A DYING MALL Chapel Hill Mall in Akron, Ohio
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- Опубликовано: 12 окт 2024
- Chapel Hill Mall in Akron, Ohio is not quite yet a Dead Mall. It is in trouble, though. It only has one major anchor store, JCPenney. It lost Macy's and Sears in the last two years. What will happen to Chapel Hill Mall?
I remember when the Chapel Hill Mall opened, and the first time I went there. Before we arrived, I asked my mother "What is a mall?" and she said it was like a shopping center but all indoors. I was like a kid in Oz; I;d never seen such high ceilings, bright lights, and plants growing indoors! In high school we would go to the record store there and get all the latest records. I moved away in 1978 so I never knew what happened to the place. Not surprisingly, Chapel Hill is dying like all the rest have. The latest I've heard is that the mall is going to become a U-Haul type storage place. Great video, excellently researched, thanks.
Thank you Captain I live in San Francisco and I love Chapel Hill Mall I grew up there as a kid from Cuyahoga Falls. I love Northeast Ohio and I love Chapel Hill Mall.
When I was a kid growing up in Akron (70s, early 80s) and the malls were vibrant and booming, everyone was heartbroken about the death and closure of all the retail in the downtown, including the old, large department stores. It took a while, but the downtowns of Akron and elsewhere seem to have reinvented themselves. It will be interesting to see what becomes of all these mall structures, if they are not just demolished.
I shopped there in 1975-1977. I remember the movie theatre where I first saw "Star Wars". I ate at the Brown Derby restaurant all the time and there was an arcade where I and my friend checked out the latest pinball machines. Pinball was big until around 1980. I'd like to think of some foreshadowing of problems to come in 1977. I can't except Kodak was beginning to face completion from Fuji film and its Disc cameras were not doing too well. 15 years later the first digital cameras came out and now everything is digital or internet related (i.e. online retail).
Sad to see this mall has gone down hill. I shopped there from the 70's to the early 90's. I too remember the arcade and played pinball as well. My late mother worked at Sears for nearly 40 years, can't believe it's gone. Great memories otherwise. Online shopping is causing a slow death to malls across the country.
waverly2468 🌹
This makes me feel sad and old. I remember that pool in the middle of the mall where you would throw pennys
Great video. it is an Interesting and attractive mall. Sad to see that it's dying. Thanks for filming.
Native Akronite here. I was 10 when it opened. I very much remember it "back when". Of course it and Summit Mall were largely responsible for the decline of Main St. downtown, but that was a nationwide phenomena. I went to the cinema there many times, I think it was the first two screen theater in town. I saw Jaws there when it first came out, scared me out of my seat more than once. I remember in the late '60s at the bottom of the down escalator in Penney's was the display case of model trains. Anyone else remember the extensive display of fish and little turtles for sale at Woolworth's? They had a lunch counter too. The former O'Neil's/Macy's is now an inside self-storage facility, which seems to be the fate of a lot of former mall anchor stores. You knew things were getting bad when mall ownership banned Akron Metro RTA from driving their buses into the mall parking lot for passengers because they were damaging the parking lot. Metro took over an abandoned restaurant (formerly a Baker's Square) across Independence Av. and made it into a community transit center and driver rest and changeover station. My family bought a lot of Craftsman tools and Kenmore appliances from that Sears (didn't everyone's?). There used to be a major new car show in the hallways of the mall every fall, and often live entertainment on a stage in front of Penney's. Anyone else remember "Up with People"? Chapel Hill has been on life support for several years, threatened with being closed for failure to pay their electric bill more than once in the last couple of years. Probably just a matter of time...
I remember the McDonalds in there, used to be next to the movie theater I think. I remember the Woolworths there too I remember the Chi-chis that used to be in front of the mall. I loved that place. My buddy Tommy, also my barber, was responsible for bring Archie the Snowman back to Chapel Hill Mall
Its extremely sad to see santa siting by himself with no kids to be seen
Used to be so busy and bustling. Now it's just so sad.
Now it's permanently closed. Malls need to build housing above the stores and encourage housing development around shopping centers like this one as well as encourage grocery stores, auto repair, etc. A one- and two-floor retail space over acres of land (including parking lots) is really inefficient.
I remember when it opened! It was all the rage to go to the mall. But there wasn't always a caracel
A place where real people went to shop, and shop they did! I know I miss this place.
Don't like the concrete floors either but better than that huge grout line tile downstairs
Chapel Hill was always a smaller mall - even it its prime. It could never compete with Summit, Belden Village or even Rolling Acres (when it was initially doing well in the late 70s.) It is still sad to see it in this state. There is nothing that will encourage new anchors to come to a dying mall. The face of retail/shopping has and is changing permanently. Enclosed malls are from a different time of retail/shopping history.
Macys was originally O'Neils! A local original department store. O'Neils was a stand alone department store in the 1800 in down town Akron. That mall always had a fountain although the original was much diffent from the one there now. I And since you filmed this because of the virus is Penney s is now closing... When the new owner bought it that's when they added the food court and extended the entrance!
Sad. Surprised that mall is still open. It has seen better days.
Auntie Anne's Pretzels closed in May 2018.
A sure sign things are not going well. They also recently lost their GNC and Charlotte Russe.
I didnt even know. We need someone in the community to help keep up a mall or something. Rolling Acres and Chapel Hill. I remember being really young and they had the bungy thing.
Kohls and Dillards could go into those vacant areas
Dillards is far too high end for Chapel Hill. There is nothing that would draw any anchor into a dying mall. It would never be profitable.
Rich Kilo Actually, Kohl’s wouldn’t be a bad fit for an anchor store. Even if the mall is dying, Kohl’s could operate separately. There isn’t a Kohl’s in that main shopping road (Howe Ave.) and that road has many large stores like target, Best Buy, dicks sporting goods, sams club, pet stores, grocery store, many restaurants, and of course the mall.
Sad this mall is now closed
This is sad. It's hitting especially hard in the Northeast.
Was just there last week. Even less is there now.
The music sounds creepy
What's with the music
I met my ex wife there she worked the carousel. I was a security officer from 08 to 10. I then took my last ex there I miss when it was it was in its hay day!
Can i get her # again? Id love to catch up with her
It's making me dizzy to watch this!
😥
nia habeeb-ullah 🌹
Do they still have Archie the showman
mike willey yes they do
That is where I shopped all the time but once it started going down hill I stopped im only 13 lol
@@m.s.q_alqassimi Stfu before I tell Chris Hanson your trying to prey on a little girl!
johnyGrizzle 😂✌🏻
My dad works here...
That mall has a abandon coal mine underneath it! Its prolly starting to cave in, midway plaza has a mine under it too, the old big lots store moved out of there because the back of the store started to viberate and dropped about 1\2 inch! I'd hate to see inside now!
مول ممتاز
Lids Hat Is Close To It Was Close May 2018
2021= it is closed now.