Attention! Completely remastered episodes of the Dead Mall Series are now being archived in 4K at kzfaq.info/love/fCM_TfrSDMkkMpKuLNWuXA. The remasters have gone through an extensive AI Enhancement process as well as proper sound mixing and colorization. This Dead Mall Series Remastered project has been made possible through viewer support on Patreon. Go over now and watch in glorious 4K. ENJOY!

That's my dream job. Getting paid to work at a place that has no customers.

The heely ban was clearly the downfall.

The customer service lady has the best job. Just sits there all day unbothered with no customers getting paid and can eat at the food court when hungry

I have so many memories made in this mall as a kid. I kissed my first girlfriend there, going to the toy store as a toddler, playing in the arcade, buying my first gta game, and getting all of my cds there. This met a lot to me growing up, and it's so sad seeing it slowly die.

No matter how dead the mall may be, there is always a GNC

If Dan bell is filming your mall or hotel... you know the end is near.

My Cousins mother worked at Belks for 40 years and finally retired as a seamstress in the mall. She has since passed away and was a wonderful lady.

Nearly dead mall + Vaporwave aesthetics = my dream job.

as far as I know from my visit a few weeks ago, Spencers is gone, china shuttle was closed, the broad restaurant is no longer there, lense crafters is also closed. the escalators are also now out of service. Also, all of the tiny kiosks all over the video are no longer there. we saw only 5 stores open: sears, the dress shop, the kids play area, bath and body works, and a calendar store.

It's even worse now. As of January 6th, 2017 Sears will be leaving soon and the only stores left inside will be GameStop and Bath & Body Works.

The most depressing thought I have ever had is walking through a dead mall while cheistmas songs play in the background.

Update: The temporary casino has done so well in the old Belk section of the mall, plans have been changed. Hard Rock has now demolished 80% of the existing mall from Sears beyond JC Penny and will be building a larger main casino floor and resort than originally planned. The existing Belk temporary casino will become the non-smoking gaming section. A concert area, indoor go kart track, up to 8 restaurants and 30 shopping areas are planned as well. So the majority of the mall we all hung out in as kids and teenagers is now gone, bitter sweet.

All these failing malls surprise me. I have a mall near me that is always busy and full of people, especially during seasonal sales. It has grown more and more over the last few years.

That mall is oddly well kept- and the alive customer service desk is even more shocking!! Another great video; keep 'em comin'!

I could name so many stores in that mall based on what was there in the 80s. In 1984 I was 14 going here all the time to movies or to hang out. The entrance with big walking ramps by the theatre were enclosed into a department store at some point which is crazy to me. I remember where Orange Julius was and the musician shop across from it. I remember where spencers was which is where i got my left ear pierced which almost got me kicked out of the house LOL. My mom worked at the Piccadilly restaurant and my ex girlfriend was in a Mall Fashion Show at Piccadilly in 1985 🤣😂. I remember where County Seat was and Chick Fil A and the Pizza place that had the most AMAZING cicillian pizza. And of course the original record store on the first floor. I also bought my first of many Swatch watches at that Belk. And last but not least I remember the Gold Mine Arcade. I was an 80s kid all the way! It was hard to go back home and see this Mall. I was in it right before it closed and it was just as this video shows. I am glad I got one last visit in before it met its final day.

People need jobs, social interaction, and cities need taxes. If there are no businesses to carry the tax burden, you yourself will have to. I try to shop local as much as I can. What you save in the short term, you'll pay for ten fold in the long run in increased taxes to make up for the lack of local businesses.

Donna Mills and her shoulder pads and flawless makeup. Living for this intro. Another great vid Dan!

they should just start playing mallsoft in every single mall

ALWAYS Bath and Body Works and GNC in these dying malls, hilarious

Just an update: The Bristol Mall is now fully closed but there is going to be a casino moved into the building along with other stores to go along with the casino. It has really brought some excitement to the town and they’re renovating like 3 or 4 buildings to turn into motels for this casino.

A dead mall is relaxing but depressing it's a shame Mall's are dying out.

I've eaten at the China Shuttle. It's a shuttle to sitting on the toilet for the next two hours.

I'm having an insane nostalgia trip to my childhood in the 2000's. I used to come to this mall a few times a year, I used to get my glasses from the Lenscrafters right at the entrance. The Pinnacle has taken over the job of this lovely mall but I will definitely miss the place dearly. RIP Bristol Mall 💖💜💖

The Pinnacle on the Tennessee side was the death blow to the Bristol Mall. I remember this mall being popular when I was a kid, and I'm 22 so it went downhill fast. I been in it once when it was almost abandoned and all I could envision was just the mall being packed with people in the food court, going to Game Stop, JcPenney, Belk, FYE, etc. This mall closing had been something I could never imagine. It was officially closed last August when the final store KSS closed. You can't even pull into the parking lot now because every entrance to the lot is barricaded off.

It's all paul blart's fault.

OMG, the intro. I feel like I'm now viewing 80's fashion atrocities through the eyes of my Grandparents at that time, and now I understand the confused, disturbed looks they used to give me.

I love ALL of Dan Bell's videos, but there's something about the dead mall videos that is so eerie and disquieting...other people shoot dead malls, too, but Dan's filming style and the way he uses music and his brilliant opening and closing sequences seal his place as the master of this documentary sub-genre. With these dead mall videos he really creates the sights, sounds and sense of unease that you usually only get in actual nightmares. Just so superb. Dan Bell is BOSS.

Why do these places always seem to have a Sears??

If I had a billion dollars I would probably make the mistake of buying a dead mall and using each store as a separate part of a home. I'd get scared at night, wouldn't sleep, get depressed from the large empty spaces, and probably kill myself for making such a stupid decision. So why do I still want to buy a dead mall? : /

First time I've seen it, a mall with no fountain.

OMG Donna Mills and her 80's eye makeup! LOVE the 80's montage.

Imagine the backlash that model would’ve gotten now by saying “I have to look good all the time”

Dans voice is nice and soothing

The music is really creepy and I got silent hill 3 vibes from the video. Its nice that at least the building is still well maintained and not just left to rot.

It is wild to see the building in this shape, it has now been converted into a temporary casino on the bottom floor that's nearly unrecognizable from this video. The permanent casino is supposed to be top and bottom floor of the mall with the addition of a hotel. I love looking at old photos of the Bristol mall and trying to figure out what it is now.

Those first 10 seconds feel like the start of the most depressing rollercoaster ride ever. The anticipatory sadness once you get to the top of that escalator and take in the deadness of this mall... 😢

hahah no heely's allowed to save you from your own embarrassment

I live for this series.

FINAL UPDATE: Bristol mall has one functioning store currently and will be closing on August 31st!

Update: It has been over a year since this mall officially closed its doors with every single store gone. As of today, it has been debated by the town of Bristol whether to turn it into a Casino or a CBD/Hemp grow.

Damn thats some nice vaporwave music

Well, as of today (January 4th), Sears is closing - the employees got the news today. The anchor tenant since 1976, it's done. The mall will be gone within a year.

I worked in this mall from 80-85. Those were some great fun years. Sad what has happened to so many malls now. Cell phones and internet have replaced the real face to face social interaction people used to experience going to places like malls to meet up with friends, eat out or just stroll around and shop.

Man I always used to go here when i was 8 this makes me want to cry

Notice how Dan never has a reflection of himself in the glass .. confirmed he is a vampire!

It's a shame that you do not have more subscribers, your content is so well made. The effort you put into them shows.

This is my favourite episode in the series by far. It's so immersive

This is the perfect balance of interesting and melancholy.

These dead mall videos really show a shift away from mall shopping. There are many reasons(online shopping, too many malls built, store downsizing, store mergers, and many others).

WOW!!! It doesn't get any more 1980's than this!

For those curious about more recent news with this old mall, it's been sold and they're converting it to a casino... Rather it is a casino now and they're working on making a Hard Rock Cafe on the property. So it's not dead. It's taken on a new life in a sort of zombie way now.

This really brings out the feels. I used to frequent this mall as a teenager. I was in Bristol in late 2017 with my wife and we thought we'd check out the mall. I was so dissapointed to see it had closed. I love your series and it is amazing that you got to film this one so close to me.

7:42 "Our mall has a lot of plants and we seem to take pretty good care of them, so that's good." Bristol Mall's final ad campaign.

did the internet kill the mall star?

I absolutely love how generic those restaurants are.

This would be a perfect place to hide from zombies...

I always felt the Bristol Mall was outclassed by the Johnson City and Fort Henry Malls in the Tri-Cities area. Then came The Pinnacle which put the nails in the coffin for the Bristol Mall.

is that mall music or dans? sounds creepy in a cool way

I need someone to explain this sweeping broom kiosk because I don't understand the premise there. You rent a broom to sweep the mall??

Looks like it could be a Mall in North Korea.

It is sad see malls across America dying...truly.

Turn dead malls into apartments or food processing centers or something.

I like to imagine that the custodians of these living dead-malls watch Dan's videos - and that they smile whenever Dan acknowledges that they've done a good job of looking after the plants.

This is near my hometown. It's really sad to see the current state of this mall.

Empty malls are so relaxing. Almost like a temple.

My favourite series by far on the whole of KZfaq at the moment. Everything from your narration, to the music and all the clever editing is just brilliant. Keep them coming 😊

i live in Virginia(although this is Tennessee) and have gone to this mall all my life. The city opened a bigger shopping center 10 minutes away. Its sad for me personally, but the pinnacle(new shopping destination) has all the shops that were in this mall but has been growing exponentially :)

They should take these dead malls and turn them into homeless shelters (for those cities where homelessness is abundant)...or hotels or apartment complexes...

This mall failed because a new shopping center emerged extremely close by called "the pinnacle" which is where almost all the vendors in the Bristol mall moved to, including chik-fil-a, rack room shoes, and several others. Take it from a Bristol Native, this mall really declined.

Its so weird seeing the Bristol Mall here, because whenever I was in there I thought it'd be so fitting for this series. Its probably one of the most depressing places I've been in

I used to go there a lot when I was a kid and a few years ago. It really hits home seeing this. I loved going with my parents and like to Gamestop and other little quirks. I will always love this mall.

Ha ha, gotta love some Donna Mills.

Loving the series, Dan! It's beyond disappointing that people today did not get the opportunity to visit these vintage retail gems in their prime. Keep up the good work!

This mall was dying long before the Pinnacle was even thought of. I left Bristol in 2002 & it was pretty much dead then.

Am I the only one who loves that Dan loves mall plants? Probably, but I'm ok with that.:)

Keep the vapor wave going. I love fantasy VHS.

so weird I loved this. your quiet asmr-like descriptions, the old clips of donna mills, creepy old destitute mall. well done.

Dan, I am from Abingdon, VA and I remember being an 8th grader in 2011 here going to the mall with friends, raising hell, having fun.... now it's all done for. SAD! Thanks for uploading this.

This makes me unutterably sad. When I was a kid, this was the place I always wanted to go. Back then, in the mid-70's to late 80's, it was packed with stores and people and it was easy to imagine that this cathedral of commerce (believe me, it looked MUCH different in its glory days, full of gilded fixtures and amber lights and dark wooden rails and bannisters) was the future, instead of on its way to being the past. I spent many hours there, but never as many as I wanted, going to the toy store (back before Spencer's moved from its previous location to where it is now), to the movies-- I saw FLASH GORDON and RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK and THE MUPPET MOVIE and SILVERADO and many others there. I pined for Mego superhero figures and Star Wars toys at Sears. I rode my first glass-front elevator in that mall-- a terrifying, yet exhilarating, experience for a five year-old with an insensate fear of heights. I listened to children's stories read over red telephones at several castle-shaped kiosks scattered throughout the mall. Later on, I dropped many a quarter playing Asteroids and Space Invaders and Tron at the Gold Mine arcade (its mine-entrance facade and dark interior making it live up to its name) as well as in the miniarcade set up almost like a speakeasy in the back of Sears. I remember going there with my cousins the nights we saw FLASH GORDON or THE WRATH OF KHAN, walking down the massive (seemed that way, anyway) wheelchair ramps at the mall's main entrance-- the ramps descended on either side of a central staircase and switched back, making them perfect for young boys who wanted something to run down at breakneck speed. And then we'd eat pizza at the New York-style pizzeria on the second level, or the glorified meat-and-three meals (and heavenly soft rolls) at the Piccadilly on the first. Later still, as a teen, I spent lots of time and money at the B. Dalton bookstore (which also moved from its first location) and at the two or three record stores -- Port o' Call on the lower level, Tape World on the upper -- and instead of going there with family (though I still did that on occasion) I went there with friends. We ate hamburgers composed of compressed sawdust at the Orange Julius by the theaters before going to see ALIEN NATION or PET SEMATARY or BATMAN or LETHAL WEAPON 2, and my friends, proud band geeks, always had to visit the music store near the theater to find sheet music for the latest pop tunes. The mall's last hurrah came in the mid- to late-90's, when we'd go there for movies (though in 1998 the Abingdon Cinemall finally rendered the Bristol Mall's theater superfluous, on both technical and accessibility levels, for us Marion folks) and to haunt the remaining music stores for CD's and VHS tapes; and you could tell even 20 years ago that whatever future we'd imagined the mall represented, whatever gleaming cathedrals of commerce it portended, had already passed us by, and was dying even then. And now this. It's like seeing the grave of a friend. They're not there; those times, that place, they're all gone. I wish I could go back one more time, on a crowded December night in 1980 or so, and ride that glass-front elevator down to the theater after looking at Star Wars toys and go to the movies; I wish I could put a coin in the castle-shaped kiosk and listen to one more story.

just love that classic green neon over the Chinese. Gonna have sweet vaporwave dreams tonight

Even after all of these dead malls there building a mega high end mall in NJ, near Monmouth race track, won't investors ever learn?

I live in Bristol. I used to come here all the time with family and shop for my birthday or some sort. It used to be packed all the time but, now it’s just sitting there abandoned.

man I remember going there when I was younger and I remember going in one of the last days they were open it was sad to see only a few stores open.....that poor mall so many strange but good memories there

A dead mall with a dead anchor store. I hope everyone there have their resume up to date. It's a shame that the mall won't get quality stores unless more people start shopping there. More people won't shop unless the mall has quality stores.

Made my Friday night! Awesome as always :-D

I love this series! Thank you so much for doing these!

who is the woman from the intro? so familiar. NM. It's Donna Mills from Knot's Landing. Some of the footage is from her 1980s makeup how-to video, "The Eyes Have It".

the internet is the main driving force behind large shops like this closing. Why run expensive malls when people happily shop online and get the same stuff for the cost of running a warehouse.

With this music it's reminded me of the shopping mall in Earthbound....and that's scary!

At 10:00 back in the 80’s when that theater was AMC 4 (later 6) theaters, there was an impressive spiral type staircase that was very much a product of the 70’s. Lots of brick and wood and very brown. I worked and stood there at the theater entrance as an usher from 1988-1991.

I appreciate how, without using sarcasm at all, the humor comes through still. Such a great way to memorialize this phase of American life! Thanks Dan.

I know why this mall failed... the escalators weren't nearly wide enough for the average Virginian.

would love to work at a mall like this

I love the back ground music you have going in your videos.Brings me back in the 80s and 90s.

tbh i dont know why i watch this every morning but i love it

now this is my kind of mall. i hate people so a place like this is a paradise for me.

It looks like something you'd build in sims and hardly any sims ever show up to it XD

Holy crap what a time capsule! That food court! Spencer gifts! Brooms! CARPET! I am seriously jealous of your skills- these vids are a pleasure to watch (no shaky cam). As a dead mall nerd, I thank you from the bottom of my heart for these.

Thank you for capturing this place before it folds. I used to go here every payday with my family in the 80s. We'd buy our movie tickets then I'd hit up Spencer Gifts, and Circus World (toys) right beside it. There was always a fashion show or some kind of entertainment in that area, right in front of Sears. They usually set up velvet ropes to corral the hordes of people flocking to the theaters. The store to the right of the theaters wasn't there. It was a hallway with stores, (such as Orange Julius), leading to the main entrance with a big staircase and ramps flanking it. (Of course it was overflowing with gigantic houseplants, lol.) I wish I could find photos of it. You should check out the Claypool Hill mall in Claypool Hill, Va. It used to be a booming place as well. They had beautiful fountains but they're empty or full of plants now. They just opened a theater and it seems to be doing okay. Still kinda eerie, though.