WALMART is demolishing the Dawn of the Dead Mall! Monroeville Mall update - Monroeville, PA
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We revisited the Monroeville mall after our initial visit in 2024. It’s definitely not a mall I was that impressed with one way or another. I thought it was fine, but a bit bland. Still, most of its storefronts were there and it had - and still has full anchors. At the time, I had no clue it was the filming location for Dawn of the Dead. We only went there because it was en route back from our visit to Pittsburgh Mills. I had no clue of the plans that were soon to be announced. Even though I’m not from Pittsburgh; the fact that Walmart will demolish this big classic structure is terrible. Today, many tenants have vacated and it’s a shell of what it was. I’m not positive but it seems the anchors will be demolished as well. What came first the chicken or the egg? Inline tenants who are no longer there have been told to leave. If no one had told them to leave, they would still be there. This mall stood a chance. Not now thanks to Sam Walton. I tour the mall as well as JCPenney, Macys and the outdoor section. Let me know what you think.
Opened outside Pittsburgh on May 13, 1969, the Monroeville Mall was once Western Pennsylvania's largest shopping complex, complete with retro features like an indoor ice skating rink and bridge-crossed ponds.
It achieved permanent pop culture legendary status as the primary filming location for George A. Romero’s 1978 horror masterpiece, Dawn of the Dead, which used the mall to satirize American consumerism. The mall's ice rink was also featured in the 1983 film Flashdance.
During renovations in the 1980s and 1990s, the mall stripped away its iconic retro elements—replacing the ice rink with a food court and removing its indoor ponds—to make room for modern retail space. Despite major expansions in the 2000s, the rise of e-commerce led to a severe decline in foot traffic and high vacancy rates.
While it spent decades operating as a global pilgrimage site for horror fans—complete with a George A. Romero memorial bust and "Living Dead" fan conventions—the historic structure was ultimately acquired by Walmart and is slated for demolition to make way for a new retail redevelopment.
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