Crystal Mall: One of Connecticut's Deadest Dead Malls is Deader than Ever! It's Not Looking Good!
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- Опубликовано: 2 окт 2024
- Join me once again as I take a look at Crystal Mall in Waterford, Connecticut. I last visited this mall on December 31, 2023 and it was pretty dead then, but, not surprisingly, it's worse now.
Plus, I do a walkthrough of the now closed Rue 21 Etc store!
Let me know what you think about this mall in the comments!
This was filmed on a Saturday at about noon.
If you liked this video, please don't forget to give me a thumbs up, leave a comment and subscribe to my channel. I plan to have more dead mall videos in the future. Thanks for watching!
Source of information:
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#deadmall #deadmalls #mall #connecticut #waterford #shoppingmall #shoppingmalls #retail #nostalgia #malls #mallshopping #fleabittenadventures #namdar
Crystal Mall is my mall! I was there opening day as a kid and within 15 minutes I cut my head open on a lawn tractor mowing blades in Sears. I was the malls first injury!!
That is Soooo crazy. How old were you when that happened??
@@staceyberry1382 I was 8. I was sitting on the tractor and telling my parents we should get one and they told me to get down, my foot caught on the mower deck and I tripped and fell and slid into another mower. Everyone was in a panic!
😂 glad your ok!
Thank god ur ok
I'm yelling at the TV "Go in the Toy Vault, Go in the Toy Vault!". 😂
😂❤👍
Yeah me too!
best store in mall
That and FYE are the only reason I go there
Unfortunately toyvaults store are in dead malls all over new England especially the one in Marlborough Massachusetts
Crystal Mall used to do great business because of the Navy Submarine base and the Coast Guard Academy nearby. Young sailors fresh out of boot camp would go in and buy new clothes, video games, etc.
I was one of them.
I was in the Navy then, the post exchange was way better and cheaper than any mall. Grotton didn't have the best one but it was good 😊
@@madmagyver9981 they didnt have much in the way of clothes, but yeah they had some cheap clothes that you could buy if you were straight out of Great Lakes and just needed some street clothes.
@@underwaterlevelz1947 that's for sure, the military didn't prioritize fashion
Now they’re too busy putting on makeup and celebrating LGBT drag queens
You're making me feel old! I'm from Hartford and I remember Crystal Mall opening when I was a teenager!
Remember how the color scheme was that awful brown!🤣🤣
Same. This is heart breaking. And the worst part? They'd rather let it rot and go to blight than convert it to oh idk....housing? An indoor greenhouse? Look at all those skylights it would work but ya know....corporate greed
Are you serious?
I remember it opened up when I was in high school, used to skip there as it was far from home
This is what happens when America stops going out to play only to stay home and live off Amazon.
Love finding CT creators!!! ❤ sending love from the 860
Right!! It's always great to find creators from CT😁
@@missyann 860 here 🤝
I haven't been to the mall in forever!!
860 > 203. Maths just proved the better area code
@@statistical-anomaly I lived in New Canaan and Windham. I greatly preferred New Canaan.
The escalators are probably off due to power consumption or Namdar doesn’t want to pay the service company to keep them repaired, up to code and operational.
I'm think a combination of Namdar not wanting to pay the expense of fixing them, but there's got to be some parts issues too because it's like this at almost every mall I go to, but who knows.
Geeez, the elevator you used to climb to the second floor sounded like an old carnival ride that is about to deconstruct itself. 😅
Worked at the Holyoke Mall for a bit. The reason I've been told is that it would cost about ~1 million dollars to completely replace each escalator (unsure if that's one individual escalator or a set of two). It's simply not worth replacing it since it's unlikely any of this malls will still be open in a few years. It was just cheaper for them to call in a repair guy to come in once or twice a week to fix them when they broke
@@renegarza23parts of that elevator came off of a wooden roller coaster 😂
@@runescythed shoutout runescape shoutout western mass
When I was a kid my mom always used to take me and my brother to this mall during the Christmas season. It was always so festive and decorated and packed with shoppers. We would spend hours shopping and looking at stuff we we're going to buy later. We'd usually get something to eat halfway through our time there at the food court or one of the walk-in restaurants. Over the years I tried going here during the Christmas season but every year there were less and less stores. Now it's almost totally empty. It's extremely sad to see it like this and it's such a reflection of the country in general.
The other day my GF had an eye appointment there and it's just a full-on indoor flea market
I was there every weekend as a teen. I was actually there for the grand opening. this breaks my heart to see. Yes the chandiler is Waterford Crystal.
crystal mall use to be the hot spot!!!
Waterford crystal from ireland?
@@ciaranallen4440 Yes
YES. IT IS@@ciaranallen4440
This has been happening all over. Thanks Amazon..
Watching this ideo brought back some GOOD memories for me.
To ME the Crystal Mall was EVERYTHING because it HAD a bit of EVERYTHING in it. So ty for post and good memories of this place. 👍✌
Looks like Westfarms Mall is the only thriving one left in CT. Thank You For Being a Friend was a full length song released long before it was used as a theme for the Golden Girls.
most of the songs were "soft rock" from the '70s. a lot like "baby come back" had nostalgic overtones. its like the soundtrack was for all the people who are walking the mall for one last goodbye.
Buckland in Manchester is still holding on, but you’re right, Westfarms reigns supreme
Sad so many malls are like this now. Meriden square mall is pretty much empty now also with only a few stores left
I worked in this mall in the 90s at multiple locations. To see it like this is rough.
Not too far from here was the small but great New London Mall which had a Papa Gino's, Orange Julius and a Strawberries. The holy trinity. The New London Mall had it all!
Is it possible they don't fix the escalators because they don't see the point of spending any money on this place?
Yeah, they probably don't want to put any money into the place.
The New London mall is unrecognizable! They changed it from a go inside a mall thing to a strip mall thing.
Worked in this mall, too back in early '90s.
so, the crystal mall is currently between buyers because the "new buyer" didnt realize it is legally only allowed to be a retail space so they backed out and the current owners are trying to find someone new to buy it.
its just in a transitional period at the moment.
Wow, well hello from the shoreline in CT! So sad to see the crystal mall in this condition, i used to go there all the time, I have so many happy memories coming bck it was the thing to do my bff's & i went there all the time either just to walk around or get a new outfit to go out that night, sometimes to even meet boys there lol And christmas was my favorite time To go xnas shopping there 😢 just so many memories... Sadly I don't even have enough $ to even shop at walmart now esp Being a single mom On top of it that maybe somebody could put something fun in there to do for the kids since they take everything FUN AWAY
It’s amazing how depressing an empty mall is
It's killing me. Lol. Smh :((((
This brought back so many memories from when I was stationed in CT and lived there. I remember when you had to fight for parking, the food court was packed, and the escalators worked.
To see it in this state is so sad. I'm just glad I got to enjoy it when it was the place to have fun and hang out at.
This was my local mall! Used to hang out here all the time, sad to see it go but there hasn't been a reason to go here for years now.
Yeah, it is pretty sad.
I'm from Ledyard and I thought the same thing. I haven't been in CT for a decade but it is sad to see the mall in this state...
They should convert it to living quarters or something
The problem is people don't have money to do fun things anymore. It's crazy how much of a decline we are in as a country...
Planned decline and will be mass unrest soon all planned
Exactly. Can't wait to see what Trump will do next year to help bring back the economy...
@@Studebricker hopefully it's not too late. My fear is Trump can't do anything...
It's not just that. Online shopping is the main issue.
I think the damage done is irreparable. I believe we will never see the unity of America post 9/11 and of course life before 9/11 is gone forever, but what we have to deal with now..... Will NEVER be repaired. We are doomed.
Thank you for sharing, so sad to see, back in the 90s when I lived nearby in Lebanon my friends and I would go hang out there all year long, used to be one of the nicer malls in CT, not the biggest but one of the nicer ones.
I went to Crystal Mall sometime in 1994 and it was super busy and full of stores! It was a totally different place!
Hell ya Lebanon good old Lyman memoria.l After high school, I moved to Columbia it's crazy I remember so much stuff was down that way. Kb toy stores was one I remember going to when I was young
Internet shopping finished the place out.
Just 5 years ago / 2019, it was still pretty busy, used to go reasonably frequently for H&M, Macy's, Express, then of course everything changed.
*you know who is NOT going out of business? the guy doing the "GOING OUT OF BUSINESS" signs*
So sad.. I've been going to this mall since it opened. It was a day one destination for my buddies and I when we got our drivers licenses! As someone else mentioned it does look like they just need to catch a break - the mall doesn't look as bad as some of the other dead ones around the country. Sadly it was placed into foreclosure and auctioned off in pieces. Likely going to be converted to mixed use residential and commercial.
Looks like a lot of stores are waiting out their leases. I think this mall has a date with the wrecking ball soon.
Yeah, I think it's past the point of saving at this point. I give it 3 years.
@@fleabittenadventuresthree years? It will be dead by this winter and pretzel time will be the last one standing
It sold for pennies on the dollar.
Sad seeing this mall like this, besides the dated exterior the inside still looks modern and nice. Usually most dead malls have trash cans and bad leaks all over, this place looks like it just needs to catch a break. I personally think the Tanger Outlet at Foxwoods was the final nail in the coffin for this property. It's a shame too because that Tanger is a massive failure, terrible layout, typical stores and that's not even at full capacity. I think they need to go the way of the Rhode Island Mall, add a bunch of big box store to fill the space out. Maybe a grocery store too? Only issue I can see is the area is already flooded with those types of stores.
Plus... you have Best Buy and all those other places not even a 1/4 mile up the road.
best buy should start anchoring malls. they would fit perfectly. Tesla should grab a few Sears locations (with auto). I remember people with small businesses couldn't get into malls at the peak, or the rent was 3-4x anywhere else.
Malls should offer 10 year low-rent leases with upfront buy-in cost, and clauses about minimum hours, cleanliness, and appropriate decor, so they could capitalize and stay open, since these properties are so cheap.
I agree. I think they are selling RVs out of the parking lot now
@@zachstanton6135 They are. The guy renting the space said they were doing great business in a recent local article.
You absolutely nailed the outlets at Foxwoods. When they first opened everyone raved about him, but I've gone a few times and it's really nothing to write home about.
As far as what to put into the Crystal Mall to try and save it, I think having the plaza across the street really screws up some of those plans. I'm not even sure what big box anchor stores you would put in because so many of them are right around the area, like the Target literally next door or the handful of smaller budget stores like Marshalls that are just a few miles down the road in New London. Across the street already also has a furniture store, a bookstore, a sporting goods store, a party supply store, a tractor supply, a Best Buy, and a few other random things. Plus very close down the street you have BJ's, a sort of dying movie theater, and a Lowe's. So I guess maybe the issue is that when all of these places were being zoned out and planned, nobody really thought about a future where the mall was not going to be there? Because there are just too many little plazas all over that area each with their own handful of chains and maybe a restaurant, and now almost all of them are dying in different ways. All of those could have just been consolidated around the mall, but nobody thought to do that and everyone kind of suffers because of it.
In the 1980's and 90's this was a thriving mall. I noticed that you filmed the chandelier at 8 minutes in. Its story is no different from hundreds of other malls around the country. Chain stores that used to occupy a lot of its units either went out of business, or they went over to an online model. Anyone who is at least 30 years old needs to understand that malls need to be preserved because they are social spaces. They just need good security to prevent riffraff from ruining the experience for normies.
Man, I used to live in Norwich and I would make the trek here a couple times a month, there was a Funcoland nearby too. Really sad
We all log into Amazon and wonder why retailers closed . Why we have so much trouble finding that special item outfit , etc , we are the cause and effect of what we no longer have available to us .
Something else to take into consideration the loss of jobs ,community , lifestyle of sharing experiences beyond the keyboard of your own computer/ phone.
We have isolated ourselves and diminished our scope of life’s uncharted opportunities , if it’s not on our electronic radar we it doesn’t exist - narrow and sad . Comparable with playdates further isolating ourselves .
This mall is a reflection of the state of America in 2024 severe decline
It’s sad seeing the world like this
@kangarojack3814
It's the result of online sh 20:42 shopping, actually.
@@kangarojack3814It's because of Dark Brandon
Yeah. It’s bigger than online shopping. It’s emblematic of the country (low birth rates, lack of discretionary spending, inflation, and proliferation of social media).
@@rogopdp7c Bingo. 🎯
The game at 02:10 is Flaming Finger. In the game, you need to follow the maze with your finger
Thanks for the info!
@@fleabittenadventures
These were in chucky cheese and local go cart/mini golf/arcade
Flaming finger is my favorite arcade game. I want one so bad
There’s an app for your phone called Finger Maze. Looks the same as the mall game, although I’ve never played either one.
@@juniormushu Make an offer at this arcade. Maybe they'll sell it to you!
Aside from Online Retail, I never understood why humans prefer standing out in the elements (Strip Mall) rather than being inside out of the elements.
Yes, especially in the winter and summer.
I noticed the trend here in New England is to demolish indoor malls and create outdoor strip malls with apartment housing above it and I never understood it yes it makes the area look more eye appealing but we only have like 4 months of decent weather here and during the Christmas season I am not running between stores in the elements...
@@kilamajaro1085 In Swansea, Mass. They sold the mall because obviously it wasn’t doing well. Someone bought it and created a strip mall that goes around the building so far all there is is a storage facility a gym and a church/religious school that’s it!
They made tiny apartments and I believe offices, and coffee shop etc. Out of the old mall in providence. Before providence place .
@christinehutchins123 I work for Tufts Health plan we had an office in there before we merged with Havard Pilgrim. I had to travel there from Boston once a month.
Does NAMDAR stand for North American Mall Decline Accelerate and Raze?
I remember being 13 years old back in 1990 smoking cigarettes in there with all my other juvenile delinquents 😂
Punk Ass Kids! 🤣
Those were different days for sure.
Worked at Athlete's Foot in 1990.
FYI Most dying mall operators don't charge independent retailers for electric anymore. They have to keep it on for the fire system to work so they include it in the rent.
This mall has been dying for over ten years
This one hurts, I went here every weekend for many years as a kid.
A few things:
* First of all, on the escalators being down, likely they are turned off to save on the mall's electric bill. With many stores vacant, the owners may choose to save power to reduce expenses, and with not a lot of people using them this can make sense.
* As to the store closing signs, a lot of times what happens is the store merchandise gets sold to an outside liquidation company for the closing sale, which runs the sale. This may explain why the signs are similar. Common liquidators include Gordon Brothers Group, Great American Group, Tiger Capital, Hilco Merchant Resources, Abacus Capital, and others.
If they do plan to demolish and redevelop a mall, often what they do is the following sequence:
1) Stop renewing leases for the tenants in the mall.
2) As leases expire, tenants move out.
3) As the mall gets emptier, more tenants start early moveout or terminating their leases
4) Sometimes the mall owner will give incentives or buy out leases to get tenants out early.
5) Once the mall is empty or near empty, they can begin prep for demolition (permits, environmental review, financing for what is coming next, etc).
6) Finally demolition starts and the mall gets redeveloped.
This was a nice mall a few years ago. I would go there from RI. Sad to see this.
It was very nice when I was there in 1994. It's like a totally different mall now.
@@fleabittenadventuresI would love to turn the clock back to 1994. Life was so much simpler, and better then.
I remember when the built this mall..they made a big deal when the huge crystal chandelier was delivered ...
WOW !!!! Last time that I set foot in Crystal Mall was summer 1997 !!!! What happened !!!!????
Crystal Mall is one of the few spots with a Dance Dance Revolution machine. I wish I didn't live so far away. When I am in the area I always stop in and play. All other arcades have a Korean dance machine.
My favorite place to go was the food Court. They had the Bored walk fries place and it was AWSOME! Especially when I got cheese sause for my fries. The BEST cheese sause I EVER tried. 👍👍👍👍
It’s so sad to see the Crystal mall like this. When I was there a few months back I could tell it was getting smaller with fewer clients.
I went into the Rue 21 there on it's final day. There was actually one t Shirt in my size it was shirt of Alisha Silverstone from her film Clueless from the 1990s . 90% off of course $2.19. The only time I ever went into a Rue 21 Store.
It's looks like a great store for thin people in their teens and 20's.
@@fleabittenadventures probably as I to am in my late 40s. Hey as for the candy machines. I get candy from them too sometimes. Know what you could do is bring some sanitizer and a paper towel or napkin and wipe down the dispenser area and also turn the crank with the paper towel instead of your bare hands. That Is what I do.
Everybody is broke these days and becoming increasingly anti-social with their phones and internets fused to their face 24/7. E-commerce is also killing places like this. Definitely sad to see a once thriving hopping bustling area full of life reduced to an empty shell devoid of enjoyment.
Exactly. I can see the upside to the internet.. but also the devastating impact it’s had on people.. and actually ‘going OUT’ and socializing … getting out and doing something with your siblings, friends or partners. It’s sad.
Oh well. Advancement in technology has its pros & cons. Maybe they could turn dead malls into something useful like maybe homes or nature preserves.
@@Galidorquest I say they make it into ONE BIG house lol 😆😂😂
Oof. I spent so much time here as a teenager in the late 90s. It's changed a bit since then.
O snap look who's here. I just watched your 1943 NES playthrough last night. Didn't know you were a local!
Retro CT Peeps Unite
Some (not all) of those arcades pay almost nothing or split revenue to have the space because the management needs some type of arcade to fill space. Also, arcade vendors like that move games around on route from location to location. It’s better to have the machine collecting some money versus sitting in a warehouse.
I have a friend that rents a full in line space at an indoor flea market to put his claw machines and other games. It’s actually less for him to pay for the space versus paying for storage of his games because his garage is small.
I'm all for them keeping the machines running and available to the public. It just seems like there must be more money going out the door in electricity and rent than what they are making from customers. Thanks for watching!
That's what I was going to say as I know some collectors do the same they sometimes come across games they don't truly want but will still by them and will make deals with bars and stuff to have games on location as it's cheaper than having them in storage and it can make some money in the process.
@@kilamajaro1085
If it is worthwhile running arcade games today, the revenue must have been insane back in the 80s..
@Eman-vp5wk Yeah, it had to be crazy in the golden era, now you have to charge a cover have the games free to play and hope to make it back with food and beverage or do like a Dave and Busters method where you purchase cards at like 10 and 20 a pop and you really don't know how much the games are charging until the card needs to be reloaded.
@Eman-vp5wk well you gotta think, kids didn't have the access to games like we do now so arcades were all we had unless kids were rich ir had a friend with a Nintendo lol
The game you asked about is Flaming Finger. You follow the maze with your finger as fast as possible
Wow, I'd never seen this one. Apparently it's from 2003 even though it looks like a product of the 70s.
Oh. I had no idea. It has a touch sensitive screen? I didn't even think of that. Thanks for the info!
Really? From 2003? I would have sworn late 70's or early 80's!
@@fleabittenadventuresno touch screens in 70s or 80s😂
The glass elevator is definitely a Westinghouse. Westinghouse’s in malls have a button on the side sometimes.
I wonder how long the candy you ate had been in the machine? Not thinking they really put fresh candy in there unless its empty.🤦
Wow, I haven’t been here since I was on pass from West Point so I could take my grandpa to watch “Saving Private Ryan” during its opening weekend. I enjoyed the Crystal Mall as young kid in the late 80’s to early 90’s.
It’s the economy! Can’t even afford rents anymore
Saw the Hot Topic, nostalgia hit hard😂 Had to Google the location and I'm only 45 minutes away 👀
I was. at that mall, all the time Hot Topic was one of my faves.
Same! 🙂🙃
Wow, what a difference from back in the day.
I remember talking with my friends and family when the Crystal Mall first opened and mentioning how it dwarfed some of the other malls we went to back then, like the Norwichtown Mall.
Back in the 1980s and 1990s (my Crystal Mall days) there was a steady stream of considerable pedestrian traffic to navigate down those main corridors, on the escalators, at the food court, and in the stores, themselves.
It resembled rush hour traffic in both directions.
I walked through the areas shown in this video, like the entrances into Sears, many times and I highly doubt that back then anybody was thinking that one day in the future the place would look deserted by comparison.
One time during the holiday season I drove around the place trying to find a parking spot but could not find one.
What a stark contrast to what's seen in this video.
The last time I was there was about five years ago and it was the first time I'd been there in maybe ten years.
I was amazed at how empty the place seemed five years ago.
Now, I wonder how long before either demolition or a major repurposing takes place.
Thank you for the memories with this video footage.
I grew up in East Hartford this brought back memories. Thank you
Me to. Buckland is starting to look like this!!!
I live in CT and have not been to that mall since 1990. I live 10 minutes from Buckland mall in Manchester and at times it looks like this. I live 30 minutes from Westfarms Mall, and yet, it is always busy! Funny how Buckland and Westfarms are only 20 minutes apart, yet the difference in foot traffic is not even comparable!!!! Thanks for posting this! BTW, Meriden Mall is next. Nothing left in there!!!
I worked at the Athlete's Foot and then the Newsrack in the food court in Crystal Mall back in '90 - 92 before heading off to college. Used to be crazy busy back then. Ate a ton of Taco Bell and Sbarros on my work breaks back then. Hah.
everyone goes to evergreen or the strip mall plaza where olive garden is now (in manchester).
Times are changing and not for the better. I grew up in the 90s, and we were always outside exploring. Now, kids just play video games and go on their phones
I commented on another video about 80-90s mall life for kids/teens. Then realized each store had its clientele. The teens went to the music, games, arcades, movies, and teen apparel shops. But mostly we grabbed a friend or two, and went to the mall for something to do. We always ran into someone. Sometimes we rolled somewhere else then. It was like facebook and tictok but IRL for teens. It wouldn't have been so cool if it was just the 100 teens. There were all the old boomers, and even the older gens, all shopping away with their fat paychecks.
I think, and not even joking, that malls supplanted the downtown shopping areas where you had to walk blocks to each store, with a centralized experience, so people could walk less and avoid the winter/summer weather. But then we got Big BOX (wally's/HomeDep/Bestbuy) where you get everything with even LESS walking. Now I see people when I'm out, in a small town, who look like they NEVER walk 20 yards. Its all NetFlix and FaceBook, Church and YardSales. A mall is just TOO MUCH walking now. It never bothered me a bit in the 80s, and they had to expand the parking area for our mall, too. You sometimes had to stop in those HUGE walkways when crowds would jam up crossways. Its hard to imagine 3000+ people in the same mall today. Also, I mowed lawns and had a Paper Route.. opportunities kids don't have now.
I went to my city's mall around 2021, and started talking to the 20-something working at Spencers. We traded jokes for 5 minutes about the store merch, and what items people (kids) today bought most. Then some slob walked up behind me and interrupted like I wasn't there. She looked annoyed, and I turned around. It was a fat 30-ish mall cop. I had to be one of less than 12 people shopping in the whole mall. He had the tone of a bouncer at a bar near closing (it was maybe 2pm). I really couldn't believe the way he positioned himself, and can only guess how many shoppers he runs off. I don't know if he had a thing for the girl, but she wasn't into him, and wow was that bad business etiquette. I remember kids stealing in that mall, 30 years ago. No one could hope to catch you in those crowds. Now you have to avoid the creeps they hire for security.
Kids wouldn't enjoy the mall, even if just the teen-centric stores came back. Teens never spent as much as adults. And adults are either broke or past retirement age. If they do spend, its on amazon.
Lots of things society could do for kids, like more skate parks, but won't.. they even closed the public pools.. because now the only way to get semi-stable in life is to win a million dollar lawsuit. Every lawsuit closes something down. Tictok and social media on a phone has replaced the real life interactions we grew up with. Also its merged reality with "hollywood" idealized imagery, so all the kids feel inferior to the .00001% with the most money. And the ipad kids (gen Alpha?) are all going blind from the screens.
That's funny. I grew up in the 60s and 70s and used to say that exact same thing about 90s kids. We were free range kids and I actually did walk 12 blocks to school alone from kindergarten on. Of course I wasn't really alone because every other kid was walking to school too. These days, kids and parents both are daily bombarded with stranger-danger scaremongering starting at breakfast with the missing kid milk carton. We don't live in neighborhoods anymore, we live in our separate fortresses.
@@BG-sl9lvThere is no longer a community. Just people who happen to live next to each other and don't want to see anyone.
I like your mall walk through video nice and stable and your information is very educational
I remember not too long ago (2-3 years ago) I'd frequent this mall regularly with my family. I remember going down the Bed Bath & Beyond escalators down to the Christmas Tree Shoppe to buy cheap seasonal decor. I remember in the fall of 2023 frequenting their temporary Spirit Halloween store located where the old H&M used to be. Crystal Mall's FYE has got to be one of my favorite stores in the mall because of its' retro lighting, carpets, and decor. I'm a big physical media fan but lately they've been trying to market away from movies and moreso to collectible enthusiasts and KPOP fans so the DVD sections just get slimmer and slimmer. There's quite the contrast with this location because they have just aisle after aisle of interesting titles. I'm gonna miss them and the memories of shopping with my family at Crystal Mall. I may have only known Crystal Mall during its' twilight years but for some reason I feel like I've known this place longer than that. Great video as always!
Thanks! I may do a walk-through of the FYE the next time I'm there!
Ice Imports has been my favorite store as well as Toy Vault.
Just stopped in today to explore. I was surprised just how much in movies and music FYE still had. Quite a lot of used/clearance items too. I guess I'm just used to seeing DVDs, BDs, and CDs disappearing from retail. Like Newbury Comics in Buckland Hills, where Funko Pop has taken over, and used CDs and all DVDs/BDs are gone.
I tend to judge malls by their food court. Sometimes a mall can be really dead but lots of people in the food court. I find that to be the case with the Maine Mall and also the mall in Manchester, NH.
Last thing I was expecting when I came home from wot tonight was the be recommended a vid of the local Mall. I remember how lively it used to be, coming after school with my friends every Tuesday, because that was the day we all had off from work.
I used to spend a lot of time at this mall. The arcade that was there near the food court back in the 1990’s was always packed.
I heard “Baby Come Back” by Player briefly. I don’t think there’s any coming back for this mall, unfortunately 😢
Me as a kid: "I wish my social anxiety didn't make it so difficult to spend time at the mall."
Me now: "This isn't what I had in mind..."
I'm in my mid 30s and I remember looking forward to going to the Crystal Mall as a kid. The last few times my wife and I went there in the last 5-8 years it was not much busier than this. I remember the parking lots used to be absolutely packed, its a ghost town now.
I live in Connecticut and never heard of this place all I ever knew of was the Waterbury mall and the west farms mall
"YOU'RE SO VAIN!!! You probably think this song is ABOUT YOU, DON'CHU?!!" Hmm, wonder how that song got stuck in my head??? :)
blame David Geffen!
I went there few weeks back for the first time since before Covid. And shocked to see all the closed stores.
remember coming down to the Subbase not far from here and it was fairly lively. nearly 7 months later and as im soon to leave, it sucks to see the mall slowly and slowly dying. wish i got to see it in its peak!
I feel like the state could buy these malls and create a program to help people start small businesses such that they get the units as a kind of loaned space to seed the beginning of it, and then the state provides mentors and assistance getting them out into the commercial real estate markets when their businesses are up and running. The bigger department store spaces could be used for social services, especially after school programs. Put a police station in one of the units so there is always a presence in there.
These malls represent the whole country. It's over folks we are about to go into some very hard times.
Maybe so but I just think malls have had their day.
@@christinehutchins123
That's what it is. Success is blooming away from others failures.
A mall closes, an Amazon opens.
It's not the end of the world
I personally never cared for malls
Hard times as in Amazon, home video games, Netflix. Times change. Bloated markups don't help.
People go to fast food, Walmart and strip malls more now. That's where their traffic went. You look at a mall which was replaced, and you'll see this in its place with lots of traffic. Upscale and suburban malls survived.
Wow, I used to work in that mall at the Spencer’s in 2009-2010. Haven’t been back since but I remember it being very busy. Have a lot of good memories from that time.
I'm surprised Spencer's still existed in 2010. I remember it as a mall store from the 70s and 80s.
Spencer's was awesome, I would much rather work there than a&f, that was hell lol
I had no idea it was dying! I used to go here every weekend as a kid. I guess this is the result of buying online like Amazon. Everything is cheaper.
Hello, I'm the girl that commented on your Auburn (Maine) Mall video from last night because I had fond memories of going into the Auburn (Maine) Mall like one time like I did say before, and so this video here... when my family and I visited Connecticut on (about a month before you came back around that mall to film this video), specifically to the Mystic area for well, a family-related reason even if the town really was so beautiful, when we were driving by at the state, we SAW this mall but didn't stop in. And I think now I know why ^_^;
Also, yes I saw a news report on a Mystic inn's hotel room TV set talking about malls and how dead they were becoming and then one of the news stories was talking about this mall right here, and then I said "wait a minute, we passed by here!" mhm
I think the mall crossed into the creepy side with that many stores closed. I don't think it will be open much longer.
I agree.
BRO I WAS LITERALLY THERE SIX DAYS AGO! You gotta let me know next time you come down!
You should come to the Meriden mall. It used to be the place to be as a kid but now it's just a shell of it's old self. Sad to see. Online shopping is to blame but so is everyone's new instant gratification complex. Order online and have it next day most cases. Wish we could go back to no Internet. It's killing our species. We are making ourselves obsolete.
It went Orange Julius, Charlie's, can't recall what it was before at the moment, where Taco Bell was Arby's was there before that, next Dunkin, before that was Sbarro's, I think Panda Express was next, then it was Burger King before Subway. I think before Rue21, in that area was Wicks ń Sticks. There was three music stores in there at one point, FYE, one mid way, somewhere near where the Pretzel place is. Originally where the WoW! is, was a pet store. AE was across the way from B&BW.
Thanks for the info!
I used to live ~40 minutes from there and CM wasn't really busy before we moved away a couple of years ago. It's been quite a few years since even being inside though I drove by many times. Sad to see.
I wonder how West Farms and Trumbull are doing. Once in a while I went to Danbury Mall as well. I almost forgot about Connecticut Post in Milford.
Wow. I had a 2nd job in the food court there 10 years ago. It was absolutely slammed the majority of the time.
It has got worse, Whitney Field has as well. The Kay's Jewelers moved to another strip mall, Yankee candle yanked their store, and as I mentioned before, the coincidence that your Whitney Field thumbnail as Rue21 front-and-center. Needless to say that's going/gone. On the plus side, a new candy store opened in the food court, not sure if it's still going. The Sears is supposed to become a Hobby Lobby. Work is being done in there, so I guess it's started.
As for Crystal, the escalators being mostly all down means closure likely. The elevator appears to be a Westinghouse. The interlocks on the doors (as seen when you walked by it opposite side on the upper level) are right next to each other, which is their thing.
Damn, that mall as Suicide Scooters? I guess it's dead enough.
Thanks for the info on Whitney Field. I may take another look at that place sometime.
I should have taken one of those scooters for a ride.
This mall was packed when I lived out there 2002 2006. 2015 it was going strong too. A great place it was. Sad to see it in this shape.
Used to be a big music store FYI, a packed hot topic, and huge food court. Problem is the U.S. Navy left Grotton CT. 50,000 people gone, the mall died.
Amazing little arcade in there! Thanks for sharing.
As someone who actually has attended this mall in the past, the arcade used to be better. It's just really bad redemption games and outside of that pinball game, there's literally not much to do. If there was at least a "real" arcade game (you know, the Ms. Pac Man/Galaga machines that basically every other arcade under the sun has) I'd probably argue there'd be people messing around in there to some extent, because in the past there was, and people were messing around in there.
Anchors make a mall. They're visual destinations that stand out. Without them it's like a sidewalk to a dead end. The big retail stores also bring in most of the traffic that provides business to the smaller stores along the common walking area. When anchors are empty the visual energy of the mall decreases and it becomes less of an overall draw. A mall with empty anchor spaces is a mall in trouble.
Precisely why I still carry around a travel size bottle of hand sanitizer before eating
Yeah, I took a chance and lost.
If you think this is bad it could get way worse if Kamala Harris becomes the next president🤔M.A.G.A 2024 can help with this situation....
I wouldn't say that lack of parts is the problem with the escalators. I would say it's a lack of owners wanting to pay to have them repaired.
Maybe a combination of both. I see broken escalators at almost every mall I go to, but who knows.
Broken? Or they don't wanna pay for for the big electric motors to drive up the electricity bill...NOT CHEAP..
This Mall WILL ALLWAYS hold a special place in my heart. L❤ved comeing to the Crystal Mall. 👍✌🌟 I came here when they had the grand Opening at that time. 👍
Seeing a mall with many closed stores can evoke feelings of sadness and depression because it represents decline and loss. It can remind you of better times when the mall was vibrant and full of life, symbolizing community and economic health. The emptiness and disrepair highlight the impermanence of once-thriving places, reflecting broader anxieties about change and decay. This visual decay can also evoke personal feelings of nostalgia and a sense of helplessness in the face of inevitable change. -- and if you want even more depression, I didn't write that, AI did with my input. lol.
I lived about 1 hour away in Bridgeport CT. In the early 2000's we would travel to Crystal mall for weekly tournaments at the arcade for a video game Marvel vs Capcom 2. I was a teen and won one of those tournaments pot of roughly $120. :-)
I was there last week and was shocked how empty it was. Even the Charley's steak place is gone. I always thought Charley's would survive the apocalypse
Yeah, it's pretty dead. I think it's a tie between Enfield Square Mall and Crystal Mall at this point for the deadest mall in Connecticut.
@@fleabittenadventures Enfield Square Mall is only still open because of the Target anchor store…at least Crystal Mall has some actual corporate retail stores open that aren’t independent small stores
Insane how quickly everything closed there.
Enfield Mall was getting a lot of pressure from the town, one of the reason is they had an issue where the roof caved in and the owners didn't fix it. The town ended up footing the bill. This mall is most definitely nicer and in better condition than Enfield Mall.
I can’t believe they don’t use the escalators as stairs!?! Like you said, you have to go all the way to the middle of the mall to get from floor to floor. (“ESTUPID”)!
Visit brass mill again now where macys was we have a Ashley furniture and where regal was is now an Apple cinema but the 2 pretzel maker spot closed😢
America is fading
It's surprisingly busy compared to the last few times I was there. I think there might be a few more stores too. I think a lot of people just go to walk around inside or hit the food court. edit: Never mind about the food court...
I can still picture the brown, orange, green tiles it used to be when I was a kid.
I enjoy your videos. Please point out the stores that are still there and open. I am curious what types of stores are still open and holding down the fort. I can't always read the signs as you walk by. Thanks!
The mall looks like a ghost mall.
I travel a lot for work and see a lot of zombi malls that seem to be over 90% empty. It’s just eerie how they try to hide the closed stores. And even the ones that look like they are doing better don’t seem to have much foot traffic. I was stationed in Groton CT early 90’s and the Crystal mall was thriving with lots of foot traffic. Makes me wonder how many malls will survive next 5-10 years.
The camera you use here makes it look much more new and beautiful for some reason than it does real life😭