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Dead Malls

Field reports and photographs of American shopping centres in decline, written by people who cared about this long before it was an aesthetic.

Opens in a new tab. We do not control this site and it may have changed since we catalogued it.

How to get the most from it

Dead Malls sits in Liminal Spaces under Weird, filed as rabbit hole.

  • Open it when the evening is free. It has no natural stopping point.
  • It works on a phone or a desktop, so open it on whatever is nearest.
  • It works with the sound off, so it is fine on a train or in a quiet office.
  • No account needed — you can start without signing up.
  • Go in expecting something nostalgic and unsettling.

About this category: Photographs of places with nobody in them: dead malls, empty pools, corridors at 3am. An aesthetic that has no right to be this affecting.

Good for

  • A long evening with nothing planned
  • A trip back to the older internet
  • A little creeping unease
  • A quiet break at your desk
  • Killing time on your phone
  • Trying it with zero commitment

Dead Malls: quick answers

Is Dead Malls free?

Yes. Dead Malls is free to use and needs no account.

Do I need an account to use Dead Malls?

No. You can use Dead Malls without signing up for anything.

Does Dead Malls work on a phone?

Yes. Dead Malls works on phones as well as desktop browsers.

Is Dead Malls safe for work?

Yes, we file it as safe for work. It also works muted.

How long does Dead Malls take?

We file it as "Rabbit hole": Clear your evening. We warned you.

More in Liminal Spaces

All 13 in Liminal Spaces
  • Photographs of the city's abandoned schools and factories, paired with the records of the people who taught and worked in them.

  • Street-level archaeology of the city — old lamp posts, painted signs and vanished railways, walked and documented since 1999.

  • Long-form expeditions into Japan's abandoned mines, hotels and theme parks, written by somebody who actually climbed in.

  • Directory of the emptied-out settlements of the American West, one short paragraph and one faded photograph at a time.

Same mood: nostalgic

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