By Rebecca Drew
HAUNTING images reveal the decrepit remains of the once bustling mega-shopping mall that closed its doors almost a decade ago.
![](https://mediadrumworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/MDRUM_Lost_25M_Temple_to_Consumerism-10.jpg)
Pictures taken at the 743, 785 square-foot mall that cost 25-million-dollars to be constructed in the seventies show the empty expanse of the mall’s concourse, escalators paused in time and the bare displays where merchandise would have once been displayed.
![](https://mediadrumworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/MDRUM_Lost_25M_Temple_to_Consumerism-12.jpg)
One picture shows a basketball arcade-style game with balls still lined up to be scored through hoops, whilst another shows debris scattered on the floor.
![](https://mediadrumworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/MDRUM_Lost_25M_Temple_to_Consumerism-11.jpg)
The eerie shots were taken at Century Plaza shopping mall in Birmingham, Alabama, USA by an Urban Explorer known only by Abandoned Southeast.
![](https://mediadrumworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/MDRUM_Lost_25M_Temple_to_Consumerism-14.jpg)
“I got the idea for this project because I went shopping here as a kid when the mall was still operational,” he said.
![](https://mediadrumworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/MDRUM_Lost_25M_Temple_to_Consumerism-15.jpg)
“To take these shots, I worked with the new owner who plans to renovate the shuttered shopping mall into a local market and storage space.
![](https://mediadrumworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/MDRUM_Lost_25M_Temple_to_Consumerism-16.jpg)
“Photographing this mall brought back a lot of memories for me of shopping here with my mom as a kid.”
![](https://mediadrumworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/MDRUM_Lost_25M_Temple_to_Consumerism-1.jpg)
Century Plaza opened in August 1975, it was designed by architect firm, Crawford, Giattina and Mitchell and was built in a modern style. The shopping centre’s original anchor stores were JC Penney, Loveman’s and Rich’s and Sears with its popularity peaking in the eighties.
![](https://mediadrumworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/MDRUM_Lost_25M_Temple_to_Consumerism-8.jpg)
After two major remodels in 1986 and 1994 to compete with Birmingham’s other shopping malls, Century Plaza closed in May 2009 with only 40 shops in operation.
![](https://mediadrumworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/MDRUM_Lost_25M_Temple_to_Consumerism-7.jpg)
Lumpkin Development purchased the mall in December 2017 for three-million-dollars.
![](https://mediadrumworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/MDRUM_Lost_25M_Temple_to_Consumerism-6.jpg)
“I use a tripod along with a Canon DSLR camera and lens,” explained Abandoned Southeast.
![](https://mediadrumworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/MDRUM_Lost_25M_Temple_to_Consumerism-9.jpg)
“These photos of Century Plaza often bring back a lot of memories for shoppers around Birmingham who visited the mall in its heyday during the 1980s.”
For more information see www.abandonedsoutheast.com