Went back to the old Sunrise Galleria in Phoenix last week

I was there about 3 years ago when the big anchor store, JCPenney, was still hanging on, but it was a ghost town even then. Last week, the whole food court was just empty chairs and a busted fountain, and the only thing open was a cell phone kiosk. It's wild how fast a place can go from packed on weekends to totally silent. Anyone else remember when that place was actually busy in the early 2000s?

3 comments

3 Comments

sagelane3mo ago

Man, that hits close to home. The old Westgate Pavilion near me had the same slow death. You could watch the decline by what closed next, first the arcade, then the cookie place, then the big department store. Last time I walked through, the only sound was the echo of my own footsteps on the dirty tile. It's a weird feeling, like walking through a memory that's falling apart.

harris.vera2mo ago

I don’t know, I feel like people make these malls out to be more than they were... It’s just a building, right? The arcade and the cookie place weren’t exactly life-changing. They were just places to kill time before smartphones existed. Now we have better ways to shop and hang out, honestly. Walking through an empty mall isn’t some deep tragedy, it’s just a reminder that stuff gets old and we move on. Maybe it’s a little sad if you’re nostalgic, but it’s not like losing a family member or anything.

evah403mo ago

Actually, those empty malls are a good thing because they free up space for better stuff. New apartments or community centers could go there instead of just more stores. It's just change, not really sad at all.