So sad. One of my earliest memories would have been around 1967 or 68 when I got to ride an elephant in the parking lot of the mall. I also remember some machines that made plastic dinosaurs. As I got older, I grew up running around this mall in the early 70's when it was open air. We lived nearby and we would cut through Cedar Memorial Cemetery and up a scary hill to access the mall parking lot. I still cannot believe our parents would just let us run lose like that. The Sears was a massive store and we always went there for our Garanimals school clothes. We went to Fanny Farmer for the Candy cigarettes. We went downstairs to the waterbed store and Alfalfas deli. It was great fun to go to Kresges and go downstairs to the photo booth and see how many we could squeeze in. Pier 1 was there and at that time they were known as the weird store that sold odd worldly goods and interesting chocolates. It was the only mall for many years until Westdale came along. Now Westdale is gone and looks like Lindale is about to see the same fate. Sad because Cedar Rapids will be left without a mall.
Hey I just wanted to say thank you so much for visiting the mall that I Still love today. I do agree that Lindale Mall is slowly falling short on things. Which is very sad, considering that I used to love to go here on the weekends all the time before COVID hit. I enjoy watching your videos of these, but not just that, you also give us a brief history of these malls and their background stories. How they started and how they declined during their life time. Keep up the good work!
I was at Lindale Mall today. It appears to be doing great. I counted maybe 7 empty stores. They redesigned the food court, there's 3 slots and they're all occupied.
The problem with it is there aren't a whole lot of options to take over for the anchor stores and two of them (Kohls and B&N are already down the block in what is arguably a nicer spot), but as the only mall within 30+ miles (Coral Ridge which has also struggled a bit though not quite as much) there is a lot working to keep it open
I was born in Cedar Rapids in 1971 and lived there until 1984, so I remember Lindale as an open-air mall (then called Lindale Plaza) and was still around when it was enclosed. There used to be a Kresge's store, which I have dim memories of because I was only 5 or 6 years old when it closed. It was subdivided into several storefronts, and its lower level became "Lindale Lane." That was essentially the first phase of what would become the transformation to the fully enclosed Lindale Mall circa 1980. The decline of so many mid-sized enclosed regional shopping malls in recent years (and the redevelopment of some of them--including Westdale--into open-air "town centers") has made me feel nostalgic for the Lindale Plaza of my childhood.
Hey there, I just came over your channel here on youtube and want to mention what great work youre doing here. Great footage, research and quality of the whole content in general. Coming from southern germany (where most of the malls are doing well so far) I am very interested in the whole dead mall thing & retail & consumer society in the United States beginning after WW2. So from this perspective i am so glad that people like you deliver high quality content on a regular basis. Thank you so much !!
Thank you so much!! Your support means a lot! And yes I just love to visit these places and video them as they are. I will continue to try and make my videos better! And yes the whole dead mall phenomena has had me interested about it ever since I found out it existed! Once again thank you!
I remember in the late 80s and early 90s both Lindale and Westdale were thriving. Westdale was the bigger and more popular mall until Lindale did their big remodel and built the new food court and added a handful of new stores. Before that remodel Lindale had it's foodcourt in the hallways. Everything changed when Coral Ridge Mall was built in Coralville. That mall became the popular place to go and then Westdale started to die because they never really ever did any remodeling or enhancements. A lot of the malls I've seen survive have done so by turning large portions into bowling alleys, laser tag, arcade areas. I've even seen a thriving mall recently that had a large indoor electric go-kart racing track.
I lived down in Vinton until just a couple years ago. Would’ve loved to live in a city like that. It was beautiful except when you drove by the Quaker factory. It stunk.
Thanks for this video! Anyone remember the tv advertising jingle for the mall from the mid-1970s: "you're gonna find... what you're looking for... at Lindale". A search for that brought me here. Haven't found the ad yet though.
since I was not born in Iowa I don’t really know the state of Iowa and I got obsessed with Younkers and a went to their website many times to find good clothing I feel bad for the malls in Iowa because due to coronavirus and you are really aesthetic and I do slowed and reverb songs now you can use them because you have permission to use it thank you and have a good day
Such a great big place and yet so much of the fun stuff to do around here has slowly gone away. West Dale is history, Lindale feels like its on its way out, Planet X is now a crafts store... So much potential. I wish someone would open up a place like Planet X again.
The issue with Lindale is not the mall per se but retail in general. Two of its anchors filed for bankruptcy and are no longer in existence (Younkers and Sears). Hard to recover from that.
The mall is still somewhat busy during the day and has had somewhat of a recovery after covid as well as more businesses in the area. Food court has more business there and a Planet Fitness also opened up in lindale mall
Like all these dead mall videos, this makes me sad. This one in particular because of my close personal connection to this mall. I was the last manager of the Sam Goody store that closed there in early 2006. Before that I spent a lot of time here with friends in high school, even had my senior pictures taken at this mall. Had a lot of car work done at the Sears Auto center. Bought my wife a pair of earrings for our first Christmas together from the Zales at this mall. Purchased a Darth Vader lightsaber from the Spencer’s. Still have the lightsaber. Not the wife though.
I haven't been to Lindale in over a year, not since before the pandemic, so unless it's been closed off since I was last there, one part of the mall you missed in this video is the second downstairs area near the center court. IIRC a long time ago it was a circular corridor that looped back around upon itself, but now most of it has been blocked off. Last time I was down there, it was nothing but military recruitment offices.
@@NorthCdogg22 just checked it out real quick, the center court downstairs area is still there. The stairs/escalator and elevator to it are kinda awkwardly off to the side and easy to miss. It looks like it's no longer solely military recruitment offices, as there's some actual businesses down there now.
I love the palm trees.🩷🌴 I love the colors.💛🌈 I love the name Lindale.💜 I love the waterfall.🧡
Lindale has been struggling, but it's not dead (yet).
Thanks for the historical photo comparison. Very cool to see.
Glad you enjoyed! I hope to revisit it again soon
So sad. One of my earliest memories would have been around 1967 or 68 when I got to ride an elephant in the parking lot of the mall. I also remember some machines that made plastic dinosaurs. As I got older, I grew up running around this mall in the early 70's when it was open air. We lived nearby and we would cut through Cedar Memorial Cemetery and up a scary hill to access the mall parking lot. I still cannot believe our parents would just let us run lose like that. The Sears was a massive store and we always went there for our Garanimals school clothes. We went to Fanny Farmer for the Candy cigarettes. We went downstairs to the waterbed store and Alfalfas deli. It was great fun to go to Kresges and go downstairs to the photo booth and see how many we could squeeze in. Pier 1 was there and at that time they were known as the weird store that sold odd worldly goods and interesting chocolates. It was the only mall for many years until Westdale came along. Now Westdale is gone and looks like Lindale is about to see the same fate. Sad because Cedar Rapids will be left without a mall.
The restaurant used to be Happy Joes Pizza. Both malls were still rather busy when I lived in Cedar Rapids 1999 to 2003.
Hey I just wanted to say thank you so much for visiting the mall that I Still love today. I do agree that Lindale Mall is slowly falling short on things. Which is very sad, considering that I used to love to go here on the weekends all the time before COVID hit. I enjoy watching your videos of these, but not just that, you also give us a brief history of these malls and their background stories. How they started and how they declined during their life time. Keep up the good work!
Thank you so much!! I’ll continue to keep bringing good quality content to amazing viewers like you! Thanks!
I was at Lindale Mall today. It appears to be doing great. I counted maybe 7 empty stores. They redesigned the food court, there's 3 slots and they're all occupied.
The problem with it is there aren't a whole lot of options to take over for the anchor stores and two of them (Kohls and B&N are already down the block in what is arguably a nicer spot), but as the only mall within 30+ miles (Coral Ridge which has also struggled a bit though not quite as much) there is a lot working to keep it open
I was born in Cedar Rapids in 1971 and lived there until 1984, so I remember Lindale as an open-air mall (then called Lindale Plaza) and was still around when it was enclosed. There used to be a Kresge's store, which I have dim memories of because I was only 5 or 6 years old when it closed. It was subdivided into several storefronts, and its lower level became "Lindale Lane." That was essentially the first phase of what would become the transformation to the fully enclosed Lindale Mall circa 1980. The decline of so many mid-sized enclosed regional shopping malls in recent years (and the redevelopment of some of them--including Westdale--into open-air "town centers") has made me feel nostalgic for the Lindale Plaza of my childhood.
Imagine a food court being deserted completely with restaurants closing out because of a stupid fight lol
What was the stupid fight
Hey there,
I just came over your channel here on youtube and want to mention what great work youre doing here. Great footage, research and quality of the whole content in general. Coming from southern germany (where most of the malls are doing well so far) I am very interested in the whole dead mall thing & retail & consumer society in the United States beginning after WW2. So from this perspective i am so glad that people like you deliver high quality content on a regular basis. Thank you so much !!
Thank you so much!! Your support means a lot! And yes I just love to visit these places and video them as they are. I will continue to try and make my videos better! And yes the whole dead mall phenomena has had me interested about it ever since I found out it existed! Once again thank you!
Lindale Mall is thriving. Went to film the elevators and it was busy as hell.
Cedar Rapids is far too large to have no thriving mall. It’s sad that the two malls in the area are on their way out.
It is.. I wish I could’ve seen Westdale mall back before it closed
@@NorthCdogg22 that sports store in the basement actually moved from Westdale when they tore it down.
I remember in the late 80s and early 90s both Lindale and Westdale were thriving. Westdale was the bigger and more popular mall until Lindale did their big remodel and built the new food court and added a handful of new stores. Before that remodel Lindale had it's foodcourt in the hallways. Everything changed when Coral Ridge Mall was built in Coralville. That mall became the popular place to go and then Westdale started to die because they never really ever did any remodeling or enhancements. A lot of the malls I've seen survive have done so by turning large portions into bowling alleys, laser tag, arcade areas. I've even seen a thriving mall recently that had a large indoor electric go-kart racing track.
So true ❤
I lived down in Vinton until just a couple years ago. Would’ve loved to live in a city like that. It was beautiful except when you drove by the Quaker factory. It stunk.
Your dead mall videos are really great. I really love them.
Thank you!
Thanks for this video! Anyone remember the tv advertising jingle for the mall from the mid-1970s: "you're gonna find... what you're looking for... at Lindale". A search for that brought me here. Haven't found the ad yet though.
I really like the enclosed roof that goes over the original top of the open air center. Gives it a cool two level affect.
since I was not born in Iowa I don’t really know the state of Iowa and I got obsessed with Younkers and a went to their website many times to find good clothing I feel bad for the malls in Iowa because due to coronavirus and you are really aesthetic and I do slowed and reverb songs now you can use them because you have permission to use it thank you and have a good day
Nice history of the mall, and nice video.
Keep up the good work! May I suggest the sycamore mall in Iowa city.
Thank you so much! Your support means alot, and yes Sycamore Mall is on the list! :)
Such a great big place and yet so much of the fun stuff to do around here has slowly gone away. West Dale is history, Lindale feels like its on its way out, Planet X is now a crafts store... So much potential. I wish someone would open up a place like Planet X again.
Great episode!
The issue with Lindale is not the mall per se but retail in general. Two of its anchors filed for bankruptcy and are no longer in existence (Younkers and Sears). Hard to recover from that.
The mall is still somewhat busy during the day and has had somewhat of a recovery after covid as well as more businesses in the area. Food court has more business there and a Planet Fitness also opened up in lindale mall
Looks like a really nice mall. Unfortunately the loss of the 2 anchors is going to be very tough to recover from.
Nice video. One thing - the photo at 13:20 is the Younkers at Westdale Mall. The terracotta pattern on the floor is a dead-giveaway.
Thanks! And whoops, I hadn’t even realized that, thanks for the correction!
Like all these dead mall videos, this makes me sad. This one in particular because of my close personal connection to this mall. I was the last manager of the Sam Goody store that closed there in early 2006. Before that I spent a lot of time here with friends in high school, even had my senior pictures taken at this mall. Had a lot of car work done at the Sears Auto center. Bought my wife a pair of earrings for our first Christmas together from the Zales at this mall. Purchased a Darth Vader lightsaber from the Spencer’s. Still have the lightsaber. Not the wife though.
I haven't been to Lindale in over a year, not since before the pandemic, so unless it's been closed off since I was last there, one part of the mall you missed in this video is the second downstairs area near the center court. IIRC a long time ago it was a circular corridor that looped back around upon itself, but now most of it has been blocked off. Last time I was down there, it was nothing but military recruitment offices.
They must’ve removed that area because I never saw anything. It sounds really interesting tho!
@@NorthCdogg22 just checked it out real quick, the center court downstairs area is still there. The stairs/escalator and elevator to it are kinda awkwardly off to the side and easy to miss. It looks like it's no longer solely military recruitment offices, as there's some actual businesses down there now.
@@bigloudnoise huh I wish I would’ve noticed it when I visited..
I went back in May 2022 and it looked much Fuller and the Food court had more Restaurants in it
It looks like the Younkers space is about to be filled, I don't know with what yet.
If I remember right at one point it even had a pet store in the basement level. I can barely remember it.
When i went back in May 2022 The CBD store had alot of people in it
It has been years since I went to Lindale last time I was there it was almost full.
Yeah I wouldn’t really classify it as a dead mall but I certainly is on the road to being one
In the basement right side has Voc rehab tha helps people with disabilities finding jobs.
Can we get a update
So they practically close down a mall over one fight. They'd do that in my mall too. Let them kill eachother like they want to.
All the malls are dead its a past thing now!
I like how you film this mall yet know nothing about it besides Wikipedia
Lindale was far from ever being dead westdale on the other hand
I agree, I wish I could have seen westdale in its heyday
@@NorthCdogg22 it was the mall to go to back in the day
Did you talk to the Mall Manager? She ain't bad.