Photos of a dead shopping mall (2009)

Princess Alice · 2017-09-13 18:21:01

Columbus City Center was a huge three-story shopping mall in downtown Columbus, Ohio. It opened in 1989, and was shut down a mere 20 years later, closing to the public on March 5, 2009.

My family and I visited City Center on February 7, 2009. By that point there were almost no businesses left in operation, and the place was nearly deserted. I brought my trusty Nikon along with me. Here's what I shot:

Autofocus isn't always very reliable, but isn't it funny how an abandoned Sbarro is still obviously a Sbarro?

I should clarify that if you see any people in these shots, they're my family members. The four of us didn't encounter anyone else the entire time we were walking about the mall.

I think this one is my favorite from this set of photos. It just looks so...wrong seeing such an elaborate shopping mall so deserted.

You can almost picture people lined up to sit in Santa's lap here 20 years ago.

The escalators were running, even though nobody was around to use them. It's kind of a wonder this place stayed open as long as did, wasting electricity like that.

Next are some photos from February 14, 2009, exactly one week later. By that time news of the mall's impending closure had spread, and the city—who, by this point, owned the property outright—had begun selling off anything and everything left in the place. So these next few photos show some of the last "shoppers" City Center ever had, albeit a very different kind of shopping than was intended back in 1989.

This last photo is from the bridge between the mall (right) and the parking garage (left). To date, this exact photo is the only time I've ever been told off by security guard for taking photos on private property...and even then, he didn't really care, seeing as how he waited until I was leaving to say anything.

The mall itself was demolished between October 2009 and March 2010. The parking garage was left standing, because...honestly, it's a pretty decent place to park in this corner of Downtown Columbus.

Crystal · 2017-09-13 18:25:26

Aaaaaaaaaaahhhh that is so pretty I wanna go walk around in it!!

Alduin · 2017-09-13 18:26:21

this reminds me of Left 4 Dead 2.

Imipolex G · 2017-09-13 18:28:33

Good photos.

RIP capitalism

Salix Babylonika · 2017-09-13 18:44:34

this is vaporwave

Imipolex G · 2017-09-13 19:10:05

waldenboo

Bee · 2017-09-13 21:09:56

This reminds me of the two indoor malls my hometown lost. One of them was really fancy, and the other was always full of artisan crafts and stuff. Also a Waldenbooks I went to all the time. Around the recession, both turned into strip malls of 3-4 megastores you can find basically anywhere else :(

Same thing happened to Gateway in Eugene. Used to be a really good indoor mall with a theater, a Discovery Zone (how many of you remember THAT), go-karts, and everything. But the property managers just got greedy as fuck and nobody but Macy's et al could afford to stay there.

Princess Alice · 2017-09-13 21:13:53

Columbus City Center was doomed almost from the start. It was in the center of the city (who knew?) and so it simply couldn't compete with the suburban shopping malls, especially Easton Town Center (opened in 1999) and Polaris Fashion Place (opened in 2001), both on the very edge of the suburban sprawl.

It's actually kind of impressive that it managed to outlive Northland Mall, a 1960s shopping mall in the older suburbs that closed in 2002.

glennmagusharvey · 2017-09-13 21:32:56

I appreciate this thread. Genuinely.

Anonus · 2017-09-13 23:29:20

i wish we could have gone there together

Princess Alice · 2017-09-13 23:30:29

Anonus said:
i wish we could have gone there together

That would have been fun.

It's weird to think I took these photos before I even knew you...

glennmagusharvey said:
I appreciate this thread. Genuinely.

Thanks ^_^

Viani · 2017-09-14 00:51:52

It's like seeing the mall for itself and not for what's in it.

Malls are actually really nice when you're not pushing through teens trying to get to the store you're looking for and ignoring evreything in between

Viani · 2017-09-14 00:52:09

I wonder how many people fucked in it before its demise

Sredni Vashtar · 2017-09-14 00:57:28

Would it be OK if I used some of these for an album I'm working on? I asked about the Lazarus shot that either you or AU took from a while back and you seemed game but I think I might like these even better.

Princess Alice · 2017-09-14 00:59:17

Sure!

Sredni Vashtar · 2017-09-14 01:41:34

Danke! ^w^

Princess Alice · 2017-10-15 23:10:36

Look what I happened to stumble across!

(found here)

Imipolex G · 2017-10-15 23:38:57

hmm, I've been to some of these

especially this one

Princess Alice · 2017-10-15 23:54:49

I miss Lazarus.

Princess Alice · 2017-10-15 23:57:01

The Lazarus shown in the City Center directory above was, in fact, the first and flagship Lazarus. It predated the rest of the mall by several decades and a sort of bridge was tacked onto it to connect the mall on the east side of High Street with the Lazarus building on the west side of High Street.

The Lazarus building was not demolished when the mall was. In fact, it was renovated as an office building.

Imipolex G · 2017-10-16 00:01:03

rose from the dead, in a way

vtk · 2017-10-16 01:02:47

I'm not sure I'd have called City Center "huge", but with three levels of retail space above employee parking, it was certainly the tallest mall in Columbus.

Princess Alice · 2017-10-16 01:03:56

It felt huge, at least, especially when it was so deserted.

Photos of a dead shopping mall (2009)

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