Remember when malls were the hangout spot? As a Millennial, I can remember begging my mom to let me go hang out at the malls with friends when I was in the seventh grade. I don't think Gen Z could relate to how much we loved hanging out at the mall.

What happened to malls?

Somewhere in the past ten years or so, malls have really gone down the wayside. Online shopping and stores going out of business have left some of our favorite malls barren. One of my favorite malls in town, isn't completely empty, but it's definitely on its way there!

All across the Lone Star state, Texans are saying goodbye to their favorite malls; and it has somehow spawned a fascination with "dead malls".

What are dead malls?

A "dead mall" is a mall that has either been completely abandoned or one that has a very, very low vacancy rate. The mall above would be considered a dead mall; despite that there are vendors, a lot of the spaces are vacant.

Enter your number to get our free mobile app

I'm not entirely sure how it happened, but people love dead malls. There's theories as to why people are fascinated, and I was a little confused too, but then I found out that there are full on YouTube channels and Instagram pages dedicated to dead Malls.

In my research I stumbled upon this Instagram account that just shows a bunch of dead malls. And some of the cool ones are from Texas. Check out the Sunrise Mall from Corpus Christi- that looks like the mall from "Stranger Things"!

In Sherman, the Midway Mall isn't completely abandoned, but it's almost there.

While looking through the photos of the dead malls, I definitely got invested in learning about what the mall was like back in the day, and how it suffered the fate of many other malls.

I know that most of these malls aren't the ones I grew up with, but it feels like I've been there.

If you want to see more about dead malls, check out @aimee.exploring on Instagram.