Barstow Mall; Barstow, California
In honor of my recent cross-country move, I figured we should offer up a slice of Americana with a lesser-known Route 66 landmark: the Barstow Mall.
Barstow is a notoriously isolated city located in the Mojave Desert, near where I-15, I-40, and CA-58 all converge. It’s also a spot along historic route 66, and as a result the main drag through town is packed with vintage neon hotels, many of which long ago ceased operations.
Like many spots along Route 66, Barstow’s looking a little rough around the edges today. Historically a major transportation hub, Barstow is the home of a large rail classification yard and is known as a freeway crossroads where many trucks pass through, bringing goods to Los Angeles. Its desert climate is somewhat merciless with days in the summer regularly pushing the mercury above 100°F. Barstow’s geographic isolation and unfavorable climate are probably two reasons why it is today one of the ten poorest cities in California.
Barstow may be the home to many notable Route 66 landmarks, but the Barstow Mall is one you won’t normally hear about. A joyless concrete behemoth left over from the 1970s, this unloveable structure has been almost compeltely forgotten, with practically no stores or businesses left operating inside. Fairly typical of “dumbell-style” two-anchor 1970s malls, Barstow Mall is notable because it has retained many of its original details in the form of planters, odd light fixtures, and a whooole lot of concrete. The mall’s two anchors, Sears and Kmart, left long ago.
It’s a frankly spooky place. When I was there it was almost completely empty except for a bunch of teenaged girls with tiaras taking a group photo (?). Barstow in general was kind of a dramatically creepy place, with so many sad vestiges of the glory days of Route 66 and the area’s general lack of vegetation. Given the Barstow Mall’s proximity to major transportation corridors, however, and the fact that it’s such a ghost town, it’s well worth seeing on a swing through town.
on April 30th, 2008 at 1:55 pm
AWESOME!!! A new Labelscar post to read when I get home!!! I missed you guys!!!
on April 30th, 2008 at 3:44 pm
This was worth the wait.
To have the bulding still open despite it having nothing within that would be worth keeping it open is amazing in itself.
The wood accents clearly put the mall back in the 1970s. That was one of the first things that jumped out at me.
on April 30th, 2008 at 4:42 pm
Something must have replaced this mall, but what? The Other Dubya?
on April 30th, 2008 at 5:09 pm
Hooray, you answered my request! A bit ironic that there’s a store called Phantom Sports. Actually, it likely closed down years ago. Are there any stores left?
on April 30th, 2008 at 5:10 pm
There’s very few stores open. I think there was only 3 or 4… I remember one selling sports fan type stuff, and I want to say there was a tailor?
on May 1st, 2008 at 3:19 am
I’m wondering the same thing.
What could have replaced the mall? I’ll be wagering bets that there’s big-box retail near one of the interstates that surrounds the town.
on May 1st, 2008 at 3:21 am
Yeah, there’s some big box development, but there’s also two large outlet malls on the south side of town. One of these is itself half-dead (and surrounded by a fence; it’s as shuttered as an outdoor mall can be!)
on May 1st, 2008 at 6:18 pm
I think this mall had a Big Lots at one point too. Any idea where it was?
on May 1st, 2008 at 9:57 pm
Barstow Mall would be perfect for eccentric specialty retailers such as Vacuum City and Grandma World Apparel.
on May 4th, 2008 at 10:46 am
I remember when the mall opened. It was great to finally have a mall in town. I go back to Barstow every year or so to visit family. The last time I drove by, there was a Korean BBQ in the mall. Thought that was an odd place for a BBQ joint…especially a Korean one. But considering the proximity to the I-40/I-15 interchange and the amount of LA tour buses heading to Las Vegas, it seemed at least understandable.
The mall was done in by a two large outlet malls that opened a few miles up I-15 at the Lenwood Rd. exit. One is called Factory Merchants (much of it closed now) and the Tanger outlet, which is doing very good business. The Barstow mall was also located at a site where expansion, unless done upward, is extremely limited.
on May 9th, 2008 at 8:59 pm
A mall… in Barstow? Who knew?
Scott
on May 12th, 2008 at 12:29 am
Thank you!!!!
I’ve looking on info on the Barstow Mall ever since I pass by to go to Las Vegas! I’ve known there is (or was) a Sears and that’s because of my 2003 Rand McNally map of the area which has a little “S” on the map, and it’s inside the Barstow Mall, I’ve searched Google and Wiki for it, and nothing, WOW! I can’t belive this mall! To whom ever post this, thanks!!!! 
on May 13th, 2008 at 6:00 pm
Is this mall still there? I’d love to take a visit and jump back into the 70’s for an afternoon. Cool stuff. Lov the creepyness.
on May 13th, 2008 at 6:11 pm
You bet it is. These photos were all taken in February 2008.
on May 16th, 2008 at 9:22 pm
I’d like to write a screenplay for a movie taking place in a mall in the 1970’s, and shoot in here.
It would require some kind of budget to make the mall look occupied though.
Maybe we could drive a car through it like the Dixie Hills Mall in the Blues Brothers?
on May 28th, 2008 at 5:31 pm
Thanks for posting these pics. I was wondering about this mall when I drove past it last summer. Kind of a spooky looking place.
on June 10th, 2008 at 6:53 pm
the victorville mall open 20 mins away,a mall that had all the modern stores of valley malls and a movie theater and real food court.this hurt the mall.the first big hurt actually was when kmart moved from the barstow mall to a full size version off barstow rd.(which later closed because they couldn’t compete with walmart when they came into town and now that building is a junky indoor swapmeet.) so with the lost of the barstow malls oldest anchor store that left sears and rudes to anchor the mall. rudes dept store went out of business and left just sears. the sq footage of these malls was limited so the kmart and sears was scaled down and was limited in their supply or offerings. well victorville had a full size sears not to far away.(20 mins in most decent size cities isn’t considered going out of town its just going across town)so sears left too. as for he big lots well they entered the mall way after everyone left but only opened with the conditon that they wouldnt have to have a inside opening to the mall.so they were not connected to the mall, you had to go outside to enter. well this version of this store was also a lil smaller than the typical big lots. that store also failed and left.seems that everytime someone builds in barstow they build a scaled down version of their store and dont offer everything that they normally would anywhere else.this is the prob with the new home depot. people what happens when u go to a store and almost everytime u go they dont have what u need but can order it from its store in victorville? u just cut out the middle man and shop in victorville.a mall full of mom and pop stores that cant compete with chain store prices cant survive especially when ur mom and pop hours change when ever u feel like taking time off.
on June 16th, 2008 at 12:19 am
I remember this mall very well from when I was a kid.
The Big Lots was in the old Sears on the east end.
The last stores to leave were Claire’s and Millers Outpost. I remember shopping at them until at least 1997. There was also a Wherehouse music store, an arcade, KB Toys, some store called Peties (sp?), Walden Books, Lens Crafters, and a photographer. There was no real food court, though I do remember a hot dog stand by the K-Mart.
Also, quite a few years went by, at least five, between the closing of the mall K-Mart and the opening of the Barstow Road location.
What killed the Barstow Mall? The city of Victorville started to grow as Barstow was shrinking. The Lenwood Road developments like the [now dead] Outlet Mall. It was already near dead when Wal-Mart opened in 1995.