Hampshire Mall: Is It a Dead Mall? Hmm, Good Question! Hadley, Massachusetts.
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- Опубликовано: 25 авг 2024
- Join me as I take a look at the Hampshire Mall in Hadley, Massachusetts. Is it a dead mall? What do you think?
This video was filmed in December 2022 on a Thursday around 3:00pm.
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#deadmall #deadmalls #mall #massachusetts #hadley #shoppingmall #shoppingmalls #retail
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I've worked the Subway in this mall since 2010. I became the owner in 2015, and will be shutting down in a week.
Store sales have declined every year since 2013 or so, except 2021 and 2022 were technically better than the previous years due to covid recovery.
The crowd level you see is in fact, pretty normal. You can see much larger crowds most Saturdays, but during weekdays, even around 3PM, it's not out of the question to be able to be the only customer in the hallways of the entire mall. December, when this was filmed, is the busiest time of the year. So this seems about right for a December weekday.
HOWEVER: My store's sales are still down about 35% compared to pre-covid, and not reliably recovering. These days, it looks like places that are destinations can succeed, but any place relying on incidental purchases doesn't really stand a chance. Target, Funhub, Petsmart, Interskate, Cinemark, Pinz, they all seem to do well enough. But the food court and most smaller stores I can't see having much of a future.
Note: While you can see the "closed Best Buy" it's worth noting that PetSmart moved into that location years ago. But it only has an exterior entrance. The interior entrance was blocked off as pets aren't allowed in the pain portion of the mall. So that's not actually an unoccupied space. As of June 2023, there are many small unoccupied spaces, but no large unoccupied spaces.
You referred to Pinz as an arcade and bowling alley. It also has a restaurant and bar. On the right, you referred to FunHub as an Arcade. That's part of it, but it's also got bumper cars, a climbing wall, a big slide, trampolines I think, and a bunch of other stuff. Think of it as half way between a Chuck e Cheese and an amusement park.
It's correct that this mall is entertainment focussed. The reasoning is that retail is dying due to online shopping, so mall management has been seeking to take the mall in a new direction. The timing was really unfortunate, as Covid hit shortly after this transition began, which was basically the worst possible timing.
Funhub occupies a space previously occupied by Autobahn, an indoor Go Cart track. The other stores mentioned, such as Media Play, Stygers, etc. were more or less in that location, but other stores were as well. Autobahn/Funhub needed a lot of space, so several locations were remodeled into a single location. A similar thing happened with Pinz. The mall has had a somewhat recent trend of getting fewer, but larger locations.
"Not sure what used to be here to the left" This is before my time, but I've been told it was a ground round restaurant. Short term, I believe Wine & Canvas was in that location several years back. But other than that, the hallway has been completely vacant since for the 13 years I've worked in the mall.
The only thing for customers on the 2nd level is Interskate. Other than that, you've got the mall office.
If I had to take a guess about the future of the mall, I think the trend of smaller stores being replaced by larger stores will continue. Places with their own exterior entrance do fine (even JC Penny from what they tell me), but the customers really don't browse through the mall's interior. This is painfully obvious from working the food court. Target is 1 stop shopping, which is at odds with the purpose of a mall. So generally, when people come, they come for 1 thing, then leave.
Hey, I bet I know you. I worked security there from 2010-2013ish, would stop by there for food occasionally. And hide in X9 games as much as possible hah
@@charliework1049 That sounds likely. It's been a long time, but I do remember a security guard that was an X9 regular from around that time.
Yes! Reading through all the comments, yours is the first to finally mention The Ground Round.
I’m so sorry your Subway is closing, or has by now. I’m out in Greenfield and don’t get through the Hampshire Mall very often.
@@cafn8d413 Yeah. I shut down June 30th. I'm going to miss it. But for now, I'm enjoying some long overdue time off.
I live in Massachusetts. My son had a heart attack in that mall in 2006. He is doing well. Pray for him I am his father I have been to that mall it has roller skates
When you immediately entered the mall in the beginning, the yellow wall on the right used to be a Buffalo Wild Wings which was the first one in the region. It wasn’t open for long due to a leasing dispute. It closed 13 years ago. (2010)
I think they moved it to Chicopee . ??
@@MrCraigblaze no. There was a good 8 years or so between the Hadley closing and the Chicopee opening.
I heard the mall wanted super high rent. Like 40 k plus % Then bww set out to just buy their own building but it never happened
They actually sued the mall and lost. I forget what the suit was about. Leaks or something?
Then BWW were like oh wait we will pay. Mall said get out. They had to. Staff went to CT location afterwards.
I was working there at the time.
I was surprised at how many comments I read through before anyone mentioned The Ground Round, and then nearly all the subsequent comments mentioned it. My mom, husband, and I loved that place when we first moved to Western Mass. I still miss it.
A local colloquialism, many people I know (at least used to) call the Holyoke Mall “big mall” and the Hampshire Mall “little mall.” Hadley in general is disadvantaged in not having its own convenient exit off of I-91, but it (the town) has still become a major shopping area as most of the businesses aren’t duplicated for miles. In contrast, you can see the Holyoke Mall from the Interstate.
All the Hadley shopping is majorly supported by the Five Colleges students and their families, especially those from UMass Amherst. August is definitely the busiest time of year, when new students need to set up new dorm rooms.
Thank you for this video. 🙂
i also called them the big and little malls!
Exit 25 in Northampton onto 9 is really a Hadley/Amherst exit. Goes right over the CT river into town.
@@enthused7591 Yeah, still a ways off 91 tho. And the traffic nowadays is pretty heavy compared to what it was years ago.
The green/beige restaurant looking thing used to be a Ground Round restaurant
The "stairs to nowhere" used to be the employee entrance to Interskate 91. That second floor space you tried to get into has been closed off for years. In the 1980s it was a vegetarian restaurant called The Garden of Eatin' and in the 90s was the upstairs half of a 2 story lazer tag (that I believe was run by the owners of Interskate 91). It was later replaced by Pinz, so I imagine that second floor space is now offices for either Pinz or Interskate 91. The "fake town" motif you mentioned used to go all the way around the food court area before it was remodeled in the 90s. And the food court had a large fountain that was removed sometime in the 1980s or 90s.
Local checking in. I would say 'dying'. It has definitely had a major decline. The traffic level you experienced here was pretty typical. It perks up at prime times but usually looks fairly empty. There's an interesting dichotomy between this mall and the area next door. Back when I was growing up, that next door was the Mountain Farms Mall, which was dead, and I mean phenomenally dead. A big decrepit space with virtually nothing operational within. The fact that I saw that place is why I don't think of Hampshire Mall as even in contention for 'dead' status. Anyway, at some point Mountain Farms rebuilt itself as a plaza, and now the plaza is eating Hampshire Mall's lunch, they completely flipped in popularity.
It used to be a more 'normal' mall. The bigger focus on entertainment venues is a recent pivot. The owners are trying new things anyway, credit to them.
Indeed the roller rink is a very cool feature. The effect was even more pronounced back in the 80s/90s when the mall was jam packed all the time. The visual of tons of kids whizzing around the mall was quite something.
I must go against the grain as I really never saw the appeal to open air plazas over indoor climate-controlled malls. I have to assume that umass and colleges keep this going.
I remember when I was kid I always wanted to go the that Lazer tag joint that used to be there. Never did get to go before it closed lol
you could regularly see kids skating above the food court as late as the early 2010s, interskate stayed poppin for a while
@@sloppyy yeah I mean that's about when I stopped going cause I just grew out of it
I remember Mountain Farms when it was a dark place. I forget why I had business in there. I do remember a Ferrari BB 512 parked near an entrance more than once. I think the place had a gym. Maybe the owner was a regular. Definitely a place where you felt you'd be rolled 10 feet in past the doors.
I went to college out here 1988-1992. WOW this mall made up a lot of my memories of that time. In one way it's so good to see it again, in another, it's so hard. I remember Steiger's, I worked at a CVS in there in 1993. After that I left the area and have never been back. I remember a pet store in the yellow wall across from the "green and yellow themed place" at 4:20. I spent a lot of money in that pet store! There was a clothing store where planet fitness is now, and in the food court? A Frozen yogurt place (all the rage at the time). I do remember the roller rink, and the Kmart specials. JCPenney for Christmas gifts when I went home. So many memories. Now I'm 52 and my soon to be college age kids are considering the 5 College Consortium. My head might explode if I go back! 🥲
I also have still have some pics of the outdoor entrances with the payphones and beautiful flower gardens etc. It definitely looked fancier than this.
Cool! It's getting difficult to find vintage photos of these malls!
Thanks for sharing the memories and thanks for watching!
Very welcome! The old dead mall used to have a water fountain thing with huge goldfish and a Chinese restaurant & movie theater. On Sunday there was a flea market that was huge at the end of the mall. My dad used to work the show so I would have 4 hours to run around and take whatever he gave me & at the end of the day he would praise me for what I was able to return with 😃 it was great 👌
Cool. I would have loved to see the goldfish!
Yes, I remember that in the 90s. Even though it was considered the dead mall, it was still pretty awesome. I loved the flea market, and that Chinese restaurant was really good. I remember they set up a sample table during the flea market, and you could get some fried rice and ribs. The little arcade near the movie theater was pretty cool too. Magical times and memories.
The dead mall was across the street from this one. It's now a strip mall and doing very well
This mall had a massive Greco-Roman fountain feature in the food court, festooned with statues and cupids. It was eventually run-dry and filled in with plants for some number of years. The area around the fountain was a recessed, lower level with seating. It was removed in the 2000s and the recessed area filled in, showing no trace of it now.
I haven't been there in so long, that I didn't realize that they filled in the sunken dining area.
I remember when that was the active mall and West Farms mall across the street was the dead mall for many years.
I saw pics of it online somewhere It was pretty cool. I remember more of it being dry with plants instead of water but even that was 30 years ago. They deleted it at least 15 years ago
I miss eating taco bell In there
The green & yellow windows @ 4:18 was the GROUND-ROUND Restaurant. It was a chain restaurant that closed years ago. Great food.. miss it. Great video btw.
I'm glad you like the video, and thanks for the info! I remember the name Ground Round, but I don't think I have seen one in decades.
@@fleabittenadventures there’s still a couple Ground Rounds open in Maine, and they’re great!
100% Groud Round. Green and Yellow boarding. Worked in that mall in 1997-1998 ate at that restaurant and had many a beer in there! Thanks for the trip down memory lane!
We LOVED that Ground Round, partly because it wasn’t too crowded…oops.
The empty green and yellow area across from Planet Fitness used to be the Ground Round, which was a restaurant! It was pretty popular back in the day
I grew up going to this mall when I was a little kid and still go to this day, the green and bage used to be a ground round restaurant
I live 15mins from that mall, that green and beige place was Ground Round restaurant. I think another similar theme rest moved into that place but closed after a short while. This mall is keeping alive by the Five College (Mount Holyoke, Amherst, Hampshire, and Smith Colleges, and the UMass at Amherst) students in the surround area, it is usually dead during the summer but sorta busy when schools are in session.
the place at 4:08 used to be The Ground Round, place has to have been empty for 15 years now. the stairways to nowhere used to have a friendlys behind it even longer ago.
Cool! Thanks for the info!
I was 6 years old when this mall opened. I only have the vaguest of memories of that time, but I do remember the old Mountain Farms mall across the street when it was an actual, functioning mall (Almy's, a long-dead department store, was where Walmart is now), and I remember its rapid transition into "dead mall" status after the Hampshire Mall opened. For years the Mountain Farms mall got by with a crappy 4-screen movie theater, a Papa Gino's, and the indoor flea market that was AMAZING. Eventually it transformed into the plaza it is now and the Hampshire Mall began its transition to dead-mall status. The water feature with the fish was maintained much longer than I ever would have expected it to be!
I remember a bunch of stuff from the Hampshire Mall that's not there any more - KB Toy and Hobby, the Dream Machine arcade (used to play the Tron game there back in the day), the Chess King clothing store that always confused me because why the hell is it called Chess King? I think Sears was the anchor store at the opposite end of the mall from JC Penney. There was a laser tag place up on the second level for a long time, up where those offices are that you saw at the top of the stares. I don't really remember Steiger's at all, but that's probably because a store like that held no interest for me as a kid. I do remember Media Play well, though - I bought my first-gen Xbox there. The food court used to have Sbarro and Arby's, among others.
Actually, Sears was supposed to go into the space close to where Pinz is now at the east end of the mall (near So-Fro Fabrics, just before Kmart)) but backed out of the deal just after the mall opened. So, Railroad Salvage ended up going into that space instead.
Thanks for walk through memory lane. Great place for a nice walk anyway. I had been to Enfield Mall a few years ago and felt it was on its way out as well.
So far, nothing compares to the how dead the Enfield Mall is. I'm pretty sure I will be doing a video about it going out of business within the next 5 years or less.
Back when the mall first opened, the upstairs was open and you could walk around and look out the windows. 14 year old me climbed up that very stairway you took. There was briefly a restaurant upstairs too though that didn't last. Interstate 91 has been around for a long time, I think since 1982.
I guess I'll have to learn to skate if I want to go up there now!
I would say sickly but stable at the moment. It’s surrounded by colleges - UMass, Amherst College, Hampshire College, Smith College and Mount Holyoke - which isn’t a great population base for sales oriented business which is why it’s trying to shift to activity based businesses. It’s not clear if that’s going to work. I suspect that enclosed malls are simply too expensive to operate resulting in rents that are too high for most businesses when compared to open shopping centers.
As best I can remember, Jo-Ann Fabrics is the only original store left besides JCPenney. My mom used to love shopping there.
Thanks for the info!
Hey man I live 5 minutes from this mall! It’s usually about that crowded until around 6pm when some families go to the bowling and arcade space. The movie theater can also draw a crowd, but generally there seems to never be more than 50 people in the mall that aren’t in dicks or target at a time.
I went back to this mall on the day after Christmas and it was extremely busy, but I think that was only because a lot of people had the day off for the holiday. The arcades, bowling alley and roller rink were packed.
Bro if u live somewhere in the Winfield complex that's where I grew up.
I've lived in the area for 25 years--always used to bring kids to birthdays at the Interskate 91, or for movies. As others have commented, it was too bad (from kids' perspective) when the Gamestop left. I still go there for (as you mentioned) the Target (and the JoAnns fabrics) and sometimes the movie theater.
Yep every cool kid had a party there when I was growing up
@@goblinsarereal4954 can confirm I used to always have my parties there and I was soooo cool
The Hampshire Mall is located in the "Five Colleges" region of western Massachusetts. Because of that, the mall has always emphasized entertainment, food, and hobby shops (although traditional mall shops would have existed as well). My family used to drive over from Easthampton for the movie theater, the arcade, and the roller rink (Interskate 91).
Since I live in Easthampton I sometimes go to the Hampshire Mall in Hadley after work at Amherst College. I mostly go to the Holyoke Mall at Ingelside in Holyoke since it's just up Mt. Tom from my house.
If I lived closer I would probably go more often. The Holyoke Mall is a lot closer to me. The Hampshire Mall has a totally different feel than the Holyoke Mall though. Thanks for watching!
Nice video. I just want to add a couple of notes. The movie theater was indeed a six screen affair back before 2000, but at the time it was run by AMC. Cinemark took over and expanded to the 12. Later on they added the XD screen and are now up to 15 screens, I believe. This might just me by kid thinking of the time, but the course of Interskate's rink resembled a roller skate to me. Also, many moons ago the escape room used to be a paintball arena. There also was a PC joint wired for LAN gaming as well as networked Xboxes where either Arizona Pizza or Tutti Frutti is. Finally, where Pins is now used to have The Dream Machine, what I will always think of as the greatest arcade of all time. So the Hampster Mall actually has a bit of a long history of entertainment.
Edit: forgot to mention that around the early to mid 90s, and possibly longer in either direction, that staircase you went up only to find an office used to be a balcony, of sorts. There were two, three, maybe four tables up there so people could get a little privacy from the food court or just enjoy the view.
I lived in Springfield growing up,(early-mid 90s), so it was a rarity for me to go to this mall, but did go a few times.
When I saw the title of the video I immediately thought of the roller rink. I assumed before watching that it would have been closed by now. Very surprised to see that it’s not only still open, but it’s still called Interskate 91. Easily the coolest roller rink in the area…with the second floor view of the mall. It also snaked around in kind of an L shape instead of most rinks which were just ovals.
I remember them having more unique stores than my home mall(Eastfield Mall). And they had the best arcade at the time only rivaled perhaps by Holyoke Mall.
Also liked the theater. I remember taking a girl there to see the original Jurassic Park when it came out. Thanks for the memories. Hope it makes it.
I don't skate, but I think it would be really cool to be able to skate around the second floor of the mall and look down on the first floor. Very cool.
Ground Round was the restaurant that was in the space you were questioning by JcPenney.
That roller rink is pretty cool . Went there as a kid . I think this mall might limp along for a while .
I like videos about malls whete it is questionable of they are dying or just changing formats.
Like it isn't a dead mall but most of the chains have moved out and it now has a lot of local businesses moved in.
I agree. The problem is that there is no standard definition for what a dead mall is, so there is often disagreement about it.
The group that owns this mall is the same one that owns the Holyoke mall, but they refuse to lower the price even for spots that have been vacant for years. I worked at the Best Buy here just prior to when it closed and even though it was the number one draw for this mall at the time the owners of the mall decided to raise the rent to the degree that Best Buy decided not to renew the contract, the spot would remain vacant for a number of years occasionally hosting the seasonal Halloween store until Petsmart moved in, Gamespot was another big draw until they opened a new store across the street instead, probably due to a reduction of rent.
Its quite clear that the ownership group for this mall is delusional, they see the proximity of the colleges nearby and the heavy draw of the shops and restaurants in the area and won't budge on the price no matter how long it sits empty, i guess their business model is to set their price at whatever they want and prey upon big businesses that don't do their own research to realize that the foot traffic here is mediocre at best even on it's best day. You could do all your shopping at Target, JC Penney and watch a movie at Cinemark and never step foot inside the mall itself and not miss much.
Didn't a buffalo wild wings come in for a bit? I kinda wish it was still there lol.
@@goblinsarereal4954 Yes it did but they left because the owners of the mall refused to pay for a repair to fix damage on the roof which leaked into the kitchen and caused a healthcode violation, the same thing happened in the Bestbuy area and when it rained heavily buckets had to be used to prevent water from pooled on the carpet below.
That's Pyramid Corp. for you.
Omg Media Play was awesome!!
Green and beige was a Ground Round when I was there 20 years ago.
Oh OK. When did that close?
@@fleabittenadventures That closed ages ago, probably close to 20 years, it was briefly a laser tag place afterward but thats been moved around the mall constantly.
Looks like now they made it just restrooms
that second arcade used to b a go-cart track which i wish they kept lol
All right am I tripping but I swear a lot of your videos I hear the same person say “It’s on the other side of the mall?”
Do you overlay mall ambient noise you already have over the loudspeaker so you don’t get copyright? Because that’s honestly brilliant.
trippin, damn i haven't used that word in a while. You made my day with that. Later
So glad you said that, I just watched 3 videos in a row and definitely heard the same audio, songs coming from stores and people saying the same things. I thought I was going crazy!
Yes, some malls have music blasting in the background that will give me a copyright strike/claim, so I have to replace the background. I noticed that guy saying "it's on the other side of the mall" and I'm trying to edit stuff like that out, so it's not so obvious. Sadly, it's a necessary thing to do on RUclips if you want your videos to make any money.
Yup, copyright claims are a real issue on RUclips.
Yup, I'm trying to remove the obvious things from the background audio like people saying specific stuff like that.
ex-Amherst and Hadley resident for almost 8 years (I now live in Northampton). i feel like the individual stores get more attention than the mall itself. The Target is always packed; kids and adults alike love Interskate 91, there’s always fun stuff to do there. PINZ is fun also, but there’s a better and bigger place (and MALL) just like it only about 20 min away. So maybe people frequent that one. overall i’d say target gets the most customers and the mall pretty much looks just like it did in your video every day. maybe with less people.
I came here a bit in 2001 when I came to visit friends at the five colleges. It was always a bit quiet in the week. I remember Cinemark and mediaplay
It's not every day youtube recommends me a video about somewhere local. Hampshire is definitely a fairly slow mall, but I wouldn't call it dead. The crowd looks about standard to me. The last thing I saw in that green and yellow area was the laser tag place that is now in the food court area. I haven't been to the mall in a bit over a year at least now, and I've only been in the area for about 8~9ish years, but it's always seemed pretty steady to me.
Got some good memories of this mall. I attended UMass in the late 90s. Visits to Media Play helped build up my CD Collection... One of my friends and i would occasionally dine at the Ground Round (the green / beige spot), and take in a movie at the theater. It's both recognizable, yet unrecognizable to me now after seeing what it's like not having set foot in there for nearly a quarter century.
Malls are mega popular and kind of awesome in Thailand. Huge basement delicious food stalls.
We use to come here tons in the late 90's early 00's and it was in its prime then. See a movie, stop at the food court (which had options then) and the arcade (also gone) was huge and so much fun. I end up there every couple of years and it is slowly declining at every visit. The inside does seem better kept than other small malls but it feels like it is becoming an experience/service based mall.
Yes, it's much more focused on entertainment than shopping, more so than any other mall I have been to so far. Thanks for watching!
I feel you went at the wrong time of year.. in December a lot of the 40,000 college kids in the area leave for winter break.. so if you go back there in October or April.. you will see it doing much better.. The Cinema along with Target do very well.. at all times.. December and the summer is not a good time to evaluate this mall...
I may do a return trip to some of these malls this year or next.
That's my mall! So sad when bath and body works closed, the current store still uses the same checkered awning.
They really outdid themselves on Christmas decorations.
Yeah, they did a pretty good job. I just wished they played more Christmas carols in the background.
As always great video 👍
I feel like I pass by this mall every time I visited my older brother at UMass Amherst. Regardless, I've never been to this mall, and I just feel the need to visit it.
When I moved to the area in the 90's it was known as the "dead mall" and I remember going to flea markets there. In my memory, the floors used to be dark brick making the place feel like a cave. Glad to see it is doing well.
I think you’re thinking of the mountain farms mall right across the street. That was the one we called the dead mall in the 90s, back when the Hampshire mall was still the place to be.
You're thinking of the other former mall across the way (currently walmart, old navy ,etc) that everyone literally called The Dead Mall in the 1990s. I worked in an office there! It was truly dead!
I grew up here in the 90s also and was confused for a minute thinking the same thing. The Dead Mall was the one across the street that had a flea market in it
I grew up in Amherst and used to skip to go to the arcade. The strip mall where Walmart is across the street was the dead mall but Hampshire mall has been limping along for decades. They used to have laser tag above the arcade as well. I wouldn't be surprised if I limps along for many more years.
Yeah, it seems to be hanging in there for now.
I passed through recently and the Subway was closed :( the gentleman ,who was the manager for years , was excellence !
The floors are filled in, the roller rink is still overhead (cool ) and there are even more activities now. Bowling , kids activity place , karate , that great massage guy - the movie theater is still great and so reasonably priced !!
I didn’t go the length of the mall but I will when I pass through again. The old dead mall ( with the water wheel and flea market is now a very active strip mall too and nearby are Sam’s outfitters EMS and LL bean for starters all for outdoor gear.
Thank you! I have not been there since the 80's!!
Definitely a normal crowd level, at least from what I have noticed over the last 6-7 years. The Roller Rink and CineMark are also definite pulls to go to the mall, the fun hub is newish, from what i remember it was a go karting track and before that it was glow in the dark mini golf. I also think there was a Faces in here at some point.
I haven’t been up there in a while, but it’s good to note that this mall serves UMass which was most likely already on holiday break when this was filmed.
OK, so that could account for it being so empty. Makes sense. Thanks for watching!
I used to go to Media Play to Buy CD's there and I once saw John Calapari and his family once when I was eating out at Ground Round when he was the head coach at UMass.
I used to live nearby in the 00's. It felt like a dead mall in 2003, most stores were vacant, there was very little regularly open and a car dealership usually had a floor model out in the middle of the mall as an ad. I'm surprised it has survived this long, probably just by proximity to UMass just down the street.
That was the ground round restaurant, the green and gold store on the left, they used to have a nice outdoor dining area as well, i miss it
I just stumbled on your channel in your video. I live right down the street from Hampshire Mall. This looks like the average traffic. Notice there’s not many places to eat. The fun hub used to be a go kart place before that it was media play. I would call it a dying mall. The green and yellow motif on the left used to be a restaurant but I don’t remember the name.
When i found your channel instantly looked to see if you did this mall.
Grew up in the mid 90s and went to many birthday parties there; between interskate, the movie theater, restaurants, and the arcade this mall always felt more entertainment focused than shopping focused.
From my memory the only "public" part of the second floor is Interskate 91, and it was a lot of fun as a kid skating down hallways racing your friends instead of just going in a giant circle. Any time ive told friends about it they say they have never been to a skating rink like it.
Relying on non-traditional uses is not necessarily a bad thing. It's not as if the normal mall array of one women's clothing store after another after another is working well anymore. That being said, there are too many vacancies here.
Yeah, I"m all for alternate uses of the mall as long as the keep the mall itself. This mall is definitely on the down turn though I'd say.
In watching your video again, I tried to get my bearings of where your paths took you to try and remember . If I remember correctly and this is going back some nearly forty years ago, the main concourse/corridor of the mall ran North and South , Rt 9 being the North end entrance. Both opposite ends, as I recall, housed the two Main anchor of Stores of North- Steigers and South- Sears.
I am sure of the Sears location (which now appears to be J C Penny if I am following your path correctly) which had the largest exterior loading docks. I managed the Anderson-Little store, for a period, which was adjacent left if facing the interior Sears entrance in the1980's on the South end of mall primary corridor. There were no second floor level stores at that time , as I recall, other than the mall offices. No roller rink. Theater was there. I have to check myself on some memories as I worked also in the Auburn, Ma mall for Anderson-Little and Filenes. I lived on Holyoke rt 5 border so shopped and visited sister store at the Holyoke Mall. I tried to place an original J C Penny location in Hampshire Mall but don't remember if it was even there originally or if if was in a side wing. I wish I had a mall schematic diagram to help memories of mall layout, yet probably changed over the years. Thanks for the post of these malls I have been to many of them primarily my shopping and working in setups of Anderson -Little new locations. lengthy
Lazer tag used to be a friendlys. And I’m old enough to remember when the store front next to that on the right was a chess king 😂
@4:20. That was the ground round. Very good restaurant. Chased out by rent being raised I believe from 18k to 25 k plus a cut of profit and the restaurant owner Said nope and closed down. This was 2008. It’s been empty since. Heard same story for buff wild wings
It looks like its in its second stage of life like most indoor malls. Emerald Square Mall in North Attleboro, MA is close to this state but it has 2 anchors store that are on death's door so I don't know home much longer they will stay open because Route 1 is a very congested retail strip. The mall's interior is in rough shape and there a lot of empty store fronts and 2 restaurants remain at the food court last time I went.
I'm going to try to get out to Emerald Square Mall at some point this year. Thanks for watching!
Not dead - more like a not traditional mall given the unusual entertainment tenants. It's probably not fair to judge it by normal standards.
It was definitely more entertainment focused than most malls I have seen. Hopefully that works out for them. Thanks for watching!
Brings back memories of being mall rat running around that place with friends. That place has changed a lot since I was in high school. I remember skating around on the second floor and then playing laser tag on the second floor as well. That tutti fruity store was a arcade and a comic book store at one point.
That restaurant you pointed out Tom based on the colors it may have very well been a "Ground Round" they use to be in a lot of Malls in their hay day.
Lol I live 5 mins from here and from the age 13 to 15 I would hang out here with my friends all the time, definitely not a typical mall but a nice little spot
Sounds like it could be a fun day for me and my 4 kids. Husband says he is a hard pass on the roller skating 😂
Yeah, there is a lot of entertainment there. Just check the hours though. I think a lot of the entertainment places might only be open on the weekends. Thanks for watching.
Grew up in Amherst and i remember this mall being packed all the time. Where planet fitness is, there were maybe 3-4 stores in that spot alone. Media play was located where the trampoline spot is. Friendlys was located where the laser tag is and taco bell where the spanish place is. This was in the late 90s early 2000s. Im still surprised that JC Pennys is still open. Back towards joannes fabric there was a paint ball arena next to it. And the food court definitely had better options back then too. Sheesh im only 32 and ive seen so many stores come and go from this mall. Id say its dead pretty much. Interskate 91 isnt what it use to be either. But then again thats because kids are stuck on video games and being on their ipads and computers all day. Not saying its a bad thing. It just use to be more lively.
I checked this Mall out a few months ago. I thought it was dead-ish for shopping but was leaning into alternate uses. There was a mall next door, Mountain Farms, that was turned into a traditional shopping plaza instead. I like to frequent the out-parcel shopping like Trader Joe's and LL Bean.
Yes, I read about the Mountain Farms Mall. Looks like I missed it by a couple of decades.... The shopping plazas are fine for just shopping, but they just don't give the same experience as an indoor mall. Thanks for watching.
that trader joe's parking lot is the worst in the valley lmao
I’d say the jc penny sign was there in 78’ Restaurant was ground round. I was in cafe’ square when they where still cutting stone tile flooring before opening. the stairs to nowhere went to interskate.
The green and yellow motif where you think there might have been a restaurant was a place to eat called The Ground Round. Kind of like an American Fair pub/steak house. It's been closed for a very long time.
If you go to the Wikipedia page for this mall it has a picture of 2:35 in 2007 that shows the extremely sad decline of this mall. It used to be loaded with standard mall retail stores and kiosks. American Eagle, Bath & Body Works and Claire's were still in that section at that point
Also most people who go there now (except for movies & arcade) usually just go in a store from outside but don't go into the mall. The restaurant you asked about was a Ground Round at one point.
Thanks for the info!
Yes! I *still* miss that Ground Round. One of the things we liked about it: it wasn’t crowded. Oops.
Fun fact. I believe the Hampshire Mall was the first mall in Mass. if not all of New England to have a food court in it. Most existing malls didn't at that time.
4:21 it was a Ground Round
The green and beige was ground round a restaurant
HUH??? i've been going to college in the area for the past three years and i had no idea this place was an actual mall... we all just go to the target and maybe the petsmart. I have truly never seen somebody enter or exit the mall entrance shown in the video, and i've never heard anyone talk about the place other than the target store. very trippy video for me, i'll have to check the place out soon!
its turning slowly more into an area of activities instead of your average stores now too. Pretty soon Ifeel like that this pace will turn into a "Dave and Busters" sort of thing.
The restaurant around the 4:30 mark was called “the ground round” I believe
That empty restaurant location was The Ground Round which was a regional chain that went into bankruptcy sometime in the 2000s. This location was actually one of the last ones to close. I believe the owner of this location attempted to purchase the brand but that obviously didn't work out.
The restaurant used to be called the Ground round, my wife and I would go there for a pitcher of beer. I would get the triple fajitas and she would get the chicken Alfredo. We would ride our vintage motorcycles there.
Hi! Yeah that's pretty empty now. I grew up near Northampton in the '80s so I've been to the Hampshire Mall plenty over the years. The Best Buy was a good store, too bad they closed here. There was a computer court near that JCPenney sign inside where you could use one of about 8 computers for free back around 2000, the company was "Big Fat Wow", a weird name for free computer use place, huh? Friendly's used to be near there as well. There was a go-kart track in the middle of the mall as well just a few years ago, I forget what name it went by. Interskate 91 was there in the '80s, nice rink! There was a Laser-Tag place by the food court, but I never went in even though I always wanted to. Cinemark's theaters are nice and up-to-date. Lots of stores have come and gone from here: Kay-Bee Toys, Comics and Cards (near Cinemark), Electronics Boutique (now GameStop near Walmart), etc. I remember the name Steigers, but I don't think I went in there as a kid. At about 12:40, if you were to show what was on the right, it's Walmart across the street. Next to that is Barnes & Noble, a pet store, GameStop, and bunch of other stores. There's a Trader Joe's nearby as well, I think.
Oh BTW, that Subway shop you passed by? Don't order the meatball subs because they don't have them for some reason. I went one time about noon and the idiot there says, "Awkward! We don't have any meatballs." I just shook my head at him. How could they not have any meatballs at noon? Anyway, for mid-December that place sure was empty!
Thanks for touring the mall! I haven't been there since lockdown! - Todd C (Creek Sider 1)
X9 games used to be the ground round.... i miss that place
It’s still there, it’s just moved further back! The original spot was just too good real estate for a little game store. He walks past it at 3:41
If you want to see a dead mall go check out the old Sears town mall in leominster Massachusetts
I think it's called the Mall at Whitney Field now. It's on my list of malls to check out this year! Thanks for the suggestion!
@Fleabitten Adventures yes it's now called the mall at Whitney fields, all the empty store fronts have been boarded up and murals have been painted on them to make it look like nothing was there
I’ve been here a couple times and all I can vividly remember it was very small and it wasn’t doing that great back when I was young.
I think that the restaurant was a "99" restaurant or a Ground Round?
The consensus seems to be Ground Round. Thanks for watching!
i love the movie theater and interskate 91 it's ok for me
The balcony you show at the 8:13 mark used to have a car on it, like a 1940's sedan. They put it up there when I was in high school. The big questions were how did you get it up there? And Why would you bother? Spent lots of time at the movie theater (an AMC theater when it opened) also at the AMC Mountain Farms 4 across the street.
Cool! Thanks for watching!
i dont think Buffalo Wild Wings was even in the mall for a year 😆 again been empty since
Interesting. I would think they would have painted over the old colors by now. I'm not a huge fan of Buffalo Wild Wings. I much prefer Chile's or Ruby Tuesday.
Came here a lot during college, to play card games in x9 (replaced by the Tutti Frutti), shop at Target, JoAnne's, or seeing movies with friends. Missed the Sbarro when it left. Never actually went to the second level, except for one lazer tag session. Even as it slowly dies, I'll always have fond memories.
This mall was roughly the same size as the old Mt.Farm's Mall before that one was converted into a plaza.
I'm surprised it still is open, we go a few times but mostly for our daughter.
I live down the road and have lived here for 40+ years and yes it’s a dying mall
The stairs to nowhere belong to
Interskate 91
Even when the college kids are in town, that mall is pretty empty. Target and Dicks are crazy busy, but nobody goes into the mall. We’ve been thinking it’s about to close for years, but it just keeps barely hanging on.
20s should meet in a specific area here since there is a big #lonelinessepidemic these days
this was the mall i used to mall rat @ in my scenekid days of 06-09 it was so full of life then. basically the theatre keeps it a float, more of a place to go on a tinder date now a days. x9 games is a goated collectible card shop has been in that mall for as long as i can remember.
also that green/brown place by the planet fitness was a restaurant called “Dugout” baseball themed place very okay food hotdogs french fries type
Where/near the Hadley Cops is, was a Army Surplus store. Looks like Planet Fitness took over an "Indent" on the left side. There was a pretty high end hobby store. Model airplanes, cars and what not.
A nice tour in and out of the mall. Philip from the Philippines 9:57am05Jan2023Thu
I'm glad you liked it! Thanks for watching!
Lot of empty stores. It appears to be struggling. Does that Target have a mall entrance?
No, it does not appear to, even though there is a big sign for the Target in the mall.
yes, there is a mall entrance.
I didn't see anyone provide the answer, but I didn't read every comment either. But to answer your question, the green and cream restaurant usws to be The Ground Round. It closes years ago and never got replaced to ky knowledge. I could be wrong though because I'm notoriously unobservant and never use that entrance due to childhood clown trama.
Also, I'd say the foor traffic was a little light, but it doesn't get too incredibly busy anywhere but Target. That's only true when school is not in session. This is smack dab in the middle of the five college area and usually has quite a few students. Parking is often hard to fine near Target and the movie theater
This one is tough 😬😦
On one hand you have Planet Fitness, Pinz, a movie theater, a roller rink!!, another arcade/entertainment center. Plus a Dicks Sporting Goods and Target. Things that aren’t going away anytime soon.
Edit: because the mall is open I’m sure Bath & Body works does okay for now. (That Closed?!?😱🤯😵💫)
THEN you have: A decaying JC Penney. A Joann Fabric (another store in financial problems) A subpar food court and…was that bathroom closed?!? 😦🫤 honestly I don’t know how to phrase this. Maybe if they get a remodel and decent anchor where Penny’s is it can become eventually like Liberty Tree?? (De-Mall it to Just anchor stores??). Yeah this one is complicated
I agree. I would classify this one as dying and likely to become a full fledged dead mall in the not too distant future.
This is hilarious to me because I go there for the Target and Joanns all the time, it’s not dead to the locals 😂