CLOSING DAY

THE GALLERIA AT PITTSBURGH MILLS HAS BEEN A DEAD MALL FOR SOME TIME — CERTAINLY DECLINING SINCE 2015, AND HOLLOWING OUT RAPIDLY SINCE THE PANDEMIC. ONE BY ONE THE ANCHOR STORES — BORDERS, SEARS, JCP, DICKS, JOANNE FABRIC — DROPPED AWAY, UNTIL FINALLY, IN EARLY 2026, THE LAST RETAIL ANCHOR — MACY’S –WAS SHUTTERED BY ITS CORPORATE PARENT AND SOLD TO THE MALL’S OWNER.

I HAVE WALKED THE MALL SEVERAL TIMES — TAKING IN ITS GHOSTLY LIMINAL SPACES, ADMIRING ITS INNOVATIVE ARCHITECTURE, PONDERING GREAT QUESTIONS IN THE SOLITUDE — AND THIS FINAL WEEKEND OF APRIL I VISITED MACY’S ONE LAST TIME.

I CAME IN THROUGH THE UPPER ENTRANCE OF THE STORE — IT WAS THE ONLY TWO-STORY SPACE IN THE GALLERIA— FROM THE REAR PARKING LOT AND FOUND THE VAST SECOND FLOOR SALES SPACE EMPTY, CORDONED OFF BY YELLOW CRIME SCENE TAPE. THE REMAINING MERCHANDISE HAD BEEN MOVED TO THE FIRST FLOOR AND JUMBLED THERE AMID DOZENS OF BLACK-AND-YELLOW ‘ALL ITEMS MUST GO’ DISCOUNT SIGNAGE.

I RODE THE ESCALATOR DOWN.

MOST OF THE DISPLAYS WERE EMPTY. THE LONG LINES OF PERFUME COUNTERS THAT HAD GREETED SHOPPERS WHO ENTERED FROM THE FIRST FLOOR MALL ENTRANCE WERE VACANT, THE ALUMINUM FRAMING AS SHINY AS THE DAY THE STORE OPENED. THE FIRST FLOOR PARKING LOT ENTRANCE, THROUGH WHICH SHOPPERS UNTIL LAST WEEK HAVE ARRIVED TO BE WELCOMED BY TASTEFUL WOMEN’S CLOTHING AND ACCESSORY DISPLAYS, WAS NOW A CHAOTIC JUMBLE OF BARGAIN-BASEMENT CASTOFFS AND MARKDOWNS. THE LONG JEWELRY COUNTER WITH ITS GLASS AND BRASS FRAME WAS ALL BUT EMPTY. ON THE OPPOSITE SIDE OF THE MIRROR-SURFACE SIDEBOARDS OF THE ESCALATORS WHAT WAS ONCE THE MEN’S CLOTHING AREA WAS FILLED WITH DISASSEMBLED MERCHANDISE DISPLAYS.

I LOOKED BEHIND THE SALES COUNTERS TO SEE OPEN SLOTS AND DRAWERS STILL STUFFED WITH PAPERWORK. AND I THOUGHT OF THE YEARS OF SALESPEOPLE WHO HAD FILLED OUT THOSE FORMS. I IMAGED THE HOLIDAYS IN BETTER TIMES.

AND THEN, UNDERSTANDING I WOULD NEVER WALK THROUGH THIS SPACE AGAIN, I RODE ONE LAST TIME UP THE ESCALATOR AND LEFT THROUH THE SECOND FLOOR PARKING LOT DOORS.

FEELING NOSTALGIC, AND MELANCHOLY, I DROVE TO THE OPPOSITE END OF THE MALL, TO THE CINEMA. AT ONE TIME, THERE WERE 16 SCREENS HERE, THE LARGEST MULTISCREEN VENUE IN METROPOLITAN PITTSBURGH. MANY TIMES WHEN MY SON WAS YOUNG WE TOOK IN A SATURDAY MOVIE THERE, ALWAYS HIS CHOICE.

THE SIDEWALK FROM THE PARKING LOT ONCE TOOK VISITORS PAST A LONG WALL LINED WITH HUGE MOVIE POSTERS FOR UPCOMING ATTRACTIONS. THERE WERE 8 DOUBLE DOORS TO THIS PART OF THE MALL. THE INTERIOR SPACE WAS BIG AS AN ARENA.

THE ENTRANCE OPENED ON TO THE FOOD COURT — WHEN THE MALL OPENED IN 2005, THERE WERE 10 WALKUP COUNTERS, 2 CASUAL DINING RESTAURANTS, A FULL-SERVICE STARBUCKS, SEVERAL FOOD CARTS, A FULL-SIZE CALLIOPE, A PAGEANT SPACE, AND AT LEAST 100 STYLISH WHITE METAL TABLES WITH METALLIC MESH CHAIRS.

THE PLACE HAD BEEN BUILT FOR A FULL DATE NIGHT/FAMILY OUTING EXPERIENCE: A RESTAURANT FOR BEFORE THE MOVIE, A COFFEE SHOP FOR AFTER, A DESTINATION IN AND OF ITSELF.

AT ONE TIME, THE VENUE FEATURED 8 OR 10 FIRST RUN MOVIES, THE BLOCKBUSTERS RUNNING IN TWO OR THREE THEATERS AT ONCE, WITH A RE-RELEASE OR AN ART FILM OR A DOCUMENTARY THROWN INTO THE MIX. SHOWTIMES HAD RUN ALL THROUGHOUT THE LATE AFTERNOON AND EVENING, WITH MATINEES DURING THE WEEK.

AT ONE TIME FOUR TICKET BOOTHS WITH EIGHT VIDEO SCREENS OVERHEAD DISPLAYED THE FEATURES AND SHOWTIMES. ONCE PAST THE TICKET BOOTHS, THE VAST LOBBY FEATURED A DOUBLE-SIDED CONCESSION STAND, A WAITING AREA WITH OLD-SCHOOL VIDEO ARCADE MACHINES, SCATTERED CARDBOARD CHARACTER CUTOUTS PROMOTING UPCOMING FILMS.

AND NOW: NEW MANAGEMENT FOR THE MALL, NEW MANAGEMENT FOR THE THEATER, A PANDEMIC, A COLLAPSE IN THE FILM INDUSTRY, A RECKONING IN RETAIL.

AND NOW: THE FOOD COURT EMPTY, COMPLETELY, ABSOLUTELY, EMPTY, ECHOING, VACANT, AND DARK.

THE RESTAURANTS WERE DARK, THE WALKUP COUNTERS EMPTY, THE CARTS AND CALLIOPE WERE GONE, THE HUNDREDS OF METAL TABLES AND SEATS REMOVED TO BARE A VAST, EMPTY, GLEAMING FLOOR.

AT THE THEATER, THE TICKET BOOTHS WERE UNMANNED AND DARKENED. MOST OF THE OVERHEAD VIDEOS WERE BLANK; A SINGLE OVERHEAD SCREEN DISPLAYED THE PALTRY OFFERINGS, FOUR IN TOTAL: TWO FIRST-RUN FEATURES, ONE DOCUMENTARY, AND THE 40TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION RE-RELEASE OF FERRIS BUELLER’S DAY OFF. TICKETS WERE DISPENSED AT A KIOSK IN THE LOBBY, WHERE CUSTOMERS WERE TO USE A QR CODE READER. EACH MOVIE HAD 2 SHOWTIMES, AND THE TWO FIRST-RUNS EACH HAD A SINGLE DAILY MATINEE.

A PLACE WITH 16 SCREENS. 1200 SEATS. FOUR TICKET BOOTHS. A 20-FOOT-LONG TWO-FRONT CONCESSION STAND.

NOW SHOWING 4 MOVIES, AND MANNED BY ONE STAFF.

I PICTURED A WEEKEND EARLY EVENING SOMETIME IN 2006: EVERY THEATER FULL, EIGHT OR TEN MOVIES PLAYING, FAMILIES HERE FOR THE G AND PG OFFERING, A CLOUD OF TEENAGERS SMELLING VAGUELY OF POT HERE FOR THE ACTION FLICK, COUPLES HERE FOR THE ROM-COM, SOME WAYWARD COLLEGE STUDENTS HERE TO TAKE IN AND THEN LATER DEBATE THE ART FILM OVER COFFEE. PATRONS WAITING TO BE SEATED AT HOULIHANS AND JOHNNY ROCKETS, EVERY TABLE AT STARBUCKS TAKEN, THE FOOD COURT TABLES JAMMED WITH SHOPPERS TOTING BAGS FULL OF MALL MERCHANDISE WHILE THEY SNACKED ON FAST FOOD, THE CALLIOPE SPINNING, THE PARKING LOT LIGHTS COMING ON EARLY.

I THOUGHT BACK TO A SATURDAY AFTERNOON SOMETIME IN 2012, HERE WITH MY SON, WHEN HE WOULD EXCITEDLY POINT OUT THE MOVIES HE WANTED TO SEE FROM THE POSTERS WE PASSED COMING IN, BUYING OUR TICKETS AT THE BOOTH, WALKING THE MALL ONCE TO STOP IN THE PETLAND PET STORE TO SEE THE DOGS AND CATS AND EXOTICS, THEN RUSHING BACK TO TAKE OUR SEATS AT THE TOP ROW IN THE THEATER WHERE OUR MOVIE WAS PLAYING, EARLY, SO WE COULD WATCH THE PREVIEWS.

AND I WONDERED HOW MUCH LONGER THIS SPACE, NOW SO EMPTY, NOW SO QUIET, WOULD LAST, THIS VERY LAST ANCHOR IN A PLACE NOW IN IRREVERSIBLE DECLINE.

I KNOW AT SOME POINT I SIGHED. AND AS I WALKED OUTSIDE I SAW SOME PEOPLE APPROACH — THE ONLY ONES I HAD SEEN IN MY ENTIRE TIME IN THIS PART OF THE MALL — WALKING TOWARD THE DOORS FROM ONE OF THREE CARS IN THE VAST, VACANT PARKING LOT: A MAN AND A WOMAN IN EARLY MIDDLE AGE, A YOUNG GIRL, MAYBE 12, AND A SMALL BOY, MAYBE 5, RUNNING EXCITEDLY TOWARD THE DOOR, BARELY ABLE TO CONTROL HIS ENTHUSIASM FOR WHAT HE WAS ABOUT TO SEE. MY GUESS WAS THAT THEY WERE THERE TO SEE MARIO GALAXY, ONE OF THE TWO FIRST RUNS PLAYING, AND THE ONLY ONE AGE-APPROPRIATE FOR THE BOY AND HIS SISTER.

I FELT A WAVE OF PITY FOR THAT HAPPY LITTLE BOY. HE WOULD ENTER A DIMLY LIT LOBBY, WATCH HIS PARENTS BUY TICKETS FROM A COMPUTER KIOSK, MAYBE GET SOME POPCORN FROM A VENDING MACHINE AT THE UNSTAFFED CONCESSION STAND. HE WOULD PASS DOWN THE DESERTED VELVET ROPE LINE WHERE USHERS ONCE TOOK TICKETS AND GAVE TORN STUBS AS SOUVENIERS IN RETURN. HE WOULD SEE LONG HALLWAYS TAPED OFF, UNAWARE OF THE DOZEN OTHER AUDITORIUMS THAT LAY VACANT BEYOND THE TAPE DOWN THOSE LONG-DARKENED HALLWAYS. HE WOULD SIT IN FRONT OF ONE OF TWO WORKING SCREENS, HIS FAMILY THE LONE PATRONS IN A 100-PLUS-SEAT THEATER, THE LONE PATRONS IN A 1600-SEAT MULTIPLEX, IN A SAD PARODY OF A PRIVATE SHOWING, THE PREVIEWS AND THE ADS AND THE FEATURE FILM RUNNING OUT OF HABIT, GOING THROUGH MOTIONS THAT ONCE MEANT SOMETHING.

I FELT FIRST A PANG OF PITY, AND WITHIN SECONDS — FOR THE UNIVERSE SOMETIMES DELIVERS LESSONS WITH LIGHTNING SPEED — A MOMENT OF HUMBLING CLARITY.

I WAS STUNNED BY THE ABSOLUTE ARROGANCE OF MY PITY. WHO WAS I TO PITY THIS SMALL BOY? WHO WAS I TO THINK THAT THIS CHILD SAW THE WORLD THROUGH MY OLD EYES?

HE WOULD NEVER KNOW THE MALL AS IT ONCE WAS –HE WAS NOT YET CONCEIVED, HIS PARENTS PERHAPS NOT YET ACQUAINTED, WHEN THE FORCES THAT WOULD RESHAPE RETAIL AND DOOM THIS MALL BEGAN CHURNING. HE HAD BEEN BORN, NO DOUBT DURING, OR JUST DAYS BEFORE OR AFTER, THE PANDEMIC THAT HAD GRAVELY WOUNDED THIS PLACE. HE WAS NOT BURDENED WITH NOSTALGIA. THERE WAS NO PAST TO MAKE HIM SAD. HE LIVED IN THIS MOMENT — IN THIS TIME THAT, PERHAPS 60 YEARS FROM NOW, HE WILL LONG FOR, BUT RIGHT NOW, IN THIS TIME AND PLACE, HE WAS HAPPY, AND OFF TO ENJOY A MOVIE. THIS WAS HIS TIME.

THIS PLACE EVOKED AN ACHING NOSTALGIA FOR ME. IT HELD GREAT JOY AND EXCITEMENT FOR HIM. I FELT PITY TURNED TO ENVY IN ONE HUMBLING MOMENT.

THE FUTURE WILL ALWAYS TRUMP THE PAST.

AND THAT’S WHAT I LEARNED ON CLOSING DAY.