Do you have any memories of shopping at Flagstaff Mall? Also a quick note, I found out shortly after finishing this video that the last renovation of this mall was done in 2007.
@Albert Menendez Well you could always try asking Angry Video Game Nerd for his Polybius machine, granted ya might have to fight him for it:P Unless the machine starts following ya 0_0
I've lived in Flagstaff my entire life (32 years) and have seen this mall go through many ups and downs. It was a thriving mall until about 10 years ago when it was bought out and the new owners raised the rent so high most stores were forced out. It has switched hands again since then but I dont think it will ever be able to recover. I feel like losing Sears was just the beginning unfortunately. It's very sad to see somewhere like this mall die a slow death.
Carpet in a high traffic mall makes me go 🤔. Orlando FL has 4-5 malls but they get pumped by tourists, re-sale business(Latin, South America), upscale trendys who want to do something on weekends.
@@LindaFromSeaAtTull yeah I come here often and there's still a good amount of people. I actually feel more comfortable around less people instead of the large crowds.
It must be terribly demoralising for staff who work in the stores (not to mention the owners). Like watching a relative with cancer taking a while to move on....even 70% off will not revive the patient.
True. And some malls around me were up scale but they put 35 clearing clothing stores with 70% off. The mall will likely survive because of the Apple store, Microsoft and Elon musk’s show room. But a lot of the anchors are clothing stores that disappeared.
Hey RA! I recently went on vacation with my partner and visited this mall, and it’s in a LOT worse shape than it was 5 years ago. The whole area leading to the JCPenny specifically is a wasteland with a few store pop ups and an overpriced vending machine. I highly suggest checking in on it before it’s too late, I’m sure you could actually call it a “dead mall” now
you should travel around the US and visit the most popular mall or malls there. It would cost a lot of money but would be really cool. Maybe you can do this in the future? Anyways love your vids, keep up the great work!
What is it with Ruby Tuesday? They used to occupy a lot of malls. Now only a few mall based RTs remain. These seem to have closed out of proportion to the chain as a whole.
We had a stand-alone Ruby Tuesday in Tacoma, but a few years ago they were shut down for multiple health violations. They never came back, and now it's a flower shop or some such.
In Orlando, Florida many Dennys locations have only 1-3 staff. Even weekdays 800am! 🍳. The IHOPs & Dennys have hit the skids since 2009. Ruby Tuesdays left out around 2012 or so. Chains & QSRs replace the dreadful Ruby Tuesdays.
That mall was poppin in the late 90s early 2000s lots of good memories, they always had those fireplaces blazing away in the winter months and the arcade area used to have a real 90s arcade, dark lightning ticket counter with prizes, all that jazz, good times thank you for making a video about one of the most nostalgic malls of my 90s baby childhood lol
Mall arcades are awesome I hope they continue their comeback. When I was around 9 or 10 I had my birthday party at my local mall's arcade. Now its a Panda Express which isn't the worst possible replacement but I still miss it. About a year ago my parents moved so I had to go through my old childhood bedroom and decide what I wanted. I found a little vinyl fanny pack that the arcade included as part of their birthday party package for carrying tokens and tickets. I ended up throwing it away but now I kinda wish I'd kept it.
This is a Sunday afternoon? This mall is in trouble. You are correct about food courts being an indicator. There is a lit of overhead in running a restaurant. If the rent is too high it really eats into the profits. Its terrible that malls like This are in this shape.
Well he did the review on a Sunday afternoon and the mall closes at 6pm, I'd say try again Friday or Saturday night, the food court areas are full then.
This was between noon and two on a Sunday in early January. That would be right during either the Wild Card or Divisional Playoff games for the NFL. It's speculation, but I wouldn't be surprised if that fact resulted in fewer people than a "normal" Sunday. That's especially true if it was the 13th when the Patriots were playing.
Mall Aholic nah it’ll stay open forever, i live In flagstaff and the customers come in bursts it’s weird... plus most of the kids in flagstaff don’t go out on Sunday afternoons, mostly Wednesday’s after school (flagstaff school gets out early on Wednesday) and Friday after school or Saturday... it’s weird
I was here in 1993 on a family vacation and we had to go to Sears and buy sweat pants and coats. We came up from Phoenix and it was 102 and we drove to flagstaff and it was in the upper 40's and we were in shorts and tee shirts.
I bet it's doing better financially though, they've got a lot more, like, service-providing renters?? A dance studio, a play zone, not to mention the only board game store in the area.
JC Penney was not an original anchor. It was a Babbitts Department Store for the first few years (A local department store) then JC Penney moved in. I took an geography class at NAU and we studied the downfall of Flagstaffs downtown in the late 70s when this mall opened.
I lived in Flagstaff in the early 80’s to the mid 90’s. I remember going to this mall as a kid and teen, back then it was always busy. I was back in 2016 visiting family and noticed how slow it was and how many vacancies they had. It is I believe the only mall in Flagstaff, sad to see it now.
I went to school in Flagstaff in the late 70s. I remember how excited we were when the mall opened. Of course I also remember going to the first game in the Skydome. Time flies....
In the mid 90's I was the Store Manager of Baker's Shoe Store and live in Flagstaff for about one year. I live in Flagstaff in the winter and from what I remember it was busy on the weekends however during the week it was dead. Which I wasn't used to that type of slow traffic compared to the previous mall I worked in. Shortly after, I then moved to Glendale, AZ and started my career with Famou Footwear and worked for them for about 10 years. Haven't been back to Flagstaff since I left. Pretty cool to come across this video, thanks for sharing!
So the last time I was at Flagstaff Mall was in 2002. It was not really busy then either (same time of year) but there were more stores open. I remember people hanging around that fireplace and always thought that was cool to see in a mall.
You should come back, lots of changes. Sears is now a Hobby Lobby, some new exterior tenants such as Starbucks. A new pizza place opened in the food court just at the start of the pandemic, but it’s thriving and has excellent food. There’s a gym by JC Penney’s. Denny’s closed suddenly last year. But somehow this place holds on.
I remember coming here all the time when I was younger. I got kicked out of Spencer’s during Halloween time, my cousins chased me around the store with a mask. I remember the place always being busy, sad to see it’s kinda dead.
This afternoon I was in the Valley View mall in Roanoke, VA. Good grief! They are doing really good as far as traffic goes! Couldn't get a seat a Buffalo Wild Wings without a wait! Had to wait in line at J.C. Penney to check out. In fact that was with two cashiers at the particular checkout I was at! Macy's was busy, Old Navy seemed busy too! I remember a couple years ago when this mall seemed to be dying! Things have definitely improved! Still not the "can't walk on the wrong side due to the huge number of shoppers" days we remember but better than 2017 for sure! Congratulations sir! You and I both know that if society survives, if the World continues, these historical accounts you are producing will remain for Centuries. Maybe Millennia! I call that leaving a mark!
We have a mall here in Chatham, ON that has barely any stores in it. It used to be a nice mall but now it’s bare and no one goes there. Surprisingly, we still have an Ardene and Dollarama.
I used to frequent this mall from the early 2000's-mid 2010's and it's never been /super/ busy, but it definitely was never this dead on a weekend afternoon
I used to work in this mall Jan ‘09 - Jul ‘10 and it definitely wasn’t quite dying back then. No way the food court would ever have been that empty on a Sunday during lunch time. The Denny’s was a Ruby Tuesday back then and got pretty decent business, as did the Sears. If I had to put my finger on when this mall started dying it was probably around 2012/13 and believe it or not I’d say the corporate Verizon store moving out of its mall location and relocating closer to the center of town (Switzer Canyon and Rte 66) started doing the mall in. The corporate store brought A LOT of foot traffic to the mall as it was the only corporate Verizon store in all of northern Arizona at the time and especially after buying out Alltel they are BY FAR the most popular cell carrier in northern AZ. It was not longer after the corporate Verizon store moved out when I’d visit the mall and notice it was seeing a lot less foot traffic than it used to. There is an indirect (non-corporate) Verizon agent in the old corporate store’s location in the mall but they don’t do near the business the corporate store did.
I've worked at that mall for about 3 years now. Any time from january to about march or april, its going to be that dead.😂 summer time to january is pretty busy
I used to live in Flagstaff 20 years ago. I used to hang out at that mall a lot.. and it doesn't look like much has changed. Sundays never seemed that busy even back then.
It’s nice to see a mall that’s not completely dead. Although the future doesn’t look great here. There’s a few national tenants but for a Sunday there should be way more people. I also noticed that the Pacsun was closing in this video. Stores like Sunglass Hut, Buckle, Pacsun, Children’s Place and others are high end retailers that won’t survive in a struggling mall like this. I can’t see lots of the national tenants staying unless the mall is able to fill in some more vacant stores.
I'm not from AZ but I have been to this mall! When I was 20, I drove out to AZ with a friend in the Air Force who was being stationed outside of Phoenix. She didn't want to drive the 2k miles by herself so we hit I40 and away we went. We stopped in Flagstaff for a few days bc we also wanted to go the Grand Canyon (which is like an hour away). While in Flagstaff we went to this Mall and I bought some CDs from the long gone Camelot Records that used to be there. Love Flagstaff, so beautiful. Southern AZ looks like a used litter box but the northern part is absolutely stunning!
Oh my goodness I don’t remember the last time I saw a paper map since I think in the 90’s. It’s to bad I don’t have any of the old maps from the malls I visited when I was a kid. I have never seen a Denny’s attached to the mall. I absolutely love the music you have in the background. Thanks for posting man 😎.
Memories...wow. I went to NAU in the 80s. Bought a gray pinstripe suit at the JC Penney there to use for job interviews. You mentioned the Dillard's opening in 1986, I was there at that time and when I think about I seem to remember that being a big deal there. Can't believe it's been 30+ years, still seems like yesterday.
I remember when I was a kid and this mall first opened. It was so exciting then because the only other mall any where around was far away in Phoenix. Good childhood memories of the Flagstaff mall, sorry to see it fading.
That Christmas setup with the bears was really nice. It reminded me of something a mall near me used to do around Christmas. Instead of bears it was a train. A pretty big one and they used that white fluffy stuff for snow as well. It looked really nice. It was the mall that my family used to go to when I was a kid. I was in another local mall recently just after Christmas and they still had decorations up but it didn't look like they did much. But it was still nice to see. I miss going to malls for Christmas shopping.
Man, I lived from the age of 3-19 (1990-2006) in Flagstaff, and I have some good memories of that mall. The arcade isn't what it once was. It used to be more of that 80s feel, with the black lights, more games, though it was maybe 1.5 times bigger than what was shown here, but for a kid, it was awesome. And man, KB toys too.
Do you make a purchase in each Mall that you visit? I think you should make a point to do so, even if it's a package of gum. edit: As I was writing this message you answered my question, lol. Yes, you do make a purchase. For that you earned my subscription!
One problem with enclosed malls is the aging of the population. Elderly people often have mobility problems and require a power cart with a built-in basket to do any reasonable dollar amount of shopping. Enclosed malls don't provide power carts. Freestanding big box stores do. Another problem with enclosed malls was the well-publicized series of outbreaks of flash-mob violence orchestrated on social media that took place a few years ago. Adult customers, including myself, were leery of entering what could potentially become a deathtrap. Malls were no longer considered to be a safe space in which teenagers could entertain themselves with food, shopping, and movies. In other countries, enclosed malls were targets of terrorist attacks.
Love that mall. This clip brought back many good memories, shopping there as a kid. Used to be a KB toy store.. of course that was my favorite store in those days. Used to have the fireplace going all the time in the winter, with couches all around it. There used to be huge rocks through out the mall too. Was very very nice place to go back in the 80's. Sad to see it so quiet.
Thank you So Much for this! I use to live in Flagstaff for several years and I did love living there. Summer Time is Perfect there but the Winter Times -oh my gosh! You learn about putting on Layers of Clothes on you or else that COLD WIND will go Right through your Bones! Other than that, I did love that Town. I remember there was a Church near Downtown Flagstaff that had Gargoyles on the Outside of the Church at the top - that was really cool and strange to see that. Flagstaff had Wonderful Parks and Hiking Trails - it was so Good! I would like to come back and visit sometime in the future.
I've been watching your videos for a long time now and the one thing I've not seen are interviews of employees in the dead malls. It might be cool to see what the troops in the trenches think. Love your channel!
Here in Flagstaff, at 7,000 feet and only two hours north of Phoenix if you LIKE crowds, yes, it snows. We have a world class ski mountain that's also not crowded, the altitude keeps a lot of the Rif-Raf down.
You should make a video about the Crossroads Mall in Omaha, Nebraska. It was build in the 1960s with 2 major renovation in the 80s. One renovation was for the second floor that has been closed. There other one was a cosmetic renovation.There is a few shops still open. There is a Sears currently in Liquidation and will set to close around March. This Sears is the last Sears in the Omaha Area. A target is located on the property with the buildings attached but the internal mall entrance has been closed for over a year. There used to be a Dillard's but it moved to the 2 major malls of Omaha at Oak View and Westroads. Now the entire second floor is vacant the Dillard's wing is vacant but occasionally is used for shopping events. Most of the stores in the mall are mom and pop shops with the only exception would be the Braden's Noble Book Store. I had not been around when the mall was successful but I remember when I was really young maybe like 3 or 4 the Dillard's wing was open but there was only a few shops like Victoria Secret. If you want to know more about the mall you can reply with questions but I don't know everything about this mall.
I'm from the Hopi reservation and remember always stopping here in the late 90s and 2000s. It was always our first stop in Flagg. I barely remember what it looked like before they made the new main entrance and put in the fire place. It actually had a fire going All throughout winter. I remember Being a kid when the new play area was put in and the pretzel shop by it. I always had to go get a pretzel or an icee, or go further down for the roasted cinnamon almonds stand. The barber shop used to be a radio shack and I believe the Art room was the K.B. toy store. I remember three anchor blue sho store and buying my first mp3 player at that mall. Haha I sound old.
I worked at the Eddie Bauer and Sears that were both origionally at the Flagstaff mall. It is suprising that they closed the Sears up here due to it being the only Sears in the region, but it makes sense too due to the company going under. And the Eddie Bauer just moved to a different part of town.
We were there opening day way back when. Great times . . . loved it during Christmas. Not sure if the arcade is in the same place, but I donated soooo much money to the arcade there back in the 80s.
Quinte Mall in Belleville, ON has one of the few Denny's in Canada, but it's freestanding in the parking lot, not attached. It's pretty clean and not a bad place to stop if you're driving from Toronto to Ottawa or Montreal early in the morning.
Arcades are making a comeback because the teens that shopped at malls in the early 2000s now have kids of their own and bring them to the mall, so naturally the arcade companies saw this and started opening arcades again
Kris Fitzgerald When I used to live in San Diego the mission valley mall had a good sized arcade. It doesn’t look like it’s at the shopping center though.
They also have easy cost management, after setup costs its very limited amounts of staff needed plus electricity and an adhoc engineer. Shops require a constant supply of merchandise ordered which eats into profit as you need someone ordering, restocking displays and till transactions. This is very likely not the same person but someone doing coin exchange and repairs in a small arcade could easily be the same person. It's also something people don't have at home, specially arcade machines rather than the computer games themselves. They look to be mostly light gun, racing games, claw machines and air hockey which whilst you could get at home would be expensive and take up a lot of room. Clothes shopping on the other hand you get a very similar experience doing it from home, it's very easy to send stuff back you don't want so many people order huge hauls of clothes, then try them on at home and send back a large amount of it. Your point also true just adding to why I think it's happening 😊.
I think the "revival" of arcades will be temporary, sadly. Nostalgia will run it's course, and it's not something people will keep pumping money into. Also declining birthrate and such.
My family lived in flagstaff for a few years in the late 80’s . This mall always had junior high kids in there . A skate store was there , also a chik fila . The arcade was always jam packed with kids . Afterburner was sweet . 720 was great too . It’s always been a slow mall in my opinion . Youse should check out Chris town mall in Phoenix. It’s got a Costco in it
I was at the JC Penney last August. It was a little busy because of back to school shopping. It's nice shopping up there in August when it's 105 degrees in Phoenix.
Wow this looks so much like my local mall, if not ever so slightly bigger, and the backstory is even pretty similar. My mall is also pretty dead like this
If you ever go to Southern Oregon, you should check out Rogue Valley Mall in Medford. Over half of the spots are empty and they even still have a Sam Goody store! It's really depressing there but they have amazing cookies at the Cookie Connection!
@Lindsey Marie Time Travelling back to when this mall opened in 1979. Sam Goody! ruclips.net/video/wyrqs3rawK4/видео.html 1989 ruclips.net/video/dhWHGieQix0/видео.html
More than a decade ago, hell- 20 years ago, my parents and vacationed to AZ and went to Flag for a few days during the winter- snowed a few feet (mind you, we were from the east coast, the whole snow thing was the reason for visiting during that time- so we didn’t dress for the snow then). Went to this mall and shopped at the Dillard’s for some quick winter clothing (I remember this mall not for the mall itself, but the fact that the arcade had MK3- it was one of the beta test versions out about a few months before the public release of the full arcade cabinet to other malls and stores). Also, Dillard’s- there wasn’t a store called Dillard’s on the east coast.
They put a movie theater and gym as anchors at our mall. There is also talks of a Dave n Busters with a Buffalo Wild Wings going in once the JC Penny closes.
I shopped at Flagstaff mall about 2 years ago. It was pretty dead back then. Actually surprised how many retailers are still there. Wanted to say thank you for the awesome videos btw! Always interesting content and fun to watch. Keep up the great work!
It's a little bit busier than it was when you came here. But it's still deadville / zombieville... Not much is different since when you were here. except the corridor going towards the JCPenney, there's a redevelopment area. There's some kind of little boat dealer or something, there's a couple of boats for sale on trailers in the corridor. NY Hots is still open and they are really good. And I totally agree, all of the staff are great. Even the janitors are cool. By the way right now, the empty Sears store is occupied by a Halloween store.
I visited Flagstaff twice before the pandemic in late 2019 and early 2020, and I love the vibe of the city (not too hot like other places in AZ, and it's not too crowded either). Surprised to know that there's even a mall there (population doesn't seem to be able to support a mall), I'm willing to visit it in the near future.
Another mall you may want to check out is the one in Prescott, AZ. I was there in September 2017, and it had very few stores and virtually no foot traffic.
I know it might not be worth your time to come all the way to WI, but I think the mall Brookfield Sqaure near Milwaukee is kind of a unique mall. It's pretty consistently busy despite only having one anchor, and due to the Sear's recent complete teardown, losing about a third of its parking capacity. Plus it has a lot of dead mall fixtures (b+b works, massage chairs, etc.) that still see regular business.
I used to work for a company that supplied outdoor lighting for Dillards. They were very particular about how the floodlights would distribute the lights on their exterior signs. No detail was overlooked which I'm sure was magnified 10X on interior details.
was just here. the JC Pennys wing is completely dead. yet the old sears building has found life as a Hobby Lobby. Was wondering if you had filmed here, and hence here I am.
Ohh before you went into the arcade I saw a sign for like an art gallery or something? I noticed that one of the malls i go to regularly is similar - it has open stores but few people coming through. And they opened up a really neat art studio there! I wonder if Flagstaff has a similar place? I love the idea of more malls becoming community places instead of husks of empty buildings.
I used to live in Flagstaff when I was very young. Some of my fondest memories include going to the Flagstaff mall with my parents and getting candy from some quarter machines they used to have.... good times ;w;
Heres a Memory from the Mid 80's. We went to Flag for a High School Music Competition and Our Break/Pit Stop was the Mall. We had Lunch there and could Browse Around till We hit the Time Allotted. I Found the Arcade and the FIREPOWER Pinball Machine! Played the Game of MY LIFE!! Hit the High Score(Popped Free Game) and Got ANOTHER Free Game by Hitting the Lit 'Free Game' Pad. Had to Leave the Last Game as it was Time to Leave. :-( But Still Had FUN!!
I remember going there with my Grandmother, it once had some pretty eccentric stores. The one that I remember was a store that sold boom boxes, that was about 1986. They used to have a ToysRus up there as well, that was back in the 1990's. I once went there(back in the eighties) with a few of my cousins the day after Thanksgiving, it was literally wall to wall people.
It's kind of eerie to see you do videos on a place I've just been! I think this makes four malls now.... The last time I was at the Flagstaff Mall was last summer, on a weekday evening and a Sunday afternoon. The mall actually seemed to have more foot traffic on weekdays, and the parking lot was pretty full. There were empty stores then, too, but I've come to expect that in any mall these days. I would expect a lot of the foot-traffic falloff to be from the loss of Sears, which drove a lot of business (that Sears was the largest in Northern AZ, if I recall correctly....).
Reminds me of the Everett Mall in Everett Washington especially the stonework on the pillars. Looks a little like the same people remodeled this mall remodeled the Everett mall in Everett Washington.
I lived in AZ, visited Sedona and Flagstaff often. That’s very sad, to see. I always thought that was a cool, well maintained, nicely designed mall with good people.
Most of the remaining stores in this Mall are locked into some really bad leases, many entered into when the place was a lot busier. For some, getting out would bring harsh terms so it's easier just to gut it out. Cypress has a mixed reputation in the biz and is known for holding tenants feet to the lease fire. Some leasers, for example, have leases with clauses saying there will be major anchors 'in operation' to remain effective. Sears has kept many stores open just to keep other leases in place. Others just go to the winds, such as the Landmark Mall in Alexandria, VA. All the stores except Sears bolted. Only Sears had their own negotiated lease and were allowed to stay at their leisure.
Do you have any memories of shopping at Flagstaff Mall? Also a quick note, I found out shortly after finishing this video that the last renovation of this mall was done in 2007.
I remember when they had American Eagle and Hollister, where the white walls are by Penny's.
Yes I was there 2 years ago and the town itself was really small and dead I liked it but was eerily creepy but nice
I came here about 13 years ago and it was dead as hell.
@Albert Menendez Well you could always try asking Angry Video Game Nerd for his Polybius machine, granted ya might have to fight him for it:P
Unless the machine starts following ya 0_0
Went there last year. Honestly it was a dying mall even back then.
I've lived in Flagstaff my entire life (32 years) and have seen this mall go through many ups and downs. It was a thriving mall until about 10 years ago when it was bought out and the new owners raised the rent so high most stores were forced out. It has switched hands again since then but I dont think it will ever be able to recover. I feel like losing Sears was just the beginning unfortunately. It's very sad to see somewhere like this mall die a slow death.
It's more "alive" compared to Prescott Gateway Mall. I remember when both were alive and well 10 years ago.
@@LindaFromSeaAtTull is" you like " still around ? Funniest name for an asian food place
Carpet in a high traffic mall makes me go 🤔. Orlando FL has 4-5 malls but they get pumped by tourists, re-sale business(Latin, South America), upscale trendys who want to do something on weekends.
@@LindaFromSeaAtTull yeah I come here often and there's still a good amount of people. I actually feel more comfortable around less people instead of the large crowds.
Raise the rent.
SMART new owners!
It must be terribly demoralising for staff who work in the stores (not to mention the owners). Like watching a relative with cancer taking a while to move on....even 70% off will not revive the patient.
True. And some malls around me were up scale but they put 35 clearing clothing stores with 70% off. The mall will likely survive because of the Apple store, Microsoft and Elon musk’s show room. But a lot of the anchors are clothing stores that disappeared.
I love that you're in AZ, that's my state so I recognize a lot of the malls you visit!!
That’s my state also
Mines to
Me to
Hey RA! I recently went on vacation with my partner and visited this mall, and it’s in a LOT worse shape than it was 5 years ago. The whole area leading to the JCPenny specifically is a wasteland with a few store pop ups and an overpriced vending machine. I highly suggest checking in on it before it’s too late, I’m sure you could actually call it a “dead mall” now
Oh wow. I have actually been there.
it always warms my heart when people dont put their Christmas decorations down as fast as Dec 26 and even Jan 1st or 2nd
the mall is becoming better so i belive its doing way better
you should travel around the US and visit the most popular mall or malls there. It would cost a lot of money but would be really cool. Maybe you can do this in the future? Anyways love your vids, keep up the great work!
I mean, I know of a thriving mall in a town a hundred miles away from me. It's always popular, even now, and has retained most of its anchors.
The Denny's used to be a Ruby Tuesday.
was just gonna comment that!
What is it with Ruby Tuesday? They used to occupy a lot of malls. Now only a few mall based RTs remain. These seem to have closed out of proportion to the chain as a whole.
We had a stand-alone Ruby Tuesday in Tacoma, but a few years ago they were shut down for multiple health violations. They never came back, and now it's a flower shop or some such.
That makes sense, loved Ruby Tuesday
In Orlando, Florida many Dennys locations have only 1-3 staff. Even weekdays 800am! 🍳. The IHOPs & Dennys have hit the skids since 2009. Ruby Tuesdays left out around 2012 or so. Chains & QSRs replace the dreadful Ruby Tuesdays.
That mall was poppin in the late 90s early 2000s lots of good memories, they always had those fireplaces blazing away in the winter months and the arcade area used to have a real 90s arcade, dark lightning ticket counter with prizes, all that jazz, good times thank you for making a video about one of the most nostalgic malls of my 90s baby childhood lol
And that red/blue lighted square wall going into the place.
Mall arcades are awesome I hope they continue their comeback. When I was around 9 or 10 I had my birthday party at my local mall's arcade. Now its a Panda Express which isn't the worst possible replacement but I still miss it. About a year ago my parents moved so I had to go through my old childhood bedroom and decide what I wanted. I found a little vinyl fanny pack that the arcade included as part of their birthday party package for carrying tokens and tickets. I ended up throwing it away but now I kinda wish I'd kept it.
Yes I remember as a kid
I used really love going to KB TOY STORE and miller’s outpost and they had a anchor blue store at one point
This is a Sunday afternoon? This mall is in trouble. You are correct about food courts being an indicator. There is a lit of overhead in running a restaurant. If the rent is too high it really eats into the profits. Its terrible that malls like This are in this shape.
Well he did the review on a Sunday afternoon and the mall closes at 6pm, I'd say try again Friday or Saturday night, the food court areas are full then.
This was between noon and two on a Sunday in early January. That would be right during either the Wild Card or Divisional Playoff games for the NFL. It's speculation, but I wouldn't be surprised if that fact resulted in fewer people than a "normal" Sunday. That's especially true if it was the 13th when the Patriots were playing.
Mall Aholic nah it’ll stay open forever, i live In flagstaff and the customers come in bursts it’s weird... plus most of the kids in flagstaff don’t go out on Sunday afternoons, mostly Wednesday’s after school (flagstaff school gets out early on Wednesday) and Friday after school or Saturday... it’s weird
I was here in 1993 on a family vacation and we had to go to Sears and buy sweat pants and coats. We came up from Phoenix and it was 102 and we drove to flagstaff and it was in the upper 40's and we were in shorts and tee shirts.
Chris Lemaster interesting, usually Flagstaff is 20-30 cooler than PHX...
Looks beautiful, I'm going to have to take a trip up there and check it out especially while there is still snow on the ground.
That mall looks absolutely thriving compared to Prescott Gateway Mall.
I bet it's doing better financially though, they've got a lot more, like, service-providing renters?? A dance studio, a play zone, not to mention the only board game store in the area.
lmao i’ve worked at both
Is it Scott or scit?
@@ccubsfan94 Pronounced Press-kit.
Sad how that mall opened in 2002ish? One of the deadest new malls over ever been to.
You should consider revisiting Flagstaff Mall. The place has gone through a major change including the addition of a Planet Fitness...inside the mall.
The mall might be empty-ish but it does look fun to maybe walk around the shops or eat at the food court. I liked the Christmas bear decorations.
JC Penney was not an original anchor. It was a Babbitts Department Store for the first few years (A local department store) then JC Penney moved in. I took an geography class at NAU and we studied the downfall of Flagstaffs downtown in the late 70s when this mall opened.
I lived in Flagstaff in the early 80’s to the mid 90’s. I remember going to this mall as a kid and teen, back then it was always busy. I was back in 2016 visiting family and noticed how slow it was and how many vacancies they had. It is I believe the only mall in Flagstaff, sad to see it now.
I went to college in Flagstaff in the nineties. The mall was a good resource. Like Flagstaff it is a shell of its former shelf.
I went to school in Flagstaff in the late 70s. I remember how excited we were when the mall opened. Of course I also remember going to the first game in the Skydome. Time flies....
I can fall asleep listening to your voice. Soooooothing.
I have and I will 😂😂
kal axy 😂
true that
In the mid 90's I was the Store Manager of Baker's Shoe Store and live in Flagstaff for about one year. I live in Flagstaff in the winter and from what I remember it was busy on the weekends however during the week it was dead. Which I wasn't used to that type of slow traffic compared to the previous mall I worked in. Shortly after, I then moved to Glendale, AZ and started my career with Famou Footwear and worked for them for about 10 years. Haven't been back to Flagstaff since I left. Pretty cool to come across this video, thanks for sharing!
So the last time I was at Flagstaff Mall was in 2002. It was not really busy then either (same time of year) but there were more stores open. I remember people hanging around that fireplace and always thought that was cool to see in a mall.
I think large malls in the last 10-15 years have added nice sofa, chair & decor places for tired shoppers or bored dads. Lol...
I never knew they had a mall. Love flagstaff and that area, drove thru plenty visiting friends when they lived in Phx driving from CO.
You should come back, lots of changes. Sears is now a Hobby Lobby, some new exterior tenants such as Starbucks. A new pizza place opened in the food court just at the start of the pandemic, but it’s thriving and has excellent food. There’s a gym by JC Penney’s. Denny’s closed suddenly last year. But somehow this place holds on.
I remember coming here all the time when I was younger. I got kicked out of Spencer’s during Halloween time, my cousins chased me around the store with a mask. I remember the place always being busy, sad to see it’s kinda dead.
This afternoon I was in the Valley View mall in Roanoke, VA. Good grief! They are doing really good as far as traffic goes! Couldn't get a seat a Buffalo Wild Wings without a wait! Had to wait in line at J.C. Penney to check out. In fact that was with two cashiers at the particular checkout I was at! Macy's was busy, Old Navy seemed busy too! I remember a couple years ago when this mall seemed to be dying! Things have definitely improved! Still not the "can't walk on the wrong side due to the huge number of shoppers" days we remember but better than 2017 for sure! Congratulations sir! You and I both know that if society survives, if the World continues, these historical accounts you are producing will remain for Centuries. Maybe Millennia! I call that leaving a mark!
Used to live in flagstaff, it’s nice to see how the mall is doing, love your work!!
We have a mall here in Chatham, ON that has barely any stores in it. It used to be a nice mall but now it’s bare and no one goes there. Surprisingly, we still have an Ardene and Dollarama.
Your vids are so informative and well ... I just like watching them. Thanks for all your efforts in posting them
I used to frequent this mall from the early 2000's-mid 2010's and it's never been /super/ busy, but it definitely was never this dead on a weekend afternoon
I used to work in this mall Jan ‘09 - Jul ‘10 and it definitely wasn’t quite dying back then. No way the food court would ever have been that empty on a Sunday during lunch time. The Denny’s was a Ruby Tuesday back then and got pretty decent business, as did the Sears.
If I had to put my finger on when this mall started dying it was probably around 2012/13 and believe it or not I’d say the corporate Verizon store moving out of its mall location and relocating closer to the center of town (Switzer Canyon and Rte 66) started doing the mall in. The corporate store brought A LOT of foot traffic to the mall as it was the only corporate Verizon store in all of northern Arizona at the time and especially after buying out Alltel they are BY FAR the most popular cell carrier in northern AZ. It was not longer after the corporate Verizon store moved out when I’d visit the mall and notice it was seeing a lot less foot traffic than it used to. There is an indirect (non-corporate) Verizon agent in the old corporate store’s location in the mall but they don’t do near the business the corporate store did.
That mall was dead at least as far back as 1999. I believe the space the Dennys is in used to be occupied by Ruby Tuesday.
I live in Michigan and there is no snow on the ground right now...but there is in AZ. Strange world
snow in VT and more to come by weekend :(
goodwi11 It's called elevation
Northern az such as Flagstaff gets quite a bit of snow. Believe it or not it's actually a huge ski/snowboarding destination.
@@08stanger AZ may be the greatest state then. I could handle the hot summers
@@goodwi11 Its especially nice in the summer. It gets the 90s but nowhere close to the inferno in phoenix.
I've worked at that mall for about 3 years now. Any time from january to about march or april, its going to be that dead.😂 summer time to january is pretty busy
I used to live in Flagstaff 20 years ago. I used to hang out at that mall a lot.. and it doesn't look like much has changed. Sundays never seemed that busy even back then.
It’s nice to see a mall that’s not completely dead. Although the future doesn’t look great here. There’s a few national tenants but for a Sunday there should be way more people. I also noticed that the Pacsun was closing in this video. Stores like Sunglass Hut, Buckle, Pacsun, Children’s Place and others are high end retailers that won’t survive in a struggling mall like this. I can’t see lots of the national tenants staying unless the mall is able to fill in some more vacant stores.
Thank you for showing this Mall. I love those bears! Especially the one doing the pirouette and the one coming out of a tree trunk!
I'm not from AZ but I have been to this mall! When I was 20, I drove out to AZ with a friend in the Air Force who was being stationed outside of Phoenix. She didn't want to drive the 2k miles by herself so we hit I40 and away we went. We stopped in Flagstaff for a few days bc we also wanted to go the Grand Canyon (which is like an hour away). While in Flagstaff we went to this Mall and I bought some CDs from the long gone Camelot Records that used to be there. Love Flagstaff, so beautiful. Southern AZ looks like a used litter box but the northern part is absolutely stunning!
Classic mall memories... Looks empty, but fairly bright and cheerful.
Oh my goodness I don’t remember the last time I saw a paper map since I think in the 90’s. It’s to bad I don’t have any of the old maps from the malls I visited when I was a kid. I have never seen a Denny’s attached to the mall. I absolutely love the music you have in the background. Thanks for posting man 😎.
Memories...wow. I went to NAU in the 80s. Bought a gray pinstripe suit at the JC Penney there to use for job interviews. You mentioned the Dillard's opening in 1986, I was there at that time and when I think about I seem to remember that being a big deal there. Can't believe it's been 30+ years, still seems like yesterday.
I remember when I was a kid and this mall first opened. It was so exciting then because the only other mall any where around was far away in Phoenix. Good childhood memories of the Flagstaff mall, sorry to see it fading.
That Christmas setup with the bears was really nice. It reminded me of something a mall near me used to do around Christmas. Instead of bears it was a train. A pretty big one and they used that white fluffy stuff for snow as well. It looked really nice. It was the mall that my family used to go to when I was a kid. I was in another local mall recently just after Christmas and they still had decorations up but it didn't look like they did much. But it was still nice to see. I miss going to malls for Christmas shopping.
Man, I lived from the age of 3-19 (1990-2006) in Flagstaff, and I have some good memories of that mall. The arcade isn't what it once was. It used to be more of that 80s feel, with the black lights, more games, though it was maybe 1.5 times bigger than what was shown here, but for a kid, it was awesome. And man, KB toys too.
I love passing by Flagstaff on trips. It’s so beautiful there.
Do you make a purchase in each Mall that you visit? I think you should make a point to do so, even if it's a package of gum.
edit: As I was writing this message you answered my question, lol. Yes, you do make a purchase. For that you earned my subscription!
One problem with enclosed malls is the aging of the population. Elderly people often have mobility problems and require a power cart with a built-in basket to do any reasonable dollar amount of shopping. Enclosed malls don't provide power carts. Freestanding big box stores do.
Another problem with enclosed malls was the well-publicized series of outbreaks of flash-mob violence orchestrated on social media that took place a few years ago. Adult customers, including myself, were leery of entering what could potentially become a deathtrap. Malls were no longer considered to be a safe space in which teenagers could entertain themselves with food, shopping, and movies.
In other countries, enclosed malls were targets of terrorist attacks.
Love that mall. This clip brought back many good memories, shopping there as a kid. Used to be a KB toy store.. of course that was my favorite store in those days. Used to have the fireplace going all the time in the winter, with couches all around it. There used to be huge rocks through out the mall too. Was very very nice place to go back in the 80's. Sad to see it so quiet.
Thank you So Much for this! I use to live in Flagstaff for several years and I did love living there. Summer Time is Perfect there but the Winter Times -oh my gosh! You learn about putting on Layers of Clothes on you or else that COLD WIND will go Right through your Bones! Other than that, I did love that Town.
I remember there was a Church near Downtown Flagstaff that had Gargoyles on the Outside of the Church at the top - that was really cool and strange to see that. Flagstaff had Wonderful Parks and Hiking Trails - it was so Good! I would like to come back and visit sometime in the future.
Gargoyles on the outside of a church?? Makes me wonder what kind of nefarious activities are going on inside. 😨😨😨😨
Yeah, it was weird but fascinating :)
I've been watching your videos for a long time now and the one thing I've not seen are interviews of employees in the dead malls. It might be cool to see what the troops in the trenches think.
Love your channel!
Here in Flagstaff, at 7,000 feet and only two hours north of Phoenix if you LIKE crowds, yes, it snows. We have a world class ski mountain that's also not crowded, the altitude keeps a lot of the Rif-Raf down.
You should make a video about the Crossroads Mall in Omaha, Nebraska. It was build in the 1960s with 2 major renovation in the 80s. One renovation was for the second floor that has been closed. There other one was a cosmetic renovation.There is a few shops still open. There is a Sears currently in Liquidation and will set to close around March. This Sears is the last Sears in the Omaha Area. A target is located on the property with the buildings attached but the internal mall entrance has been closed for over a year. There used to be a Dillard's but it moved to the 2 major malls of Omaha at Oak View and Westroads. Now the entire second floor is vacant the Dillard's wing is vacant but occasionally is used for shopping events. Most of the stores in the mall are mom and pop shops with the only exception would be the Braden's Noble Book Store. I had not been around when the mall was successful but I remember when I was really young maybe like 3 or 4 the Dillard's wing was open but there was only a few shops like Victoria Secret. If you want to know more about the mall you can reply with questions but I don't know everything about this mall.
I'm from the Hopi reservation and remember always stopping here in the late 90s and 2000s. It was always our first stop in Flagg. I barely remember what it looked like before they made the new main entrance and put in the fire place. It actually had a fire going All throughout winter. I remember Being a kid when the new play area was put in and the pretzel shop by it. I always had to go get a pretzel or an icee, or go further down for the roasted cinnamon almonds stand. The barber shop used to be a radio shack and I believe the Art room was the K.B. toy store. I remember three anchor blue sho store and buying my first mp3 player at that mall. Haha I sound old.
YAAAS I love this sad little mall!!! I love getting a pretzel and looking through Claire's!
I worked at the Eddie Bauer and Sears that were both origionally at the Flagstaff mall. It is suprising that they closed the Sears up here due to it being the only Sears in the region, but it makes sense too due to the company going under. And the Eddie Bauer just moved to a different part of town.
Last time I was at the Flagstaff Mall, the Denny's was a Ruby Tuesday.
We were there opening day way back when. Great times . . . loved it during Christmas. Not sure if the arcade is in the same place, but I donated soooo much money to the arcade there back in the 80s.
Quinte Mall in Belleville, ON has one of the few Denny's in Canada, but it's freestanding in the parking lot, not attached. It's pretty clean and not a bad place to stop if you're driving from Toronto to Ottawa or Montreal early in the morning.
Arcades are making a comeback because the teens that shopped at malls in the early 2000s now have kids of their own and bring them to the mall, so naturally the arcade companies saw this and started opening arcades again
Kris Fitzgerald When I used to live in San Diego the mission valley mall had a good sized arcade. It doesn’t look like it’s at the shopping center though.
Kris Fitzgerald They just put a Phantom Amusements Arcade at The Forks Market in Winnipeg, which is like a Mall
They also have easy cost management, after setup costs its very limited amounts of staff needed plus electricity and an adhoc engineer. Shops require a constant supply of merchandise ordered which eats into profit as you need someone ordering, restocking displays and till transactions. This is very likely not the same person but someone doing coin exchange and repairs in a small arcade could easily be the same person.
It's also something people don't have at home, specially arcade machines rather than the computer games themselves. They look to be mostly light gun, racing games, claw machines and air hockey which whilst you could get at home would be expensive and take up a lot of room. Clothes shopping on the other hand you get a very similar experience doing it from home, it's very easy to send stuff back you don't want so many people order huge hauls of clothes, then try them on at home and send back a large amount of it.
Your point also true just adding to why I think it's happening 😊.
This is a really sad arcade. I'm hoping for a return of the classic darkly lit Arcades.
I think the "revival" of arcades will be temporary, sadly. Nostalgia will run it's course, and it's not something people will keep pumping money into. Also declining birthrate and such.
Thanks for the ❤ I love Flagstaff and I like this Mall. This is more of the locals Mall as they also have the more touristy Old Town Shops.
My family lived in flagstaff for a few years in the late 80’s .
This mall always had junior high kids in there .
A skate store was there , also a chik fila .
The arcade was always jam packed with kids . Afterburner was sweet .
720 was great too .
It’s always been a slow mall in my opinion .
Youse should check out Chris town mall in Phoenix.
It’s got a Costco in it
Daniel Luna "Youse"? Are you from Philadelphia?
I live in Flagstaff and this is awesome! 🙌🏼🙏🏼 Love your content!
I was at the JC Penney last August. It was a little busy because of back to school shopping. It's nice shopping up there in August when it's 105 degrees in Phoenix.
I use to work there. They are trying to add more shops. I am so sad it’s not doing well.
Wow this looks so much like my local mall, if not ever so slightly bigger, and the backstory is even pretty similar. My mall is also pretty dead like this
If you ever go to Southern Oregon, you should check out Rogue Valley Mall in Medford. Over half of the spots are empty and they even still have a Sam Goody store! It's really depressing there but they have amazing cookies at the Cookie Connection!
Lindsey Marie Sam Goody still exists!! 🙀
I've been to the one at the Westfield Horton Plaza in downtown San Diego when it still existed...certainly an interesting store indeed.
@@TrainmasterCurt They even still give you a plastic bag with the Sam Goody name when you buy something there!
Lindsey Marie I live in Canada, so Sunrise Records is the closest thing, though we used to have Sam The Record Man
@Lindsey Marie
Time Travelling back to when this mall opened in 1979. Sam Goody!
ruclips.net/video/wyrqs3rawK4/видео.html
1989 ruclips.net/video/dhWHGieQix0/видео.html
The next town over is Prescott it’s a rehab/retirement town and their mall is very dead and interesting check it out sometime (:
I'm telling ya... Chandler fashion mall is a great mall to walk around
More than a decade ago, hell- 20 years ago, my parents and vacationed to AZ and went to Flag for a few days during the winter- snowed a few feet (mind you, we were from the east coast, the whole snow thing was the reason for visiting during that time- so we didn’t dress for the snow then). Went to this mall and shopped at the Dillard’s for some quick winter clothing (I remember this mall not for the mall itself, but the fact that the arcade had MK3- it was one of the beta test versions out about a few months before the public release of the full arcade cabinet to other malls and stores). Also, Dillard’s- there wasn’t a store called Dillard’s on the east coast.
They put a movie theater and gym as anchors at our mall. There is also talks of a Dave n Busters with a Buffalo Wild Wings going in once the JC Penny closes.
I shopped at Flagstaff mall about 2 years ago. It was pretty dead back then. Actually surprised how many retailers are still there. Wanted to say thank you for the awesome videos btw! Always interesting content and fun to watch. Keep up the great work!
It's a little bit busier than it was when you came here. But it's still deadville / zombieville...
Not much is different since when you were here. except the corridor going towards the JCPenney, there's a redevelopment area. There's some kind of little boat dealer or something, there's a couple of boats for sale on trailers in the corridor.
NY Hots is still open and they are really good.
And I totally agree, all of the staff are great. Even the janitors are cool.
By the way right now, the empty Sears store is occupied by a Halloween store.
I remember when the arcade was alot bigger then then what it is now there was a ballpit in the middle of it man those were good times
Loved doing Christmas shopping at the Flagstaff mall, liked the pet store that was once there...
I visited Flagstaff twice before the pandemic in late 2019 and early 2020, and I love the vibe of the city (not too hot like other places in AZ, and it's not too crowded either). Surprised to know that there's even a mall there (population doesn't seem to be able to support a mall), I'm willing to visit it in the near future.
Update about the flagstaff mall, The Old Sears anchor has been replaced with Hobby Lobby.
Another mall you may want to check out is the one in Prescott, AZ. I was there in September 2017, and it had very few stores and virtually no foot traffic.
I like you promote this mall-how you find the good things, here. Good job. I enjoy your video very much.
I used to go to Radio Shack when it was there. But, I still hit the Denny's frequently.
Try to go to rolling oaks mall and shopper city mall in San Antonio Texas.
I know it might not be worth your time to come all the way to WI, but I think the mall Brookfield Sqaure near Milwaukee is kind of a unique mall. It's pretty consistently busy despite only having one anchor, and due to the Sear's recent complete teardown, losing about a third of its parking capacity. Plus it has a lot of dead mall fixtures (b+b works, massage chairs, etc.) that still see regular business.
I live in Flagstaff and go to this mall ALL the time and it gets pretty full during weekends. I've been living in flag for 11 years
I used to work for a company that supplied outdoor lighting for Dillards. They were very particular about how the floodlights would distribute the lights on their exterior signs. No detail was overlooked which I'm sure was magnified 10X on interior details.
I absolutely love Flagstaff! This looked like an interesting mall!
was just here. the JC Pennys wing is completely dead. yet the old sears building has found life as a Hobby Lobby. Was wondering if you had filmed here, and hence here I am.
Also, those views of the mountain around the mall, gorgeous. 😍 Usually you only see highways around malls, maybe why those are more popular, haha.
Ohh before you went into the arcade I saw a sign for like an art gallery or something? I noticed that one of the malls i go to regularly is similar - it has open stores but few people coming through. And they opened up a really neat art studio there! I wonder if Flagstaff has a similar place? I love the idea of more malls becoming community places instead of husks of empty buildings.
I live in Flag for college and even though the mall is dead (compared to malls in Tucson), its still one of the few things there are to do here lmao
I used to live in Flagstaff when I was very young. Some of my fondest memories include going to the Flagstaff mall with my parents and getting candy from some quarter machines they used to have.... good times ;w;
Heres a Memory from the Mid 80's. We went to Flag for a High School Music Competition and Our Break/Pit Stop was the Mall. We had Lunch there and could Browse Around till We hit the Time Allotted. I Found the Arcade and the FIREPOWER Pinball Machine! Played the Game of MY LIFE!! Hit the High Score(Popped Free Game) and Got ANOTHER Free Game by Hitting the Lit 'Free Game' Pad. Had to Leave the Last Game as it was Time to Leave. :-( But Still Had FUN!!
I remember going there with my Grandmother, it once had some pretty eccentric stores. The one that I remember was a store that sold boom boxes, that was about 1986.
They used to have a ToysRus up there as well, that was back in the 1990's.
I once went there(back in the eighties) with a few of my cousins the day after Thanksgiving, it was literally wall to wall people.
It's kind of eerie to see you do videos on a place I've just been! I think this makes four malls now....
The last time I was at the Flagstaff Mall was last summer, on a weekday evening and a Sunday afternoon. The mall actually seemed to have more foot traffic on weekdays, and the parking lot was pretty full. There were empty stores then, too, but I've come to expect that in any mall these days. I would expect a lot of the foot-traffic falloff to be from the loss of Sears, which drove a lot of business (that Sears was the largest in Northern AZ, if I recall correctly....).
Reminds me of the Everett Mall in Everett Washington especially the stonework on the pillars. Looks a little like the same people remodeled this mall remodeled the Everett mall in Everett Washington.
I lived in AZ, visited Sedona and Flagstaff often. That’s very sad, to see. I always thought that was a cool, well maintained, nicely designed mall with good people.
I remember when the arcade was bigger then that and where the bathrooms are there used to be a movie theater
Most of the remaining stores in this Mall are locked into some really bad leases, many entered into when the place was a lot busier. For some, getting out would bring harsh terms so it's easier just to gut it out. Cypress has a mixed reputation in the biz and is known for holding tenants feet to the lease fire. Some leasers, for example, have leases with clauses saying there will be major anchors 'in operation' to remain effective. Sears has kept many stores open just to keep other leases in place. Others just go to the winds, such as the Landmark Mall in Alexandria, VA. All the stores except Sears bolted. Only Sears had their own negotiated lease and were allowed to stay at their leisure.