As soon as you went into the call center, I realized I’d been there. I went back in my photos and found two pictures from the day I went to that call center to observe employees taking calls so I could design their new case management app. I took screenshots of parts of your video and compared them to the couple I took. That was really cool to see. Thanks for posting it.
Allorica call center use to be called "NCO" and prior to that, Protocol Global Solutions. It had an "outbound" call center for CIBC called "Aegon". Outbound = call out to people on an automatic dialer. In bound CIBC ran from 4PM to 1 AM. How I remember.
I remember visiting this mall near its end and saying to my then girlfriend that this place wont be around for long and that we should admire it before it becomes a memory of the past. Soon enough this day has came and I'm glad you made a video of this mall.
Wow, this one hit me. This was the first video of yours where you went to a place I've been to A LOT... and boy was it a bit heavier watching this than I'd've thought... I went to High School right around the corner from this mall in a huge building that's also now abandoned, and my friends and I used to skip class to hang out here quite a bit. Later on, I worked at the call centre and, holy moly, you literally stopped at my old desk. 😳 My job there was to sell people insurance for their home furnaces as they were calling in for their broken furnace. I kid you not! People called in angry about the service guy not showing up, and I had to try and upsell them insurance... It was... well, it was a terrible job! 😬 While it's sad to see something so nostalgic go-you are totally right-it was so closed off to the rest of the neighbourhood, this building was always doomed. Honestly, I find it difficult to understand why people thought it would succeed. It's like Robert Moses-style thinking in the era of Jane Jacobs. The new building proposed has much better cohesion with the neighbourhood, and even reestablishes some of the lost streets from this development but as pedestrian-oriented streets! ...I will say though, the new proposal does have an abysmal lack of bell towers! 🙃
I was actually thinking "I wonder who placed that pair of headphones exactly like that so many years ago and were they left like that until he picked them up again?", and maybe that person was actually you? :P
Its such a crime that they demolished the old city hall. That was such a beautiful building. I must agree that the inside of the mall looks pretty but its such a shame that so many nice buildings got sacrificed for such a failure of a project.
We’ll be saying the same about this place in 30 years. Regretting that we demolished a lovely useful building. That atrium is stunning and the entire thing looks well-built. What a waste to build something so grand then discard it in 3-4 decades. I would love to see these malls converted into redone senior centers. Reuse escalators, elevators, mechanicals, food courts. Just covert the larger anchor stores into hundreds of multi-unit studio apartments. Use smaller stores as service providers: medical, dental, cellular, insurance, cinemas, small retailers like pharmacies, etc. Food courts for food. Seniors could have essentially indoor-cities they would not have to leave often to get their needs met. If you could put 500 apts in there, you could get 5 million/month just in apartment rentals, let alone rental of small retail spaces. I’d pay 10K per month rent to run a small deli-counter out of there. If you give the retailers an exclusive contract within the space, you’d have lots of entrepreneurs take those spots. Say one to two of each kind of service. The idea of being retired and living in a retirement village is desirable to a lot of older citizens, especially when it is more economical than owning a large single-family home, and security can be provided for the whole community. No one gets in without badges or being buzzed in, like most senior centers. If we give older citizens safe, attractive, affordable living options, many would give up their single family homes and there would be more housing available for families.
@@theDurgaLove Some of those rooms have OBVIOUSLY not been touched in decades. Some of the stuff on the third floor might be from the last two years but some of that is a clear time capsule to a different decade.
Honestly, as someone who worked in a retail store who had a normal thief who kept stealing HUNDREDS of merch (We couldn't do much except have someone descretly follow them and give CCTV footage to police who did NOTHING) having a wall of shame is rather brilliant.
I visited a store where they would make photocopies of bad checks as large posters and hang them near the front door. I bet THAT was a major deterrent.
I did that at one of the stores I was a manager at. I had taken over a store with a really high theft issue and needed to put a stop to it. We were discrete about it though, because corporate felt weird about blatantly posting people as thieves. So I just started asking all sorts of regular customers if we could take a photo of them for our "customer appreciation display". Then I started putting them up on the wall by the doors leading to the back room, under a sign saying "Our valued customers". The ones on the bigger section to the left of the door were actually valued customers, the ones on the right of it were suspected shoplifters we wanted employees to watch closely. It was always entertaining seeing the scummy ones pose and smile really big, thinking we were complimenting them by asking to post them lol.
Theft and crime is a major reason why inner city malls don't work. Inner city District attorneys won't prosecute petty crimes and the cops don't care. The streets and retail areas become unsafe and are taken over by crime. If you are going to operate a mall it is better off doing it in the suburbs.
When i worked at Sobeys they had something similar to that, only upstairs for only Employees to see and i guess memorize faces(?).. Much of it didn't matter anyways.. Because policy was to: "witness the theft occur . Not take your eyes off the person.. But then inform a supervisor. ..." and a few more steps I think, but the step 2 and 3 always seemed so counter intuitive cause you gotta take your eyes off them to find a manager, and even worse since I worked nights, so there was no manager! Shrugs....
@@Envirotech Yeah doesn't sound like that would work very well. We would sometimes follow that same procedure on the first go around ourselves in order to 100% confirm the person was an actual thief and not just a suspected one. That's because a false accusation is a huge liability issue that can cost way more than the value of whatever they stole, so you have to be super careful they don't ditch whatever you saw them conceal. However we always had at least one manager on staff at all times. So once an employee would report what they had seen to the manager, they would review video and pull copies and take a statement from the employee about what had just occurred if they were unable to get the manager's attention on the first incident. All employees would then be informed that person was confirmed to have been caught removing merchandise from the store. When that person would re-enter the store again we didn't wait for them to start stealing. The manager would be notified as soon as they were seen coming in, and the employees would then visually watch them while the manager actively tracked them via cameras and called the police. When they exited the second time with unpaid merch it would be to find the cops outside waiting for them around the corner, not visible from the doors. Sometimes the footage allowed us to press charges for both thefts on the second shot if it showed them concealing stuff and was clear the employee maintained visual on the first, but either way we caught quite a few with at least one charge.
Every abandoned-type video I've seen is fascinating to me, but this one hit me real hard. Seeing you walk around by yourself, completely silent with no one around, looking at history...incredible.
I used to work at the call centre just over a decade ago, though back then it wasn't called "Alorica". Pretty crazy to see how much they left behind. Lot of memories in that dead mall, been waiting for you to do this video ever since the place closed. Amazing work.
Thank you for doing this man. I remember as a child visiting my grandma in Hamilton fondly and being in this mall as some of my earliest memories. It really seemed like the capital of the world to me from that perspective at that time.
Yes, Jackson Square is a bit rough around the edges, but it's actually a useful place. People who live or work in downtown Hamilton can go there to buy groceries, or eat at the seemingly quite popular food court or watch a movie, or buy something at one of the dozens of stores. It isn't the fancy mall it was originally envisioned to be, but it's in better shape than most similar downtown malls I've seen in America (Main Place Mall in Buffalo, for example). The real mistake was building a second mall
@@sacvideo1998 building a second mall rarely works out well. Tho... here in Orlando it did work for a while, in two separate areas. The Colonial Plaza "shopping center" was converted to a true "mall" in the mid 1960's, then a decade later a much larger from the start mall was constructed about half a mile away. Fashion Square Mall still stands with a couple of anchor stores and lots of sad empty spaces. The site of the first "mall" was redeveloped in the very late 1990's into an open air, spread out, shopping center as "Colonial Marketplace" and is still mostly there. One of the large "legacy" malls near the tourist area had a open air "outlet mall" built less than two miles away, as well.
I was hit with such a blast from the past when seeing this thumbnail. I remember skulking around this mall back in like 2014-2015 when we'd go to ConBravo at the nearby convention centee. It was still open, but even back then it only had like 5 stores. Actually walking the place felt surreal, like I was stepping into a time capsule every time we went in. I had no idea it closed completely (I'm not from the area). Thank you for covering this; it feels really bittersweet to see the place as it is now.
@@ComplexMotivationsThey closed it Dec. 31st, 2022, my friend. But you're right, barely two years, and people act like it's a forgotten, ancient relic.
@@ComplexMotivations I'm glad others are commenting to clarify. This video is very misleading, suggesting that the city of Hamilton has left this mall to rot for 30 years. It's totally wrong.
Pictures of the office being constructed while you're exploring the long abandoned shell of itself is excellent environmental storytelling that's crazy
ngl, if I saw that in a video game I'd think it was lazy writing. And then he found pictures of the office's construction in the office. That's me told, ig.
That was always my favorite part and why I dislike vandalism so much , the intact files and maps and little bits of life that got left behind and history from the people who lived it.
It's eerie to think that while the rest of the world has moved on, there are tiny interior spaces that are closed off from the rest of society that have effectively become time capsules. No one has been there for ages, but everything inside is from the time it was sealed and forgotten. The modern tomb.
It's only been closed since December 2022, how is that a time capsule? Don't believe everything you hear on RUclips, I currently live in Hamilton. The guy who made this documentary is just making you think their more to this, to make it more interesting. The developer who owns this mall, is going to make it into condo's, as they are doing through out most of downtown of Hamilton.
In 1990 I was in my early 20s and in college engaged to my wife also in college. This was when the mall was in the center of Gen Xers coming of age. There was so much hope and optimism for the future. To see malls like this in such a dilapidated condition is just depressing. I wish the younger generations could feel and sense what those times were like. It really was a chilling time.
I was born in 1990 and I remember most malls that were built in the late 1980s and 1990s had similar architecture style as this mall. This brings back so many memories of my early childhood. When I became a teenager is when malls were a starting to decline in popularity.
You’re just a couple years older than me, and I feel the same way about malls similar to this, particularly Metrocenter in Phoenix. It’s something younger generations will never really understand.
In the 90s you felt safe forever. Nothing was going to threaten you in your life time, because you were lucky to be born at the end of history and the ultimate utopian victory of democracy. It was only onward to space from here on out. I was there, I remember it.
gen x interests me so much. im gen z but growing up there was never an optimism like that for the future. I really wonder how it must feel to grow up in a time where the future is something exciting instead of something to fear
@@mimii444 actually it is not that dissimilar. The "optimism" was mostly attitude and some degree of privilege. The 1980's and 1990's had higher average crime rates, more poverty, and slightly more unemployment (and less choice of everything). It gets harder to explain that it was easier to... "buy in" to hope for a better future, and / or a self deceiving "utopia" at those times. Some aspects of daily life have changed - there are far more "mass shootings" today in America, there is far more divisiveness, and the 24 hour news cycle with social media means we know far too much about far too many negative things all around us in the world (which is probably the biggest driver of overall unhappiness for many people). The world has changed, but not as much as people, their perceptions, and their... "hopes" (or what they hope for, and peoples' ability to find hopefulness, because they know too much that now drains hope away).
I have to feel bad for cities that gutted their downtowns for these sorts of malls, only to have the trend end in the last two decades and end up with these broken downtowns, where if they kept the original character and space that could easily be improved upon and brought into modern use. No way they could've known
My town had a really interesting relationship with its mall. It started as a simple downtown street with stores that lined both sides. When malls became in vogue, they closed the street, put a roof over it that spanned from one set of buildings to the other, sat a fountain in the middle, and called it the Downtown Mall. It lasted almost two decades. When it started to die, the town voted to just remove the roof and the fountain and put a road back in. Tada! Downtown Mall just becomes Downtown again, and as a result, local businesses moved back in, and it's still going strong to his day.
Whats incredible about something abandoned. Grown men and women couldn't keep up with the bills and maintenance. Why is this incredible. U all need real jobs. This isnt entertainment. Thumbs down brugh
I believe the death of car culture contributed to the death of mall culture. For that matter, I believe there has been ample evidence of what has been coming for a long time, which includes most humans being priced out of living on every square of dirt in the country (Grants Pass v Johnson, Boise v Martin) while breathing in toxic fumes and eating microplastics.
"drove by this place but I didn't know it was abandoned" that is why it is bankrupt and abandoned. I had the same deal with a chocolate that went of the market, I was surprised and upset, until I though about when last I purchased one...
it’s crazy that all those old computers are still in there. man i’d like to boot up one of those for nostalgia’s sake i also love the old signage and ads. i’m a graphic designer and 80s/90s/00s design always fascinates me.
You produce some great videos! I was home sick the other day and discovered your channel. I literally watch 10 hours of your videos. It was great and they are so informative. I love the mystery behind vacant and closed down abandoned places.
The office section had to have been updated at some point after 2000. The computers are Dell Optiplex Series 2 Midnight Gray computers were manufactured between 2000 and 2004.
@@TardisntimbitsYes agree, interesting to see but one minute these clothes are from 1990, then next this board is from 2005. And clearly mid 2000's PCs 😊
@@Tardisntimbits I think the only way this would have made sense is if some parts of the mall closed up early, and were just boarded up. If they were in use, then someone likely would have refreshed the offices with newer computers.
@@benjaminrobinson3842 Yeah, thinking on it, when I was working in there, it was already in decline, but I worked for one of the stores. I never got to see the offices. Then again...if the pcs were doing the bare minimum, who knows. I worked at a call center elsewhere in Hamilton, and those pcs were...not...new.
This was a fun look inside an abandoned mall, but for me the most fantastic part was the cinematography! Some of your shots were STUNNING! Especially the bits at the end! I don't know much about film, but I was very impressed.
I usually don't care for crap like this. But he had me interested in it from start to finish. In the beginning, I looking for someone to tell him to, "get out of here".
So sad to see the decay. In the mid 2010s it was basically empty outside of a few stores but still well maintained. The difference between it and Jackson Square was stark then but now ... what a disgrace to have this at the "center" of the downtown
Thank you so very much for capturing this mall in such thorough detail before it eventually gets completely demolished. I grew up close to this mall and went there with my grandpa and grandma every weekend for my entire childhood. Sadly, my grandpa passed away, but the fact that you captured this mall in this video means I can forever re-visit this video to feel a blast of nostalgia for that time period in my life. I always love watching content on abandoned places, but it hits different when its a place you've actually been to when it was still around, especially so often. Thank you from the bottom of my heart
This is exactly like the 5th Avenue Mall in Anchorage Alaska. When I moved there in 2008, I'd say it was at its highest plateau but quickly declining. It' anchor store, Nordstrom, closed its doors in 2019. That's why I went there to shop. The mall was gorgeous, a great overpass, had to take an elevator to get to the top floor food court, it was the heart of shopping down town. I just hope that space gets repurposed to serve the community.
HCC looks just like Towson Town Center in Baltimore, MD! It’s amazing because all three malls were built by different companies. Same architect maybe? Towson Town Center is still going strong but i don’t know for how much longer.
I'm used to Escalators here in Oregon for the Mezzanine. Isn't it strange how malls seem to universally put them on the second or third floors? I've always wondered why that is.
I haven’t been there since I lived in Alaska in 2018 but I will say that that mall in particular gave strong “could be a dead mall one day” energy even before the pandemic
I was about to say the same thing! I grew up going to 5th Ave for all my shopping and this is definitely in the same style, with the glass elevator in the center and the long corridors.
One of the two malls I grew up with got demolished a few years ago. Was the one with a gaming LAN center across the hall from a pizza parlor. It’s a weird feeling to realize the places I formed lifelong memories literally don’t exist physically in this reality anymore. Just ephemeral memories that will distort/decay as I get old without any trace of its existence. “C’est la vie”
Please do more & keep doing abandoned retail, Jake. This is what drew me to Dan's & your channels years ago. I find these particular vids of yours to feel the most personal as evidenced by the tonality in your commentary during your visits compared to your other videos.
It was sad seeing something that people enjoyed fall into ruin but the thing that got me was seeing the photographs in the office of them painting the walls and moving in. They were so proud of what they were making, kinda wanna know what happened to that firm 😔
Jake you're the best modern history teacher. BSF uploads are always a treat. That last part I can't help but think how much city government forced gentrification played a part in this urban development, seeing how shortsighted and defensive feeling withthe lack of street access the development seemed to be. I wonder what shops and livelihoods were "relocated" in order to build this giant "safer" mall.
When I think of suburban shopping centers, I think of Strip Malls, and their giant, oversize, sprawling, parking laden cousins, Shopping Centers (now branded as "Lifestyle Centers"). When I hear Mall, I think of actual malls, ones where though they still had multiple massive parking garages and/or endless sprawling parking lots, they are all self-contained into one giant building. Think Lloyd Center in Portland, Oregon, Mall of America in MSP, or if you want to get far more local to where I'm from, Washington Square in Tigard, Oregon.
@@olivier2553 Ironically, Washington Square has both, though the transit is strictly local bus routes, and not multi-modal (stares at Europe and Chicago)
@@TheCriminalViolin as long as the local buses conveniently connect to some train or other transports that reach outside of the city center. One can not really expect using public transport without the need to connect two routes, but as long as the connections are close enough and do not request a long wait, it is still OK. I guess.
The same thing.was tried in downtown Philadelphia. It did work for a while. It was redone and did seem to be working...then the pandemic happened. Sigh...
I will never...... ever.......... for the life of me understand how people allowed developers to convince the populous that OUTDOOR, UNPROTECTED, UNCONDITIONED shopping centers were somehow superior to a heated, cooled, sheltered one stop shopping center experience. Shopping malls were the BEST and that's not just my nostalgia.
online shopping is what killed the mall. those ugly big box open air malls did pull some of the customers away but they're not exactly the same. they're just giant parking lots with a bunch of huge stores around the perimeter. it's online shopping that totally decimated traditional retail. the big box stores like walmart and costco killed mom and pop small businesses (aka killed main street) and online, overnight extremely cheap shipping with usually hassle free returns killed a lot of the mall traffic. some still thrive, especially like mega malls where the sheer size of it is what draws people there, but the days of every neighbourhood having its own mall like this complete with the awesome 1990s aesthetics with teal/pink/white colours and lights everywhere are simply a thing of the past now. zoomers will never understand what hanging out at the mall truly means haha
Yeah, I was thinking this mall would have been a pleasant place to work if you were an office worker, rather than retail. Even if it were just a few stores and a food court on the first level, the atrium layout had a nice atmosphere.
There’s an indoor/outdoor mall near where I grew up that has office space and apartments either right near the mall or on top of some of the outdoor stores. Said mall is also doing really well as far as I know with loads of activity and consistently full parking lots, so it is a model that can work.
BINGO! Whomever was responsible should have been criminally charged for negligence when the studies were done as to whether or not a mall would be truly viable there. Historic buildings like that should NEVER be demolished, where were the preservation societies in this???
Some of those black desktop computers in the office part are Dell Optiplexs from the early/mid 2000s, so not quite untouched since 1990 but still rather close.
I really loved seeing this mall. It is so crazy to see such an abandoned mall in a decent state like this. I was expecting much worse especially vandalism wise for being in a urban environment. Also, I really loved the touch of Lola at the end there. My family sings it to our dog Lola all the time. I just let her inside and that really tickled me.
I live and grew up in this city. Many visits as a kid when we visited downtown, especially during the holidays to see Santa at the atrium in the thumbnail. Before it closed I went to take some photographs, and document its final days. I have it on my insta page, and even edited a bunch to give that vapourwave/90's nostalgia aesthetic. It's getting torn down in the coming years... Super glad to see it immortalized on such a fantastic channel. I hope we get to see the 'glass bridge' on the 3rd floor! 😅TYVM Bright Sun Films!
Hey Jake thanks for filming this I watch all your videos and love all the abandoned videos and would never think that I would see this mall on youtube. Glad you did this lots of memories here for me as I've been born and raised in Hamilton and this was a big part of my younger years. Thanks again for on more look can't wait to see what you do next.
in 1982-83 cadillac fairview also developed and built the esplanade mall in kenner, la (right outside new orleans) it too is a complete time capsule with very similar interior finishes. it is also closed, never reopened after hurricane ida. you’d love it jake!
Hey man i love your content ive been watching since 2018 i have always appreciated your attention to detail in your videos which i hope to one day be able to do myself thanks man and keep up the great content
I really appreciate the take on infrastructure projects and how they were never designed to last the test of time. I would love to see an episode on the buffalo area malls, we have Eastern Hills, closed with redevelopment plants along with the Boulvard Mall. The Mainplace mall downtown which is arguably even worse looking that the one of this video. Thanks again for the great content!
Wow that brings back memories. I remember my parents taking me to that mall when I was younger and lived in Ontario. It’s crazy how it’s basically stuck in time.
I remember as a kid when they built this, and I used to go down there with my mom. But we stopped when the area got pretty dangerous. That whole area up until about 10 or 15 yrs ago was a place you just didn't visit let alone shop. Jackson square is equally less desirable and if it wasn't for the arena and market most of that place would be unused. Downtown Hamilton needs a massive clean up in this block area. Such a prime real estate.
@@Nick-ue7iwThe story of most of the malls of this style is the exact opposite of that. They were built to be separated from the "scary" downtown by a fortress-like exterior, and that was supposed to be their appeal. But then downtowns became cool again and being isolated became a bad thing that caused them to fail.
Brilliant job as always!!❤❤ We absolutely love all your vids and have been regular viewers for a very long time around 2014 ,,for those who don't know, that Wall of shame is pictures of people who got caught shoplifting or writing bad checks, businesses around here have them also
Been watching your videos since 2016, first time my neck of the woods has been seen. That place really was a time capsule. Would have been cool to see a video on the old Centre mall as well, met its fate around the same time as rolling acres.
I use to work downtown Hamilton from early 1980's to mid 1990's. The third floor was suppose to have retail stores, but that never happened. It was a white elephant from the beginning. When Eaton's closed, the mall was doomed.
The interior of this place is beautiful, I'm crazy about the ceiling skylights and the specific tiling, colors of paint, and those metal features all scream late 80's. The clock tower is charming, but the lack of street access and lousy parking situation are so frustrating! It's no wonder it died a horrible death.
Yeah, I agree! I’d never seen the inside, but I was really surprised at how nice the vibe was. But from the outside, it’s awful - just that long wall along James street with just one or two boarded up entrances
If you think the story of this mall is infuriating... Oh *_boy_* does the City of Hamilton have multiple documentaries' worth of historical administrative incompetence for ya xD
most of my family live in Hamilton and when i visited back in the day, I remember we frequently went to this mall.. it was wonderful for us at the time..(walking distance ) I will be visiting again in 2 days and naturally will walk by and remember it fondly as I head into Jackson Square. Great video~~
I worked for Eatons in the early 1990’s. There was a lot of hope put on that project back then. But location and access always seemed to work against it. And a lot of us in other stores could see it was always in the bottom group of stores. It’s sad the original City Hall was demolished for what turned out to be a white elephant. And sad that Hamilton is having a tough time getting the redevelopment off the ground On a different note It’s interesting to look at that food court. Almost identical to the Path under the Sheraton Centre in Toronto
It's a stark contrast between the interior and exterior to be sure... but wow! What were they thinking? It doesn't fit with the rest of the city centre, it replaced far more beautiful buildings and it's an untended mess that's just a few winters away from collapsing. Still, nice to see some things from the 90's that were the same as over here.
Working next store from here and being there the last few days before it all closed, it's amazing to see it's condition over just a few years. Thank you for the peek!
It gets worse as you grow older… entire neighborhoods disappear and younger generations grow up believing that historical events that you personally witnessed, such as the 1969 moon landing, never happened.
@PerfectInterview one of my concerns is entire Neighbourhoods just showing up out of nowhere like someone just dropped them off and left them there. sprawling suburbs. I went to an area that used to be literally just farmers fields and a fairgrounds, that I had seen only three years prior. this freaking place was a full on township. school, townhouses everywhere, like four or five restaurants, a doctors office, grocery store and three Tim Hortons. it can't possibly be healthy to just throw all those houses up like that. I mean, I don't even know if the foundation could have finished setting how fast they moved people into them.
@@PerfectInterview I think alot of the younger generation is just dense though because so many young adults were completely convinced covid was fake too. like all those people got sick for no reason.
Wow, amazing! I walk by this building quite frequently, and it never really occurred to me that this place was different than Jackson Square. The architecture and interior design of this old abandoned mall to me has a close resemblance to Woodbine Centre, another Southern Ontario shopping mall that is currently on the way to becoming a dead space.
Oh man. This one is a treat, I used to visit this mall, alongside Jackson Square with my mother. Even back in 2006/07/08/09 this mall just felt Dead. Such Nostalgia in that Hart and Dollar store.
I'm a bit older than you, I'll be 50 this year. I've seen highs and the falls of malls. This one seems to have been doomed from the start. Great video, as always.
The main surprise is seeing all of the abandoned furniture and equipment. At least some of it must have had some value and could have been sold. It looks like something from the Twilight Zone, abandoned when a poison gas cloud was about to descend.
I remember going to Eaton Center Toronto back in the 80's. It was gorgeous. Some of these shots, especially the offices, look like people were 'taken', just snatched right up and they were gone. Creepy. Great video!
Another great video from the guys at Bright Sun Films! I love these dead mall videos, as someone who was a kid in the 1980s I remember Malls when they were in their prime and how they used to be the place to be! So these videos bring back memories and also a melancholy sadness of longing for the old times. Thank you for your dedication in going and documenting these malls and for the history lessons about malls I otherwise never would have seen. It sounds so strange to tell younger people today, but back when I was a kid in the 80s and 90s my parents would take me to a mall every weekend, and even when we went on vacation out of state or to the beach we'd still go to the nearest mall. That's how central malls used to be for getting nearly everything you needed before the stores like Walmart came along with groceries and a one stop shop. I miss the days of the stores like Sears, JC Penneys and others having tailors/seamstresses and even cafeterias with amazing food in them. The biggest change is that there is no customer service like that anywhere anymore. One day, probably not in my lifetime but something like Malls will make a come back and they'll replace what we have now. Because online shopping is really no different than the catalog shopping that Sears and Penney's had long before malls. People will go back to wanting to see what they are buying before buying it and brick and mortar will make a major return in the future.
The office you were first in, must've been still active into the early to mid 2000's. Those Dell computers were office and school staples until the mid 2000's and maybe even a bit beyond. I certainly remember them in my high school in 2004.
My dad worked in this mall for pretty much my entire life. I was one of the last people to step foot in here before it closed for good. Even empty it was still full of life. It’s saddening to see such a big part of my childhood turn into this 😢
I'm starting to feel like my local mall - The Parks at Arlington in Texas - is one of the last in the country that's thriving, and even then I think it's on the _cusp_ of beginning the downward trajectory because it's feeling less and less safe. As a 5'2" woman I certainly don't go there alone anymore. The last time I DID go in there was to have an eye exam and get new glasses, and it seemed to be at probably 85% occupancy? 90%? It opened in the late '80s when I was three, and my mom said she took me there on opening day. I've only ever left the DFW area to go to college, so that mall has been a major presence for my entire life. And I remember it looking a LOT like this place when I was a kid. Those chairs especially... _woof_ they are _gloriously_ early '90s. 😂
It realy was. Not perfect of course, but far less political divided, same with culture. Was a time where it felt like things and people were getting together and mostly had fun. But it also depended on where you lived of course.
One huge benefit of Detroit was how they were too broke back then to demolish many of their old buildings and sites, unlike many other cities. Now, many are being restored to their former glory, knowing how valuable they are now.
The music goes perfect with this! It’s like the fall of an era…kids these days will never know what it was like going to the mall to hang with friends on a Saturday :(
The mall was actually open to the public until a few years ago. At the end, it was mostly liquidation/dollar store type businesses, and some ethnic supermarkets.
![Felix "Unfair" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Oswujxm2Ag0/mqdefault.jpg)
As soon as you went into the call center, I realized I’d been there. I went back in my photos and found two pictures from the day I went to that call center to observe employees taking calls so I could design their new case management app. I took screenshots of parts of your video and compared them to the couple I took. That was really cool to see. Thanks for posting it.
isn't this the New Radicals mall? from the video
@@emilioazcarraga2024 No, that was the Staten Island Mall.
@@shunk826 ohhh the thumbnail reminded me of the video, you only get what you give whoaaaa
i used to work there! it was called protocol when i worked there.
Allorica call center use to be called "NCO" and prior to that, Protocol Global Solutions.
It had an "outbound" call center for CIBC called "Aegon". Outbound = call out to people on an automatic dialer.
In bound CIBC ran from 4PM to 1 AM.
How I remember.
the transition at 1:02 was so creative. from being outside to inside
I remember visiting this mall near its end and saying to my then girlfriend that this place wont be around for long and that we should admire it before it becomes a memory of the past. Soon enough this day has came and I'm glad you made a video of this mall.
at least it's not a memory of the FUTURE
Same. Closed shortly before I left Hamilton. Glad I got to walk through this place so many times and admire the nostalgia
Did she let you poke her before you broke up? Or did you follow the relationship through?
@@SanchoPanza-m8m she died you callous bastard
@@SanchoPanza-m8m
I wanna kno her response.
“Your a kind of different guy eh? Most guys just take me to bars or pool halls”
Wow, this one hit me. This was the first video of yours where you went to a place I've been to A LOT... and boy was it a bit heavier watching this than I'd've thought... I went to High School right around the corner from this mall in a huge building that's also now abandoned, and my friends and I used to skip class to hang out here quite a bit. Later on, I worked at the call centre and, holy moly, you literally stopped at my old desk. 😳
My job there was to sell people insurance for their home furnaces as they were calling in for their broken furnace. I kid you not! People called in angry about the service guy not showing up, and I had to try and upsell them insurance... It was... well, it was a terrible job! 😬
While it's sad to see something so nostalgic go-you are totally right-it was so closed off to the rest of the neighbourhood, this building was always doomed. Honestly, I find it difficult to understand why people thought it would succeed. It's like Robert Moses-style thinking in the era of Jane Jacobs. The new building proposed has much better cohesion with the neighbourhood, and even reestablishes some of the lost streets from this development but as pedestrian-oriented streets!
...I will say though, the new proposal does have an abysmal lack of bell towers! 🙃
I was actually thinking "I wonder who placed that pair of headphones exactly like that so many years ago and were they left like that until he picked them up again?", and maybe that person was actually you? :P
Weird. In some places service is provided by purchasing fuel.
wow, we found your headphones!
15:17
Any day we get a BSF vid is a good day
Fr
Real
So right
Its such a crime that they demolished the old city hall. That was such a beautiful building.
I must agree that the inside of the mall looks pretty but its such a shame that so many nice buildings got sacrificed for such a failure of a project.
It's how we do. We build on top of what was before and permit pride.
the old city hall was knocked down long before this mall was built there was a eatons store on that site before the mall and after City Hall.
We’ll be saying the same about this place in 30 years. Regretting that we demolished a lovely useful building. That atrium is stunning and the entire thing looks well-built. What a waste to build something so grand then discard it in 3-4 decades. I would love to see these malls converted into redone senior centers. Reuse escalators, elevators, mechanicals, food courts. Just covert the larger anchor stores into hundreds of multi-unit studio apartments. Use smaller stores as service providers: medical, dental, cellular, insurance, cinemas, small retailers like pharmacies, etc. Food courts for food. Seniors could have essentially indoor-cities they would not have to leave often to get their needs met. If you could put 500 apts in there, you could get 5 million/month just in apartment rentals, let alone rental of small retail spaces. I’d pay 10K per month rent to run a small deli-counter out of there. If you give the retailers an exclusive contract within the space, you’d have lots of entrepreneurs take those spots. Say one to two of each kind of service. The idea of being retired and living in a retirement village is desirable to a lot of older citizens, especially when it is more economical than owning a large single-family home, and security can be provided for the whole community. No one gets in without badges or being buzzed in, like most senior centers. If we give older citizens safe, attractive, affordable living options, many would give up their single family homes and there would be more housing available for families.
That pile of receipts! Old records always fascinate me. Meticulously recorded details of things that no longer are.
Just wait until you find out about the "Sumerian" accounting clay tablets. Mind blown!
*me who just found a model kit from 1997 in storage* 👀
You would love the basement levels at the old hospital that I used to work at.
You mean, the past two years? It closed 2 years ago.
@@theDurgaLove Some of those rooms have OBVIOUSLY not been touched in decades. Some of the stuff on the third floor might be from the last two years but some of that is a clear time capsule to a different decade.
Honestly, as someone who worked in a retail store who had a normal thief who kept stealing HUNDREDS of merch (We couldn't do much except have someone descretly follow them and give CCTV footage to police who did NOTHING) having a wall of shame is rather brilliant.
I visited a store where they would make photocopies of bad checks as large posters and hang them near the front door. I bet THAT was a major deterrent.
I did that at one of the stores I was a manager at. I had taken over a store with a really high theft issue and needed to put a stop to it. We were discrete about it though, because corporate felt weird about blatantly posting people as thieves. So I just started asking all sorts of regular customers if we could take a photo of them for our "customer appreciation display". Then I started putting them up on the wall by the doors leading to the back room, under a sign saying "Our valued customers". The ones on the bigger section to the left of the door were actually valued customers, the ones on the right of it were suspected shoplifters we wanted employees to watch closely. It was always entertaining seeing the scummy ones pose and smile really big, thinking we were complimenting them by asking to post them lol.
Theft and crime is a major reason why inner city malls don't work. Inner city District attorneys won't prosecute petty crimes and the cops don't care. The streets and retail areas become unsafe and are taken over by crime. If you are going to operate a mall it is better off doing it in the suburbs.
When i worked at Sobeys they had something similar to that, only upstairs for only Employees to see and i guess memorize faces(?).. Much of it didn't matter anyways.. Because policy was to: "witness the theft occur . Not take your eyes off the person.. But then inform a supervisor. ..." and a few more steps I think, but the step 2 and 3 always seemed so counter intuitive cause you gotta take your eyes off them to find a manager, and even worse since I worked nights, so there was no manager! Shrugs....
@@Envirotech Yeah doesn't sound like that would work very well. We would sometimes follow that same procedure on the first go around ourselves in order to 100% confirm the person was an actual thief and not just a suspected one. That's because a false accusation is a huge liability issue that can cost way more than the value of whatever they stole, so you have to be super careful they don't ditch whatever you saw them conceal. However we always had at least one manager on staff at all times. So once an employee would report what they had seen to the manager, they would review video and pull copies and take a statement from the employee about what had just occurred if they were unable to get the manager's attention on the first incident.
All employees would then be informed that person was confirmed to have been caught removing merchandise from the store. When that person would re-enter the store again we didn't wait for them to start stealing. The manager would be notified as soon as they were seen coming in, and the employees would then visually watch them while the manager actively tracked them via cameras and called the police. When they exited the second time with unpaid merch it would be to find the cops outside waiting for them around the corner, not visible from the doors. Sometimes the footage allowed us to press charges for both thefts on the second shot if it showed them concealing stuff and was clear the employee maintained visual on the first, but either way we caught quite a few with at least one charge.
I seriously will watch any video you upload within hours, the production quailty is top notch. Keep up the great work Jake.
Thank you so much!
Every abandoned-type video I've seen is fascinating to me, but this one hit me real hard. Seeing you walk around by yourself, completely silent with no one around, looking at history...incredible.
History, from less than 2 years ago it was only closed 2 years ago
lol you don't get out much do you?
I used to work at the call centre just over a decade ago, though back then it wasn't called "Alorica". Pretty crazy to see how much they left behind. Lot of memories in that dead mall, been waiting for you to do this video ever since the place closed. Amazing work.
cool thanks
omg there was a prc call center that became alorica near century iii mall in west mifflin pa
Hahaha who didn't work there 😅
@BexWoodz fair enough, the place was definitely a revolving door haha
Who was it before Alorica swallowed the place?
Thank you for doing this man. I remember as a child visiting my grandma in Hamilton fondly and being in this mall as some of my earliest memories. It really seemed like the capital of the world to me from that perspective at that time.
What makes this doubly interesting is Jackson Square, right next door, is actually still doing pretty well
Yes, Jackson Square is a bit rough around the edges, but it's actually a useful place. People who live or work in downtown Hamilton can go there to buy groceries, or eat at the seemingly quite popular food court or watch a movie, or buy something at one of the dozens of stores. It isn't the fancy mall it was originally envisioned to be, but it's in better shape than most similar downtown malls I've seen in America (Main Place Mall in Buffalo, for example). The real mistake was building a second mall
@@sacvideo1998 building a second mall rarely works out well. Tho... here in Orlando it did work for a while, in two separate areas. The Colonial Plaza "shopping center" was converted to a true "mall" in the mid 1960's, then a decade later a much larger from the start mall was constructed about half a mile away. Fashion Square Mall still stands with a couple of anchor stores and lots of sad empty spaces. The site of the first "mall" was redeveloped in the very late 1990's into an open air, spread out, shopping center as "Colonial Marketplace" and is still mostly there. One of the large "legacy" malls near the tourist area had a open air "outlet mall" built less than two miles away, as well.
nah. The only thing it really has going for it is the theater and nations market.
I would disagree, Jackson Square has also been on the decline especially since COVID.
Jackson Square needs to go as well.
I was hit with such a blast from the past when seeing this thumbnail. I remember skulking around this mall back in like 2014-2015 when we'd go to ConBravo at the nearby convention centee. It was still open, but even back then it only had like 5 stores. Actually walking the place felt surreal, like I was stepping into a time capsule every time we went in. I had no idea it closed completely (I'm not from the area).
Thank you for covering this; it feels really bittersweet to see the place as it is now.
The emptiness and near quietness is so insane, It’s crazy how it’s just left there to sit for years
But it wasn't, it was literally open up until 2024. It hasn't even been a year since they closed that side off.
@@ComplexMotivationsThey closed it Dec. 31st, 2022, my friend. But you're right, barely two years, and people act like it's a forgotten, ancient relic.
@@ComplexMotivations I'm glad others are commenting to clarify. This video is very misleading, suggesting that the city of Hamilton has left this mall to rot for 30 years. It's totally wrong.
@@jonathansaraco Wow, ok. It certainly looked like most of it could have been abandoned for a long time.
The mall only closed 16 months ago.
Pictures of the office being constructed while you're exploring the long abandoned shell of itself is excellent environmental storytelling that's crazy
ngl, if I saw that in a video game I'd think it was lazy writing. And then he found pictures of the office's construction in the office. That's me told, ig.
That was always my favorite part and why I dislike vandalism so much , the intact files and maps and little bits of life that got left behind and history from the people who lived it.
It's eerie to think that while the rest of the world has moved on, there are tiny interior spaces that are closed off from the rest of society that have effectively become time capsules. No one has been there for ages, but everything inside is from the time it was sealed and forgotten. The modern tomb.
Not really tiny, is it?
@@theDurgaLove450000 square feet.....
It's only been closed since December 2022, how is that a time capsule? Don't believe everything you hear on RUclips, I currently live in Hamilton. The guy who made this documentary is just making you think their more to this, to make it more interesting. The developer who owns this mall, is going to make it into condo's, as they are doing through out most of downtown of Hamilton.
In 1990 I was in my early 20s and in college engaged to my wife also in college. This was when the mall was in the center of Gen Xers coming of age. There was so much hope and optimism for the future. To see malls like this in such a dilapidated condition is just depressing. I wish the younger generations could feel and sense what those times were like. It really was a chilling time.
I was born in 1990 and I remember most malls that were built in the late 1980s and 1990s had similar architecture style as this mall. This brings back so many memories of my early childhood. When I became a teenager is when malls were a starting to decline in popularity.
You’re just a couple years older than me, and I feel the same way about malls similar to this, particularly Metrocenter in Phoenix. It’s something younger generations will never really understand.
In the 90s you felt safe forever. Nothing was going to threaten you in your life time, because you were lucky to be born at the end of history and the ultimate utopian victory of democracy. It was only onward to space from here on out. I was there, I remember it.
gen x interests me so much. im gen z but growing up there was never an optimism like that for the future. I really wonder how it must feel to grow up in a time where the future is something exciting instead of something to fear
@@mimii444 actually it is not that dissimilar. The "optimism" was mostly attitude and some degree of privilege. The 1980's and 1990's had higher average crime rates, more poverty, and slightly more unemployment (and less choice of everything). It gets harder to explain that it was easier to... "buy in" to hope for a better future, and / or a self deceiving "utopia" at those times. Some aspects of daily life have changed - there are far more "mass shootings" today in America, there is far more divisiveness, and the 24 hour news cycle with social media means we know far too much about far too many negative things all around us in the world (which is probably the biggest driver of overall unhappiness for many people). The world has changed, but not as much as people, their perceptions, and their... "hopes" (or what they hope for, and peoples' ability to find hopefulness, because they know too much that now drains hope away).
I have to feel bad for cities that gutted their downtowns for these sorts of malls, only to have the trend end in the last two decades and end up with these broken downtowns, where if they kept the original character and space that could easily be improved upon and brought into modern use. No way they could've known
Absolutely. Literally malls went up and down in less than 20 years,
My town had a really interesting relationship with its mall. It started as a simple downtown street with stores that lined both sides. When malls became in vogue, they closed the street, put a roof over it that spanned from one set of buildings to the other, sat a fountain in the middle, and called it the Downtown Mall. It lasted almost two decades. When it started to die, the town voted to just remove the roof and the fountain and put a road back in. Tada! Downtown Mall just becomes Downtown again, and as a result, local businesses moved back in, and it's still going strong to his day.
Whats incredible about something abandoned. Grown men and women couldn't keep up with the bills and maintenance. Why is this incredible. U all need real jobs. This isnt entertainment. Thumbs down brugh
Everything is relative. Once upon a time there were drovers and monthly barter markets.
I believe the death of car culture contributed to the death of mall culture. For that matter, I believe there has been ample evidence of what has been coming for a long time, which includes most humans being priced out of living on every square of dirt in the country (Grants Pass v Johnson, Boise v Martin) while breathing in toxic fumes and eating microplastics.
I'm still devastated that glass blocks fell out of style. I love the way they look.
Me too. I wish developers and architects would bring them back.
Still used in Mexico
Heathen.
They live on as a useful and well insulated way to do basement windows, but that's about all they're used for today.
I'm thankful my dentist office still has some lol
That transition from outside to inside with the danger sign *Chef's kiss*. Great video as always
I live in Hamilton and I always drove by this place but I didn't know it was abandoned. Talk about incredible
Do Canadians go shopping in Niagara and Erie counties in New York?
Same here. I live a 5 minute drive away. 😂
@@295g295Yes
All the time
"drove by this place but I didn't know it was abandoned" that is why it is bankrupt and abandoned. I had the same deal with a chocolate that went of the market, I was surprised and upset, until I though about when last I purchased one...
it’s crazy that all those old computers are still in there. man i’d like to boot up one of those for nostalgia’s sake
i also love the old signage and ads. i’m a graphic designer and 80s/90s/00s design always fascinates me.
I graduated high school in 1993. I worked in a mall that looked exactly like this. Those chairs unpacked so many memories.
You produce some great videos! I was home sick the other day and discovered your channel. I literally watch 10 hours of your videos. It was great and they are so informative. I love the mystery behind vacant and closed down abandoned places.
That’s really kind of you, thank you so much!
The office section had to have been updated at some point after 2000. The computers are Dell Optiplex Series 2 Midnight Gray computers were manufactured between 2000 and 2004.
He's hamming it up. This place was still in operation for years and years, they only shut down Dec. 31st, 2022.
@@TardisntimbitsYes agree, interesting to see but one minute these clothes are from 1990, then next this board is from 2005. And clearly mid 2000's PCs 😊
Came here to say the same thing.
@@Tardisntimbits I think the only way this would have made sense is if some parts of the mall closed up early, and were just boarded up. If they were in use, then someone likely would have refreshed the offices with newer computers.
@@benjaminrobinson3842 Yeah, thinking on it, when I was working in there, it was already in decline, but I worked for one of the stores. I never got to see the offices. Then again...if the pcs were doing the bare minimum, who knows. I worked at a call center elsewhere in Hamilton, and those pcs were...not...new.
Glad your covering something back in Canada again.
I always love how you do these videos as part exploration/part Abandoned episode
with some history mixed in! love it
I've always found your videos fascinating. Thank you for your work.
This was a fun look inside an abandoned mall, but for me the most fantastic part was the cinematography! Some of your shots were STUNNING! Especially the bits at the end! I don't know much about film, but I was very impressed.
I don't think he uses film at all. It's all digital capture. Technology has advanced!
@@SanchoPanza-m8mthe art is still called "film". That's why Hollywood movies shot on digital are still called "films"
I usually don't care for crap like this. But he had me interested in it from start to finish.
In the beginning, I looking for someone to tell him to, "get out of here".
your production quality has become absolutely incredible
I'm impressed he licensed Lola
> 21:34 < Lola
I’m not sure of the connection. Lola came out in like 1970 not 1990.
Came for this. I got to think the licensing isn't that cheap. You thinking under $10k?
Lalalalaaa Lola. Had to sing out loud!
$38 per the link in the description.
That water damage and peeling paint is relatively new. The mall was kept in shape very well until it closed 2 years ago.
Love this new format where you visit yourself and have the history in voiceover. Great work!
This mall has no history. It always had less than 50% occupancy since it opened.
Seeing Brain Quest on the table brought back some real childhood nostalgia.
Just watched Closed for Storm. It was just as great as your videos! Keep it up!
So sad to see the decay. In the mid 2010s it was basically empty outside of a few stores but still well maintained. The difference between it and Jackson Square was stark then but now ... what a disgrace to have this at the "center" of the downtown
The entire complex is due to be demolished shortly and the rebuilding with all new stores, and shops, residential space, Park space, etc.
Love me some 1990s mall nostalgia 😁
Setting of an indie horror game
Yeah, "Let's go down this long dark hall" . 👀 👻
Go to the Philippines. Malls still thrive here.
Thank you so very much for capturing this mall in such thorough detail before it eventually gets completely demolished. I grew up close to this mall and went there with my grandpa and grandma every weekend for my entire childhood. Sadly, my grandpa passed away, but the fact that you captured this mall in this video means I can forever re-visit this video to feel a blast of nostalgia for that time period in my life. I always love watching content on abandoned places, but it hits different when its a place you've actually been to when it was still around, especially so often. Thank you from the bottom of my heart
This is exactly like the 5th Avenue Mall in Anchorage Alaska. When I moved there in 2008, I'd say it was at its highest plateau but quickly declining. It' anchor store, Nordstrom, closed its doors in 2019. That's why I went there to shop. The mall was gorgeous, a great overpass, had to take an elevator to get to the top floor food court, it was the heart of shopping down town. I just hope that space gets repurposed to serve the community.
HCC looks just like Towson Town Center in Baltimore, MD! It’s amazing because all three malls were built by different companies. Same architect maybe? Towson Town Center is still going strong but i don’t know for how much longer.
I'm used to Escalators here in Oregon for the Mezzanine. Isn't it strange how malls seem to universally put them on the second or third floors? I've always wondered why that is.
I haven’t been there since I lived in Alaska in 2018 but I will say that that mall in particular gave strong “could be a dead mall one day” energy even before the pandemic
@@averyeml A classic mall vibe honestly.
I was about to say the same thing! I grew up going to 5th Ave for all my shopping and this is definitely in the same style, with the glass elevator in the center and the long corridors.
This was hauntingly beautiful at times, I’m always excited to see a video from you pop up because you just keep getting better and better.
its really sad looking at the state of malls today... one time where we all went to shop and hang out as kids
these places deserve better
Not so, with today's kids.
One of the two malls I grew up with got demolished a few years ago. Was the one with a gaming LAN center across the hall from a pizza parlor. It’s a weird feeling to realize the places I formed lifelong memories literally don’t exist physically in this reality anymore. Just ephemeral memories that will distort/decay as I get old without any trace of its existence. “C’est la vie”
@@Digimess88 true, the malls i grew up w are still there physically but mostly crappy 99c stores pic n saves, etc
Please do more & keep doing abandoned retail, Jake. This is what drew me to Dan's & your channels years ago. I find these particular vids of yours to feel the most personal as evidenced by the tonality in your commentary during your visits compared to your other videos.
Thanks!
Thank you!
It was sad seeing something that people enjoyed fall into ruin but the thing that got me was seeing the photographs in the office of them painting the walls and moving in. They were so proud of what they were making, kinda wanna know what happened to that firm 😔
Jake you're the best modern history teacher. BSF uploads are always a treat.
That last part I can't help but think how much city government forced gentrification played a part in this urban development, seeing how shortsighted and defensive feeling withthe lack of street access the development seemed to be. I wonder what shops and livelihoods were "relocated" in order to build this giant "safer" mall.
That was a suburban shopping center in the middle of the city! Shops with direct street access would have been such a prime space!
When I think of suburban shopping centers, I think of Strip Malls, and their giant, oversize, sprawling, parking laden cousins, Shopping Centers (now branded as "Lifestyle Centers"). When I hear Mall, I think of actual malls, ones where though they still had multiple massive parking garages and/or endless sprawling parking lots, they are all self-contained into one giant building. Think Lloyd Center in Portland, Oregon, Mall of America in MSP, or if you want to get far more local to where I'm from, Washington Square in Tigard, Oregon.
@@TheCriminalViolin To me, parking garage would be less an issue than multiple connections to public transport.
@@olivier2553 Ironically, Washington Square has both, though the transit is strictly local bus routes, and not multi-modal (stares at Europe and Chicago)
@@TheCriminalViolin as long as the local buses conveniently connect to some train or other transports that reach outside of the city center. One can not really expect using public transport without the need to connect two routes, but as long as the connections are close enough and do not request a long wait, it is still OK. I guess.
The same thing.was tried in downtown Philadelphia. It did work for a while. It was redone and did seem to be working...then the pandemic happened. Sigh...
I will never...... ever.......... for the life of me understand how people allowed developers to convince the populous that OUTDOOR, UNPROTECTED, UNCONDITIONED shopping centers were somehow superior to a heated, cooled, sheltered one stop shopping center experience. Shopping malls were the BEST and that's not just my nostalgia.
especially in the northern areas, you know.. *WITH SNOW*
Heating and cooling costs money. Gotta make money to stay in business.
online shopping is what killed the mall. those ugly big box open air malls did pull some of the customers away but they're not exactly the same. they're just giant parking lots with a bunch of huge stores around the perimeter. it's online shopping that totally decimated traditional retail. the big box stores like walmart and costco killed mom and pop small businesses (aka killed main street) and online, overnight extremely cheap shipping with usually hassle free returns killed a lot of the mall traffic. some still thrive, especially like mega malls where the sheer size of it is what draws people there, but the days of every neighbourhood having its own mall like this complete with the awesome 1990s aesthetics with teal/pink/white colours and lights everywhere are simply a thing of the past now. zoomers will never understand what hanging out at the mall truly means haha
you said it all my query is..where is the parking for the clinets ?
@@guysabol8743 it's transit oriented design. You're not really meant to drive.
I would love to work in an office at a mall. Just browsing stores after a day at work would be so chill.
Yeah, I was thinking this mall would have been a pleasant place to work if you were an office worker, rather than retail. Even if it were just a few stores and a food court on the first level, the atrium layout had a nice atmosphere.
@@benjaminrobinson3842 all I would need would be a candle store, so I could spend all the money I made every day before I even made it to my car. Ha
There’s an indoor/outdoor mall near where I grew up that has office space and apartments either right near the mall or on top of some of the outdoor stores. Said mall is also doing really well as far as I know with loads of activity and consistently full parking lots, so it is a model that can work.
5:50 the real crime is demolishing that gorgious city hall
BINGO! Whomever was responsible should have been criminally charged for negligence when the studies were done as to whether or not a mall would be truly viable there. Historic buildings like that should NEVER be demolished, where were the preservation societies in this???
Classic North America. Demolish old architecture and neighborhoods for parking lots
Some of those black desktop computers in the office part are Dell Optiplexs from the early/mid 2000s, so not quite untouched since 1990 but still rather close.
It closed less than 2 years ago. He is misleading people for shock value. Pretty obtuse of him.
I really loved seeing this mall. It is so crazy to see such an abandoned mall in a decent state like this. I was expecting much worse especially vandalism wise for being in a urban environment. Also, I really loved the touch of Lola at the end there. My family sings it to our dog Lola all the time. I just let her inside and that really tickled me.
I live and grew up in this city. Many visits as a kid when we visited downtown, especially during the holidays to see Santa at the atrium in the thumbnail.
Before it closed I went to take some photographs, and document its final days. I have it on my insta page, and even edited a bunch to give that vapourwave/90's nostalgia aesthetic. It's getting torn down in the coming years...
Super glad to see it immortalized on such a fantastic channel. I hope we get to see the 'glass bridge' on the 3rd floor! 😅TYVM Bright Sun Films!
Hey what’s your IG? I would like to see
Hey Jake thanks for filming this I watch all your videos and love all the abandoned videos and would never think that I would see this mall on youtube. Glad you did this lots of memories here for me as I've been born and raised in Hamilton and this was a big part of my younger years. Thanks again for on more look can't wait to see what you do next.
in 1982-83 cadillac fairview also developed and built the esplanade mall in kenner, la (right outside new orleans) it too is a complete time capsule with very similar interior finishes. it is also closed, never reopened after hurricane ida. you’d love it jake!
It is so weird to be watching a BSF video and see your actual apartment where you are sitting as you watch this on video...
Resl and true I saw my old one
That place would have been incredible during Christmas as a teen when it was jam packed with people shopping and hanging out
It was tbh only went a couple times mostly during Christmas and it was great to see it full. Even if it was outdated
Christmas made even working at Walmart fun..........
Bro seeing this is got me a choked so many memories. Feels like a chapter called my "downtown life" is closed .
Great video. Lola in the closing credits just made it that much better!
Hey man i love your content ive been watching since 2018 i have always appreciated your attention to detail in your videos which i hope to one day be able to do myself thanks man and keep up the great content
I really appreciate the take on infrastructure projects and how they were never designed to last the test of time. I would love to see an episode on the buffalo area malls, we have Eastern Hills, closed with redevelopment plants along with the Boulvard Mall. The Mainplace mall downtown which is arguably even worse looking that the one of this video. Thanks again for the great content!
I'm here in Buffalo _ and even more remarkable, the main place mall looks abandoned BUT it actually still open - Thanx solely to the food court
8:37
reminds me of the Walden Galleria _
18:20 This looks and feels straight out of The Shining! Imagine if Jake saw himself in the photo 😂😳
I've said this numerous times in the past but I really hope you see it this time. YOU ARE ABSOLUTELY BRILLIANT JAKE!
Thank you so much, that’s really kind
the last great decade.. so happy i got to grow up in the 80’s -90’s
Wow that brings back memories. I remember my parents taking me to that mall when I was younger and lived in Ontario. It’s crazy how it’s basically stuck in time.
I remember as a kid when they built this, and I used to go down there with my mom. But we stopped when the area got pretty dangerous. That whole area up until about 10 or 15 yrs ago was a place you just didn't visit let alone shop. Jackson square is equally less desirable and if it wasn't for the arena and market most of that place would be unused. Downtown Hamilton needs a massive clean up in this block area. Such a prime real estate.
Like many urban centers, crime drove out the business.
@@Nick-ue7iwThe story of most of the malls of this style is the exact opposite of that. They were built to be separated from the "scary" downtown by a fortress-like exterior, and that was supposed to be their appeal. But then downtowns became cool again and being isolated became a bad thing that caused them to fail.
Brilliant job as always!!❤❤ We absolutely love all your vids and have been regular viewers for a very long time around 2014 ,,for those who don't know, that Wall of shame is pictures of people who got caught shoplifting or writing bad checks, businesses around here have them also
I was slightly amused that those shamed had one more spontaneous, unexpected chance of being shown. I wonder if any of them will ever see this video.
Been watching your videos since 2016, first time my neck of the woods has been seen. That place really was a time capsule. Would have been cool to see a video on the old Centre mall as well, met its fate around the same time as rolling acres.
i used to come here all he time as a kid, so sad its gone, thank you for the video
I use to work downtown Hamilton from early 1980's to mid 1990's. The third floor was suppose to have retail stores, but that never happened. It was a white elephant from the beginning. When Eaton's closed, the mall was doomed.
This was one of your best yet, Jake.
The interior of this place is beautiful, I'm crazy about the ceiling skylights and the specific tiling, colors of paint, and those metal features all scream late 80's. The clock tower is charming, but the lack of street access and lousy parking situation are so frustrating! It's no wonder it died a horrible death.
Yeah, I agree! I’d never seen the inside, but I was really surprised at how nice the vibe was. But from the outside, it’s awful - just that long wall along James street with just one or two boarded up entrances
I spent so much time here as a kid. thank you for sharing the information you learned about this building and its history.
If you think the story of this mall is infuriating... Oh *_boy_* does the City of Hamilton have multiple documentaries' worth of historical administrative incompetence for ya xD
Id say corruption and lobbying, but yeah…
most of my family live in Hamilton and when i visited back in the day, I remember we frequently went to this mall.. it was wonderful for us at the time..(walking distance ) I will be visiting again in 2 days and naturally will walk by and remember it fondly as I head into Jackson Square. Great video~~
I worked for Eatons in the early 1990’s. There was a lot of hope put on that project back then. But location and access always seemed to work against it. And a lot of us in other stores could see it was always in the bottom group of stores.
It’s sad the original City Hall was demolished for what turned out to be a white elephant. And sad that Hamilton is having a tough time getting the redevelopment off the ground
On a different note It’s interesting to look at that food court. Almost identical to the Path under the Sheraton Centre in Toronto
Soon as I saw it...they definitely took design elements from toronto eaton centre
Number 1 abandoned mall RUclipsr in the game. Cheers Jake 💯
The Proper People are pretty up there too!
Gosh this reminds me so much of Portage Place in downtown Winnipeg.
It hasn't hit Abandon status just yet though
Great video as always Jake!
It's a stark contrast between the interior and exterior to be sure... but wow! What were they thinking? It doesn't fit with the rest of the city centre, it replaced far more beautiful buildings and it's an untended mess that's just a few winters away from collapsing. Still, nice to see some things from the 90's that were the same as over here.
Working next store from here and being there the last few days before it all closed, it's amazing to see it's condition over just a few years. Thank you for the peek!
there's something so unsettling seeing a place from your childhood abandoned.
It gets worse as you grow older… entire neighborhoods disappear and younger generations grow up believing that historical events that you personally witnessed, such as the 1969 moon landing, never happened.
@PerfectInterview one of my concerns is entire Neighbourhoods just showing up out of nowhere like someone just dropped them off and left them there. sprawling suburbs. I went to an area that used to be literally just farmers fields and a fairgrounds, that I had seen only three years prior. this freaking place was a full on township. school, townhouses everywhere, like four or five restaurants, a doctors office, grocery store and three Tim Hortons. it can't possibly be healthy to just throw all those houses up like that. I mean, I don't even know if the foundation could have finished setting how fast they moved people into them.
@@PerfectInterview I think alot of the younger generation is just dense though because so many young adults were completely convinced covid was fake too. like all those people got sick for no reason.
Wow, amazing! I walk by this building quite frequently, and it never really occurred to me that this place was different than Jackson Square. The architecture and interior design of this old abandoned mall to me has a close resemblance to Woodbine Centre, another Southern Ontario shopping mall that is currently on the way to becoming a dead space.
17:40 lmao "imma big boy im not afraid of the dark hall" that cracked me up
Oh man. This one is a treat, I used to visit this mall, alongside Jackson Square with my mother. Even back in 2006/07/08/09 this mall just felt Dead. Such Nostalgia in that Hart and Dollar store.
I'm a bit older than you, I'll be 50 this year. I've seen highs and the falls of malls. This one seems to have been doomed from the start. Great video, as always.
I think the reason my local is doing "fine" is because it's one story. All the malls that were two stories or 3 were doomed.
I live in Hamilton. From what I remember that mall has always been slow. Surprised it took this long to finally close the doors on it
The main surprise is seeing all of the abandoned furniture and equipment. At least some of it must have had some value and could have been sold. It looks like something from the Twilight Zone, abandoned when a poison gas cloud was about to descend.
I remember going to Eaton Center Toronto back in the 80's. It was gorgeous. Some of these shots, especially the offices, look like people were 'taken', just snatched right up and they were gone. Creepy. Great video!
Another great video from the guys at Bright Sun Films! I love these dead mall videos, as someone who was a kid in the 1980s I remember Malls when they were in their prime and how they used to be the place to be! So these videos bring back memories and also a melancholy sadness of longing for the old times. Thank you for your dedication in going and documenting these malls and for the history lessons about malls I otherwise never would have seen. It sounds so strange to tell younger people today, but back when I was a kid in the 80s and 90s my parents would take me to a mall every weekend, and even when we went on vacation out of state or to the beach we'd still go to the nearest mall. That's how central malls used to be for getting nearly everything you needed before the stores like Walmart came along with groceries and a one stop shop. I miss the days of the stores like Sears, JC Penneys and others having tailors/seamstresses and even cafeterias with amazing food in them. The biggest change is that there is no customer service like that anywhere anymore. One day, probably not in my lifetime but something like Malls will make a come back and they'll replace what we have now. Because online shopping is really no different than the catalog shopping that Sears and Penney's had long before malls. People will go back to wanting to see what they are buying before buying it and brick and mortar will make a major return in the future.
The office you were first in, must've been still active into the early to mid 2000's. Those Dell computers were office and school staples until the mid 2000's and maybe even a bit beyond. I certainly remember them in my high school in 2004.
My dad worked in this mall for pretty much my entire life. I was one of the last people to step foot in here before it closed for good. Even empty it was still full of life. It’s saddening to see such a big part of my childhood turn into this 😢
It is actually quite a stunning building looking at the escalator central section
I'm starting to feel like my local mall - The Parks at Arlington in Texas - is one of the last in the country that's thriving, and even then I think it's on the _cusp_ of beginning the downward trajectory because it's feeling less and less safe. As a 5'2" woman I certainly don't go there alone anymore. The last time I DID go in there was to have an eye exam and get new glasses, and it seemed to be at probably 85% occupancy? 90%?
It opened in the late '80s when I was three, and my mom said she took me there on opening day. I've only ever left the DFW area to go to college, so that mall has been a major presence for my entire life. And I remember it looking a LOT like this place when I was a kid. Those chairs especially... _woof_ they are _gloriously_ early '90s. 😂
@dizzieblonde Same issue here with the teens. There's been a couple shootings because of teens, so I avoid weekends and I'm NEVER there after dark.
I’m near San Francisco and we still have lots of safe, thriving malls.
New England has a few.
An excellent video Jake. Not being from Hamilton I never knew this place existed. Very informative
It looks like the 90's were good fun times to be alive and enjoy life🤩
It realy was.
Not perfect of course, but far less political divided, same with culture.
Was a time where it felt like things and people were getting together and mostly had fun.
But it also depended on where you lived of course.
God they were. Great times.
Tonnes of fun! Futuristic without the downsides of constant online everything
They were. Compared to the present day? It was the freaking golden age.
2000 was the peak. 2001 the first sign of weakness. Further down in 2008. Further even more in 2020.
I've been here many times. Sad to see it go. I always loved the dome in the centre.
One huge benefit of Detroit was how they were too broke back then to demolish many of their old buildings and sites, unlike many other cities. Now, many are being restored to their former glory, knowing how valuable they are now.
The music goes perfect with this! It’s like the fall of an era…kids these days will never know what it was like going to the mall to hang with friends on a Saturday :(
The mall was actually open to the public until a few years ago. At the end, it was mostly liquidation/dollar store type businesses, and some ethnic supermarkets.
lots of counterfeit items and tacky junk