A lot of hard work went into the creation of this video, with quite a few set backs in the process. When I began assembling, and editing the footage, I was really going for a creepy vibe, because this mall was so incredibly hollowed out. Your comment means I was able to manifest the vision into reality. Thank you for your awesome comment!
I remember going here as a kid and when I was a teenager not so long ago and this mall was bustling with people, not a shuttered storefront in sight. When I came back about 2 years ago, walking through and seeing all these empty spaces and the lack of foot traffic nearly made me cry. I have a lot of memories of this place, and it’s sad seeing it as a shell of what it once was.
I used to come here a lot when I was recently moved into America, such thriving place it was, it was like 2019 I think, idk my memory is full of Mandela effects and memories that are slowly being forgotten
I'm from Fort Worth and once I went in the Authorized personnel only room and there was really nothing just but some doors that lead to stores from behind but You should check it out sometime for a video LOL
When I was in high school back in the mid 2000s this mall was packed and had a lot of good stores. I believe ridgmar mall started to slowly die in the 2010s because I noticed that stores were closing one by one and less people were in the mall, I watched the mall die. I believe what killed ridgmar mall was not just online shopping but when more retail opened outside the mall too. The stores outside the mall are always busy except for ridgmar mall. It's sad to see my teenage years mall die like that.
It was a mixture of numerous things that caused the collapse. The housing market crash and the illegals or non American citizens taking it over and lots of theft and people being broke and the internet selling everything known online. Amazon and Walmart have destroyed tons of brick and mortar stores.
In my opinion the gang wars going on ruined it.. folks used to go there all the time until things started getting sort of violent.. most of the folks with money who live in the area decided instead on going to Hulen mall which was much nicer.. the biggest neighborhoods to cause trouble there was guys from Lake Como and the guys from the Las Vegas trails.. i wish they would work on getting it back up and running.. i remember taking my girlfriends throughout the years here..
Beginning in around 2002 and ending in 2012 I had worked at several department stores at Ridgmar including; Macy's, Foley's, JC Penney's, Dillard's, Bag N Baggage and the Bally Total Fitness that was in the mall circle and it's astounding how dead this mall is today. The amount of people that would turn out for Black Friday deals alone would make your head spin. Incidentally, when I worked at the JC Penney's (back in 2003, amazingly it's still open) everyone who worked there had a story about paranormal activity, including myself. It was or still is haunted.
@@koryrowe While in band we marched Santa Claus in down the spiral ramp. It was more of a fund raiser for the band as we got the cleanout from the fountains. I think we netted about $200 in change. I just remember having to count and roll all that change out of 5 gallon buckets. But otherwise, it was a cool place to hang out. Orange Julius, Wicks and Sticks, Spencers, and this list goes on. As a kid I would sit at the west entrance to JC Penney while mom shopped. I'd play doorman and watch the B-52s take off.
@@dug117 I read this comment to my SO. We really enjoyed hearing about your special memories, as we remember the days, when shopping malls were also community centers of their time. Thank you for sharing!
@@koryrowe Worked at Sound Town (at the top of the spiral ramp) in 78 and 79. It wasn't as cool a record store as Sound Warehouse but it was OK. I ran the turntable most of the time I was there and would always play the latest rock and roll records no matter what customers were in the store. Drove the Asst Mgr crazy as a Van Halen album would be blasting and he would pull it off for the Bee Gees. LOL. On the way into work I always walked by Morrows Nut Shoppe across the way and talked with a sweet, cute girl named Stacy. Later we dated for a few months until she met a horrible tragedy while jogging near her apt. at UTA in 82. May that sweet young lady RIP....
I check that mall out after watching this video last week. For a dead mall I found it relaxing to walk around and imagine how busy the place used to be. The building is still well maintained and I felt safe exploring for an hour. Maybe if more housing were built closer here there could be an increased demand for more shops or there could convert this place to a business/retailer/apartment area if zoning allowed it.
What a shame,in the 80s that place was always packed,and the place to be as a teen, when you were not cruising the Drag on Camp Bowie .i lived an hour away and my friends and would drive up and hang out at the mall and cruise the drag that evening
If you still remember Woolworth restraunt from there, then your old school. Is it closed to public, l would like to do a memory lane trip through there I'd they are gonna tear it down
I'm almost positive there was NO Woolworth store in Ridgmar Mall. There was a Whatburger and an El Fenix downstairs along with a crappy food court and also a better food area with pizza upstairs across from Chelsea Street Pub.
I go to this mall rather frequently mostly for the movie theater which still seems to do good business. JC Penney is also active but never busy. The Dillards outlet also seems pretty steady but for some reason you cannot enter it through the malll. Instead, you have to go to the entrance from the outside parking lot. There are other smaller businesses that have been there for at least a few years now and some that have come and gone in a short time. It appears that there are some revitalization efforts maybe going on but we will see.
Seems you filmed this dark for the dramatics. Yeah there are some dark areas but for the most part it is still a clean and safe mall. Dead mall? Yep been that way forever. Will it turn around? Not likely.
4:27 … I worked at that 5D imp and it was horrible, we never had business and the boss was completely trash…. This mall needs to be closed and remodeled completely
What kind of business was 5D Imp? It looked to me like it had a bunch of those 3D movie rides that you would see in the early 2000s at theme parks, the fair, or other entertainment venues.
There are two (acceptable by natives) nicknames for Fort Worth and that's "old school" Cowtown or Panther City (REAL old school). Those others were "invented" by LOSERS who have moved into Fort Worth from some other place and have no right to nick name the twon ANYTHING.
How recent was this filmed & curious of the time of day.. early? Late? Was it open or did you have some cool allowance outside of open hours? I went to check it out probably 6-8 months ago & it wasn’t busy but not this dead..
I filmed this last year, during the summer on a weekday afternoon. Before uploading the video, I’d had the footage for a couple of months. The only stores that were open were the anchor stores, while all of the smaller stores were either permanently closed, or in the process of permanently closing. One side of the mall was nearly 100% vacant. There really wasn’t much left of this mall, as it seemed to be in its final moments before whatever happens next.
It isn’t too bad business is minimal… I worked there a few months back and it wasn’t too bad but more stores are closing… JCpenny and the movie theater keep it busy
This mall isn't closed lol it just isn't doing well. I visited it after we opened back up after the little pandemic we had. It's more depressing and not at all creepy in real life. Sorry lol
When I was there, some of the kiosks were still open, even though the food court was nearly vacant. I was unable to get any footage of the food court, because I was issued a permanent ban by one of the security guards on duty, for simply turning my camera on in the food court. This was the first time I've ever been banned from a place that serves the public.
@@markmatuga2595 I know, right? It does happen, from time to time, even to the best of documentarians, and filmmakers. Not everyone understands the artform, unfortunately. Now, I just consider it a rite of passage, and have chalked it up as a learning experience.
@@koryrowe like mind-blowing from how im picturing it onces you get 4 million+ subscribers you should do it i don't wont credit just want something like it
I was a mall rat during the 80's and 90's and it was awesome. You wouldn't catch me at any mall thriving or not these days. Once I found thrift stores and free clothing drives and garage sales I quit the malls like 20yrs ago. Why? Let's see, expensive crap made in a sh!thole country and made crappy. Same clothes and name brands at thrift stores and stuff with tags still on them. This mall was a great one but then the illegals came and when they did the mall started going belly up. This is not a racist statement it's just the truth. I watched this mall go downhill from the illegals. The regulars stopped coming in. The stores lost revenue from lots of theft and regular Americans are sick of the illegals. Plus many folks have learned what I learned. Don't pay top dollar for crummy stuff and stop buying junk because of a label.
The creepiest dead mall video ever. Even the views of the skylights looked scary. Imagine going there at night.
A lot of hard work went into the creation of this video, with quite a few set backs in the process. When I began assembling, and editing the footage, I was really going for a creepy vibe, because this mall was so incredibly hollowed out. Your comment means I was able to manifest the vision into reality. Thank you for your awesome comment!
I worked in the mall a few months back at that 5D store and it isn’t as sad and gloomy as it looks but neither mall needs help
People have gotten stabbed in the parking lot, not too long ago.
I remember going here as a kid and when I was a teenager not so long ago and this mall was bustling with people, not a shuttered storefront in sight.
When I came back about 2 years ago, walking through and seeing all these empty spaces and the lack of foot traffic nearly made me cry. I have a lot of memories of this place, and it’s sad seeing it as a shell of what it once was.
Same here. Ridgemar mall was the biggest mall in Fort Worth Tx. It was booming. Them around 2014 it really died. Makes me so sad.
I used to come here a lot when I was recently moved into America, such thriving place it was, it was like 2019 I think, idk my memory is full of Mandela effects and memories that are slowly being forgotten
I'm from Fort Worth and once I went in the Authorized personnel only room and there was really nothing just but some doors that lead to stores from behind but You should check it out sometime for a video LOL
Stop because me too
I used to come here all the time! It’s was such a thriving mall
There wasn't much left when I was there. Almost all of the stores were either shuttered, or in the process of shuttering.
This is amazing, also quite sad to see most of the stores I enjoyed going to when I was growing up slowly fade away. Time flies doesn’t it.
It's honestly a miracle this place is even still open
Maybe the property owners are using it as a tax write-off.
When I was in high school back in the mid 2000s this mall was packed and had a lot of good stores. I believe ridgmar mall started to slowly die in the 2010s because I noticed that stores were closing one by one and less people were in the mall, I watched the mall die. I believe what killed ridgmar mall was not just online shopping but when more retail opened outside the mall too. The stores outside the mall are always busy except for ridgmar mall. It's sad to see my teenage years mall die like that.
Malls really were the community centers of their time. Thank you for sharing this!
It was a mixture of numerous things that caused the collapse. The housing market crash and the illegals or non American citizens taking it over and lots of theft and people being broke and the internet selling everything known online. Amazon and Walmart have destroyed tons of brick and mortar stores.
In my opinion the gang wars going on ruined it.. folks used to go there all the time until things started getting sort of violent.. most of the folks with money who live in the area decided instead on going to Hulen mall which was much nicer.. the biggest neighborhoods to cause trouble there was guys from Lake Como and the guys from the Las Vegas trails.. i wish they would work on getting it back up and running.. i remember taking my girlfriends throughout the years here..
Beginning in around 2002 and ending in 2012 I had worked at several department stores at Ridgmar including; Macy's, Foley's, JC Penney's, Dillard's, Bag N Baggage and the Bally Total Fitness that was in the mall circle and it's astounding how dead this mall is today. The amount of people that would turn out for Black Friday deals alone would make your head spin. Incidentally, when I worked at the JC Penney's (back in 2003, amazingly it's still open) everyone who worked there had a story about paranormal activity, including myself. It was or still is haunted.
Awesome comment!
couldn't hold onto a job, huh?
Grew up in that mall late 70s and 80s. Shame to see it fall. Lots of great memories there.
Feel free to share some of your memories.
@@koryrowe While in band we marched Santa Claus in down the spiral ramp. It was more of a fund raiser for the band as we got the cleanout from the fountains. I think we netted about $200 in change. I just remember having to count and roll all that change out of 5 gallon buckets. But otherwise, it was a cool place to hang out. Orange Julius, Wicks and Sticks, Spencers, and this list goes on. As a kid I would sit at the west entrance to JC Penney while mom shopped. I'd play doorman and watch the B-52s take off.
@@dug117 I read this comment to my SO. We really enjoyed hearing about your special memories, as we remember the days, when shopping malls were also community centers of their time. Thank you for sharing!
@@koryrowe Worked at Sound Town (at the top of the spiral ramp) in 78 and 79. It wasn't as cool a record store as Sound Warehouse but it was OK. I ran the turntable most of the time I was there and would always play the latest rock and roll records no matter what customers were in the store. Drove the Asst Mgr crazy as a Van Halen album would be blasting and he would pull it off for the Bee Gees. LOL. On the way into work I always walked by Morrows Nut Shoppe across the way and talked with a sweet, cute girl named Stacy. Later we dated for a few months until she met a horrible tragedy while jogging near her apt. at UTA in 82. May that sweet young lady RIP....
I check that mall out after watching this video last week. For a dead mall I found it relaxing to walk around and imagine how busy the place used to be. The building is still well maintained and I felt safe exploring for an hour.
Maybe if more housing were built closer here there could be an increased demand for more shops or there could convert this place to a business/retailer/apartment area if zoning allowed it.
I remember how many people were there sad it’s a ghost town now,had a lot memories there too :(
What a shame,in the 80s that place was always packed,and the place to be as a teen, when you were not cruising the Drag on Camp Bowie .i lived an hour away and my friends and would drive up and hang out at the mall and cruise the drag that evening
Thank you for sharing your awesome memory.
If you still remember Woolworth restraunt from there, then your old school.
Is it closed to public, l would like to do a memory lane trip through there I'd they are gonna tear it down
I'm almost positive there was NO Woolworth store in Ridgmar Mall. There was a Whatburger and an El Fenix downstairs along with a crappy food court and also a better food area with pizza upstairs across from Chelsea Street Pub.
@@steveludwig4200there was a Woolworths, it was downstairs close to Dillards. Ever since the mid-80s I've been going to that Mall.
Ah, my old teen hangout, then later took my son as a toddler a few times…so many memories/emotions. 😔
I go to this mall rather frequently mostly for the movie theater which still seems to do good business. JC Penney is also active but never busy. The Dillards outlet also seems pretty steady but for some reason you cannot enter it through the malll. Instead, you have to go to the entrance from the outside parking lot. There are other smaller businesses that have been there for at least a few years now and some that have come and gone in a short time. It appears that there are some revitalization efforts maybe going on but we will see.
On the west side of FORTWORTH aka MURDAWORTH aka funkytown aka COWTOWN this mall used to jump back in the days
Seems you filmed this dark for the dramatics. Yeah there are some dark areas but for the most part it is still a clean and safe mall. Dead mall? Yep been that way forever. Will it turn around? Not likely.
I hope and pray this never happens to Hulen Mall.
I knew Ridgmar would get this treatment.
very cool if eerie atmosphere. makes me want to be there. maybe in a sense, i was there as i watched.
I know, right? Thanks for your awesome comment!
Wow can't believe it. Worked at visionworks here in like 2013
4:27 … I worked at that 5D imp and it was horrible, we never had business and the boss was completely trash…. This mall needs to be closed and remodeled completely
What kind of business was 5D Imp? It looked to me like it had a bunch of those 3D movie rides that you would see in the early 2000s at theme parks, the fair, or other entertainment venues.
Sad I still remember!!!Great memories never die….FunkyTown,MurdaWorth,CowTown…..My home FortWorth Tx mane!!!
There are two (acceptable by natives) nicknames for Fort Worth and that's "old school" Cowtown or Panther City (REAL old school). Those others were "invented" by LOSERS who have moved into Fort Worth from some other place and have no right to nick name the twon ANYTHING.
visiting dallas and i came to this mall without knowing it was gonna be so dead
Are there any open stores
How recent was this filmed & curious of the time of day.. early? Late? Was it open or did you have some cool allowance outside of open hours? I went to check it out probably 6-8 months ago & it wasn’t busy but not this dead..
I filmed this last year, during the summer on a weekday afternoon. Before uploading the video, I’d had the footage for a couple of months. The only stores that were open were the anchor stores, while all of the smaller stores were either permanently closed, or in the process of permanently closing. One side of the mall was nearly 100% vacant. There really wasn’t much left of this mall, as it seemed to be in its final moments before whatever happens next.
It isn’t too bad business is minimal… I worked there a few months back and it wasn’t too bad but more stores are closing… JCpenny and the movie theater keep it busy
@@jessicaacosta6609 That’s surprising since nobody really goes to movie theatre’s anymore.
@@koryrowe yeah that one keeps its business since it’s a Cinimax
This mall isn't closed lol it just isn't doing well.
I visited it after we opened back up after the little pandemic we had.
It's more depressing and not at all creepy in real life.
Sorry lol
I miss going to Ridgmar Mall want my favorite is so sad 😭 ❤️
I wonder if they serve “ dessert “ in a deserted mall.
When I was there, some of the kiosks were still open, even though the food court was nearly vacant. I was unable to get any footage of the food court, because I was issued a permanent ban by one of the security guards on duty, for simply turning my camera on in the food court. This was the first time I've ever been banned from a place that serves the public.
@@koryrowe from the looks of things not too much longer and that ban was simply pathetic.
@@markmatuga2595 I know, right? It does happen, from time to time, even to the best of documentarians, and filmmakers. Not everyone understands the artform, unfortunately. Now, I just consider it a rite of passage, and have chalked it up as a learning experience.
@@koryrowe A guard on a power trip. You should have told him where to get off.
If i could buy this mall i would turn this into a FUNZONE laser tag room climbing room just different stuff for experience purpose
Oh man, that would be crazy!
@@koryrowe like mind-blowing from how im picturing it onces you get 4 million+ subscribers you should do it i don't wont credit just want something like it
LOL, you went to great lengths to make it look like there is no open stores in the mall. It's July 2024 and the mall is still open today.
This mall looks depressing, I'd rather go to Hulen Mall, the outlet mall, or North East Mall than Ridgmar Mall
Ridgmar Mall KILLED those two malls back in its heyday of the mid 70s-mid 80s especially Hulen Mall.
Ghost town !
Definitely!
I was a mall rat during the 80's and 90's and it was awesome. You wouldn't catch me at any mall thriving or not these days. Once I found thrift stores and free clothing drives and garage sales I quit the malls like 20yrs ago. Why? Let's see, expensive crap made in a sh!thole country and made crappy. Same clothes and name brands at thrift stores and stuff with tags still on them. This mall was a great one but then the illegals came and when they did the mall started going belly up. This is not a racist statement it's just the truth. I watched this mall go downhill from the illegals. The regulars stopped coming in. The stores lost revenue from lots of theft and regular Americans are sick of the illegals. Plus many folks have learned what I learned. Don't pay top dollar for crummy stuff and stop buying junk because of a label.