Dead Malls Season 5 Episode 7 - Courtland Center

Courtland Center, or formerly Eastland Mall is a tiny mall which lies on the east side of the dying Flint, Michigan. This was a mall I truly had no idea what to expect from, but I was more than blown away..

Built and opened in 1968 it originally featured anchors Woolco, The Fair, and Federals, with the ladder 2 being based in the malls home state. It would also boast a 1000 seat movie theater, and 47 stores. Despite a much larger Genesee Valley Center opening just miles away on the west side, Eastland would THRIVE. Through the 60s, 70s, and 80s the mall would pull shoppers from all over the metro, and as far as Detroit. It was a power center to be reckoned with, often feeling pretty modern and having some amazing almost futuristic aesthetics despite its old age.

By the 90s however the dying city combined with the struggling retail brands at the mall would begin its downfall. Jobs would be lost and Flint would see vast swathes of its population leave in search of a better life.. While the factories once employing most of the cities blue collar demographic, Chrysler, GM, and Buick all closed up shop.. The now renamed Courtland Center was left to pick up the pieces.. Throughout the 2000s dozens of renovations, redevelopments and additions would be an attempt to bring people back, but as the recession swept through it was almost day and night. Each day in 2009 some other store was gone or holding a closing sale. Coupled with the anchors constantly changing hands or closing AND the theaters closing and reopening several times gave the mall a bad look.

By my visit in July of 2022 the mall was just a sad scar of a beautiful past. A look into the once beautiful Flint. And a look into a shopping destination which once held thousands in its halls…

Music used

PZA - Tropic

The Weather Channel is Always Wrong - 27 U H F

s t r o l l t h r u K M A R T - Squarecom

Skytower 2032 - Metallic Ghosts

Infatuated - Toadofsky

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