If they only knew what nightmarish traffic would be around that area now, I think they would have planned the entrances and exits a little differently LOL
I was 7 years old when Crossgates Mall opened and my cousin and i hung out there for years throughout our childhood and teenage years. we always hung out at the Arcade and spent many Saturday afternoons at Crossgates, now my cousin goes there with his kids and i cant believe how big Crossgates is now compared to when it opened 32 years ago.
Was a teenager when it was at its peak in the mid-late 80's, great memories there. It's hanging on better than most malls across the country, hopefully it can reinvent itself successfully.
mrm64 Yeah I know you should see the mall today they are making so many stores and there is rumors going around that they're gonna put gold gym in. The mall
I moved to Guilderland in 1986 and three first place I went was the arcade at Crossgates. It made my move from Philadelphia more palatable. Thank's for the memory.
Eric Eberle IKR? I'm glad that Economics course I mandatorily took in my final semester of high school before I thankfully graduated consisted of having to watch that Walmart documentary so I would find out what led to the demise of those types of businesses!
The bet on VHS and probably enjoyed a few good years. I always picture an Al Bundy type owner who was once happy to sell VHS tapes as a product of the future, but who is now grumpy because sales are drying up and people don’t understand and constantly ask dumb questions.
Believe the cinema is now 18 screens and located next to Macy's; never knew it was a Regal 10 when it first opened, thought it was always 12 with the 18 later added on (both would be open simultaneously until about 2004ish) Filene's is now Macy's, Jordan Marsh is now Lord & Taylor, Caldor is now split between Lucky Strike and Best Buy, and JCPenney's is still in the same spot ;) Amazing how much the mall has changed in 34 years, it's much bigger now and has a sister strip mall Crossgates Commons located on the opposite side of Washington Ave (with Walmart, Home Depot, Planet Fitness, TJMaxx, etc.)
The filenes in this promo is Burlington Coat Factory and Forever 21, the current macy's was added in the 90s during the expansion when it opened as filenes, and the Crossgates theatres were Hoyt's before regal
@@miss-astronomikal-mcmxcvii Yep, they used to make ice cream cakes at the mall shop! Much better than the ones you can get thru Friendly's. Anyway here's the link to find a location that still makes them: www.benjerry.com/scoop-shops/cakes . Looks like the closest one to Albany is in Saratoga. If you ever travel out to the factory in VT, you can pick up a cake there too. Here's the link for that: www.benjerry.com/waterbury/cakes . I suggest making the pilgrimage to VT either way. The factory, tour, and grounds are worth the drive!
B Sm yes CCM mall, I'm from Montreal but my aunt, etc lives in Balaton lake N.Y. and when we visited I would always go to the malls and play arcades there, great memories.
The Clifton mall is so sad now. They crammed a "Chuck E Cheese" like place in the food court, and I swear some kid is going to hit their head on the ceiling from the bouncy house / slide.
Listening to the amount of research that went into building this mall. He mentioned a annual 134 million dollar sales outflow before the building plans were drafted? Shopping malls were a big deal for economic development and this one was expected to bring in over 200 million its first year of opening. Up till now I always took shopping malls for granted now it's all One Stop Shopping at big box store retailers. Now days all that money spent doesn't stay within the community. Shopping malls are fading out and need to come back.
Ah! Ormond, Filene’s, Jordan Marsh - some the stores I wanted to shop at as a teen but couldn’t because I didn’t have enough money from my part-time job at Edwards Food Warehouse.
Malls destroyed America. Now America is destroying malls by not going to them anymore. LOL. When I went to college at SUNYA, the center of campus to the mall was only 1.2 miles away. I think I am the only one that dared walk there. It was dangerous. There were insufficient sidewalks. It was noisy. This promo shows why with its ample overhead shots: parking! highways! cars! off-ramps! How you place a mall THAT close to campus that thousands of potential customers can't walk or bike to in 20 minutes to (less if you were on two of the quads) is just incredibly stupid planning.
Cold German Beer it’s not that bad the city of albany has a decent bus system But if it’s not along the main drag you should bike it but in the winter you 100 percent need a car
The suburban shopping mall was a colossal mistake. Rather than keeping downtown districts vibrant and attractive, our wasteful car centric stupidity encouraged the development of these architecturally drab antiseptic shopping malls with giant asphalt deserts surrounding them. I am so glad that these suburban monstrosities are dying a slow painful death thanks to internet shopping and a trend towards urban neighborhood retailing. Whether or not downtown cores can revive as retail hubs remains to be seen.
2:50 This video suggests that the first J.C.Penney store near Albany was built in Crossgates Mall. I doubt that. Also I doubt lots of Albany people went to Boston for Filene's and Jordan Marsh. .. maybe a few
You know what destroyed Downtown Albany's Vibrancy? It was the exact things that you saw in the video that did the job. Unlike most of upstate new york, the Capital Region weathered manufacturing decline quite well. However, all those off-ramps, highways, malls, and excessive amount of cars (the trend of sub urbanization starting in the 50s) was what caused the decline of downtown Albany. As time passed, more and more residents just fled the city into the suburbs and commuted into it for work. This excessive amount of flight and sprawl of traffic and living space not only destroyed the cities' tax revenue, but also stretched county resources thin.
The South Mall aka Empire State Plaza not only started Albany's decline but makes it difficult for a comeback. The arterial makes the waterfront un-usabe and the complex has separated neighborhoods and makes walking downtown difficult. As far as tax revenue, more than 50 percent of property is exempt because it is mostly owned by the State (eminent domain), or religious organizations. And yes, the 9-5 commuters stretch city resources.
This video keeps mentioning the "over one million people" in Albany.... The city currently has a population of 90,000 and I think Albany County itself is around 250,000. Was there that many more people in 1984 or are they referencing ALL the areas that are within 30 miles or so of Crossgates?
Watching this was truly like going back to high school. I worked at that mall opening day directing traffic! Why? Because my employer Caldor didn’t open on opening day. Then I worked at Au Bon Pain in fall of 1984.
Ho. Ly. Crap. First of all what is the song in the intro? Secondly, I only found this because I was still on youtube video search by accident, but was actually looking for news. I was there today. Lord and Taylor is open in the old Macy's building. It's blindingly white in there and I felt underdressed. All of the vacant spots are being taken by large entertainment places similar to Dave and Busters. But what struck me the most was the hallway to nowhere was walled off and said coming soon. So i drove past on the way out and it looks like a new anchor is going in! This hallway was part of the expansion so I can't reference the point in this video. It would be just west of Caldor lol. Nice shots of Colonie Center and Mohawk Mall and of course the inside of Crossgates. I can barely recognize the locations. Anyway, I can't find what the Anchor under construction will be. Any ideas?
Still gives me a place to start, thanks! I wonder if Shazam would work... I actually went back to pick up a videogame and was thinking of the video, especially the food court area. Burger king is now some weird gift shop, and yes the "tent" is still there but it looks entirely different otherwise.
I'm back. The expansion is not an anchor it was two more entertainment places, stand up comedy or something. Looks like at least one of them failed due to 2020. The mall is still ~90% occupied, but JCP wing is devoid of people. Lord and Taylor is closed, now a vaccination site. Still havent found the song, the other comment about it is deleted. Popeye's in the food court, but prepare to wait about 20 minutes in line.
Yeah I know you should see the mall today they are making so many stores and there is rumors going around that they're gonna put gold gym in. The mall There should add a Samsung stone
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If they only knew what nightmarish traffic would be around that area now, I think they would have planned the entrances and exits a little differently LOL
Over 90 % of the original stores are gone!
Chuck Schneider yeah that true
I was 7 years old when Crossgates Mall opened and my cousin and i hung out there for years throughout our childhood and teenage years. we always hung out at the Arcade and spent many Saturday afternoons at Crossgates, now my cousin goes there with his kids and i cant believe how big Crossgates is now compared to when it opened 32 years ago.
The movies playing at 7:22 lol, thanks for the memories....
Was a teenager when it was at its peak in the mid-late 80's, great memories there.
It's hanging on better than most malls across the country, hopefully it can reinvent itself successfully.
It’s not and currently a dump
@@oddjobz9858 Death by Amazon
lol that Crossgrates entrance sign never changed xD
mrm64 Yeah I know you should see the mall today they are making so many stores and there is rumors going around that they're gonna put gold gym in. The mall
I moved to Guilderland in 1986 and three first place I went was the arcade at Crossgates. It made my move from Philadelphia more palatable. Thank's for the memory.
Tape world! Looks like it was a cool mall back in the 80s. I miss Caldor.
Eric Eberle IKR? I'm glad that Economics course I mandatorily took in my final semester of high school before I thankfully graduated consisted of having to watch that Walmart documentary so I would find out what led to the demise of those types of businesses!
The bet on VHS and probably enjoyed a few good years. I always picture an Al Bundy type owner who was once happy to sell VHS tapes as a product of the future, but who is now grumpy because sales are drying up and people don’t understand and constantly ask dumb questions.
This was the year I moved to Albany as a kid who was 5 from Puerto Rico.
I loved Albany. I went to school there. And I have been in that mall. Cannot believe it was built in 1984.
Damn, I graduated in 1984...this video confirms how old I feel...lol...thanks for sharing though....nice step back in time!
Cold German Beer
DamJCJCPenney is still there
I miss the days this video was made...
“Vital, bustling, metropolis.”
>population less than 500k
CnugTV They make Albany sound like it's not the total shithole it is.
"That mall is no joke, man" -Tanger Outlet Employee, Long Island
Believe the cinema is now 18 screens and located next to Macy's; never knew it was a Regal 10 when it first opened, thought it was always 12 with the 18 later added on (both would be open simultaneously until about 2004ish) Filene's is now Macy's, Jordan Marsh is now Lord & Taylor, Caldor is now split between Lucky Strike and Best Buy, and JCPenney's is still in the same spot ;)
Amazing how much the mall has changed in 34 years, it's much bigger now and has a sister strip mall Crossgates Commons located on the opposite side of Washington Ave (with Walmart, Home Depot, Planet Fitness, TJMaxx, etc.)
danisidoti84 I remember when there was an upstairs theater. Its now a playground like business.
The filenes in this promo is Burlington Coat Factory and Forever 21, the current macy's was added in the 90s during the expansion when it opened as filenes, and the Crossgates theatres were Hoyt's before regal
This is pretty neat. That food court with the trees looks way better than the one they have no. What the heck, Pyramid?
1980s design really ROCKED
I wish I was around during the 1980's! They had better stores back then.
It’s kinda amazing how JCPenny managed to stay in this mall after all these years.
Remember when Crossgates was half the size it is now?
And didn't have any empty spaces?
It's still fairly filled up.
HOLY SHIT THERE USED TO BE A BURGER KING IN CROSSGATES
+Kyoto Anomaly Yeah, where in the mall was this two story palace of wonder and delicious, affordable sandwiches?
rephrase please?
Yeah don't forget. There was also a KFC to
And in colonie center
That Was Complete In Building But That Is March 4 1984
Wow how retro. Look at the food court! Faux gold poles and chairs. Cute...
Ya the brass poles gave me an instant flashback!!!
7:00 I've never heard anyone in my life call it "Cahl-der"
One of many stores you missed with your age bracket. Your generation is short changed
@@oddjobz9858 .....I didn't miss out on Caldor. I'm 34 years old. It's just the way they are saying it that is wrong. It's Cal-Door, not Cahl-der.
calm down grandpa @@oddjobz9858
THERE USES TO BE A BEN AND JERRY'S?! AHHHHH
There was! And you could order custom-made ice cream cakes from them! Any flavor - all they needed was 24 hours advance.
@@kylenparis WHAAAAAAAT? I LOVE BEN & JERRY'S!
@@miss-astronomikal-mcmxcvii Yep, they used to make ice cream cakes at the mall shop! Much better than the ones you can get thru Friendly's.
Anyway here's the link to find a location that still makes them: www.benjerry.com/scoop-shops/cakes . Looks like the closest one to Albany is in Saratoga.
If you ever travel out to the factory in VT, you can pick up a cake there too. Here's the link for that: www.benjerry.com/waterbury/cakes . I suggest making the pilgrimage to VT either way. The factory, tour, and grounds are worth the drive!
I used to love that mall ,but Clifton county mall was way closer to me, gold mine arcade !!!!
Clifton Park Center Mall ?
B Sm yes CCM mall, I'm from Montreal but my aunt, etc lives in Balaton lake N.Y. and when we visited I would always go to the malls and play arcades there, great memories.
The Clifton mall is so sad now. They crammed a "Chuck E Cheese" like place in the food court, and I swear some kid is going to hit their head on the ceiling from the bouncy house / slide.
It's now called Clifton Park Center. But, I still call it CCM.
Cool Video, looks sort of like the opening credits of WKRP in Cincinnati
I think Penneys and The Limited might be the only stores in this promo that are still there.
The Limited just went out of business. And RIGHT when I signed up for their rewards card, too!
1:44 - "Albany is a bustling metropolis (filled with Soviet style buildings)."
Listening to the amount of research that went into building this mall. He mentioned a annual 134 million dollar sales outflow before the building plans were drafted? Shopping malls were a big deal for economic development and this one was expected to bring in over 200 million its first year of opening. Up till now I always took shopping malls for granted now it's all One Stop Shopping at big box store retailers. Now days all that money spent doesn't stay within the community. Shopping malls are fading out and need to come back.
I was 10 in 1984. I have memory of it's construction.
JC Penney is the only original store there now
Yup
@@darkman1834 YUP INDEED. I have been in that mall before, so I definitely agree.
Ah! Ormond, Filene’s, Jordan Marsh - some the stores I wanted to shop at as a teen but couldn’t because I didn’t have enough money from my part-time job at Edwards Food Warehouse.
Cold German Beer there still do it
Man the left section looked so different and weird without that big expansion.
It’s very sad that all the stores in the video does not exist anymore but the interest and the highway still look the same
Jcpenny has been there longer than Macy’s???
Beats the Wilton mall. And the Aviation mall for that matter.
Malls destroyed America. Now America is destroying malls by not going to them anymore. LOL. When I went to college at SUNYA, the center of campus to the mall was only 1.2 miles away. I think I am the only one that dared walk there. It was dangerous. There were insufficient sidewalks. It was noisy. This promo shows why with its ample overhead shots: parking! highways! cars! off-ramps!
How you place a mall THAT close to campus that thousands of potential customers can't walk or bike to in 20 minutes to (less if you were on two of the quads) is just incredibly stupid planning.
I've seen that bad planning before. And it's come back to bite places in the ass.
Simple CDTA Busses
Streetfilms it could be that Crossgates was not designed to cater to UAlbany students.
Cold German Beer it’s not that bad the city of albany has a decent bus system But if it’s not along the main drag you should bike it but in the winter you 100 percent need a car
The suburban shopping mall was a colossal mistake. Rather than keeping downtown districts vibrant and attractive, our wasteful car centric stupidity encouraged the development of these architecturally drab antiseptic shopping malls with giant asphalt deserts surrounding them. I am so glad that these suburban monstrosities are dying a slow painful death thanks to internet shopping and a trend towards urban neighborhood retailing. Whether or not downtown cores can revive as retail hubs remains to be seen.
Pretty sure all of those national and regional chain stores shown here are gone now with the exception of JC Penney which is on life support.
Everything looks so kept up and new it’s sad how crummy the cap region has become
2:50 This video suggests that the first J.C.Penney store near Albany was built in Crossgates Mall. I doubt that.
Also I doubt lots of Albany people went to Boston for Filene's and Jordan Marsh. .. maybe a few
shesnailie latham was good mail to go to
I want to say that Latham Circle had a Penney's long before Crossgates even broke ground.
Bring Filene's Basement back!!! The city looked so vibrant and fresh then. We must do better. What is this mayor and the governor doing?!?!?
You know what destroyed Downtown Albany's Vibrancy? It was the exact things that you saw in the video that did the job. Unlike most of upstate new york, the Capital Region weathered manufacturing decline quite well. However, all those off-ramps, highways, malls, and excessive amount of cars (the trend of sub urbanization starting in the 50s) was what caused the decline of downtown Albany. As time passed, more and more residents just fled the city into the suburbs and commuted into it for work. This excessive amount of flight and sprawl of traffic and living space not only destroyed the cities' tax revenue, but also stretched county resources thin.
The South Mall aka Empire State Plaza not only started Albany's decline but makes it difficult for a comeback. The arterial makes the waterfront un-usabe and the complex has separated neighborhoods and makes walking downtown difficult. As far as tax revenue, more than 50 percent of property is exempt because it is mostly owned by the State (eminent domain), or religious organizations. And yes, the 9-5 commuters stretch city resources.
My dad grew up in Albany in the 50s/60s. He fled north to the suburbs in the 70s because of crime back then.
This video keeps mentioning the "over one million people" in Albany.... The city currently has a population of 90,000 and I think Albany County itself is around 250,000. Was there that many more people in 1984 or are they referencing ALL the areas that are within 30 miles or so of Crossgates?
Albany County is over 300K. It must be they're including the surrounding areas, schenectady, Rennsalear, etc.
Crossgates is filthy and pretty much ghetto now. The Rats that were found in the food court was a nice touch too.
Steve P that why I stop going there
Steve P, no it’s not. It’s a very nice state of the art mall, with plenty of shops. What are you talking about?
This was basically the mall that killed Clifton Country Mall/Clifton Park Center and other area malls around Albany, it’s sad.
simply great
I will be going to this mall Monday for a meeting lol
+Deirdre Capellaro How'd it go?
3:29 I-90 and I-87 cross, joined by a tollgate. *! Name the mall Crossgates.
What is the building at :34 seconds? I can't figure out where/what that is.
I don't recognize it either; maybe it's in Schenectady.
@@franksmith7071 I figured it out. You're correct. St John the Evangelist Church in Schenectady. What a building!
0:34 Just to take another look. 😌😁
Lmao it doesn't get any more 80's than at 5:29 I'm crying 😹
A place everyone seems to want to leave
So cool!
They mispronounced Caldor
Watching this was truly like going back to high school. I worked at that mall opening day directing traffic! Why? Because my employer Caldor didn’t open on opening day. Then I worked at Au Bon Pain in fall of 1984.
Ho. Ly. Crap. First of all what is the song in the intro? Secondly, I only found this because I was still on youtube video search by accident, but was actually looking for news. I was there today. Lord and Taylor is open in the old Macy's building. It's blindingly white in there and I felt underdressed. All of the vacant spots are being taken by large entertainment places similar to Dave and Busters. But what struck me the most was the hallway to nowhere was walled off and said coming soon. So i drove past on the way out and it looks like a new anchor is going in! This hallway was part of the expansion so I can't reference the point in this video. It would be just west of Caldor lol. Nice shots of Colonie Center and Mohawk Mall and of course the inside of Crossgates. I can barely recognize the locations. Anyway, I can't find what the Anchor under construction will be. Any ideas?
Still gives me a place to start, thanks! I wonder if Shazam would work... I actually went back to pick up a videogame and was thinking of the video, especially the food court area. Burger king is now some weird gift shop, and yes the "tent" is still there but it looks entirely different otherwise.
I don't see any anchor in the mall.
I'm back. The expansion is not an anchor it was two more entertainment places, stand up comedy or something. Looks like at least one of them failed due to 2020. The mall is still ~90% occupied, but JCP wing is devoid of people. Lord and Taylor is closed, now a vaccination site. Still havent found the song, the other comment about it is deleted. Popeye's in the food court, but prepare to wait about 20 minutes in line.
We live in Albany
RIP Mohawk Mall
In gorgeous 240p!
My Spanish teacher told me that Crossgates was supposed to be bigger than the Mall of America, does anybody know if that is true or not?
***** how has it not worked out?
yes but a church nearby wouldnt sell its land whe. pyramid offered them over 1 million dollars.
Shane Martim it not true
Yeah I know you should see the mall today they are making so many stores and there is rumors going around that they're gonna put gold gym in. The mall There should add a Samsung stone
What store took over the Caldor?
We now all know that the Mall and 787 were poorly planned.
What is the music called? 2:00 to 3:20
Probably just generic library music.
Why the hell is this age restricted??
Easier to age-restrict all our videos than to deal with RUclips's stupid 'child-friendly' rules that'd eliminate comments...
@@shesnailie I see
So funny now.
Hahahahahaaaaa lol
Oh brother.
Stop talking shit about the crossgates mall. I most likely know that place better than anyone who left a comment.
King Boston hands down latham mall was the best mall to go to
@corey the nomadic maintenance guy why do you think
corey Babcock Yeah because the government and So many people the mayor they wanted the ball to be dead and they had the money to make it a life again
It’s 2022 and Albany is still mediocre, at best.
Dump now