Dead Malls Season 5 Episode 13 - Pine Tree Mall

Can you imagine that at one point this mall used to have over 50 in-line tenants, and three major name anchors? It’s hard, but you can almost imagine what it was like when people flooded these halls.. When the plant filled water fountains shot water up high into the air. What it was like to be at a small town mall when it THRIVED.

But today, Pine Tree Mall in Marinette, WI sits with one single tenant. One single business keeping it going. A Dunhams Sports. Which has been thinking about leaving for a long time now. And upon that day, the mall will most likely be demalled for a front facing big box center. It’s already halfway done.. How much longer until the rest.. is gone?

Music used

no love in the house of gold - void__19##

Mall Muzak of 1959

Mall Muzak of 1974

nevermind, everything is ok - Dreamcorp

Mattress Store - Disconscious

The Morning Light (Instrumental Version) - L.M. Styles

Thank you all for watching! Subscribe for more! ٩(^ᴗ^)۶

Links

#northcdogg22 #deadmall #deadmalls #northernfilms

[dhvizsla]

Speaking of dead things... did anyone see the "family video" store he drove by at the beginning? They were one of the last video rental stores around. Crazy seeing that!

[seabee]

That was a small mall. No food court. Definitely no Cinnabon there😄. Thanks for another great video.

[kitw]

The tree next to the bench even looked sad!

[stot]

The Source... of the burnt "atrocious smell... had to be. 😉Lots of liminal space for sure in this location. Surprised the fountain guts were even there... You would think an otherwise well-preserved time capsule like this was would have taken care of that metal eye sore too, but oh well. So bummed no dead mall video next week, but knowing your work, this will be well worth the wait. Until next time... have a great week ahead and best to your editing skills. 😊

[TrueDeadMallLegend]

Northridge Mall Next, Welcome to Wisconsin, A state that I honestly think is overlooked when it comes to malls, great Video!!

[markbajek]

I used to visit that mall in the 90's2000's when in the Marinette, Menominee area. It was a cute little mall for a small town back then, but both shopko and walmart more or less killed it. As the mall killed Lauerman's dept store downtown marinette (that was a cool looking old timey department store.)..

[vdbusjg]

That bathroom area is weird like the area in jail you wait in before transport to another facility or you get your own clothes back before release

[JoJo-iesl]

'....as the crow flies..." haven't heard any one use that phrase since the grandfolks passed. Anyway, what a sad little place but wow, floor and ceiling are in very good shape for as desolate as it is.

[JoshYT]

Great video! I do think that the newer Petco having that small mall side entrance shows that the owners probably expected it to be enough for the mall to stay open, or at least expected Younkers to stay open. They would probably have to get rid of that new entrance or keep a small little section of the mall. So maybe it will last for awhile longer no matter how small lol. Excited for the next big video!

[sunsetrecords]

I would have to agree that at times this mall definitely seemed as a liminal nightmare. As for the future well i think its dim but we will have to see. Great video

[binsoku]

As soon as I heard 'Superior', I instantly knew you were going to bring up Mariner Mall! It's surprising how long that place has hung on for dear life with a volleyball place there

[vortexrider]

I grew up in Menominee/Marinette in the 80s/90s. Spent a lot of time at the Pine Tree Mall. A few observations based on memory...

1.) Marinette is pronounced Mare-IN-ette, not Marion-ette

2.) entering the mall, would have been Kindy Optical and The Circus Arcade, and Zales jewelers on your right (where Petco is now), and Osco Drug on the left. The former Younkers(formerly PrangeWay) was straight ahead. The small wooden paneling/window to the right of the Younkers entrance was the side of Bath and Body Works, once also a Jewelery store. To the right of the old fountains, the corridor extended down to the old Walmart(now Kohl's). **side note, the Petco mall entrance appears no longer functional as of my last visit at Christmas.

3.) The blue/white checker storefront was originally a Baskin Robbins, and by the 90s was just a generic named ice cream store/cafe. The reason it's open like that is, aside from the original anchor stores, the mall had no public restrooms. Now that all of the anchors are gone/sealed off, it's the only remaining restroom option.

4.) County Seat closed in the mid 90s and has looked exactly like that since. In that middle portion of the mall was once Athletes Foot, B. Dalton, Things Remembered, Claire's, Hallmark, County Seat, Baskin Robbins, The Gap(which became a store called Bottom Half in the 90s), a bank, Cool Nails, and Payless Shoes. Most of these stores, still existed into the mid 2000s.

5.) Dunhams replaced Sears, which was just an appliance/lawn/auto Sears.

6.) Applebee's opened around 00/01. It replaced longtime restaurant Johnny's Loaf and Stein, which was a Bavarian themed restaurant that had great food. Applebee's was a HUGE deal when it opened.

7.) The mall was never renovated. Ceilings, floors, skylights, fountains, benches, plant stands(which still had ashtrays in them when I was a kid) are all original. Outside of storefronts, and the late 2010s re-modeling, it's all the same.

8.)the original anchors were Penny's on the north end, Sears where Dunhams is, PrangeWay, and Pranges on the south end. Pranges became Younkers. When all of the PrangeWay stores closed circa 1995, Younkers moved into its old spot since it was a larger footprint. The old Pranges/Younkers was demolished around 96 and Walmart was built, opening roughly in 97.

9.)The Source opened in the early 2000s in the space once occupied by a clothing store called The id(as-in I-D). I have zero recollection of what it was lol.

10.)Sears was still open in the mall into the 2000s, before moving out of the mall into their own store across town. It closed by 2010 ish.

11.) Bostwicks was not an anchor store. It occupied a space near the north end of the mall near the original Pranges. It was gone by the early 90s. Eventually Dollar Tree opened there, roughly where TJMAXX is now.

12.) Walmart opened around 1997, and if anything was a boost to the mall. The decline began a few years earlier with the loss of PrangeWay(different store from Pranges, although same owner). The death blow came when Walmart left around the early 2010s.

13.) the fountains still functioned into the early 2000s. At Christmas time, Christmas trees were placed in the fountains.

14.) the north end of the mall had stores like Maurice's, a computer store, Johnny's Loaf and Stein (Applebee's), The id, and an Army Recuting center.

15.) The south end of the mall had stores like GNC, Radio Shack, Musicland(Sam Goody), Tradehome, Bostwicks(Dollar Tree), Christopher and Banks, Hasse Shoes, Bath and Body, and Pranges/Younkers/Walmart.

[chrissasandlin]

Those opening stores! Haven't thought about several of them in years. Also, the beginning of the video really picked out/deconstructed the dead mall space well.

[salmonie]

I have a weird feeling when seeing dead malls

[pezfam]

I grew up in this town, and it was still hopping pretty well up until about 2007. The death of this mall started when Walmart became one of its anchor stores in 1999, making several of the smaller business go under, and was officially killed when Walmart moved into a larger separate location in the early 2010s.

If you wanted more information and possible more precise dating of things changing, I can do my best, but I would be doing it from memory from when I was a kid.

One last note, this mall served much more than just the two communities of Marinette and Menominee. Virtually every town in the southern halves of Marinette and Menominee counties would shop there too. Most likely, the real death was online shopping, that stopped people from these neighboring towns from having to travel 30 minutes to an hour to shop at the mall.

[Wesley_C]

So great video, now this mall is truly great

[romanceplanet]

crazy that it just hides inside of the normal plaza, , what an easter egg

[shadyhooker]

Shoot, I was a little late with this one. Great vid though brother!

[graciesupersuitcasesis]

Hey! I remember going to that mall when I was a tiny child, we always go to that wal-mart in that mall before the new one arrived. Those were the good times, I wonder if it’s gonna be another ice arena.

[benb]

Pine Tree needs to be de-malled kinda already has which has a feel like Southland which was half mall half strip mall vibes. Souland was de-malled in the early or mid-90s which looked like Pine Tree without the weird bathroom setup or title on the ceiling LOL.