Puente Hills Mall: The Back to the Future Mall Is Dead! | Retail Archaeology

Fun fact, that was actually the very first Foot Locker store to ever open! it makes the Puente Hills mall situation all the more tragic.

Going into these malls is like going back in time, they haven't changed much since the 1980s.

It’s sad seeing malls disappear and dying off. Growing up in the 90s-2000s I was always at a mall! But as I got older malls had tons of stores that I had no interest in and the ones I did were over priced as hell. The cost of rent in malls is crazy too. Businesses can’t afford the crazy rent without price gouging

I used to work here in the early 90's. It was a beautiful mall at one time. It is a shame to see this happening.

Dan bell posted a new Mall video yesterday and now Retail Archaeology? Frick yeah

OMG that's my mall. I live 10 minutes from here and grew up going to this mall in the 80s and 90s. It's so terribly sad how bad this mall has gotten. I only go there for the AMC theatres. Thank you for doing a new video on this location!

This is so sad. Malls were such neat places. Now they're going dead everywhere. Man, the early eighties were a great time to be alive!

As a gen xer and someone who has been to this mall as a young man, It is hard to watch the last vestiges of the 80’s slowly erode before my eyes.

I was at this mall back in 2018. It's shocking to see how empty it's become in five years. I remember it being at least 50% fuller back then.

I grew up going to that mall back in the 90's. They had a big arcade. I think it was called Tilt. There was also a AMC and Barns and Noble bookstore. My parents bought my brother and I a Vectrex at the Sears that use to be there. It was $100 back in 1983. It was a great mall to hang out but now it's a ghost town. There was a cool video game store across the street I bought my Sega 32X back on the 90's.

I live 5 minutes away from it and go to Round 1 almost every weekend, I did not even realize the mall itself is THIS dead, Its truly heartbreaking, especially with so much history in it 😕

As a Gen Xer, it's heartbreaking to see all these malls dying. Going to the mall was such a big part of growing up in the 70s and 80s.

Living in Mexico City, where most new malls are thriving AND chock full of people, it is shocking for me to watch malls crumble and dissappear in the country that invented them.

When a military recruitment office opens in a mall, you know it’s truly going down hill. Great work as always my man!

Puente Hills was my mall growing up in nearby Rowland Heights. I shopped there from 1976 until I moved away in 1997. I remember when they filmed "Back To The Future" as the South-Eastern end of the parking lot was blocked off. That place was always packed when I was in high school ('76-'79) as the arcade, "Kingdom Of Oz" was very popular. Seeing other YouTube channels like Bright Sun Films visiting old malls it just appears their time is over.

You made me smile and lament at the same time! This mall brings back a lot of good memories. My cousins lived in West Covina and we would sometimes drive down for weekends to visit them. Thr first time I went to this mall- I was about 12 years old and my cousin, who just got her driver's license took us to here. THIS was the spot to be as a millenial preteen and teenager. I remember all that Y2k stuff happenening, so it had to be 1999. I had so much fun at the arcade and talking to girls at this mall. I also had a summer teen romance with a local girl back in 2003- it was the first time I told a girl "I love you". This mall was our summer stomping grounds. The last time i went to this mall had to have been 2013 during christmas time. They had beautiful decorations and christmas trees and was still busy. It's sad to see these absolutely gorgeous malls die off. But these are those times. At least millenials, gen x, and baby boomers have our memories of these special malls. Thank you for the video!

this is tough, because this mall is actually located in a very popular location with plenty of rich folks live nearby. Its just seems that this mall got outcompeted by bigger and fancier malls nearby

I'm 37. I grew up with this mall. It really is heart wrenching every time we stop by, but we stop anyways in hopes of our small purchases helping the future of the mall. It's crazy that there are a few surrounding malls not doing so bad. Really makes you wonder why this one of all of them had to take the hardest hit.

this mall was awesome in 1999 back in the late 90s when people still thought credit cards were a new invention, and cell phones were only for doctors and drug dealers.The Funcoland and EB Games were so packed and they had such a great selection of old timey video games. The toy shops were amazing, San Rio Suprise was still there, and KB Toys was the shiznit

I worked at the JCPenney in this mall from 1975 to 1978 and was visiting as a shopper later when they were filming the parking lot scene in Back to the Future. It was so busy back then and every space was occupied. So sad to see it in this shape.