Dead Malls Season 5 Episode 26 - Eastland Mall (OH)

Only once in my life have I knowingly made a trip out to see a mall that was closing in a week. Only once, out of the hundreds of malls I’ve been to. And only once was I unintentionally visiting a mall that was closing forever just days after I was there. That mall was Eastland Mall in Columbus, Ohio. I’m lucky to have made my 1st Pittsburgh expedition when I did, because just 1 week after filming this mall in December of 2022. Eastland Mall would suffer a watermain break and owners would simply close the mall forever, with it being cited by the city as a public nuisance days prior.. But it wasn’t always like that, it wasn’t always a nuisance, and it wasn’t always this dead empty and dripping hell scape. So take a tour with me today, as I show you around and tell you the story of Eastland Mall in Columbus, Ohio.

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[michics]

As a 75 year old senior I saw these malls in there hay day. It's sad to see these fails. I live in Rockford, IL and we have CherryVale Mall still hanging on but the signs have been there for years as all the anchors have left. It's hard to imagine what to do with these gigantic complexes since it is almost to expensive to demolish them and businesses do not work. One idea I've had for a few years is to turn them into senior citizen living centers. These complexes could be totally self contained living areas with apartments, small grocery, drug store, doctor offices, indoor walking, plenty of outside parking, etc. But the key is the rentals cost can't be excessive. A problem that has driven previous tenants out of these malls. Just stand in these malls and look around and imagine what could be done with all this space instead of retail. Just my 2 cents worth.

[superdave]

Maybe it’s just the nostalgia, but I find your content soothing and sad at the same time 😢….The Tri-County Mall episode in Cincinnati hit different, because I used to work at the Suncoast video in high school in the late 90’s….Your production value is excellent…Keep’m coming

[heidiproudfit]

Came across your channel today.
Makes me think back to when going to the mall was an exciting event as a kid and continued into my 30’s. I even carried on the tradition with my own kids, until they got older.
Going to the mall, wasn’t always about “the shopping”.
It was the place to meet… my moms cousins and sisters use to make it a weekly visit as a group to catch up, chat about the latest gossip and they loved to people watch.
Thanks for the nostalgic Christmas pic…
I was disappointed when companies tried the “Outdoor-Outlet malls” those are dying out too. It’s not the same as the indoor malls in the north where you were escaping the long winter weather blues.
I never thought Malls would become a thing of the past. Thank you for showing and giving bits of their life history.

[JoshYT]

Seeing this well documented mall fall over the years is truely heartbreaking, it was about time to say goodbye but it will be missed. Thank you for filming this 60s beauty one last time for us all to enjoy. Also, seeing that anchor store closed for 17 years is crazy! I wanted what its like inside...😲

[Scotty_in_Ohio]

I had thought FOR CERTAIN that Eastland had closed well before Dec of 2022... I live only a few miles from it and grew even closer to the mall and visited many many times over my youth - to be honest I sort of avoid the area in general and there's little to no reason to travel down Hamilton Road that direction. The initial shots of the visits with Santa brought back some memories - heck I may have been in line there at that year from the looks of the clothing ;-) What was actually more impressive were the businesses surrounding the mall - there was a Brown Derby restaurant, a great arcade, a Stereo Lab (which sold Commodore computers where my dad bought our first VIC-20), an eight screen movie theater (then more screens when that had moved across the street), various other restaurants and my favorite Children's Palace. The amount of shopping was very impressive for the 60's, 70's and into the 80's....

[eiguajardo]

18:03 perfectly framed.. you froze the camera at some perfect spots in this vid
this mall has such a vibe for liminal photography, filled with nostalgia, there was such a great natural light
great episode !

[sutterpark]

I am ex W Worthington Franklin OH. I do rember the Northland Mall, Eastland Mall and Westland Mall ALL was top notch back in the 1960 to 1980's ALL was a open mall but in the 1970'sh to earlier 1980's then enclosed them! In the 1990 and 2000 things had turn to the worst beside the high crime, HIGH lease terms and change of malls owner! ALL are RIP! Columbus Ohio been trying to bring back these malls as outlets but not all made the cut! Northland Mall gain a major face lift but no mall mostly office, and few new grocery stores but that it!

[chrissasandlin]

I can almost hear the mannequin in the beginning asking the rest of them if they're going someplace after this. Loved the bright concourse which worked against the fading of the mall itself. Excellent video.

[QuintusAntonious]

It's so strange seeing childhood malls on here. I know you're going to Century III and I saw the photos you posted of Shenango Valley Mall on Instagram. Hard to believe some of these small town malls matter to anyone.

[EddyCruz]

Fun mall fact of the week: I believe the mall that lasted the longest without an anchor was the Carousel Mall in San Bernardino with a whopping 14 years without an anchor. Btw loved the video

[seabee]

Your music choices are always spot on. The blue bricks really looked great. I saw my old debartolo mall today in Tampa today. Only the center section is left with the food court and several stores. The anchors were torn down. They put up a sprouts where the dilliards was. College housing will be on the other side. Thanks for another great video.

[keasieulie]

This was so crazy to see. I worked in this mall in 2017 before my store closed down. Even when it was open--there was almost nothing in this mall. Actually crazy. Thank you so much for this video!

[tobynormoyle]

Saw the original Ghostbusters here back when it came out. A trip to Eastland was such a treat!

[livingasustainabledream]

Wackiest, craziest and zaniest... You must be going to the Galleria at Pittsburgh Mills. As always great dead mall content thanks for the videos.

[Epic_C]

You should see Tuttle Mall in Columbus Ohio. It's not dead yet but it is almost there.

[sunsetrecords]

Sucks to hear another mall leave us but thank you for capturing it's beauty before it's gone forever. Great video!

[ERA_Productions]

Great video! Just got to see it now. My final visit here was in September 2022. It was silent and crazy. It felt like it was even gonna close then. Im amazed this place lasted as long as it did.

[joeabraham]

I was almost 5 when Eastland Mall opened and lived within a few miles of it all the way until I was 20, so this video took me right back to the 1970s. The mall was a huge part of my childhood. Almost all Christmas shopping, Santa visits, Easter Bunny pictures, meeting friends, chasing girls, going to movies, etc., all centered around this mall. Parents could just drop us off when we were in 4th grade through junior high and not worry about us for hours. Eastland had a great run for about 15 years to the mid-80s. When busing was ordered in the Columbus schools in 1979, white flight occurred for the next decade and by the 1990s Polaris Mall and Tuttle Mall on the city's north and northwest sides were being planned. I doubt if I went into Eastland more than two times from 1985 until it closed in 2022, and I'm sure my experience is the same for most of us who grew up on the east side in the 1970s. Eastland, like so many malls, became unsafe, and just 10 years later into the late 1980s one wouldn't dream of dropping off their 11-year-old kid and letting them roam there for four hours.

[catherinesanchez]

Grew up close by in the 70's and 80's ....eating on the 2nd floor of Lazarus was "cool" if you could afford it. Saw the first Star Wars movie there in 1977!!! In the 80's/90's Sears 2nd floor had one of the original call centers for Discover Card Bank . Hundreds of employees would go to the mall during their lunch break or after work to eat and shop . I remember eating at the Wendy's during my lunch break. There was a Ponderosa steak house there too that was very popular. Some of the older viewers on here probably remember them! When all the bigger malls started opening up downtown, and northern Columbus when there was a lot of new deveolopment there, that's when Eastland started struggling . Many of these larger malls had twice a as many stores, restaurants and also drew higher end retailers as well. And the community around it went from blue collar to a bit lower than that. It had a rep as being a bit dangerous to go there and that was it. Thanks for posting this. As sad as it seems, this is still a great location in the middle of a highly populated area and could be turned into something else by someone with the vision and $$$$ to make it happen. My personal feeling is that malls got over built, so when online shopping became a thing it just dropped bigtime. Another thing, in other countries its common for grocery stores to be anchors at their malls, but not here in the USA. Maybe, thsi is something we need to start doing .

[ECFE]

The old Lazarus's bottom floor is flooded. Mold growth is pretty rampant in there. So you weren't wrong lol