Inside One of America’s Dead Malls
These former gathering spots of consumer culture are emptying across the country
Standing inside ShoppingTown Mall in Dewitt, New York, it’s hard to believe that you aren’t in a haunted house. Outdated elevator music echoes through the empty hallways, birds nest in the abandoned food court, and most strikingly, there aren’t any stores left.
No, really. The latest mall directory lists 12 businesses, but that was in June, and there have been more departures since then, putting the number of operating stores in the single digits. So what is left in ShoppingTown Mall? A Regal Cinemas, a gymnastics studio in the former Old Navy, and a few ever-rotating driving schools that never seem to last more than a month. The last big-box store, Sears, closed in September, though the parking lot is still littered with “going out of business” signs.
To an onlooker, it may just seem like another mall past its prime. But for those of us who grew up in the area, the space means so much more. My parents’ first date was in the food court, I got my ears pierced in the old Claire’s, and countless kids had birthday parties in the arcade.
The night before I left for college, my friend Meghan and I went to ShoppingTown for one last visit. There’s not much to do near Syracuse, and we…
