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The mall. A place of gathering and walking around different stores until your knees hurt only to come back with a pair of jeans that barely fit you. Once upon a time ago the local mall was the place to be at on an average weekend. Everyone would be there, your classmates, your teachers, your neighbours, everyone went to the mall didn’t they? The thing about malls is you don’t actually need money or to shop for anything really, back then you could just get a group of friends together and sit at the foodcourt talking all day until they kick you out for causing some sort of mayhem which is what I would say if I had any actual idea of what it was like to be a teenager back in the 90s or 2000s and hang out at the mall. Most of my ideas are purely fabricated from clips of Kevin Smith’s Mallrats.Â
You see mall culture or whatever you want to call it isn’t exactly dying, people still go to malls but it’s just not as common of a third place as it was a couple decades back. You can still go to malls today and find groups of teenagers walking about but with the ever so expanding use of social media as well as convenience of online shopping, you start to see less people going to malls. And what happens when people stop going to malls? Dead malls exist.
Eery quiet places which serves as a husk of what once. A place that used to be lively and joyful, a place where people from all walks of life come together for their each individual purposes. That place is now empty with walls full of graffiti and advertisements scattered about while it peels off slowly with all its faint fading colour glory.Â
But you know what’s the second saddest thing to a dead mall? A dying one. One which is quite not dead but not exactly alive either. Something about it just doesn’t feel quite right, maybe it’s the slightly contaminated air coming from the old ventilators or maybe it’s browsing through the stores clearly selling deadstock items that you know a weird part of yourself wants to buy because you’re never getting this anywhere else. Maybe it’s even the old decorations which are placed ever so neatly under the dome of glass on the ceiling which is reflecting the afternoon sun as if acting as a spotlight to have you witness the overwhelming and underwhelmingness of it all. Perhaps its even entering the yellow tiled bathroom and staring at yourself thinking of the purpose why you’re even here in the first place. When you enter you almost half expect to see a stall occupied but when you turn the corner nobody’s there, nobody has been here in ages. A long time ago a girl was probably crying to herself in one of these stalls after being broken up or cheated on by her boyfriend but not today. Today it’s only you, the dull lights on the ceiling, a wide mirror, your reflection and the faint sounds of music coming from the mall speakers.
When you leave you see the stores trying to hold on to it’s final strings as the cashier and staff sit there bored out of their mind waiting for someone, anyone to come in. Soon you start to wonder how long until this place dies completely but the truth is never within, you can never truly know until it’s finally gone but sometimes you think to yourself that perhaps that just by you and the other peculiar faces who come here, perhaps maybe there will still be life in this mall even in its last breaths. This mall won’t live on forever but I’m glad to have still been here before its wreckage.Â
Below are some pictures I took at an old mall here called Subang Parade. I hope you like them.
Comments
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Theo
Finally someone talks about this!
Did not expect a comment on this 7 month old post but I’m glad u seem to like it
by Statiscit 🍉; ; Report
Arlo
I love going to malls! Even when they're dead or halfway there, it's nice to just wander around and look at stuff.
I feel u man, just there for the vibes honestly. Take a couple pictures, browse through deadstock items in any open stores and I’m satisfied for the day. Love the Gerard Hesitant Alien era pfp btw<3
by Statiscit 🍉; ; Report
Fr it's so fun! The vibes are amazing :) idc that people find it weird. Thanks!! :D
by Arlo; ; Report
chunky_banana3550
I wish I was old enough to experience peak mall culture. Nowadays, the remaining malls are way too far to drive to it becomes a hassle.
My nearest mall is probably like 15-20 mins away by car and it’s quite big, they opened up a new wing which extends the whole place. It’s packed on weekends too. My only problem is my lack of friends to hang out with :P
by Statiscit 🍉; ; Report
lynx
the last photo (the one of the arcade) its absolutely beautiful. it gives you that odd yet nostalgic feeling if you know what i mean.
precious photos btw (:
Glad u liked them! The arcade photo is definitely nostalgic especially since it was noisy inside when I took it but not many people were exactly there
by Statiscit 🍉; ; Report
Guxtuuz
I also think that's somewhat related with the death of third place in general. I feel like as local communities started dying in the current car-centric online world, the malls ended up becoming the new BIG third place for most people, but as online shopping increases and affordable living near central commercial areas decrease more and more malls started to become abandoned, and it's interesting to see how here in Brasil most malls are still VERY well populated (specially by teens), simply because online shopping isn't as prevalent as in the US, and because some malls have great integration with public transportation and are usually remarkably close to more affordable living areas. Anyway, loved the post!
Definitely agree with u, one of the biggest problems with malls in the US is they’re hard to access especially by younger people who may not be able to drive on their own and online shopping is prevalent. I would say it’s the same in my country but it’s not as bad. I appreciate your comment ^_^
by Statiscit 🍉; ; Report
Daki1463
dead malls gives me an weird feeling, that something doesnt feels right, that something is missing, somethings gone, here where i lives there is not much malls, and they're usually full of people having fun or just hanging out with friends, but there is a small number of dead malls and i love walking around on these, because there is no one around and i can vibe with my headphones without anyone to interrupt me or interact with me at all!
I understand what u mean. I personally love dead malls which have been around for a while, the one I took pictures of here has been here since 1988. I think I just find the structures of older buildings to be pretty interesting
by Statiscit 🍉; ; Report
Keito
looks like a nice place to spend the night alone
Sleepover at a dead mall genuinely sounds like a fire idea
by Statiscit 🍉; ; Report
benny // whalefall
they have an arcade
that's incredible
by benny // whalefall; ; Report
Heck yeah man
by Statiscit 🍉; ; Report
I only got to be once at an arcade in my life and I'm so sad that they arent as popular now so they are hard to reach ˙◠˙
by Aiga_isX; ; Report
yeah there used to be one at the nearby pool but they changed it to a boring ass room with an air hockey table in it
by benny // whalefall; ; Report
I HATE when they put air hockey table, but make you pay to play T-T
by Aiga_isX; ; Report
mine was free. i'm so sorry you had to pay to play air hockey smh
by benny // whalefall; ; Report
✮⋆˙ Greyson/Bowie ✮⋆˙
Holy fuck that mall looks bigger then any indoor place i’ve ever been in
i don’t know that much about malls an their culture because where i’m from we generally don’t have much malls and its more of a shopping street kind of vibe here, its sad to see places like that cuz it just looks creepy honestly. Its also just sad people are so addicted to screens that they don’t hang out anymore, not just in malls but ANYWHERE
This mall used to be one of the biggest here actually, it opened in the late 80s but there’s obviously been bigger ones since then. Street shops definitely still exist here but since most places aren’t exactly in a walking distance plus the scorching weather, it’s less common to buy from stores like that I guess
It’s definitely sad but yknow there’s not much to do, the world is constantly changing and we just have to adapt to it I guess and so does everything around us
by Statiscit 🍉; ; Report
I hate modern technology, don’t get me wrong its incredibly useful but its just made to get profits out of everyone’s time which is just disgusting ahhh
by ✮⋆˙ Greyson/Bowie ✮⋆˙; ; Report
Kinda reminds me of this quote Bo Burnham said in an interview or talk he was doing for his movie Eighth Grade, he said sumn along the lines of how people used to capitalise on land and now they’re trying to capitalise our attention which isn’t the best analogy out there but I get his point
by Statiscit 🍉; ; Report
thats legit what it is yeah
by ✮⋆˙ Greyson/Bowie ✮⋆˙; ; Report