Fiesta Mall: A Dead Mall's Twilight Years | Retail Archaeology
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- Опубликовано: 22 июл 2021
- In this episode we take a look back at Fiesta Mall over the course of it's last few years.
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There is something so calming yet so sad, nostalgic, and haunting about an old 90s aesthetic mall.
Ain't that the truth. It's almost like a zen experience. Sadly, my nearest dead mall got shut down JUST before COVID struck, and it's now in the process of being torn down to become an Amazon Enrichment Center.
I think the point of no return for my dead mall was when the GNC closed; that's when I knew it was on borrowed time.
Man, this brings back the good ole days. I miss the 70s through 90s mall era. When the food courts were packed with a variety and there were arcades in almost every mall. Absolutely, make more of these please.
I oddly spend more time walking around the dead mall in my area then I do the one that has a lot of people in it.
This mall was strong into the mid 2000s
those are the original fixtures from when the store was built by my father the music box and clock shop mom and dad ran this and one in paradise valley mall for many years it helped put 3 boys through college these were original and no other store like them music boxes clocks and collectables mom too great pride in her store and worked very hard at it
I loved that store! I have two lovely music boxes.
I miss Fiesta Mall so many childhood and young teen memories, including:
- A three month ban
- Halloween Trick 'or treating
- A hilarious shop lifting incident when I was 6!
- Wizards of the Coast Pokemon Cards!
Thanks for the video! :)
Yeah loved the wtoc stores had one im my childhood mall
@@notaffiliatedwith7363 Well my mom and I went to the mall and she was doing some shopping. We passed by a toy store (I think KB Toys) and being a 6 year old kid at the time I convinced my mom to take me in said store. Well, I had noticed a bunch of Dinosaurs in a large plastic bin. Well being six and absolutely obsessed with dinosaurs I had to have them but my mom had refused to buy any for me (and rightly so, I was pretty spoiled when I was a kid) well being the little brat that I was, that reply was not acceptable to me so I proceeded to stuff as many dinosaur toys in my little pockets as I could without being noticed....However, I was indeed noticed but not by an employee but a security guard sitting outside the store. Though to be perfectly honest my pockets where bulging so heavily that there was no way my crime would go unnoticed. He waited until I had left the store and then went to talk to my mom. Essentially she told him to give me a scare which he then proceeded to do. Of course I didn't hear this conversation as I was to busy with the excitement of my latest heist! The security guard came up to me and asked me what I was up to and asked if I had taken anything from the store. Which of course I denied and tried to play as innocently as possible. Well after about five minutes of scaring the crap out of me, having me in tears, and threatened to have the cops called on me I finally admitted to my crime. I was then able to leave after I had returned the dinosaurs I had stolen earlier and My mom was amused and I was traumatized.
How did you get a 3 month ban... That is some English FA (soccer/football) type of shit...
@@DJ118USMC I had a similar childhood experience, except I was looting candy from the bulk bins at Winco. :P
@@f1champ551 well it's the same as the dinosaur heist story. Except this time he's 10 years old. Still obsessed with dinosaurs and now a chip on his shoulder against that security guard. Determined to show them that they can't mess with him, he decided to jack the whole bin. It's a particular busy day during the holiday season. A JanSport strapped to his back he blends into bustling crowd of moms, dads, little kids looking for that perfect christmas present. This time though he's isn't alone. Three friends, equally dinosaur obsessed are right there with him. They fan out to distract any would be interlopers to their crime. It's very Ocean's 11 elaborate. Unfortunately what he didn't take into account is the newly upgraded security cameras installed since his last vist four years ago. Despite being slightly older the security guard recognizes his grab and stuff technique. Slipping out of the toy store unnoticed they sigh a breath of relief. Its just a 100 feet to the outside exit and they'll be home free. Laughing at their crime the four boys high five each other. Mere feet from the doors they're stopped in their tracks when they're met by the whole security team, 3 burly, fierce looking guys...used to be 7 but due to budget cut backs some guys were let go. Surrounded, it was over. No where to run. The jigg was up. Mothers were called. Tears were shed. And a three month ban was in place. It's a shame, especially during the holidays. But thats what happens when you gamble it all and lose.
This is one of the worst declines of a mall I’ve seen in the Phoenix area. Had a similar experience with Metrocenter when that place died.
It's always sad to see a place you had happy memories go away.
As an Arizonan, it really breaks my heart to see my childhood fade away. 💔
You were critical of your early videos, but they looked good to me. The time lapsed style was very interesting. What the mall looked like busy until there was no one. Interesting, but so vary sad to watch the mall go through its life cycle.
RIP Fiesta Mall
The Dead Mall that was the beginning of Retail Archeology.
Same. And why did the elevator doors sound squeaky every time they open?
I got my ears pierced at THAT Claire's back in 2004! Sad to see this mall close considering it didnt even make it to 40 yrs old and other much older malls like Mall of America still flourishing. So many fond memories of this place as a child in the 80s and early 90s. LIving in Chandler, this was my local mall growing up!!
My dad was born and raised in Mesa, AZ. Every time we flew down from Seattle to visit my cousins and other family, we would pay at least one visit to this mall.
congrats on hitting 100k subs dude! you must show off your silver play plaque in a video sometime!
Thanks! I'm working on something for a 100K subscribers 😁
Guru Larry! Hello you! You good sir are literally everywhere! You're RUclips royalty mate.
Last time I saw you it was over with the OSW boys.
what is this, a crossover episode??
As a high school student in the early 90's, I remember that the Chick-fil-A in the food court was one of the most coveted part time jobs. Don't know why!
The arcade nearby?
Did they pay more than other minimum wage jobs back then?
@@username00009 I don't think so. $3.75 to $4.25/hr. I think it's the ambiance of working in the mall that was so appealing back then...and good sandwiches too
Surprisingly, malls in Miami are still bustling. They're usually pretty full and open late.
Malls 🛒 & outlets in Florida under normal conditions, get tourists, re-seller crowds who buy up clothes, 🧳👜💄💍👖👓 then make $ in Asia, South America. Orlando malls & shops get busy. Florida Mall, Mall of Millenia were active 2000s. 2020s; about half the crowds, parking.
I miss fiesta mall so much I wish it would open again & I used to go to fiesta mall a lot when I was 9 & 10
Same man. I feel very sorry for you. I also miss it so much I wish it was still alive and open. I used to go to Fiesta Mall a lot when I was very little. Good times… :(
Edit: I recently checked out the place and it’s like a ghost town! It’s sad to see it empty.
Today you can see that the mall was severely vandalized, broken glass everywhere, trash everywhere, very sad.
I’m really glad that I found this channel
Fiesta Mall will forever be a remembered gem to me. I remember walking around the place when I was very little. Enjoyed walking a lot along with the food. Crazy how young I was when time flew by.
This is actually a really cool idea patching all the dead mall footage you have of various dead malls in one giant cut from when you started filming to closing.
I love this. I was talking my two boys every Wednesday right up to the end. I have very similar video and pics of my boys in this insane post retail background...
Back in the 90s I went to Fiesta Mall for a Pokémon competition tournament. They had a machine there where they inserted your Pokemon game and added Mew, (or was it mewtwo?) the 151st Pokémon to your game lol.
Mew, Mewtwo was 150
I am now 53 and have fond memories of Fiesta Mall it so sad that things have moved to the internet there was so much to be said about going to these places and shopping or just hanging out. The new out door malls are OK but there is something to be said about an air conditioned mall environment. Side note look like they began demolition in July of 2023 from the news I found. 😢
This was my mall when I lived in Tempe. I'm glad you've archived this footage, even thought it's bittersweet.
My mom lived about 2 miles from the mall; so whenever I visited her, I would always stop by the Fiesta Mall. The last time I visited the Macy's was having a going out of business sale.
This was the first mall I went to when I moved to Gilbert back in 2012. I would later work at the Sbarro in the Fiesta Mall in 2013. I used to watch the Mariachi Bands play on Saturdays.
I’m never this early! Love your videos!!!!
Thank you 😁
I never heard of a Best Buy as a mall anchor either until a number of years ago, another dying/dead mall in Port Richey, Florida, Gulfview Square Mall, opened a Best Buy where Dillard's used to be. I was up that way after years of not being in the area and thought it was the weirdest thing!
There not too many I believe that have bestbuy as.an anchor my state has one mall that has it as.an anchor.
I dimly recall one Mall here in Canada that had Best Buy as an anchor. It believe that it had previously been a Future Shop location (also uncommon in malls).
@@williamharris8367 ah I believe future shop was acquired by bestbuy
I always wondered about the financials of the mall, the corporate shops, and the Mom and Pop shops.
I've been to quite a few dead malls from the Midwest to the East Coast and always made a point to spend a little money at the non corporate stores/restaurants.
My brother and I went to a mall in Glen Burnie, Maryland a few years back and we stopped at this Italian sandwich shop for dinner.
The owner of the shop chatted with us about business for a bit. He wasn't pushy or "selling us a sob story", but he had that shop for 30 years or so and he was telling us about his realization that things were coming to an end.
We paid 20 dollars for 2 meals and they weren't that big. Not to knock the guy, but I imagine his costs were great and the profits were non existent.
As a child of the 80s (I'm 38 now), it's a bit depressing to spend so much time and money in malls all over the country that were constantly packed to them being just relics that are just open to what seems "out of habit".
Thanks for your channel. I'll never make it out to all of the dying malls before they close for good and I always find myself up until the middle of the night just watching your videos. Gives me comfort in a sense knowing that others recognize the change in the American retail landscape and how times have changed.
I had a dream last week that I was at the Fiesta Mall Sears with a coworker and there were mazes upon mazes of CRT Televisions. I’ve only been to Fiesta Mall a few times, so I had to laugh that it was such a vivid dream. Then you dropped this video and I just HAD to chuckle.
Also - LOVE hearing how you ended up doing this and finding your passion about this topic. So glad you did this complication. Thank you for posting! -Bree
I love this format. I'm in support of the compilation idea. The timeline aspect is something I'm very interested in (I'm a man of dates and numbers). And I don't think your earliest footage is bad at all. It's not as good as your current skill, but it's still pretty good, I think. Keep up the awesome work, Erik!
I remember I first discovered your channel years ago after someone wrote an article about your channel in the seattle times.
In the Seattle Times? I don't remember that one. I'll have to go find it.
@@RetailArchaeology yeah it was either the seattle times or the Tacoma news Tribune.
@@RetailArchaeology I just went and looked, it was the Tacoma News Tribune, not the seattle times. Still a big deal though!
I like style of video the commentary you did was a really nice touch
I always thought it would be interesting to make an old mall into a paintball arena, indoor go cart track(electric engines), and Mini golf course. Thanks for another great video!
They are planning to make it into a medical school grounds but I haven’t heard a lot of updates about it. So I’m just assuming it’s just going to get left to rot?
Ik that would be so lit😭
Went back to my old stomping grounds and got some pics of the teardown. Hit me in the feels.
That walk in the evening was so creepy (in a really neat way). It's just so wild how quiet such a large lit up structure is. That shot from within the dark food court was like straight out of a horror movie. I especially like the absence of music in these kinds of videos. Music works great in the regular videos, but letting the natural raw mall ambience (or lack thereof) gives these old videos a sort of novelty to them.
My grandparents used to snowbird to Mesa from Canada and we used to go to Fiesta mall all the time. It’s so sad to see it now. Time marches on I suppose.
Same man. I feel very sorry for you. I wish the mall could stay with us longer, but time flies. I remember going there when I was very little. The childhood bears with me everytime I see that mall. :(
@@lucariothehero5009 It’s one of those things that you don’t appreciate until it’s gone I suppose. It does remind me of going to the mall with my grandparents (who are no longer with us) and us just having a nice time there as a family.
@@MK-gv1wd yeah. I remember shopping and eating there a lot!
I remember when this mall opened. It was just a Sears in a parking lot and the mall was built around it. Good times….
11:00 Man, I half expected a stereotypical movie serial killer to leap out from the darkened food court!
It's interesting to go realise that this little turned this sub channel into your main channel and changed your RUclips life around.
I have quite a few fond memories of that mall from the 80s and early 90s.
7:00 it was a Johnny Rockets. Ate there every time I went. Burger, fries, and a shake.
I always find dead malls beautiful even if they’re incredibly sad at the same time. I was a kid in the 80s and going to the mall was what we did every weekend. It’s sad seeing the Fiesta Mall in this state. Me and my grandma used to go there all the time when we first moved to Phoenix. The music box shop was one of my faves because of its retro storefront.
That opening was amazing
I have so many heartfelt memories of Fiesta Mall. Thank you for sharing this again.
I lived in Arizona for eight years, between 2004 - 2012. Fiesta Mall was actually my favorite mall and for a time, I lived in Stonegate Apartments up on Alma School. Bums me out that it died. Thanks for the memories 😊
Also, the dark food court takes me back to the twilight years of Wonderland Mall in Livonia, MI.
CambridgeSide in Cambridge, MA also has a Best Buy as an anchor. Theirs is a 2 story store tucked next to a TJ Maxx.
I'm 50 & can not recall any 2 floor Best Buy. I've seen malls in VA, GA, PA, NY, FL. 🛒
I remember my mother working at National Uniforms the day the mall opened. It was downstairs where the King's Table use to be.
This is a sad case but we are very grateful that you have kept this record for posterity, this is of great importance. Full marks to the cleaning staff who kept these places so clean and polished right to the end. Thank you for bringing us this very interesting and informative video presentation.
Great look back! Interesting concept for a video!
Watched this today and totally enjoyed it. We were in our local (mostly dying) mall last year I think it was and I too got yelled at by security for taking pictures - had to laugh because there really was nothing to see so not sure what he was so afraid of but he was so rude about it, I told my husband to get me out of there before I started saying things that would get me in trouble :-) Love ALL the videos you put out and it is so sad seeing just how many malls are dying around the country.
I was born in 82, and the first time I remember eating Chick Fil-A for the first time at Fiesta Mall. Prob like 85-86.
God seeing those first few minutes of footage was painful lmao. I grew up with this mall before my parents started going to Chandler Fashion. If this is the right mall I'm thinking of then the indoor playground there had a bunch of equipment that looked like desert animals and a giant rock that stood two stories high with a giant eagle on top, which to this day was the best mall playground I ever played in. My brother played in it too when he was a toddler. I used to play with him on the stage where the elevator is. I always got gifts for family from there. I hated going to the Sears there during back to school shopping lol. I remember we went back once in the beginning of its decline and all but one of my favorite stores had closed. Thank you for documenting the place in its final days, it gave me closure to see people still hanging around even though it was going downhill. RIP Fiesta Mall.
Wow so it closed way back in 2018 question work that so sad because I actually visited that mall well the seers back in 2002 and it was Really busy back then. When did it start going downhill?
It started having some issues around 2007 I think. But then from about 2015 until it closed it really went downhill.
@@RetailArchaeology the great recession... 1.0.
The first video of yours I watched was one of the final Fiesta Mall videos in 2017, after hearing you on the CGR podcast. Your work is great, man!
My money says the new project is a documentary on the evolution of the mall food court.
This was my childhood mall, I remember getting my ear pierced here when I was 6, that hottopic started my emo phase at 11, and i went amiibo hunting there but during that time you could tell it was closing. I had the best memories there, but ever since I moved to tempe it just went downhill. R.i.p. Fiesta Mall
I worked at the Diamonds store at Fiesta Mall in 1980. In its infancy, Fiesta Mall had four upscale anchor stores.
I'm from Florida, and our malls along the space coast are struggling, especially on Merritt Island. I like your channel.
YES! Please more compilation vids- it's really cool to be able see the progression of a mall in decline!
I loved going this mall and the Harkins across the street. I work at MCC so I still get to pass by and reminisce. And drive around it for an In-N-Out every once and awhile.
For so many dead and dying malls in the last 15 years Sears was the first anchor to fall, and here it stayed open until the bitter end.
That’s so cool to learn more of the back story of how Retail Archeology came to be! I remember the smelly elevator adventure, and now I want to go revisit some of those old livestreams. They were awesome.
I love your videos. Please don't ever quit.
All of my old haunts are being shut down. (crying) I remember that food court.
That Best Buy used to be across the street in a strip mall on Alma School & Southern. I was surprised it moved into Fiesta as the mall was already dying by that stage.
The last time I was inside that mall was right around October 2017. Went to Sears one last time right before Fiesta permanently closed but the rest of the mall was closed off from Sears unfortunately
6:50
Yes, that was a Johnny Rockets back then. I ate there with my Dad about 20+ years ago. Our server looked exactly like Colin Ferrell. We asked him for a picture, he got shy and said no.
Good memories.
That last time (and only time) I was in Mesa was 1996. We went to a mall somewhere, but I don't think it was that one.
Anyway, a week ago I visited our local mall (Arnot Mall, Horseheads, NY) and I pretty much saw the same thing. I went about 20 minutes before most of the stores opened. Just a few people, and mostly dark. At least 75% of the shops were closed. JC Penney was still there. Sears, Macy's The BonTon, all gone. There are only a couple malls and they are more than 40 miles away. This is it! It opened in 1967. I knew one of the guys who helped build the original part.
I did see a store that sold Apple stuff, but they weren't opened yet. That was the only thing of interest.
I don't see it ever coming back, unless someone were to nuke Amazon or something. Across the highway is Walmart, Target, Kohls and a few other places, all going strong.
Now that I'm watching this, I wish I had the gumption to ask Hull Property if I could've taken a last tour of Reading, PA's Fairgrounds Square Mall before it was taken apart - only the anchor stores remain.
I work by fiesta mall and they are developing across the street pretty heavily. The only things that are busy now is the fast food and coffee shops that face Alma school.
The footage of walking through the dark food court is very spooky. Enjoyed the format. Thanks for the video!
Although its very sad to see the decline of a mall its also interesting to see the comparison and change in one video. I would be happy to see more of this sort of content.
The Hall at Sierra Vista has drastically transformed this last year also, losing most of its branded stores. There are batting cages in the biggest store front (formerly boot barn) now. It's really interesting what death throes these places go through
Man I miss going here as a kid. I loved it
Seriously these are so cool. I worked at Sears at Woodland Hills Mall in Tulsa from 1990-1995. WH Mall is one of the few remaining that is actually not dying, or doesn't seem to be.
That poor person at the counter in the food court. So depressing.
I often wonder who gets hired or seeks out low end kiosk mall jobs. I would not last 5 days. Lol...
When I lived in Mesa, the only reason we went to Fiesta Mall was for the Rainforest Cafe.
This channel reminds me of sort of like an "after-the-fact" video docuseries of something like Michael Galinsky's Malls Across America book. Brings back memories of my childhood malls.
I love the parts of the mall where the lights were off
what a great look back! one of my fb friends was saying how they were watching a bunch of videos like that of dead malls and it got me curious and I think that's how I found what you were doing so I've just been watching ever since!!
I must have just missed you in 2016. I made my last stop at Fiesta to get some delicious Sarku Japan in the food court.
Oh man sarkura was the last thing to close in my local mall too! They really hang in there!
it's crazy to see the gradual decay of my own childhood mall catalogged in 15 minutes of video, and hear that it's ultimately what kickstarted one of my favorite youtube channels
This is so strange because in Mexico we have lots of malls and they are very crowded
Was fiesta mall and metro center mall built by the same builder it has some similarly familiar features from both
Yes. Fiesta mall was developed by Homart Development Company, which was part of Sears. It was Sears Mall development company. Metrocenter Mall was jointly developed by Homart and Westcor.
I enjoyed the style of this video and would watch future ones. Your commentary made it engaging.
Honestly speaking.
Most if not all of the nation's old rotting malls are too far gone to be repurposed at this point.
Considering the fact it's much cheaper if not the same amount of money just to bulldoze existing structures and
build new, up to code, buildings in their place.
If it were up to me...
If a mall can't be repurposed and no one else is interested in developing new property on the land.
By all means. It should be bulldozed. The debris cleared away and old piping dug up.
Afterwards.
Let the property lie fallow and allow nature to reclaim it. Turn it into a green space.
I'd go even further and say that is what should be done to any empty property that's been vacant with no prospects for redevelopment.
The age of hyper brick and mortar retail has come to an end.
Fixuture sales, liquidators, recyclers could do much more with the place in pieces than as a building. Sad truth.
I loved seeing the footage from different visits to Fiesta Mall! Enjoyed the content!
Very much enjoyed the compilation style video. Keep them coming!
Fiesta mall back in the day was the spot. Miss that place.
Backlog footage is usually interesting and I enjoyed the ambient mall sounds; Ghosts of shopping trips past. 😁
Southland Center near me has a Best Buy where the food court used to be and Arundel Mills has a Best Buy too. :D
This was really cool and I'd love more videos like this.
0:01 Doh!
The quality of your first mall video isn't bad at all. I've seen much, much worse elsewhere 😟. Enjoyed watching this compilation !
Why does this make me sad? I'm happy that this footage was the reason you started this channel however, seeing such neat malls closing all around us, makes me kinna sad.
It’s awesome seeing these videos showing the slow death of the mall put together over a length of time. Thanks for posting!
Its so sad to see malls dying. I still love going to my local mall here in Oklahoma. Its fun to just even walk around, not even really buying anything. Some malls were already dying before 2020, so the pandemic sure didn't help it.
Would love to see more videos like this! You always make them interesting. Thanks!
Fantastic retrospective that also gave us some cool insight into yer channels history!! It’s nice to get that every once in a while for people who subscribed in the past year or two!
I just moved from Tempe to Mesa less than a mile from Fiesta. Guess they had a 4th of july thing outside the mall this year but that's about it. I remember going here as a kid buying my uncut dbz vhs tapes from Suncoast. The good old days, also eating at that Johnny Rockets with my dad. So bizarre to see those seats we sat in just sitting there lost to time. Wish there was a way in
Great Video as always. Love allyour vids!!!! I love learning about the history of the malls that you visit. So sad to see them go. It just rips a piece of my heart and Childhood memories out :(. Keep up the good work!!!