I managed the Sear’s Portrait Studio in 2004. Every storefront was open and the energy was wonderful. I managed Torrid in Crossgates in 2001 or 2002. I remember how energetic the malls were. I visited Albany just before the pandemic and all the malls seemed lackluster. Broke my heart. Even Colony Center didn’t have the same charm.

If Bath & Body Works closes it is definitely a dead mall

I remember when this mall opened. I was fifteen years old, hobbling with a boot on a broken foot. And no, there were no real refurbishments at any point.

It always surprises me how nice these malls look inside, such a waste with no customers. Also, I like that you drive around the property at the end.

I predict when the last mall in the US closes, there will shortly thereafter be a new retail phenomenon introduced whereby large enclosed spaces will be populated by stores that were previously only online. Officials will state "people decided they really wanted to see, touch and experience the things they are buying and are tired of the online experience" and, voila, the mall craze will be back. But it'll be awhile yet. Retail is built on sand, and what's in today will be out tomorrow.

70% of the tenants were vacant

More mall walkers than shoppers.

There's a radio station in the mall (w/ a parody of the old MTV logo). That's new!

I miss those good times where Malls used to be packed, but now online shopping has taken malls down.

I still call it Rotterdam Square Mall. 😂 This was quite a busy mall back in the day, complete with a carousel in the food court. The Time Out arcade, which was in the food court, was pretty sweet. I remember having pictures taken with my cousins at the Sears, which closed in 2016. As far as I remember, this mall didn't really have any real remodeling. The idea when it was taken over was to refurbish the building. That clearly never happened. BTW, The bar/arcade had bowling when we went years ago. I think it was 5-6 lanes.

Check out Riverfront Mall in Amsterdam, NY. It’s a repurposed dead mall with NY State offices and other businesses inside, and is quintessential 1970s.

I believe there was a Sears here back in the day.

It’s dead Tom. So sad what has happened to all of these malls. And do they think a sign is going to keep people out of the state offices? They need a secured door there.

Kohan, Moonbeam or Namdar, the kiss of death trifecta!

the empty spot at 7:58 used to be a friendlys in the mid 90s when i was little. every time i walked by there i always smelled the amazing grilled cheese they had cooking in there.

Thank you for this video! It was cool and interesting!

A dead mall with a graveyard. Might be a first!

Those Christmas snowflake decorations really add to the festive ambience ... and why bother with that tiny tree !

Such a shame to see all those stores closed up. 😢

I was there the other day for my 2nd time. To check out the Aquarium and it was nice. But the place is dead. It used to be owned by Wilmorite.

I live 5 minutes away and haven't been there in 5 years, and that was for only the aquarium. There are actually more stores operating in your video than I figured were there!

I remember going here alot as a child, there used to be a fish store in one of the smaller store locations close to the center fountain, that was my favorite place. We have goldfish and we bought lots of fish food there.

Not sure if 21:36 is clever ("BING-O.K.!") or just too lazy/cheap to repaint. Thanks for the update video although I see absolutely nothing has changed in years.

The only thing I remember about this mall is that at the front entrance it used to have the merry go round but I dunno if they still have it or they removed it, but man those were the days 😢

"They built the mall right next to a cemetery - you can see it right here." OK, maybe they shouldn't really lead with that as their sales pitch. 🤣

First off, that cemetery is creepy AF, and is a perfect example of money trumping decency any chance it gets, but that being said, back to the mall. It's for sure a dead mall, but I would say it's the most "lived in" mall I've seen that I would say is dead. Most dead malls the planters are empty or gone, tiles are missing from the floor and this mall looks well maintain, so can a nice looking mall still be dead? Even though many shops were closed, they had inventory on the floor and looked ready for business, which is something else not typical of dead malls. With the arcade being closed Mon & Tues, maybe other shops have that same policy as maybe the mall is way empty on those days? It for sure looked more dead from the outside, as it needed paint and the asphalt looked beat, but that aquarium art looked amazing. That fountain was insane, and that's a feature I miss as well, but that one was huge(to big IMO), and I can see why it closed, the up keep had to be massive. Every generation since forever loses something with the passage of time and as a kid of the 70's & 80's, the mall is mine, as they are gone or dying never to return. The only thing better than an amusement park growing up for me was a trip to the mall, and in some cases, the mall was still better. I grew up in Los Angeles, so we had some of the best, one of which was "Old Towne Mall" in Torrance. Not to far from Del Amo which is still open and at one point one of the countries biggest and best malls(might still be). Well Old Towne actually had 2 dark rides in the mall, a shooting gallery, carousel and often felt like a Renaissance fair meets a Sid & Marty Croft fever dream. As it had people making things in real time, like candles, metal work, the planters had trees and old style street lamps, it was truly one of a kind. And a lot of it's best stuff was gone or had stopped by the time I became a regular and it was still insanely awesome. If anyone wants to see it, here's a link: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/acebnLeWvM2Xl2g.html

I wonder when that theater originally closed? I worked at a Loews back in the 90s. We were the only one around that wasn't rebranded Sony. It was subsequently demolished around '03 when Sony built a 14 screen cineplex a couple blocks over.

I remember this mall. It existed before 87. I remember going to see movies at the movie theater in the rear of the mall. It was separate entrance but attached to the mall. I remember driving out to the theater because they were an independent theater and they showed the NC-17 and NR films no other theater would show, back in the 80s and early '90s before the Internet. I remember that they only showed the NC-17 and NR movies at Midnight. The movies were never that great, which was a real disappointment. The other theater that was independent the year that the film Showgirls was released was at Exit 2 Central Ave across from Colonie Center. There was a stand alone box retailer around back and the theater was before you got to that retailer. I remember going to see Showgirls, the NR version, at that theater in the middle of the day and there were about 4 older women and 2 younger couples and myself and that was it. It was really cool because the older women all yelled at the same time in one scene that I took wanted to yell. Really awesome There were some movies that were just incredible seeing in the theater. Event Horizon was one of those films that was incredible

We were there over February break and visited the aquarium which is fun and the new dinosaur fantasy museum. Lots of cool stuff in the aquarium definitely worth the trip!

Dead Mall for sure,Tom. Probably also a Haunted Mall.

It's definitely a dead mall. I grew up going to this mall when it was Rotterdam Square with family in the late 80's when it opened & through the 90s. It had all your popular stores all the malls had & stayed current until the early 2000's when it started to show its age. I believe its demise was not keeping up on maintenance & updating as the 2 other malls in the area, Colonie Center & Crossgates Mall did. Added with the fact, that area in general has seen an economical decline over the past decade or so. Sad. Would be interested to see you do a walkthrough of Colonie Center and Crossgates Mall in the future.

When going into places you might be allowed, sometimes you can say "can you tell me where the bathroom is" as soon as you encounter someone. That was a huge kmart!!

I keep getting the name of it wrong but the mall close to king Road and Tully was my teenage and childhood memories. When I was a little boy it was a Golf course. They knocked a ball over the fence they would give me a dime for everyone I brought back. Then all of a sudden they got really rude and wanted me to hunt them for free. Maybe they thought they would scare a little boy. From that time on every time I found one on the way to school I would hide it in my pocket. After a few months I had quite a collection of golf balls at home 😅😅

A beautiful but dead mall no doubt bout that ❤

No refurbishments I can see. I took a co op job while in college at Northeastern University in Boston for 6mo. working in nearby Schenectady at GE in late 88 early 89. That interior looks the same. I lived in Clifton Park but used to go every week mostly at lunch.

Am I the only one that notices that in almost everyone of his videos there's the same music and a baby crying?

I believe this mall was at one point owned by the same company that owned Wilton Mall in Saratoga, and they too had that kind of water fountain over in the center of the mall.

Rotterdam always has fishing and pontoon boats in the middle of its mall, surprised you didn’t see any.

nice video. I heard of this mall before

If the Bath and Bodyworks pulled out, shutting off the lights was a good call on the power company's part.

You are better off going to the Albany area malls such as Colonie Center or Crossgates. Both are much better. Kohan is terrible. They don’t care about revitalizing their malls. They need to pay their bills. If Kohan cannot pay their bills, the cities and towns should shut down the company.

13:35 What, no candy purchase? LOL

I missed this Place I wish they did something & put maybe a JCPenneys & some other Stores around or even other Shoe Store besides Encore which in my Opinions is ok I missed this Place thruout my Childhood I've been so in Love with this Mall & even these Days I hate Croosgates in Albany & many others I didnt wanna be around to much Crowds

I said this about dying and dead malls. They could turn these places into a mix of retail and housing. Like a mini town in one spot. So much potential just wasted. This mall was good before. The carsoul was really nice.

Looks dead to me. I think I read somewhere under 50% capacity for stores is dying and this is way under that

Its definatly dead it's sad malls are extinct today

this mall still looks like it's in great condition just needs some solid tenants to create a draw to the location. great location

should be called rotting damn!

Looks like the Avenue may have been a Fashion Bug

Kohan, Moonbeam, Namdar, CBL, and others are the slumlords of the mall industry.

"Sears enthusiasts" ... really? Is this a thing?!

go to the king of prussia mall or the mall of america!

Dead mall walking but it does look more alive than Emerald Square Mall. My mother visited the Macy's in Emerald Square mall this past weekend and she said it did not look good so I won't be surprised if that store gets closed in the next Macy's wave of closures.

I think you need to go back to the mall there's other things going on in this mall than you think it's building itself back up

Rotterdam? uuhm I live in Rotterdam in the Netherlands.

Ya this mall used to have a fountain and now they turned it into a display but I think that's just temporary and they'll probably put the fountain back since its still there do you think so or no it's gone for good?

So..... it's not haunted? also the names of towns in New York are wacky LOL.

For sure dead!

It’s dead alright.

It's dead

mom & pop stores in prime spaces are signs your mall is dying