Maine's Auburn Mall: The Most Amazing Dead Mall I've Ever Seen (Yet)!

Join me as I take a look at one of the most amazing dead malls ever, Auburn Mall in Auburn, Maine.

This mall is stuck in 1992 and I love it!

This video was filmed on a Tuesday at about 12:30pm in July 2024.

If you liked this video, please don't forget to give me a thumbs up, leave a comment and subscribe to my channel. I plan to have more dead mall videos in the future. Thanks for watching!

Sources of Information & Photo Credits:

#deadmall #deadmalls #mall #maine #auburn #shoppingmall #shoppingmalls #retail #nostalgia #malls #mallshopping #fleabittenadventures

[jeffreygorey]

This mall used to be hoppin' back in the day. There was a movie theater down by Super Shoes and the Dream Machine arcade down by JC Penney. Spent hours playing arcade games there, eating a Swiss Pretzel. Shopping for tapes at Musicland. It had a Gap, an Express, a Pepperidge Farms store, KB Toy Store, Papa Gino's, and others. I remember me and my girlfriend eating at JC Penney's restaurant and then catching a movie there. Got my prom suit at Porteous. So many good memories in that place.

[theovenisfrozen]

Hi!! I’m a local artist that sells at that store Nerdcore!! The Auburn Mall is very cool with its sense of community!! A lot of cool events and craft fairs happen there, especially Weird Fair which happens in the Spring and the Fall. A lot of the stores there are small businesses and have art by local artists.

It’s a fun place to be, with great food, and fantastic wonderful people and artists.

[lrodzen]

This place was magical at Christmas. The old school shop and see Santa trips are fond memories of my childhood.

[JusAn.P]

I miss hanging at the mall. mid 90s to early 2000s was a great time to kill time at the mall near my house. Me and my friends would spend like 6 hours there having actual fun in a public setting which is not as common these days. Could literally go there with 20-30 bucks back in those days and spend all damn day there. Slices from Sbarro, chilling in Borders books for like an hour, people watching, playing house of dead and xmen at the arcade. Loved those days

[allanya]

I hate online shopping and I wish the malls would come back. This mall is kept up nice and it’s very clean.

[pandemicpianoplayer]

In 1991, I bought a kitten at the pet store at that mall. It had worms on no shots. His name was Sebastian and he was the best cat ever. I went to school up there.

[NLaBar]

1:50 brick planter did it for me… staple of every single 90’s mall. When chikfila only existed in food courts.

[Mainely]

I grew up going here and still visit often. One of my favorite places for a bit of nostalgia.

[AmbientWalking]

What a time capsule! Amazing! Thanks for this! Love the 90s.

[jacobwall]

I live in Auburn! The biggest two stores are the big store, the game store and the super shoes. Those machines are sadly storage but the mall still is heavily used by the community and people use it to exercise inside during the winter months. Well kept and a jewel for sure.

[billyjackgoodwin]

Grew up in this Mall!, it was beautful in the day. To the left of TD bank calling center was a great double movie theater...Saw Indiana Jones and ET there...Thanks Great Video!

[oOignignoktOo]

at 3:25 used to be a KB Toys

As for the motorcycles the owner of the property is a collector of motorcycles so he's using the space as a storage for his personal collection.

[cammychoate]

I live in Lewiston/Auburn and can attest to the fact that the interior has not changed since the 90s. The current owner used to own a Harley dealership and now uses most of the dead storefronts, closed when you visited, are just used as storage for some rich guy with too much stuff. Pretty much everywhere that was shuttered when you visited is a dead location. I don't recall any major renovations since I was a little kid in the 90s.

When I was in middle school, my best friend and I got chased by security along the length of the mall for doing the most 90s thing ever and running in the Porteus with rollerblades and storming clear through to the other end and out JC Penny. We went in the door at 24:25 and out the door at 26:29 lol

Auburn Mall is a super dead mall that somehow remains open. Many of the people you see walking around are a local club of mostly older folks who walk the perimeter of the mall for daily exercise

[RemoteCamper]

I'm 53. I was there a few months ago with my 15 year old son. We walked the entire store just like this and I told him what everything was and what it used to be. Where I used to shop and what it looked like.

[StarlitSilver]

I worked at the JCPenney for a couple years around 2010. At the time, they were putting plans into motion to make every individual area/brand feel like its own store. Smaller rooms to peruse in, displays that felt more modern, but they scrapped it around the time I left. Even then, business was far better than it is now.

But I used to be there every day as a child and a teen. Getting pretzels, going to the McD’s or papa Gino’s for lunch, hanging out in Spencer’s and Hot Topic, trying the perfumes at Bath and Body. For dances at school, I went to DEBs which was closer to where the bookstore was up the ramp. And the Dream Machine was the best place to game.

Many fond memories of this place.

[wrighthousemedia]

I've been in ME since 1988 & trust me, this was the place in town to come to.
0:28 we enter The Auburn Mall. On the right hand side used to house Papa Gino's (circle window), then Radio Shack (the checkered paneling), then if I recall the third shop was originally a bank, & then a wireless dealer (a scammy cell phone store). The left side was originally Dearing Ice Cream (Friendly's knockoff) & then became Pro Vision aka Auburn Mall Eyecare. The shop up from Pro Vision was Wilson's Suede & Leather. Got my Indiana Jones jacket there in 89 (I remember a couple of hot girls used to work there. Bondage never looked so good) Moving on
1:22 Center square of the mall. Lot of sh** went down here. Santa at Xmas. The Easter Bunny at Easter. Cards, Comics & Collectibles shows. Oh, the horror of it all. Also the main clock was here in the off season, until it got moved down to the other end of the mall. Looking to the right where Nutty Nettie lives, this was originally a small expansion for a McDonald's that didn't last long. Looking to the left past the center doors & security taking a break, the Post Office service center has been there since the mid-to late 80's. The two shops on the left was originally a huge jewelry store (Day's Jewelers?)
1:42 Bath & Body Works arrived in the late 90's. I think the store was part of the expansion or may have been a shoe store. I'm thinking more of the shoe store.

1:59 Nancy's Way Style Boutique previously housed a more profitable women's store, but, for Nancy's Way it looks like the highway. Up next: Thatcher's pub, a great place to eat, that's been w/ the mall since it's inception.
Hey kids! How 'bout a pretzel?! Well too bad because you see that white wall next to Bath & Body? That used to be the pretzel shop.

2:11 The Game Zone was originally Musicland & the store, Nerd Core was originally Waldenbooks. Spencer's has been at there location since the mall opened. Next to Spencer's was KB Toys. It now stores motorcycles.

2:56 Clsssic Amusements of Maine - looks more like storage than a shop.
3:48 Another storage junk shop that the owner "operates". The items are overpriced for old office furniture. Any other items are from apartment evictions.Thats the rumor!
4:00 in the mid 90's Waldenbooks expanded from their original location to the current. Of course they changed over to Borders & then to Books a Million.

4:14 Olympia Sports

5:47 ahhh, home. This used to be where The Auburn Mall Twin Cinemas lived. This first run theatre opened in the Spring of 1980 & closed during the holiday season of 1990. Great place to work. Movies that hit Auburn included: Fatal Attraction, Willow, Indiana Jones & The Last Crusade, Back To The Future Part II, The Abyss. The last movies shown were Home Alone! and Three Men & A Little Lady. Fun times, last forever

[grittyshaker]

I believe that wood paneling and red awning for Bath and Bodyworks was part of their earlier esthetic. I remember it being in a mall near me and it looked exactly the same.

[Lady_Eskimo]

Im from Germany, thank you for the trip down memory lane, a lot of our former malls and department stores looked exactly like that but also public buildings like councils or schools, when you walked the JC penny I saw myself chasing my siblings between the clothing carousels and hiding inside them cuz they were so jam packed, so sad to see the stock so empty nowadays, guess the place will also close down some time soon, also the hairdresser salon inside lol I can still remember, and in the major department stores we had self service restaurants, which were always the favorite place of my grandparents to take us when babysitting us, and then sneaking of to the kids department watching the newest disney VHS in the playcorner, aaaah such great memories 😊

[elgriego]

Any second I could see the artist “Tiffany”going on stage performing amongst 300 teenagers.

[joeweatlu]

I do like the fact that you put up pictures of the stores (and in this case the mall entrances) from years ago.
Keep up the great work.