I was there when it opened … you use to have to push through crowds and run down the escalator to get movie tickets before they sold out! Every store on their website was there and thriving! I use to take the Metro Rail from work in downtown Miami and get off there to have a night out. Those were the days!

That mall use to be bakery center and then it was renovated to sunset place. It had a bar/club, other bars, music, restaurants, stores like virgin records, Nike, Armani, etc. very good stores. It was a great place for everyone. It’s sad to see what has happened to it. After the adults left the kids would hang out there and that’s when it started going downhill. They placed a curfew on the kids that would go and after that it just died. It’s very hot during the day but at night it was a nice spot. Go to the movies, eat at many of its restaurants, and maybe grab a drink. It was so full at one point that you couldn’t even park.

The first store front you saw used to be a Banana Republic. Then next to it was Victoria Secret and then adjacent to the broken escalators was Nike Town!

ouchhhhhh.... that mall was busy like Dolphin Mall, parking was a mission . how sad your video shocked me

I had so many memories there. Playing basketball at LA fitness and then grabbing food with friends at Buffalo Wild Wings and going to the AMC movies.

Sunset Place was our hang out spot in high school like 10 years ago because it was so close to a metro station and all my friends took the metro to school. I still go sometimes for Colorful Cute because my gf collects sonny angels, seeing the mall slowly get abandoned is crazy.

Sunset Place was at its prime around 2003-2008. Some notable favorites I liked were Niketown which was at that store near the back where you didn't feel safe walking under. Basically a 2 floor nike store with some cool Jordan worn sneakers on display. Also before gametime was Gameworks. An amazing arcade where I would spend hours there as a kid.

You were right, that was a Johnny Rockets!

This is insane- it’s like a post apocalyptic scene now. I remember going to the movies here all the time, not to mention Marino’s and the bars that were popping back then. It’s crazy. Hopefully they do something to bring the people back.

Grew up going to that mall pretty much every weekend! From Forever 21 to Bath & Body works, to the Disney Store, the place was always full. The theater line used to be packed!!! You could smell the Hollister Store a mile away. THERE USED TO BE A VIRGIN MUSIC STORE at the 4:02 mark which was 2 floors and it was amazing! A Nike outlet at the 2:57 mark. Hot Topic and Johnny Rockets were always full! The mall was such a great 3rd place. We would go there after school, which was a train ride away, I had my first date with my husband at Game Time. The city really failed this mall. It was always the place to be and the surrounding area was also full of restaurants, bars and clubs so there is still traffic but the mall has gone to waste. I can only hope they bring it back some day. Also, Colorful Cute is an awesome shop! Support them on Social Media. One year they did a small convention at the mall called Cutie Con that I was a part of and it really brought the community together!!!

This is so sad 😢 I have wonderful memories in that mall during my high school years.

When i came from Cuba that was a very nice mall to go. I used to watch imax movies there. So much fun. It was very colorful mall, modern for the 1990s. But there was no Brickell back then.

Yeah it’s really sad. Sunset used to be my parents go to mall for the movies and Halloween decoration and I always loved the way sunset looks. It has a very beautiful vibe. It’s just sad to see it die.

what’s really interesting is that right by the mall is a nice strip that has really great boutiques and restaurants. i don’t get why the area around is bustling but not the mall itself

I remember I went to the official opening day of the mall where the Major did the ribbon cutting , and everyone was invited to the big party . The architectural design was very unique and modern, but not how it looks now . The highlights were the Virgin Store , the Nike and Z Gallery , the movie theatre and Game works , which I think was the first one in South Florida. This mall was far better than Dadeland that looked a little bit outdated by the time this mall opened. Once the big stores closed , they took cutting edge architecture with them . I loved the cylindrical structure with the hanging planters in front of the parking elevators . I used to park right at the top floor so I could go around the stairs ending the journey at the water feature which surprisingly is still working . The other water feature with the lions next to the escalators is no longer working . The mall had many nice details that are no longer there that's why it probably looks outdated . Let's hope they make the right decision. But we all know... malls are not meant to last forever.

On line shopping is the thing that killed the malls

I’ve been going to this AMC since forever. It’s been so sad to see the decline of Sunset Place

I remember when this opened. 1999 was an amazing year. The Virgin Megastore, Niketown, GameWorks, and the movies. I was a teenager back then and due to Amazon, there’s unfortunately no reason for it anymore.

i love the kind of content you create man you gotta post more often and flood the youtube algorithm i dont really see ppl doing the type of content you doing in miami

I was not around when it use to be a busy place back then, only time I go there is sometimes for movies... but I can honestly say, by the amount of space and store fronts. this place can be Huge again

The entrance on 72nd street used to have a giant tree that resembled the one at animal kingdom. It was huge. Right behind it was a Rainforest Cafe where Z gallery is today. To get inside, you would walk over a fake bridge over a shallow pond that had fake alligators, fish and other fake plants. The AMC theater was the first one in Miami with stadium seating. It was always packed. Good times. I hope they do something nice with the space similar to what they did with coco walk.

The top places in Sunset Places was Virgin Megastore, Niketown, at least for me. Sadly Sunset Place isn’t the only mall that’s looking like this, it’s everywhere in the nation. Malls need to stay relavent, people rather stay inside order their stuff than going in person to buy their stuff.

there was a few different bowling alleys to the left of the AMC ticket booths, I believe the last company to be there was Splitsville

OMG! This is depressing! I remember the mall being so packed! They had Bath and Body! KB toy store a candle making place . I mean it was busy busy!! I'm surprised AMC and Game Time is still there!

It was huge in the y2k era. It was the spot for um students and hs kids all around. The last time it was at capacity was probably 2008. After the recession, it started dying. The glass tower by the la fitness was a nike town and i think a virgin records store next door. I went to the opening of the LA fitness probably in 04' as a kid with an older cousin. Dan Marino owned a big restaurant next to the Barnes and Nobles. There was a giant fake banyan tree next to it with lights playing jungle sounds. All the kids on fridays met up at the Johnny Rockets. It was always busy on the weekends. Not to mention the vans store that had a half pipe!🔥.. if u grew up in sw dade that was the chill plan.

What?!? This can’t be real. I used to go there as a teen with my friends all of the time. Like this WAS the place to be. We’d shop around then to the movies afterwards. I moved up to central Florida 10 years ago and haven’t been back to this specific mall since. I’m so heartbroken, I had so many memories there.

I’ve just visited the mall for the first time last Thursday afternoon to see a movie at the cinema and noticed the same as you, it’s really beautiful but too empty, I really liked the fountain in the stairs and the material that are made for, looked like forgotten in the past

Legend is that land is an Indian Burial ground, no mall has ever done well there. There used to be bakery center before that snd it had the same demise.

I was a regular at that mall on weekends in 2003-2005 and it was a normal great busy mall full of kids and great restaurants. Was a nice place to take a date and chill. Other outdoor malls have opened before and after this mall and are still thriving so I don’t get it. The two things I think killed this mall was surrounding traffic issues and the parking was a pain in the ass. I’d often rather find street parking in the nearby streets and walk a block or two than pay to park in that garage and be looking for a space for 30 minutes. And yes that was a former Johnny Rockets when they used to be everywhere in every mall in the late 90s/2000s haha.

I was there in 1999 when it was opened, as it was so beautiful that it used to have shops like Virgin Megastore, Niketown, FAO Schwarz, Sweet Donna's Country Store Restaurant and Bakery, the Rainforest Cafe esque type, Z Gallerie, Splitsville, Old Navy, Disney Store and Johnny Rockets among others. Since 1999, it used to have Banyan trees and laser shows. I miss those Goodtimes and I have hopes that something new will take place while keeping AMC theaters, Gametime and Barnes and Noble.

What an opportunity to turn it into a great housing community - there's already parking and room for stores that will support the people living there, who in turn would patronize those stores. I hope they re-imagine the place, instead of tearing it down and building all new. it's got a cool layout and I think it would be a good upcycle.

They had an Urban Outfitters way back in the mid to late 2000s. Used to visit Sunset Place a lot back in the day when GameTime was called Gameworks and remember how packed it would be on the weekends. So sad it's a ghost town nowadays.

It's like radiator springs from csrs now. I went back in 2016 and they had a decent selection of stores, like maybe half of what they have on their outdated website and they still had actual directories. The closed escalator was still working along with the water feature next to it. What you thought was Johnny Rockets actually was one and I ate there in December 2018, which I think still had a decent number of stores from my 2016 visit. But once the pandemic hit, the mall's deterioration escalated tenfold

I remember when it used to have a Nike store and Dan Marino's bar and Grill

This is pretty unusual for FL. Open-air malls have replaced enclosed malls across the state. Visit an enclosed mall & you may see tumbleweeds rolling past the shuffling feet of the mall walkers.😂

and yes you were correct, that used to be a johnny rockets. also even 10 years ago the back part of the mall by the LA fitness would be pretty dead and had very little foot traffic. I only ever went to that side for the Zumiez and Buffalo Wild Wings

I remember there used to be a Nike Town, Urban Outfitters, Virgin Mega Store, Hollister, Abercrombie

I used to go this mall all the time when I was in my early 20s. In the early 2000s it was one of the best places in miami. Movie theater was great. Bowling alley. Crepe maker was popular. La fitness. Live music. Always very very busy. Sad to see how quickly it has changed

It’s sad how this places turned out. I remember going there when they use to have gameworks and imax back in the early 2000’s it was a great place.

that tall weird looking unsafe glass structure used to be one of the coolest nike stores in miami. 3 stories!! Sad to see this mall go downhill.

the store you see immediately in front of you when you walk up the centerpiece stairs in the center of the mall used to be a candy store, I believe the candy store was the last business in that location

Oh ! And a rainforest cafe !

This place was alive and well 10 years ago. Around 2018/2019ish, i noticed it started to die. I have so many memories from there. I used to go to the Hollister there all the time. I remember when it first opened in 1999. We were taken to the imax theater there in 2000 on a field trip. We also used to hang out at this place after school in the 2000s. I think the rent is also super high there which caused a lot of stores to leave.

power 96 used to always hold events there!

I’m not surprised by this even before covid it was pretty empty and also it seems every time I went they always have problems with the escalator.

I went there as a teenager caught a couple of movies, used to go to Game Works before it was Game Time and used to have a bunch of kids raid the Metrorail on Saturdays and Sundays, it used to be the IT mall back in the day

lmao i about died when that guy popped out from under the escalator

The empty store that had the "please use other door" sign used to be a local video game/trading card store. I don't even remember the name anymore but we went there a lot in high school my first two smash tournaments ever were there.

It will be replaced with mixed use residential retail high rises

I remember they had a retro gaming store by Barnes and Noble and Color Me Mine. Also remember the splitsville right next to the movie ticket area and then down the escalators was Forever21, Traffic shoe store, Hollister, and some other clothing called "Couture XO" or something like that.

that’s crazy the last time i went was about 2 years ago and it’s literally the same 😭 the movie theatre , game time, and the kawaii store were the only things open, it’s so sad to see but i was so happy to see that that store was open

The "family party" store you passed by at the beginning has had at least 3-4 different businesses in that same location that I know of, all of them serving the same niche of "throw your kids bday party here"

That big open space in 3:00 - 3:59 was an exhibit studio before 2010. They had two exhibits that I remembered. One of them was The Bodies exhibit. And the part where you thought it was a Johnny Rockets was correct. That was the last place I went to eat in that mall back in 2018. The Last film I watched in that AMC was a foreign film in 2019

North of Miami where was a mall called the Fashion mall that closed. It was next to another mall that had better parking and more shops.

I remember when Shops at Sunset Place opened around 1999. It was one of the best malls down here in the county and is actually pathetic yet insulting that they have neglected this place from the website to most if not the whole entire mall. The future of Shops at Sunset Place is looking rather terrible knowing how bad it currently looks and as far as the Kawaii store I think it seems like it's hanging there not like a comic book store or a similar type of small business and I will go as far as to say that if they would sell gunpla which Barnes and Nobel to some extend sells it just like Legos they would actually have a lot of more customers because during the pandemic model kit building really took off and as far as local hobby stores are concerned there aren't that many that focus on model kit building in Miami Dade County and kind of sucks because you are obligated to make the drive to Broward to somewhere like Tate's Comics for scale model events and that all can be avoided if more people in Dade County involve themselves in diversifying and growing interest in a fun hobby such as gunpla and model kit building. Also, some would argue that this is a niche hobby and yes thats understandable to some extend but you build community and it can also be a good chance to have more folks involved at an artistic activity without making long drives to Broward County!!

As a teenager i would drive from Broward to the Virgin Megastore here to get hard to find import CDs and records! Amazing memories! Such a shame its gone so far downhill! 😢

What a shame the way it is😢

ON THE WEEKENDS IT BE A LITTLE BUSY BUT ITS DEAD.I USED TO GO TO THE AMC IN 2018-2023 AND IT WAS DYING BEFORE BUT HAD MORE TRAFFIC..SOUTH MIAMI IS A OLD RICH BOOMER AREA

Damm bro that was the spot when i was in middle school and highscool, everybody I know always went to dolphin mall to hang out durning The Weekend but me and friends went to sunset cause it was nice vibe and barley people we know goes there and had a lot of good stores, music, and food. Now I only go there just for a movie rarely and that’s it. It’s sad to see a mall like this that made memories when you were a kid and now It’s so quiet and barely anyone goes , and more and more known store we know leaving or been left.

I remember coming on vacation and spending hours there! 😢

I have not been there in about 10 years and it was a nice place to shop back then.

I can’t believe how empty it is. I would go there a lot back then.

Oh wow I used to work at the Barnes and noble there. I didn’t know it was like that now as I’m up an hour north

HOT TOPIC, IMAX, NIKE TOWN, GAME WORKS, JOHNNY ROCKETS, WILDERNESS CAFE, HOLLISTER, VIRGIN RECORDS, the store with the halfpipe in it lol, so many memories growing up in south miami / gables :/

I miss the old FAO Schwartz that was there

Wow I use to live there and went to that mall every other day it use to be a beautiful mall I move from that area like 9 years ago to Fort Lauderdale have not been back since this got me so depressed 😔 had a lot of good memories there wow DAM YOU ONLINE RETAIL!!!!

Damn the memories I have at this mall in the early 2000s is are wild so sad this place went down we would meet up outside the Wendy’s and do our thing before pushing in to the Johnny rockets and then watching a movie the good ol days might still go to walk my dog looks like she’d love it lol

So whats the plan now? are thes till going to redevelop it?

this will turn into a nice development property

Live in Tampa. Never been to Miami, but I’ve been to an outside mall that was just like this in Bradenton I think? Seems like a cool place to go to get away from people and walk.

Damn! I went to UM and we'd go to the movies there, I'm so surprised it's so empty. sounds like whoever bought it is not actively trying to rent out any of the spaces. weird...

i like the layout

There was an FAO Schwartz and a virgin records also.

Sunset Place used to be a great mall,I used to go there all time I really don't know what happened

Hey Joel, are you planning to try out the Trirail Express into MiamiCentral on July 1st?

only thing still popping is the amc and even then it needs an upgrade. one of the few theaters around without recliners

At 3:35 - 3:41 that was an urban outfitters in 2008.

I loved this mall. I think they already have it repurposed for something else.

23 years ago it was a happening place.

The mall I go to know is Dadeland Mall it's closer to my house

That mall has been like that since before 2020. At least there was a little movement at that time, but yeah - TOTALLY dead now.

parking

Aw the figure is cute 12:35

There turning it into condos I heard

We're seeing this repeated all over the country. Hundreds of once busy shopping malls closed or on the verge of extinction. The heydays of the huge malls of the 80's, where people would go to shop, families eating in the food halls, theatres etc, has sadly become a thing of the past. The convenience and competitive pricing of online shopping really sounded the death knell for the malls and big department stores. But other factors too, such as increasing cost of leasing the stores, power etc, made it impossible for small and even large retailers to survive in such malls. I don't think the outdated architecture has a great deal to do with it. I mean, when was the last time you went to a new mall and marvelled at the design? Personally, I find the modern malls completely devoid of character. They're just big, ugly, prefabricated concrete boxes. Yup, sad to see these malls go and I'm sure this won't be the last mall to close in the future.

No way he looked in to the old Nike town @3:00 and said I don’t know what this is 😅 I feel like a dinosaur now

Unfortunately covid came around and changed everything 😢

bet the rents are overpriced while they sit empty

dang! recall taking my son there when he was just a baby and it was booming with business ✊😉, this economy is going to crap and another 4 more years of this nonsense (inflation) is going to cause even more businesses to close down SMH! ✋😟🤚

who wants to hit up Martini Bar?

Sunset mall is IN Miami-Dade, not near it…

Used to be awesome. Dont know what happened.

I think it was poorly designed. The whole area is booming except this mall.

Too much competition especially with the Dolphin Mall not too far from it.... everyone goes to the Dolphin