With shows like Stranger Things and The Last Of Us, the nostalgia for American malls has been sparked, evoking a sense of longing for a bygone era.
These sprawling retail centers, once bustling with shoppers, music, and the aroma of fast food, have become relics frozen in time.
A huge abandoned mall located in Alabama was the subject of a viral YouTube video
Image credits: The Proper People
Many of them currently stand abandoned across the US, with their neon signs still flickering and storefronts bearing the names of stores long gone.
Most recently, videographers Bryan and Michael from the YouTube channel The Proper People shared with their 1.42 million subscribers glimpses of the deserted Montgomery Mall, located in Alabama, USA.
Parts of the Montgomery Mall have been repurposed as schools, a police station, and a fire station
Image credits: The Proper People
Image credits: The Proper People
The Montgomery Mall was an enclosed shopping complex that first welcomed shoppers in 1970. Unfortunately, due to a gradual decline in foot traffic, the mall ceased operations in 2008.
However, in February 2013, a redevelopment project was initiated for the now-vacant mall premises, which still bear the remnants of three anchor stores that once housed Steve & Barry's, JCPenney, and Parisian.
Inside the abandoned mall, the building looks like it has been frozen in the 1990s
Image credits: The Proper People
Back in 2011, real estate group Keith Corporation unveiled their intentions to acquire 440,000 square feet of mall space, which included the previous JCPenney store, with the purpose of transforming it into health offices.
The process of redevelopment was initiated in February 2013, marked by ambitious plans.
Many surfaces were covered in green moss and spider cobwebs
Image credits: The Proper People
As part of the redevelopment, the former Steve & Barry's structure was slated to be repurposed into a fire station, as the former JCPenney store was planned to be transformed into a library, and the former Parisian space designated for use by the Montgomery Technical Education Center.
Image credits: The Proper People
In the YouTuber’s video, some 243,129 viewers saw the content creators explain that the mall’s anchor stores were repurposed as a fire station, a police station, and two high schools.
Moreover, Bryan and Michael also said that when redevelopment occurred, the interior entrances were simply bricked off, leaving the entire mall concourse to decay.
Due to a gradual decline in foot traffic, the mall ceased operations in 2008
Image credits: The Proper People
The result of this desertion was all captured in a fantastic half-hour-long video entitled Exploring an Abandoned Mall Frozen in Time, exposing how nature has taken hold of the premises, and is now beginning to reclaim the interior of the mall.
Image credits: The Proper People
Several frames demonstrated old candy machines left completely untouched, an enormous food court still adorned in the 1990s signature mint blue and salmon pink color schemes, while eerie chairs and tables, as well as empty soda cans, left a ghostly presence behind.
The YouTubers showed the shopping center’s main office, which had suffered minor forms of vandalism, with red paint hand marks that gave a somewhat creepy aesthetic.
The Montgomery Mall first welcomed shoppers in 1970
Image credits: The Proper People
“It doesn’t look ransacked,” one of the content creators said, as a frame zoomed in on a table with loads of binders and folders containing official documents.
As the YouTubers showed where the police station and the schools were located, they admitted to being surprised at the current use of the deteriorating mall.
Image credits: The Proper People
“There’s some serious decay, I’m amazed that they’re using any part of this building,” one of the videographers said.
“Like, I wouldn't want to be working next door to this,” he added.
Bryan and Michael documented their visit to the mall for their "The Proper People" YouTube channel
Image credits: The Proper People
The Montgomery Mall was filled with cobwebs and mushrooms, with some surfaces completely covered in green moss, as well as certain corners giving life to unpleasant-looking mosquito larvae.
“This is probably the most apocalyptic-feeling one we’ve ever been to,” one of the men exclaimed.
“It just feels like everybody up and left one day and nature took over,” he added.
Since its closing, the mall only suffered minor forms of vandalism
Image credits: The Proper People
The shopping complex still upheld some sale signs, as well as visible storefront logos, such as Kids Footlockers.
The content creators went on to show the mall’s security camera room, where posters of the FBI’s most wanted at the time were still put on display.
Nature has taken over a vast portion of the former shopping complex
Image credits: The Proper People
The YouTubers were stunned to discover a library filled to the top with VHS tapes, which seemingly contained all security footage ever recorded by the premises' surveillance system.
Some viewers were surprised to discover the current state of the building, as one recalled: “Went to Alabama and went to this mall back in 2006 with my family.
Image credits: The Proper People
“I have vague images of this mall in my head, and I haven’t thought deeply about it since then.
“It’s so surreal to see it 17 years later, in this video, dead and abandoned.”
Another person commented: “This is definitely my favorite abandoned mall that you've been to!
“Perfect amount of decay and basically no vandalism.”
“This is probably the most apocalyptic-feeling one we’ve ever been to,” one of the YouTubers said
Image credits: The Proper People
A separate individual wrote: “Sad how the mall experience is slowly dying.
“So many memories from friends to family, to shopping for big milestones... kids today won't really have that.”
Image credits: The Proper People
The Montgomery Mall qualifies as a “dead mall”, a shopping mall with a high vacancy rate or a low consumer traffic level, or that is deteriorating in some manner.
One of the most notable abandoned dead malls in the world is the Hawthorne Plaza, located on El Segundo Boulevard in Hawthorne, California.
The content creators showed the mall’s security camera room
Image credits: The Proper People
The Hawthorne Plaza has been used to film numerous movies, TV shows, and music videos such as the 2006 movie The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, the 2011 TV series Teen Wolf, and Taylor Swift's 2017 Ready for It? music video.
The Century III Mall, located in West Mifflin, Pennsylvania is another famous dead mall, which was used for the 2018 Netflix original series Mindhunter.
Image credits: The Proper People
It also gained a notorious reputation for vandalism, with an infamous case involving 23-year-old YouTuber Brody Lones being arrested last June with two other individuals after the trio had broken into the mall and begun filming themselves destroying multiple decorations around the building.
Image credits: The Proper People
Visiting dead malls has become a popular phenomenon, prompting communities to create their own spaces, such as the Facebook page Dead Malls Enthusiasts.
“The attraction of these photographs is not just the memories they evoke, but also the ruin porn they represent,” Architect Magazine columnist Aaron Betsky wrote.
The Montgomery Mall qualifies as a “dead mall”
Image credits: The Proper People
He continued: “Buildings under decay are much sexier than finished ones, perhaps because they remind us of our own mortality, or maybe because you see a much more varied array of textures, forms, and materials.
“Their emptiness beckons us because we fill it with our memories.
You can watch the original video below
“Even the style has a certain force, as the complexities and contradictions of the era when malls reigned supreme have a strange attraction to us today.”
According to Business Insider, ten years from now, there will be approximately 150 malls left in the US.
Image credits: Alabama Department of Archives and History
Image credits: Alabama Department of Archives and History
People were impressed by the YouTubers' "ballsy" visit to the abandoned mall
