I went to this mall all the time as a kid 35 years ago. Brings back fond memories. Mostly play video games and buy music on cassettes. Back then it was always filled with people and it’s strange seeing how empty it is by comparison. Definitely an end of an era but going to the mall was a fun thing to do and even many movies included mall scenes like Weird Science and Fast Times at Ridgemount High🤣

My local mall. In no particular order, here are my observations: 1. A local university hospital acquired the old Sears and after a complete renovation recently opened an outpatient/office center occupying the entire space. It's not the sort of facility that will drive much if any traffic to the rest of the mall, but it pays the rent and I'm sure Simon knew that finding a traditional anchor to replace the Sears would have been a fruitless quest. By the way, Sears had announced its closing shortly before Covid and the shutdowns interrupted its liquidation sale. 2. Primark is opening in the old JC Penney space on November 9. Even though JCP called its store an "outpost" it was large enough to be an anchor. It actually had entrances on two of the mall's four wings, as well as outside, and Primark will continue that. Primark is not to everyone's liking but it does well. 3. Smith Haven benefits from being the easternmost mall on Long Island. The only two other full-scale malls in Suffolk County, which has a population of 1.5 million, are the upscale Shoppes at Walt Whitman near the western edge of the county quite a long haul away, and the South Shore Mall, located in a somewhat downscale area. Namdar has owned South Shore since the beginning of the year; so far the mall is holding its own but who knows how long that will continue. 4. Smith Haven's food court has underwent quite a bit of churn, but seems to have stabilized. Outside the food court an Asian fusion restaurant has replaced a PF Chang's and a Korean BBQ place is opening in the space of a long-vacant Ruby Tuesday. Oddly enough the mall has a Ruth's Chris, which of course is a very upscale chain seldom if ever found in malls. It has exterior access only, however. 5. Conventional wisdom holds that close proximity to a limited-access highway is an important factor to a mall's success. Simon never got that message, given that Smith Haven does very well despite having access only by heavily trafficked surface streets. 6. The mall takes its name from its location on the border between the towns (really townships) of Smithtown and Brookhaven.

Worked at Sears in the 90s in that mall. I remember Caldor Court and don't think too many people realized they were eating their pizza and tacos underneath a million dollar work of art.

Hung out there in the 80s at the Time Out arcade. Pretty much everyday for years. Center court had a stadium effect. It had steps all around it and they would hold events in the center court area.

This looks like it would be a good walking mall. The storefronts aren't particularly inviting but the concourse is wide and the lighting (at least in the daytime) is good.

Suggestion: do a live show at a mall on Black Friday (day after Thanksgiving). I would like to watch all the crowds.

When I saw the MAC and the stand-alone Sephora, I was like, "Yep, they're doing well. Ain't no struggling mall got a MAC."

Unbelievably, on the weekends this mall is usually pretty crowded. Holiday season, even now, this mall is swamped. Honestly its nice to see, grew up going to this mall and would be sad to see it go the way of the modern mall. It's time may be coming as Stony Brook University has taken over a large portion of it for medical offices.

That was my hang out in the 70's

The liquidation sale at Sears was one of two department store liquidation sales that were ongoing on Long Island before the pandemic. The other one was the Macy’s location in Hicksville, which happened to be the former flagship store of Gertz for a portion of its history (it had opened in 1956 and later became a Sterns before becoming a Macy’s in 2001). The closure of the store was announced a few years before it actually happened but the closure was delayed because of asbestos abatement. When the closure was finally confirmed in January 2020 the liquidation sales at the store began immediately. The store closed in early March 2020, a few days before the pandemic was declared. The only thing that is not making Broadway Mall dead is Ikea, which opened its doors in 1990 and was connected to the mall via a renovation project that occurred in the mid 2000s.

The mall is kind of bland and boring but definitely thriving. It has many stores I don’t see that much like Fye, Build a Bear, LL Bean, etc. There’s definitely very high end stores and lots of people walking around.

I love this mall. Even though it's 30 minutes away from where I live, I still go to it. So many great stores and eateries have been added on overtime, and pretty soon it'll have Kong Dog, Ford's Garage, New York Fries, and KPOT.

I do like it, this mall has a nice warm feel to it with the earth tones it has. Simon malls are usually nice to look at in my experience.

oh, man... thanks for covering smith haven! us mall goths used to squeeze into the hot topic, hang out on the barnes & noble, and goof off in the dick's multiple times a week back in the early-mid 2000s. there's so much space and, back then, security didn't mind us running around, filming each other posing with cardboard standees in FYE, organising cosplay meets by word of mouth/email/text/AIM. we used to spend hours here, probably being really annoying, but we had no cheap "third" places to go, especially given how little sunvet mall had to offer us aside from occasional yu-gi-oh! tournaments. and it's decently wheelchair accessible, which was a huge necessity for myself and my friend group. i can't say i had much fun there after 2016 or so, and i moved away around the same time the mall culture dropped off. from what i hear, the younger generations haven't exactly bought into mall culture or can't - aside from the nice folks who cosplay professional wrestlers and wander around out in nassau. i love those kids. thanks again for covering!

I grew up in islip so this mall wasn’t possible until I turned 18.. I had the options of the sunset mall which is gone, the gardener manor mall , which was torn down for a shopping center, and the south shore mall.. I spent the late 90s/ 00s in smithhaven . They were great times and the mall was always packed.. last time I was there was 2019 to buy a MacBook and it was mobbed on a Sunday.. It’s too bad you weren’t able to come to Long Island 10 or so years ago .. across the highway from sunset mall where target is now used to be the Atias flea market ..

Something I have to say about this mall is that I don't love it and I don't hate it either. I also think those beehive shaped lights and the lights at 15:35 are kind of cool. I think I would shop here because they have some good businesses. Good video.☺🤎🖤💜

North Point Mall in Vice City is a real mall, but it’s GA not FL.

I liked at as it was not today. The fun has gone out of shopping there.

Its nice they left the windows above the stores that show the sky.

its my favorite place in long island because it has a food court , macys, build a bear workshop, game on there.

I worked in that mall. And was a regular customer at it too. Bought everything I ever needed there. My first credit card was from the Sears there.

Love the outdoor area.🌳

Just a caveat or two from a LI guy that grew up here in the 70s and 80s: Sunrise Mall is now DEAD, the only thing left is Macy's Backstage there and a health club, and Dave and Busters. So that's one major south shore mall that is gone. Broadway Mall in Hicksville is not doing well, Macy's closed, and the only stores that do well are Target and IKEA. Or else it would be closed, too. Roosevelt Field, the largest mall on LI, in Garden City, is in trouble with major crime, thefts, carjackings, assaults, shootings, and other violence, etc., the past 10 years, it's unsafe, and, mainly features super expensive anchor stores. It's seen better days by far. The food court there is popular, but it's also had gang violence, stabbings, and other incidents. Queens Center Mall in Rego Park, Queens, Queens Blvd., is allegedly the most profitable mall on LI (NYC) still, but I'm not sure why since mainly it attracts bratty kids and teens who just go there to cause trouble, not buy stuff, and goose moms on the escalators (LOL). I may take a ride to Smith Haven Mall soon. I honestly have never spent much time there, given I grew up in Nassau and not Suffolk. It's nice that SH has a big Barnes and Noble store, although I have less use lately for them, all they have is new books at super high prices, usually, and nothing I'm really looking for, which tends to be obscure stuff. You won't find a recent book on the band Blondie, for example, there, ever, but you'll find all the latest mainstream junk books on rock music, etc. I find better deals on eBay for used copies. Anything academic, online. Art books there are priced sky high.

I just watched the most recent Dan Bell "Dead Mall" video and it got me to wondering if the Smith Haven Mall (as well as the Hicksville Mall) were still doing well or had fallen victim as so many other malls have done. I now have my answer.

I remember when Walt Whitman mall had Korvettes, that was over fifty years ago. My mother would shop Martin's in Huntington Station where we would buy uniforms for our Catholic Church. Miss A&S. Now, all malls have become very bland.

Didn’t know LL. Bean was in Long Island, as for the driving welcome to the club 🤓

I remember going to that mall in 1969 when I was 7. It was beautiful then; there were fountains and aviaries, and the department stores all had a very classy feel to them (Well, except for McCrory's...That was always a dump)

There is a stage in Tekken 4 that takes place in a mall. Coconut Mall is in Mario Kart Wii. TMNT Shredder's Revenge has a mall stage too. Those are the games I played that has a mall featured that you didn't mention. Forgot about Alivel Mall which is an abandoned mall in Kirby and the Forgotten Land.

If I were to visit, I'd probably end up spending a lot of time in the outdoor portion of this mall, shown at the end of this video, because my favorite women's clothing store is there (White House Black Market, seen at 14:18). A common setup for WHBM is to have their store next to their sister brands Chico's and Soma, and that is the case here at Smith Haven (see 14:12).

Hey, sometimes the odd reasons are the best ones! I agree with a lot of the commenters that this mall is a bit bland, but I always still end up appreciating the ambience. Also looks like it'd be a decent place to walk.

Been there many times in the eighies and nineties. Prob not in ten years at least. it should work but it doesn't. Prob more people at Tanger in Riverhead or at Kohls. They need more food and entertainment. Cheaper stuff too. Great place to be in January. More exercise more waterpark that sort of thing. Another pandemic and that will be that.

Ive been to that mall!

The last of us was filmed at orthland Village Mall Calgary Canada

1st. I see an Apple Store right off the bat and they are only in class A malls

This video is much older than 2 weeks old...Sears has been rebuilt

It's pronounced Nes-Con-Set, 3 distinct syllables.

W mall I went there today

Podrías pasar a la tienda de forever 21 y HyM yo trabajé en esas tiendas en 🇲🇽🇲🇽🙌 y me gustaría saber cómo son las de otros países bendiciones desde🇲🇽🫂

What games is Smith Haven Mall in?

Cute

The floors make this mall. total 70s vibe. Too bad it is in New York. Horrible place.