I drove that vehicle several times as a security guard for the mall one summer season I had off from college. The truck was called vehicle #2, or Bonnie, because of the little red riding hood sticker inside on the glove compartment. The vehicle's registration was dated 2008, but it hadn't been driven since early 2007. It didn't stop being driven because of employee lay offs either. A drugged out homeless couple died in that vehicle, and after the police investigation ended, we got used to driving the other 3 vehicles instead. Besides, nobody wanted to drive Bonnie again anyway. I mean, would YOU after 2 people died in it? No thanks. They nicknamed the truck from Bonnie to Boney instead as a joke, but truth be told, it wasn't funny, and everyone had the creeps about driving it again. Sometimes people try to hide their fears thru humor and making light of things. Still, it was tragic and thus creepy to want to step back into that damned thing again. Yup, like I said... no thanks. Weird seeing it just sit there tho now. Wow the memories.

In 2000 I received a lifetime ban from this mall for putting 2 gallons of liquid dish soap in the fountain....... Went there yesterday. Looks like I won that one

This mall always reminds me of the set of a '90s Nickelodeon game show.

When Burlington Coat Factory pulls up stakes and moves out of your mall... *IT'S GAME OVER!*

The Titanic of shopping malls.

By far the most amazing feature of this mall is that the building is still open, since the few businesses of note can be reached from outside. The mall has been almost completely dead for the last 15 years or so. Despite the lack of maintenance, just paying the electric bills must be daunting. It has gone years and years and years without them ever even completely changing the signage from when it was Cincinnati Mills (I think they renamed it 'Cincinnati Mall' so they only had to repaint 2 letters on the signs) and they have never even changed the sign boards out front. This mall was ill-conceived in most every way. As others have said, it was positioned between two other malls, and those malls each had McAlpin's, which at the time was the #1 traditional department store in the region, Lazarus (now Macy's), and Sears. So those weren't available, and 4 of the 6 anchor were brands Cincinnatians had never heard of. On top of that, the highest growth areas and highest income suburbs were on the northeast side of town or farther north along I-75; this mall sits miles west of 75 on the 275 circle highway, so it wasn't well-positioned to get business from growth areas in Butler and Warren County. The sheer size of the place meant that inferior (low-volume) tenants were part of the picture from day 1. So the kind of tenants you see in dying malls today were present in this place at a time when prosperous malls had higher-traffic retailers. I remember for a while there was a store that sold insects; it looked like an insect hobbyist had set up the store for a couple thousand dollars because he only had to pay $100/month rent. And that was when the mall was relatively full. There is still a fair amount of business in the neighborhood outside this mall... the 3 largest grocery chains in Cincinnati are within a mile or so, and there are a decent number of restaurants near the mall. But that's a far cry from indicating the kind of market that will sustain 100+ stores or 1,500,000 square feet for much of anything. Especially since the neighboring malls, though still open, are in a state of deterioration which won't be helped by Sears closing in both of them.

Am I the only one who loves to take naps to these videos. The music and his voice knock me out. In a good way

whoa i just called the number on the security car and some dude just answered lol. Im in california and its 3 am

The $500,000,000 Nickeldoen stage set.

I loved Forest Fair. I bought my wife's engagement and wedding ring there. Loved playing in the Virtual Reality place by the food court in the early 90s. Also spent a lot of evenings playing NTN Trivia at Burbank's.

I went up here yesterday for the still-active arcade. My parents lived close by after they got married. Nothing changed except for dwindling business. And also, I'm pretty sure those janitor buckets were in the same places. Less of them, but still.

This shows how materialistic and shallow the world we live in has become. We build huge mega structures with millions of dollars just to watch them simply decay and fade away.

To see how bad a mall is, all it takes is an abandoned, dusty, trashed security car that hasn't been used possibly in over a decade to tell you.

Stop getting into elevators which have not been serviced since god knows when.

I used to hang out there as a teen when it was Forest Fair Mall and Cincinnati Mills. We were excited about the new and improved mall BUT then all of these ridiculous dress codes aimed towards teens started being strictly enforced for example "No hats" "No sagging pants" etc. Needless to say that caused a lot of controversy and pretty much put an end to the weekend mall hang out. Ever since then it's been a down hill slope. We still would stop by occasionally to shop at Burlington or attend the fair outside the parking during the summers but that was about it. Oh I also used to go to the night club (Metropolis) every so often. It was fun.... Other than that I haven't been there in years, I moved to Kentucky. Surprised it's still standing. Great video!

"Accounting irregularities" Going to use that one next time I'm asking my hubby for extra shopping spree money.

That underwater inspired shot you took is outstanding. There's are LOTS of photos ops in that building

This mall is beautiful! Hopefully it can be used again. I worry though now with all this social distancing people will just online shop. Sad 😔

Can you imagine how crowded this place was at it's peak? I wish I could have seen that. Kinda sad how this is on the way out.

It will never cease to amaze me how many times this money pit has be bought and sold. These investors must be using this place as a money laundering service or have so much money to burn they need to spend it somewhere and if that is the case how do I market myself as a piece of shit mall and them toss millions of dollars my way? I promise a 0% return for their investment which is what it seems they are looking for.

It looks like Orson Welles sampled the product a bit too much before he did the commercial LOL😅😅😂😂

You know, its actually sad how malls all over america are being left to fall apart. Because sure, we have online shopping now. But with online shopping you never know what your really getting, if its clothes if its the right fit, if its technology if uts even the real thing or actually works, you never get to hold and look at the product first, then you have to wait for days sometimes weeks to get, then if its the wrong thing you have to mail ot back and wait for a replacement. Id much rather go to a store, look at a physical item and if its the wrong thing or doesnt work or doesnt fit, be able to take it back and get a replacement ALL within the same day. But thats just me, id rather go to a store then shop online. Ive even driven hours just to get to the nearest store just to be able to get what i wanted that same day and be sure its what i want.

omfg I *love* that goddamned commercial *AAHHHH THE FRENCH*

Being on the outside looking in, the issue I see with this location is that it must have been placed somewhere it wasn't needed, where there was no demand for a large retail/entertainment venue. I don't know what surrounds the area, I've never been to Cincinnati... but I know the Hanover, MD area needed a good space for retail and entertainment, and Arundel Mills (and now Maryland Live! Casino) are thriving in this area. I really hope someone takes this space and makes it something people appreciate and enjoy visiting. This is one of the most beautiful malls I've ever seen the inside of, it seems like it's so well done. Shame the condition it's in now. Thanks for the video!

Without people in them, these spaces are so haunting, even when they're so cheery. The creative design of this mall is really good, and in surprisingly good condition. Thanks for this.

Wow! Amazing to see a mall that shortly after opening was failing even back in the late 80's! The voice-over history is awesome, thank you!

25:38 - wow, 'Steve and Barrys' is a name I haven't thought of in years! Used to love it and was sad when it closed. Amazing that the place still looks so clean and well taken care of, despite no one being there regularly.

I actually went to this mall quite a bit back in 1998-2000. It was amazing back then! That nightclub you saw, I've been to under two different names: Bourbon Street, and Metropolis. It was really cool because there were like four different sections, each with a different theme and music type. I met one of my former boyfriends there at Bourbon Street. While we were dating, we used to meet up at the mall for dates quite a bit, because he lived on the far west end of the Cinci suburbs, and I lived on the far east end, and it was a neat place to meet in between. The food court had a bunch of different restaurants to choose from. There was a discount movie theater there. And there was a HUGE arcade area. Like, there was a central area with a mini golf course, and that was surrounded by arcade stuff, then there were three or four rooms of MORE arcade games. It was incredible! There was also a ferris wheel in the mall (I think where that bouncy thing is now). We thought it was the perfect place to have dates. I loved that place so much! I took my kids there last year to explore, and I was just so sad seeing how empty it is now. It breaks my heart! :'(

Orson Welles in that clip reminds me of Dan Bell Also R.I.P. Comp USA :(

Sal, this is just excellent. The time and attention you put into your research really shows. Keep up the fantastic work. I always look forward to your videos.

Cincinnati, Ohio resident here. Forest Fair Mall used to be SO awesome in the 1990s. This mall used to have everything for everyone. While I didn't visit Forest Fair Mall much in my lifetime, I did enjoy it when I did. Seeing it empty now is making me think of the Willamette Mall from the video game Dead Rising minus the zombies and businesses.

😆 17:35 “I wonder if that dog has actually pooped in this mall before.”

A sad, yet beautiful mall.

I live near this mall and use to go there all the time back in 05-06 as they had a great retro game store. This place had a ton of problems though, for one rent was really expensive so stores would come and go in no time. It would attract a lot of problem youths and had little security to deal with them. There were also a lot of pop up stands that would yell at you to buy things. So you could hardly go anywhere without some kids doing jack ass things or an Indian guy yelling at you to buy his bootleg systems or a phone case. Not even a year after it's relaunch it was pretty much a ghost town.

There was a ferris wheel and rollercoaster and other rides in forest fair mall in its heyday.

I’m from Cincinnati. The guy behind the building of this mall was insane. This originally started out as a highly upscale mall. The upscale anchors that were first in this mall didn’t want to be part of it. So, the owner bought controlling interest in the stores. First, Cincinnati is fully of cheap Germans. Such an upscale endeavor would never work here. Cincinnatians came out of the woodwork to visit due to the novelty but quickly starting staying away. Secondly, it was in a working class area of town. Thirdly, it was located in an area that was largely not easily accessible (not being along major arterial interstate highways). Also, it was close to two already well established malls, one of being the first major suburban mall in the city that went through a renovation and expansion to become the city’s largest mall around that time. The upscale version of the mall very quickly failed. So, over the years they tried various discount strategies. Temporarily, the mall would make a brief comeback only to quickly die again because of the mall being largely inaccessible. One of those attempts brought in a Saks Fifth Avenue outlet. They failed because of the outlet mall built in Monroe not long afterward, where Off 5th moved to. Until late in the game, the condition of the mall stayed in pretty good shape. I went up there around 2014 after not having been there in probably five years (there was no reason to go there nor was it very convenient to visit). I was surprised during that 2014 visit how quickly the mall had deteriorated.....cracks in the sidewalk, grass growing out of the cracks, deterioration and rust in the entryways. I used to like visiting when the mall first opened. My little brother loved the amusement park. Could have been a very good idea, but it was poorly located.....I doubt it could have been supported in any area of Cincinnati.

Sorry, another comment! When you mentioned the 2008 license plate, it reminded me of how my brother noticed the elevator license expired in like 1997 or something crazy like that.

I'm seeing so much more of this place in your video than I saw when I personally visited it in August. This is extremely well produced, thank you. This is the holy grail of dead malls that are still open. Absolutely fascinating and a must-see.

Hey Sal, this mall has not abandoned, these stores has retired, even that Game Store here is now opening, alive, great video.

This was a terrific mall. Loved it back in the early 90's. Nightlife was great, there was a whole wing of bars, a piano bar, sports bars, dancing. They had it all.

Agree with Brian as an early subscriber and supporter its really cool to be a part and witness the exponential growth you have made in this channel and your exploration. Always top-notch from Sal! And thanks for the heads up for my trip there next week. Will make sure to see the infamous Security Car and get a picture to share in the discord chat! Excellent work Sal. I know this was a fun experience for you!

I lived in Ohio until 2010, when I saw that license plate I knew it was at least 11 years old. It was registered in February 2007, expired February 2008. I had that plate style on my car I bought in 07. I’m about 10 minutes in and it’s just depressing the outside of it. I remember Steve and Barry’s I worked at the one in Chapel Hill Mall in Akron Ohio in 2007 for a few months. Last I heard that mall is dying too. Congratulations on 10K subscribers!!!

Whoa, thats a whole lotta mall. This stuff really breaks my heart. Thank you for recording them before thry are gone and your great story telling. Always a beautiful job.

Video just showed up in my suggested videos, and now binge watching your videos. Great chill commentary love it! Subbed

OMG You just had to put "Macintosh Pro" playing in the background starting at 19:00! LOL That song is such a meme now!

Hey Sal, congrats on the 10k subs (one of your initial 500 here!) and this video is just so atmospheric and stylish. You did a fantastic job on the direction, the ambient score, all of it. That decade-old security vehicle is just chilling; the whole mall is like a pocket universe where a distant, post-collapse future is playing out in real time. Keep up the great work.

wow, what a huge mall. Amazing mall, amazing expedition Sal!

that Orson Welles commercial was a hoot! HAHAHA!! You sold me. I have totally subscribed now. This is my cure for slow work days at the desk. :)

Dude, this is great! You really are the Christopher Columbus of expeditioners! The Dali of loggers! The Mozart of dead malls! Mad respect bruh!

Sal this the best one yet. It's crazy how big this place is and it just never went anywhere.

Orson sounds like he had too much champagne. LOL! Great video Sal! New subscriber. Happy New Year!

Great job, seeing all these places, dreams lost, with great financial devastation, saddens my heart : (

I'm always afraid to go to dead malls at night, I always do my documenting during the day because of it. Excited to see what part two will look like cause I've never seen a dead mall at night!

Amazing video! This mall was nothing but a failure from year one. I appreciate how in depth you went into researching this mall. I can't see this mall succeeding as a retail center. Retail has failed so many times here that anyone with half a brain wouldn't try to stick a store into this building. Although I feel that rather than keeping count of how much money was spent her, people should keep track how many times the owners tried to "revitalize" it. The amount of revitalization attempts her is astounding. The mall appears abandoned with the amount of graffiti and disrepair. Great work :)

This is a wonderful Mall, so much detail everywhere, looks great

The restaurant at the 34:43 mark, was Ruby Tuesdays. I remember eating there when I was really young.

I almost never watch long-form content because I get bored/distracted easily. This however, I couldn't bring myself to look away, so much interesting stuff going on. Thanks for the great video Sal!

I really want that old security vehicle that Ford Escape I want it with a passion

I visited this mall quite often during its heyday back in the 1990s. If you could see what it once was you would be amazed. Inside in the center of the mall was a huge massive video gameroom, a ferris wheel, bumper cars, almost like a mini-amusement park inside the mall. Lazer Tag arena, Two different sets of movie theaters. I wish at the time I would have thought to take pictures of video of the inside as it was, but you really never expect something to turn out this way. I visit it a couple times a year now, its almost scary to walk through as it is alone. In the summer it is hot inside, in the winter it is cold. No power to the escalators, the elevator makes a loud clunky noise. in all fairness the place probably should be demolished now. There is no going back. Less than 5 miles away there is another shopping mall which sucked a lot of business away from this one. As it is now the land is probably more valuable than the building itself.

Following you through "Forest Fair Mall" my mind was flooded with the awesome possibilities that all of the wasted space presented, Can you imagine if the right team of developers would put their heads together , the possibilities are limitless, all types of private apartments, offices, recreational opportunities,supermarkets, eating establishments of all kinds, day care for the tenants, even church's and a school and on and on...with the rights heads together, it could be developed owned and operated by the tenants themselves. what a thought, I don't suppose that anyone thought of that themselves...again Sal, great job!

Superb, That comment, Drywalling Mishap, had me dying,lol,Full view and watching for that next log

EDIT: Nov. 5 2018 - 9:43p - At the 28:30-30:00 minute mark, it seems the audio encoding got carried away and it may be difficult to hear me. I’m sorry about that!!! I didn’t catch it until recently, and it takes nearly a whole day to encode from Premiere Pro, upload to KZfaq, then let KZfaq encode the footage itself...which it takes another day to get to 4K...it’s a lengthy process and it’s a bit too late to upload it again. Sorry about the glitch and I appreciate all your understanding!! Edit: As of Nov 2 at 12:30a EST we are now getting HD quality...but 4k still isn't in. Thanks to everyone that roughed it on 360p! I'd give it another look! You all rock!!! For some reason it’s only showing in 360p as of Nov 1 9:31p EST. If you could check back in a bit later to watch, it’s much more enjoyable in its native 4K, and I would only want you guys watching this in its best resolution. If it’s still not at 4K by morning, I’ll pull it and re-upload. Thanks :)

Much like the Myrtle Beach Mall in SC, BassPro is the only thing keeping the mall from going fully abandoned. Crazy. Great video, Sal!

wow, i grew up in this mall. my family and i would go almost every weekend. brings back so many memories

Damn, I'm only 10 minutes into it and it's really good so far. Couldn't believe you found a mall security vehicle, that was totally forgotten like that! Will watch the rest, later.

Wow, really cool. I love the food court concept as well. Very surprised they're keeping it open so far given how little seems to be left and how bad/dangerous some of the unused portions seem to be. Malls don't seem to be a concept that go over terribly well in Ohio, even more so than other parts of the country. The abandoned security vehicle was insane. Congrats on your subscriber milestone and will definitely look forward to part 2 and all your videos as always!

Orson Wells couldnt have been much more hammered than in that commercial fail :D

Awesome to see you made a video on my favorite place! Spent my childhood shopping here with my family, and for the better part of 10 years now it’s been abandoned like this. All through highschool me and all my buddies would come here every day after school to just walk around, or skip class and come walk around in the mornings, even though there isn’t a store open in the place we loved coming here. You can still sneak into the movie theater and go into every empty theater room and see the screens, and all the old history left behind.. I still come here and walk around a couple times a month. Love this mall!

That was absolutely awesome Sal!

Smh the should just bring it up to code and make the stores into apartments or lofts that would bring in money quick

I’m glad that you finally released this video!

Awesome work! This is the first video I've seen from you, and I enjoyed all of it. You've earned another subscriber!

Arcade Legacy was going strong for awhile. It's still open in your video. Really odd because you had to walk half way through a dead mall to get to it. A lot of people actually go to the mall just to jog in the winter. The mall is practically open, with almost no stores left in it. Bass Pro Shop is still open and might be the largest store still operating out of that mall.

The security vehicle is gone now sadly, went there in january

Hey, I think it’s really cool how you did this about the mall because I live like 5 min away and I have learn a lot of new cool stuff

Hello, Mr. Sal :) What a beautiful Mall! It's one of a kind, and I love the Food Court! You did a great job videoing it. Great background music and I love all of the great information about the site. My favorite picture is the one that looks like underwater. My whole family is bingewatching your channel, thanks again for bringing us all over the country to these beautiful places !

As a resident of this part of Cincinnati I saw the mall buildt and crash into the condition its in right now. The restaurant in the upper level you were at was a ribs place with a bar. Across from it was a Ruby Tuesdays. All of the colorfull aspects of this mall were done in 2004 after it was remodeled the last and final time. It had one befor that …..and a partial before that. Forest park is a high crime part of town. It was put in the wrong area of town. Most people were afraid to go on there because of the gangs.

Theory about the theming, Cincinnati is right on the river separating it from Kentucky, with the Newport Aquarium being on the other side.

Watched the whole video! Fantastic by the way!!

LOVE your Orson Welles commercial.....I wish all video commercials were like this! I would gladly watch! Great Job!👍

I'd love to hear what a Feng shui specialist would have to say about this. There's a reason it just cannot ever get off the ground. Hmmm.

I can only imagine The amount of mold inside the walls and ceilings

Love the sponsor! You are such a hoot! History is REALLY important even though some want us to forget! You got me!

You have a nice narration voice and the music adds a nice touch. So unsettling to think how much went into making such a massive structure only to be left to ruins. Kind of feels like a metaphor for the world. But as long as we’re still here, we’ve got something.

Loved that background mall music Sal

I live in Cincinnati, on the west side, but I had been to this mall before. I remember a trip there with my father. The rides, the movie. Its interesting to see. Like surf Cincinnati. I guess I thought those things would always be there, when I was young.

SAAAAAAL you’re always keeping it jelty! Love ya man! That security vehicle was fugged up btw!

As someone who lives in Cincinnati, I can honestly say that the only reason I've gone to this mall in the past 4 years was for the movie theater (that recently closed down) and for Arcade Legacy. Arcade Legacy is pretty cool and is one of the only reasons people go here anymore.

The parking garage lighting fixtures at 8:51 were made by a company I worked for in Calif called Kim Lighting. They were introduced in 1991 and were immensely popular between 1994 - 2007. There are 5000 alone at Dallas Ft Worth airport. This was pre-LED days.

The club was called Metropolis originally and actually was 3 different themed clubs inside. I used to go there in my 20's.

This looks like it would’ve been amazing to shop in. What cool architecture and such potential.

I love the colors and aesthetic of this mall, it's very whimsical and soothing to me.

I live about 10 min from this mall! When I go to bass pro shops I always take a walk around.

I’m late but I stumbled onto this and my mind is blown. I worked here in 2010 when Claire’s was open. It was depressing then and even worse now. My mind is blown.

Thanks for the tour Sal. Your research as usual was top notch

This was my family’s go-to mall as a child. I remember riding the Ferris wheel each visit. Saw Jurassic Park, Hook, Aladdin, Home Alone, and so many others at the theater there. Haven’t stepped inside since 2007.

Trixie Mattel grafiti at 8:55 complete with "oh honey" 😂😂😂

That place was thriving in the nineties. Time out zone, Cinemas, Biggs grocery store. Bass Pro Shop is the only thing at the end of that mall keeping it there. Once they go, it'll go. They are talking about turning into apartment housing . Sad, I remember good childhood memories in that dump

I gotta get to bed and will watch this in the morning with my Coffee. Dang this Looks to be a good one.. Thank you very much Sal

Noticed someone else mentioned the arcade, which is a pretty cool place (all-you-can-play entry fee style). Last I was there, it also served as an indie used home game and console store. Also wanted to say that one store you mentioned, Dawahares, is actually pronounced "Daw-hairs." It was a fairly successful family-owned regional clothing store in the 80's-90's, started in near-by Lexington, KY (and colloquially called Doll Hairs). They are no longer in business. I went to this mall as a kid and was blown away by the sheer enormity of it. Went back just a couple years ago to go to the aforementioned arcade, having no idea it was housed in the same building. It hit me that I had been there some 20 years before as I was walking thru the main mall. Crazy nostalgia trip like none other. Thanks for the video!