By Rebecca Drew
HAUNTING images reveal the decrepit remains of the once bustling mega-shopping mall that closed its doors almost a decade ago.
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.
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.
The eerie shots were taken at Century Plaza shopping mall in Birmingham, Alabama, USA by an Urban Explorer known only by Abandoned Southeast.
“I got the idea for this project because I went shopping here as a kid when the mall was still operational,” he said.
“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.
“Photographing this mall brought back a lot of memories for me of shopping here with my mom as a kid.”
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.
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.
Lumpkin Development purchased the mall in December 2017 for three-million-dollars.
“I use a tripod along with a Canon DSLR camera and lens,” explained Abandoned Southeast.
“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
