Always fascinating when a mall is still open because of one or two stores that just refuse to leave for whatever reason

Hi all, I’m traveling from NJ to explore Meriden Mall in Connecticut. Google says it’s open but I can’t go by Google.

The reason for the closing was a planned de-malling redevelopment which recently fell through. Store owners stated on the news that foot traffic was improving until the abrupt closure.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DbGviuHx0QZ/?igsh=MmYyeGUxNXl4Znow

I crossed the state border into tax-free Delaware last Monday and visited the Concord Mall for the first time. This was my first mall excursion as a mall nomad, as my home base of Exton Square Mall closed at the end of June.

Much like Exton Square, this mall very much has its own theme and identity. It's a beautiful little mall, but it seems that only the most bland malls can survive in the modern age. There's an awful lot of vacancies here, and the Macy's Home Store anchor closed earlier this year. This was a separate store from Macy's that sold primarily/only furniture, and it sounded like an alarm was going off in there when I went.

The Macy's itself smelled like cleaning supplies, and the Boscov's was under heavy construction for whatever reason. There were white tarps up and lots of drilling, and the elevator and escalator in Boscov's were both out of service. I'm used to the green Boscov's signage of Exton, so seeing blue ones was kinda neat.

I rode the Macy's passenger elevator. I'm no elevator expert or hardcore enthusiast, but this was a terrible ride. Apparently, it's from United, and was installed in 1983.

Behind the green wall that says "fun lives here", there's apparently a perfectly preserved Burger King with 90's style decor that closed in 2009. This went viral back in 2022, and you can find pictures of it with a quick Google search.

In front of the Macy's is a gigantic Strawbridge & Clothier "Seal of Confidence". I was disappointed to discover that this is in fact not stone, but rather, hard plastic. It was still cool to finally see this in-person though.

From my understanding, any time you see a Sears with the signage still up, it's still owned by Transformco or whatever else from Eddie Lampert. If you want this spot, make them an offer. Because Exton Square's Sears signs were removed years ago, this was actually really cool for me to see. This location closed in April of 2020, and was the last Sears in the state of Delaware.

Clearly, the directory has not been updated in a really long time.

Enjoy!

Downstairs the ac was working, upper floor had a lack of ac. Active in the food court area. No real dead zones in the mall. There’s at least a store open in almost every corner. Beautiful Macys!

Went back to see the bath and body works had gone, not much left.

If anybody grew up going to the Boynton Beach Mall back in its heyday in the early 2000s, do you remember the store that sold anime stuff specifically bootleg videos? What the name of it was called?

Shut down around 2019? I remember going there as a kid on the way to the cottage in the 90s. Visited as an adult in 2018(photo) and only a handful of stores were still open. Looking back at the photo now it reminds me of a scene from the Backrooms or The Oldest View.

A beauty store and organ store were open..

That nail salon and light on in the dressing room of hot topic got me though

The first one is near the main square of the city, and the second one is part of the archeological site of chichen Itza

I document a lot of these dead malls here in the metroplex on a channel, and this is really bad for Ridgmar Mall. This will be the end for Ridgmar, I suppose. Not much is keeping that place alive except for the movie theater and maybe the Dillard's Clearance Center, which by the way has no mall interior access. This technically leaves pretty much no reason to actually go to Ridgmar Mall. Throughout the years the mall has continued to die down, though recently it seemed as if the mall was gaining new tenants, even after the closure of the Aquarium. The aquarium's closure prompted a lot of existing name brand tenants to leave, in fact all of the name brand tenants seemed to have left after that. (except for a few outliers such as Lenscrafters) After this the mall saw some new small businesses, a few furniture shops, a comic store, salons, candy shops, food stalls, and even a radio station. However, now it seems that Ridgmar's future is on borrowed time more than ever. I don't think this mall will last long after JCPenney closes its doors. In fact, I think that most tenants will be gone before JCPenney even closes its doors for good. Anyway, sorry about my rant, I just never thought this mall would really go. It has been on a deadly spiral for so long, and at one point it seemed like things were doing good, until they weren't.

Came here today since I’m in town. I used to love going here as a kid in the late 80s and 90s. It’s a shell of a mall
Now :/ Fingerlakes Mall - Auburn, NY

Dropped by Marley this evening to escape the smoky haze, and grabbed a couple shots. She’s looking especially rough today - and the AC for most of the building is out so it was pretty hot in there…

You Remember the time that you used to go to The Esplanade.

Photo Source: 3rd Annual IRCO Dirt Track Heroes Race Car Show

I asked about this a few days ago but I ended up finding this photo and information myself.

The Hot Topic presumably opened alongside the Lehigh Valley Mall Hot Topic in September of 2005 and thrived for about 5 years. It was open as late as Spring 2010 and then closed by Late 2011. Then it was turned into a Gold’s Gym in about 2015.

I wish I could’ve seen this in person because Phillipsburg has nothing to offer anymore but the thought of it having a cool store in it sounds amazing lol