Hey guys! Thanks so much for watching! Sorry for the mispronunciation of Henrico, I had a fever and pretty bad cold while recording this...I've since learned it's pronounced "Hen-rye-co"...apologies! I'll see you guys in 2020 for Episode 50! Patreon - www.patreon.com/salvatoreamadeo Second Channel - kzfaq.info Discord - discord.gg/g4tKbpu

This is my local mall. It's vastly more dire now than when this video was originally shot.

I think the saddest part was the prize section of the arcade. Utterly abandoned, lacking the bustle of youth clambering for cheap trinkets of victory. Great video, as always

its amazing how many dead malls there are in the USA, I think about all the memories, the people shopping, moms with their kids, families having fun, teens hanging out, now its all gone. Dead. Great Vid again.

That background music and those commercials are alone worth it to watch these videos 😎

You know a mall has problems if it caters more to walkers than spenders.

Pretty insane to see the current condition of this once thriving mall. Before leaving for Colorado 3 years ago this place was still doing decent, but nothing like it was during the early 2000s and late 90s. The FYE was my go to store for Metal albums, and it never disappointed. It's sad to see this young mall coming to an end, but malls have never really been my thing. This is just another reminder that leaving VA was one of the best things I've ever done. Farewell VCC! Also, the county is pronounced Hen-Rye-Co. Hen-Reeko had me in tears! Great video as always though!

This place was soo beautiful! I love how bright and sunny it is. It reminds me of going to the mall in the early-mid 90s when I was small. None of my local malls look like that anymore, so it was cool to see. Thank you and I look forward to log 50 :)

This was my childhood mall. It's so sad to see it in this state. After Short Pump opened and the recession hit, this place was never really the same. Great footage and a great history. I even learned a few new things!

I lived in Richmond for a little over a year in 2009 and I went to this mall quite a bit since I was living in Short Pump. Hell our dishes came from that JC Penny. It was starting to die then but for the most part most store fronts were occupied. This mall has been sinking for years and every video I see it gets worse and worse. There wasn't all the mold on the outside like you showed at the beginning. It is a matter of time before this mall gets closed and boarded up. It was a nice mall in its day. You got a lot of good footage. Security there can be assholes and they don't like cameras. Chesterfield Town Center was another mall we went to a lot and it stayed really busy. South Park we went to a few times and we were there on one Saturday evening and it was downright scary. There were cops everywhere that night and some of the characters there looked dangerous. That was the last time I went to South Park. We were within a couple of miles of Short Pump Town center but the only thing I went there for was the Apple store. There was another outdoor mall we went to at the time but I can't think of the name. It was somewhat upscale too. You really dug into the history. More than any other video I have seen and there are several out there on this place. It is sinking fast. You must have been sitting on this footage for a while since you made this in 2018. The most recent video I seen about 2/3 is empty now.

When I saw this... it’s cool to see this Mall. I used to work at this Mall for a short time, and I am glad it is documented for the future generations. To answer your query; no. I don’t recall any major renovations to VCC since it opened.

There is so much beauty in this mall.

What’s crazy is how back in 2005 there was thousands of people in this mall. I was around ten then. As a teenager it was a slow degrade and by 2018 it was just like this. Makes me really sad because I had some good memories here.

I grew up at this mall and worked here in the 90's. It's surreal to see it in such an abandoned state. It used to be the place to go if you lived in the area.

We have outgrown the model.. kept malls resuscitated for as long as possible.... Combination, living, commerce, shopping and education centers are the way to go... Big open areas dedicated to retail is the past.

The robin reliant, fond memories from ‘93 and when me and my mates had little to no worries as we were only 16/17 at the time and life was different back then and health and safety was the last thing on our minds, we used to jump in the reliant and purposely try to get it on its side going down a snowy hill/road (private land) as it made an excellent sled .... we had success on many occasions, needless to say booze and the odd joint was needed to ease the pain of being thrown about when the reliant tipped..... The sad thing is both my mates passed away a few years ago and memories is all I have now of the robin reliant.

The SEARS at Prembroke Mall in Virginia Beach did something like this. They cut their floor space by like 40% and leased it out to a brand new FreshMarket grocery store. The remaining smaller SEARS store then reduced its floor space even further and leased that out to a Nordstom Rack. I believe the SEARS at Prembroke is closed now.

You called it by it's correct name the Reliant Robin. 😀👍. Its often called the Robin Reliant by mistake. Infact in the UK most people would call it a Robin Reliant.

Yes we had three wheeled cars in the UK and they were dangerous! Where in the heck Sal did you get this advert. Batman never came as an accessory

I live in Richmond,VA. I remember when VCC opened I was just eleven years old. The mall never was updated for modern times and was the same until it was demolished. Henrico county is building a rec and sports center in which they are building now. But I will always remember the times I had at that mall.

That food court is incredible!!

Love your Chesapeake Square video!! Never seen anyone else talk about it like that before!

Just a pedantic note...it's Henr-EYE-co County, not Hen-REE-co County.

That arcade used to be the shit back in the day and actually used to be bigger. When the mall started to die they moved that back wall closer and put only non-redemption games in there to "entertain". I could tell you exactly what stores used to be there. I remember going there when I was 7 and there used to be this guy sitting at a two person table in the beginning of the food court charging people $5 to try and win a match of chess with him. I loved this video. Very nicely done.

i remember Fun N Games at Security Square Mall in the 80's.....Good to see another.

Sal, there are many urban explorers and dead mall youtubers. Several of them I like. But you stand out as a poet among them. I like your meticulous recounting of a mall's history and your script and narration is on point. Melancholic is what comes to mind. Like an ode to a dying era.

Awesome video!! Congrats on your 2019 accomplishments! Can't wait to see what 2020 has in store!

This is so sad. I grew up here and still live here and as a kid my mom always took me to VCC. It makes me sad to see it close.

I saw Crystal Skull for free (I worked at a movie theater at the time). They lost me at the atomic bomb detonation.

Thanks for the tour Sal! I always love your videos, the narrative and the history are great!! Happy New Year and congrats on 49 episodes!!💚

Seeing that pretty awesome looking arcade with no redemption center makes me sad. I miss my local FYE, they wasted so much money on redesigning for a smaller location, just to fill it with junk instead of the stuff I loved to buy...movies and music!

I couldn't stop chuckling at the Reliant Robin advert. Always remembered it as Mr. Bean's on-road nemesis and later on from a Top Gear segment. As for albums I purchased at a FYE or similar stores, I somehow brought a Dream Theater CD many many moons ago--all thanks to a YTMND meme regarding 'speedpicking'. Likely still my most random purchase of all time. 14:15 - Does that mean we can blame the people who were either dropping food for the birds to eat and crap out for the lack of mall traffic~? Because we all know simply making it harder for the birds to get inside the mall makes too much sense for mall management. :P At first I thought the mall looked really nice with the ample natural lighting that made things look brighter and lifted moods in the process, but the footage that Anthony at Faded Commerce took reminded me of how poor shape Virginia Center Commons is. Congrats on the 30K subscribers and here's to a 2020 full of amazing Expedition Logs~! :D

I can name a handful of malls that still have FYE: York Galleria, Park City Center (Lancaster), Capitol City Mall (Harrisburg), Berkshire Mall (Wyomissing, PA).

Sal, I was waiting for this!! The way you do these just keeps me intrigued. You’re amazing. Have a safe & happy New Year.

One of my most memorable CD purchases in a retail store was way back in the mid-'90s when I went looking for -- and actually found -- a copy of the score from the film "Aliens" on the Varèse Sarabande label, specifically the original 1987 release. At that point it was a 10-year-old film and I never expected to find an NOS copy of its score anywhere, and of course this was before the days of the web when you could just order whatever you wanted from eBay. I was super geeked over it.

Thank you Sal, this video was well worth it & it brought back to me good memories of this place before it went down the path it did today. This is one of my local malls that was part of my life. Its a bummer to see what had happened but I'm hopeful that the future project will go through. Again, thank you for doing this mall in particular, I wish you could've seen Eastgate/Fairfield Commons before they tore it down & the only other mall that's in rough shape is in Regency Square but that's getting an overhaul on its own. You rock Sal & so does Faded Commerce, Retail Archelogy, retailpocalypse, WallieB Ace's Adventures, Dan Bell & many more!

Good video. Happy New Year.

Great work man!!!!

Congrats on the 30k subs. This place brings back some memories. Haven't been there in years and its right down the road.

I grew up near this mall. I spent a lot of time there in the 90's and worked there for a brief time in the 00's. When my old greek grandfather would babysit me he'd take me to VCC and fall asleep in the food court, and I'd wander around the mall for several hours. I had my 8th birthday dinner at the restaurant patio (4:55) that was a Ruby Tuesday's at the time. The arcade (6:00) was twice as big and had a DDR machine in the back corner. I think the FYE (11:30) used to be another music store called The Wall, and I remember buying from there everything from Weird Al Yankovic cassette tapes to Tool CDs as I grew older and my music tastes changed. I remember being held and questioned by a mall cop at the fountain (15:00) with a group of friends as a teenager for 'excessive mischief'. Thank you so much for the video :-)

I remember Top Gear attempting to turn a Relant Robin into a Space Shuttle! A spectacular, entertaining failure.

I worked for Simon when I was the Operations Director for Virginia Center Commons back in 1999-2001, I left there and started managing the Fashion Centre at Pentagon City until 9/11 happened and I was just across the street there from the Pentagon. Amazingly I had worked overnight for some holiday & related decoration planning for the upcoming shopping season; I left the property around 6:30am that morning and got home to Columbia, Maryland then I switched on the tv and seen the first tower being hit with plane #1. I then left mall management in the VA area and started working with my partner doing operations for his architecture firm, now just managing medical issues with his cancer. Left one frying pan to another!!!

truly a beautiful mall, sad that it's doing poorly, keep up the good content sal, I love hearing some of the history behind the properties.

15:53 one penny could have made my day man..

I was just rewatching this and weirdly you and I not only visited the same gas station on this trip but quite literally the SAME PUMP, 2-3 years apart! That’s wild.

I remember FYE, Sam Goody, and Suncoast Motion Picture. I bought a lot of Star Trek TNG and DS9 episodes on VHS at Suncoast. I also remember the first TNG VHS I bought was at an Incredible Universe. It was not a mall store but it was an amazing store of its time.

Sad to see such a beautiful mall like this

I bought many albums at the fye in Chesapeake square. Even bought a five finger death punch poster lol

I love your videos, but they also make me sad!

RVA I remember when that mall use to jump when I was teenager .... Had my first job there smh memories

FYE is still operating here in Michigan and Pa. Love that store.

Great episode Log 49i love it

Sal that Thames TV logo took me right back to my kidhkod - as does the Reliant Robin!!

Awesome ,thanks for the economics lesson. Once again another great LOG.

Man, what is it with Burlington, they are in all the dead malls. They are not even that great of a store, but they are huge spaces. Not even sure why they are around these days, but weird that they are always in the shadows of these dead malls. Great job Sal!

I miss the Sam Goodie stores. They were very open to selling my music every time I released new albums. And in 1999, I was given placement in the listening booths throughout multiple cities in my area. I sold thousands of dollars worth of albums because of it! Good times to release music! And I thank them for giving me the chance at the time!

Subscribed. You do great work. Keep it up!

Great Video Sal. 😊👍❤

Great assessment of Eddie Lambert

These dead malls hurt my heart. I grew up in St. Louis, and my first experiences with them are Jamestown Mall and Northwest Plaza. So many icons from my youth just gone.

The robin, guaranteed to flip over from a sneezing passerby! :D

Ha, people are leaving food and water for the birds!! Very cool. I'd do that too.

Happy new year Sal have a good one!

Thanks for reminding me I had stopped At this mall several years ago 😂 Happy New Year.

Update 9/21/2022: Apparently the stores left in the mall have been told by mall management to get out by October 31, 2022. Supposedly the mall will be converted/torn-down-and-rebuilt? into a "sports complex." For many of the remaining shops, this short notice will hit them hard.

Nicely done sir.

My daughter worked at that FYE in the late nineties. Great job on the research and video!

I love fye and have bought 100 of CD there and I have been to that fye a lot over the years. Thanks for filming that store. Great ex log

Thanks for covering my middle school mall 👍

The Robin Reliant 3 wheeler!!! We still have some of those going today!

and on this note, on all hallows eve, Virginia Center Commons have officially closed their doors for good.

I remember I bought Smashing Pumpkins - Siamese Dream at a sam goody in 93'. One of my favorites of the 90s

so sad to aee the malls going down not good

My place I remember as a child was called Camelot Music at the OLD (and long gone) Salisbury Mall.

Fye is still around in 2 of my local malls the apple blossom mall in Winchester and the valley mall in hagerstown md also York Galleria. Was in one tonight lol. They bought Sam goody and the wall.

Robin Reliant! I'm from Yorkshire UK. A few are still in use.

Definitely add Midway Mall in Elyria, OH to your 2020 schedule before it closes as well as Peru Mall in Peru, IL and Ford City Mall in Chicago

It was a great space back in the day. It is sad to see it go.

Happy new year!

In California, Warehouse was a huge music chain, Sal. What albums stand out to me are The Smiths, Madonna and Yaz. And oh yeah, I remember flipping through the poster racks.

I have been to Virginia center Commons mall probably hundred times,I use to love that mall after cloverleaf mall closed

Never did much business in Sam Goody or FYE. My cast album collection mostly came from Camelot Music and Record Bar in the late 70s and early 80s. Can't say there was any one album that stood out. I had everything from classical to Led Zepplin to Duran Duran. Thanks again for another fabulous video and a whole year of them in 2019. Can't wait for all that 's coming in 2020!

I do remember FYE. I also remember how the one nearest me devolved and finally died. It went from a mega-store in the middle of the mall at its height, to a tiny store at its end. Another excellent video, Sal. Well done.

About Fye: My local mall (Singing Hills Mall in Sioux City) still has an Fye and they show no signs of closing soon. It's still a staple in my (still ongoing) childhood/adolescence.

Sorry that I missed the Live Chat, Sal. You did a great job with #49, and I was deeply struck from the beginning when I saw the blackened brick exterior of the Mall. There was so many closed stores, and I couldn’t help but wonder just how those that work there feel as they have to travel to a job where staffing is inevitably minimal at best, and they are battling sales that would be near or close to $0 in sales for the day or on a majority of days in the week. It has to be demoralising, from part-time worker to manager. I want to thank you for the extensive mileage that you have made in 2019, and I look forward to seeing your ExLogs in 2020! (BTW I have driven a Reliant Robin! The gearshift has to be the WORST I’ve ever had to battle with in my experience with many a horrible motors!) Happy New Year!

Local here, the mall is currently in the process of being demolished!

Oh man. Sam Goody ad with the mention of Theater of Pain. Those where the days! Lol

Very pretty entrance. We had a ton of birds too. One little Finch =-*- splat.. Jus kidding.

Yes! Thank you Sal, with this video you've made it to my backyard. Now this isn't my hometown mall, but this is a mall I visited alot between 09-18. I still work about 5min south of Virginia Center Commons off US 1 Brook Road. I never got to visit this mall in its prime but I witnessed its demise! The first time I visited this mall they were in the process of closing the last Dillard's location. It was all down hill from there then when the Macy's closed it spiraled down really fast. The last time I walked the entire mall was around 2016. Up until early last year I would grab lunch occasionally from Great Steak but I would only walk into the food court being on lunch break. Update: Both access roads leading to the mall off of route 1 where the big VCC sign is at and the other entrance next to the Wendy's have been repaved. Did the county do that because that's their domain or did the mall pay for that I don't know, nor do I know if they've done anything with the parking lot or other county coding violations. I'm on vacation the rest of this week. When I go back to work next week I'll swing by there and keep everybody informed of what I hear. On a lighter note my favorite memories of this mall is buying my Iron Maiden North American Tour 2012 t-shirt from Hot Topic 2months before I saw the band play live in Northern VA. I also remember the last 2 CD's I bought at the now closed FYE. Halestorm The Strange Case Of........ and Avenged Sevenfold Hail To The King! Both great modern day albums IMO. Thanks again Sal, you're the #1 dead mall guy!

an update: this mall closed in october 2022 and i had zero clue. googled it yesterday to go film a video and found out they demolished it. so so sad about it.

Sad this mall is gone I miss going there with friends

Been to this mall before remember buying things at the Sears before it closed

Yes FYE is still in the Plymouth Meeting Mall, and I think that the one on Chestnut St . in Philadelphia is still in business.

We had a huge Burlington ( for some reason I think it was called Burlington Coat Factory) it was a repurposed Builder's Square or D.I.Y, next to an AMC 6 movie theatre & Toys-R-Us. . All gone. Tumbleweed Plaza😂

*I enjoy watching this channel when I'm high on cannabis, like right now.*

Yes, let's provide a water feature for guest enjoyment. Here's the twist: It will never be turned on.

We had an FYE at our local Mall (Viewmont Mall) ages (it seems) ago. I used to get posters there and I think I bought my son, a young teenager at the time, a Five Nights At Freddy's T-Shirt for Christmas one year. :D I think I also bought a CD there...I THINK it was CW McCall's CD with Convoy and Roses For Mama (that makes me cry to this DAY!) on it. Wow. That was a LONG time ago.

your my hero

Here in California we used to have a mall in Pomona called the Pomona Valley Center, then after some time it changed into the Indian Hill Mall, now it's the Village at Indian Hill...a lot changed in that area. There used to be Sears, Zody's, etc. Still remember going there as a kid now...well...not really sure I haven't been there in years. I know the local school district bought some of the property and converted part of it into a school or something. If I'm not mistaken, the Sears is now a swap meet. If you ever make it to CA, check it out some time. I know there is also another local mall called Montclair Plaza, but that one is still hanging on.

Lol this is the second video in a row where you mentioned Indiana Jones and the cursed 4th movie XD