Fear and Intrigue: Exploring Crime Central at South Park Mall, Colonial Heights, VA
Vložit
- čas přidán 26. 08. 2024
- Southpark Mall in Colonial Heights, VA. A rough, urban mall in Central, Virginia. Filmed Memorial Day 2023, I had hoped to have had this finished sooner but family emergency had other plans for my time.
If you would like to chat with me and other content creators you see online, join me on the Dead Malls on Discord (DMOD) server at this link: / discord
#mall #dmod #fading #retail #SouthParkMall #Colonialheights #Virginia #DMOD
Facebook:
www.facebook.c...
Twitter (X): @dying_retail
Instagram: @Dyingretailvids
Threads: @di_n_retail
Thanks for the awesome shout out😊
@@scottuncfan welcome
Well done! Fantastic video
Thanks Bro! Also thank you for your advice the other evening. It helped give me clarity and glad I went differently.
Hallelujah... NO CARPET! The outside looks sketch and even the doors to come in look like their operating days are over. It's GIVING Chesapeake Square Mall VIBES pre 80% evacuation. Great job 👍 thus far Keith. ✌️
Thanks Patricia. I am trying :). I got to start researching some good malls for later this year.
It's funny, I remember before they built this and before they extended Temple Ave past Conduit Road. It was just a small engine repair place with woods behind it. As part of the sale of the property, they relocated that shop across Temple and it was still there last time I went through. Conner Small Engine. This mall was considered somewhat of a curse by the community. I think the only reason it hangs on is that there is nothing else until you get to Roanoke Rapids going south.
I’ve seen old photos and news clippings when it opened. It was hopping in the 90’s that’s for sure. I hope you think I didn’t mall justice with the video.
@@DyingRetailI was just recounting what I remember. My grandparents lived in Colonial Heights and my parents had grown up there.
Colonial Heights I like better than Petersburg.
The only thing keeping this mall open, is the patronage from Fort Gregg-Adams (formerly Fort Lee).
I heard some people complain the military guys on weekends contribute to the weekend problems also.
@@DyingRetail could be
Time will tell. I’m curious to see how the apartments work if they are still having bursts of violence at the mall.
Great video you did of this mall and you are right this mall is not going to last much longer. The mall is dead it is only busy on the weekends. It's going to close someday just like Walnut Hill mall in petersburg, va did.
Glad you enjoyed. Time will tell.
Good vid! Nice to see everyone in the chat at the premiere!!!
It was good chatting with you buddy. Looking forward to seeing more videos from you.
Lazer games???? Yes "putt putt fun center" in Lynchburg Virginia has lazer tag layout
I used to come to this mall quite a bit after moving to Roanoke Rapids but since the Piccadilly Cafeteria closed, I don’t visit nearly as often. I do come occasionally to go to the movies there.
Does look like a good size theater.
Could I get a hi Jeremiah Amazing video! I go to That Southpark Mall all The Time 😊
Hi Jeremiah! I'm happy to hear you enjoyed the video.
The Lazer factory in Palmyra, Pennsylvania is still open and has an arcade and it's still full every weekend with kids!
That’s good to know. I’d love to see that. Thanks for sharing.
I used to work there in the early 2000s, almost every Saturday night you could expect a fight or something nefarious to happen. I was there when they started the curfew. That mall was insane, Saturdays and the Christmas holiday was chaos. We did occasionally have some fun and made a few good memories. Thanks for the video, for me, a blast from the past!
Was the laser tag place there when you worked there? I couldn’t find much about it accept the commercial I found online. Glad you enjoyed the video.
@DyingRetail There was an arcade/game room there. From what I remember it was really small and cramped lol. Food court used to have tables and chairs around a fountain, under the glass dome. It's changed alot since I worked there!
And the Carousel wasn't there when the mall was built, that came a few years later bc I was working there when they put it up. I worked in housekeeping and we were all like, OH no, we gotta clean that thing? 🤣
And I can't believe all those gumball/candy machines are still there, I think the same place they always were too! 😅
Thanks for the information. I was led
To believe the carousel was there in the beginning.
Great video! I swear SouthPark is such a common mall name, considering that my local mall is called SouthPark Mall.
You’re right. When I was searching online there are a ton of them. I’d like to do the one in Charlotte, NC. There’s a story there to tell.
SouthPark in Charlotte, NC is the exact opposite. Higher quality stores, safe and relaxing environment, nice community. I used to manage a store here (was across the hall from the 2017 shooting), my daughter has a store at the SP Charlotte now.
Isn’t that the mall where apartments caught fire not long ago?
@@DyingRetail That is the same mall in Charlotte. The apartments were under construction, I never learned the cause.
Thought so. Thanks for confirming.
I remember coming to this mall.
Thanks for stopping by Christine. I hope you enjoy the video tomorrow evening.
You’re welcome. And thank you.
@christinemartin6935 you’ll have to be the judge of this one :)
New subscription like your videos
Awesome thank you!
Damn, this video is super interesting
I’m glad you enjoyed. Thanks for visiting.
It doesn't stand a chance. I can see this just by viewing your video. Very few customers and a lot of loitering. Malls need people who actually spend money. The only thing keeping it there are the big anchors and they will be gone as soon as their contracts run out. It's really sad as this used to be a great past time and lots of fun. Malls used to have great restaurants hooked to them which were also after hour restaurants. All gone. Now they are building strip style "malls" which aren't going to work either. Crime is everywhere and I think people are literally afraid to go out.
Never know. So close to Petersburg they are probably used to this.
I used to live about 20-30 minutes from that mall just south of Richmond. It looks like it’s doing pretty decent like Chesterfield Towne Centre. There was a shooting there in the food court and it’s still thriving despite that. There’s a mall about 20 miles from me here by Charleston, SC called the Citadel Mall that’s pretty dead. I don’t see many dead mall CZcamsrs who cover that one. I wonder if South Park is doing well because of the base close by. I’m used to seeing malls either abandoned or with like 5 stores left.
I am going to have to put that mall on my list of ones to explore. Except for the violence that has taken place it looked like a good facility. It’s going to be interesting to see how things go when they tear Sears down and builds those apartments. Thanks for joining us this evening. Hope you come back when more videos are up :)
That must be the company that bought the Hudson Valley mall in Kingston NY! Everything you described bout the carpet the pictures exactly
I just checked. Hull Property does own that mall so you see what I’ve been talking about. Check out the video I did on Danville mall. You should see it looks just like Hudson.
I stopped here once, probably in the early 00's. It looks like it was renovated since then. Even so, I am not a fan of the aesthetics of this mall. I can't put my finger on ot, it just looks very cavernous, cold.
I agree with the cold feeling. Strikes you when you go down that long H&M hallway.
Hi. Just a dude who likes these mall documentaries, as I was born in '82.
Thanks for joining us this evening. I hope to have some good malls to produce soon :)
@@DyingRetail it was very nice of @UniComm Productions to introduce this and share with others. She makes fun mall-related videos as well!
She does. She has shown me a lot since I’ve had the pleasure of speaking with her. What part of the country do you hail from?
@@DyingRetail I am 5 miles north of Trotwood, OH.
If you've heard of the Memorial Day tornadoes of 2019 in Dayton, OH, you'll know that certain areas got hit outside of Dayton as well. Trotwood, OH unfortunately, got the complete shit end of the stick. I believe Trotwood was hit by an EF-3 or EF-4 monster.
What's cool, is there is a standalone Sears still standing in Trotwood! It just hasn't been open in a bit.
I don't want to say too much on here. I still feel tension in this area, especially those that have had everything taken away from them in just a few vicious nature fueled and ravenous moments.
There are still many folks rebuilding, repairing, and re-kindling loose ends that need mended. Tough times make good people. Give them their needed space. They're people just like you and me. ✌
@@DyingRetail Dayton OH 🤣. Hope your evening goes smoothly. I put more of a descriptive narrator somewhere in here! lol
Last time I was in that mall was on a Saturday evening back in 2010 and I didn't feel very safe with all the shady people I saw walking around. There was a lot of cops around too
Eastridge Mall in Gastonia NC had a laser tag place that close maybe a year or so ago.
Probably worse on weekends from what I have been told.
@@WhittyPics There was a place off of Lynnhaven Pkwy in VB but I think it's gone.
Rivergate Mall in Goodlettsville TN. Add it to your list, come see us! This mall is barely holding on... I think it has 2 anchors. Dillard's and I THINK Jcpenney. That's all I got tho. Been open a couple of decades I think
I won’t be able to travel for awhile until I can get an aid in house to be with mom. But I’ll put it on the list.
as an older dude I look at the stores in these malls and see nothing I want. This is why I don't go anymore. Crime? Nah. I don't like it but I figure the chance of crime is everywhere and just because a mall is a closed space is no reason to fear it.
There is just nothing for me there. Even the food is cheap and unhealthy. I don't waste money on fancy clothes. What stuff I do buy is so much easier to find at good old Amazon. I ask myself if it was women shopping for clothing and taking their kids for a day of fun that kept these places afloat all along and now they won't go because of crime. That part of the buying public is extremely sensitive to even a hint of crime. They should try living day to day in an actual crime zone like crack town and stop watching TV news.
The crime is a strange sort of effect- your chances of facing violence at a mall is infinitesimally small but it only takes one stompin and the odd stabbin and the once in a decade inexplicable gunshot to make you think, nah, why take a chance when I can shop from my easy chair at home. It's sad but understandable.
True. However, some malls are crime magnets. Which this one appears to be. What’s interesting is occupancy is still healthy at this mall. I see others with this level of problems start to shed stores. It’s a multifaceted issue.
The moment Thalhimers and Miller & Rhoads moved to "big retail" locations....that was the beginning of the death of retail nationwide. It goes back soooo far.
I always loved Thalhimers, Miller & Rhoads, and LaVogue. I especially loved the downtown locations. It didn't matter to me that they went into malls. I loved them there too. Someone once told me when I stopped shopping downtown, they closed as if it was my fault! I admit I loved the atmosphere, restaurants, and the general feeling (like a high) just being there. I also got a lot of good walking exercise from one end to the other on one or more floors. Miss it terribly.
@Done832 those were the days.
Maybe for traditional downtown business districts but I think there are several things. The overbuilding of malls in the 90’s. Big box retailers gobbling everything up in sight and adding too much debt on themselves…. It’s a mess.
Why does this mall look like someone merged Greenbrier Mall with Pembroke Mall? Anyway. Love the video production and all the information you provide! What do you think about the mixed-use trend? (I like it, but only as long as the housing is affordable, not all that super-expensive "luxury" crap that's taken over Hampton Roads.)
I think it can probably make good use of the properties that are struggling but I guess we will have to see how it works out. If you check out my Regency Square video you’ll see where it’s being done now. Here’s the link. I’m glad you’re enjoying the content czcams.com/video/L7qfELwuEPY/video.html&si=Ddo3DDHvciwFpb3L
So they're basically trying to destroy that mall just like they did Military Circle Mall and MacArthur Mall in Norfolk by shooting and stabbing inside the mall. Nice! They're doing a great job! 🤬
Apparently it is not hurting the occupancy rate at this mall. Businesses do not appear to be fleeing because of it. Don't know if that will always be the case but for now... Maybe being next to Petersburg most people are used to this.
Why do I keep hearing something about 15 dollars?
Congratulations! You caught on to the joke. Some kid kept talking about $15 dollars so I sampled it in that segment.
I was thinking the same thing. I assumed it was part of the music sample. LOL
This was my childhood mall, I can remember going every Saturday from about 1991-1997. I live near it and sometimes go in there to purchase things. I think the only reason this mall is still alive is Virginia State University and Ft Lee(Ft. Gregg Adams) being so close. I remember when there used to be pastel color tiles here which I preferred honestly over the earthy brown tones they have now.
I remember the Laser Tag place. I even went in there and played a game. I don't think it lasted 6 months. It was only able to be accessed from the outside by the JC Penny which is now a Daycare center
Yes you are right about the food court. I believe they renovated it in 2008 or 09. But both sides had options. Chick Fil A is the only original tenant. Where the shoe store was used to be Spinnakers and eventually The Jewish Mother which did not last long. There was also a place called Swiss Miss, there was even a McDonald's in there despite there still being one outside the mall.
The carousel wasn't there when the mall first opened. There was a fountain there. One in front of JC Penny, one in the big open area in front of the food court, and another in front of the big open area between the Macy's and former Sears location. I do remember the carousel. I think it opened in the early 2000s
Thanks for the additional information. I am sorry I missed the fountain info. About six months before I filmed I believed I did see a photo. The info I came across made it sound like the carousel was there in beginning. My bad. Shortly after filming was when my mother when into the hospital.
@@DyingRetail You're good man. I know its very hard to find some info on these places. I only knew because I was there from the beginning. I can't even find said pictures of the fountains. Not even from old family photos we used to take there. I hope your mom is doing better! I love your channel so far. I take it you are also Virginia based. So that is pretty cool in my book
@kabinovskorner7205 Thanks for the kind words. I live in Hampton Roads (Norfolk/Virginia Beach). There are more Virginia Malls I want to hit as well as branch out in NC and MD/DE/PA, etc… I am struggling to find old footage of Newmarket North mall in Hampton I’ve been working on. Have to just keep digging. I think I came across an old newspaper article when it opened that showed the fountain. It was in an article talking about how the mall was going to kill Petersburg. Mom is doing ok for now but it’s hard trying to figure out how to get her the help she needs at times.