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Once bustling hubs of shopping and social life, these American malls now stand as haunting reminders of changing times, failed redevelopment, crime, and economic decline. Join us as we explore the eerie remains of once-thriving retail landmarks and the surprising reasons they were left behind. From bad planning to shifting consumer habits, each story is as tragic as it is unsettling.
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00:00Deathly quiet, even eerie, artists would come and photograph 20th century life frozen in time.
00:07Welcome to Miss Mojo, and today we're looking at infamous stories behind U.S. malls that were tragically left to
00:13ruin.
00:13It stood vacant for two decades, becoming a blight that drew graffiti and arson fires.
00:20Forest Fair Mall, Forest Park, Ohio.
00:23It'll change the way America shops.
00:25It's everything the consumer could possibly want all in one time, all in one spectacular place.
00:33Almost immediately after opening in 1988, the Forest Park Mall seemed doomed.
00:39And yet it survived decades of store closures, competition, redevelopments, and regular changes of ownership and name.
00:46A series of code violations in 2020 prompted county officials to actually request investors in the mall's demolition.
00:53The Altman, Bondwood Teller, and Sackiewicz stores total liquidation going out of business sale at Forest Fair Mall is in
01:00its final weeks.
01:01Two years later, the Forest Fair Village officially shut down as part of the Ohio Building Demolition and Site Revitalation
01:08Program.
01:08And the building still had stores open to the public up until seven months before demolition began in 2025.
01:15It's actually still got some good bones, good metal structure, so we might take this out and put it into
01:20one of our playgrounds.
01:21The establishment endured just about everything that can go wrong with a mall.
01:25While its longevity was impressive, 37 years of decline was a bleak spectacle for Forest Park locals.
01:32Demolition officially underway. Forest Fair Mall was once the second largest in Ohio with up to 200 stores.
01:39The site's new owners planning to knock the building down by early next year.
01:43Carousel Mall, San Bernardino, California.
01:46The Carousel Mall in San Bernardino has been showing its age for years.
01:51Struggling through the recession, it officially closed in 2017.
01:56The Central City Mall opened in 1972 to revitalize San Bernardino through competition with the Inland Center.
02:03It in fact became a favorite hangout for gangs and a pawn in business schemes.
02:07Things only got worse after a family-focused renovation brought a new name and a carousel installation in 1991.
02:15The area continued to get more dangerous, while the Inland Center continued to dominate the competition.
02:21The 43-acre mall opened in 1972 and thrived for decades, but in recent years, it's struggled to keep customers
02:30coming in.
02:30Years of store closures and vandalism ultimately led to the Carousel Mall shutting down in 2017 and becoming a sort
02:37of monument to the follies of California's urban renewal efforts.
02:41After six years of yet more red tape and financial disputes, the building was demolished in 2023.
02:48Contractors began the nearly $8 million demolition from the inside.
02:53The city says that this entire property should be flattened by November.
02:57Metro North Mall, Kansas City, Missouri
03:00From 1974 to the early 2000s, the Metro North Mall was the place to be in Kansas City, Missouri, and
03:07then another place opened in 2004.
03:10The open-air shopping center Zona Rosa split shoppers and poached many of Metro's tenants, including Anchor Store Dillard's.
03:17Then have some fun at Metro North.
03:20Most weekends, you'll find events like these that the whole family can enjoy.
03:23That's why all together, it's great shopping at Metro North.
03:28This heated competition coincided with shifting consumer trends, the Great Recession, and the death of Metro's founding co-owner.
03:36The historically ambitious mall thus went under in 2014.
03:40In the three years before it was demolished, the infamously rapid urban decay seemed to represent the tragic decline of
03:47a consumer institution.
03:48The mall's major function now is acting like a storage lot for vehicles rolling off the clay-como assembly line
03:54down the road.
03:55While working on projects about dead malls, photojournalist Steph Lawless said the Metro was by far the creepiest place he'd
04:02ever stepped foot in.
04:04Well, the center is right next to the old Metro North Mall, and the owners of that mall have plans
04:08to redevelop that entire property,
04:09which includes the site where the recycling center is located.
04:13Century 3 Mall, West Mifflin, Pennsylvania
04:22From the ruins of a slag dump rose one of the largest malls in the world in 1979.
04:29A Century 3 mall was a triumph until its mass became more of a burden.
04:34Throughout the 2000s, stiff competition and shopping habits devastated the institution, whose size made it difficult to maintain.
04:41The mall's resale value plummeted until it was bought by Moonbeam Capital Investments in 2014,
04:47then scheduled for renovation after it was declared uninhabitable five years later.
04:52We had a problem, a major problem that affected a lot of people in this community.
04:56I mean, it truly was a monument to blight.
04:59Since 2015, the mall deteriorated with numerous safety and health violations.
05:05But at the last minute, Moonbeam decided to declare bankruptcy.
05:08True to its name, the Century 3 mall was quintessential retail advancement that died a quintessential death for modern shopping.
05:16Demolition on the once-again decaying property began in 2025.
05:20Internal and off-site roadway improvements, and identifying the right mix of high-quality retail, medical, and residential uses.
05:29The DA hopes workers finish the demolition in the spring.
05:32Lincoln Mall, Madison, Illinois
05:34Now is the time to take advantage of the great savings at Lincoln Mall.
05:38Savings mall-wide with over 20 specialty stores, offering 20% off regularly priced merchandise.
05:43It's hard enough for a mall to make it these days without misguided ownership.
05:48The Lincoln Mall was a Chicagoland hotspot after it opened in 1973,
05:53only to be devastated by the arrival of major standalone businesses in Madison in the 90s.
05:58Saturday, September 25th, 10 a.m. till noon in Madison, across from the Lincoln Mall.
06:03World's biggest toy stores, Toys R Us.
06:06The outdated Leviathan gradually declined, but didn't go down easy.
06:11Freehold Management launched a massive redevelopment effort just before the market crisis of 2008.
06:17The project continued to drag after Michael Cohan took over in 2012,
06:21with millions in outstanding fines and back taxes.
06:25The city then sued the mall over safety concerns, took ownership, and shut it down in 2015.
06:31The Lincoln Mall was promptly razed after years of de facto condemnation under basic economics
06:36and dangerous mismanagement.
06:38Plans are underway to create a 5,000-square-foot Madison Children's Museum,
06:43where the old Lincoln Mall once stood.
06:46Northridge Mall, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
06:49You'll find something exclusive and something for everyone.
06:56It's enough to make you want to go to Northridge to take a look.
06:59Not long after Milwaukee welcomed the Northridge Mall in 1972,
07:04protests killed a planned freeway that would have eased access to it.
07:08Customers were further driven away by the infamous murder of Barbara Anderson in 92.
07:14Rising crime, competition, and economic uncertainty finished off the mall in 2003,
07:20but ownership and legal disputes delayed demolition for over 20 years.
07:24It is busy for returns size-wise.
07:27I mean, there's a lot of things that people might just be coming back to exchange sizes.
07:30So it does get busy, and there will be lines.
07:32That's why it's a good idea to get here early.
07:34The mall was so severely neglected that it famously filled up with snow.
07:38YouTuber Casey Neesat did find some joy in this tragedy
07:42when he hosted a winter wonderland for children in 2017.
07:45But in 25, after Milwaukee was given a grant for demolition,
07:49the Northridge Mall was put out of its misery.
07:52Marking the official end of the demolition here.
07:56And, of course, over the years we've well documented
07:58how it had fallen into disrepair, becoming an example of urban decay.
08:03Rolling Acres Mall, Akron, Ohio.
08:06So you could really see how big the places that I'm capturing are.
08:10Amidst the vast and empty.
08:13A landscape photographer of sorts, but in large abandoned spaces.
08:18Few malls exemplify the collapse of the consumer phenomenon
08:21as popularly as the Rolling Acres Mall.
08:24It opened in 1975 to massive popularity in greater Cleveland,
08:29ultimately boasting 150 operational stores.
08:32Following a slump in the 90s, a series of new owners chased modernization,
08:37but literally couldn't keep the lights on by 2008.
08:41At least the decay of the property brought some novelty to stores
08:44that stayed open until 2013.
08:47Mostly, it made the once-thriving Rolling Acres a national curiosity
08:51that perfectly represented the death of the American mall.
08:54A man was electrocuted, apparently trying to steal copper cable from the Rolling Acres Mall.
09:00Firefighters found the body next to an electrical cabinet
09:02that is clearly marked with hazard signs.
09:05And that was before the final result.
09:07Shortly after the mall's demolition,
09:09the online retail leader Amazon bought the lot for a distribution center.
09:13Akron City Council just approved nearly half a million dollars to demolish it,
09:18planning to have it done before the end of the year.
09:20We're going to do all we can to repurpose this land and put it to a good use.
09:25Hawthorne Plaza, Hawthorne, California.
09:28Los Angeles County initially embraced the Hawthorne Plaza as a staple after it opened in 1977.
09:34If you're looking for the perfect shopping experience,
09:37there's a collection of unique shops at 119th and Row in the southwest corner at Hawthorne Plaza.
09:42But growing crime rates and shifting demographics bred prejudice in the middle-class consumer base,
09:48especially after the LA riots of 92.
09:51Competition sealed the plaza's fate in 1999,
09:54but it survived demolition through repurposing.
09:57The defunct mall has long been a popular filming location for movies,
10:01TV shows, and music videos that occasionally bring the place back to life.
10:10In truth, it is so dilapidated and vandalized
10:14that a number of redevelopment plans have fallen through over the years.
10:18The state of the Hawthorne Plaza off-camera may say more about its demise than the movies.
10:23Now, this is on Hawthorne Boulevard, north of El Segundo Boulevard.
10:27Now, we're told the fire is in a below-ground parking structure
10:31burning, actually, a large pile of trash is actually burning.
10:35Dixie Square Mall, Harvey, Illinois.
10:39Some malls might be more valuable dead than alive.
10:42The Dixie Square Mall was a staple of Chicagoland shopping after opening in 1966,
10:47only to become overrun with crime during Harvey's economic downturn the following decade.
10:53Would there be anything else?
10:54Yes, do you have a Miss Piggy?
10:57Three people were killed within a year.
10:59This led to a rapid loss of stores until the mall closed in 1978 after a desperate renovation project.
11:06Some interest was renewed after Dixie was used as the filming location
11:10for the destructive car chase in the Blues Brothers.
11:13There's pants and burgers.
11:14Yeah, lots of space in this mall.
11:17Even more popular was its association with urban decay,
11:20which inspired tourism along with vandalism.
11:23Delinquency at Dixie Mall was suddenly good for business in Harvey.
11:27Nonetheless, it was demolished in 2012, 34 years after shutting down.
11:33Baby clothes.
11:35This place has got everything.
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11:52Randall Park Mall, Cleveland, Ohio
11:55Randall Park, come again.
11:57You'll like what you see.
12:00Come get to know us all over again.
12:04Developer Edward J. Departolo envisioned a city within a city with the Randall Park Mall.
12:10It opened in 1976 as the self-proclaimed largest shopping center in the world
12:15and was a powerhouse for Cleveland's economy before DeBartolo's passing in 94.
12:21You know you'll find the perfect match for class at Randall Park Mall.
12:24Tenants then rapidly fled as his pride passed through and was broken up by several owners.
12:30The mall thus became a drain on the city's economy
12:33until it was finally shut down in 2009 and demolished six years later.
12:37But for the village of North Randall, this marks a rebirth.
12:41When stores started leaving this mall, it had a devastating ripple effect on the village's economy.
12:48The downfall of an establishment that massive was a historical marker for American consumer trends.
12:53The irony in Amazon building a distribution center on the site of the Randall Park Mall
12:58doesn't exactly bode well for the industry at large.
13:01It is history in the making.
13:03Amazon picking this once prominent retail destination.
13:06It's kind of been ghost town when you think about it.
13:08To build a facility where online shopping orders are fulfilled.
13:12What are some other bittersweet memories and cautionary tales in the world of dead malls?
13:16Open up in the comments below.
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