Willow Grove Park: Past & Present (The Goldbergs Mall)

No video

Willow Grove Park: Past & Present (The Goldbergs Mall) - Raw & Real Retail

Рет қаралды 7,246

5 жыл бұрын

This is our walkthrough of the Willow Grove Park Mall in Willow Grove, PA from November 13, 2018. There is also some footage from a 1956 promotional video spliced in to give some contrast between its life as an actual amusement park in the 1940s and 1950s and today, as a high end fashion mall.
Songs used in this video (in order):
Second Direction - Freeland
Brian Bennett & Alan Hawkshaw - String Boogie
Orchester Gus Brendel - Shopping Center
Zbig Górny And His Orchestra - Funky Eyes
Geoff Bastow - Fillet Of Soul
Second Direction - Steps Ahead
-------------------------------
I'd like to say a few words about being an ambassador to your local malls. We have been taking the time to visit all the malls within a reasonable driving distance to check up on them and see how they are doing. Also filming an updated video every year or so, regardless of the lack of many changes, just so there is a video record of the health over time. We think this is an important thing to keep tabs on, especially in these wildly turbulent times. The current health emergency has accelerated the impending Retail Apocalypse we've all been talking about these last several years. This was already a big problem, but the shutdowns and restrictions have made the issue 5x worse and likely hastened the death of the enclosed shopping mall.
I know we've all been on pins and needles wondering how bad the fallout is going to be from all of this.
There really is no way to know exactly unless we ALL go and do our small part to make it known how it turns out. I implore you, if you have the means to pick an area you would like to be an ambassador for, and go document your local malls. Whatever your medium, it doesn't matter, any and all documentation is necessary and vital in this day and age. Whether it be on Social Media, Flickr, KZfaq, any platform gets it out there and preserves it for posterity. We can't paint this picture unless we all grab a brush...
----------------------------------
We utilize the value-for-value model here at RRR. Our product is free, and we're not asking you to pay for it. If you received value in any way from watching RRR, you can help us by donating, if you feel like it. Any little bit helps us to keep corporations and advertisers out of the decision making process. Your donation will keep us ad-free, and in turn, it will give us the opportunity to get to more far-flung locations to help tell this tale of retail instability.
This is a non-profit project and every penny will go back into the gas tank for future trips!
/ rawandrealretail
ITM

Пікірлер: 30

@ac_junior72 5 жыл бұрын

The town has changed so much since I was a kid! I have photos of me in a stroller at Willow Grove Park - when it was an Amusement park. My early memories of it though is when it was fenced up, closed and simply run down and vacant in the late 70s. The "Alps" mountain was always visible, but falling apart, you could make out the roller coaster in the growing trees. Next door when I would bowl at WG Lanes (once the largest in the World), there was a broken fence, along with a stone bridge and gazebo....but i never went inside. I vividly recall the area cleared out for the new mall. LOVED it as a kid, teen. Lol, just like Adam Goldberg "The Goldbergs," I spent way too much time at Challenges arcade. 😆- The real Adam G nails the local Willow Grove, Jenkintown, Abington area spot on in the show. Personally I think this mall has changed as well. It used to have old photos, banners from the original WG Park all over - gave the mall a nostalgic, unique identity...not anymore. **edit, yeah at 18:05, thankfully they kept the replica horses hanging from the ceiling over the fountain. :) They are putting in a huge movie theater in the mall, Studio Movie Grill for a "late 2019" opening. The rumor of slapping in a big cineplex in the mall goes back to the late 80s..just never could get one approved. MAYBE this new movie theater will spark some life into entire mall, when I go - with the exception of mid Dec, peak Holidays - ...there is very little foot traffic anymore. Seems to be the case with a lot of malls all over. Well, except the super massive King Of Prussia Mall about 15 miles west. **The real Kremp Florist's (also in The Goldbergs) is about 2 blocks away, been there for decades. Just across the street from them was a movie theater way back in the day, old stores dating back to the 1920's-30's. Sadly that entire area has been leveled and a massive apartment complex/ with ground level stores is still beeing constructed. It's about 75-80% completed.

@whoareyoutoaccuseme 4 жыл бұрын

it's heartbreaking. Why do the majority of people crave newer, modern, bland, boring so much? If only they didn't, the developers wouldn't give them what they think they want.

@ac_junior72 3 жыл бұрын

@SamAdams PaleAle That is a dead project from what I can tell. I just drove by that 90 min ago...the construction wall is down, basically a blank wall with doors, no signs. (A blue painted wall on the side..) Covid and no movie attendance didn't help what so ever...but this place was extremely slow moving before the pandemic. Sad, this COULD have helped the mall..who knows. But going inside (just went the Apple store), walked around and eh, it's going downhill fast. Sad.

@DavidRector Жыл бұрын

I come from the future. The apartment complex there is fully built. I live right near there. I remember the old buildings, but they all looked run down since I could remember as a child.

@MichaelJones-sp1mi Жыл бұрын

What year are the modern shots taken? Looks post-2000's renovation.

@melissal8445 2 жыл бұрын

Anyone remember a store there in the 1980s whose children’s dept had 2 or 3 tall bears standing on their hindlegs on the left when you entered from the main mall. If you stepped on the foot prints in front of the bears, they raised their hats and music played? I can’t remember the stores name…and it might have been Richland mall

@as6110 5 жыл бұрын

That fountain 😍

@BoratWanksta 2 жыл бұрын

I love how you mixed in old amusement park clips, with walkthrough clips of the mall today. To me, this is still one of your better videos to this day.

@UniCommProductions 5 жыл бұрын

Great work! The photography is really spot on, very smooth and vibrant colors.

@Avenue72nd 5 жыл бұрын

Nice mall and pretty busy for a tuesday.. love these videos with the music. Keep up the good work.

@ac_junior72 3 жыл бұрын

Stopped in here briefly today, whew...things have changed and not in a good way. But the one thing that saddened - angered me, 3:45 - The fountain is gone, a Dunkin is almost finished, almost looks like a massive kiosk...it's up against the 1st to 2nd floor escalator. So many vacant spots in this mall, even the food court...and they build that? (Rent is high in this, slowly dying mall, spaces...also the fountain is too much $$ to maintain. Only reason I can think of) But it's sad.

@RawRealRetail 3 жыл бұрын

I agree, very sad and dumb decision. We made a little rant video recently showing these changes.

@elliotmock8391 3 жыл бұрын

I visited the Willow Grove Park Mall for my 13 birthday. Definitely a beautiful property to me, and I’m happy that they’re still thriving. Despite the closure of Forever 21, they’re planning an 11-screen Studio Movie Grill for the former JCPenney, which is the space that’s walled off, and the former Bravo Cucina Italiana is now a Yard House.

@RawRealRetail 3 жыл бұрын

I remain hopeful for the Studio Grill but am not especially optimistic about it. It originally was supposed to open in February, but got pushed back. Of course the health emergency made these delays even worse, but we were there a couple weeks ago (this is one of our locals) and peeking through the crack in the door of the space shows bare walls and concrete flooring and zero progress from the way it sat in February. Add to that the lingering effects of social distancing on the movie theater industry (Regal is closed until further notice and AMC are pretty well in the same boat for the most part) and I fear all WGP's big plans may not happen after all.

@elliotmock8391 3 жыл бұрын

Well, that is true. Studio Movie Grill has experience little to no progress for quite a while, and I’m surprised that this new location is not yet cancelled. However, I’m still rather confident, as the Willow Grove Park Mall is taking good care of itself, especially considering that the colossal King of Prussia Mall is nearby.

@RawRealRetail 3 жыл бұрын

WGP is PREIT's crown jewel in the area, I am confident it will succeed as well.

@neetiromi2493 3 жыл бұрын

forever 21 is still open and thriving! i live in willow grove and go to the mall every time and i visit f21 with every visit lol

@amclean999 3 жыл бұрын

If only I was around to have a lark at the park.. the mall though is still thriving and not bad. Enjoyed their elevators, especially their newest ThyssenKrupp by the soon-to-be SMG. I also watch The Goldbergs and I just gotta say that even though there was not a Gimbels, Adam nailed everything else in the mall.

@RawRealRetail 3 жыл бұрын

The mall they filmed for the TV show was a mall in Los Angeles, Westside Pavilion.