A Visit to Church Hill Mall AND Laurel Mall (Hazleton PA)

Thank you for this. I grew up here. Born in 1984, Hazleton holds dear memories in my heart from the time period between 1984 and 2017. The Laurel Mall was where me, my brother, and mother went every Thursday in the summers when I was a kid. Every Saturday with the whole family year-round. McCrory’s was where I got my first slap-bracelet. 😂 I didn’t remember the name until you said it, then the memory hit me like a ton of bricks. I spent my teenage years haunting the place on Friday nights and Saturday days with my friends. Our whole life was focused around the Laurel Mall for a time. Now, at age 39, and living in Europe, a million miles from home, I stumble upon this and get to relive something through your video. Though, both malls are nowhere near what they were in the 90s, it’s still nice to walk them again through your lens. The feelings are still the same. (And your choice of a Duett synthwave song couldn’t have been more appropriate for me.) Thank you.

Lived there from 1946 to 1964 when i left for college

I did like the Laurel Mall a little better, since it followed the typical layout of a mall, but at the same time I would love to see more strip malls follow an indoor design like Church Hill.

McCorys was where Family Dollar is now.

McCory is was where the family dollar is now, the grocery store was an ACME in the 80’s and 90’s

I've always loved the character of old things - antiques, old houses, old cars, old malls. I love all the warm neutral colors, different textures and materials, styles, etc... Even more, there's stories in these things - the people who made them, used them, lived in them, drove in them, shopped in them.

I was born in Hazleton in 1954, long before there was a mall or even a supermarket or a fast food joint. A trip to a mall in Wilkes-Barre on a Saturday was a big day out -- especially if we stopped at McDonald's on the way home!

My Dad (previous owner of the Church Hill Mail) said the new owner is going to do a good job so I'm happy about that.

Great video

I hung out at the mall as a teenager back in the 70s I surre missed the fun me and my friends had there..Churchill mall was a cool place too

Nice job as always Mr. Grunt!

Booties was awesome when it opened. Last time I was there, not so much

Thanks for doing the Laurel Mall. Nice to see my old neck of the woods. I used to go to the Laurel Mall all the time as a kid. Honestly in High School on Fridays pretty much everyone hung out there. The Churchill mall I didn't go to all that much aside from Ollies. I always thought the Churchill mall was cool. And the food at that Diner is pretty good as is Cafe Europa.

Loved it! Awesome work :)

Just cray how many malls were made throughout PA!

Cool 😀

I live in Hazleton and the church hill mall is now getting a taco bell built in the parking lot other than that nothing new. The laurel mall actually bounced back hobby lobby did open but it's not connected to the mall. The laurel mall is doing well. This is sad but at the time of this comment about a month ago the older lady that works at cafe Europa overdosed and died in the Wal-Mart parking lot.

used to love that mall late 80’s early 90’s every friday and saturday hangout

I have never seen an inclosed strip mall like Churchill. Very interesting. The strip malls where I live are all open air ones. Love the vintage vibe to it. Too bad it is so quiet. Laurel mall seemed nice. Liked some of the different types of stores. Esp that espresso bar. There was some really cool aesthetics in that mall.

In the future I feel like the Churchill mall will do better than the laural mall because since 2019 nothing major has been added aside from hobby lobby, and they keep getting rid of stores left and right. Not to mention the GameStop mall purge that happened. I also thing the Churchill mall is under better management than the laural mall