Completely Surreal Photos Of America's Abandoned Malls

Buzzfeed ^ | April 2, 2014 | Matt Stopera

[Charles Martel]

Looks like screenshots from the post-apocalyptic “Fallout” games.

The setting of the original (1970s) "Dawn of the Dead" film was prophetic.

[SpaceBar]

Turn them into prisons.

[onedoug]

Throw the bums in there.

[Charles Martel]

The outdoor ones are usually called Shopping Centers or Town Centers instead of Malls.

Yes, the lack of heated or air-conditioned common area (with a convenient food court) keeps most of the troublemakers away - and the lessor, free of the staggeringly high utility bill that accompanied said common area, can spend more on site security.

The irony is that in the late '60s and early '70s, there were outdoor shopping centers that were converted into enclosed malls. Full circle.

[RegulatorCountry]

It’s a stand alone store, not connected at all to the indoor mall. It’s on the opposite side of the ring road with it’s own parking. The whole area has grown into a massive conflagration of retail, restaurants, offices, hotels, condos and apartments. I think they’ll continue even if the mall goes down.

[RegulatorCountry]

Was there some sort of unspoken rule during the segregation era that the east side of town was the black side of town? In just about every city, that’s the case.

[Wuli]

None of the malls in the report were giant (the new Amazon Hq2 will be multiple times the size of all of them), and all of them closed years ago. There demise is not of recent empact and not likely to have current, new impact on political developments in or from the states with the reported “ghost” malls.

What does see somewhat of an economic mistake though, is, many government and non-government institutions have been expending their infrastructure, and it would seem in some cases, with the right match, making new uses of some of the ghost malls (with tons of parking already) would be less expensive than many brand new builds that institutions are doing. I could see an entire college campus inside some of the ghost malls.

[Trillian]

I guess no one wants to get beat up by large groups of “teens”.

[sarge83]

That I do not know. I am not a Knoxville native. I know west and south Knoxville seem to be more wealthy and white. I have a co-worker who lives in north Knoxville and her neighborhood is what I would call a DMZ area. It’s not white, its not black, its both and getting dangerous. I know my children were born at St. Marys hospital in the 90’s and early 2000’s and it was a nice safe area.

My daughter gave birth to my grandson there last year and as my brother who came to visit her and the baby mentioned to me, this place is practically in the hood now from just twenty years ago. I had already noted the new indigenous personnel in the area and was packing until she and my grandson were released.

[sickoflibs]

RE:”The irony is that in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s, there were outdoor shopping centers that were converted into enclosed malls. Full circle”

Happened in my home Town, was an open shopping center when I was a kid, then an enclosed Mall...then it grew more and a decade or so later died.

I noticed that a few Malls survived and became the big ones.

In Maryland its Columbia Mall, Towson, Anne Arundel(has the casino) and White Marsh. Most of the others died or were redesigned as open area shopping like Hunt Valley.

[CrimsonTidegirl]

I haven’t been to Barnes Crossing in several years but my sister goes when she sees her doctor in Tupelo. She says that it has gone down a lot.

I prefer Tuscaloosa except for the ungodly traffic. The McFarland Mall closed years ago because the area around Skyland Boulevard is becoming a no go zone.

The once popular University Mall is dying because of crime and the fact that there are two new large upscale shopping centers just across the street.

Since the 2011 tornado, the devastated part of town has really been revitalized and the once popular University Mall is obsolete.

[ADemocratNoMore]

The mall in my fair city was built in 1977 and 30 years later the last store closed, kind of. While all of the anchor stores were gone by then a factory outlet replaced one of them and a truck driving school lasted for another half decade or so. The mall remained open, running on minimal infrastructure - only light coming from skylights, just enough heat to keep the pipes from freezing, one person on premises acting as building manager / security guard, and, over 30 storefront churches. Apparently there were several people hundred people there on Sundays.

The hangers-on also included a museum dedicated to the late, great Euclid Beach amusement park, also run out of business at the end of the 1969 season due to a growing tide of ferals over it’s last years. The mall also had a lady who gave music and art lessons in a former cooking utensil store. I had occasion to visit her a half dozen times in the last few years the mall was still there. One entrance was still open and the interior itself was not in disrepair, it was just “empty”, like walking into the set of some si-fi movie where everybody suddenly vanished.

A few months ago the mall was demolished and the property is now to be used for an Amazon distribution center which is currently being built.

[Albion Wilde]

When I see pictures like these, it's so sad that the managment companies don't provide some kind of recycling days, or call in the local companies that specialize in it. When I renovated my first house I got doors, windows, cabinets and sinks from Cleveland Wrecking.

Every week I look up at the graying, sagging drop ceiling tiles in our church and mentally count the number and the cost of labor to replace them; but it's beyond my ability or that of the congregation at this time. Yet malls like this have miles of materials just mouldering that community members might be able to use.

When our local mall finally gave up the ghost, huge amounts of building materials were just bulldozed, shattered and crushed.

[21twelve]

I had to look up and see how the mall near me growing up was doing. It was the first indoor mall - Southdale, near Minneapolis. In the article it said it is now competing with the nearby Mall of America (MOA).

But - Southdale is doing okay at 62 years olds.

It brought what sounds like part of the library system into the mall to increase traffic. The few folks visiting meant empty parking spots. So they used the outer parts of the parking lots and put up hotels and condos. So now instead of driving to the mall, they just walk over.

Of course in the article there wasn’t any mention of gangs or stuff. In that part of town, I’m guessing that they still aren’t much of a presence in the mall. I think they run a pretty tight ship. Plus, I think the gangs would be more likely over at the larger MOA which is also closer to the city.

[21twelve]

Oh, and the article said that the food court was replaced with just one place - a restaurant and arcade type place. I imagine with it being under one management it can be less “open” to manage who gets in and out, and they can be more selective on who as well. They said that place was always busy.

[foreverfree]

Bump