Words are so inadequate to express my sadness over the closing of this mall. I'm 57 years old now, and I'm from Salisbury, NC. When I was a child, we always went to Charlotte's Eastland Mall. I have so many memories of going to that mall every Christmas. Back in 1997, I took my girlfriend and her kids to go ice skating at Eastland. I went back years later when there were only 3 or 4 stores still open. The floor of that ice skating rink had been dug up and there was nothing but red dirt. That was the last time I ever got to see the mall before it closed down.

This used to be "THE" mall back in the day way way before Concord Mills.

This video just breaks my heart. Eastland midtown square and freedom mall were my go to spots growing up. All we needed was bus fair and a few bucks to eat we'd window shop for hours those were the days. If you were lucky you'd catch a celeb signing autographs at the music store.

This was the best mall was so beautiful especially at christmas time i wish they would have never torn it down have the best memories of this mall from 80’s and 90’s .I also still have vivid dreams at night that i am hanging out at eastland mall with friends or family seeing it closed down in this video and driving by the empty lot now makes my heart ache...

Oh how I wish I was able to make a video back in the late 70's. I was in High School then and remember them building it and the energy in the place on the weekends. Midnight movies, hanging out with friends and even doing shopping with my girlfriend who became my wife years later. Its like losing part of your childhood the only thing left is the memories and searching internet for videos and pictures that only bring up long past memories that you wish you could revisit. Thank you very much Mike Kalasnik for the posting.

i get nostalgic seeing this.. back in the days charlotte was everything is not now... when we moved from miami back in 1996 , this was the first mall we visited and over the years became my favorite, i still remember i use to skip school and me and my friends use to go to the arcade... very nostalgic... so many memories...:(

Thanks for preserving a piece of history... My friends and I grew up there during the late 70's and 80's.

I went there when they opened in 75', as a junior in high school. Unbelievable mall with food court, ice skating, and cute girls galore. I think it was killed by our "enrichment."

My then wife convinced me to move to NC. Once settled in, my folks came up one weekend to visit and we visited this mall and went ice skating...1999ish

My mom bought me a coat at that foot locker circa 2004. Actually I think it was a Lady’s Foot Locker that was right across from the regular Foot Locker, but my memory is hazy. I will miss this mall, even before I got into vaporwave, as a kid, I loved the different aesthetic this mall had, with the skating rink and that food court with the Chick Fil A, it was amazing. God damn, I have such fond memories of my mom buying me chicken nugget kids meals with waffle fries from that chick fil a every time we went, and the pink and green neon of the food court was so cool.

r.i.p eastland mall good by

I remember when this Mall was built. My wife was in charge of the Jewelry dept at Belk's for a couple of years.

Eastland Mall was a regional type, and one of the biggest malls in Charlotte. It was a destination place, with plenty of things to do. It’s hard to believe that it closed.

I used to go there a lot as a kid. My Mom would always get something from orange julius😂. I never got to go ice skating. Lived in Charlotte from 97-06. I miss being a kid😩

My childhood memories. The food court, back in the early 80's, had awful brown tables with weird chairs, in the back corner, by the theater. It was crazy busy at Christmas time, as well. I was always scared to ride the escalator that overlooked the ice skating rink. Thank you for sharing...

I'm 14 now and only got to go once in 2010 exactly a month before it closed it was so sad and empty

Never set foot inside Eastland, but I did participate in an autocross in the parking lot back in the early 2000s.

My one memory of this mall…1987/88….7th grade school field trip to Carowinds and some museum downtown from Summerville SC…we stopped here at night before going to our hotel. Bought an Yngwie Malmsteen cassette and my friend bought GnR Appetite for Destruction…saw the ice skating rink…one of the first multi-level malls I’d seen

A wonderful place in 1983-86! My very first Chic-Fil-A sandwich. Saw Richard Pryor in "The Toy" there, as well as other movies. Even tried cocaine for the first time there, as a teen! Back then the place was full of Heavy Metal kids.

Super video, right where it ended was an arcade, it was there from when it opened.

I went to this mall Christmas 2008 and believe me, Eastland Mall was in the last days of operation. Several years later I saw on KZfaq where the mall was torn down and the Sun's were saved.

So many memories ... Very sad

I grew up going to this mall.

Even though I was a child and don't remember the exact detail. It was a enjoyable mall to (2006-2010). I became amused to dead malls because of history. They were supposed to open Christmas 2011!! But oof. Never did. I'm 15 now and I loved it and I want to also explore Northpark mall. There is barely any information about it and that's why I'm curious

growing up in that area, off of Farm Pond Ln, I've spent many of my youths inside that mall. Pains me to see that but it's better than being a decay building on the city.

My childhood memories luv the ice skating ⛸ they had that time

That "mysterious" anchor looked like Belk

The Mindboggle arcade (at Eastland mall) was a test site for Brady Distributing, as was the Showbiz Pizza Place on Pineville-Matthews Road in Charlotte, NC (which still exists today as a chuck e cheese with the entire animatronic band still in play.) They received all the newest games and Brady's determined what quantities of machines to buy based on replays. Both were fantastic arcades to visit as a result of their being test centers. I played a lot of very cool games that many never saw, like Gain Ground, a sega classic among many others. I still frequent this Chuck E Cheese with my 8 year old daughter but she will never experience the real joy of a sincere video arcade. As a Charlotte native for my 50 years losing this mall was super unfortunate. I imagine having placed this in, basically the ghetto, caused this. It is amazing to me how one "group" can cause irreprable damage to those who want to distance themselves from the nonsense. The immense distruction and loss of cool things can be attributed to these 1390s. Shooting people in public places caused this. It caused Eastland to close and it will be what causes Northlake Mall to close. When Apple leaves, you are, pfhucked. So.... Pull up your pants and stop watering down America. White people thank you in advance.

Last time I was in that mall back in 2006

Back in the day, worked at the chickfila and then at footaction in the late 90's.

My parents used to bring me here all the time because it was so close to our house i remember the last time I went there when I was about 7 my dad said he wanted to buy some shoes

The neighborhood became a crime riddled ghetto. East Charlotte used to be a nice area with law abiding, hard working people. I remember it well. It's a shame that the place was destroyed by a criminal element. Tragic.

When I moved to Charlotte in February 2014, this mall was nothing but an empty lot :(

Everybody is sad that it went but nobody wanted to shop there to keep it open

Yeah, Macy's has class!

Now there’s a flea market

Why was this place demolished

Charlotte east side. The forgotten part of Charlotte.

Got my first kiss there.

😊

I have a theory that the owner of the mall must have been friends with someone in the local government. For some reason, the city bought the mall and demolished it. Now it's an empty lot. Why would the city buy a dead mall and do nothing with it? Whoever owned it got a handout from the taxpayers.

Your girlfriend is really cute :)

Northgate will be next💥 💥 💥