Came here to the channel through multiple recommendations from Sal via his videos - he gives you two high praise and it's not hard to figure out why. Kristen (hope I'm spelling that right) - Your narration in a manner of slightly irked deadpan humor (though with a hint of compassion - like, "This mall is like an old girl friend who needs some new clothes and a hug"), IMO, is second to none in dead mall videos and an exceptional frame for these tours. Plus, even though it's an overdub, your manner is like you had a mic in your hand live during actual filming as opposed to sitting or standing in front of one in a room sometime later. Ron - Your cutting (with a markedly gentle edge) humor and Kristen's slightly irked deadpan play off of each other like a Globetrotter's passing circle. Beautiful stuff. Plus, I like that you're a true team - like a couple of high school friends going to the mall back in the 80's or 90's. Matter of fact, that's another thing that puts you head & shoulders above a lot of dead mall video archivists: You're like a ready-made hangout group. I mean, other filmmakers do awesome dead mall work alone, but who really went to the mall **alone** back in the day, you know? If part of the production is to capture melancholy-flavored shadows of the mall experience (zeitgeist, if you will) back in the day, you can't really go alone and try to capture as complete an image & feeling as possible. So, yeah - that's what makes your productions all the better to experience and truly remember what was in these malls rather than just watch and gawk at what tattered remains there might be. To close, please keep on doing what you're doing and don't change a thing. You two have really warmed the heart of this card-carrying 47 year old Generation X "slacker" (yes - 1980-1989 saw yours truly at ages 8-18 regularly at the mall, being a true mallrat) with your passion and enthusiasm for documenting these places and rekindling some of the best memories. Thank you so much for what you're doing. :)
WOW! Thank you so much for your very thoughtful comment and praise. This means a great deal to me (seriously I'm getting a little choked up). We're both in our mid-30's and I have a lot of memories associated with visiting malls at most stages in my life (from going there with my mom and grandma as a little kid to working there in my teens and early 20s)...and I didnt expect that we would be visiting malls in this condition at the end of theirs. We started running tape on our drive in after filming our first video and realized that a lot of the conversations that were going on in the background in the car while filming the exterior of the mall were pretty funny when we went back to watch them, so we decided to include them in the video. We work really hard on these videos and it's always nice to hear that what we're doing resonates with people. Thank you for looking us up!
My wife and I lived in Middletown from 1983 to 1988 so we frequently shopped at Towne Mall. It’s disheartening to see how the Towne Mall has descended into dead mall oblivion. To be sure, Towne Mall is not Middletown’s first experience with a dead mall - A little more about that later. I missed the grand opening of Towne Mall in February of 1977 as I was attending the University of Cincinnati. Although did I visit the mall during it's first Christmas holiday season, I didn’t start shopping there regularly until around 1981. Throughout the 1980’s decade, the Towne Mall parking lot was always full during peak shopping hours. It was a fluke if you were able to locate an open parking spot anywhere near the mall or anchor store entrances. McAlpin’s was probably the busiest anchor store but Elder-Beerman and Sears weren’t far behind in customer sales activity. All the mall stores were doing a brisk and solid business. While living in Middletown in the 1980's, I commuted to work in northern Cincinnati. An interesting observation I noted at that time was that many of my co-workers that resided within the I-275 loop were driving to Middletown to shop at Towne Mall. Tri-County, Kenwood and Northgate Mall were all extremely busy and crowded during those years. For many of my coworkers it was worth the extra gasoline and drive time north to avoid the excessive traffic congestion and parking hassles of the Cincinnati area shopping malls. Obviously, my observation is only anecdotal. Nevertheless, if this was happening with mall shoppers living in Cincinnati, it may have also been happening with Dayton area shoppers, too. Further, it’s not clear to me that the Towne Mall owners ever realized that they were attracting shoppers from a much wider region than simply the base Middletown area population. In 1988 we bought a home in the northern Cincinnati suburbs and we gradually stopped shopping at Towne Mall. I think the last time we shopped there was probably around 1995. By that time, Tri-County Mall had undergone a major overhaul and added a completely new second level. Kenwood Mall had also completed major upgrades and Dayton Mall was working on major upgrades around the 1994-1995 timeframe. While it’s difficult to believe in its current lifeless state, Towne Mall did acquire the reputation as a deadly mall-killer during its heyday of the 1980’s. Towne Mall pretty much singlehandedly terminated the City Centre Mart (later known as City Centre Mall) that had been constructed in downtown Middletown in the early 1970’s. Middletown's federally-funded City Centre Mart had the dubious distinction of likely being the very first dead mall in Southwestern Ohio region. And perhaps the first dead mall in the entire Tri-State region. If you want to know more about Middletown's ill-fated City Centre Mart, Dennis Creech has written an excellent summary of it here: deadmalls.com/malls/city_centre_mart.html It is now long gone. It was finally put out its misery just after the turn of the century. Even though it was a sad trip down memory lane, thanks again for producing the Towne Mall video!
Mark it’s a neat mall, especially since Eastgate was my childhood mall and Towne Mall is a carbon copy of what it looked like in the 80’s. I’m a big fan of DeadMalls.com! They were my first introduction to the idea of following and researching them. I always start my research there. They’re great!
Not sure how I came across this, but thank you! As you said in the video, sad, but this was MY mall in the 80's as a kid. I could almost see how busy this place used to be and working my first job at KayBee Toys. Chess King was the store diagonal to Roger's with the wood angle slats across the top...yes, they sold the Thriller jacket. 😂 Spent many a $$ at the arcade, ate Cinnabon like crazy, and was THE place to go on Fri/Sat night. Great memories!
@@UniCommProductions Yep, We miss this Mall as it was in it's day. When they took out the fountains in the middle that seemed to start the decline Sad!
Did you know Eastgate Mall was once a carbon copy of this mall--they remodeled it and took out the fountains in 2004, which made me really sad. It was a big deal to me when I was a kid to throw a penny in those fountains
I grew up in this Mall. My mother managed the Cassano's Pizza place during the 80's. So on weekends I'd go into work with her and help around the store for little bits of money so I could spend it in the arcade across the hall.
I loved this place. The center used to be recessed into the floor and had seats plus a small fountain. It had a candy store right on the corner and of course Cassano’s. So sad seeing it dead. Brings back good memories though.
I remember back in the day, around the Holidays, you could not find a parking spot. We moved away from Middletown years ago. It was in a decline since I was born I think. Bad management. Surrounding towns are doing fine.
@@UniCommProductions It was really the only place to hang out in Middletown when I was a kid. There was a arcade that went and was gone. It used to be packed, a safe place to drop off your 10-15 yr olds in 2 or more. The movie theater went down hill also. We live in Tampa now. Big deference. Middletown is the place the time stood still. Now they have a big drug problem. national news and sadly I see names I went to school with.
I worked at the Sears in this mall 1996-1997 and again from 2000-2008. My band even played a show in front of Sears one night. Lots of memories. I remember what was in every one of those storefronts.
Awesome video! I worked at that Sears for a couple of months right before they shut down. I’ve been going to this mall since I was a young kid, I’m 20 now. They used to have a candy store, a chick fil a, a toy store, a dollar tree dollar store, and a video game store back in 2005. It was quite an enjoyable place back then, but has been in decline ever since. I have a lot of great memories here. Thanks for posting!
I was in Oxford for my undergraduate degree in the late 90s. I would drive to these little malls and window shop. It was my way of escape from the stress of classes. I moved to Arizona in 2001 and haven’t been back to Ohio since. So great to see your coverage on these places. Thank you.
Ahhhhhh I miss Funk-e People! The Jefferson Mall location in Louisville was a fave hangout of mine in my mid 2000s high school days. Glad to know there is still at least one somewhere in the world.
Oof... I went here so much as a kid. I remember the sound my aunt's loafers made on the tile in Dillard's, walking from carpeted area to tiled area. I worked at the Bath and Body Works in the summer of 2007. It was busy in the 90s when I was a kid. I remember Christmas time in there.
It's closed now. My friend Sal just did a more recent video on the property and there were even less stores inside (I believe his last footage was shot in 2022; this video was filmed in Summer 2018)
What a walk down memory lane! My first job as a high school junior was at The Gap store in this mall back in the early 80's. My husband and I just moved back to the area about a year ago and I've driven by the mall but never gone inside because I'd heard there is nothing there. The last time I was inside was probably 10 years ago and it had already declined quite a bit then. Thanks for giving me a peek inside! Bittersweet to see what it has become.
It's really sad to see what state it's in. It's in good shape structurally and no water damage/mold smell. They're even still watering the plants. Now they just need something, anything to open up in there.
Subbed from Sal on Twitter. I always follow a recco and seek your videos directives, photography ect. Very good narration informative and enjoyable and LOL.
That mall has fallen so quickly. When I moved to the area it still had quite a few in it now there's pretty much nothing. I really hope they do something with it. Years back there was talk of making it a lifestyle center which never happen and cause quite a few tenants to leave. Right now they use it a Halloween, Christmas, Easter, and fishing events throughout the year.
If nothing else, Middletown could use the tax revenue, although from what I understand there’s some controversy because the mall is technically situated in Franklin’s sales tax district? Franklin isn’t honestly much better off, but based on my research to write the script for the video, that’s been a hot topic for much of the mall’s life, especially since it basically killed the other mall that was in Middletown in the 80s.
I once witnessed a store employee at this mall asleep on the floor behind the counter. True story. Had an Elder Beerman Clearance Center that wasn’t all that good.
BuccaneerBruce There are a lot of reasons for this but I agree, especially when we usually at least buy a little something while we’re there, even if it’s just a soda. We’re bringing business in, in our own strange little way.
7:30 right away, before your free ad, I looked for online info and browsed through their facebook. the fact they endured (economic hardship) and aren't generic piqued my curiosity.
He was a super nice guy, and if you ever get the chance you should check it out. The whole store is like a time capsule from the late 90's/early 00's. Thanks for watching!
Back in 2010 - 2012 my friend Chelsea worked at the radio shack at 11:00 I remember even back then it was a dead mall lol still live about 5 min away but havent been to the mall since. I go to the bdubz and gabes over there along with the bank but today I wondered if the funky people was still in there, they are not. Don't know what planet fitness will do if Middletown makes a decision on the mall. Thanks for sharing this video
I can remember it was 1986 and I was 6 years old buying garbage pail kids at the Kaybee toy store here at towne mall with my brothers.....my gosh 2019 sucks so bad it's nothing but people texting, very few people socialize like back in the day..now if you try to be social in public people think you are trying to attack them or something lol, all the great jobs are mostly gone, people spend all day on the internet or at home playing video games instead of going down to the arcade and so on..
it's sad to see this place dead. My Dad was an optician there the store was busy all the time. He retired in 2002 and he never really went back there . But it sounds like the decline was underway then
I think this place really took a turn around the 2008 recession--also about the time Middletown and Hamilton started really hurting from the opioid crisis. I remember there being stores in there in the early-aughts because I would have just started driving back then.
I've been to this mall more times then id like to remember use to be a Dunhams sporting goods place that seemed like it was doing well but haven't been inside the mall for the last 15+ years. Does bring back A lot of memories tho.
I was just going through videos about Middletown because I live in Middletown and I've grown up in here currently attending the Middletown school system. I thought that no one would make videos about Middletown its such a dead town but I guess I was wrong mainly because watching this video I realize that I was in it (just a little bit of me)
Your video was awesome thank you for showing us what malls look like across the country keep up the good work I'm going to subscribe to your channel thank you for showing me the malls and how empty they are becoming
That chain has closed up altogether--interestingly, though, there is a small group of independent jewelry stores elsewhere also called Roger's Jewelers and they are still open. Completely separate company.
@@UniCommProductions I remember there were a few locations of Rogers jewelers in western Canada up to about 2007 (mostly in malls) though I am unsure if the chain was directly related or just the name was licensed from its US cousin.
I wish they would have repurposed this mall instead of building the Monroe outlets at the next exit. There is way too much crap being built in the area while other buildings sit empty and go to waste.
You’re absolutely right; at one time they were considering building yet another super regional mall where the Monroe outlets were, too, but they scrapped that when Forest Fair Mall was announced
What I was referring to (and you’re right it was worded awkwardly) is that it’s right between Cincinnati and Dayton. If you live in either of those cities (which have plenty of shopping themselves) it’s just far enough that it can feel *too* far to drive to.
@UniComm Productions You have a point there for sure. Wow haven't been to this mall since was young, no surprise though it's in this condition. Used to just be called towne mall.
I only ever knew it as Towne Mall too. I didn’t know they had tacked on the “Galleria” until I saw Aces Adventures’ video on it...I’m from Cincinnati and I had forgotten about this place until we started making videos!
Sometimes, you don’t realize the mistake is there until someone points it out-one of my dead mall colleagues noticed this a few days after I released it in 2018.
When I was going to Truck driving school I worked part time as night security. It was this dead 15 years ago. easy job. just find a place to sleep. They refused to turn off the music when they closed. It was spooky, it echoed down the back halls. Not safe. Bad management. didn't care if people broke in. Turn the music off and maybe security would hear something at night. Nope Just high as it can go all night.
It seems adding "galleria" to the name of many malls is wishful thinking... Or a bunch of people who remember Frank Zappa's song Valley Girl (there's like the Galleria)
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Came here to the channel through multiple recommendations from Sal via his videos - he gives you two high praise and it's not hard to figure out why.
Kristen (hope I'm spelling that right) - Your narration in a manner of slightly irked deadpan humor (though with a hint of compassion - like, "This mall is like an old girl friend who needs some new clothes and a hug"), IMO, is second to none in dead mall videos and an exceptional frame for these tours. Plus, even though it's an overdub, your manner is like you had a mic in your hand live during actual filming as opposed to sitting or standing in front of one in a room sometime later.
Ron - Your cutting (with a markedly gentle edge) humor and Kristen's slightly irked deadpan play off of each other like a Globetrotter's passing circle. Beautiful stuff. Plus, I like that you're a true team - like a couple of high school friends going to the mall back in the 80's or 90's. Matter of fact, that's another thing that puts you head & shoulders above a lot of dead mall video archivists: You're like a ready-made hangout group.
I mean, other filmmakers do awesome dead mall work alone, but who really went to the mall **alone** back in the day, you know? If part of the production is to capture melancholy-flavored shadows of the mall experience (zeitgeist, if you will) back in the day, you can't really go alone and try to capture as complete an image & feeling as possible. So, yeah - that's what makes your productions all the better to experience and truly remember what was in these malls rather than just watch and gawk at what tattered remains there might be.
To close, please keep on doing what you're doing and don't change a thing. You two have really warmed the heart of this card-carrying 47 year old Generation X "slacker" (yes - 1980-1989 saw yours truly at ages 8-18 regularly at the mall, being a true mallrat) with your passion and enthusiasm for documenting these places and rekindling some of the best memories. Thank you so much for what you're doing. :)
WOW! Thank you so much for your very thoughtful comment and praise. This means a great deal to me (seriously I'm getting a little choked up). We're both in our mid-30's and I have a lot of memories associated with visiting malls at most stages in my life (from going there with my mom and grandma as a little kid to working there in my teens and early 20s)...and I didnt expect that we would be visiting malls in this condition at the end of theirs. We started running tape on our drive in after filming our first video and realized that a lot of the conversations that were going on in the background in the car while filming the exterior of the mall were pretty funny when we went back to watch them, so we decided to include them in the video. We work really hard on these videos and it's always nice to hear that what we're doing resonates with people. Thank you for looking us up!
My childhood! We used to shop at the Towne Mall. My mom got her hair done there and if I was good I got to get something little at Kay-Bee Toys.
It's such a nice looking mall; really sad to see it like it is now.
EllenKay back when you had no worries
My wife and I lived in Middletown from 1983 to 1988 so we frequently shopped at Towne Mall. It’s disheartening to see how the Towne Mall has descended into dead mall oblivion.
To be sure, Towne Mall is not Middletown’s first experience with a dead mall - A little more about that later.
I missed the grand opening of Towne Mall in February of 1977 as I was attending the University of Cincinnati. Although did I visit the mall during it's first Christmas holiday season, I didn’t start shopping there regularly until around 1981.
Throughout the 1980’s decade, the Towne Mall parking lot was always full during peak shopping hours. It was a fluke if you were able to locate an open parking spot anywhere near the mall or anchor store entrances.
McAlpin’s was probably the busiest anchor store but Elder-Beerman and Sears weren’t far behind in customer sales activity. All the mall stores were doing a brisk and solid business.
While living in Middletown in the 1980's, I commuted to work in northern Cincinnati. An interesting observation I noted at that time was that many of my co-workers that resided within the I-275 loop were driving to Middletown to shop at Towne Mall.
Tri-County, Kenwood and Northgate Mall were all extremely busy and crowded during those years. For many of my coworkers it was worth the extra gasoline and drive time north to avoid the excessive traffic congestion and parking hassles of the Cincinnati area shopping malls.
Obviously, my observation is only anecdotal. Nevertheless, if this was happening with mall shoppers living in Cincinnati, it may have also been happening with Dayton area shoppers, too. Further, it’s not clear to me that the Towne Mall owners ever realized that they were attracting shoppers from a much wider region than simply the base Middletown area population.
In 1988 we bought a home in the northern Cincinnati suburbs and we gradually stopped shopping at Towne Mall. I think the last time we shopped there was probably around 1995. By that time, Tri-County Mall had undergone a major overhaul and added a completely new second level. Kenwood Mall had also completed major upgrades and Dayton Mall was working on major upgrades around the 1994-1995 timeframe.
While it’s difficult to believe in its current lifeless state, Towne Mall did acquire the reputation as a deadly mall-killer during its heyday of the 1980’s. Towne Mall pretty much singlehandedly terminated the City Centre Mart (later known as City Centre Mall) that had been constructed in downtown Middletown in the early 1970’s.
Middletown's federally-funded City Centre Mart had the dubious distinction of likely being the very first dead mall in Southwestern Ohio region. And perhaps the first dead mall in the entire Tri-State region.
If you want to know more about Middletown's ill-fated City Centre Mart, Dennis Creech has written an excellent summary of it here:
deadmalls.com/malls/city_centre_mart.html
It is now long gone. It was finally put out its misery just after the turn of the century.
Even though it was a sad trip down memory lane, thanks again for producing the Towne Mall video!
Mark it’s a neat mall, especially since Eastgate was my childhood mall and Towne Mall is a carbon copy of what it looked like in the 80’s.
I’m a big fan of DeadMalls.com! They were my first introduction to the idea of following and researching them. I always start my research there. They’re great!
Not sure how I came across this, but thank you! As you said in the video, sad, but this was MY mall in the 80's as a kid. I could almost see how busy this place used to be and working my first job at KayBee Toys. Chess King was the store diagonal to Roger's with the wood angle slats across the top...yes, they sold the Thriller jacket. 😂 Spent many a $$ at the arcade, ate Cinnabon like crazy, and was THE place to go on Fri/Sat night. Great memories!
It seems like Middletown could use a safe place for teenagers to hang out these days...it's a shame this mall has become what it is now
@@UniCommProductions Yep, We miss this Mall as it was in it's day. When they took out the fountains in the middle that seemed to start the decline Sad!
Did you know Eastgate Mall was once a carbon copy of this mall--they remodeled it and took out the fountains in 2004, which made me really sad. It was a big deal to me when I was a kid to throw a penny in those fountains
I grew up in this Mall. My mother managed the Cassano's Pizza place during the 80's. So on weekends I'd go into work with her and help around the store for little bits of money so I could spend it in the arcade across the hall.
I would have loved to have seen this mall back when it was full of people and stores.
I loved this place. The center used to be recessed into the floor and had seats plus a small fountain. It had a candy store right on the corner and of course Cassano’s. So sad seeing it dead. Brings back good memories though.
I can imagine that because the center court of Eastgate Mall was the same!
This mall absolutely rocks. Great vid, you too. They keep getting better and better!
I remember back in the day, around the Holidays, you could not find a parking spot. We moved away from Middletown years ago. It was in a decline since I was born I think. Bad management. Surrounding towns are doing fine.
We lived just far away enough that I don't remember going here much until it was pretty empty. I wish I had--it seems like it was a really nice mall.
@@UniCommProductions It was really the only place to hang out in Middletown when I was a kid. There was a arcade that went and was gone. It used to be packed, a safe place to drop off your 10-15 yr olds in 2 or more. The movie theater went down hill also. We live in Tampa now. Big deference. Middletown is the place the time stood still. Now they have a big drug problem. national news and sadly I see names I went to school with.
I know the feeling. Clermont County kid here, and I've had the same thing happen a few times.
I worked at the Sears in this mall 1996-1997 and again from 2000-2008. My band even played a show in front of Sears one night. Lots of memories. I remember what was in every one of those storefronts.
I worked for ODOT in the late 80’s, sitting at intersections counting traffic in Middletown. There wasn’t a lot to count even then.
Awesome video! I worked at that Sears for a couple of months right before they shut down. I’ve been going to this mall since I was a young kid, I’m 20 now. They used to have a candy store, a chick fil a, a toy store, a dollar tree dollar store, and a video game store back in 2005. It was quite an enjoyable place back then, but has been in decline ever since. I have a lot of great memories here. Thanks for posting!
I'm disappointed I never got to see it alive and vital...at least that I can remember.
If you’re 23 now you would have been 5 or 6 on 2005. How do you know it was enjoyable? The place was dead even when I was a kid in the 90’s.
@@Das_Vert It’s always been dying, but at least when I was young they had at least a few things. It’s sad to see the mall in its current state.
I was in Oxford for my undergraduate degree in the late 90s. I would drive to these little malls and window shop. It was my way of escape from the stress of classes. I moved to Arizona in 2001 and haven’t been back to Ohio since. So great to see your coverage on these places. Thank you.
Thank YOU for watching that’s a great memory
Middle Town, Ohio. The birth place of the eccentric fictional genius James Donavan Halliday.
Ahhhhhh I miss Funk-e People! The Jefferson Mall location in Louisville was a fave hangout of mine in my mid 2000s high school days. Glad to know there is still at least one somewhere in the world.
Oof... I went here so much as a kid. I remember the sound my aunt's loafers made on the tile in Dillard's, walking from carpeted area to tiled area. I worked at the Bath and Body Works in the summer of 2007. It was busy in the 90s when I was a kid. I remember Christmas time in there.
It's closed now. My friend Sal just did a more recent video on the property and there were even less stores inside (I believe his last footage was shot in 2022; this video was filmed in Summer 2018)
What a walk down memory lane! My first job as a high school junior was at The Gap store in this mall back in the early 80's. My husband and I just moved back to the area about a year ago and I've driven by the mall but never gone inside because I'd heard there is nothing there. The last time I was inside was probably 10 years ago and it had already declined quite a bit then. Thanks for giving me a peek inside! Bittersweet to see what it has become.
It's really sad to see what state it's in. It's in good shape structurally and no water damage/mold smell. They're even still watering the plants. Now they just need something, anything to open up in there.
Subbed from Sal on Twitter.
I always follow a recco and seek your videos directives, photography ect.
Very good narration informative and enjoyable and LOL.
Thank you! We are always trying to improve with each video. Sal's a stand up dude who has been really supportive of us from the beginning.
That mall has fallen so quickly. When I moved to the area it still had quite a few in it now there's pretty much nothing. I really hope they do something with it. Years back there was talk of making it a lifestyle center which never happen and cause quite a few tenants to leave. Right now they use it a Halloween, Christmas, Easter, and fishing events throughout the year.
If nothing else, Middletown could use the tax revenue, although from what I understand there’s some controversy because the mall is technically situated in Franklin’s sales tax district? Franklin isn’t honestly much better off, but based on my research to write the script for the video, that’s been a hot topic for much of the mall’s life, especially since it basically killed the other mall that was in Middletown in the 80s.
UniComm Productions yea I've heard that as well almost all the plans for that mall have fallen through :(
I once witnessed a store employee at this mall asleep on the floor behind the counter. True story.
Had an Elder Beerman Clearance Center that wasn’t all that good.
Was it Waldensoftware? It might've been me after one of my late nights in the mid-90s, lol.
Great video, it always cracks me up that Security Guards give a crap about people filming in their dead ass mall....
BuccaneerBruce There are a lot of reasons for this but I agree, especially when we usually at least buy a little something while we’re there, even if it’s just a soda. We’re bringing business in, in our own strange little way.
Daria does ASMR for dead malls. I like it.
I get that a lot, and it still is one of my favorite shows…so I guess she rubbed off on me. Thank you!
@@UniCommProductions I figured I was not the only one who thought that. I just
found your videos yesterday,
This use to be a really nice place back then
time capsule mall great video. how about upper valley mall, is that one a possible?
Yes! It's high on the list and I hope to make it up there in the next month or two
By the 90s the mall was basically full of old folks walking around pretending to exercise
7:30 right away, before your free ad, I looked for online info and browsed through their facebook. the fact they endured (economic hardship) and aren't generic piqued my curiosity.
He was a super nice guy, and if you ever get the chance you should check it out. The whole store is like a time capsule from the late 90's/early 00's. Thanks for watching!
UR A GOOD SINGER...KRISTEN!!!!....🆒 VIDEO!!!!
they should throw a rave in there YALL READY FOR THIS
That is EXACTLY what type of stuff they were playing...and it was like I had shown up two hours too early for the rave and the lights were still on.
Back in 2010 - 2012 my friend Chelsea worked at the radio shack at 11:00 I remember even back then it was a dead mall lol still live about 5 min away but havent been to the mall since. I go to the bdubz and gabes over there along with the bank but today I wondered if the funky people was still in there, they are not. Don't know what planet fitness will do if Middletown makes a decision on the mall. Thanks for sharing this video
I can remember it was 1986 and I was 6 years old buying garbage pail kids at the Kaybee toy store here at towne mall with my brothers.....my gosh 2019 sucks so bad it's nothing but people texting, very few people socialize like back in the day..now if you try to be social in public people think you are trying to attack them or something lol, all the great jobs are mostly gone, people spend all day on the internet or at home playing video games instead of going down to the arcade and so on..
It’s so sad! We are all so afraid of each other.
it's sad to see this place dead. My Dad was an optician there the store was busy all the time. He retired in 2002 and he never really went back there . But it sounds like the decline was underway then
I think this place really took a turn around the 2008 recession--also about the time Middletown and Hamilton started really hurting from the opioid crisis. I remember there being stores in there in the early-aughts because I would have just started driving back then.
Woody?
Dillard's closed long before 2012. They shuttered the Towne Mall location in 2008, if I recall correctly.
You're correct! I confused "building being sold off" with closing. Thank you for letting me know so I can issue a correction.
I’m from Centerville, Ohio not far at all from Middletown .
I've been to this mall more times then id like to remember use to be a Dunhams sporting goods place that seemed like it was doing well but haven't been inside the mall for the last 15+ years. Does bring back A lot of memories tho.
Good to know about the watch maker.
I was just going through videos about Middletown because I live in Middletown and I've grown up in here currently attending the Middletown school system. I thought that no one would make videos about Middletown its such a dead town but I guess I was wrong mainly because watching this video I realize that I was in it (just a little bit of me)
Your video was awesome thank you for showing us what malls look like across the country keep up the good work I'm going to subscribe to your channel thank you for showing me the malls and how empty they are becoming
Thank you so much! I'm glad you enjoyed it. We hope to be able to make lots more videos.
aw, ice ice smoothie. That's cute.
The whole design of the sign and everything is just perfect. IIRC that was a "Lemon Shake Up" place when it opened (we had one at Eastgate too).
Now that roger is going out of business there will only be two store in towne mall
Which is so incredibly sad. I have to say Towne Mall has got to be one of the most melancholy malls I’ve ever been inside.
Apparently Rogers has since closed up shop.
That chain has closed up altogether--interestingly, though, there is a small group of independent jewelry stores elsewhere also called Roger's Jewelers and they are still open. Completely separate company.
@@UniCommProductions I remember there were a few locations of Rogers jewelers in
western Canada up to about 2007 (mostly in malls) though I am unsure if the chain was directly related or just the name was licensed from its US cousin.
@@mdmenzel Now I'm curious about whether they're still open
@@UniCommProductions The last Google reviews mentioned a big clearance sale and it's marked closed, no longer listed in the directory.
aw I hope that the Funky People store owner moved to a better location.
He was the sweetest old man! I hope he was able to figure something out.
I live very near- I hear there’s a fantastic candy shop around? Hmm
Really? I'm curious now myself!
I need to check this out!
So sad, another mall that I used to hang around at.
I wish they would have repurposed this mall instead of building the Monroe outlets at the next exit. There is way too much crap being built in the area while other buildings sit empty and go to waste.
You’re absolutely right; at one time they were considering building yet another super regional mall where the Monroe outlets were, too, but they scrapped that when Forest Fair Mall was announced
I remember this mall! :D
It’s still open! They just opened a new taco place in there.
@@UniCommProductions cool! =)
@@UniCommProductions they need to keep Re opening stores to make the mall better it use to be busy back then
@@vinny4771 It's a nice looking mall! It's really not in bad shape; these Jacobs designs have held up really well, the ones that are left anyway.
The lights are on but no ac
It was unbelievably hot in there
The mall was off of the beaten path?? It's right off I-75 and on RT.122.
What I was referring to (and you’re right it was worded awkwardly) is that it’s right between Cincinnati and Dayton. If you live in either of those cities (which have plenty of shopping themselves) it’s just far enough that it can feel *too* far to drive to.
@UniComm Productions You have a point there for sure. Wow haven't been to this mall since was young, no surprise though it's in this condition. Used to just be called towne mall.
I only ever knew it as Towne Mall too. I didn’t know they had tacked on the “Galleria” until I saw Aces Adventures’ video on it...I’m from Cincinnati and I had forgotten about this place until we started making videos!
There’s a mall in Middletown!? I work 20 mins away, Wtf I never knew this!
There’s not much there, but there is! You can’t even see it from the Highway the area around it is so built up
"400 square feet" you say. Hmm, it looks a little larger than that. Oh well, I guess things always look larger on screen.
Sometimes, you don’t realize the mistake is there until someone points it out-one of my dead mall colleagues noticed this a few days after I released it in 2018.
When I was going to Truck driving school I worked part time as night security. It was this dead 15 years ago. easy job. just find a place to sleep. They refused to turn off the music when they closed. It was spooky, it echoed down the back halls. Not safe. Bad management. didn't care if people broke in. Turn the music off and maybe security would hear something at night. Nope Just high as it can go all night.
Was it Euro Club Hitz '94 then too?
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@@UniCommProductions 🆒..!!!!
I live there lol
...in the mall?
UniComm Productions no lol
It seems adding "galleria" to the name of many malls is wishful thinking... Or a bunch of people who remember Frank Zappa's song Valley Girl (there's like the Galleria)
The term “Galleria” always makes me think of Dan Bell talking about PGH Mills saying “It’s not a mall, it’s a *galleria*”
It's sad
It's a very sad mall. I hope someone can figure out something that works.