Is It a Dead Mall? The Meriden Mall in Meriden, Connecticut. Full Walkthrough! November 2022.
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- Опубликовано: 15 ноя 2022
- Join me as I take a look at the Meriden Mall in Meriden, Connecticut. Is it a dead mall? If it's not, it's sure close.
This video was filmed in November 2022 on a Sunday around 3:00pm.
If you liked this video, please give me a thumbs up, leave a comment and subscribe to my channel! Thanks!
Source of information:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meriden...
malls.fandom.com/wiki/Westfie...
#deadmall #deadmalls #mall #connecticut #meriden #shoppingmall #shoppingmalls #retail
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Remember my father helped building this we used to visit and he told us stories of building the dome ceilings. He also was on the pool at Orville Platt high school it’s nice to see his work live on. It has changed so much since I lived in Meriden, CT grew up visiting and walking to this mall.
There is a library in a mall. Yep, Meriden Public Library has occupied its temporary space nearby the play area. The reason behind this is because the actual library in the center of town is undergoing renovations for newer modern space. I believe that library should reopen in its place by next year. I've been to both of those places combined.
In addition, those decorations hanging atop of skylight is only there throughout Christmastime when those decorations are set up at that very mall seasonally.
P.S. I was at the actual library several years ago prior to its renovation plus I was at this mall twice within the last six years.
Thanks for the info! The last time I was at this mall before my video was probably in 1994 or 1995. I think that's before that wing of the mall was even built. Thanks for watching!
@@fleabittenadventures You're welcome
Been in Meriden my whole life 35 years and out of all the towns in ct Meriden is one of the few that had gotten better
New renovated library has just opened up!
I remember when Meriden had a second mall in the 1970s in the downtown area. That mall was dead the day it opened. The only store I remember in that mall was a mens suit store named Anderson-Little and it also had a small movie theater.
Interesting. I didn't know that. Too bad no one was taking videos of malls back in the 70's and earlier. Thanks for watching!
And a Chinese restaurant. And a grocery store. People used to put soap in the fountain inside, it would constantly be filled with bubbles.
It's changed so much since I was a kid...looks like a ghost town compared to how it was
Yeah, it's much less crowded than when I went in the 90's. However, it's still pretty busy compared to the Enfield Square Mall and Crystal Mall. Thanks for watching!
@@fleabittenadventures yea it’s really sad. In the 90’s that was my Friday night hangout. Timeout arcade and a ton of other stores, full food court, crowds of people and endless stores. Sad man
@@fleabittenadventuresPeople use the Crystal mall for laps/exercise and to grab a bite to eat.
Very well done video! Great warm place to walk daily!!
Thank you very much!
All your facts were spot on. However the story behind the "Meriden Square" down fall actually goes back to 1998. That's the year Lord and Taylor ruined the mall, the construction started just before Christmas that year. In total three quarters of the parking was blocked off up all around the mall. The were countless kiosk operator's that went under that year, One restaurant had it out side door blocked by the construction of the parking garage cutting it's sales to almost nothing. Sales for the whole mall dived that year by fifty percent. I was there that year. The construction ruined the traffic that year and it never recovered Lord and Taylor was a poor fit demographically. But you missed the best part of the mall the employee parking lot off of Kensington Avenue that is too far away from the mall to walk back and forth so employees have to take a shuttle bus which adds twenty minutes of commute each day. Not to mention the lot is not paved or well lit. One time it ruined a tire on my car and and cost me over hundred dollars out of pocket. So in the case of the now “Meriden Mall” which took it's name from a long defunct mall by the center of town near the police station. The original Meriden mall ended in a slow drug dealer infested violent death. There is now beautiful park over most of the that sight of the original Meriden mall by the newly rebuilt train station. I find really dumb that the owners of the “Meriden Square” would rename it's mall after the first dead mall that ever existed.
This lot has not been used for that purpose in over 10 years. It was also just sold and something’s being built on it.
@@davidroy563 Well it was back in 1998 when I last bothered thinking working at that mall, let alone shop at it. I drive by it all the time and think what waste of space. It's time they tear it down and build another park, for the community to enjoy.
I remember it as the Meriden Square Mall also.
Another nice video!
I'm glad you liked it! Thanks for watching!
I live 5 minutes from the mall. 7 years ago I was stricken with a rare brain disease. I’ve been home bound since. It was great seeing things now from what is was 6 yrs ago. Thanks, this is a great idea. Now I can look at others I’ve been to.
Have you ever done online research on treating brain disease by typing, Treating Brain Disease With Diet And Exercise, in the search box of Google and in the search box of RUclips?
Sears sign is still up in the Poughkeepsie Galleria Mall too. Grat videos. Didn't know about a lot of the malls you have reviewed.
Just found you, have to say your videos on these malls are VERY good. Overall walk throughs, history, outside, very well done. I am now suscribed.
I'm glad you like them! Thanks for watching and subscribing!
The mall has really changed since it opened. It certainly doesn't have the variety of stores that it had beck in the 70's and 80's. The Meriden Public Library in the mall is a branch. The main library was just remodeled. I miss Hickory Farms, Lectors, Chess King, East West Gift Shop, orange Julius, and G. Fox among others.
It's hard to go to this mall because there are so many happy memories from bringing my kids here when they were little, and we're sad to see the mall dying. My son had "Heelies," those sneakers with wheels in them (maybe they were wheelies?), and he used to wheelie all over the place (sometimes getting yelled at by security guards, heh). We love the Pretzeltime there. I'll be going there soon to do our annual donation from the Christmas trees, where they hang tags listing items wanted by people in shelters That's a family tradition. I saw they're going to open a nightclub there or something? An owner of the defunct GameStop told us that the owners jacked up the rent prices hoping to drive everyone out so they could tear it all down and put up apartments. Thanks for visiting this mall!
I'm glad you liked the video! I haven't been to this mall too many times, but I did go once or twice back in the 1990's and I still remember getting yelled at by the guy at Radio Shack for some silly reason. Good times. Thanks for watching!
The library is getting remodeled so they moved here for the time being
Oh ok, that makes sense. It still feels weird to have a library in a mall though. Thanks for watching!
It used to be called the Meriden Square when it was just a rectangular building back in the 70's. That first closed entrance you drove past was the entrance for Best Buy.
sears and the nails spot used to be a software etc... i used work there and quiznos in the food center. Thanks for sharing this.
Thanks for the video. Seeing this mall decline has been so sad. I started going when I was a teenager and brought my kids there all the time. They are all in their twenties now. There is a very good massage place that I go to there and occasionally Boscovs. However, I now have to go all the way to the West Farms mall in Farmington to really shop. Now there is no good shopping in Central CT. I hope somehow malls will regain their popularity. I had a lot of enjoyable times there with my kids.
I skipped school the first day G.Fox opened, first store to open in the "Square" (proper name). They gave everyone showing up a small chrysanthemum for coming. It grew for 20 years at my mom's house. I haven't been to that mall in 15 years.
I used to work at this mall back in its prime 1998-2000 in Highschool junior and senior yrs. I Started at the World of Science. Next to Mrs. Fields Cookies. Then to Naturalizer Ladies Shoe Store for 1 day! LOL. Finally The GAP. Its definitely hard to see the Friday, Saturday night hangout look so empty and really a sad shame! Nothing is forever, I guess?!?!
You are correct about where the Sears used to be. I always remember to the Orange Julius in the food court. Never see them anymore.
I've never been to an Orange Julius. Probably because I almost never see them anymore either.
I like that it has the colored tile vs the shiny white with gold bits.
You are right there was a Sears in Meriden Mall that they close in 2019
Hearing you say Filenes just made me feel so old! 😅lol😂
Everything makes me feel old, so I know what you mean. Thanks for watching!
New subscriber to your channel, I really love your videos.
I appreciate it! Thanks for watching and subscribing!
Loved the video! New subscriber!
I'm glad you liked it! Thanks for watching and subscribing!
Will you be making a video for Waterbury’s Brass Mill Mall ?? That one’s pretty dead too now
Yup, I filmed it last weekend, but the video quality came out poorly. I might try to go back out sometime this week. Hopefully I can avoid security.
All your facts Were spot on. However the story behind the "Meriden Square
I haven't been here in years. surprised to see it so alive. There is a shortage of both escalator\elevator parts and technicians to repair them.
That's what I figured about the escalators. It's funny that you say it looks alive. I thought it did too, but some others have said it looks dead. I've come to the conclusion that no one agrees on what "alive" and "dead" looks like. Thanks for watching!
Remember when the moving stair replaced the moving ramps in the middle. Also remember when they first expanded with the Sears wing. Sad what it has become. Loved going to KayBee Toys as a kid.
I used to go to this mall a ton as a kid, now it’s just too sad to even go there. Not to mention the huge amount of empty store fronts. I had a friend tell me the mall was closing but I guess that isn’t the case
pretty sure it got a new owner. where it was the "westfield meriden mall" is now just the "meriden mall"
awesome video :D i've been to this mall countless times growing up, and i even worked at the pretzelmaker for a bit a few years ago (2018-2019, the mall was faring a bit better then, until, you know :P), cool to see it more or less still hanging on :D and, it's also really cool that you do a lot of other ct stuff, too :3 i remember, a long time ago, there used to be a mcdonald's in the food court, but more recently; there was a hot dog place called frankie's, there was the obligatory mall pizza place, there was a mexican place, and a subway, too :D i think these all closed within the past couple of years though, because they still existed when i worked there. funny thing is, i remember the sears, but i don't remember ever shopping there 😅, we just used it as another entrance to the mall (as probably a lot of people did :P). and i used to go to the cajun cafe (and charley's) in the food court all the time, easily my favorite mall restaurant :D (and now, i kind of want to go back, because i haven't been in a while, and it's pretty good :P :D)
I'm glad you liked the video because I really enjoy making these mall videos. My main memory of the Meriden Mall is from about 1994 when I got kicked out of Radio Shack because one of the store employees thought I was "hacking" their computers. I was not. I was just playing around in DOS. That was fun! Thanks for watching!
i fricking love the pretzels at the mall man
“She’s on the other side of the mall” appears in almost every mall video!
Yes. I think I''ve corrected that for my more recent mall videos. A lot of these malls blast copyrighted music in the background. If RUclips catches the copyrighted music, they demonitize my video and I don't get paid anything for it. Therefore, I have been replacing some of the background sound to avoid the copyright problems.
I visited the Meriden Mall yesterday. Dick’s is now closed; I think they closed last month. Of the places in the Food Court, two remain open - the Cajun and the Philly Cheese place (Charlie’s?) I used to go to the Food Court to grab a couple of pizza slices. But no more. I think Eblens and Forever 21 are gone too. In fact, it appears that about two-thirds of the stores at the mall have closed.
I have to say yes, Spencer's is still like that, with the adult section in the back. I think the last time I went into a location was a couple of years ago.
OK. I haven't been in one probably since the early 2000's at the latest. I remember as a kid always feeling uncomfortable when I went in there with my parents. Thanks for watching!
There may be a lot of people in there but I am also seeing a lot of empty store fronts. I buy my calendars after Christmas to get half off. If you can wait until Feb, they are usually 70% off
The former Macy's is currently being renovated to be a Yale/New Haven Medical Center in the future. Hopefully that will bring in more foot traffic to the Mall. The Boscov's, Dick's & TJ Max and the food court bring in most of the people. I question if Dick's is the next to leave because they have stores in North Haven and Newington. There is a video of the Mall on RUclips from a few years ago before COVID with the three anchor store open. Since the new owners bought the Mall I hardly see any security walking around. Thanks for the video.
I'm glad you liked the video. I'm not sure if a hospital moving into a mall is a good thing. That kind of feels like a sign that the mall is dying, but I guess any new tenant is a good thing. Thanks for watching
I was just here on Wednesday! I was here early in the morning before most of the mall was open, around 9:30, so the only store open was TJ Maxx. It felt very eerie. The outside of the mall looks like it's from a dystopian apocalyptic movie- black mold growing all over the outside of the parking garage and overgrown weeds everywhere, completely empty parking lots
Yes, empty malls can be very creepy, but I kind of like creepy. Thanks for watching!
they wanna build a dinner/theater hall there too lol also was just there like 4 days ago and they closed JOURNEYS! one of the three trifectas of mall stores! (other two being hot topic and spencers) my mall is down bad
It used to be an old navy were the Meriden library is now. This mall was the best when I was younger but to think that now at 35 it’s so different is sad.
A escalator not running is not a sign of a dead mall. It can be anything from a kid deciding to screw around with the escalator (jumping on it or pushing the off button) to the escalator stopped on it own. When i worked in malls as security we spent a better portion of patrols turning escalators back or blocking them off if they would not turn on. In the shot you showed since there are barricades up and it is a Sunday so escalator repair service would nt be on during the weekend.
I don't know. I think it may be a sign of a dying mall or a mall in trouble. Also, it seems like there are way too many escalators out of service at too many malls for them all to be down due to someone messing with them. Just my opinion though. Thanks for watching.
The Elevator was originally a Schindler Westinghouse RT but modded by Otis in 2012.
Interesting. I didn't know that. Thanks for watching!
I go to that mall all the time
One of the most popular stores there was on the first floor, Child World toy store.
I can imagine. I remember Child World from back in the early 80's. I remember buying a die cast train model at one when I was a little kid. Good times.
More closed since you visited. It’s a dead mall. I remember 10 years back and it was great place. Sears, Macy, Best Buy, and all the stores were full. I miss this mall from back in the days.
2 things.
1. Yes Spencers still sells adult novelties.
2. Ruby Tuesday is OPEN!
Ruby Tuesday is still open my sister went there last night
There would be more people if they didn't keep closing the stores. Now everyone has to go to westfarms and it's like a going to Walmart at Christmas every time. I can't go to westfarms because I literally get panic attacks.
I do housekeeping there and from what I know they arent closing down anytime soon due to the fact that some store are opening including some type hospital. I could be wrong.
Oh, interesting. It definitely didn't feel like that mall was doing well though. It may linger on as a zombie mall for years, like Enfield Square Mall. Thanks for watching!
Now is even worst. Eblens & Champs are gone. The last survivor out all the store they've now, is (FYE). it's been there since the early '90s as far as ican remember.
Nice video! Some FYI: Yale - New Haven Hospital purchased the Macy's building and is putting in out-patient doctor's offices there, and Ruby Tuesday is still open for business. The sign has since been repaired.
I was there Summer of 2022. Wasn't too bad, I thought the Food Court needed some work though. The pet store in that Mall wasn't too good, the people who work there weren't too nice.
Back in the late '80s throu the mid-'00s used to be the spot. Sad to see this.
How in the world do they sell enough merchandise to even keep the lights on . So sad . What a waste. . I remember when it first opened . It was a big nail in the coffin for downtown Meriden. Compared to Middletown which never had a mall ,Middletown has a very robust downtown. Now Meriden has a very poor downtown and a very underutilized Mall . Two huge extremely expensive dilemmas to cope with. Good luck .
Hello, I noticed in you reflection entering the mall you weren't carrying your camera. Is it slung around your neck and hidden for stealth? Have a great 2023!
I use a Gopro. It's attached to my chest with a magnetic mount. It's not hidden, but a lot of people don't notice it. Thanks for watching!
It makes me so sad seeing it slowly go away
It sure is. Hopefully they can turn it around somehow. Thanks for watching!
I remember this mall had a inclining walk ramp instead of escalators.
Really? When was that? I don't think I have seen any inclining walk rams in decades. Thanks for watching!
@@fleabittenadventures in was in the 1970s.
@@jims5198 Thanks for the info!
Hope you don't mind me asking, but why did you decide to start this channel, and have you always done mall walk throughs?
Well, I technically started the channel in 2018 just for the fun of it, but I didn't start really posting consistently until late 2020, because it was something to do during lockdown. I didn't start doing mall walkthroughs like this until sometime in 2022, except for a few visits to the Enfield Square Mall. Thanks for asking!
I was there just last Sunday and trust me it was pretty dead.
Yeah, I would say its on my list of malls most likely to close in the near future. Thanks for watching!
I don't shop at H&M either because I heard that the clothes there are so expensive and for only the Rich 🤑🤑 people
I swear that in every one of your mall videos I hear someone in the background say "the center of the mall".
Yes. I have to replace the background audio to avoid copyright claims due to the music playing in the mall. I'm trying to edit the background audio now to remove things like that. Thanks for watching so closely though!
The Fresno California malls they're making them into homeless shelters upstairs and they're still having the mall downstairs imagine living there
Wow. I've never heard of anything like that before. I'm not sure if there is as big a homeless population in Connecticut as there is in California, but I could be wrong. Thanks for watching.
All Spencer’s are full of them the adult toys
Meriden mall is just about dead. On the day you filmed this, while there were people there, it was less than 10% of what would have been there 7 or 8 years ago.
Or you could be a real cheapskate like me and get a free calendar from the local chemist..
...or from your church (ours does that) or insurance company (our local agent does that - State Farm)...and many other random sources for free mini calendars.
True, but those calendars are usually pretty generic. Thanks for watching!
Free calendar at the Chinese take out 🤙
Is it a dead mall? Yes it very much is. Here in meriden we have a terrible mall and like 10 elementary schools. Move here
I've seen a lot worse, but yes, the consensus seems to be that it is dead. Thanks for watching!
I agree with your opinion that it’s a dying mall. As there are stores there that are still open, it isn’t dead. At the rate it’s going, it may be dead in a few years.
@outbackigloo6489 everything is closing, best buy, now dicks, all that's really left holding it up by a thread is boscovs. Very soon they will probbaly close off part of the mall. Most of the food court is gone as well
Fun fact: since that public library is in the mall, you can legally film in the mall itself.
dead, and dangerous if youre on foot there.
I was there yesterday. I’d say it’s neither dead nor dangerous, as enough places are open that there are people there. But it is a dying mall. I’d say about two-thirds of the stores there are closed.
They took out all the stores that sold urban clothing the mall owner is prejudice they where taking out stores that black ppl shop in it could of came back if they put more urban clothing stores in their put that library out add a hair store add more restaurant ot can make a come back but they prejudice and wanted to get rid of minority shoppers wich caused them their down fall
That's ridiculous. Kings' owner left without telling anyone. Eblens went out of business. Finish Line is still there. Champs is still there. And they just added a braiding spot. Unjustly accusing people of prejudice only spreads it.
Connecticut number one state in regulations. Number one in cost of kilowatt hrs, top ten in insurance costs. The Democrats just raised the capital gains tax. The whole state is dying, courtesy of the Democrats and the people who vote for them.
They should close that shit and put homeless people there