The Kingston Collection Mall: Looks Dead to Me! Kingston, Massachusetts!
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- Опубликовано: 21 ноя 2023
- Join me as I take a look at the Kingston Collection Mall, formerly the Independence Mall, in Kingston, Massachusetts. Is it a dead mall? I think so! Let me know what you think in the comments!
This video was filmed in November 2023 on a Sunday around 1:00pm.
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/Kingsto...
www.malls.com/us/malls/indepe...
bestattractions.org/usa/massa...
www.wickedlocal.com/story/kin...
foursquare.com/v/sears/4bba19...
• Independence Mall
www.patriotledger.com/story/b...
#deadmall #deadmalls #mall #massachusetts #shoppingmall #shoppingmalls #retail #kingston #nostalgia #malls
I can help you with many of the occupancies and where they were, in the year 2000. I am the author of "The BEST Little Reference Map of Kingston." (C) 2000. It's more of a map book than a historical reference. I used to have a list of all of the retail occupants there. I used to work for the Kingston Fire Dept. where we had such a list that I helped to maintain for a while.
You are right about Filene's (Macy's), and Hoyts Cinema's locations. Next to the Cenema used to be a Jo-Ann Fabrics and Crafts. As you walked down the mall, the first large occupancy on the Left was Lynn's Furniture (Before that, it was Lechmere). Near the center of the Mall on the right, was J.C.Penny (Best Buy). The location of the J.C. Penny entrance you can still tell by the floor tiles, at 11:15 into your video. That hallway was never there. Near the entr. to J.C. Penny was Belden Jewelers, so you were right that that empty space was a Jewelry store. To the left, where Target is now, used to be Bradlees-(same spot). Just after that, on the left, was a Radio Shack.
There were many well-known stores in that Mall. Too many to mention. Many kiosks used to line those hallways too! There was always nothing in the Center of that Mall. It was meant to be open space. It was used for seasonal entertainment at times.
That mall went through several transitions. As retailers closed or left that mall, we saw the mall switch to more of an entertainment space. Maybe we'll see another transition to be used for housing, or medical ?
I haven't been in that mall in some time. Thanks for the tour!
This mall used to be so hoppin. It was THE place to be when I was a teen. Lots of cool stores and the food court had an abundance of selections. Nowadays I only go to the Target. Since most stores are around the anchors, most people don't walk the mostly empty corridors anymore. Also the super walmart area down the street stole a LOT of business.
The middle used to be where you'd meet with Santa or the Easter Bunny, but years ago they moved down to the Macy's wing.
Downstairs is where they store the mall decor. I know because sometimes you can see the stuff through the grates.
The Fit factory used to be a Borders Bookstore, and the Trampoline park was an Old Navy. Also to the left of Sears used to be a Payless, and to the right was a cat adoption place.
It’s so surreal seeing my childhood mall covered by you. It really was the shopping epicenter back then. What I’ve heard is that shops began leaving or moving to the nearby Colony Place since rent was too high in the mall.
11:06 That was another anchor store at one point. After it closed it became a bounce house place called "Pump N' Jump" (I would go all the time as a kid) I remember there used to be a fountain in front of it. It was demolished a couple of years ago to make that new hallway entrance. The Pump N' Jump moved into the former Best Buy until they closed.
Pretty sure it was Bob’s Stores back in the day.
My earliest memories of Independence Mall they had a Taco Bell in the food court, and a really great arcade called Cyberstation, where one of the most popular games was Dance Dance Revolution. There was a Best Buy which later moved to Colony Place which basically replaced Kingston Collection as the Plymouth area’s big commerce center. Way at the far end of the mall was a Sears.
There was also a great place to get Candy and Soda called Hennessey News.
They actually brought some cool stuff into the mall in the 2010s. Including an Irish Pub called Waxy’s (in the space across from the Food Court to the left), and an Indoor Electric Go-Kart Track called K1 Speed, which occupied the space where Cyberstation was. Unfortunately neither succeeded.
Across from SkyZone used to be Border’s Book Store which is now FJ Fitness.
I think when I knew it was over for the Kingston Collection was during COVID when FujiChen closed. They were resilient!
Very scary. This was THE mall when I was a kid. Booming shops, anchor stores, food court and movies. Too bad.
at 10:41 there used to be a reflective glass sculpture hanging it was like multiple panes of glass stringed together
Watching this makes me want to cry. I remember this being the place to be in the late 90's and early 2000's as a teen on the weekends. When I go now I feel creeped out and like it is a hollow imitation of what used to be, with only the echoes of the past remaining.
This mall is having the same fate as the Silver City Galleria. Macy's and Target are the only anchor stores which is making this mall basically near dead. It's not like the Walpole Mall. I saw some photos of that mall on the Internet when it was at it's peak and the Walpole Mall is super dead.
I didn't see Walpole Mall listed as a mall in MA before you mentioned it. I'll have to check it out someday. Thanks.
@@fleabittenadventuresthat place used to be so rad
Same contracters designed Taunton and Kingston malls
Used to be so rad Now so sad
I live literally 5 minutes away from this mall and have been going there since the early '90s. So many fond memories when it was at its peak and fully crowded. I remember meeting Steven Tyler of Aerosmith at Cyberstation and getting his autograph! I still have it in my room. And in high school I remember going through Jo Ann Fabrics to sneak into the theater. And the McDonald's at the food cout was always packed. My mom and my aunt would take me to Brigham's for lunch and get ice cream. I've lost count of the number of times I went to KB Toys and Electronics Boutique. Nowadays I just go there to see a movie from time to time, and maybe go to the Target. It's really sad what it's been reduced to. RIP Independence Mall.
I think this falls into the it wished it was closed mall.
I'll drink to that
Yeah, it doesn't look good.
No it Doesnt.
I'll never understand why indoor malls are dying, they're so much better than the new outdoor malls. You can walk around and browse at indoor malls without having to worry about the weather.
Was gonna go there on Black Friday out of curiosity. I'm about 30 minutes away in Brockton. You ever go to Solomon Pond Mall in Marlboro, MA or the Auburn Mall in Auburn, MA? Even the Emerald Square Mall in Attleboro, MA is pretty dead nowadays! You ever go to the Hanover Mall or Silver City Mall before they closed? They were in Hanover and Taunton, MA respectively.
Yes, I've been to Solomon Pond, Auburn Mall and Emerald Square. I've got videos of each. I didn't start doing these videos until last years, so I missed out on Silver City and Hanover Mall. Thanks for watching!
So the race track used to be the arcade called “Cyberstation” and Jo Ann Fabrics was tucked in the corner between the theater and the arcade and then the first place in the food court after the arcade was McDonald’s.
This is my local mall! It was so much better many years ago. My uncle actually owned a couple of businesses in the mall.
The food court area was always dark for some reason.
I don't remember there ever being a Leechmere or a Bradlees store. Maybe they were there briefly.
This was the only place to really hangout in the 90's as a teen. Used to be super busy...thanks Amazon for killing Malls
Despite the sign having the burnt out letters, the movie theater still does pretty well, especially last year during the barbie/oppenheimer release week, that was the busiest i had seen that mall in years. Otherwise it is definitely depressing seeing it in its current state, having lived near it my whole life. I wish it was the SIMON management group that bought it instead of this current other one, as the cape cod and braintree malls are managed by them and absolutely floursihing in comparison
I remember (adjacent town grad Class of 2005) They had a bunch of shiny vertical light deflectors set up in a swooping curvy formation in the pointed center 10:37
Those pyramid skylights used to have hanging prisms dangling from them. This mall had a brief comeback in the late 2000's But the great recession really killed it. It used to have a Linens N Things, Best Buy, Borders Books among others. It was never a great looking mall though. It's so generic looking and always has been.
Yeah and the hanging prism things looked just like swastikas 😅
Have indoor racetracks ever thrived in malls? They all seem to be in & out within a few years in any mall I've known them to be in.
Not that I know of. My guess is that they're too expensive for most people.
Thank you for the video!
You're welcome! Thanks for watching!
I saw that piece of candy, but I think it may have been there when I got there. I wasn't sure, so I left it.
I worked at Pearle Vision in Independence Mall back in ‘94-‘96, and remember Filene’s & Filene’s Basement. Probably just the video, but I’m thinking that it looked backward when you filmed it because unless it moved, the entrance to parking was on the right as you left Pearle. Also, at that time, there was a Chili’s across from it. I remember standing in there and watching the results of the OJ trial. So sorry to see it dying. It was such a busy place back then!
Used to work at Spencer’s there back in 09. The mall was packed every Friday and Saturday night. Now there’s nothing
Have u been to Patrick Henry mall in Newport News va? In there yesterday and it was plenty live
Not yet
I like how you always buy candy from the machines!
As long as I remember to bring change and the mall has candy machines
Ah what picture? I think you forgot to add it
Doh!
Used to go to Filenes Basement for deals. Used to shop the Toys R Us across from the mall for my kid too, they had everything.
Now you can go to square one mall again ples remember and first
Someday
1:07 K1 actually used to be in Setting The Scene. I went there a few times as a kid.
Really? The picture I have of K1 shows it inside one of the locations with the red arch.
@@fleabittenadventures Yes. It still had the red arch in the video.
Yes, Bradless was demolished and Target was built on the same site. I used to have a photo of all the rubble, it was pretty shocking, like a bomb went off there. I worked at the mall in 1995-1996 and 1998-1999 during the Christmas season at the old KB Toys.. On a Sunday night, the food court was so packed you could barely walk through it. Also that whole corridor where the Newbury Comics is now was packed with people. Food court had some good restaurants, including a Surf 'n Turf that gave you a huge plate of steak strips and fried clam strips for $5.99.
Live near the area. I remember when i was a kid. It was an absolute blast. Still do walk throughs from time to time, actually. Trust me, it was never this dead, lol.
PINZ has its own entrance so that may have been the Leachmere(?) store. In the middle there used to be this big almost rainbow crystal chandelier! In my memory the Sky Zone used to be Old Navy. The gym right across from it was Borders! Payless was to the right of Sears.
I remember the chandelier! Do you remember the fountain?
Thanks for the info!
Too bad there really aren't any photos of this mall from back in the 80's or 90's that I could find online. I would love to see the fountain and chandellier!
@@fleabittenadventures I actually have some pictures
Hey, they have a Newbury Comics and a Spencer's, at least!
True. If I lived nearby I would probably go to the mall just for those stores. If you take away the entertainment businesses though, there's not much else left there.
13:24 That was a Kay Jewelers. After they closed, one of my Uncle's stores was in there. He sold vitamins and all kinds of workout supplies. He ended up closing it down because people kept on stealing from the store and running off.
Sorry to hear this. I always wondered about shoplifting theft loss at mall stores like this. Seems like it would be hard to protect against at the smaller inline non-anchor stores.
@@ronhoover5516 Don't be sorry. I hate that prick 😂
If you want to go to a better mall south of Boston, you should visit the South Shore Plaza in Braintree.
Only reason that place is open is the movies, Target, the trampoline park and the apartment building they build where the preexisting sears was
Bradlees was located in the New Target
What baffles me is the number of shoppers compared to the number of open stores. It's like there's no place to shop but all these people are NPCs who don't know what to do with themselves. Extremely odd. With that kind of foot traffic I'd think I'd want to have a store in there, depending on the rent.
I think there were a lot of people in the entertainment businesses like Pinz and Billie Beez, etc. That's my guess.
Hahaha so grumpy when he sees kids having fun
Negative Nelly he should call the channel lol
ITS STILL THE INDEPENDENCE MALL TO ME GODDAMNIT
Shhh! Its not a 'mall', it wishes to be addressed as a 'collection'!😂
I've seen that type a thing a lot at dead and dying malls.
I memba only the cool kidz would use the corner back door @34:52. It's also where the fights would go down..
The reda archway is where a huge book store was
The book store was at the other end where the gym is now. The red archway by the food court was an arcade.
I stopped here today to use the bathroom after a long drive. Absolutely a dead mall
Think skyzone use to be an Old Navy
I live with in a couple miles of the mall.
It was booming when it opened, but online shopping took its toll
Then it was sold and now it's an overpriced playground/ arcade.
Was there the first day that mall opened in 1989
Has it changed much since then?
Worked there back in 1995 and even back then the place looked like it was on borrowed time.
We all know being from Kingston that you go into the movie side first
This mall looks so sad, I wouldn’t be able to handle it.
I live here this mall used to be awesome
My friend in high school got busted for shoplifting from that target. We graduated in '08 so it's before then lol
I LITERALLY got confused and thought it was in Kingston, New York
EDIT: Let me guess what is the main draw to this Mall: Target
Even with the massive skylights it feels pretty dark in there. Can’t imagine what it’s like at night. And yeah, this is absolutely dead.
As for the arcade. I’d be curious to see what the rent is. A dead mall near me famously charged no rent for a couple years post-COVID.
Awesome 😊
I’ve been in there at around 11 at night at pinz for a concert and it was very dark
The shopping center less than a mile away destroyed this mall. Took best buy, old Navy and a few other stores.
Colony Place.
The target opened in late 2002 and was completely new construction
Honestly its kinda heart breaking
Mall is strange things will open and close but will somehow always have stuff nonetheless
Decent money in the area, I'm surprised the mall's the way it is.
Yeah, I was kind of shocked at how dead it was.
It all went down the street to Colony Place in the late 2000s. That’s where the commerce went. The Walmart that used to be in the old Plymouth Cordage Complex moved there, then a bunch of stores from Independence Mall moved there. Leases for commercial space were cheaper there and a lot of places seized that.
Bradlees use to be where Target is now. The trampoline place at one time was Old Navy.
Thanks for the info. The old maps of the mall were kind of unclear and not to scale.
Just went through your Playlist and don't see any va malls
Not yet. Too far for now.
do liberty tree mall in danvers its tiny
I bring my kids here to billy beez and ever time we go more stores leave.
I love going there
Best Buy moved to Plymouth
Ur history on the basement is wrong. Its been closed since before 05
Wow was a build a Bear
Has been for yrs and yrs. Macys will prob close it
Yes, that looks dead. Maine Mall is closet to me. Seems dying to me. There are a couple of non-mall shopping areas, one in Scarborough and one in Biddeford. There are groupings of stores - Target, Home Goods, Pet Smart, Walmart, HD, Staples etc. They are usually busy.
I'll probably get up to the malls in Maine sometime in 2024. Thanks for watching!
After this place turned fo shit me and the homies would run around in the "tunnels" that are behind the walls here hahah this was like 9 years ago
Shopping Malls are dying everywhere! Because everyone shops in the Internet now!
You guys shouldn't be baffled!
I'm not.
Enlightening
There was never a Bradlees in The Kingston Independence Mall, The big store where Target ended up was Lechmere's, and for a brief time in the far end of the mall near sears end was Filenes Basement. (an actual basement to this mall.) --- the Only Bradlees in the town of Kingston, Ma was in Kingsbury Plaza in North Kingston on the border of Duxbury, Ma
Nope, it was definitely a Bradlees where Target is now. I used to go in all the time as a kid/ teen.
@@aeonicfire881 Hi Sorry, I really don't want to challenge, But I lived in the area and was 17, when the mall open. It wasn't a Bradlees. Bradlees wouldn't open two locations in the same town. (they were primary a plaza based operation business in Ma, and working with CVS, and Stop and shop at the time.) (its also unfortunate that Bradlees in North Kingston ended up closing 2 years later.)
It was definitely a Bradlees before it was reconstructed into a Target in 2002. Bradlees may have moved to North Kingston later. Im looking at an official directory from 1997 right now with Bradlees in that spot and distinctly remember my friend "allegedly" robbing them blind before closing that location, LOL.
All malls are dead now
The wow arcade is garbage, been in there a few times. Not a decent game in the place.
Dump, walmart has everything this does
Are you married?
Nope