Visiting the Jasper Mall

Jasper Mall is a 2020 documentary about a dying mall in Jasper, Alabama. The film follows Mike, the mall’s general manager, lone security guard, only custodian, and for much of the film, Jasper Mall’s sole employee. As visitors to the mall dwindle and the anchor stores are long gone, we watch vendor after vendor contemplate retirement or relocating their businesses. Through a series of vignettes we watch retired men who meet at the same courtyard table every day to play dominos, a man who sells knives and plays his electric guitar to fill the time between customers, and a young hairstylist who can’t help but wonder if there’s life outside of Jasper, Alabama. Connecting these slices of life is Mike who makes his rounds through the mall, sometimes ensuring exit doors haven’t been tampered with and other times pushing a mop bucket.

On our drive home from Tampa it occurred to me that if we changed our route slightly we would travel right through Jasper, Alabama, and so that’s what we did.

The Jasper Mall is every mall. Outside, the walls are the same off-white color that must be mandatory for malls. Inside, the floor tiles consist of both shades of brown. The planters are made of classic bricks as is the obligatory half-height wall surrounding the center courtyard. The wooden benches lining the mall look exactly like the ones you’re imagining. You could pick up the Jasper Mall and relocate it to Iowa or New Mexico or Kentucky without changing a single thing.

Based on the 2020 documentary, we were surprised not only to find the mall still open, but that things seemed to be turning around. In the documentary there were no restaurants inside the mall. Today, there are two: Lin Garden II, and Garfield’s. Belk, a department store, now occupies one of the mall’s two formerly empty anchor spots. The parking lot contained a surprising number of cars — fifty, at least. That being said, the mall could hardly be described as bustling. While standing in the center of the mall at 4:30pm on a Saturday, I couldn’t see another human being.

The general lack of people inside the mall created a weird sensation, as if we weren’t supposed to be there. Although the lights were on, it felt as if perhaps the mall were indeed closed. Peering into some of the shops we passed not only did I not see any customers, but often I didn’t see any employees. Occasionally we would hear pieces of conversations spilling out from shops into the mall’s halls, but rarely could we pinpoint where they were coming from.

If you visit the Jasper Mall in hopes of finding filming locations from the documentary, you’re in luck. It’s pretty hard not to find them, actually. The table where the men played dominos, the massage chairs, and even Mike’s office are all in the middle of the mall.

And in case you get lost or are looking for a specific store, they have an updated mall directory.

We were surprised to find a Garfield’s Restaurant and Pub open in the mall. Garfield’s was an Oklahoma-based restaurant which had locations in Crossroads Mall and Quail Springs Mall, both of which are now gone. Garfield’s is similar to Applebee’s and Chili’s — they serve steaks, burgers, salads, wings, nachos… nothing too wild, and great food when you’re on the road. We couldn’t help but ask our waitress if she had heard of the Jasper Mall documentary, and of course she had. Everyone working in the mall has.

Like everyone who visits the Jasper Mall after watching the documentary we had hoped to run into Mike. Unfortunately for us his office hours are Mon-Fri 9am-5pm, and we blew through town on a Saturday. “You might still check,” offered our waitress. “He’s here a lot.” We eventually backtracked to Mike’s office and knocked on the door, but he was already gone for the day. We left him one of my business cards and a short note on the back, and I nearly leapt out of my seat the following morning in the car when I saw Mike had sent me a short email.

I don’t know how long the Jasper Mall will remain open. I don’t know how long any mall will remain open. But here is what I do know. In my life there have been many malls, many arcades, many restaurants, and many businesses that only after they closed did I wish I had visited more — that I had spent more time and more money there. If I lived in Jasper, Alabama, I would shop at Shoe Dept., Bath and Body Works, and Hibbett Sports. I would eat at Lin Garden and Garfield’s, get massages in those chairs and play dominoes in that courtyard.

The Jasper Mall may still be dying, but it’s not dead yet.

Link: Jasper Mall (The Mall)
Link: Jasper Mall (The Documentary)