Not harsh your holiday mellow, but we couldn’t resist sharing these lush images of sad, stripped-down, and abandoned shopping malls on the eve of the most retail-fueled holiday of the year. Photographer (and Guggenheim Fellow) Brian Ulrich has been documenting failed retail outposts since 2005, and his shots seem especially eerie at the end of this economically tumultuous decade. Click through for more images, and skip over to The Morning News for an interview with Ulrich.
JCPenney store at the Harvey, Illinois, Dixie Square Mall in 2009. The center has been abandoned for the last thirty years, twice as long as its doors were open for business.
Pep Boys 3, 2009
Kentucky Fried Chicken, 2009
Dixie Square Mall, 2008
Belz Factory Outlet Mall, 2009
More images from the “Dark Stores” series on Ulrich’s website.
[via The Morning News]