I live there. Just came from there in fact. It definitely feels unsustainable, but far from dead. The number of empty shops and comic stores suggest they can't charge high rents anymore. And they definitely don't upkeep like they used to. If a shop closes or moves it can take them a long time to update the maps.

@plinger1

6 ай бұрын

I remember a lot of businesses getting pushed out in the late 90’s because of high rents. Someone bought that mall and raised local rents to draw in businesses with long term contracts. Hence they closed McDonalds owned by Walsh Enterprises in favor of Burger King.

27:13: My late husband and I got our cat Maggie from that pet store in 1997. She came from a local home, with all her vet records, vaccinations, and tests. The people who worked with us there were phenomenal; we had to wait for the results of one of her tests over Memorial Day weekend before we could take her home, so they took 1/3 off the price (which I’ll always consider an adoption fee.) I’d never advocate pet store vs. adoption, but because we’d just lost a cat to cancer and weren’t aggressive with treatment (treated symptoms vs. disease), rescues didn’t want to adopt to us. Maggie turned out to be the best cat I’ve ever had; I just lost her on 3/20/23. She was six days shy of her sixteenth birthday.

This mall was built on one of the world’s largest red rock formations. I should say they sheared the top of the formation off to build the mall. That’s why the mall sits way up on a plateau.

I miss the Suncoast and Sam Goody that used to be in this mall. Once the FYE closed up a couple of years ago, I stopped bothering to come to this mall. I still go to B&N here and there but I often forget that it's even attached to the mall honestly.

@csscott9803

7 күн бұрын

I remember Sam goody and suncoast used to be next door. EB games was there. I go to B&N in the mall.

i remember when the mall had a frendlys

@MrCraigblaze

22 күн бұрын

Most malls did..

@piratetv1

5 күн бұрын

I remember many lunches there

It had a McDonald's in the food court when it first opened. I used to there afterwards. Sam goody and record town was there, including a CVS. I really missed EB games and Kay bee toy store.

I remember a VR arcade behind the carousel. We ate at ruby Tuesday all the time. There was a game stop where the air soft place is, and EB games under Spencer's. I work just up the street but haven't been inside the mall in years.

I worked at Suncoast Motion Pictures. Miss that place

Barnes and Nobel was a blank wall. I remember going to office and asking what was going in there as it was new construction. It was about the time Maggie McFly's was going in, too. That was also the time I spent most of my book money down the street at Border's. Above Barns and Nobel has always been empty. I think that was left that way for expansion, and when they were building out Barns and Nobel, they probably were thinking maybe they could get another store or get B&N to go two floors? The watch kiosk by Sears (that'[s where I take my analog watch I got from my grandfather) reduced it's hours because of the drop off of foot traffic in the mall. There still seems to be a lot of people whenever I go there, but the closing of Sears seems to have killed that end of Buckland Hills. The salon by that kiosk used to be a Super Cuts, and when she took it over didn't even last 3 months. Ah, I bought Pro Com+ from that Electronics Boutique. and SimCity 2000.

That was quite a mall when it first opened

The greatest threat to this mall is the insane expansion of retail space around it. It's surrounded by big box stores and strip malls in nearly all directions. And then, the Shops at Evergreen Walk opened just up the road, offering an upscale outdoor shopping experience and drawing yet more people away. So Buckland Hills is hanging in there, and has a few unique attractions like The Funny Bone, Newbury Comics, and the carousel, but if more stores move out or JCPenney inevitably closes, it could start to fall apart.

Man, I haven't been here in well over ten years.. Looks different! GNC has been in the same spot ever since I could remember. I miss the arcade near the food court back in the early 90's.

Love your videos. I don't live too far from this mall but haven't gone in years thinking it wasn't worth the trip, but I think I will give it another try after seeing your video. Thank you.

Coming from central mass this mall seemed quite busy on 7/12/24 actually was nice seeing so many places thriving inside

I loved D&L!

I work in this mall (including on that very day!) I’m waiting for the day I see you walking around, haha. Obviously I won’t recognize your FACE but the second I hear your VOICE I’ll recognize you! Right in the middle of the day on Christmas Eve it got pretty busy. As someone who used to work at Westfarms, nowhere near as “alive” at Buckland as it is at Westfarms, but Buckland is starting to “come back to life” imo. I remember this used to be the cool mall to visit when i lived closer to Westfarms 10 or so years ago. i have hope for the mall!!

pretty soon Buckland mall will be apartments like the civic center in hartford

Above the Barnes and noble was forever vacant, sometime in the early two thousand they pushed that space back for some small clothing store. This mall had a major revamp at on point adding additional foot paths and the escalator across from the food court.

Above the barns and noble was a smaller store. Maybe a foot locker or lids hat store

Newbury comics Nice !!..

I still miss the tiny Arcade in Sears that used to be there. Tucked away in a back corner, hard to find (unless you were a kid/adolescent). Loved playing Smash TV in there.

@passthegrits

2 күн бұрын

I'd buy that for a dollar!

@fredWaxBeans11111

2 күн бұрын

@@passthegrits "Total Carnage!" 😆👍

@passthegrits

2 күн бұрын

@@fredWaxBeans11111 "I love it!"

I actually work here; I work at the carrousel in the food court. So, from my experience of working there since November 2022, it's busier on the weekends. Not much business on the weekdays, unless it's raining, then I get more customers. Note that even on weekends, it will be slightly less busy if the weather is really nice. Never had a day where no one came.

This is actually one of the malls in Connecticut that is holding up pretty well. It’s not lost too many anchor stores.

Sage Allen may have been in the two floor anchor space where Barnes &Noble is.

Wasn't there once an IMax movie theater once? Maybe that space above Barns and Noble could have been it. I remember my mom talking about going there but I never saw it. It's got to be over 20 years since I last been to Bickland.

@fleabittenadventures

2 ай бұрын

The imax is right around the corner in another building. I don't think there was ever a theater actually in the mall.

@BigRedSoxFan

2 ай бұрын

@@fleabittenadventures Oh ok I guess I miss understood or just didn't remember. Well anyway I work at Foxwoods, Have you coverd the Tanger Outlets there?

wtf this in my recommended and i literally live near this place lol. I never seen this mall dead, there is always people here but there is obvious decline. I remember it was still popular in the 2000s to 2010s

Buckland hills is doing ok. It’s got a comedy place inside which has some very strong acts.

I went to Macy's the other day to make a return. Did the usual walk around the mall afterwards. In comparison to this video, which actually shows some people, this mall is dying. There was hardly anyone in the entire mall. It felt like I was walking through a library .. very quiet.

I was there over the summer and it didn't seem awful. They have good stores that I shop at so maybe I'm biased, but I have not seen a Windsor in another mall but this one.

I remember in the 70's and 80's you couldn't get past the mobs of shoppers in the mall on Christmas eve. I guess it's all relative to the times. That mall looks deserted in comparison to back then. Kinda sad.

8:50 that used to be Babbage's.

I think this mall is definitely taking a turn, a lot more local stores replacing national brands. People are still shopping here though, it's far from complete disarray like Enfield Square, etc. There is no neglect as you said, but it can't keep major stores open and big business isn't opening here.

If I had a dollar for every time I walked into that entrance you went in, i'd legitimately have hundreds of dollars

My memory of course may be fuzzy but I think it went like this: Stieger's was actually where the Macy's men's shop is now. And Dick's didn't exist at all in 1990, but rather was built anew around 1993/1994?

You mentioned Suncoast Motion Picture Co. I can still remember callin' in special orders for hard-to-find videotapes. Still have quite a lot of them.

Yes! Can you do please Sears.

I miss the old days

thats a beautiful nice big huge mall with two floors of stores

Steve and Barry's used to be the anchor above Barnes and Noble. D&L used to be in the area under the food court which was once Filene's Home which got subdivided. Steiger's was where Lord & Taylor was and Sage Allen used to be housed where Dicks/Bob's-EMS is. The Spinoso Group is definitely trying to revive the mall with letting smaller businesses enter while acquiring new leases such as Box Lunch and alot of people are hoping for Boscov's to take the former Sears unless they choose to reactivate the space such as in Burbank CA which would be cool to see since it's location has good bones.

@maryannefeyer6332

6 ай бұрын

I’d love to see a Boscov’s there! Right now the closest one is in Meriden.

@thomasmosakowski

6 ай бұрын

@@maryannefeyer6332 Correct and CT Post Mall has one in Milford. The good thing about Boscov's as a private company is they are very customer driven and if enough demand is shown for a market they usually respond to it accordingly with their approach of one new store a year growth pattern. But with Sears also out of bankruptcy the redevelopment of that parcel being split into different smaller anchors like Primark and etc like Danbury Fair did is another option.

It’s not dead yet but by next year it could be. Thanks for the video.

Buckland is still going strong. Getting ready to head there now

For Christmas eve their should be a lot more people shopping,several store empty and also I judge a mall by how many people are caring bags. The old days before amazon, people would make two or three trips out to the car,so they didn't have to carry all the bags around the mall. food court my be busy with people coming for lunch but that's not going to keep the stores in business.

The mall could do a better job of hiding the hiding the closed stores. How many of those are only open for the holiday season? Some of those stores the the calendar store might only be open for a few months. The mall isn't quite at the dying stage yet but there is some rot near the closed Sears.

before it was barnes and noble was the orginal anchoer store lord and taylor

I haven't been to the Buckland Hills mall since the late 90's. Looks like it hasn't changed too much.

I go there regularly it’s not it’s actually one of my favorite malls in ct

Don't guess that Bob's remodel is gonna happen as they're going out of business

I remember getting kicked out of that spencers as a teenager. I think im your age

Christmas eve YEARS ago was Packed - it was so packed that I did everything I could to avoid this place

Great Carousel in this Video!!!! F+L, Corey

I was at the Sage Allen the day it closed in 1993. Bought a box of loose buttons and took a photocopy of their certificate of occupancy. The ladies there that day wondered why I'd want that. May still have it somewhere. G Fox was bought by Filene's and then Filene's was swallowed by Macy's.

Not super busy for it being Xmas eve. Maybe the 23rd was busier, bc I think most ppl are winding down by the 24th.

This is really big mall too, I’ve only been there maybe a few times but I recall it being so big I couldn’t even see everything.

I remember partying at night up on the hill where thus this mall sits now - it was a golf course - in '86. I don't ever remember D&L at the mall, they were located in the Parkade. Do you mean DSL shoes? Next to the pet store on the left was Things Remembered. To the right in the corner was Payless Shoes. I haven't been there in 10 years even though I recently ate across the street. Thanks for the video, I'll be going to check it out again - it's not dead yet. Enjoy your videos, they get to the point

@maryannefeyer6332

6 ай бұрын

I agree - I don’t remember D & L in the Mall. I do remember Things Remembered; we bought out attendant gifts there for our wedding in 2004. And between the pet shop and Newbury Comics was a personalized T-shirt shop; my late husband bought me a “bride to be” shirt there with my name on it.

That 2nd Elevator ride looked almost as exciting as the FUSION ride at the Big E 😅

It may have been Walden Books. I distinctly remember there being one in the mall with Borders being down the road next to Sam’s Club.

Those screens running Win7, the train system i take to work runs their ticket kiosks on Windows 2000! 23 years and still running

Since Bobs opened, they've only had the upper level open. The lower level was bring "remodeled" for some time now. If it's open, it's now brand new. Bobs in general has had major expansions over the past couple of years, closeing their Endield location but opening several others including some in MA.

Really enjoy these malls. Time just creates a different vibe for them

That’s a beautiful Allen Herschel carousel..

You hands down do the best mall videos. I have a request , Is it possible can you do videos on the 2 largest malls in New York State? Destiny USA in Syracuse and the Roosevelt Field Mall in Uniondale thanks.

@fleabittenadventures

6 ай бұрын

Thanks! I'll try to get to those malls eventually, but they are both quite a long drive. Maybe sometime this spring.

Someone may have mentioned this already, but wasn’t there a Stiegers were Sears was in Enfield? I seem to remember that from the 70’s. I know there was a Stiegers in Enfield at some point. I haven’t been to Buckland for much other than Newbury Comics and Barnes And Noble. But Suncoast and Sam Goody were two of my favorites at Buckland back in the day.

This was my childhood mall. It's a pale shadow of its former glory. Before I moved, the only shop that was worth visiting for me was Regency Gaming, now Stateline Video Games.

Definitely not a dead mall but in a few years could see a downturn, depending on the economy.

10:14 The WOW Entertainment Center was originally a Stride Rite shoe store

Nail shop was next to jcpenny but they never had a lot of customers around pandemic time. Across from forever 21 there also was a nail shop. Both were doing bad

Some big name stores either went out of business or moved out - but still people there. Nice to see

That elevator is nice. As for the if the mall is dead, no i don't think so but it could be better.

Businesses is especially enterprise level businesses like Walmart and mall REITs, for fee, can sign up for extended support for software that has been deprecated/outdated. I would assume at a certain point that extended support would have to run out as well, but who knows.

The spot above B&N was a clothing store called Against All Odds (similar style to Champs and Finish Line) and maybe changed names but that’s what I’ll always remember it as and the area in front had two rows of $5 massage chairs

@lmcdosman

6 ай бұрын

AAO is still in the mall. Moved to the other end for more visibility.

I don’t think this is really a dying mall. Seems to be doing OK. I’m surprised the Sears sign is still up.

It looks dead to me....

I live by West Farm Mall area. It took hours to get into that parking lot and once in it was busy. Had to dodge and weave to walk around. Compared to that, Buckland is doing ok, but for how long? Didn’t look very busy in the video

RE: Windows XP, @09:30, Win XP is probably the greatest of MS' OS' extremely stable, even more so than today's Win 10 or 11. I ran Win XP for 10 years after MS drop support, and I have zero problems, the media has overhyped the fact that an OS has to be 100% supported.

It's probably the most popular mall in Connecticut.

These computer screens are more like controllers than regular computers. The operating system is only upgraded when their hand is forced.

Based on lack of people and being Dec 24th, I'd say this is a dying mall. Someone is pumping money into it to try to save it. Thats what gives it the illusion of a mall doing ok.

Doesn't look good for Buckland Hills. Only Macy's for an anchor store and a bunch of small stores. In a couple of years I expect to see a flea market there. It never should have been built in to begin with.

@jaykoolis961

2 ай бұрын

Buclklwnd Hills also has a JC Penney’s.

@mikefromct5415

Ай бұрын

Yeah it was fine being a golf course called Red Rock i remember when they built Buckland

Buckland seemed to be doing fine until the pandemic hit. I wouldn't say it's dead, but there's some areas they need to address.

Did my walkthrough of Whitney Field X-Mas Eve, posted the video about 8pm that day, D-E-A-D! I noticed you missed a sizeable chunk of the Toys "Я" Us, as I initially didn't see it either. When you were leaving, I noticed it actually continued across the aisle deeper into the store, away from the mall entry. Still a smaller one. The one at Solomon Pond was bigger (got that to a degree on my Black Friday walkthrough video of the mall).

Definitely not dead.

I definitely don't classify Buckland as a dead or dying mall, but if more anchor stores leave it's definitely a possibility. There are also plenty of smaller stores that have not gotten stores back in the spaces. Sometimes temp stores go in but they don't last long. Holister pulled out quite a while ago so the calendar/toy store is temporary. Filene's used to be located where Macy's Women's is currently located.

Reasonably low vacancies, mostly national stores rather than local ones, a thriving food court, but a rather thin crowd for Christmas Eve.

@mikefromct5415

Ай бұрын

food court is far from thriving!