The one thing people always forget to check in old malls

I've been in maybe a dozen dead malls across Ohio and Michigan, and every single time I see explorers post pics without checking the old directory boards near the entrances. Last week at the shuttered Fairview Center, the faded map still showed a 'service corridor' behind the food court that led to the roof access we were looking for. How many other spots are we missing by not looking at the original blueprints left on the walls?

3 comments

3 Comments

piper_reed1mo ago

That's a great point about checking the old directories. In my experience though, those boards are often wrong or outdated from later mall changes. The real trick is finding the maintenance office if you can. They usually have the final set of floor plans from right before the place closed, which shows all the last minute wall-ups and sealed doors. A faded public map might still point to a hallway that got blocked off ten years prior.

xena_brown501mo agoMost Upvoted

Good tip about the maintenance office, @piper_reed. How do you even find that room in a closed mall? It's not like it's marked on the public maps. Do you look for a certain type of door or hallway? I've wasted hours following old signs that lead to nothing but a locked utility closet.

patriciap5226d ago

Follow the ceiling tiles. No joke. In any closed mall, look up and find the drop ceiling sections that are a slightly different shade or have more stains - that's the path maintenance took most often. And yeah, the door will be plain gray metal with a push bar and no sign. It's like how in old apartment buildings the super's door is always the one with five different locks and a hand-written notice taped to it. Same pattern everywhere. People who work in those places don't care about looking official, they just need it to work.