Cranberry Mall Bans Pictures Due to Embarrassing Interior

We are not making this up. The Mall owner is so concerned customers won't come, he has banned pictures so no one can see the lack of stores inside.... How are you making money again?????

Recently, a vlogger showed up to the mall in Cranberry, Pennsylvania. No, we are not talking about the Cranberry outside of Pittsburgh. We mean the Cranberry whose biggest cliche is a parking lot with neglected potholes.

What was so funny about the man’s video? Apparently, a security guard inside the mall asked him to stop filming, because the owner doesn’t want people on the outside to know about the lack of stores within. Doesn't that scream Venango County logic? Let's address decline by covering it up and pretend everything is thriving..... Sounds just like your typical Oil City enthusiast.

We genuinely thought this mindset was hilarious. Doesn’t the owner banning pictures speak to the lack of vision? How self-conscious do you have to be about the inside of your business that you have to tell people not to show others how bad it is on the inside?Obviously, he has no vision to revive the building. He’s just waiting for the day when the structure finally implodes on itself. Ironically, the owners shame of his decrepit business doesn't match his sign on the front door.

This owner is so proud of Pensylvania, he won't let the public see his contribution to the state his business exists in. For that reason, we decided to risk our lives by entering the unstable structure to bring you the photos they do not want you to see.

Note: the entire staff at the Venango Republic is completely fictional, making this venture safe if a brick from the ceiling were to fall on our heads. Please consult professionals before attempting to enter this sad excuse for a Mall.

The first area we explored was exterior. Were we fearful of being caught? Get real! If they can't afford ceiling tiles, they obviously aren't going to invest in security cameras...

Anyone driving by knows that the parking lot is pitiful. One of Venango County’s biggest clichés is the potholes that can swallow an entire bus. What also isn’t a secret is the fact that the east side of the Mall's parking lot is empty. This is one of the most humorous aspects about the external side that we have to cover. They’re so embarrassed by the inside, as if the outside doesn’t already give away the fact that they have nothing interesting in their building. The parking lot is so desolate, they neglect to plow most of it when it snows. What is plowed comes across as fortifications for the oncoming community backlash.

By the way, do you remember that big community initiative to bring together craft vendors around the region for some sort of co-op? Well, the sign’s still up, despite the fact that there's no "co-op."

So much for that idea.....

We managed to get through the front doors past security. No, we are not talking about the out of shape Mall cops. We're talking about the unstable structure.

If you are wondering if there are mysteries behind the walls of the Mall, we too are wondering why they felt like they had to cover this entrance up...

Yes, there is an entire room in there. It was accessible five years ago.

After snapping a few pictures, we saw a security guard, and realized we needed to go undercover. We didn’t want to get five pictures in and be forced to leave. So instead, we turned on our camera, hit record, and put our phone in the front pocket of our coat. Let's be real... Do you think this would have looked inconspicuous?

The inside of this mall was a shock. I mean, we knew things were bad. But having not been inside since last summer, the current state was a complete surprise... No it wasn't.....

Oddly enough, Maurices hasn’t left yet.

What are you doing, Maurices? Escape before the roof falls on you!

We’re not quite sure what the business is in the next picture. It looks like a massage parlor with no private rooms. That’s probably a good thing. If they're working this hard to hide the inside of the mall, you wouldn't want to know what's happening behind the curtains of this kind of business.

Jones Party Magic is probably the only fun place to go in this Mall. What kid doesn't like a bouncy castle playground? You can tell their budget is tight by the fact that their sign looks like scrap paper that kids cut in Sunday school class.

We are not the type to discourage people from going to a business. However, it does make us nervous that in the Mall's crumbling state, the best attraction they have to offer involves bouncy castles. We’re just not sure if the jumping is safe for the structure.

We’ve spent years trying to find the fountain of youth.

We still haven’t found it.....

Finally, if you were curious what archeologist would find at the ruins of the Shoe Department, here ya go!

We managed to capture images of the entire building. It was so bad, we spared the worst photos for the dignity of the owners who neglected this sad rubble. Also, we're lying. What we showed you is exactly how bad it looks.

We made one final walk through snapping pictures to see if we could awaken the ferocious security guards. One yelled "Hey! You can't be filming without permission!"

Too late....

As for the Mall owner, we have one simple solution for the embarrassment of this aweful looking building... DO SOMETHING!

The vlogger quoted your security guy as saying that you "don't appreciate" what people have said online. Then fix it! Stop being like an Oil City enthusiast who acts like denying reality fixes the decline. It's not our problem if you're offended that we say your building looks like crap. If it looks garbage, acts like garbage, and exists like garbage, it is most likely garbage. That's probably why you should do something about it! Instead of paying Explore Nothing to troll our sentiments about the glory days, why don't you finally invest something in the building you let go to waste?

Because we all know encouraging the community to imagine improvement gets the job done. Well done Explore Imagination!