The Abandoned Richland Mall - Columbia, SC | dead mall & sister to Cincinnati Mills | ExLog 100

Thank you all for pushing my channel right up to the precipice of 50,000 Subscribers! We're so close! I appreciate you all sticking with me for 100 episodes over the last 4 years...it means the world. Much more content on the way. Here's to the next 100!

I actually just visited this mall today. I promised myself I would go see the mall in all its disrepair when I found out that it’s set to be demolished later this year. Only the Barnes&Noble and Belk are still open to my knowledge but the Belk seems to be in clearance mode. I actually stumbled across this channel seeing if anyone else had any footage inside the mall because I only was able to explore the exterior. It’s astonishing how much effort and care you’ve taken in telling this malls story and it feels kind of surreal having been about a mall I’m local to.

*sal [uses speech check on barber] :success
*sal [uses speech check on guard] :success
*sal [ unlocks restricted area]
honestly its like it was written for an rpg or dnd story

Thank you for confirming what everybody should know. Amazon hasn't killed malls. It's always the same. Piss poor management. Well done.

“Mrs Fields coming soon”

😂🤣yeah I think those plans got cancelled.

Yes sir I have been under there…I worked at the call center (Verizon Wireless) for almost 7 years until they relocated to a new facility about 20 miles away. Even then it was an eerie and odd place - a place we were supposed to use for relaxing on breaks, etc. It was better with a lot of people coming and going but still just odd.

My son likes to explore “dead malls” too and I have some footage of us walking around in there a few years ago if you’re interested. Unfortunately, the Parisian side was already closed at that time but from working in the call center I remember that side and the food court. Ah, the food court…where I once saw the people working at the Chinese/Japanese restaurant change a baby’s poopy diaper on the counter - never again did I go there…Jeez.

In 2012, the Parisian area in the mall was home to a haunted house attraction called the Dark Knight's Terror Trail. They're now over in Elgin and go by Dark Castle. They even made up a bad guy named Dillard who would incorporate mannequins into his murders.

Its just so sad to see more malls in this condition. I'm a child of the 80's so I have a fond memory of malls. I hate that they are becoming a thing of the past. The one in my town is slowly heading that way. Thank you for recording these malls for future generations.

Excellent video and footage I was actually a security supervisor of this mall back in 2007 when the group from FL had it wanting to build condos and stuff on the Dillard side. I been in the generator rooms the old Verizon wireless complex and a lot of other areas that you couldn’t just see. Electrical rooms throwing sparks out from lights getting wet and shorting out. You needed a good workers comp to work here. That’s for sure. Roof top and garage I can’t believe still standing

I am literally in tears..I can't with this Winebago guy...OMG Priceless. Congrats on 100 and here's to the next 50k

Thank you for sharing. I remember when this place opened and it was beautiful. I hated the parking but loved having Santa pictures taken here. I ride by here a few times a month and had no idea it closed and fallen into such decay. I'm shocked that it didn't do better with the Fort Jackson Military being so close. Parisians 2as one of my favorite stores.

Fort Jackson, adjacent to Columbia, S.C. is a 53,000 acre U.S. Army Training Center. Named for President Andrew Jackson-- a South Carolina native -- it was originally established in 1917 when it trained men of the 30th and 81st Infantry Divisions. Between 1925 and 1940 it served as an encampment and training area for the S.C. National Guard. It became a permanent Army garrison in 1940 and lost its former name of Camp Jackson. After World War II Ft. Jackson became a replacement training center. During the Korean War, the 8th and 31st Infantry Divisions trained here. In 1973, Fort Jackson was appointed as a U.S. Army Training Center, and since 1995, Fort Jackson is home to new training facilities and schools; including the U.S. Army Soldier Support Institute, the Department of Defense Chaplain Center and School, and the Defense Academy for Credibility Assessment. Today, Fort Jackson is the biggest and most active Initial Entry Training center in the entire U.S Army training 50 percent of all Soldiers and 60 percent of the women entering the Army each year.

Richland Mall is one that its a shame once you look at its history and the state of it now. We went there a few years back on black Friday and even the belks felt abandoned and dead. Got a lot of stuff there though for good prices. Great video!

Congratulations on your 100th film production for the Expedition Log Series. Thanks for what you do!

This mall has a very interesting past. I remember seeing Return of the Jedi at the old mall prior to the rebuild, and actually worked at the TGI Friday's in the mid-90's. This mall was never a particularly busy place, and was focused on a clientele that simply never went.

I love this mall, it's like a crappy time capsule right in the middle of an affluent neighborhood.

I grew up in Cincinnati and moved to Charleston SC in 1990. My favorite department store was McAlpins and J.B. Whites was owned by the same parent company, so when my mom would visit in the early 90's we would drive up to this mall to shop at the J.B. Whites. It was such a beautiful store. Haven't been back since probably the late 90's and to see the shape of it now is depressing. I remember the awesome food court, it had large model planes hanging from the ceiling. Even in the early 90's though the food court was mostly empty and the mall only about 50% occupied.

Thanks for showing us so many incredible places most of us otherwise would never get to see, all while doing it with class.

I was one of the people hired to open the Barnes & Noble before the Christmas Season in 1997. Worked there for two years and had plenty of nights sitting in the original food court while taking dinner break. Even then, you could tell the mall was struggling, as the massive food court was down to just a Chinese restaurant (not a Panda), the original Sbarro, and I think a Great Steak and Potato. To try and bolster the mall, they allowed for the opening of an arcade on the end of the food court, which was apparently something the previous owners had never allowed, because an "arcade" didn't fit the Richland "Fashion" Mall motif (but apparently the Camelot records and Babbages were somehow okay).

Columbia used to have two Barnes and Nobles, one seen here, and one at Harbison near Columbiana Mall, but the decision was made years ago to close the Harbison location, which I always thought was bizarre, but I'm guessing it comes down to the Richland Mall location probably getting extremely cheap rent.

Dude you seriously completed a whole-ass sidequest to get into the other wing.

Incredible job, Sal. Went all in with the barber stunt. Congrats on 100 ExLogs. Cheers!