Thank you for covering my hometown mall! I was there opening day with my dad. The mall was packed! The mall did not have a Kentucky Fried Chicken. They had a Western Steer steakhouse where Old Towne Grill is at. The abandoned restaurant to the left of the cinemas was a Taco Casa. The abandoned snack bar in the center was originally a Karmelcorn and where Claire's is was originally a cookie store. The abandoned space beside Show Off Shirts was a Peanut Shack where you could get nuts, chocolate treats, ice cream and Icees. Where the County Clerks office is was originally an ice cream shop. There was a little cafe originally beside the bathrooms.
Thanks for sharing. The aesthetics of this mall are stunning, definitely a time capsule. I hope it can continue to serve the community for a very long time.
It’s interesting seeing the comments from here and the appreciation of the Somerset Mall. I am a local and I can tell you the sentiment is not as heartfelt for everyone. Thank you for your all’s perspective 😍
I know the entrance well, as a child this used to be my favorite place to see when I would visit my grandmother in Waynesburg; now, living in Somerset and taking care of my grandma who will be 100 next year, my son who will be 4 has a lovely time riding thr small rides and walking laps around the big space on my shoulders... Great video, glad it ended up on my feed!
The theater had a wall covered in movie posters, I have so many memories of going there and watching stuff when it just came out. When my now adult nephew was a toddler, not that I was that old myself, went to see Mulan he was amazed by everything as I acted as a chaperone while my mom bought tickets and snacks...he fell asleep during the previews.
My family use to own The Fair Store, a women's clothing store in Somerset Mall from the time the mall opened until 1996. It was located where Christopher & Banks is currently -- Suite 12B! The mall use to be THE place to go.
Pretty sweet little mall. It is strange that the JCPenney half of the mall is doing better than the Belk half. The designs on the ceiling are pretty awesome, you don't see detail like that anymore. Hopefully the cinema will come back and keep the same signage, that old school font is rare as well. The Alexandria Mall in Alexandria Louisiana has a similar blue and mirrored ceiling design like you see here.
I remember going here as a young child in the early 2000s. I did as an older kid some and even now as an adult I sometimes rarely find myself there. The mall certainly has lived longer than most expected it to. I used to think it was so cool to walk along the maroon stripes carpeted on the floor and pretend I was walking a steel beam over a several hundred foot drop. Lol
This is the mall I'd hang out in as a teen in the early 2000's. Spend a lot of time in the arcade back when it was still called the Fun Tunnel, and worked there when it was Laser One. Sad it's not as lively anymore but happy at least Showoff Shirts is still around.
Sort of ironic that many businesses moved out of downtown Somerset when the mall and other strip malls opened on 27 many, many years ago and now in the past few years downtown Somerset is revitalizing with breweries, up scale restaurants, the old Virginia theatre recently reopening as a music venue after being closed for almost 30 years and so on. I guess it’s the ebb and flow of small town life.
We Lost Our Waldenbooks To Books-A-Million As Well. I've Heard The Same Of: B.Daltons To Barnes & Noble! Hate To Tell Them, But It's Just Not The Same Feeling.
So I go by there, and for the most part it hasn't changed much. Olde Town grill is gone. Book Land's receipts have BAM on them. It's really just an indoor walking track for the elderly. Where the Giant US Flag hangs, in the center they have Santa and the Easter Bunny. Unfortunately you missed the vintage video game store that was there for a few of years, Game King. Nothing new stays in there for long. What you saw was the stores that have been there for several years or longer. I think the rent is just too high for a new store to set up shop. There is a Spirit Halloween that moves in there for a couple of months every year. The Cinema it had character, in the lobby where the concession stand is the walls were covered in a movie poster collage mostly from 80s movies. The Princess Bride, Nightmare on Elm Street, and dozens more including Disney posters one of them was The Song of the South poster. Sadly they gave it a makeover and ruined it. The posters were removed and it was repainted to a dull off white. One good thing about the mall is that in the Spring and Summer there is a large car show that sets up there in the back parking lot they do this on a Friday night once a month and a live band plays and people bring their cars out and fill up the empty spaces so it looks lively then.
I was born in 1997 and this mall has always had gray carpet and tiles on the planters. But if you notice the cream colored brick the planters are actually made out of matches the brick on the Belk entrance. I think there is matching tile under the carpet they covered up in the 90s to make it cheaper to clean.
There was never a Ky Fried Chicken there, nor a Costellos pizza. Radio shack was the stereo store in the mall. The original arcade was called Pirates Cove, that was always jam packed. I spent too many Saturday evenings cruising around the mall in my late teen years. You did not want to get stuck cruising on the inside circle. Taco Casa was awesome.
I like this mall it also has holiday stores that are open at Christmas or Halloween. My son loves visiting their arcade. We miss the cinema that closed during C19 tho
I remember going in that mall around 1990 and seeing karate board breaking demonstration in open area then my first time eating real Mexican food. There was also a Taco Tico next to the mall.
Hi Doomie. Long time, no comment. Still loving your videos. My girlfriend & I look forward to Fridays even more now than before. We fix our evening meal and watch your latest stroll while we eat. We call it "Dinner with Doomie". (Feel free to use that to promo your work if you like.) As always, keep up the excellent work and we'll keep watching.
Just an update from a local here. The cinema in this mall actually has shutdown now due to Covid, so we only have one cinema across from the mall known as Somerset Cinemas 8.
I remember when this opened in 1981. It was a huge deal then. The sound shop, a record and tape store was there. Video game arcade, video rental store, and pretty sure KFC was there. Many businesses have came and gone. A pet store was there, and so many others I cant remember. Its just a ghost of what it used to be. Decaying and waiting for the inevitable closure. A 41 year run with no expansion.
That looks so much like parkway plaza mall in Madisonville Kentucky. You have to see what I mean. As you walk in that one I could compare it with the one I watched open up forty years ago. The only difference between the two is their size.
The owners of this mall are from out of state, do not invest anymore than they have to just to keep the doors open and most of the lights on. Businesses would flock there if the rent was fair and the property was maintained and some improvements done. Same old story. Greed ruins everything.
Damn!! The mall in Somerset has more stores still active than the one here, and im in a metropolitan area in Texas lol. Wish i could escape this place back to KY. Maybe someday.
I learned how to drive in this mall’s parking lot- This is the same mall I took my Fiancé to our first date. This is where me and my buddies would go to stock up on DND dice at the Bookland, or to beat each other up in MK3. Hell, I lost my virginity in that JC Penny’s dressing room! Great place. But God is it dying.
I go there daily to walk laps. It's essentially a Covid free zone. Because at any given time there are more employees than shoppers. Store occupancy is less than 50%, the parking lot has been crumbling and deteriorating for years. I imagine it'll continue to go downhill until either Belk's or Penny's closes, then it's done. Ershwig Properties doesn't seem to have any interest in the future of this mall.
It doesn't look like it is doing very well in there? I am seeing a lot of empty stores. I am from Louisville. There are plenty of malls for you there Doomie
Trust me, it has looked like this for years but believe it or not it and the Walmart in the town are the main shopping areas for the entire region. The manager of the JCPenney's got an award a few years ago for having one of the top 75 performing stores in the entire chain.
Most single level malls do not do as well as multi level malls, but I was very impressed that this old mall had no empty stores and looks like it was doing very well. Plus it is in real good condition, all the owners need to do is keep it up. It is about more than 2 hour drive from me as it is so tempting to go visit this nice looking beautiful mall as I hope that they don't change a thing. I was impressed withe ceiling designs, especially in frong of JC Penny's.
So long as old ladies are in a need of something to do and go shop for clothes the Somerset Mall will chug along like it has been. Definitely could use some steroids but the vital organs are still good thankfully. A year later everything is still going strong.
I met the love of my life in Somerset mall in 92 her name was Leeann I wish I would have married her, if you're out there pickle 🥒 I will always love you!!!
It would be good for the more basic details of the mall. That's where the newspaper archives come in, but that requires a subscription fee, even when it doesn't, so I'm taking one for the team getting any of that.
I'll say it again since you said it again: I don't understand why one would be part of a hobby he's going to be cynical about. That's like him unnecessarily slapping himself AND others across the face even though it hurts everybody. It does seem that a lot of hobbies have their share of cynics; I've come across cynics in the road enthusiast community multiple times. ...and yes, it is like a plague.
It doesn't look like a fun place to be. It looks boring I guess when you live in a small town. Probably the only option you got. It doesn't matter dismal is located in. Kentucky repulsed as most. As it probably should. When people hear the name Kentucky. They think about drug addicts and Toothless people. Which is probably pretty true. It's why I would never go to such a place
@@genesiskeglar6372 lol i moved to somerset from australia and it is a toothless people place with super fat people on mountain dew and half of them had all dated each other. i was so bored glad we moved away
ruclips.net/video/MAmm0SVm5hU/видео.html You can live your little life within the limitations of your stereotypes. We actually have a lot of fun here. I think you're confusing Kentucky with your mother's house.
Thank you for covering my hometown mall! I was there opening day with my dad. The mall was packed! The mall did not have a Kentucky Fried Chicken. They had a Western Steer steakhouse where Old Towne Grill is at. The abandoned restaurant to the left of the cinemas was a Taco Casa. The abandoned snack bar in the center was originally a Karmelcorn and where Claire's is was originally a cookie store. The abandoned space beside Show Off Shirts was a Peanut Shack where you could get nuts, chocolate treats, ice cream and Icees. Where the County Clerks office is was originally an ice cream shop. There was a little cafe originally beside the bathrooms.
Is the Matthew mall better?
Some of that was before I was born but I do recall a bunch of the things that have come and gone, I do miss some of the snacks they used to have.
Thanks for sharing. The aesthetics of this mall are stunning, definitely a time capsule. I hope it can continue to serve the community for a very long time.
The mirrored strip ceiling embellishments and 80s tile planters 👌
It’s interesting seeing the comments from here and the appreciation of the Somerset Mall. I am a local and I can tell you the sentiment is not as heartfelt for everyone. Thank you for your all’s perspective 😍
I know the entrance well, as a child this used to be my favorite place to see when I would visit my grandmother in Waynesburg; now, living in Somerset and taking care of my grandma who will be 100 next year, my son who will be 4 has a lovely time riding thr small rides and walking laps around the big space on my shoulders... Great video, glad it ended up on my feed!
The theater had a wall covered in movie posters, I have so many memories of going there and watching stuff when it just came out. When my now adult nephew was a toddler, not that I was that old myself, went to see Mulan he was amazed by everything as I acted as a chaperone while my mom bought tickets and snacks...he fell asleep during the previews.
My family use to own The Fair Store, a women's clothing store in Somerset Mall from the time the mall opened until 1996. It was located where Christopher & Banks is currently -- Suite 12B! The mall use to be THE place to go.
Pretty sweet little mall. It is strange that the JCPenney half of the mall is doing better than the Belk half. The designs on the ceiling are pretty awesome, you don't see detail like that anymore. Hopefully the cinema will come back and keep the same signage, that old school font is rare as well. The Alexandria Mall in Alexandria Louisiana has a similar blue and mirrored ceiling design like you see here.
I remember going here as a young child in the early 2000s. I did as an older kid some and even now as an adult I sometimes rarely find myself there. The mall certainly has lived longer than most expected it to. I used to think it was so cool to walk along the maroon stripes carpeted on the floor and pretend I was walking a steel beam over a several hundred foot drop. Lol
This is the mall I'd hang out in as a teen in the early 2000's. Spend a lot of time in the arcade back when it was still called the Fun Tunnel, and worked there when it was Laser One. Sad it's not as lively anymore but happy at least Showoff Shirts is still around.
Is Matthew mall better?
I graduated from high school in 1981, so I am definitely loving this nostalgic mall.
Sort of ironic that many businesses moved out of downtown Somerset when the mall and other strip malls opened on 27 many, many years ago and now in the past few years downtown Somerset is revitalizing with breweries, up scale restaurants, the old Virginia theatre recently reopening as a music venue after being closed for almost 30 years and so on.
I guess it’s the ebb and flow of small town life.
We Lost Our Waldenbooks
To Books-A-Million As Well.
I've Heard The Same Of:
B.Daltons To Barnes & Noble!
Hate To Tell Them, But It's
Just Not The Same Feeling.
Love the ceiling details
Those chrome strips on the ceiling are one of my favorite 1980s mall design trends.
Thanks for a great video every week!!
So I go by there, and for the most part it hasn't changed much. Olde Town grill is gone. Book Land's receipts have BAM on them. It's really just an indoor walking track for the elderly. Where the Giant US Flag hangs, in the center they have Santa and the Easter Bunny. Unfortunately you missed the vintage video game store that was there for a few of years, Game King. Nothing new stays in there for long. What you saw was the stores that have been there for several years or longer. I think the rent is just too high for a new store to set up shop. There is a Spirit Halloween that moves in there for a couple of months every year. The Cinema it had character, in the lobby where the concession stand is the walls were covered in a movie poster collage mostly from 80s movies. The Princess Bride, Nightmare on Elm Street, and dozens more including Disney posters one of them was The Song of the South poster. Sadly they gave it a makeover and ruined it. The posters were removed and it was repainted to a dull off white. One good thing about the mall is that in the Spring and Summer there is a large car show that sets up there in the back parking lot they do this on a Friday night once a month and a live band plays and people bring their cars out and fill up the empty spaces so it looks lively then.
I was born in 1997 and this mall has always had gray carpet and tiles on the planters. But if you notice the cream colored brick the planters are actually made out of matches the brick on the Belk entrance. I think there is matching tile under the carpet they covered up in the 90s to make it cheaper to clean.
Is Matthew mall better?
I was also born in 1997 in somerset
15 years ago and the next 5 we used to bring my nieces and nephews here to meet Santa. Great here😊
There was never a Ky Fried Chicken there, nor a Costellos pizza. Radio shack was the stereo store in the mall. The original arcade was called Pirates Cove, that was always jam packed. I spent too many Saturday evenings cruising around the mall in my late teen years. You did not want to get stuck cruising on the inside circle. Taco Casa was awesome.
I like this mall it also has holiday stores that are open at Christmas or Halloween. My son loves visiting their arcade. We miss the cinema that closed during C19 tho
Great video Doomie
Cool mall! Cool video! Thanks.
I remember going in that mall around 1990 and seeing karate board breaking demonstration in open area then my first time eating real Mexican food. There was also a Taco Tico next to the mall.
maybe i'm the odd man out but i like the carpet. It never bothers me.
I really miss Taco Tico and later what would become Taco Casa in the early 90s.. my mother use to take me back in the mid 80s every other Saturday.
Hi Doomie. Long time, no comment. Still loving your videos. My girlfriend & I look forward to Fridays even more now than before. We fix our evening meal and watch your latest stroll while we eat. We call it "Dinner with Doomie". (Feel free to use that to promo your work if you like.) As always, keep up the excellent work and we'll keep watching.
Just an update from a local here. The cinema in this mall actually has shutdown now due to Covid, so we only have one cinema across from the mall known as Somerset Cinemas 8.
Is the Matthew mall better
@@louieaddison796 I have no idea since I barely travel to Louisville. Have a great day.
nice name lol
@@rachelrose3279 omg hi name twin 🥰😂
I remember when this opened in 1981. It was a huge deal then. The sound shop, a record and tape store was there. Video game arcade, video rental store, and pretty sure KFC was there. Many businesses have came and gone. A pet store was there, and so many others I cant remember. Its just a ghost of what it used to be. Decaying and waiting for the inevitable closure. A 41 year run with no expansion.
15 years ago believe it or not this mall was actually busy and 90% of the stores were filled
That looks so much like parkway plaza mall in Madisonville Kentucky. You have to see what I mean. As you walk in that one I could compare it with the one I watched open up forty years ago. The only difference between the two is their size.
The owners of this mall are from out of state, do not invest anymore than they have to just to keep the doors open and most of the lights on.
Businesses would flock there if the rent was fair and the property was maintained and some improvements done.
Same old story. Greed ruins everything.
Damn!! The mall in Somerset has more stores still active than the one here, and im in a metropolitan area in Texas lol. Wish i could escape this place back to KY. Maybe someday.
I remember the old Radio Shack right next to the Bath & Body Works. It's has aged well
I learned how to drive in this mall’s parking lot-
This is the same mall I took my Fiancé to our first date.
This is where me and my buddies would go to stock up on DND dice at the Bookland, or to beat each other up in MK3.
Hell, I lost my virginity in that JC Penny’s dressing room!
Great place. But God is it dying.
Interesting chose of music every 80’s Sci Fi.
I am really jealous of all these extra large american malls. In Europe the few malls that do exist are much smaller and mostly not dead at all..
Nice job man
Was there a fountain one time
This is and has been my mall for 40 years, and there has never been a fountain.
I go there daily to walk laps. It's essentially a Covid free zone. Because at any given time there are more employees than shoppers. Store occupancy is less than 50%, the parking lot has been crumbling and deteriorating for years. I imagine it'll continue to go downhill until either Belk's or Penny's closes, then it's done. Ershwig Properties doesn't seem to have any interest in the future of this mall.
It doesn't look like it is doing very well in there? I am seeing a lot of empty stores. I am from Louisville. There are plenty of malls for you there Doomie
Given the fact that small town malls are going the way of the dodo bird. This one is one of the better ones.
Trust me, it has looked like this for years but believe it or not it and the Walmart in the town are the main shopping areas for the entire region. The manager of the JCPenney's got an award a few years ago for having one of the top 75 performing stores in the entire chain.
I'm suprised this mall hasn't closed yet
Ever sense I have been in Somerset they have not updated the mall Alan keck needs to update it
Kind of a dead mall.But looks nice.
If it can survive the dead mall it can survive anything.
Most single level malls do not do as well as multi level malls, but I was very impressed that this old mall had no empty stores and looks like it was doing very well. Plus it is in real good condition, all the owners need to do is keep it up. It is about more than 2 hour drive from me as it is so tempting to go visit this nice looking beautiful mall as I hope that they don't change a thing. I was impressed withe ceiling designs, especially in frong of JC Penny's.
I live in Somerset, this mall's space is half empty. Owners refuse to invest in upgrades to the property and tenants are leaving quickly.
It didn't have a kfc. It did have a Bonanza Steak House, Radio Shack, Taco Casa (I think), just to name a few that came and went.
Koki: Campbellsville, Kentucky 6/4/17
Do Liegh Mall in Columbus Ms
So long as old ladies are in a need of something to do and go shop for clothes the Somerset Mall will chug along like it has been. Definitely could use some steroids but the vital organs are still good thankfully. A year later everything is still going strong.
I met the love of my life in Somerset mall in 92 her name was Leeann I wish I would have married her, if you're out there pickle 🥒 I will always love you!!!
Someone should create a Wikipedia page for this mall though.
It would be good for the more basic details of the mall.
That's where the newspaper archives come in, but that requires a subscription fee, even when it doesn't, so I'm taking one for the team getting any of that.
This mall is a joke it could be so much more but the management stinks
I'll say it again since you said it again: I don't understand why one would be part of a hobby he's going to be cynical about. That's like him unnecessarily slapping himself AND others across the face even though it hurts everybody.
It does seem that a lot of hobbies have their share of cynics; I've come across cynics in the road enthusiast community multiple times. ...and yes, it is like a plague.
Who're we talking about here...? Just curious.
It doesn't look like a fun place to be. It looks boring I guess when you live in a small town. Probably the only option you got. It doesn't matter dismal is located in. Kentucky repulsed as most. As it probably should. When people hear the name Kentucky. They think about drug addicts and Toothless people. Which is probably pretty true. It's why I would never go to such a place
You should definitely go to Kentucky. Get a broader view of the world...if you dare.
@@genesiskeglar6372 lol i moved to somerset from australia and it is a toothless people place with super fat people on mountain dew and half of them had all dated each other. i was so bored glad we moved away
@@rachelrose3279 Well hey, you got the experience firsthand haha
@@rachelrose3279 depends on who you talk to. Definitely the toothless people part.
ruclips.net/video/MAmm0SVm5hU/видео.html
You can live your little life within the limitations of your stereotypes. We actually have a lot of fun here. I think you're confusing Kentucky with your mother's house.
Methtucky