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About Deadmalls.com & RetailHistory.com Welcome to Retail History!
DeadMalls.com began in the early 2000s as a personal archival project. What started as two retail enthusiasts documenting changes they witnessed firsthand has grown into a long-running independent record of retail history. More than two decades later, the mission remains the same: to preserve the memory and evolution of shopping centers during an era of dramatic change in the American retail landscape.
Retail historians, Peter Blackbird and Brian Florence decided to take Pete's hobby and make it visible to the Internet.
Fascinated by the ever-changing face of retail, Pete has researched and learned as much as he could about the many facets of the retail industry. Having himself worked for Hills department stores during their transition into Ames, along with Brian who worked at a Caldor, as well as other various retail-oriented contacts, they found themselves captivated by the trends shaping the industry and witnessed first-hand the decline of many of these giants of retail.
Having had a hand in retail working, the two continue to devote their time to tracking the cause and effect of the dead mall phenomenon and preserving the memory of these shopping centers for years to come.
Thanks to the power of the Internet, we have been able to compile information from people all over the web, contributing invaluable insight and documentation to this archive.
DeadMalls.com is an endeavor designed to promote the history of malls — whether thriving, struggling, repurposed, or demolished — and to document the impact of time, competition, and shifting consumer habits on these establishments. The goal is historical preservation and documentation of retail trends, not criticism of individual properties.
(See our press & media page for many of those articles and for media & licensing info.)
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©2000-2026 DeadMalls.com
unless otherwise noted | Media & Licensing | Privacy Policy.
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Brian Florence co-founded Deadmalls.com with Peter Blackbird in 2000 as a way to organize and share Peter’s growing archive of mall-related research and photography. Recognizing the internet’s potential as a collaborative platform, Brian built the site to collect stories, images, and documentation from contributors around the world.
Peter Blackbird’s interest in shopping malls began at a young age, after watching a once-busy mall he visited as a child become nearly abandoned just two years later. That experience sparked a lifelong fascination with retail history and the stories behind fading commercial spaces.
Jack Thomas discovered Deadmalls.com in the early 2000s while researching closed and declining malls online. His interest in retail history grew from personal experiences and visual documentation of disappearing shopping centers in his home region.
From 2003 to 2019, Jack contributed extensively to Deadmalls through photography, writing, and video production for Deadmalls Media, helping expand the project’s online presence during that period.
He now publishes independent retail history content at 