**NOTE** -- The subtitles showing the dates that I was filming Chapel Hill got switched. The first act was April 17, and the last half of the film is April 18. With that out of the way, please go subscribe to Unicomm Productions and Faded Commerce, who joined me on this Expedition, and who are both tenured members on the DMOD Seal. Sub to them here: Unicomm - kzfaq.info | Faded Commerce - kzfaq.info I'd also appreciate a sub too! Don't make me send Marna the Mall PA lady after you...she's been locked up after her psychotic break, and her friends are scared to cut her loose... Thanks again for watching! Come join DMOD to chat for free! discord.gg/dmod

The running loop of the kids in the claw machine calling out to visitors is sad and freaking disturbing.

This is so sad. I grew up patronizing that mall. Spent birthday and Christmas money there, met boys, giggled with my girlfriends, watched movies in the theater and had a job at 5, 7 & 9 clothing there in the late 90’s. I loved Chapel Hill Mall. We walked there as teens to hand out. So many memories

Years from now, Amazon employees will avoid a certain corner of the fulfillment center that was built on the corpse of Chapel Hill Mall. They'll report hearing the disembodied voices of children saying, "Hi! We love you! It was nice to meet you!"

I worked at Chapel Hill back in the 80's at Spencer Gifts and County Seat, before the food court and when the only food options were Woolworth's, Harvest House and Brown Derby.

First of all I’d like to applaud you on your research for Chapel Hill. I almost thought you were a local because of you extensive accurate knowledge on the building and area. But Chapel Hill Mall is close too my heart. I have so many memories there from being a baby to a kid, teen and even through my 20’s, and my mom and dad remember going there as kids when it first opened in the 60’s. I remember being excited to go there as a young child. Having my grandparents take me to the Chuck E. Cheese that was there in the early and mid 80’s to me being a teenager roaming the mall’s hallways in the mid and late 90’s, all the way to the beginning of its slow demise. I have strong ties to the mall. My mom (in the 60’s) and ironically my wife (in the early 90’s) went to Chapel Hill Christian school (which is on the same property as the mall). I remember the mall going down hill hardcore starting off in like ‘08. It just never got bk on its feet since then. The only reason malls like Summit and Belden Village are able to stay afloat is because of where they’re located. Chapel Hill for so long was having too much of the hood leaking into the area and eventually into mall to the point where people just quit going over there because of fear of being robbed or what not. I live not too far from the mall and didn’t even know it was permanently closed. But I figured it probably was due to COVID. I heard a couple things about it being all the way shut down, but as a local I’ve heard it being shut down on and off now for years so I haven’t known what to think. It’s sad because of all those memories I have and I know all my friends & family have the same memories of that place as well. For it to be once a so busy and the center of the area ,to it just being a ghost town now is sometimes a hard pill to swallow. But I’ll always have those memories. Thank you for documenting those last moments of it being open. Crazy to think it’s finally closed. I heard roomers about it possibly being converted into apartments or maybe a new business plaza , but who knows. They always say things but nothing ever happens. Hopefully something good will come out if this, because God only knows, Akron needs something new and good… ✌️

This was OVER AN HOUR?! I never noticed. Time slips away so easily when you’re entertained.

Chapel Hill mall is one of the most nostalgic places ever for me. My mom always had me and my siblings running around that place. We’ve watched it die year after year. I can still smell the Copper Popper right outside the food court. So many memories…. The party city used to be an inflatable park, which I had my birthday at once. In the fall it would turn into the best Halloween store around. It was kind of a tradition that my dad would take me to the Halloween store when it opened for the season.

going here since i was a child is sad, especially since i got to witness it’s decline and the slow move to summit mall

I know I've seen someone else (Ace's Adventures maybe?) cover this place because of the creepy sounds echoing from the two girls trapped forever inside the claw machine game.

I feel like the children in the claw machine are saying exactly what I would say if we meet. HI…HI, HELLO, I’M SO EXCITED TO SEE YOU, I LOVE YOU. Thanks for this. Truly unique and historical offerings from your work are much appreciated

Watching this brought tears to my eyes. The end of an era. I have so many memories of this mall Chapel Hill and Rolling Acres. Back in the day there used to be a Girves Brown Derby. I was born in Akron in 1963. This will always be my mall. 🥲

Chapel hill had a Woolworths where the party store is at chapel hill. With a cafe it had a lunch counter! We used to go there with my grandma and Aunt mom and have so much fun!

This literally brought tears to my eyes. So many good and happy memories for me. My kids (now grown with families of their own) would beg to go tell Archie and Santa what they wanted for Christmas. I got my Wedding ring from Zales and my wedding dress from J.C. Penny's,my oldest son won a beautiful baby contest there, I saw countless movies at the cinema, and bought all my Kenmore appliances at sears. RIP Chapel Hill Mall. You will be missed.

I agree sal, I absolutely love the history behind these malls. Thank you for going so in depth in the history.

As an Architect and Planner these videos really provide substantial context of how mega malls came to be and their eventual demise. Great content!

This video should earn you an award. Excellent Sal! May I say, you have beautiful eyes.

The end of Akron’s middle child mall. Can’t think of a more fitting send off.

Such a time warp. Grew up in Akron, spent much time at Chapel Hill and Summit Mall. I remember visiting the snow man as a child. Worked for a year in visual merchandising/display at the Chapel Hill Oneil's in the mid 80's - I still remember the layout of that mall so well. Malls were everything in those days. Who could forget Harvest House:)

Man i miss Rolling Acres so much. So many great memories. Didnt go to chapel hill too much but i liked it also.

They’re already underway with renovations of the mall and a tenant is moving into the former Sears! Glad the future is bright for such a nostalgic place for me growing up. EDIT April 2023: The mall is currently 100% occupied with industrial and office tenants, they are building a 100,000 square foot warehouse and office building at the Southeast corner of the parking lot (near Sears) and also just built a Tractor Supply Co. on the Northwest corner of the parking lot (near Macys). The property looks better now than it has in many years! The surrounding retail on Howe Ave near the Steak n Shake at the end of the video is still chugging along as well, so this area certainly has a bright future coming!

Dead mall poetry is one of the most poignant things I've ever heard. You've paid a fitting tribute to their memory, and by extension, the memories that were made there. Great journalism is alive and well. Thanks. :)

Man, I just remember rounding that corner when coming into the mall and smelling Auntie Anne's pretzels...... Such good memories.

besides the sad fate this mall has endured, i really do appreciate and like your well rounded and seasonal vocabulary, just makes me appreciate what im watching and learning about even more.

Retail history is important. It sparks fond memories and brings people together. Thank you for the work you do.

Man, this was really good! Towards the end I got emotional. With the world the way it is now, you want to live in the past. But you can't.

The Dan Bell video and Seph Lawless pictures inspired me to build the Rolling Acres Mall in Fallout 😆

This dude's got so many details he even knows what the developer had for lunch the day he thought of the plans for chapel Hill

I did a drone orbit session with the Chapel Hill Mall water tower recently. Fun times. Also, Buchholzer is pronounced "buck", not "book". Great video, thanks.

Chapel Hill was my go to mall. It was clean and quiet even when it was busy.

The small is so beautiful and well maintained yet it's dead. Where I live our Mall hasn't been updated since the '80s but it's always busy because the city keeps growing.

That shell ad was hilarious. Recurring jokes done right. Masterful editing.

I spent a lot of time here when I was younger. I remember going to the fountain to toss coins, riding the carousel, and seeing Archie the snowman. One summer my mom and I went to JC Penney, came home, and turned on the news to discover that someone had been stabbed to death outside of the department store just moments after we had left. After that day, we began frequenting Summit Mall instead. Nevertheless, this place holds lots of sentimental value for me. Thanks for documenting it so well!

That was a very appropriate, fitting documentary about the "Tale of Three Malls". I also liked the videos on the Burlington Center Mall (now demolished). Keep up the good, hard work.

Awesome series. Amazon, Walmart, and online shopping in general may make it more difficult for physical stores to capture peoples' needs, but they're not killing malls; people still yearn for fun, exciting, and sociable places to hang out, and malls have every opportunity to capture that interest. For example, during the ongoing pandemic when people had nothing else to do but stay at home and online shop, the one thing most people said over and over is that they wished they could go to the mall or to the movies or really anywhere public for a change. I think with the right leadership, malls have every opportunity to be successful in the foreseeable future, so long as they adapt and evolve to peoples' wants and needs.

Everyone talks about food court pizza but not enough about food court Chinese food… the one Chinese restaurant in a malls food court is usually the reasoning the food court usually smells so bomb. 👀🥡

1 minute in and I'm hooked. You got the sunset on Chapel Hill... that lighting is locked into my childhood memories. I grew up just down the hill, and I'm excited to watch this.

Crazy. When U have been in both these malls when they were fully functioning. Now they death zones.

Daaamn, I'm from Akron and hadn't been to Chapel Hill in a good 5 years. Crazy to see how empty and decrepit is is. And I remember going to Rolling Acres when I was little. Oh, but they are keeping the Chapel Hill merry go round and putting it in the main downtown center!

This was my childhood mall. I live in Kent and I grew up going to this mall in its heyday and all. I remember being a kid going there and seeing Archie the Snowman. As a teen I went to a lot of movies there and also bought a lot of books and baseball caps there as I love books and MLB caps. I also remember in 1988 Kent also talked about building a mall but that fell apart. The Kent mall was to be a high end mall I recall- built at OH 261 and OH 43- I am glad now- though as a kid I looked forward to a mall I could hang out at- that mall in Kent was never built as Kent would later redevelop it's downtown in the 21st Century. It is sad for me to see it in its downfall- last time I was there in 2015- it seemed to be thriving to me.... thank you for posting this as a mall buff and letting me see it as you did.

the disembodied kids voices throughout the thing was just too much

Damn dude! Another fantastic job with a history lesson! Love that!

The memories of a life are echoes of a childs laughter.

The year was 1978 ....my very first job was dipping ice cream cones🍦 at Baskin Robbins ...located inside the mall. Nostalgic memories !

Hey Sal. Don't know if you knew this but on Dawn Frank channel on KZfaq. She did a 24 video series on the demolition of Akron's Rolling Acres Mall. She used her own drone to fly over the mall as it goes down. It was very interesting & sad to see the demolition of that mall.

I frequented Chapel Hill Mall from when I was a kid in 90's, early 2000's all the way up until a little after I graduated high school in 2012. I did go every so often after and this was when stores were starting to go. Thank you for posting this up as a nostalgia trip back down memory lane.

I posted this on another channel: As with Rolling Acres Mall in Akron, OH there are two major problems which has lead to the dying of these two malls. Without considering the ability to shop online because Rolling Acres died long before that became a thing. The problems were: safety and crime. Both Rolling Acres and Chapel Hill Malls were packed most of the time especially Fridays and Saturdays. Most of the shoppers were women and the stores were mainly geared towards them. Rolling Acres started dying as more and more teenagers and young adults congregated at the main entrance. And though there was mall security they could not keep up with the continued harassment, robbery and outright violence at the Mall. The Mayor at the time did little to stop this problem and left the Mall owners to survive on their own. As time went on robbery became something mall security were encouraged to NOT stop due to possible lawsuits. Thus women became afraid to go there and shops started to close left and right due to crime and no business. This left Chapel Hill Mall and Summit Mall open for the customers. As time went on Chapel Hill suffered the same circumstances Rolling Acres did along with the online market helping to take away customers. The writing was on the wall as once again the past Mayor and current Mayor did nothing to stop the issues with the criminals. But that is Akron for you, a town run by very weak Mayors for the past 30+ years. Now Summit Mall is still open and seems to be thriving as I drive by it regularly on the weekends. Though technically Summit Mall is on the edge of Akron in Fairlawn, OH and it may be that the local police patrol the Mall which I have seen in the past. Akron technically no longer has a Mall and rightfully so based on the government. Now Akron does have some 'strip' malls but most of them are deteriorated. One Mall that also seems to be crazy busy is Belden Village Mall and the area around it, which is in Canton, OH and has about 1/3 the population of Akron. I remember when Rolling Acres was built, I used to go there with my mother on Fridays after grocery shopping. Rolling Acres was just packed with people, and every now and then we'd go to Chapel Hill which too was just packed with people. It is a shame these are gone...Rolling Acres has been demolished except for the old Sears building which now belongs to a trucking company. And Amazon recently built one of their distribution centers right there just south of where the old JCPenney building was located. One of the very few things Akron has ever done right is by getting Amazon to come to Akron. I just thought I'd share some factual knowledge so viewers understand the true demise of these once great malls. And as a side note I took my daughter there several times to Chapel Hill Mall just to ride that carousel in your video. And in listening to near the end the store owners knew well in advance that Chapel Hill Mall was closing, it has been on life support for several years now. The last time I went to Chapel Hill Mall was with my daughter who was 16 or 17 at the time to buy a Halloween costume, and we ate at Sbarro, the Mall was technically dead then and that was 4 or 5 years ago. Keep in mind 'I' was there in both malls in their BEST days!

A historian and entertainer. Sal you bring these stories to life.

Excellent job, this could be a full featured prime time TV show. Thanks for all your hard work. It is a real bookmark in the history of this mall.

You weren't lying about that YT algorithm, most of this content (and similar content from other channels) have fallen off the face of the Earth. It's only until yesterday I remembered you existed!

I’ve always had some morbid fascination with Rolling Acres Mall (it has a LOT to offer as far as morbid goes) and it’s sad to see another mall not far from it die too. They both were lovely places…at one point, just not built to last. It really is a shame there wasn’t more thought out into the lasting existence of these places, they just rolled them out without any thought of the future.

I was at Chapel Hill a few months before it closed. Everything was closed that morning, and I was waiting for Party City to open. Being the only person in sight and hearing those kids in the vending machine nearly gave me a heart attack.

I grew up at this mall in the 90s. Every christmas my parents would take my brother and i to what was known at EB games to get videogames. I have so much nostalgia watching this video. I still live like 3 blocks from here but now its parking lot is used to stunt bikes and burnouts

They were real plants when I was a kid!

I live down the street. I used to love going as a kid. This was my favorite place

Damn the mall where I got my 1st ear piercing.💯💯💯

Wow. I love, love how in depth you go into the history of the location. It's really neat learning about all of this. Thank you for all the effort you put in to your work!

This video gave me all kinds of feels. I grew up closer to Rolling Acres but spent most of my time at Chapel Hill from the late 80’s all the way through the millennium. Had a bunch of friends that worked at various stores over the years. Unfortunately nothing lasts forever. R.I.P.

Always love it when Sal drops a new dead mall vid. Love it even more when it’s a looooooong one. My Sunday has been made 😎😎😎

Wonderful, very well done. I cut through the parking lot just the other day and this really helps me get my head around my feelings. I really appreciate the history and research.

Thank you so much for this! As someone who lives in Australia seeing these malls through your eyes is so very important and really one of those things that keeps the history alive, worldwide. Once again thank you for an awesome hour of viewing and for sticking around to see the last few moments of Chapel Hill Mall. (Oh and thanks for the demolition footage of Rolling Acres too, seeing as that was one of the abandoned malls that had me searching KZfaq for just this sort of content.)

So sad, I remember mall boom of the 80's.

Wonderful history content. Very interesting, I thoroughly enjoyed watching, yet so bittersweet. I spent a lot of time at that mall growing up. So many memories. Singing in front of the fountains when I was in high school with my choir at Christmas. My mom worked at Winklemans and Sears when I was growing up. The only correction I have for you is that Canton Center Mall is 30 miles south, not north of Chapel Hill. I currently live within walking distance of Canton Center Mall. JC Penneys which has an outside entrance, seems to still be doing well, and there are some stores on the outside that face West Tuscarawas Street. However the inside of the mall is dead, has been for years. Thanks for that trip down memory lane.

Used to go to this mall all the time back in the 80s and 90s. Went to Randall park mall too. Now they're both gone. Only mall left that I go to now is the Eastwood mall in Niles.

By far, the BEST/INFORMATIVE video on Chapel Hill mall. EXCELLENT WORK.

What a well composed and informative video. I learned a lot about my local malls now. Sad to see Chapel Hill go but Summit Mall and Belden Village are holding up well. Thanks for the video

Had to watch this all at one time, it was worth the wait. The footage inside of Rolling Acres was an unexpected treat. 2020 was the breaking point for a lot of struggling malls, we will see many more close in the near future. Excellent work as always!

Epic ex-log Sal! I really enjoy the details you provide along with the unique camera angles. I have to say I have probably only seen/heard the word lethiferous a couple of times and it ALWAYS makes me think of Sylvester the cat, for some reason. Sufferin' Succotash! Thanks again for your exhaustive attention to detail.

I loved hearing about the history. I managed this mall for several years, you covered some things that I didn’t even know. I moved away 10 years ago, but when you’ve poured your heart and soul into something, and it ends so sadly its almost like a little piece of you dies with it. Thank you for the walk down memory lane. Well done.

Another awesome video!!!! Thank you again for all the work you put into these. Keep it up

Absolutely epic, Sal!! I have a few favourites, but man . . . this has gotta be the best one yet. Huge kudos! And . . . the drone shots . . . perfect :)

Amazing video!!! Thank you for being out there and filming these malls

I haven't been up to Chapel Hill mall for over a decade, Howe road is now fixed, so that is a positive.

Great work! I'm from Akron and am sometimes in the area of Chapel Hill- They are indeed keeping the promise of transforming the mall into a business park and fixing up the exterior. The former Sears has a business set up and the exterior has been painted nicely.Hopefully the area surrounding the former mall gets a clean up. it's pretty depressing, as I went to this mall and Rolling Acres a lot as a kid and teen in the 70s and 80s and have fond memories of both. And.. Archie the Snowman still lives! He resides in downtown Akron and appears at winter fest, still creepy as ever with his flashing red lightbulb eyes, speaking to you !

The kids voices in the background make it so creepy. Also, Sal you have BEAUTIFUL eyes! :) I grew up with Chapel Hill, Rolling Acres and Summit Mall. It makes me so sad to see this happen to these two malls. Glad Summit is still going. I can remember weekends when my parents would take us to the mall and let us run around! Go to a movie or just shop. I saw JAWS and ET in that movie theater! And Star Wars! I stole mood rings from Woolworth's with my brother. I LOVED Spencer's Gift! Got ALL my new school clothes here. Archie at Christmas time! ALL OF IT! So sad! And, Rolling Acres! When I was old enough I would take the public transportation bus there. I loved the smell of the popcorn store. Kettle Popper? Not sure. And, getting Earl Grey Tea samples at Hickory Farms before movies.

It's really a good thing you're documenting these malls. It gives us snap shots of the past of good times gone by...

This is absolutely great! Your work just keeps getting better and better.

Many memories with friends at the Chapel Hill Mall. It's heartbreaking even though I'm not in Akron anymore (I live in Indonesia now) but always cherish my memories in Ohio (2005 - 2007). Thanks for sharing this, Sal.

I was born and raised in Akron Ohio this was our weekend thing to do hit these malls up they use to have trick or treating at all the stores in these malls as kids and being poor we always got hyped during Halloween.

Hi Sal! Finally made it over to watch. Quiet evening, cold beer, and hot pizza. Perfect to enjoy your work!

That claw machine video reminds me of the time I was walking around the near-death Burlington Center Mall, and one of the coin-op rides had disembodied children's giggling to try & attract real kids to ride it. Scared me half to death.

Many times to Chapel Hill when I was a kid. Everything from my youth is fading away.

Love the vids bro. Especially the greenspoint mall one. Houston love 🤘🏼

Another amazing video, keep up the good work sal. Also, those kids in the claw machine are so creepy!

Both of Randall Park and Rolling Acres are very interesting histories. Randall Park was built on a former horse racing track. Rolling Acres was built near a cemetery, among other creepy facts about Rolling Acres, including the tree deaths that happened there. Rolling Acres was also in a rather bad neighborhood by the time Rolling Acres closed. People have described the city of Akron as a bad place. On a positive note Sal, you sure seem to like that water fountain in the Chapel Hill Mall. Great video!!

Great video. Really enjoyed the entire thing

Old stomping grounds. Loved Chapelle hill. Good times😁😁😁

I worked at all three Akron malls in college. This is so nostalgic and sad. Chapel Hill Mall was still pretty busy when I was working there around 2006/7. I only worked at Rolling Acres for a few months in Summer 2005 and it was almost empty at that point, but Foot Action still had lines for sneaker releases! The food court was so creepy at Rolling Acres. Someone removed the lugnuts from one of my tires (probably more of a quickly abandoned attempt to steal my wheels) during a long slow shift in Sears Lawn & Garden, the wheel falls off on my drive home. NEXT down the street from Rolling Acres introduced me to a quickly growing streetwear scene, what a great time. Shout out Robert Rosenthal, OG of Cleveland streetwear.

The ceilings are gorgeous!

Brilliant opening sequence. Really set the tone for the video. You are an innovator my friend.

Surprised the fountain was still working.

The Grim Reaper strikes again, and another mall owned by Kohan bites the proverbial dust. Sal, your videos with its historical background is quite informative and is a text book example of what a dead mall is and how it happens. TY.

I remember going to these malls as a teenager...I really never went to summit mall but I know summit mall is still thriving because of its location to wealthy older people....rolling acres and chapel hill were THEE spots for us as teenagers and going into our early 20s around 2000 to 2005...this is sad...so many good memories

That claw machine is terrifying 🤣.

Amazing video!🙌🏽Heading over to watch Euclid mall and Tower City, since I’m from Cleveland❤️

Just got time to watch this video. I have to say it brought a tear to my eye seeing this Beauty shutter. Overall great video loved the history a drone flying threw rolling acres

This was the place to go when I was a teen. So sad what it’s become.

This is great stuff with the narration of the history making you stand out with your work. Well done

That big glass entry area reminds me of the food court at old Gateway Mall in Springfield, OR. They remodeled it to be an outdoor strip mall and took away all the things that made that mall charming. You should look up old interior photos of it. Brass-colored, mirrored arched ceilings in the concourses, HUGE glassed in food court with the discount second run theatre, TONS of neon. It was chincy, but it was also amazing.

Interesting fact: Priuses are considered the fastest cars in Fiji. Another interesting fact: geese are mean. I wish I could express just how but KZfaq wont allow me to. Lastly… I feel like that’s not the last we’ll see or hear about those claw machine kids. I feel like if Netflix ever made a live action Five Nights at Freddy’s movie, they’d include that creepy claw machine.