The Mall Part I: Introduction

Recently, a documentary came my way that made me want to write an article. The name of the film is “Jasper Mall”. Directors Bradford Thomason and Brett Whitcomb reveal the daily routines of Mike McClelland, who has taken over several roles for The Mall including superintendent, security and caretaker. Not only do you get a behind-the-scenes-look at what it takes to keep a mall running, you also get to know some daily faces that McClelland see. While I have never been to THIS mall, Jasper serves as a place holder for malls across America that are struggling to stay alive. While viewing, I felt that I knew malls just like this. My first stop in my research was You Tube.

There have been a lot of videos of people touring through dead malls all across America. Some are of better quality, narrating detailed history of the mall itself. One channel I became addicted to was run by a man that goes by the name Doomie Grunt. He has traveled all over the country documenting the dead malls including some here in Pennsylvania. The more I watched the more intrigued I became. All of a sudden, I found myself wondering about how someone got into the niche of documenting dead malls. I reached out to find out who Doomie Grunt was. Grunt is based in North Carolina and began his journey by watching teenagers who posted videos simply commenting on how empty a mall was. That led him to more produced videos similar to what he does now. When he inquired about the local malls in his area, no one showed any interest. That’s when Grunt decided to take matters into his own hands and filmed his first video at the Oak Hollow Mall. Then he documented another local mall, then another until he found himself driving from mall to mall revealing their emptiness.

Knowing that he has seen a lot of these ghost town malls, I was curious about his take on The Jasper Mall. Here is what he had to say.

“The Jasper Mall documentary is perhaps one of the best insights of a dead mall I've seen produced out there, despite countless videos of dead malls out there. It provides a humble look into the stories of people who shopped there, grew up going there, or even worked there. It also gives a look at the inner workings of a small-town mall, how one guy can be tasked with doing nearly everything in the space, and how one or two dedicated mall staff can keep an entire building in shape.”

The more I watched Doomie Grunt’s channel, I was unable to stop watching. I can’t help but wonder what these places where like during the peak of their popularity. How many people met someone at that mall that changed their life? How many brief romances were created by that fountain? How many first dates took place at The Mall? How many hearts were broken and mended by the escalator? How many quarters were pumped into that arcade, one right after the other? How many times did a parent see the look of pure joy on their child’s face when buying them something that they really wanted?

My list of inquirers can go on and on without really being answered. The only thing I can do for certainly, is relay some of my own memories and hope that it may bring back some of yours. I have so many memories that this one article turned into a mini-series.

Before we get started, I was curious about which mall was the first and how long have indoor malls been around. The first indoor shopping mall was built in Edina, Minnesota and opened its doors for the first time on October 8, 1956. It was a revolutionary design. Two-stories of retail stores anchored on both sides by department stores. There was a climate-controlled atrium for shoppers to get cozy in. The entire building was surrounded by parking spaces. The Southdale Center became the blueprint for all future malls. By 2017, there were 116,000 malls across the U.S.

In this series, I will tell you about the three malls that most impacted my life: Woodhaven Mall, The Neshaminy Mall and Franklin Mills Mall.

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Please check out Doomie Grunt’s You Tube Channel for fascinating mall tours at:
www.youtube.com/c/DoomieGruntVentures