I'm intrigued by the dead mall, but then I watch the footage and get so depressed! I was born in 1978, so I know what it was like when the mall were still thriving! I like how you give the history of the malls and you totally keep it real and professional! You respect the history! Keep up the good work!
I'm from Toledo Oh. We used to have 4 malls, but we are down to 1, Westfield aka Franklin park mall! We lost Northtown, Southwick, and Woodville malls! Plus we just lost a Sear, Toys R Us, and Elder Beerman is in its last weeks!
Same here. I know us ‘78ers are almost all 40 now (WHAT?!?!) but I still feel like it was only a few years back that I hung out at our mall. And then worked at quite a few of the stores for years. To have lived through the “mall hey day” and then it’s fall is very very surreal.
The absolute silence in the beginning is amazing. I didn't realize how noisy these places can be until I saw this contrast. Great decision to put that in the video without any additional sound other than your voice.
I love your driving intros too! Great way to establish the surroundings of the location, and interesting to watch for someone who has lived in the western U.S. their whole life.
A sad ending for a once great mall. A shame that so much of that building material is not salvaged for use elsewhere. Glad to see your site growing. 6K coming up.
It is a sad to see a place that was so prominent in the community mostly knocked down! Things change and move on. Maybe it teaches us to treasure each moment! Lastly I find channels like this so fascinating visiting by video camera buildings wherever it is in the world!
It must have been surreal walking through an area which used to be lined with storefronts on both sides with planters and fountains in the middle and being able to see sky.
I remember as a kid this mall was awesome but as i got older it got worse and worse the susquehanna mall is starting to go down too Seeing the china palace buffet makes me sick all over again
When this mall was opened in 1980 it was a great source of regional pride for the surrounding portion of the PA Anthracite Region. This is an area where. people who stayed are very proud of its anthracite mining heritage and history. Some of my ancestors lived approximately 15 miles away until they moved in the 1930s. Although I am three generations removed I am proud of my family's Anthracite Region heritage. It is a shame that the mall died out and was torn down.
I had elderly relatives in this part of the state too. Even though their adult children all moved away decades ago, I still feel an attachment to this place.
Northeastern PA's Anthracite Region is a place of scenic beauty and a rich history. Although I live in Philly, I have friends in the refion and visit a few times a year. It is something to be proud of!
I recall a Bonanza Steakhouse and a Chick-Fil-A. McDonald's was right outside the Mall. Sears was there. Walden Book store. There were a large amount of elderly mall walkers as well as older folks sitting in the mid court area. I had business in the area and though not from Schuylkill County visited the Schuylkill Mall. many times. I even got a haircut there at the Holiday Hair business. In the early 80's it was the hot spot for the holidays. Locals would know better but my sense is that the Schuylkill Mall took away some businesses from downtown Pottsville. My strongest sense was that it had been a gathering place, a community center, for the aging population of Pottsville and Schuylkill County. It was always nice to visit and if I wanted a quick bite I went to the Schuylkill Mall. I recall the winding road that lead into the Mall from Route 81 and how the Mall was off of Route 61 on the way to Pottsville and Reading. I'm sorry to see it's demise as it had always been a friendly place to visit.
Mall manager reached out to Knoebels and they came to pick it up. I was walking though the park one night last summer and was like "Is that the Sku Mall statue?!?!" It was done pretty quietly at first.
DaVita, as I've come to find out in recent months, is very shady. They don't care about the conditions as long as saves them money. Great video,now subscribed.
My heart is broken! I've been to this mall a few times in the past.. I ate at that small Italian spot.. browsed in the Black Diamond. So sad! Thank you so much for gathering the last few moments of what is left. Amazing job.
Great video sal. Sad looking place but you did a great job documenting it. And glad they saved the statue.and hopefully they save pedals. Thank you sir
I really appreciate the effort you put in to this, your's is a serious last look at Schuylkill Mall, with proper tone and music. Another RUclipsr tried a similar video, they failed pretty badly. While in the area, rolled by today. No Trespassing signs are up everywhere now and DaVita has fully finished the move. Those doors being open were pretty sweet. Only minor complaint I would say...you weren't even close on Knoebels pronunciation. Otherwise, excellent work.
@@sal LOL Thanks Sal! I was going off of the pronunciation of a friends last name Knoble which is pronounced something between no-bul & no-bel. Great video Saly I'll sub you bud.
Watching the first video on the Schuylkill mall and finishing up with this video hit me very deeply. It reminds me that life is very impermanent and is subject to change within the passage of time. I got a very odd sensation of closure and happiness seeing this video. The mall clearly had a good life. The destruction contrasted with the bright and sunny sky dotted with a few clouds is such a stark side by side comparison. I don't know if you'll read this comment Sal, but I want to thank you very much for reminding me to be more appreciative of life. Watching your videos has oriented my perspective in a more positive light.
@Sal Visting the Schuykill's Mall once last time before it fades to aches is a really nice treat to celebrate your 5,000 subscriber milestone. Nicely played 👏🏻 Here's to you and the Schuylkill Mall. Salute! ☕️Following you on Patreon now. Have a great week.
Wow this is spooky... You should check out The Exton Square Mall, in Exton PA, it seems like it's on it's way out, Kevin Smith was going to film Mall Rats 2 there
Great follow-up! 👍 To all of those complaining about the name: Schuylkill is the name of the county where Frackville is located; the county also is the location of the source of the river of the same name, which was named that by Dutch settlers (Schuylkill roughly translates as "hidden river"). Could there have been better research on naming 40-some years ago? Possibly. However, the mall simply was named after its geographical location: Schuylkill County. No different than the Columbia Mall near Bloomsburg (Columbia County) or the Wyoming Valley Mall in Wilkes-Barre (the region is known as the Wyoming Valley because of the Wyoming River).
You should consider traveling to the Tri-State Mall, in Claymont, De. I'm not entirely sure if it's still active, but it does have some interesting history. My mother was a prostitute in the 70's... She was peddled in the offices behind the main all. It would be cool if you were able to find anything on what happened there.
We've become a "throw away society." Instead of remodeling and reusing buildings we just tear them down and build a new one in it's place. Thousands of tons of building materials, bricks, lumber, electrical components, lighting fixtures, display cabinets and counter tops, glass, windows elevators, escalators and etc. are hauled away as junk to be burned or buried further contaminating our planet. We do the same thing with cars, houses, farm buildings, trucks, excavating equipment, in fact everything we consume; we are a wasteful society. My parents lived through the great depression and they didn't throw anything away that could still be used by them or anyone else. My brother, sister and me still joke around when one of us says we need this or that and the others asked if we've asked dad or mom if they have one in the attic, basement or barn. We'd joke that as long as it didn't have to be a certain color dad would probably have one and that was often true. He often have parts to fix broken items we had. I remember when TV's and stereo's as well as refrigerators, air conditioners and etc. would be repair, if at all possible, today we just throw them away and buy a new one even if the old once could have been fixed with a 2 dollar gasket. We consume too much and waste too much, including Shopping Malls.
I visited this mall a few times passing through back in the mid to late 90's to mid 2000's. I remember buying a couple compact discs at the music store. I think one thing that really made this mall special is how somewhat desolate the surrounding areas were, miles of interstate. Thanks for the great video!
I've been recently watching various abandoned videos from multiple people, and yours are my favorite. I wish you could have done a tour of Northland Mall in Columbus, Ohio, before it was demolished, but it was gone by the early 2000s.
Sal, this was a sad, but excellant history of Schuylkill Mall and its final demise. Have you heard of LAKEHURST MALL in Waukegan? There is a long and complicated story about the demise of this mall. The mall no longer stands, but there is a lot of internet info about it. Be careful is you use the reviews for information, some of it is quite wrong, I don't know where their heads were when they wrote the review, its that far off. Be happy to talk with you about it sometime. There are pics of the malls beginnings, in operation, its one and only remodel and sadly, pics of it in its dead state with only one anchor open, Carson Piere Scott. And then there are the demolition pics......... Good job on the vids Sal, Thanks so much.
I have a lot of fond memories of this mall. Been there many times at its highest and lowest moments. To see it being demolished is very sad, but with online shopping, malls charging outrageous ren't to stores, which in turn costs customers so much more than online shopping, that a lot of these malls killed off themselves. As for the Steamown mall, three major malls within 8 miles of each other was not cost efficient after the Shopped at Montage opened to add a mall to a ski resort. It sucks for the Steamtown mall because it was the one in the middle and everyone was moving from it to either the SaM or Viewmont in Dickson City. And the Steamtown mall had a garage to keep customers out of the weather vs. the open parking lots of the other two.
Steamtown at construction made sense and that's what many don't want to admit in the area. The Arena came to WB, area blew up, and Wyoming Valley Mall got an overhaul. Viewmont blew up, and then the Shoppes At Montage came and left Steamtown as you said, in the middle. The changes never came to Scranton to make that section of the city better too.
Hello Sal love you blogs on old Malls in the US, They must of built loads of them out there how some of the shops make money I don’t know.All the mall I’ve seen you blog seem to be in the middle of nowhere.Here in the Uk we have many Indoor shopping centres (as we call them ) The Town I live in called Luton had the biggest in Europe built back in 1975 still going strong ,Back in the eighties a new City was built Called Milton Keynes which took the record for biggest mall in Europe now we have massive ones in London called Westfield Shopping centres all massive all nearly full occupancy keep blogging mate love them👍👍👍👍
I just subscribed. Thanks for all your efforts covering mall history. Great early footage even with the 70d's legendary moire and all, heh, just kidding :) Thanks for the video. It's haunting. Great choice of music and narration. The background music volume is just right. It reminds me a bit of Dan Bell's style.
Like anything conquered by a stronger entity, what’s left behind are microcosms of a former glory. Your documenting and shining an all encompassing narrative on this subject certainly pulls the fragments together. For me this re-ignites a kaleidoscope of memories. We have all spent different stages of our lives in these rather hallowed, former spaces. I don’t think it is overstating the significance of the memories we are left with. I find this video particularly sad. Growing up at the Jersey Shore, the Schuykill Mall was widely known, even from a far distance. Sad, but impressive imagery.
Linda from SEA AT TULL most Paul Blarts usually have to enforce policies set in place by management. Some of them I am sure might find the camera policy a load of shit, and can even offer to have you ask management, but often times, Paul Blart ends up on a power trip & will use any excuse to exercise it. As a result, we often see Paul Blart as that power hungry asshat who couldn't become a real cop. The guy who says you're perma-banned from the mall cause you walked down the escalator too fast. The guy who harasses you as a terrorist over a selfie.
I suppose... but that said, there are times where they're willing to give some pointers. Hell, I've been to a couple malls where Blart gives me a funny look but doesn't say anything about me with a camera. I even had one moment where me & one of the staff got into an argument -not over the fact I was doing video, but over the owners and their inability to revitalize the mall, along with the local public who wanted the mall so bad at the beginning, but then turned their backs on it.
Most of us did get lives. I left the mall where I met my wife at in 1999 to join the Army. A former supervisor of mine is looking at retiring from his department this year (2018). Another fellow employee had a career in the Army as an officer before he started with Department of State doing diplomatic security. The supervisor who fired me a week before I left for Basic got fired a month after I left, for the drama that he created while he was having a relationship with a store employee. So, I guess you're partially right. That mall IS holding on by a thread, though. It would be interesting to see a video on it now.
Thanks for filming this Sal. It's really interesting to see followups like this and i'm sure the opportunity won't come around often. It's surreal to see an indoor place like this, that was once so vibrant with activity, abandoned, half-destroyed, and open to the elements like that. I'm glad the statue was saved!
Incredible musical selection... Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor. Wow! Great video and overall presentation. Keep it up! Awesome work my friend.
Knobels is pronounced Kuh-no-bulls. (the K is pronounced). It never ceases to amaze me how these incredible, man-made structures are used and discarded. I share that nostalgia for the days when the malls were packed on any given day. I've seen some of the malls around me dwindle and get torn down only to be replaced by a Lowes. Keep up the great work. New sub here.
Sal, its Keh-No-Bells Knoebels Anthracite Museum. Also, its Cen-Trail-EYa Centralia. I was able to visit the Schuylkill Mall at the very end of the demolition. It was from the main lot on the McDonalds side I had to go all the way to the left around the fencing. Only that very left end and a large loading dock was standing. July 2018.
Interestingly, this is the mostly the portion of the mall I would have preserved if I had the ability. I think Dunham’s, the movie theater, the dialysis clinic, and a few more businesses could have made a viable mini-mall. The rest of the property would be repurposed. But what’s done is done.
Thank you for another great vidumentary. I remember spending my teen years in malls just like this. This one got to me, Sal. So sad watching an era pass. Great job.
I believe these dead malls we see are really a manifestation of an America in collapse. A vibrant nation like Switzerland is not experiencing social decay and therefore certainly does not have its treasures, which cost hundreds of billions of dollars disintegrating in the manner we see so often highlighted in America. All of our old, great cities like Detroit, Cleveland, Baltimore, and on and on are in a state of disintegration just like the social disintegration we see everyday. In the 60s, 70s and 80s I would have never have been able to anticipate such a disintegration of America, its people, its educational system and its cities, homes and buildings. Some places are exempt from this disintegration. I recently was up in Idaho and half the houses I saw were from before the 1930s. They were all great houses selling for top dollar because they were properly maintained.
It's not a disintegration of America. It's a decline in brick-and-mortar shopping centers, in favor of online shopping and all-in-one giants like Wal-Mart. The USA had many, many, many more malls per capita than most countries. We have 10 times the retail area per capita of Germany, for example, and charts I found online show Switzerland with an even lower retail area per capita than Germany. So of course you wouldn't expect to see this in Switzerland, as they don't have any excess to knock down. Homes and buildings in America are in the same shape they've always been -- some are fine and some are undermaintained, just like everywhere else. And our people aren't "disintegrating" either (I assure you my atoms are holding together just fine) nor is our education system (our universities are still among the top ranks internationally, and continue to attract students from many other countries).
Online shopping only consists of 12 percent of sales, so I don't think that an uptick in online shopping is responsible for the total devestation we see in all of the once great cities like Detroit, and its old Hudson Mall I used to run around in in the 60s, Pittsburgh, Camden, Baltimore, Memphis, St Louis, Indianapolis, Chicago, and on and on. Many cities do not have any dying malls or retail areas at all. I just returned from vacation around the Boise area and not a single dead mall or retail area in Boise or any of its surrounding areas. Downtown Boise is vibrant, safe and packed with shoppers. Online sales haven't hurt Boise or any of the cities I visited in Idaho and Montana. Why ddidn't online sales destroy these malls in Idaho and Montana?
You're only seeing half the story. You don't see the new developments that are just a few miles away. Online shopping is part of it, but as are the modernization of retail establishments. On top of that you have greedy landowners and maintenance companies that still believe they can get top-dollar when a new developer is offering cheaper leases down the road in a building that's more energy efficient and is just a more desirable location. It's easy to say America in collapse if you ignore the rest of it.
The only constant is change. The decline of the downtown street lined with mom and pops was blamed originally on these same big indoor shopping malls, now those are becoming dinosaurs. Even many of the big mega boxes like Staples and Best Buy are on decline. The decline of the shopping mall shouldn't be equivocated with the decline of society, but rather the change of markets and consumer behaviors. I'm from Montana, one of the states you mentioned. My city used to have two big shopping malls, one is still doing well, the other became mostly empty and failed and got redeveloped ten years ago. Some malls will find their niche and others will gradually go away. On a more positive note, small downtown shops are seeing a revival, despite Wall-Mart and the internet.
Slagar, When I was in Montana I didn't see any ghost malls, so an anecdotal description here and there does not change my view that Montana and Idaho are very vibrant. When you say redeveloped what do you mean? Did they tear the edifice down and build a parking lot? Since I am not an equivocator, I do not believe that I equivocated the relationship between collapsing society and dead malls. Detroit for instance, is, off and on the murder capital of the nation. In additon, it is also a city that not only has dead or long ago destroyed malls but also dead skyscrapers. Forty percent of the skyscrapers in Detroit are abandoned. Go look at the youtube video on abandoned skyscrapers in Detroit. Certainly there are some malls that do live up to your unequivocal musings, vis a vis change but what we are seeing in our country is far more than that in my estimation. We are seeing hundreds of billions of dollars of commercial real estate rotting. This is a problem that goes directly to the impoverishment of America through the offshoring of millions of high paying jobs and a failed education system that is ranked 27th in the world. Of a litigious society that makes the cost of doing business way too high. Of a people who vote for Obama and within 4 years vote for Trump. These people are lost and have no foundational belief systems to guide them to act in productive manners; consequently we see devastation when we should see productivity and industrious people plying their trade.
The internet killed the mall's in the United states of America company's like Amazon and Ebay led to the collapse of the mall business. I hate the internet for this exact reason. Personal interactions with person on person conversations without technology is a dying breed to much Facebook Myspace Snapchat.
I'm so glad the miner statue is now in the museum and the boy on the elephant is saved. Not everything needs to be destroyed just because the mall is gone. Great video, but maybe a before and after in the same shot would be good to see what was there.
Thank you so much for documenting this mall in its state. I was up there thee final day it closed. That mall meant a lot to the people around that area. Including myself, who went there as a kid, and have fond, gentle, wonderful childhood memories that are buried in that rubble...
Excellent vid, Sal! One of the best. This is my favorite kind of vids, even though, I love Malls and want them all, to survive. The soundtrack is absolutely, perfect!! 👊👏👏
I fell in love with your videos. but I have one question why don't you travel around the country exploring old and abandon malls, pulse exploring abandon houses and EXT. that would be exciting and would get more subs.keep up the good work
Hey Rick! I would *love* that. But...not only do I work a full time job in CyberSecurity, but I also play concerts with multiple orchestras around the east coast. My dogs also need attention lol...my point is...I don’t have a lot of free time, but what free time I do have, I devote to you guys in producing this content. Hopefully one day I get *just enough* subs and patrons to do it on a wider and more frequent basis! Thanks a bunch for your support!
I think this is a fantastic video. I used to live in Southeastern Pa where most of the malls are doing fine now. So sad to see what has become of this one. Thank you for sharing.
You know it's interesting. I remembered something I talked about years ago when I was talking to friends who visited abandoned hospitals. As I saw the old Schuylkill Mall sign on the ground, it reminded me of seeing castle ruins when I lived in (West) Germany. Malls/hospitals/factories are OUR castles. They were built by people with vision, utilized through the years, fell into disrepair when they were no longer deemed relevant and finally demolished to make way for something more modern and useful. I have a ways to go still through your current library (have watched a few videos before thanks to YT recommendations). Have really enjoyed it though. Glad I finally subscribed.
This is… something. A feeling I didn’t know I needed. Remembering the unappreciated joys of being a 90s kid. Validation that it wasn’t just my mall that got weird over time and understanding the mechanics behind the changes. Thank you for documenting, sharing, and creating this very cool, niche content.
I’ve said it before but it makes me grateful that someone bought our local mall and is TRYING. I have a hard time not being a little cynical about the whole thing but at least if/when it’s shuttered I’ll have known they tried hard to keep it going. It’s so empty. The new owners spruced it up a lot and it looks much better. I don’t know many people who go there. There are other malls 30-60 minutes away that stay busy though! Thanks for a great follow up.
Schuylkill Mall should have never died! It is sad seeing our current state of the economy like this. I sometimes wonder if everything (and I mean EVERYTHING. Not just retail; but our daily lives and everything else altogether) is heading to all online; I wonder if we'll end up in a dystopian world like "the Matrix" or even like "Ready Player One" where the only way we can socialize is thru a virtual reality CG fantasy world.
Thank you posting this. Lots of memories there... damn. Back in the early 90s they had a jam packed arcade. Nirvanas Closet was hands down the best Rock Tshirt store. It’s such a unique area for a giant Mall.
Its so funny I had taken pictures of dead malls way back before RUclips was big and I remember people making fun of me. I was just so eerily fascinated by it. I love that so many people are filming them with music and historical facts. This music reminds me of a Salute your shorts episode lol
The school kill mall? Interesting name, not sure it's the one I'd have gone with. Like, any time you can keep the word kill out of your mall's name I think that's a good thing.
I just got back into watching dead mall series, and glad I found your channel. I’m an 80’s and 90’s mall rat. The Schuylkill Mall was “my mall”. I was 7 years old when this mall opened. So many memories of going here with my grandparents, almost every Saturday with my mom and my two little kids in tow throughout the early 2000’s. This was a great mall and had a Chick Fil A! So many great stores, I remember the original McCoreys store, Fashion Bug, Lerner, Barbara Moss, Taxi, Jean Nicole, The Gap, KB Toys. I feel like I grew up there and my kids, who are now 26 and almost 24, spent a lot of time there with me and my mom. The Chinese buffet in this video, used to be a Bonanza, I ate many times there on a Friday night and then shopping with my friends. So sad still and it’s over five years it’s gone now. Ironically, the warehouse built there is now also vacant. 🤷🏼♀️
you say you were on your way to steamtown mall when you stopped here. did you make it ? I ask cause I live right by the mall in Scranton and was wondering if you got anything.
You have very interesting documentaries. The background music & old commercials are a great touch. It reminds me of a few video games that have post apocalyptic themes.
Whoa! I just watched the old 80s commercial for this mall and the Dan Bell video tour from 2015. And now it looks like a set piece from a post-apocalyptic video game like Fallout or Bio-mutant. Those demolition crews wasted no time from 2016-2018 tearing this place down. As I'm writing this comment on July 4th 2021, that lot were these ruins were has been completely leveled. I've heard someone has already bought the land and is building something new on top of it but I have no idea what it is (hopefully not another Amazon warehouse). If anyone in the comments knows what's being built please to share. Anyways, thanks Sal, love the videography and have a happy and safe Merica day.
Quite sad to see a mall dying. I keep thinking that maybe milions of people had walk through all this corridors... buying... eating... smiling... having fun... It just blows my mind... Thanks for your great job, Sal.
Perth, W Aust calling... I'm a mall/kiosk worker (diff mall each week); we don't see anything like "dead malls" here - not that I've seen, anyway. N.B. we're about 10 yrs behind rest of the world...God, it's so depressing! Too many memory-ghosts; haunting!
Do you have downloads of the old Seeburg or Muzak library to dub to your videos ? So period perfect for cruising the mall in better days ! Reminds me of the almost abandoned Amon Carter Airport terminal in Ft Worth TX years ago before it was closed & demolished. We stopped by to see if the restaurant was still open & found no one in the place but heard "Oh What a Beautiful Morning" echoing through the place! I knew it was a Seeburg system because there was always a slight delay between songs when the player changed records. Love the old "elevator music" !
Yo Sal I know the mall demo probably felt bad for some about 2 years back, but as of 12/16/20.. the timing of it was a stroke of luck! If the demo didn't happen back then, surly they'd be planning it right now with the last 9 months of shutdown-open up- shut back down, business waterboarding. . I don't know... maybe the sunglass shop could have survived if they switched over to selling designer mask..
Wow. I spent my entire childhood in PA - born and raised in Philly and spent a few years of high school in Hershey. But I've never heard of Frackville or the Schuylkill Mall before. Schuylkill Expressway, Schuylkill River, Schuylkill punch (that's what we called tap water in Philly since the river was our main water source) - but not the Schuylkill Mall. I'd be curious to know what impact the mall closing had on that town - in terms of jobs and the surrounding businesses. Shame...looks like it was once a proud mall. Now just an empty shell - and barely that.
All those hopes & dreams & ppl trying to live their lives - I've just turned 50 & am desperately trying to NOT think about all the ways I've wasted my life (like my dad always said I wld); this stuff makes me think of the 80's when I grew up. Depresses the hell out of me but can't stop looking! Cor lamme!
It’s also known as Soon Kill Ya Mall. Same thing with the Expressway. Times have changed and Malls are dieing. They should be repurposed. There is need for affordable housing, small business offices, small restaurants, etc. Malls con be converted to a community.
Sal, you created a really fine mini-documentary ... excellent images, photography, editing, and commentary. This piece speaks volumes about a part of American history - changing shopping habits, the rise and fall of retail establishments and consumerism. Thank you for creating this!
I came across your video in a Reddit post and have many fond memories of going to Schuylkill and Fairlane Village Malls when I lived there in the 90s. The mall was pretty busy when I was there - I guess in the age of Amazon and Walmart (and online shopping in general), this was bound to happen. It's still heartbreaking to see/hear that the mall was demolished. I am glad to hear that the statue was relocated rather than demolished. There are two malls within striking distance where I live now (I left PA in 2002), and both of them are dying as well. I hope I don't see your series coming down here to GA, but after learning that one of the anchor stores - Macy's - has decided to close, I get the feeling we'll be seeing you here as well. Thank you Sal - I agree with the other commenters here that you've done top-quality filming and editing, and your research is fantastic. You've got yourself a new subscriber.
I follow a few dead mall channels, but your voice, cadence, delivery, and deep research put you at the top for me.😊
yeah, a lot of dead mall channels I can't listen to b/c they always have nasally know it all voice.
The “mall music” playing in the background is like the band playing while the Titanic is going under. Love these vids
Best analogy I’ve ever heard.
😆 The Titanic...
😲
I'm intrigued by the dead mall, but then I watch the footage and get so depressed! I was born in 1978, so I know what it was like when the mall were still thriving! I like how you give the history of the malls and you totally keep it real and professional! You respect the history! Keep up the good work!
Thanks J Baller! I was born in the wrong era...
I'm from Toledo Oh. We used to have 4 malls, but we are down to 1, Westfield aka Franklin park mall! We lost Northtown, Southwick, and Woodville malls! Plus we just lost a Sear, Toys R Us, and Elder Beerman is in its last weeks!
It depresses me too
Same here. I know us ‘78ers are almost all 40 now (WHAT?!?!) but I still feel like it was only a few years back that I hung out at our mall. And then worked at quite a few of the stores for years. To have lived through the “mall hey day” and then it’s fall is very very surreal.
‘74 here. It’s like watching the funeral of my childhood. Beautiful, fascinating, and soul-wrenchingly sad.
The absolute silence in the beginning is amazing. I didn't realize how noisy these places can be until I saw this contrast. Great decision to put that in the video without any additional sound other than your voice.
I love your driving intros too! Great way to establish the surroundings of the location, and interesting to watch for someone who has lived in the western U.S. their whole life.
A sad ending for a once great mall. A shame that so much of that building material is not salvaged for use elsewhere. Glad to see your site growing. 6K coming up.
The single greatest Dead Mall video I've ever seen. Your videos are pure art.
I've only been here once. Why do I miss it so much?
Good job sal 👍
It is a sad to see a place that was so prominent in the community mostly knocked down! Things change and move on. Maybe it teaches us to treasure each moment! Lastly I find channels like this so fascinating visiting by video camera buildings wherever it is in the world!
It’s incredibly sad...I will keep working to preserve them as much as possible!
It must have been surreal walking through an area which used to be lined with storefronts on both sides with planters and fountains in the middle and being able to see sky.
I remember as a kid this mall was awesome but as i got older it got worse and worse the susquehanna mall is starting to go down too
Seeing the china palace buffet makes me sick all over again
When this mall was opened in 1980 it was a great source of regional pride for the surrounding portion of the PA Anthracite Region. This is an area where. people who stayed are very proud of its anthracite mining heritage and history. Some of my ancestors lived approximately 15 miles away until they moved in the 1930s. Although I am three generations removed I am proud of my family's Anthracite Region heritage. It is a shame that the mall died out and was torn down.
Its an incredible shame. But...your family and community have a ton to be proud of!
I had elderly relatives in this part of the state too. Even though their adult children all moved away decades ago, I still feel an attachment to this place.
Northeastern PA's Anthracite Region is a place of scenic beauty and a rich history. Although I live in Philly, I have friends in the refion and visit a few times a year. It is something to be proud of!
You'll always have your wonderful memories, William.
I recall a Bonanza Steakhouse and a Chick-Fil-A. McDonald's was right outside the Mall. Sears was there. Walden Book store. There were a large amount of elderly mall walkers as well as older folks sitting in the mid court area. I had business in the area and though not from Schuylkill County visited the Schuylkill Mall. many times. I even got a haircut there at the Holiday Hair business. In the early 80's it was the hot spot for the holidays. Locals would know better but my sense is that the Schuylkill Mall took away some businesses from downtown Pottsville. My strongest sense was that it had been a gathering place, a community center, for the aging population of Pottsville and Schuylkill County. It was always nice to visit and if I wanted a quick bite I went to the Schuylkill Mall. I recall the winding road that lead into the Mall from Route 81 and how the Mall was off of Route 61 on the way to Pottsville and Reading. I'm sorry to see it's demise as it had always been a friendly place to visit.
uncleelmer at one point there was also a mcdonalds in the mall!
I went to this mall my entire life! It will be missed! :( Great video!
Glad to hear that the miner statue was relocated....hopefully Petals finds a new home too
Mall manager reached out to Knoebels and they came to pick it up. I was walking though the park one night last summer and was like "Is that the Sku Mall statue?!?!" It was done pretty quietly at first.
epic footage, great editing
DaVita, as I've come to find out in recent months, is very shady. They don't care about the conditions as long as saves them money. Great video,now subscribed.
My heart is broken! I've been to this mall a few times in the past.. I ate at that small Italian spot.. browsed in the Black Diamond. So sad! Thank you so much for gathering the last few moments of what is left. Amazing job.
Sarah Stemrich like your heartfelt comment. I agree. 👍👍
omg Sarah I know ....me to at black diamond..
did any one hear in the background the super Mario super show coming form the speakers in the mall or did he add that in?
😎
Song at 5:51?
Also really good video, I never knew I would find abandoned malls so interesting.
So sad..and the signage at the beginning made me sigh and say "oooooh" out loud.
:(
The colored icon, and faces of the letters have been preserved :)
Great video sal. Sad looking place but you did a great job documenting it. And glad they saved the statue.and hopefully they save pedals. Thank you sir
Congrats on 5,000 subscribers!
Thank you!!!
Hey, No Hamburgers... love your channel name!!! :)
Thank you! 😁
Sure sex is cool but have you ever seen an abandoned mall sign
Lolol
I really appreciate the effort you put in to this, your's is a serious last look at Schuylkill Mall, with proper tone and music. Another RUclipsr tried a similar video, they failed pretty badly.
While in the area, rolled by today. No Trespassing signs are up everywhere now and DaVita has fully finished the move. Those doors being open were pretty sweet.
Only minor complaint I would say...you weren't even close on Knoebels pronunciation. Otherwise, excellent work.
Well we have two so far lol. Did I butcher it that badly?? I’m not a local :(
Let me have a crack at it. Knoebels, pronounced No-buls. ?
Nope. The locals pronounce the K. Kuh-nobels
@@sal LOL Thanks Sal! I was going off of the pronunciation of a friends last name Knoble which is pronounced something between no-bul & no-bel. Great video Saly I'll sub you bud.
Thank you!
Watching the first video on the Schuylkill mall and finishing up with this video hit me very deeply. It reminds me that life is very impermanent and is subject to change within the passage of time. I got a very odd sensation of closure and happiness seeing this video. The mall clearly had a good life. The destruction contrasted with the bright and sunny sky dotted with a few clouds is such a stark side by side comparison.
I don't know if you'll read this comment Sal, but I want to thank you very much for reminding me to be more appreciative of life. Watching your videos has oriented my perspective in a more positive light.
Life is precious. Memories are important, and legacy is eternal. Thank you so much for watching, Keith!
@Sal Visting the Schuykill's Mall once last time before it fades to aches is a really nice treat to celebrate your 5,000 subscriber milestone. Nicely played 👏🏻 Here's to you and the Schuylkill Mall. Salute! ☕️Following you on Patreon now. Have a great week.
Wow this is spooky... You should check out The Exton Square Mall, in Exton PA, it seems like it's on it's way out, Kevin Smith was going to film Mall Rats 2 there
Great follow-up! 👍
To all of those complaining about the name: Schuylkill is the name of the county where Frackville is located; the county also is the location of the source of the river of the same name, which was named that by Dutch settlers (Schuylkill roughly translates as "hidden river"). Could there have been better research on naming 40-some years ago? Possibly. However, the mall simply was named after its geographical location: Schuylkill County. No different than the Columbia Mall near Bloomsburg (Columbia County) or the Wyoming Valley Mall in Wilkes-Barre (the region is known as the Wyoming Valley because of the Wyoming River).
I did some checking, and the Chambersburg Mall is a zombie while apparently the Hagerstown Valley Mall is flourishing.
You should consider traveling to the Tri-State Mall, in Claymont, De. I'm not entirely sure if it's still active, but it does have some interesting history. My mother was a prostitute in the 70's... She was peddled in the offices behind the main all. It would be cool if you were able to find anything on what happened there.
We've become a "throw away society." Instead of remodeling and reusing buildings we just tear them down and build a new one in it's place. Thousands of tons of building materials, bricks, lumber, electrical components, lighting fixtures, display cabinets and counter tops, glass, windows elevators, escalators and etc. are hauled away as junk to be burned or buried further contaminating our planet. We do the same thing with cars, houses, farm buildings, trucks, excavating equipment, in fact everything we consume; we are a wasteful society. My parents lived through the great depression and they didn't throw anything away that could still be used by them or anyone else. My brother, sister and me still joke around when one of us says we need this or that and the others asked if we've asked dad or mom if they have one in the attic, basement or barn. We'd joke that as long as it didn't have to be a certain color dad would probably have one and that was often true. He often have parts to fix broken items we had. I remember when TV's and stereo's as well as refrigerators, air conditioners and etc. would be repair, if at all possible, today we just throw them away and buy a new one even if the old once could have been fixed with a 2 dollar gasket. We consume too much and waste too much, including Shopping Malls.
I visited this mall a few times passing through back in the mid to late 90's to mid 2000's. I remember buying a couple compact discs at the music store. I think one thing that really made this mall special is how somewhat desolate the surrounding areas were, miles of interstate.
Thanks for the great video!
From meeting Bill Elliot as a kid there, to painting the warehouse that now stands there....... I'm glad these memories still remain. Thank you🙏
I've been recently watching various abandoned videos from multiple people, and yours are my favorite. I wish you could have done a tour of Northland Mall in Columbus, Ohio, before it was demolished, but it was gone by the early 2000s.
Amazing. Congrats on your 5K subscribers, you do some really great work.
Sal, this was a sad, but excellant history of Schuylkill Mall and its final demise.
Have you heard of LAKEHURST MALL in Waukegan? There is a long and complicated story about the
demise of this mall. The mall no longer stands, but there is a lot of internet info about it. Be careful is you
use the reviews for information, some of it is quite wrong, I don't know where their heads were when they wrote the review, its that far off. Be happy to talk with you about it sometime. There are pics of the malls beginnings, in operation, its one and only remodel and sadly, pics of it in its dead state with only one anchor open, Carson Piere Scott. And then there are the demolition pics.........
Good job on the vids Sal, Thanks so much.
Great vid I like it keep up the great work and this is my second time watching this vid one 2 years ago and now
I have a lot of fond memories of this mall. Been there many times at its highest and lowest moments. To see it being demolished is very sad, but with online shopping, malls charging outrageous ren't to stores, which in turn costs customers so much more than online shopping, that a lot of these malls killed off themselves. As for the Steamown mall, three major malls within 8 miles of each other was not cost efficient after the Shopped at Montage opened to add a mall to a ski resort. It sucks for the Steamtown mall because it was the one in the middle and everyone was moving from it to either the SaM or Viewmont in Dickson City. And the Steamtown mall had a garage to keep customers out of the weather vs. the open parking lots of the other two.
Steamtown at construction made sense and that's what many don't want to admit in the area. The Arena came to WB, area blew up, and Wyoming Valley Mall got an overhaul. Viewmont blew up, and then the Shoppes At Montage came and left Steamtown as you said, in the middle. The changes never came to Scranton to make that section of the city better too.
What a terrible name for a mall, though..... Can't think of a less appealing name....
It's too bad they didn't let a salvage company take anything useable before demo. Glass, mirrors, fixtures, and windows.
Hello Sal love you blogs on old Malls in the US, They must of built loads of them out there how some of the shops make money I don’t know.All the mall I’ve seen you blog seem to be in the middle of nowhere.Here in the Uk we have many Indoor shopping centres (as we call them ) The Town I live in called Luton had the biggest in Europe built back in 1975 still going strong ,Back in the eighties a new City was built Called Milton Keynes which took the record for biggest mall in Europe now we have massive ones in London called Westfield Shopping centres all massive all nearly full occupancy keep blogging mate love them👍👍👍👍
I just subscribed. Thanks for all your efforts covering mall history. Great early footage even with the 70d's legendary moire and all, heh, just kidding :) Thanks for the video. It's haunting. Great choice of music and narration. The background music volume is just right. It reminds me a bit of Dan Bell's style.
Like anything conquered by a stronger entity, what’s left behind are microcosms of a former glory. Your documenting and shining an all encompassing narrative on this subject certainly pulls the fragments together. For me this re-ignites a kaleidoscope of memories. We have all spent different stages of our lives in these rather hallowed, former spaces. I don’t think it is overstating the significance of the memories we are left with. I find this video particularly sad. Growing up at the Jersey Shore, the Schuykill Mall was widely known, even from a far distance. Sad, but impressive imagery.
You should have kept a set of those 3D glasses as a souvenir!
Also, the "K" in Knoebels is NOT silent. :)
There is the super mario super show in the abandoned mall
Yep
Security guards need to get lives, just saying.
Linda from SEA AT TULL most Paul Blarts usually have to enforce policies set in place by management. Some of them I am sure might find the camera policy a load of shit, and can even offer to have you ask management, but often times, Paul Blart ends up on a power trip & will use any excuse to exercise it. As a result, we often see Paul Blart as that power hungry asshat who couldn't become a real cop. The guy who says you're perma-banned from the mall cause you walked down the escalator too fast. The guy who harasses you as a terrorist over a selfie.
Doomie Grunt failed the police academy and takes it out on others.
I suppose... but that said, there are times where they're willing to give some pointers. Hell, I've been to a couple malls where Blart gives me a funny look but doesn't say anything about me with a camera. I even had one moment where me & one of the staff got into an argument -not over the fact I was doing video, but over the owners and their inability to revitalize the mall, along with the local public who wanted the mall so bad at the beginning, but then turned their backs on it.
I agree. I wish we had the right to roam law in America. 😀.
Most of us did get lives. I left the mall where I met my wife at in 1999 to join the Army. A former supervisor of mine is looking at retiring from his department this year (2018). Another fellow employee had a career in the Army as an officer before he started with Department of State doing diplomatic security.
The supervisor who fired me a week before I left for Basic got fired a month after I left, for the drama that he created while he was having a relationship with a store employee. So, I guess you're partially right.
That mall IS holding on by a thread, though. It would be interesting to see a video on it now.
Thanks for filming this Sal. It's really interesting to see followups like this and i'm sure the opportunity won't come around often. It's surreal to see an indoor place like this, that was once so vibrant with activity, abandoned, half-destroyed, and open to the elements like that. I'm glad the statue was saved!
Incredible musical selection... Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor. Wow! Great video and overall presentation. Keep it up! Awesome work my friend.
Stalker Stomper3 thank you! The music is haunting.
Nice plug for the Super Mario Brothers Supershow!
Knobels is pronounced Kuh-no-bulls. (the K is pronounced).
It never ceases to amaze me how these incredible, man-made structures are used and discarded. I share that nostalgia for the days when the malls were packed on any given day. I've seen some of the malls around me dwindle and get torn down only to be replaced by a Lowes. Keep up the great work. New sub here.
Thanks Chris! Terribly sorry about the pronunciation faux pas...I’m learning as I go :)
Ha! No apology necessary. You should go next time you're in the area.
This breaks my heart.. this was my childhood, my Friday nights with friends after school. Does anyone know what they plan on putting there?
Warehouses
Sal, its Keh-No-Bells Knoebels Anthracite Museum. Also, its Cen-Trail-EYa Centralia. I was able to visit the Schuylkill Mall at the very end of the demolition. It was from the main lot on the McDonalds side I had to go all the way to the left around the fencing. Only that very left end and a large loading dock was standing. July 2018.
Thanks for that. I’ve been corrected on how locals pronounce it many times, I’ve got it! Thanks for watching!
Interestingly, this is the mostly the portion of the mall I would have preserved if I had the ability. I think Dunham’s, the movie theater, the dialysis clinic, and a few more businesses could have made a viable mini-mall. The rest of the property would be repurposed. But what’s done is done.
9:34 Wild that the power is still on as they demolish the place.
Thank you for another great vidumentary. I remember spending my teen years in malls just like this. This one got to me, Sal. So sad watching an era pass. Great job.
Glenn Gehringer my thoughts, exactly! 👌
Such a shame what happened. BTW, Knoebels is pronounced with the "K".
Oof...I’ve already been roasted over the pronunciation lol...much appreciated for the tip :) thanks for watching!
that place was lit on a friday back in the 90's
I believe these dead malls we see are really a manifestation of an America in collapse. A vibrant nation like Switzerland is not experiencing social decay and therefore certainly does not have its treasures, which cost hundreds of billions of dollars disintegrating in the manner we see so often highlighted in America. All of our old, great cities like Detroit, Cleveland, Baltimore, and on and on are in a state of disintegration just like the social disintegration we see everyday. In the 60s, 70s and 80s I would have never have been able to anticipate such a disintegration of America, its people, its educational system and its cities, homes and buildings. Some places are exempt from this disintegration. I recently was up in Idaho and half the houses I saw were from before the 1930s. They were all great houses selling for top dollar because they were properly maintained.
It's not a disintegration of America. It's a decline in brick-and-mortar shopping centers, in favor of online shopping and all-in-one giants like Wal-Mart. The USA had many, many, many more malls per capita than most countries. We have 10 times the retail area per capita of Germany, for example, and charts I found online show Switzerland with an even lower retail area per capita than Germany. So of course you wouldn't expect to see this in Switzerland, as they don't have any excess to knock down.
Homes and buildings in America are in the same shape they've always been -- some are fine and some are undermaintained, just like everywhere else. And our people aren't "disintegrating" either (I assure you my atoms are holding together just fine) nor is our education system (our universities are still among the top ranks internationally, and continue to attract students from many other countries).
Online shopping only consists of 12 percent of sales, so I don't think that an uptick in online shopping is responsible for the total devestation we see in all of the once great cities like Detroit, and its old Hudson Mall I used to run around in in the 60s, Pittsburgh, Camden, Baltimore, Memphis, St Louis, Indianapolis, Chicago, and on and on. Many cities do not have any dying malls or retail areas at all. I just returned from vacation around the Boise area and not a single dead mall or retail area in Boise or any of its surrounding areas. Downtown Boise is vibrant, safe and packed with shoppers. Online sales haven't hurt Boise or any of the cities I visited in Idaho and Montana. Why ddidn't online sales destroy these malls in Idaho and Montana?
You're only seeing half the story. You don't see the new developments that are just a few miles away. Online shopping is part of it, but as are the modernization of retail establishments. On top of that you have greedy landowners and maintenance companies that still believe they can get top-dollar when a new developer is offering cheaper leases down the road in a building that's more energy efficient and is just a more desirable location.
It's easy to say America in collapse if you ignore the rest of it.
The only constant is change. The decline of the downtown street lined with mom and pops was blamed originally on these same big indoor shopping malls, now those are becoming dinosaurs. Even many of the big mega boxes like Staples and Best Buy are on decline. The decline of the shopping mall shouldn't be equivocated with the decline of society, but rather the change of markets and consumer behaviors. I'm from Montana, one of the states you mentioned. My city used to have two big shopping malls, one is still doing well, the other became mostly empty and failed and got redeveloped ten years ago. Some malls will find their niche and others will gradually go away. On a more positive note, small downtown shops are seeing a revival, despite Wall-Mart and the internet.
Slagar, When I was in Montana I didn't see any ghost malls, so an anecdotal description here and there does not change my view that Montana and Idaho are very vibrant. When you say redeveloped what do you mean? Did they tear the edifice down and build a parking lot? Since I am not an equivocator, I do not believe that I equivocated the relationship between collapsing society and dead malls. Detroit for instance, is, off and on the murder capital of the nation. In additon, it is also a city that not only has dead or long ago destroyed malls but also dead skyscrapers. Forty percent of the skyscrapers in Detroit are abandoned. Go look at the youtube video on abandoned skyscrapers in Detroit.
Certainly there are some malls that do live up to your unequivocal musings, vis a vis change but what we are seeing in our country is far more than that in my estimation. We are seeing hundreds of billions of dollars of commercial real estate rotting. This is a problem that goes directly to the impoverishment of America through the offshoring of millions of high paying jobs and a failed education system that is ranked 27th in the world. Of a litigious society that makes the cost of doing business way too high. Of a people who vote for Obama and within 4 years vote for Trump. These people are lost and have no foundational belief systems to guide them to act in productive manners; consequently we see devastation when we should see productivity and industrious people plying their trade.
The internet killed the mall's in the United states of America company's like Amazon and Ebay led to the collapse of the mall business. I hate the internet for this exact reason. Personal interactions with person on person conversations without technology is a dying breed to much Facebook Myspace Snapchat.
Not really, this mall is in the "rust belt" region of the area. Other malls are thriving when you leave the rust belt.
I'm so glad the miner statue is now in the museum and the boy on the elephant is saved. Not everything needs to be destroyed just because the mall is gone. Great video, but maybe a before and after in the same shot would be good to see what was there.
Thank you so much for documenting this mall in its state. I was up there thee final day it closed. That mall meant a lot to the people around that area. Including myself, who went there as a kid, and have fond, gentle, wonderful childhood memories that are buried in that rubble...
Excellent vid, Sal! One of the best. This is my favorite kind of vids, even though, I love Malls and want them all, to survive. The soundtrack is absolutely, perfect!! 👊👏👏
Sal, thank you for all you do. Much appreciated. Please keep going!! Dean from Minnesota
You post such an interesting, well documented video that is clearly quality content, and still get dislikes? People obviously like to be dicks.
I’m not discouraged in the least :) I’m actually up super late editing the next piece! Much much more to come, friend.
Wow... great video. It makes me so sad. I grew up in this mall. So many memories. Thanks for this. I subscribed. I like your style.
Thanks for the final stop. Wonder what people think of the medical tenant still up and running while the demolition is happening.
I fell in love with your videos. but I have one question why don't you travel around the country exploring old and abandon malls, pulse exploring abandon houses and EXT. that would be exciting and would get more subs.keep up the good work
Hey Rick! I would *love* that. But...not only do I work a full time job in CyberSecurity, but I also play concerts with multiple orchestras around the east coast. My dogs also need attention lol...my point is...I don’t have a lot of free time, but what free time I do have, I devote to you guys in producing this content. Hopefully one day I get *just enough* subs and patrons to do it on a wider and more frequent basis! Thanks a bunch for your support!
3:26 door opening sounds like a goat.
For your log series are you filming on your phone? If so you make it very smooth - almost no jerking.
For the official series, it’s a mix between iPhone X, Canon 80D, and GoPro Hero 6 Black.
Awesome video!!! I love watching them - thank you for your expeditions
I think this is a fantastic video. I used to live in Southeastern Pa where most of the malls are doing fine now. So sad to see what has become of this one. Thank you for sharing.
You know it's interesting. I remembered something I talked about years ago when I was talking to friends who visited abandoned hospitals. As I saw the old Schuylkill Mall sign on the ground, it reminded me of seeing castle ruins when I lived in (West) Germany. Malls/hospitals/factories are OUR castles. They were built by people with vision, utilized through the years, fell into disrepair when they were no longer deemed relevant and finally demolished to make way for something more modern and useful.
I have a ways to go still through your current library (have watched a few videos before thanks to YT recommendations). Have really enjoyed it though. Glad I finally subscribed.
Can't watch. So many "great" memories. I am still heartbroken. RIP SCHUYLKILL MALL !!!
RIP Schuylkill
All of teenagers, at the time, hung out there. It was shoulder to shoulder walking. No decent parking spaces. Yes, I am stuck in the GOOD OLD DAYS!!!
This is… something. A feeling I didn’t know I needed. Remembering the unappreciated joys of being a 90s kid. Validation that it wasn’t just my mall that got weird over time and understanding the mechanics behind the changes. Thank you for documenting, sharing, and creating this very cool, niche content.
Why are their always Christmas decorations lol
*So awesome! I wish I was into RUclips when the Rolling Acres Mall was being demolished. Thanks for sharing this in the group!*
this was awesome - can't tell you how much I enjoy your vids - informative and entertaining....love it!! ♥
I’ve said it before but it makes me grateful that someone bought our local mall and is TRYING. I have a hard time not being a little cynical about the whole thing but at least if/when it’s shuttered I’ll have known they tried hard to keep it going. It’s so empty. The new owners spruced it up a lot and it looks much better. I don’t know many people who go there. There are other malls 30-60 minutes away that stay busy though! Thanks for a great follow up.
Schuylkill Mall should have never died! It is sad seeing our current state of the economy like this. I sometimes wonder if everything (and I mean EVERYTHING. Not just retail; but our daily lives and everything else altogether) is heading to all online; I wonder if we'll end up in a dystopian world like "the Matrix" or even like "Ready Player One" where the only way we can socialize is thru a virtual reality CG fantasy world.
Thank you posting this. Lots of memories there... damn. Back in the early 90s they had a jam packed arcade. Nirvanas Closet was hands down the best Rock Tshirt store. It’s such a unique area for a giant Mall.
Its so funny I had taken pictures of dead malls way back before RUclips was big and I remember people making fun of me. I was just so eerily fascinated by it. I love that so many people are filming them with music and historical facts. This music reminds me of a Salute your shorts episode lol
What a waste of resources.
The school kill mall? Interesting name, not sure it's the one I'd have gone with. Like, any time you can keep the word kill out of your mall's name I think that's a good thing.
I just got back into watching dead mall series, and glad I found your channel. I’m an 80’s and 90’s mall rat. The Schuylkill Mall was “my mall”. I was 7 years old when this mall opened. So many memories of going here with my grandparents, almost every Saturday with my mom and my two little kids in tow throughout the early 2000’s. This was a great mall and had a Chick Fil A! So many great stores, I remember the original McCoreys store, Fashion Bug, Lerner, Barbara Moss, Taxi, Jean Nicole, The Gap, KB Toys. I feel like I grew up there and my kids, who are now 26 and almost 24, spent a lot of time there with me and my mom.
The Chinese buffet in this video, used to be a Bonanza, I ate many times there on a Friday night and then shopping with my friends.
So sad still and it’s over five years it’s gone now.
Ironically, the warehouse built there is now also vacant. 🤷🏼♀️
you say you were on your way to steamtown mall when you stopped here. did you make it ? I ask cause I live right by the mall in Scranton and was wondering if you got anything.
Absolutely. Wonderful mall! I’ll release that footage in the next couple months.
great!!! thanks.
You have very interesting documentaries. The background music & old commercials are a great touch. It reminds me of a few video games that have post apocalyptic themes.
Whoa! I just watched the old 80s commercial for this mall and the Dan Bell video tour from 2015. And now it looks like a set piece from a post-apocalyptic video game like Fallout or Bio-mutant. Those demolition crews wasted no time from 2016-2018 tearing this place down.
As I'm writing this comment on July 4th 2021, that lot were these ruins were has been completely leveled. I've heard someone has already bought the land and is building something new on top of it but I have no idea what it is (hopefully not another Amazon warehouse). If anyone in the comments knows what's being built please to share.
Anyways, thanks Sal, love the videography and have a happy and safe Merica day.
Aww so very sad..Job Well done Sal..Stay Safe..
Quite sad to see a mall dying. I keep thinking that maybe milions of people had walk through all this corridors... buying... eating... smiling... having fun... It just blows my mind... Thanks for your great job, Sal.
Perth, W Aust calling... I'm a mall/kiosk worker (diff mall each week); we don't see anything like "dead malls" here - not that I've seen, anyway.
N.B. we're about 10 yrs behind rest of the world...God, it's so depressing! Too many memory-ghosts; haunting!
And the Musak is still running...amazing.
Do you have downloads of the old Seeburg or Muzak library to dub to your videos ? So period perfect for cruising the mall in better days ! Reminds me of the almost abandoned Amon Carter Airport terminal in Ft Worth TX years ago before it was closed & demolished. We stopped by to see if the restaurant was still open & found no one in the place but heard "Oh What a Beautiful Morning" echoing through the place! I knew it was a Seeburg system because there was always a slight delay between songs when the player changed records. Love the old "elevator music" !
Yo Sal I know the mall demo probably felt bad for some about 2 years back, but as of 12/16/20.. the timing of it was a stroke of luck! If the demo didn't happen back then, surly they'd be planning it right now with the last 9 months of shutdown-open up- shut back down, business waterboarding. . I don't know... maybe the sunglass shop could have survived if they switched over to selling designer mask..
Wow. I spent my entire childhood in PA - born and raised in Philly and spent a few years of high school in Hershey. But I've never heard of Frackville or the Schuylkill Mall before. Schuylkill Expressway, Schuylkill River, Schuylkill punch (that's what we called tap water in Philly since the river was our main water source) - but not the Schuylkill Mall. I'd be curious to know what impact the mall closing had on that town - in terms of jobs and the surrounding businesses. Shame...looks like it was once a proud mall. Now just an empty shell - and barely that.
Great video...I have a lot of great memories at this Mall. I will definitely miss it. It was worth the 90 mile drive every weekend
All those hopes & dreams & ppl trying to live their lives - I've just turned 50 & am desperately trying to NOT think about all the ways I've wasted my life (like my dad always said I wld); this stuff makes me think of the 80's when I grew up. Depresses the hell out of me but can't stop looking! Cor lamme!
I miss Mall Culture 😭
It’s also known as Soon Kill Ya Mall. Same thing with the Expressway. Times have changed and Malls are dieing. They should be repurposed. There is need for affordable housing, small business offices, small restaurants, etc. Malls con be converted to a community.
Sal, you created a really fine mini-documentary ... excellent images, photography, editing, and commentary. This piece speaks volumes about a part of American history - changing shopping habits, the rise and fall of retail establishments and consumerism. Thank you for creating this!
Hey Thanks! This was a special project for me, and I’m so glad I was able to get those last few images recorded!
I came across your video in a Reddit post and have many fond memories of going to Schuylkill and Fairlane Village Malls when I lived there in the 90s. The mall was pretty busy when I was there - I guess in the age of Amazon and Walmart (and online shopping in general), this was bound to happen. It's still heartbreaking to see/hear that the mall was demolished. I am glad to hear that the statue was relocated rather than demolished.
There are two malls within striking distance where I live now (I left PA in 2002), and both of them are dying as well. I hope I don't see your series coming down here to GA, but after learning that one of the anchor stores - Macy's - has decided to close, I get the feeling we'll be seeing you here as well.
Thank you Sal - I agree with the other commenters here that you've done top-quality filming and editing, and your research is fantastic. You've got yourself a new subscriber.