and angular skylights really reminds me of Highland Mall (now ACC highland).
That super liminal section is where I always enter and exit the mall lol
I believe the space you were walking though that was plastic-walled was the old Steinmart space. I vaguely remember that giant, square-shaped light box on the ceiling.
Wonderland has always been nearly empty. Even back when it was Crossroads. I remember seeing The New Guy in the theater there back in 200-2001 or so, and we went browsing around after to find nearly nothing at all.
Flash forward to around 2003-2004 and there were a few stores on the ground level, but most were empty and caged off.
Always wondered how it manages to keep itself open.
North Star has always been a beast, but LaCantera opening pulled a visible amount of patrons when it opened.
This is so crazy, i used to go to this mall fairly frequently. so interesting to see other people come here...another mall similar to WotA is rolling oaks,,which is a mall i also frequent very often
210! Gotta love this mall. Always great pop ups, conventions and great shops in the little shops. Been coming here since I was a kid and my kids love coming here. Getting a five below pretty soon! Just watch it with Balcones Heights Police, they’ll stop you for the slightest thing.
awww yisss! I was wondering when you were gonna do my fave o:
CD Sam is probably my favorite little shop at this mall, I always found some cool stuff there
I started collecting CDs again after picking up a copy of Primus’s “Sailing the Seas of Cheese” from CD Sam’s. It’s easily my favorite store in the mall.
SA Native here. Wonderlands is indeed one of the most unique places one could ever go to, although it's stitched up ideas alongside the old traditional mall set up does make it feel less like a mall and more like something unique.
North Star and South Park do a good job of continuing to hold that traditional mall quota in San Antonio and yeah, moving to Indiana just showed me more how vastly different San Antonio has it with their malls and their density in patreons compared to everywhere else in the country
Rolling Oaks Mall off Nacogdoches in San Antonio is another half dead mall.
I have such a love for this mall.
Don’t really go to Wonderland too much. Occasionally pop in to the record store at Little Shops. There use to be a theater on the lower level that played some movies that weren’t in major theaters.
I’m glad to hear the little shops are getting some footfall! And the theater seemed to still be there from what I could tell, think it may have plays showing too?
I remember going to see Beauty and the Beast with my oldest daughter there. She is now 38.
I think the filling out of malls with services like the ones you mention here, will be the future of many UK malls. As retailers die and are priced out by the rents and various other factors, it's the healthcare and service industry businesses which will move in. If it keeps footfall up and malls and peripheral businesses at least ticking over, it makes sense.
Nice ! Will visit there
cant wait to move to SATX! im so ready lets go!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Get ready to BAKE! Summer here is brutal.
The heat here is BAD! The food here is great! Enjoy tacos!
As a kid I couldn't wait to leave San Antonio. I joined the Army then as an adult couldn't wait to come back. I love it here.
Good luck. The heat is absolutely brutal, the drivers are the worst I’ve ever seen anywhere, and the job market is ass cheeks.
@@Saints779 truth. No one cares where you’re headed, only where they’re headed. No one uses their damn turning signals.
I miss the Bijou Theater 😭 it was the only place in town where you could catch independent films released on the big screen. Ironically, I'll admit the last movie I saw there before it closed was Rise of Skywalker smh
I agree with you. Loved and miss the Bijou so much! Saw alot of Great films there. Last one for me was The Dead Don't Die, with my mom and boyfriend. Mom enjoyed it cuz it was a tiny theatre and so close by where we live, only a few minutes away. Wish they'd bring back all those fun shops as well. COVID ruined everything.
This is my absolute favorite place to visit on weekends, growing up here let me see how it changed over the years, and I'm glad it's finally getting more and more popular in recent years
Handy Andy, then Rhodes, then Frost Bros, then Dillards? Spencers downstairs with all the blacklight posters and I think it was a Sound Warehouse just across the way. Pretty sure Monky Wards was the other anchor.
you should check out rolling oaks. nearly every store is dead or dying, but the mall itself is being kept alive through community flea markets. i like to pop by every now and then for the old game sellers.
And before it became Crossroads, it was Wonderland and the sign had a little genie in the logo. I remember the old Woolworth’s with the lunch counter, the Montgomery Ward, the Handy Andy (grocery store), the Rhodes (later Frost Bros., a local fine merchant). Now it houses a variety of medical offices and also one for our state representative, and there are some cool conventions held there.
I forget the guy's name, but him and his slot car track have been around since the 1980's. Used to race cars when I was a kid. He was located on Bandera. Love that track!
My mom worked in the food court in the 1990s when I was a little one. We still go there for this and that about once a month. It's amazing that its maintained genuine utility to the area through so many decades. All the spaces that were under construction are now occupied by the way! Thanks for spotlighting our little mall :)
2:17 raceway and games is ran by the coolest guy. my dad used to take me all the time when i was growing up, it was always so badass. thanks dad.
That building at Rivercenter used to be “Joske’s” and it was a beautiful store..as good as any in New York..a shame it got hacked up like that.
I live right next to this mall. I haven't been for a bit now, but I always get excited when I have a reason to go because every time I walk through there I feel like a little kid again. This mall is everything this guy says and then some. Something I don't think he discussed was the various random events they do at this mall all the time. The last time I went they had a Japanese street food festival going on so the parking lot was full of food trucks and street food vendors and the inside was almost set up like a comic-con for vendors to sell various knick-knacks and cosplay stuff and random cool nerdy artifacts. Its a very cool mall, and I can say vey definitively that goomba's pizza is 10/10.
I’m a San Antonio local that has visited these malls many times and works in Rivercenter mall. Those posters on the wall at rivercenter are pictures from the old Joske’s department store that use to be in the building that part of Rivercenter now occupies. It’s a historical building that was built in 1888, and was later famous to locals for its Christmas displays.
Local here, another thing keeping the mall alive are the small conventions they hold almost every other weekend. Horror, anime, retro gaming and 80s stuff.
That and the two game stores for table top, warhammer at the food court and the card games above the food court.
The big empty space you went through on the upper floor that looked kinda like it was under construction is usually where they put the Spirit Halloween store
Back in the day, Montgomery Ward was an anchor store.
I remember being so enamored with the design of this place as a little kid, one of the best movie theaters there the bijou used to screen indie/foreign films in that mall that sadly closed down in 2020-2021. During the pandemic 😭 ahhh I miss it so much RIP
Wonderland and Sharpstown Mall, both in tExas opened on the Same Day September 14 1961
I used to go here as a kid every time i’d hang out with my grandparents. We’d especially go to the slot race tracks/arcade. Some of the best memories i have .
I take my kids to play slot cars, but I played on that guys track when I was a kid when he was located across the highway at the go kart track, and before that on Bandera road near Huebner in the 80's.
I was literally here a week ago and have gone with my family and friends my entire life. It’s a amazing place that Is still surviving even if it’s not that packed often. So many great memories there and I hope it’s there forever
Boycott Amazon, put money back into your local stores. And our economy will flourish and we will have malls again
As a native San Antonian, this mall is mainly treated as a convention center, where it gets most of its people coming in. It's really cool to see, the small shops there are also really cool to check out as my dad is good friends with the owner of a shop called "CD sam's"
yeah man that's my mall!!! love it! always old people jogging in the mornings, sweet record store days, and the movie theater that was there before covid was peak! it was my favorite theater in the city, no kids were allowed and it went deep down under the mall, it had musicians in the lobby and a classy bar, I miss it.
I remember going there as a kid in the 90’s😅
Good times