I drove by a place i lived at for 2 years yesterday and passed by a Rite Aid i went into a couple of times.

Anyway, I noticed that in that location is going what i'm pretty sure is a dry cleaners.

Growing up in Syracuse, we had Great Northern, Destiny (our mega mall), and Shoppingtown, which I never remember being in. I mostly went to Great Northern, but by 2010/2011, it was quieter and more deserted than, say, other malls. I remember going into Destiny, which was originally called Carousel Center. As a baby, I had baby pictures taken at Pictures People; I remember spending time at Build-A-Bear and the Disney Store, etc. As a teenager, during the early part of the expansion, the place was great; it had stores that were upscale for the area and some little cool places. Now, what's left are Dick's, a few restaurants, but most are starting to be junk places or mom-and-pop little shops, where chain or national stores used to be. The IKEA is half the size of a normal one, and the Hobby Lobby is very run-down and sketchy. A lot of stores have been closing in that place.

I truly love Crossgates Mall because it just feels safer and more developed than Destiny. Unfortunately, Destiny lost all the true anchor stores, and only Macy's remains. They don't even put in a water park, casino, or anything to attract people to get business; all it is are places with claw machines and businesses that rip people off. I like Pallisades Center Mall because it was, and seemed like, a better and cleaner Destiny. Destiny is dirty and filthy.

Personally, they should have kept Shoppingtown or Great Northern and done something like Crocker Park in Cleveland—it's a lifestyle center with apartments and stores; they have a two-story Barnes & Noble as well. My point is, why doesn't Syracuse have things in the mall to keep people engaged? Have a waterpark, ice rink, some kind of casino, or live arts venue. Have some kind of area with a mega church.

Like I said, they need to fix up Shoppingtown or Great Northern and create something for the community to enjoy. Not the very few people who ruin it for everyone else, which is what happened to Destiny. People are scared to go there, which is why so many businesses closed. It's where people with beef and gangs go to fight each other. The mall is great; don't get me wrong, it could be better if they had more stores people want. I remember when the expansion first opened, and they had two arts and crafts places, good restaurants, and really great stores. Now, unfortunately, it's just stuff you'd see in a regular mall—like those mom-and-pop stores with foreign foods, boutiques, and comic book stores, etc.

I'm not trying to be a troll with my post; I just think Syracuse needs to have things for people to do. When you run out of options—yes, there's Syracuse University and downtown, which is great, with the aquarium and microbrewery—most people say they usually visit New Jersey, Rochester, Buffalo, or other bigger cities for stuff. Syracuse doesn't have much once you've visited all the suburbs. It's practically the same in DeWitt as in Cicero, Clay, or Fairport. It's boring. Yes, there are pizza places and great restaurants, but we need an entertainment complex where Destiny fails. It’s not an attraction you'd go out of your way to visit, especially when there are better and more developed malls in Northern New Jersey.

Today marks exactly 8 years since Sears Holdings filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on October 15th of 2018 and had since added 142 stores, including this one, to the list of locations that was slated to close on January 6th of 2019, [along with 8 others across the state of Texas] (https://www.cbsnews.com/texas/news/9-sears-locations-closing-texas-bankruptcy/). This store opened on July 15 2000. As of this year it has since been slated to be turned into a Dick's House of Sport. There is still one Sears left in the state of Texas, at Cielo Vista Mall in El Paso, the last one in the state and one of 5 left and they even have 3 functioning distribution centers and a website.

The following Sears stores are still open as of 2026:

- Coral Gables in Miami Florida 10/27/1954 - present (3655 SW 22nd St, Miami, FL 33145)
- Sun Valley Shopping Center in Concord California 10/19/1966 - present (1001 Sunvalley Blvd, Concord, CA 94520)
- South Shore Plaza in Braintree Massachusetts 10/6/1980 - present (250 Granite St, Braintree, MA 02184)
- Cielo Vista Mall in El Paso Texas 2/24/1982 - present (8401 Gateway Blvd W, El Paso, TX 79925)
- The Florida Mall in Orlando Florida 3/12/1986 - present (8001 S Orange Blossom Trail, Orlando, FL 32809)

Sources of photos: Yelp and Foursquare
https://www.yelp.com/biz/sears-frisco
https://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/sears-frisco
https://app.foursquare.com/v/sears/4babab46f964a5209dbe3ae3
https://app.foursquare.com/v/sears/4babab46f964a5209dbe3ae3/photos

Credits
Buddy Clark on January 19-21 2013
Jake Tucker on June 28 2013
Mike Walters on January 26 2014
Joey M on March 29 2014
Jennifer Compton on June 29 2014
Chris Colosimo on November 19 2014
Nicole H on January 3 2016
Juan Q on June 11 2017 and October 21, November 11 and December 24 2018
Rob Brodner on September 3 2017
Tony Dang on November 25 2017, November 24 and December 1 2018
Daniela N on December 29 2018

The Decline of Sears...What Happened?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qws713t3HBY

By Company Man

October 19 2018

https://www.reddit.com/r/deadmalls/comments/1o7rdxc/the_decline_of_searswhat_happened/

https://www.reddit.com/r/SEARS/comments/1o7reai/the_decline_of_searswhat_happened/

https://www.reddit.com/r/kmart/comments/1o7rffq/the_decline_of_searswhat_happened/

Local mall that has been dead for as long as I can remember. The main store keeping the place afloat is a Dollarama just behind the photo, but there is also a ServiceOntario as well as a community legal clinic, immigration clinic, and driver's education centre. The small area on the second floor is empty as the regional government was the only tenant before moving out.

finally got to visit this mall after it had been on my bucket list for a looong time. i like to use the word decrepit a lot when describing dead malls. orlando fashion square is *decrepit*. and why security is so weird about taking pictures of a mall you can feel and smell the moisture in? the world may never know. you can even feel it in the dillard’s clearance center.

For some reason the youtube algorithm decided I'd be interested in watching this girl eat in a bunch of dead malls around toronto. It's fairly captivating

Just went to this mall today and didn’t expect it to be dead.

This mall used to be like NorthPark.🫣 Started small scale demolition by the old Neiman Marcus. The main crowd is for the equinox and crate and barrel which aren’t even connected to the mall

The South Bay Galleria was the place to be for decades.

Definitely a lively mall in the 1990s and early 2000s. The place has become overrun with bargain stores and a lot of empty storefronts at this point.

Friday evenings are actually the slowest day of the week, according to one of the food vendors. That is terrible!

It's a sad era for the South Bay section of Los Angeles County.

Because of pure greed, he was able to strip these iconic brands and sell them off for parts piece by piece until nothing remained. Pensions gone, retirements went up in smoke, and local communities went belly up.

Still open as of October 2026, though apparently will be demolished in the near future. One shoe store, a Halloween store, and a burger place still operating amazingly. Came here a lot in the 90s to play at the arcade.

Dillards and JC Penny stores still operating.

Took this on a cheap Minolta camera that I got.

Closing this month, as the remaining tenants have until 10/31 to vacate the premises. The only places left, not including anchors, are Hallmark, On the Go, Zen Spa, a pretzel stand, and a cologne kiosk.

Boscov's, AMC, and Barnes & Noble are all staying, but the rest of the mall will be demolished, with work starting maybe as soon as December.