Well

[TRU7536]

I was just thinking last night, has anyone ever wanted to walk into in a vacant retail building like a Bradlees, Caldor, Ames, etc??  We have seen so many vacant buildings from the outside, but what about the inside. I would love to see how the inside of the Bradlees and Stop & Shop in Manchester looks inside. Seeing the decay and whats left inside after all those years. The Manchester Parcade has been vacant for years now, and their going to be torn down soon. Even the Bradlees of Stratford and so many others. You know these places dont have alarms that work and i bet alot of homeless people have called these places home to. I remember when i worked at Toys R Us in Newingtonm we had the keys to Caldors( TRU use to keep some storage their). It was so freakin cool when i went inside their and kind of creepy! The phone use to ring whenever someone would walk inside. The building was pretty much cleaned of everything, but the scars of where the registers were and the enterntainment area was very clear. The stock rom went all over the store and it was huge! They did have a alarm system. But has anyone lese ever wanted to go inside stores like this, it would be so cool!

[XISMZERO]

I think everyone has wanted to. As a matter of fact, I can't point to one vacant store I DIDN'T want to enter (trespass or else). Window shopping post-mortem brings so much temptation for those who visit and document these fallen sites. There are however some hazards though one must be aware of aside from the obvious; law enforcement.

Here's some other possible and or good reasons to think twice about entering...

Some of these long vacant and neglected ones not kept well by their plaza owners to future buyers could often allow for the growth and manifestation of dangerous spores, and other inhalants not to mention asbestos build up.

Unsavory people inside? Everyone knows what kind of people vacant ones attract; vagrants, drug dealers, etc. Call me paranoid, but it's truthful to some regard. It's like a decomposing body; once the place is dead all kinds of decomposition happens there.

Unsound architecture. Enough said...

There are a few I really contemplated getting into; Caldor in Newington (which was reported "haunted" by some) which was all clear of most hazard since TRU used it. Mostly, the Caldor in East Patchogue, NY because there's a rainbow cart still inside it! I too, in my many visits to the parkade site would have loved to get inside the Manchester Parkade Bradlees/Stop & Shop. I'm sure it's massively emptied, but you never know what antiquities you might come across left behind...

I almost gained entry to the Caldor in W.Hartford, but I've come to find it's completely gutted now. Granted it was Ames in it's final years, I'm sure the groovin' rainbow stripes clock found at many old-school Caldors was long removed from over the entrance.

[Caldor1999]

i was thionking about getting into the caldor in middletown ny because last time i was there they had the backdoor open only reisn why i dident go insdie because it was reallly dark in there

[XISMZERO]

Originally posted by Caldor1999
i was thionking about getting into the caldor in middletown ny because last time i was there they had the backdoor open only reisn why i dident go insdie because it was reallly dark in there

Bring a flashlight, full battery charged for your camera's flash next time and go nuts! Good luck!

[C. Fontaine]

My brother got into the Dudley Ames after it closed.  The realtors had left one of the loading bay doors halfway open, and apparently the building had no functional motion based alarm system because they wandered around and out with some stuff.

[NJxxJon]

Just dont break anything to enter, leave a lot of fingerprints and expect to be paranoid of sounds on the  outside.....it all works like a charm.... :hurt:

[Marc82]

XISMZERO is disappointed because a friend of mine who was an employee of the former Shaw's in Southington threw out the key he didn't turn in when he quit the store 3 weeks before closing. Me and this friend did get to go in their late one night about 2 days before closing. Of course now that this Shaw's is falling down I doubt XISMZERO and I would dare to go in there now, which is a shame since they finally took out the closed circuit tvs.

[Marc82]

5 people including 2 minors were arrested for sneaking into the abandoned Shaw's on West Main Street in New Britain and turning it into a makeshift skate-park. They entered through an unlocked back door.

http://www.newbritainherald.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=18135094&BRD=1641&PAG=461&dept_id=595283&rfi=6

[NJxxJon]

Originally posted by Marc82
5 people including 2 minors were arrested for sneaking into the abandoned Shaw's on West Main Street in New Britain and turning it into a makeshift skate-park. They entered through an unlocked back door.

http://www.newbritainherald.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=18135094&BRD=1641&PAG=461&dept_id=595283&rfi=6

skateboards  = noise. I do promote skateboarding but at the same time its not worth it unless, your taking pics or shooting video and you get the HELL OUT.  :mad:

[Caldor1999]

Originally posted by NJxxJon

Originally posted by Marc82
5 people including 2 minors were arrested for sneaking into the abandoned Shaw's on West Main Street in New Britain and turning it into a makeshift skate-park. They entered through an unlocked back door.

http://www.newbritainherald.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=18135094&BRD=1641&PAG=461&dept_id=595283&rfi=6

skateboards  = noise. I do promote skateboarding but at the same time its not worth it unless, your taking pics or shooting video and you get the HELL OUT.  :mad:

i dont see whats the big deal about going inside a old clsoed down store whats sooo bad about it

[NJxxJon]

Originally posted by Caldor1999

Originally posted by NJxxJon

Originally posted by Marc82
5 people including 2 minors were arrested for sneaking into the abandoned Shaw's on West Main Street in New Britain and turning it into a makeshift skate-park. They entered through an unlocked back door.

http://www.newbritainherald.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=18135094&BRD=1641&PAG=461&dept_id=595283&rfi=6

skateboards  = noise. I do promote skateboarding but at the same time its not worth it unless, your taking pics or shooting video and you get the HELL OUT.  :mad:

i dont see whats the big deal about going inside a old clsoed down store whats sooo bad about it

I have the SAME point of view here too but didnt feel like causing a tramp of replies. Danger thats about all....I mean....It makes the buildings sell faster too......lol....AMES into a skateboard park........:bigsmile:

[mikey7290]

Years ago, when I was in high school, a friend of mine and I noticed one day that one of the glass front doors on our long-vacant Newberry's store downtown was broken.  So we carefully climbed through the hole, being sure not to cut ourselves and wandered around inside the three-story building and basement for about an hour or so, even going up on the roof!  A guy across the street threatened to call the cops, but I doubt he did, because they never caught us.  It was pretty cool.  It's the only department store building that I've seen with a gym on the top floor!  The escalators were still there at the time, but now they are gone, the only one left goes between the first floor and basement, but the last time I was in that building, it was a restaurant and the bar was covering it.  Now the building is a furniture store, so I doubt that even that escalator is there now. :(

[NJxxJon]

Originally posted by mikey7290
Years ago, when I was in high school, a friend of mine and I noticed one day that one of the glass front doors on our long-vacant Newberry's store downtown was broken.  So we carefully climbed through the hole, being sure not to cut ourselves and wandered around inside the three-story building and basement for about an hour or so, even going up on the roof!  A guy across the street threatened to call the cops, but I doubt he did, because they never caught us.  It was pretty cool.  It's the only department store building that I've seen with a gym on the top floor!  The escalators were still there at the time, but now they are gone, the only one left goes between the first floor and basement, but the last time I was in that building, it was a restaurant and the bar was covering it.  Now the building is a furniture store, so I doubt that even that escalator is there now. :(

Good story bro. Yeah twice people yelled at me for cutting through a yard to this old run down house where I used to live. Never really called the cops I bet.

[Ameskid]

I usually try yanking on the doors a time or two to see if they are unlocked.  At the vacant Big Kmart I visited today, I thought I had entry - but the doors only barely opened after being locked from the inside with a chain and padlock between the door handles.

It does work occasionally...

Former Tuesday Morning, Cincinnati by Harvestman Man, on Flickr
Former Hollywood Video in Cincinnati, OH by Harvestman Man, on Flickr

[busman_49]

I had a golden opportunity to enter the defunct Rolling Acres Mall back in 2012, but I didn't for two reasons:
1) The possibility of unsavory people
2) Any criminal charges I get might mean dismissal from my job

So I just took a few photos through the broken windows and went on my way (good thing too, because a police officer breezed by as I was leaving)

But yes, if I had the (legal) opportunity to stroll through an empty store/hotel/restaurant, I would gladly take it.