CambridgeSide Mall: A Center of Innovation or a Future Dead Mall? What Do You Think? Cambridge, MA
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- Опубликовано: 12 сен 2024
- Join me as I take a look at the CambridgeSide Mall, formerly the CambridgeSide Galleria, in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Once a three floor mall, the third floor has now been converted into a laboratory and office space. Is this the future of innovation, or is this a dead mall in the making? You decide!
This video was filmed in late January 2023 on a Tuesday around 3:00pm.
If you liked this video, please give me a thumbs up, leave a comment and subscribe to my channel! Thanks!
Source of information:
www.boston.com...
patch.com/mass...
en.wikipedia.o...
www.arrowstree...
www.cambridges...
#deadmall #deadmalls #mall #massachusetts #shoppingmall #shoppingmalls #retail #cambridge
I used to love this mall, especially for electronics boutique. It was the first store where video games where returnable.
This was definitely a high end mall, especially in the late 90s/early 00s. I believe it was the first location of the Apple Store in MA, which makes sense given the proximity to tech corridors like Kendall Square. Fun fact, upstairs by the old sears entrance there used to be an "express" DMV where you could renew your drivers license!
Great video! Honestly a great way to revitalize this struggling mall!
Clean, well-kempt mall with a lot of nice natural lighting from the clear roof. I could see this place being busier on a weekend as it does still have quite a few stores that people like to go to. As a shopping mall, it's looking pretty good and the food court isn't bad either. It could use some more seating areas with maybe some plants and a fountain or two to make it more inviting for people who just want to hang out.
Correction: Behind that blank white wall in the food court was NOT an entrance to Sears. It was a few different restaurants over the years. The only way into Sears through the mall was an entrance on the second floor.
5+ years ago, the Cambridgeside Galleria used to be more fun to shop at. Once they closed off the third floor, I felt that too many “mall specific” stores were lost; Forever 21, Charlotte Rousse, Abercrombie, etc. Many of the remaining chain stores there, such as TJ Maxx and Old Navy, I can already find in Downtown Crossing or other parts of the city. There really feels like no incentive to travel out to Cambridgeside anymore unless I’m very close by in the area
I can remember coming here when Lechmere was on its own before the mall was even built.
This mall was really busy in the 90s but it's declined so much now. When Sears closed it was a blow, but then Macy's and the whole 3rd floor closed. Best Buy is also gone, and Bank of America is moving out (across the street.) If this mall isn't dead now, it's on life support.
I don't know about everyone else, but there's little reason to come here anymore besides CVS and the food court.
I used to work there in the 90s. Remember Brookstone? Impulse? B. Dalton Books? Gloria Jean's Coffee? Nathan's Hot Dogs? Suncoast the video store? All gone. Relics of bygone days. That mall is shit now. There's nothing there anymore except stupid cell phone stores.
It is sad what on line shopping has done to retail sales. The Malls killed Main Street and Amazon has killed the Malls. I miss the 20th century.
One minor correction. Sear never had an entrance in the foodcourt. That closed off section was just another restaurant. It had been a deli, an asian food place, and I believe a frozen yogurt stand. That side of the mall was the main exterior entrance for Sears. There was no interior entrance on the first floor. One thing i did hope you'd bring up was on the second floor, from where Old Navy is to where the 2nd floor entrance of Sears was, that was Footlocker. That side of the mall was a full glass wall, including that decorative portal window design. All that was part of the Footlocker space. For a while, it was one of the larger mall Footlockers in existence. It was even officiallly called World Footlocker. I can't imagine how much they spent to secure that prime real estate in the building
This is sad. When I was in college in the early 2000s, this was “the good mall.” My friends and I would take the Green Line there and we could literally spend the whole day going from store to store. 3 levels, and not a vacancy to be had. That wing where Best Buy was also had a bookstore (Borders, I think…maybe B&N…I don’t remember).
Then in 2018, I got a job 3 blocks away, and I liked to walk on my lunch break. When the weather was crappy, I’d go to that mall to walk. In 2018, it wasn’t bad, but as time went on, stores pulled out and you could see the struggle.
I think the pandemic killed it, though. They lost all of the office traffic, and that area was where a ton of biotech companies were situated. It saddens me to see it so empty, and most of my favorite shops gone.
Judging the mall strictly on this video, it looks very nice clean and maintained.
I think it was a smart idea for them to consolidate their retail down onto the first two floors. I noticed that one of the advertising signs said something about they were adding residential. That would be a great thing if they could put in residential and then add in perhaps like a HomeGoods or Trader Joe’s more day-to-day living type Stuff on the first and second floor to fill in those empty spots.
You would have all the people living in the building as well as business customers to keep things alive.
I can’t comment on the past of the mall or of the of the area around it.
Used to like coming to this mall in the early 2000s. I'd lock my bike in the front and go through the front entrance (sometimes I'd ride a shuttle in the winter). Panda Express was my go to joint in the food court. Shopped mostly at Sears and Best Buy. I vaguely remember the Apple store which had just opened but I wasn't a Mac guy so didn't really frequent it (this was way BEFORE iPhone and kind of at the start of iPod era--it was a very different company at the time and before its explosive growth). I do remember the Cheesecake factory and California Pizza kitchen as the main restaurants at the front entrance. Yeah, in the early 2000s it still felt like a bustling, busy mall as we remembered them in the 20th century.
If you go to the Longwood Galleria in.. well, Longwood, they still have the old style galleria decorations. Good food at the chinese place too. Try the BiangBiang noodles with pork
I really like this mall, despite the beige-everything it has a charm & personality to it and it feels much safer than the mall near me (Destiny USA)
I've been to this mall once doing an Uber Eats pickup and delivery. I like the floor layout, it reminded me of square one mall back in the days where it was still busy with stores. Compared to most malls I've seen, it looks clean and well maintained.
WOW! A mall in my area I’ve never been to 😳🤯! Didn’t think that was even possible till I looked at the mall directory.
Horrible mall now. I grew up going there in the early mid 90's to around 2000. It became less safe and it looks abandoned now. There used to be some cutting edge stores and even a basketball hall of fame location (or something like that) that had a Larry Bird statue. Looks bad now.
I agree with you. I remember that Sports Museum. That's what I'm talking about with my review up above. It was fun to go there. Times change.
I remember the sports museum
@CJaguar265 I remember the Sports Museum as well. I used to work in that mall in the 90s. It's so different now. So bland. Hardly any of the original shops are still there. Remember Lechmere? Brookstone? Impulse? Gloria Jean's Coffee? B. Dalton Booksellers? Suncoast Video Store? Nathan's Hot Dogs? Foot Locker? Oola, the candy shop on the third floor? I think there was even a Registry of Motor Vehicles there at one time too. It's sad how that's all gone.
The Sports Museum was closed before 1998 in the Galleria. I remember going as a kid, and it was a cool feature, but it shut down a long before Bestbuy opened (late 98)
Great video!
Thanks! Glad you liked it!
I liked the older look of the mall a lot better! I went there in 2010 and it was a Beautiful Mall and very colorful! I looked up the renovation of this mall it’s still a great mall but a little disappointing! I wished they at least kept it colorful! The one thing I’ll say is the mall is definitely very clean but still wish it was colorful!
COLORFUL BACK in the 60's and 70's
First time I was at this mall, I think there was a Target and a Best Buy, but those were gone. Now, there's construction happening around the mall when I went here a second time. The third floor looks dead to me, though...
One good sign is that most or all of the stores look like national chains rather that local pop-ups.
Cambridgeside is not anywhere close to being the first urban enclosed mall. The nearby Arcade Building in Brookline was built in 1926 which itself was a century too late to be called first as the Westminster Arcade in Providence dates to 1828.
The "Sears entrance" was actually another food stall. I think it was almost always a small non-chain.
Borders was located at the first TJ Maxx location
"Close to MIT/Harvard" is not really a marker for low crime. Crime is coincidentally low currently, but that is not true historically.
I've been here a lot. I don't have any fond memories of going to the third floor and I have been in to that Sears. The colour was insane tho. I've had a lot of good times here when I've went to this food court (BK) and went into the Macy's which closed.
I remember when this mall first opened. The anchor stores were good stores. It was an exciting Mall to visit. Back in those days there was more public parking as East Cambridge was not as developed as today. Lots of metered street parking was available which was readily available in the evening. I found the parking garage inconvenient at best . Later violent crimes started occurring, making the news within the parking garage. I no longer felt safe using the parking garage. I remember driving there a couple of times, unable to find outside metered parking I just said forget it and drove away. Metered parking on the streets disappeared and I knew I didn't want to use the parking garage. Suburban malls had plenty of free parking outside and it was safer than the CambridgeSide Galleria parking garage.
When I was in the area, I would frequent the food court which were good for a mall food court. There was outside seating with many doors connecting to the outside. I could leave the food court with a meal and eat outside through any one of the many connected doors to the outside of the food court. I found this a pleasant experience. However, there was an ugly crime within the food court, and they locked all the doors except for the couple of doors , making it more difficult for a criminal to escape if they committed a crime. I stopped visiting this mall completely. All the area Malls are in trouble victims of the box stores and Amazon. This mall has even more disadvantages compared to suburban malls with no outside parking lot and the anchor stores gone. It was a good back in its day but its day has passed.
Watching this made me sad, I used to come here with my family all the time and seeing all the closed stores and no more third floor along with the different places in the food court sucks. Haven’t been here for years
The former Sears and Macy’s are also being converted to lab space. They have tenants set in place. Best Buy meanwhile is planned to become residential space.
Lab use is a good idea for that biotech area but on-site labs are no reason for shoppers to visit this mall. The same for using Best Buy as residential space. That is not going to attract shoppers. I read about how amazon has bought some malls to use as distribution centers. Ok that keeps the lights on but does not bring shoppers or anyone beside the amazon workers to those malls. Labs and housing will keep the lights on in those building but not much else. I know they need to do something as there are too many malls. Good luck to them.
now malls are such boring places to visit , JUST VIST SOUTH COAST PLAZA Costa Mesa Ca
I grew up in that mall!!! Im 47 so me and my boys used to go there allllll the time! One time we got caught stealing Sega Genesis games out of Lechmere!!! That had to been around 92-93!!
I came here hoping for some nostalgia, but no luck. Bring back Jeans West, Coda, Chess King, and KayBee toys! The Dunkin Donuts was a cookie store my friend worked at. I'd eat free chocolate chip cookies and lemonade until I was sick! Oh, and as part of the grand opening I was in the finals of a 3-point contest. Met Rick Fox, Dave Cowens, Chris Ford, and Irving Fryar, AND got a FREE pair of Dee Brown Reebok Pumps! Big deal when you're 14. Around 16 I was leaving with a friend after he bought a Starter Notre Dame winter coat and we got robbed at knife point just outside the entrance near Lechmere Station. THE GOOD OL' DAYS!!!!
Who was your friend that worked at the original Cookie company store? I worked at Nathan's Haagen-Dazs great steak and potato and the cookie store.
@@1namhelleahcim His name was Keith. He was like 6’4”
I remember a tall guy that used to help me get stuff from the store room down the back hall off the top of the freezer. I remember managers Ellen then Heather.
PS I went to the mall 2 weeks ago and there's absolutely no food court at all, the whole side section is closed off and you can't see anything from the second floor.
@@1namhelleahcim Maybe it was him. If he’s helping anyone now it’s in the kitchen at Walpole where he’s serving two life terms.
6:26 Before TJ Maxx, that used to be BORDERS.
14:55 That store used to be Pacific Sun.
I feel old
@@CJaguar265 Every store has a time limit.
@@wllmjhuang very true
@@CJaguar265 Exactly.
I think I went there in the early 2000s. Wow that place has changed. I used to go to computer store that was in the area but also went here.
that mall had a good CD store, Tower Records if I am remembering correctly. There was a good book store and the anchor stores. I remember the comptuer store which did a brisk business.
@@cubehire3653 Pcs for Everyone was on a side street near the mall.
The microcenter is still down the street
@@cubehire3653The computer store was Electronics Boutique and the record store wasn't Tower Records it was Sam Goody. There was even another short-lived record store on the second floor called The Wall. That's going way back to 1993 though.
According to a recent news article , the project has secured financing through a ground-lease agreement with Safehold, a real estate investment trust. The agreement involves Safehold paying an upfront fee to New England Development and UBS, the owners of the mall, in exchange for a long-term lease on the land. That project is moving forward despite the challenges posed by the pandemic.
Well Its great for a Lab as it's in the technology Center of Cambridge blocks from MIT and 4 miles from Harvard but that neighborhood has tons of defense contracting. Including Draper Labs. There was a murder there in the late 90s.
Really? Where? In the mall? I don't remember hearing about it.
l request you to do the paramus park mall in paramus nj
People used to get shot and stabbed there all the time. No food court anymore no Game Stop or Best Buy anymore... That mall is garbage now.
The head maintenance guy at this mall hung himself on the 3rd floor back in the spring of 2023.
Source: I did security there.
I saw Zara was going to be opening a store there
This used to be a good maul. There is no reason to go there anymore.
This mall is being converted into much more than a mall, it is going to be mixed use, new multi floor towers in place of the old anchor stores etc…
To the right of best buy was borders book store
Sears did not have a mall entry on the first floor
Unfortunately most malls aren't going to make it these days, yes they get revitalized but it doesn't last long. They get expensive to maintain and start to deteriorate. On line shopping and kids become more interested in sports it seems families don't want to go anymore
I've been. Never felt so unwelcome. Sears, and Best Buy were still a thing. There was tons of security when I went, as they told me they had lots of people try to jump off the top floor where the mall elevator served the lower 3 parking deck levels, so that small area was a large drop. Best Buy seemed to be a haven for theft the way it was designed. There were elevators to the parking garages without registers. Sears was Sears.
Frankly, I'm thrilled to see this mall struggle, and hopefully die. It's a "Free-For-All" city, like all the other large cities where large chains are leaving in droves.
33 Fusion - 33rd degree Masons 5:52 evil bunch -Masons
The people’s republic of Cambridge I hate Cambridge they don’t play well WTH others in Cambridge
THE MALL OF NO PAST
I used to like the shopping mall better back in the old.Don't like it anymore.There's nothing there
Definitely a dead mall..😊
this video is suposed to do what for me?