Monmouth Mall's Final Days - Exploring a Dead Mall Before Demolition

At one point the colorful panel store was Spencer's

This video is a great final tribute to this mall, nice job. Also neat to see the juxtaposition of the old footage with the new. As much as I would like to see the mall stay in its present form, I seem to be in the minority as most people have stopped shopping there. I have to admit the complex that they are building there seems like it would be a cool place to live or work. Anyway thanks for the great video.

East meets west was a great store for metal tees. They used to have one in quakerbridge but not sure if they still do. My favorite wast east in Burlington center right next to heros world.

Love the details highlighted throughout & the endless escalators. We were just in our own semi-lively mall this afternoon and the relative blandness of its corridors compared to these older stores really stands out.

I forgot all about Le Crepe. I loved it there.

Great video!

It’s like watching part of my childhood die. I remember going on “group dates” here because we were too young to solo date or going to the movies and having that friend that worked there who let you into the R movies. This is sad!

Beaumont Texas still has a Suncoast as of late 2023. They even fixed the neon sign and run the TV's again.

I have lived 5 minutes away from this mall most of my life. It is/was not a stand out mall, but it was my mall and I love it. I remember A&S and Bambergers, but besides K-B Toys and Babbages, the place I miss so very much is York Steak House. It was a medieval aesthetic restaurant that served a wicked quarter-chicken meal deal with killer chocolate pudding.

Amazing video Ray. Despite I never visited this mall, I have always looked into updates of this place since 2021 so it has been heart breaking watching this place die off. Honestly though, this small glamorous mall has hit its end in this chapter so hopefully a new exciting one can start in the next few years.

It’s hard to imagine this mall is just within days of getting demolished with so much of it still intact and the lights on. Great video. Sad to see this being a victim of today’s modern shopping habits. This is a remnant of how people used to get together before WiFi, cell phones and Apps. Take us back to 1995 please!

The sheer size of the parking lot shows how busy this mall once was...

I was there last month sad to see

Ray, thank you so much for the accurate and extensive coverage of Monmouth Mall. I have been going there since it was Monmouth Shopping Center in the 60s. Ironic how it is now going to come "full circle" and convert back into what it once was: An open air Shopping Center (to be known as Monmouth Square) I have lots of fond memories of going there as a young child, teen,then an adult, and I will truly miss it. I'm hoping the new venue will live up to expectations. Thanks once again for this extraordinary coverage of an iconic place.

1000 new luxury apartments no one can afford, Cool

I remember at one end of the mall, it was right outside the first floor entrance to "Caldors" which became Target and not sure what other stores were there, that in the early 90's, they had a few sections of the Berlin Wall on display. That was cool.

I remember when I was a kid and they were enclosing the shopping center. Walking past the stores, I think the roof was being built, but the hallway floors had not been laid yet and it was dirt with wood in spots so you could walk through the puddles and not in the mud. There was also a bank in a small building right outside of Bamberger's, next to the area that supercade was at, that I got a plastic blue piggy bank from to save my change in. It was Eatontown Savings and loan, or something like that.

Good vid Ray! Thanks for posting. This mall was part of my life in the early 20s and also while going to MU. I’m curious how Brunswick Square is doing. I heard it’s not dying so no one seems to be filming it…

I really don’t know how some of these arcades are making profits. Those newer raw thrills type games are astronomically expensive. They constantly wind up at the arcade auctions.

I have seen arcades with just old school 8 and 16 bit cabinets do amazing with all age groups.

Does anyone in the comments know when Braddocks men’s store closed at this mall? I still have some very nice suits that cost a lot of money decades ago hanging in the back of my closet.

Awesome video. Wish I could have seen this place before it closed.

I've visited Monmouth Mall a couple weeks ago. The only businesses operating today are Boscov's, Macy's & the movie theater.

The mall looks so clean and modern, how'd it become abandoned?

I remember the air soft range in there a few years ago

Looks pretty, sad it will be gone

I believe those were the Disney Stores that were renovated by the Children's Place when they bought them out for a short period of time which is why it has that red look. It was one of the worst versions of the Disney Store.

Hey! I've been going to this mall since I was a kid, and it's been a nostalgia punch to see it closing.

I do know Disney Store lore because I remember the old one so, so clearly: It used to be on the 2nd floor, I don't remember exactly which store it was but it had that mid-90s "theater" aesthetic you may recall, with the middle section stuffed with plushies around a projector/TV in the back. It did eventually move to that other store before it closed and became East Meets West!

Gonna go from an empty mall to an empty 'luxury' apartment complex

No more hats here.

So sad to be hearing of this! I grew up in Tinton Falls and the Monmouth Mall and Freehold Raceway Mall were both my go-to malls. I remember when Monmouth Mall had JC Penney, Macy's, Abraham and Strauss, and Bamberger's, just to name a few. So many painful memories.

This use to be a great mall. What do you think about the future for Quakerbridge, Marketfair, Freehold, and Woodbridge? Thank you, I love your content.

so much to salvage - think of all the elements that could be reused

What determines that the only choice is between luxury apartments or the wrecking ball. An old mall could become the nucleus of a small town with moderate housing in the expansive parking lots, Small local college teaching tech trades more relevant to current needs and a place for small or local business to start? Perhaps this is a crisis of the same stores in all the malls across the entire country dominating the corporate market place. In most cases they are insignificant but you need small business and a place for them to evolve.

That Planet Fitness entrance looks like the old movie theater entrance

Hello! I am a reporter for The U.S. Sun. I have written an article about this mall and we were wondering if we could feature your video in an article? We think our readers would love it. With your permission, we will credit your page. Thanks!

Hello! I am a reporter for The U.S. Sun. I have written an article about this mall and we were wondering if we could feature your video in an article? We think our readers would love it. With your permission, we will credit your page. Thanks!

I thought before Haynes, it was A&S

This is actually very heartbreaking😢

A mall near me called the nanuet mall they converted it partially to an outdoor mall and removed parts of the indoor.

I lived right around the corner, I used to shop there all the time.
Such a shame

We used to go to Suncoast.🎬

I’m with you, it makes me sad.

Cant believe it’s shutting down, I’ve been going there for years….

This is kinda corny to say but this mall really was my childhood. Real sad to see it go. GameStop midnights were so fun at the upstairs store, I remember waiting in line with my parents to buy the Wii in 2006. Time doesn’t stop does it 😭

Just..., memories. Sad.

Crazy how this mall is completely dead now. Came here all the time as a kid and it used to be packed I even worked at the Lord and Taylor from 2013-2017 and there were tons of shoppers. Pretty sad, it’s gone all the way downhill

The store next to Spencer's with the color grids was the old location of Spencer's before their remodel, the inside used to match, we had moved next door in may of 2013 where they remained until they closed

Man, I have not been to this mall in about 10 years. It was a good mall back in the early 2000's but like most malls they can not keep up with all the online shopping. I just hope that the Ocean County Mall in Toms River does not go the same way as the Monmouth Mall.