This is Dan Bell. + Other Videos About Dead/Dying Retailers/Malls - Dead Mall Series, Abandoned, and more

[ComeoutandJULAY]

In light of the recent news about Toys "R" Us and some of our discussions about the slowly decaying state of brick-and-mortar retailers (especially of malls as we know them) caused by the rising prominence of online shopping, I've decided to create this thread highlighting a few video creators online who have also seen these places struggle their way through the passage of time.

For those of you who are unaware, This is Dan Bell. is a YouTuber whose content primarily focuses on exploring abandoned buildings all over the States that have somehow escaped the fate of demolition (as he films them, anyway), ranging from stores to hotels to motels to even some schools and hospitals. However, he's perhaps best known for the aptly titled Dead Mall Series, in which he walks through a series of abandoned shopping areas. The most popular video in the Dead Mall Series is his tour of the notorious Rolling Acres Mall in Akron, OH, which housed a startling amount of crimes both during and after its prime. Dan even gets busted by the police in the video, which you can see down below.

As you'd imagine, the places he traverses are often quite ridden of safety and health hazards, so to say that making these videos is a pretty risky job for him would be quite the understatement.

Now, that was a couple of years ago, when this mall was known for possibly being the zombie mall of zombie malls. Thankfully now it is being/has been put out of its misery by the wrecking ball. If you want a more recent example of Dan's work that's more relevant to what's going on now, I'd recommend checking out his Kmart video, which chronicles a Kmart store over the course of a few days, both during and after its liquidation process.

But Dan is just one out of many content creators on YouTube who are outright popular for videos about dead malls/stores. Another one I'd like to give attention to is Jake of Bright Sun Films, who is quite possibly the Leafiest of Leafs judging by his voice, but his Abandoned videos are pretty enjoyable regardless. Unlike the Dead Mall Series, which takes a bit of a more interactive approach by providing tours of all these inactive buildings, Abandoned takes a more in-depth look at both the history and the rise and fall of companies and places of the past, as well as at why they went down in the first place. On top of his own video about Rolling Acres, he's also made episodes on Circuit City and Blockbuster, which I have here for your own viewing pleasure.

The Circuit City one is especially interesting in that it discusses a brand revival that was planned to take place last year...and still has yet to happen. It's also the one that exposed me to this series in the first place.


Dan and Jake are the two main guys I want this opening post to focus on. Let me send it off with Retail Archaeology, who I'm relatively new to. Some of his most notable work include his videos on Kmart, Sears, and RadioShack.

He basically makes the same kinds of videos as the other two do. So why do I bring him up? Well, sometimes the best end is the beginning. He made a video pretty recently on Toys "R" Us and its current state of decline. Again, you can find it down below.

I can't really explain what attracts me to these types of videos in the first place (well, aside from :autism:, that is), but they're all pretty entertaining watches. I know whatever problems Amazon may throw at us along the way, long drives and really filthy-ass bathrooms sure as hell aren't two of them.

Spoiler

this is my first thread so be nice pls

 

[Hen in a tie]

I frequently watch his videos, it's not something you can play in the background, there's too much to view and that's what makes it so interesting.

 

[SomethingWittyandBadass]

It's interesting I will give you that, but also incredibly stupid and dangerous. Like watching a moron with no training on pyrotechnics, trying to fire up fireworks.

 

[XYZpdq]

Urban Exploration type stuff is usually pretty good watching. I used to kill tons of time at work looking at photo sites of that stuff.

 

[NumberingYourState]

Retail Archaeology explored a dead mall that was a pretty important part of my early childhood (first time eating out with relatives + my grandma), the Six Flags Mall. It was going to be a bazaar of sorts, but understandably it was too expensive to ever be a thing.

Dan Bell going in on the exceptional state of the hospitality industry (dirty motels) is pretty cool because there's some really ratty ass trap areas in Texas I'd desperately want for him to explore.

 

[Assorted Nuts]

I got into watching Dan when he put out that K-Mart video, but I think the real crown jewel of his is the Another Dirty Room series. The shit (figuratively and literally) they find in these places is absurd. His co host Rick is a real treasure too.

 

[ComeoutandJULAY]

I particularly like this video from Dan Bell's Dead Motel Series, especially what he goes through near the end of it. This motel, from the looks of it, just screams bad news.

Shifting gears a bit, is anyone familiar with the department store chain Ames, which went OoB fifteen years ago? I think I vaguely remember seeing a store or two back when they were still kicking, but there's a few of them that just lie there to this day. Dan has a video on it, and so does Jake.

This Ames exploration video is also pretty cool, if a bit on the lengthy side. It's just surreal seeing all these artifacts from over a decade ago eerily left intact and just scattered about. You've got checkout counters with number signs, old employee vests with name tags, documents from the late '90s, catalogs advertising Pokémon Gold and Silver...it's all here. This guy even finds something related to Hills, which was what the Ames store used to be before that company went bankrupt.

 

[Hui]

I loved Circuit City. It shitted on Best Buy back in the day. Sad we only have so many stores open these days that focus on Electronics. My local Sears is fucking dead and the eye center there is depressing AF. Have no idea how they still exist.

 

[Pikimon]

Thank you Amazon

 

[dunbrine47]

http://www.labelscar.com/
Before people like Dan Bell took the Dead Mall to youtube, there were people like Labelscar who did this through late 2000's images and text. I used to read this a lot when they were in their prime. It's too bad that they ended up like the malls they documented: dead.

 

[ComeoutandJULAY]

Retail Archeology has more videos on Kmart and Sears.

Many of the top-rated comments under the second video are jokes about Sears doing poorly. I suppose it was encouraged by the jokes he himself made about the signs outside of the store that tried way too hard to draw people in, but is there anyone out there who'll actually miss Sears when it's gone? Or will it go down as just that—a joke?

I can see why people will miss Kmart once it's no more, but even in the '00s when Sears had some semblance of success it seemed like such a sketchy place to go to with an atmosphere that lacked any fun, enjoyment, or excitement.

Also

 

[CabbageMan]

I love urban decay so when I stumbled across Dan Bell about a year ago I went through all his videos, despite the '80s throwbacks and awful vaporwave (is that what that stupid music is called?) layered over them.

His Another Dirty Room videos squick the hell out of me, though.

 

[UnclePhil]

The Dead Mall series shakes me up with painful nostalgia. Malls were my childhood. I loved the shit out of them. Seeing my memories of brick-and-mortar utopias reduced to urban blight hits hard. The videos are like watching trailers for a new Fallout game if I'm the character and post-apocalyptic Americana is my reality.

That's why Dan Bell resonates so well with me. He can evoke a wide range of emotions with seemingly little effort on his part. He doesn't have to talk or mix his videos up with clever editing. He just...walks. And films. And it hurts. Fuck you, online shopping.

 

[cypocraphy]

 

[AnOminous]

This isn't even creepy without adding some dumb sound effects. It's obviously in a reasonably good area of rural PA too if there's even any glass in any of the panes despite it obviously being a place kids go to get high and, despite that, don't leave a huge mess.

It wouldn't even take an enormous amount of work to make it inhabitable again.

 

[cypocraphy]

I think isolated places like that are creepy, the weather helped the video too. Here's something more hell-ish then...

 

[ThePlagueTND]

So I have a question.

We're seeing the slow death of K mart, Sears, Payless, etc. Surely more closures are on the horizon. My question is what's going to happen with the abundance of these empty retail spaces when they finally go?

Physical locations aren't going to go away completely but most of the big box stores can only last so much longer. Eventually they'll have to start converting or using them for something else.

 

[NumberingYourState]

So I have a question.

We're seeing the slow death of K mart, Sears, Payless, etc. Surely more closures are on the horizon. My question is what's going to happen with the abundance of these empty retail spaces when they finally go?

Physical locations aren't going to go away completely but most of the big box stores can only last so much longer. Eventually they'll have to start converting or using them for something else.

I'm hoping more small business can be used to close the tax gap that having so many unused spaces bring.

 

[ForgedBlades]

We have a lot of abandoned retail space in my home town, including strip mall projects that were abandoned after the 2008 crash and never occupied.

Most of the space is empty, but they also seem to be a magnet for fly-by-night evangelical churches. We also have a huge outlet mall that lasted only a few years. Now there is an indoor shooting range, a couple churches, an antique mall, and some office space for a debt collection agency there. Even with all that, it's still like 60% empty.

Also, Dan Bell is great. One of the best things on YouTube.

 

[ThePlagueTND]

I'm hoping more small business can be used to close the tax gap that having so many unused spaces bring.

I was thinking a similar thing. Like maybe it will jumpstart a surge of new businesses. I mean once no one moves in after 10 or so years, the rent on spaces will drop I imagine.

There was a Hollywood Video in my hometown that closed down when the chain went under. Nothing has ever taken its place since it closed. It even still has the chain link fence used for Game Crazy still in the building.

I remember knowing someone who had interest in the property around 2012 and it was like 10 grand a month. I wonder if it's gone down since then. Probably not.