I often use http://maps.live.com/ to locate stores and malls on aerial pictures. When available, the 3D Bird's eye view is even better.
I often find buildings shaped like shopping centers but when i use the bird's eye view, i find that they're not! (or at least, they used to be). They have no stores and look like offices or industries:
Here are two examples:
1) Former Northport Plaza: now business center
2) Unknown business in Manchester, possibly a former discount store.
Try 12603 Louetta Rd., Cypress, TX which looks like a grocery store of some sort. Ignore the Valero and Wendy's out front.
There's an entire shopping center in Largo, FL that used to contain a Kmart, Kash N' Karry and Walgreens. The Kash N Karry remains vacant, but the rest of it has been taken over by a self storage company called Space Plus.
Live Maps is out of date and still shows the site when the Kash N Karry was still in business and the Kmart still being remodeled into the storage place.
http://maps.live.com/default.aspx?v=2&FORM=LMLTCP&cp=nnfpks835597&style=b&lvl=1&tilt=-90&dir=0&alt=-1000&scene=11480817&phx=0&phy=0&phscl=1&encType=1 (http://maps.live.com/default.aspx?v=2&FORM=LMLTCP&cp=nnfpks835597&style=b&lvl=1&tilt=-90&dir=0&alt=-1000&scene=11480817&phx=0&phy=0&phscl=1&encType=1)
<iframe width="425" height="240" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" src="http://maps.google.com/maps/sv?cbp=12,270.2144212306556,,1,-5.363070539419088&cbll=27.891882,-82.729042&panoid=&v=1&hl=en&gl=us"></iframe>
<small><a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=embed&hl=en&geocode=&q=66th+Street+North+Largo,+FL&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=31.371289,42.363281&ie=UTF8&ll=27.907969,-82.724905&spn=0.008534,0.010343&z=14&iwloc=addr&layer=c&cbll=27.891882,-82.729042&panoid=CvVCNnRnn-orvxUve6NLgQ&cbp=12,270.2144212306556,,1,-5.363070539419088" style="color:#0000FF;text-align:left">View Larger Map</a></small>
Northtown Plaza in Amherst, NY used have a mall a real long time ago called Century Mall, now its the Northtown Business Center.
Amsterdam Mall in Amsterdam NY is a good example even though the exterior has a small plaza most of the mall area is vacant and houses a dentists office and a few other small stores. I really miss the orange jullius there...
The Dort Mall on the east side of Flint, Michigan was converted entirely into some sort of automotive museum, but it still had at least one store inside.
Quote from: Hudsons81 on October 05, 2015, 04:27:01 PM
The Dort Mall on the east side of Flint, Michigan was converted entirely into some sort of automotive museum, but it still had at least one store inside.
I lived not to far from that area of town. Not very appealing.
The corner of Dort and S. Saginaw is nothing but nudie bars for as far as the eye can see.
I remember when I went to Maine on 295, I used see an old King Department Store in a strip mall, then it became Caldor, then part of Wang Computers. I believe it was in Tewkesbury.
Here, in Tampa, an old Jewel T supermarket (which became Macy Mattress) just became a storage place...across Hillsborough Avenue, the old Sweetbay is becoming medical offices.
Quote from: JimSawhill on February 12, 2016, 09:24:56 PM
Here, in Tampa, an old Jewel T supermarket (which became Macy Mattress) just became a storage place...across Hillsborough Avenue, the old Sweetbay is becoming medical offices.
I didn't know Jewel had stores in Florida, I know they had some in southwestern Michigan. How long were they down there?