Dead Malls Season 5 Episode 9 - Fashion Square Mall (MI)

Built in and opened in 1972, Fashion Square Mall was the first of the regional malls in the region. There was another mall in Saginaw, anchored by a Kmart, however that was hardly a modern mall and would pretty quickly be killed off by the shiny new Fashion Square. Fashion Square upon opening was THE place to be for YEARS in the entire region. Anchored by Sears on the north end, and JCPenney on the south, Hudson’s would come just a few years later to complete the layout. As the years went on a good cycle of tenants would come and go. Modernizations would occur and renovations would take place. The mall would ultimately see its final makeover happen in 2001. Ushering in a new era for Fashion Square. At this point, the final of the 3 Tri City Malls would be open. Fashion Square now sat with its sisters, Midland Mall, and Bay City Town Center. But there was a problem looming, an oversaturation of retail, high rent, low foot traffic. A recession.. And.. the mall would begin to die.. Through the late 2000s and 2010s the mall would loose dozens of stores. But it was Sears closing that would ultimately begin the death spiral. Starting with the north end and food court. While I did visit just before opening, you can still see the glaring emptiness of stores. For example the JCPenney end isn’t doing too bad, but the ENTIRE entrance wing composing of about 20 stores sits 100% vacant. Which is something that still haunts my dreams, how does that happen?? After my visit the mall would be purchased by Great Neck based Kohan for 10 million dollars. Perhaps the final nail in the coffin..
So what does the future hold for the mall? Join me today as we explore and tell the story of Fashion Square, and maybe, even uncover the truth..

Music used

Mo's New Frontier - Rymdklang Soundtracks

Mall Muzak of 1974

Foo Foo - Waterfront Dining

Skytower 2032

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Links

#northcdogg22 #deadmall #deadmalls #northernfilms

[Thomas-yrln]

It opened when I was 17. My home town in San Jose the mall also opened in 1972. My parents were still alive and I have warm memories of sitting around and watching shows All in the family and Samford and Son. I really miss my parents and childhood. You have no idea what you have till it's gone forever. 😢

[JoshYT]

This is one of those malls where it amazes me to see the closed storefronts, not because they were from the 70s or 80s (well, besides for the anchor storefronts), but that they were mostly all 2000s and 2010s storefronts. It's crazy to think that these malls that were still doing well enough to have modern stores only a decade or so ago. It makes me feel really old lol. The world and malls for that matter, really can change so fast within a decade. Amazing work as always!

[denial]

I remember in the 80s my oldest brother worked as a manager in an arcade store(?) at Bayview Village in North York, Ontario. I had fun there cause my brother would let me play the games for free. Sadly the arcade store in the mall has long since disappeared. Good times.

[RetroFett]

Visited this mall multiple times when I lived in the area. Have not been in over 20 years... what a trip down memory lane! So sad to see it vacant now.

[cgimovieman]

Thank you SO much for posting this. I’ve commented before and sent you a directory scan, but in the 80’s and 90’s the Fashion Square and subsequently Midland Mall were essentially my only two malls anywhere near me, living about 1 hour and 20 minutes north of Fashion Square and maybe 45 minutes north from Midland. Fashion Square though was the ONLY real mall in the area when I was just a little kid in the 80’s. And back then, although slightly outdated in a 70’s look, it was still absolutely thriving, looked as it did in 1972, and a real gem. If I could show my younger self in 1985 this video back then? Wow. Even as a kid I wouldn’t be able to believe it. I spent a lot of time in this place, even not being very close. In addition to the large center fountain, Fashion Square also had some other fountains connected to conversation pits in its other shopping arms. The center smaller tiles you see in those now, especially closer to the anchor stores, were mainly where they were. It also used to have big globe lights on poles in the walkways, almost like outdoor lights indoors. I vividly remember the particular smell of churning water, kind of like you experience by a waterfall, inside Fashion Square from the many fountains, as well as a little chlorine. Hudson’s in particular used to be another jewel in this mall’s crown, with several floors. I swear it had three, but I was a kid, so maybe just two. I’m subscribed to a good handful of dead mall channels, and have watched hundreds of videos, but I swear this is the very first I’ve seen of either of my two malls I had growing up, and I appreciate that. Midland Mall though, as you know, was really my primary Mall growing up, since by the time it opened I was an adolescent and then a teenager. That coupled with it being a closer easier drive, and I used to go there a LOT. Even the first week it opened in 1991. I absolutely cannot wait to see your video on that, and finally have it get some face time. I swear I can’t hardly even find still pictures of it online, much less video. But it’s impossible to describe how absolutely beautiful that mall and the land surrounding it was in the earliest years it was open.

[stormicusiii]

Just some facts and info for you all from a local. The entrance wing that goes straight to the Macy's has been empty like that for years now and never received that much traffic due to the anchors being the main force of traffic for the mall. The Macy's has not been renovated pretty much ever and still looks like what It would have looked like when it was Hudson's. This mall has been on a steady decline through the 2010's but as soon as Sears left in 2019, the decline became significantly worse and kohan buying the mall recently has made the situation worse. I personally believe that if JCPenney or Macy's decides to close up shop this malls days will be numbered but if those stores stay the mall will stay open.

[cbale]

5:06 - The "Main Entrance" for Fashion Square wasn't really a popular entry at any point in the last ~20 years. Most people preferred to enter the mall at the anchors, or at the food court (which is basically right next to the "main entrance"). Plus very little interesting was ever located in the entrance wing, and to minimize walking distance, it made more sense to enter elsewhere. Also in that time period (ending within the last 5 years or so), there was a phenomenon where people would go to the mall specifically for the food court, as, until recently, there weren't a lot of other "fast food" options in the immediate area. McDonald's and Panda Express leaving in favor of their own permanent locations adjacent to the mall property (and, likely, much lower rent) saw the downturn in this kind of traffic though.

7:01 - Totally agree with this sentiment, and I'd add even into the 90s and early 2000s. For decades Saginaw has lacked much in the way of free/low cost fun activities and so often people would go to the mall just to "hang out".

11:59 - This is kind of random, but I actually helped set up these video screens in the food court about 10 years ago, apparently the mall had a number of these installed throughout the wings at one point but took them down after the advertiser decided it wasn't profitable anymore. The advertiser didn't want the screens (they had changed hands several times) and so the mall had them stored in a back room (unused, walled off shop space) along with a bunch of other out-of-use equipment ("island" shop carts, various facade pieces, Christmas decorations, etc). Another local advertiser reached out about it and the mall basically said "if you can make them work they're yours" to him. That advertiser (basically a 1-man operation) reached out to me to try to "fix" them, on a shoestring budget. The computers in them are actually modular so we ended up swapping hardware around until we got 4 that booted (into Windows XP, I might add). The screens would have no internet connectivity (the mall would have charged for that) so I got to set them up to connect to a "master" screen via a $30 wireless router we got across the street at Best Buy, so that the advertiser could upload their files via like FTP or something (file transfers to a Windows XP machine over a network is a HUGE pain) and then the other screens would grab the new files from the "master" when they rebooted each night via some clever batch file scripts. The images themselves played on what was literally just a Windows slideshow Screensaver, no extra software required, just dump pictures in the right folder. The system worked pretty well, unfortunately, the advertiser was a bit tech illiterate, so he had trouble updating the files after it was set up, and since the screens were probably already 10-20 years old at that point, they eventually died out, and they never bothered to do anything else with them. In any case, it was an fun way to earn $300 at the time. 😅

14:18 - FeelsBadMan.jpg

[emilylynn]

Breaks my heart seeing this mall the way it is now . I’m 27 now, when this mall was booming believe it or not this mall always ALWAYS use to be packed . There even use to be a McDonald’s to the far right in the food court, now there’s only 3 places to eat now :(, sucks my son won’t understand the happiness this mall brought lots and lots of us in Saginaw /:

[tehrube]

Used to come here every day after school to hit up the Alladin's Castle Arcade to play Dance Dance Revolution. I pretty much grew up here!

[Aspire-]

My daughter when she was little got her ears pierced at that Claires. Malls are alive and here in Texas. I am shocked at this mall. Heck ten years ago it was practically full. Thanks for memories.

[RR]

I've never before heard of Namdar selling a mall to Kohan or vice-versa. Many people think the two companies are related because their HQ's are in the same town less than a mile apart, but they're completely separate.

[GoLions]

First movie I saw at that theater was "The nightmare before Christmas!" That theater was booming until the Quad near Meijer up the road got a huge makeover!

[BanditVanWoert]

Used to love going into this Mall... it had a Disney Store!!!! Every Holiday Season We would set up in this one.. B/C & Midland and sell Coins & Nascar Diecast shows.... Good Times!!!

[NPC-Gamer]

Local here, great video and I appreciate you showcasing it.
There was another mall in Hampton Township that started its downfall after the Bay City Mall opened in '91.
It's called the Hampton Town Center and it's still there, but unfortunately there is no interior access to the public, but it is as it was when it finally closed.

[mollyheffernen]

This was pretty good. The food court didn't have a lot of choice. I think that could be important. Namdar Realty Group is trouble. Hoping JCPenney & Macy's keep this one alive.

[spyrothedragon]

Hey Northcote I recently found out that there's still one sears remaining

[briangerst]

Wiechmann's was a local department store that opened with the mall as a junior anchor. It later became the food court.

[TrueDeadMallLegend]

Bay city Towne Center or Midland Mall next great video!!!

[nicktheturtlenerd]

12:54 I love how “Delicious Sweets” never bothered to get rid of or paint over Subway’s vegetable tiles.

[lizzwizz]

I remember when Fashion Square opened was very crowded to walk in especially in the 80s it was sad when they took the fountain away and the food court came it took away the few restaurants that was in the mall. I was born and raised here is Saginaw Michigan and still go to the mall once in awhile . It was a booming mall back in the day 😢😢😢