Abandoned SouthCoast Businesses Come Back to Life on YouTube

A random YouTube account is giving us a chance to see how much some SouthCoast commercial spaces have changed over the years.

I think we’ve all used Google Maps’ Street View feature from time to time to check out different addresses. Of course, we all look up our own homes, and maybe we look up places where we used to live or old jobs or schools to see how they’re holding up today.

You may not be aware, though, that you can change the date of the photo and see some Google Street View photos from that particular location in the past.

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One YouTuber posting on the channel InterstateRazi has taken those photos and put them together into a kind of time-lapse video to show how different business locations have changed through Google Maps’ documentation. As someone who loves to scroll through these Google Maps archived images, this is a much more entertaining way to stroll down memory lane.

The account seems to focus on places that were once one business, became abandoned at some point, and then found new life with another business calling it home. Most of the videos are titled “Evolution of an Abandoned (Insert Business Here) in (Insert Location Here).”

Take, for example, a video uploaded two weeks ago of the Home Made Donuts location on Eastern Avenue in Fall River. In 2009, it was the site of a Papa John’s pizza shop, before sitting empty for a few years.

Another recent video was from New Bedford, where the former Coggeshall Street Dunkin’ Donuts (as they still called it way back in 2008) has now become a Mi Antojo Mexican restaurant location.

Sometimes, the locations go through multiple iterations over the course of the Google Maps years. Take, for example, the former Hollywood Video in Fall River that became a 7-Eleven that in turn was

After a few years, that became a Sprint Wireless store, which later changed to T-Mobile following the merger of the cellular companies.

The evolution of the former Toys ‘R’ Us in Dartmouth that is now an Ocean State Job Lot was also chronicled recently.

There are also other businesses from Attleboro that are featured, like a former Laz-y-Boy store and a former McDonald’s.

Speaking of Mickey D’s, my favorite video on the channel is the “The 10 Most Unique McDonald’s Across America.” The best is the UFO-shaped restaurant in Roswell, New Mexico.

What are some abandoned businesses on the SouthCoast that you think could use some new life? Let us know by sending us a message on our app.

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