CT YouTube Channel Chronicles History, Slow Death Of Shopping Malls

CONNECTICUT — The video “Christmas at a Dead Mall: Stamford Town Center” begins with Tom Grady entering one of the lower floors of the seven-story mall.

A massive Christmas decoration display sits in the middle of the mall’s sunken Grand Court. Glass-enclosed elevators glide through the mall’s atrium, past the crisscrossing network of escalators spanning the building’s impressive vertical layout.

There’s only one issue: No customers.

“Up until the 1990s it was considered one of America’s most successful malls,” Grady says in the video. “Today, not so much.”

In the video, from late November 2022, there are several security guards and few shoppers. The Christmas season was once the busiest time of year for shopping malls like Stamford Town Center, but not at this time.

Grady’s YouTube channel, Fleabitten Adventures, explores malls mostly in the Northeast. He started the channel in 2018, but when the pandemic started in 2020, he had only done about five videos. Since then he’s had a much more rigorous production schedule. He’s visited over 100 malls and has over 45,000 subscribers.

He has a simple approach to his endeavor. He takes thorough tours of each mall, usually alone but sometimes with his mom. He explores all the nooks and crannies, keeping the focus outward and never appearing on camera. He includes each mall’s history, often bringing in photographs of how the mall used to look, and offers some commentary, though he’s perfectly content to record the sights and sounds of the shopping centers.

At the end of each video he gets in his car and takes a look at the property from the outside. The title cards usually include some comment on the state of the mall—and whether it qualifies as a “dead mall,” those with high vacancy rates and low customer traffic.

Grady grew up at the height of shopping malls in 1980s and 90s. His local mall was Westfarms on the West Harford-Farmington town line, which represents one shopping center he found was still going strong.

But that’s not the case for many of the malls Grady has visited. He said he wants to capture this piece of history before it’s gone.

“My purpose is to document the malls. I think it’s important to remember these places,” he said, speculating that many will probably be gone in the next 10 to 20 years.

What Malls Used To Be Like (With Rose-Colored Glasses On)

For those of a certain age, malls were different than what you see today. Anyone who had a warm chocolate chip cookie from Mrs. Fields, browsed the aisles of Waldenbooks, or drooled over action figures at KB Toys might have a soft spot for a time when malls played a bigger role in commercial culture.

“As a kid, if I wanted to get anything, we had to go to the mall,” Grady said.

They would get in the car and go to Westfarms, where Grady would enjoy searching for toys, video games, and books.

“It was fun to go the mall,” Grady said. “It was a totally different experience back then.”

Going to the mall was more than just going shopping. Malls had planters, unique lighting, fountains.

“Most of them don’t look like that anymore,” he said.

Grady has particularly strong memories of the fountains. In a video about his homebase Westfarms mall, he said that up until 2002, the mall was full of these water features.

“As a kid I loved the water fountains. They were my favorite part of the mall,” he said, noting that he can still recall how they smell, kind of like a swimming pool but not quite. “I remember very clearly as a kid wanting to jump in and take a swim.”

See related: Jordan’s To Build ‘Destination’ Furniture Store At West Hartford Mall: Report

Grady admits that his appreciation for the old style is clouded by nostalgia, and he said many people—especially those younger than him—find retro malls ugly.

But he’s still drawn to the malls of old. One of his favorites is in Auburn, Maine.

“It looks like it’s straight out of the 90s,” he said.

The last time the Auburn Mall was updated was 1992, Grady said—and it shows, with brown brick, planters, neon lights, and wood paneling on many storefronts. Even the mall’s sign retains that period-specific look, red and yellow on a teal background. In the video, Grady said he wishes the Auburn Mall could “be preserved like a historical landmark,” as there are few left like it.

Unfortunately, the Auburn Mall doesn’t appear to be thriving today. When Grady went there, many of the stores were closed during normal business hours, and several spaces were just serving as storage. The fountain was no longer operational and while the retro vibes were appealing, they appeared to be more a case of neglect than a celebration of the past, he said.

Stamford Town Center still retains much of the unconventional architectural flair that made it a hit when it opened in 1982. (The mall was heavily featured in the 1991 Woody Allen and Bette Midler film, “Scenes from a Mall.”) A treasure trove of photographs is available at Caldor Rainbow’s flickr page detailing the mall through the years.

The State Of Malls Today

The aesthetic of most current malls is blander, Grady said—a lot of white, silver, beige. Gone are many of the fountains and planters. Most of the once-popular stores are now defunct, with others like Gamestop and Forever 21 in trouble.

Grady said that if you dropped him in a mall today, he would have no idea where he was as most malls look the same.

But the biggest thing that’s changed is that no one needs the mall anymore.

“Most malls don’t offer anything you can’t get online,” he said.

It’s no secret that the rise of internet commerce has contributed to a steady decline for brick-and-mortar retail business. However, that’s not the only reason. Economics professor Austan Goolsbee notes in a New York Times article that other factors like the rise of big-box stores, a shrinking middle class, and a shift toward a service-oriented economy have all hurt malls in recent years.

And some conventional malls still appear to be thriving. Grady’s visit to Westfarms proved successful, as the mall was bustling around Christmas 2023. One of the few vacancies, an anchor space formerly occupied by Lord & Taylor, soon after became a Jordan’s Furniture.

That said, malls still have the highest vacancy rates of various retail sectors, according to Statista. When Grady visited the Meriden Mall in November 2023, there were many vacant stores, and he said he believes it qualifies as a dead mall.

Meriden Mall “has been impacted by the mounting changes in consumer spending habits that prompted widespread retail chain closures leading up to the pandemic,” a representative told Patch. The mall has seen closures of anchors like Sears and Macy’s, and the pandemic forced retailers to scramble.

See related: Macy’s To Close 150 Stores: Will Connecticut Stores Be Affected?

Meriden Mall does retain Boscov and T.J. Maxx in two of its anchor spaces. The current owners have “continued to maintain and operate the mall despite the economic forces beyond its control, working with local management on new and different ways to inspire foot traffic,” the representative said.

Some of the malls Grady visits often show other signs of neglect. The escalators and elevators don’t work. Whole wings of the massive shopping centers have been abandoned. Sometimes blinking neon signs add to the dead mall vibe.

Do Malls Have A Path Forward?

The mass exodus has left malls figuring out how to reinvent themselves. Grady is among those who see a potential path back for malls as entertainment centers instead of focusing on shopping. One mall he went to had a ropes course, for example.

Meriden Mall has brought in Adventure Palace, a family entertainment venue, to the former Best Buy space. The mall also hosts a spring food truck festival in April, according to General Manager David Roy.

The American Dream Mall in East Rutherford, New Jersey, went all out with an indoor theme park, water park, and ski slope.

“Hopefully (malls) can turn it around if they put some effort into it,” he said.

One of those that’s charting a comeback is the aforementioned Stamford Town Center. General Manager Dan Stolzenbach said rumors of the mall’s death are greatly exaggerated.

He said that in 2020 many people believed the mall would close and rumors swirled that it would be torn down, turned into apartments, or transitioned into a UCONN facility.

But the mall’s new owners assured everyone that it would remain as a mall and become “a destination for the community.” Since then Stamford Town Center has welcomed several new restaurants, replaced a Saks Off 5th with a new anchor in Pickleball America, and brought in The New York Comedy Club.

See related: Mega Pickleball Facility Planned For Stamford Mall

They’ve added other entertainment options and a complimentary play park with negotiations going on to bring in a miniature golf course, zip line, bounce house, and more. When Macy’s announced it would close 150 stores, the company “doubled down on their initial investment in the mall and negotiated a sale-leaseback” which “ensures Macy’s will not close.”

“Despite the headwinds, despite the rumors, and despite the media coverage to the contrary, Stamford Town Center is thriving,” Stolzenbach said.

When asked about the mall’s vacancy rates, Stolzenbach said: “For a multitude of reasons, we do not share our occupancy rate, but I can share that all of our anchor spaces are indeed occupied.”

Grady’s video of the Stamford Town Center was from late 2022 and he said would like to go back.

While Stamford may be coming back, some other malls aren’t. The Eastfield Mall in Springfield, Massachusetts, had many of the hallmark design choices of the 1990s when Grady visited in 2023. Since then, the mall has been demolished.

The Crystal Mall in Waterford seems destined for a similar fate. The last remaining anchor store there, JCPenney, closed last year, an event Grady documented.

See related: Several Shops Closing Their Doors At Waterford Mall

Namdar Realty Group, which owns the mall, has said the property could be redeveloped. A spokesperson for the mall did not return a request for comment for this story.

Milford’s Connecticut Post Mall is the largest in the state. A proposal to tear down part of the mall and add 750 apartments at the mall is in the works.

See related: Plenty Of Changes In The Works For Milford’s Connecticut Post Mall

Whether malls return to success or not, Grady said he will continue documenting them. He has hopes of going full-time as his YouTube channel has grown. He also visits flea markets across the region, hence the Fleabitten Adventures name.

He said the thing that connects all his work is a sense of nostalgia.

“I wanted to do videos on things I love,” he said.

Below are some of Fleabitten Adventures’ videos on Connecticut malls. Check out all the videos on his channel by going here.