Ghost Mall - Rolling Acres Mall in Akron, Ohio

This mall shows the food court of Rolling Acres Mall, which is now the mall equivalent of a ghost town. The video is by df559 who stated it was "taken on 10-31-08, which was supposed to be the day the lights were turned off due to non-payment." Sad that it got to that point, huh. This mall opened in 1975, and it was once designed to make people feel glamorous, to even make them feel they were somewhere as fashionable as Paris, and yet now it is a ghost mall. This video shows you what the mall was like in it's early years, even when it was still just a dream: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3g3Xw5Id0A

Rolling Acres Mall was one of the first malls I ever went to as a child. My memories of malls get mixed up in my very earliest years, but I do remember going here, and also to Summit Mall, Belden Village and Chapel Hill Mall when I was very young (I was born in Akron, OH). My memories are of green carpet, orange carpet, many fountains, sunken waiting areas with benches where people would sit and smoke cigarettes, mirrored walls, signs, or columns, trees and large planters, a two-story Burger King, toy stores, and pet stores. I was between 4 and 5 years old when we moved away, so those are my memories up to that point. I also remember rides at Summit Mall and parades outside Summit Mall.

I was sad to hear that Rolling Acres Mall was closing. When malls die it seems to start with one anchor store leaving, and then another, while the smaller stores can no longer keep up with the loss of mall traffic, so they quickly leave with no stores to take their place. Some malls allow "junk stores" to take their place in desperation for SOMETHING to fill those spaces, but unfortunately the "junk stores" don't help a mall's reputation.

From what I have read, Rolling Acres Mall is closed off, but you can still visit a few of the remaining anchor stores. There was a recent attempt to auction off the mall, but there were no bids. Sad.

A website is dedicated to this mall: http://rollingacres.org/news.php It really brought back mall memories! I don't remember this mall very well because I was so young when we moved away, but the list of stores the mall had in '76 brought back so many mall memories in general. One memory this brought back was that none of the malls I went to had food courts in the early years. A small mall would have snack counter type places. A larger mall would have some restaurants scattered throughout the mall, althought not many compared to what malls have today with food courts.

According to rollingacres.org the eateries at the mall in 1976 were Baskin-Robbins 31 Ice Cream, Carousel Snack Bar, Cut the Mustard, Der Dog House, Family Restaurant, Fanny Farmer Candy, Friendly Ice Cream, Gourmet Fudge, Hickory Farms, Karmelkorn, and Pizza Star. Basically, mall options in those days for food were candy and food gifts, ice cream, hot dogs and pizza. I forgot how popcorn varieties being sold at malls as gifts were a big novelty in the 70's and 80's. I am assuming Karmelkorn sold popcorn.

Here is the auction listing for this mall: http://www.higgenbotham.com/nai/detail.asp?auctionid=1362

And here is the lower level: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhCllEHWImo