Abandoned Megamalls in the USA. The Decline of Capitalism

During the heyday of the consumer society, so-called megamalls mushroomed all over the country. These were leisure and shopping spots designed to make the buyer spend as much money as possible and thereby ensure the growth of the country's GDP. The malls housed stores with crazy discounts, attractions, swimming pools and sports grounds, cinemas and restaurants, and they occupied huge areas. You could wander around them all day, indulging in unrestrained shopping, but never get around them completely.

Here is a map of abandoned megamalls in the United States. Not all of them are in the photo collection. But the rest are easy to find online.

This is no longer Detroit, these are photos from other cities in the USA...

Rolling Acros opened in 1975 and expanded several more times. It had over 140 stores. On December 31, 2013, it was closed and abandoned. It is expensive to demolish.

Hawthorne Plaza opened in 1977, and was hoped to breathe new life into the already languishing town of Hawthorne, but the miracle did not happen. It had 134 stores, but by the late 1990s the mall had to close.

Cloverleaf opened in 1972 with 40 stores owned by J.C. Penney and Spears. The mall was intended to be family-friendly and was a popular family hangout in the 80s and 70s. But that all changed in the late 90s. Cloverleaf's core clientele, middle-aged women, began to avoid it because it had become overrun with aggressive youth. People increasingly began to see aggressive teenagers in it, decked out in piercings and chains, and even gang fights began to occur there. No matter how hard they tried to combat this phenomenon, the mall eventually went bankrupt. In 2007, the mall closed for good.

It was opened in 1980 as part of the measures to revive the economy of Toledo. It housed completely unique stores that were not available anywhere in the area: Chick-fil-A, Camelot Music, CVS and Frederick's of Hollywood. During the 90s, the economic problems of Toledo only worsened, and tenants began to leave the mall. In 2005, it was practically no longer in operation. And in 2013, it was officially closed for good.

Woodville, like other malls in Ohio, did not survive the crisis of the late 90s. It opened in 1969, and by the early 2000s it was almost empty. And in 2014 it was finally closed.

One of the most successful malls, Crestwood, opened in 1956 and operated for almost 55 years. It had 90 stores and 4 fairs. The St. Louis Today newspaper describes the reasons for its closure: “Like many malls across the country, it couldn’t compete with new ways of selling goods, such as online shopping, and new entertainment centers.” In 2013, it was closed and put up for sale; if it is sold, locals would like to see it reopen.

Dixie opened in 1966 and operated for 13 years. In 1979, episodes of the movie "The Blues Brothers" were filmed here. A year later, the mall was closed, as it had become a very unfavorable crime place. It remains abandoned to this day.

This was the first mall to open in Turfland in 1967. It was popular until the mid-90s, when another mall opened in the area. It closed in 2008.

Randall opened in 1976 and closed in 2009. In 1995, there were 120 stores and more than 5,000 employees. In the early 2000s, the mall began to decline. In 2008, it was almost empty. The mall is planned to be dismantled and an industrial park created in its place.