An urban explorer has shared photos from inside an abandoned retail store where unopened CDs and DVDs still line the shelves.
Allen, who goes by the moniker of Curly online, has been exploring and photographing "urban and rural decay" for more than 20 years.
"That particular site caught my eye because it looked simultaneously apocalyptic and untouched," he told Newsweek.
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The pictures come from the site of what was once a thriving retail store in Portland, Oregon. According to Allen, it was abandoned because of "both a change of ownership and some chemical contamination."
In a post shared to Reddit under the handle RangerPoundcake, Allen took social media users inside the store. Almost all of the ceiling tiles are gone and there's a thick layer of dust and dirt covering pretty much everything in sight.
The floor is strewn with debris, while the lack of lighting gives everything a grim, atmospheric feel. What's also striking is the number of CDs and DVDs that lie untouched on the shelves, largely in disarray but likely never played.
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It didn't take long for Reddit to find the location of the store, with one user digging up a report from Willamette Week that detailed the closure of the Oregon record store Everyday Music, one of Portland's largest record stores, on 1931 NE Sandy Blvd, just a couple of years ago.
Allen confirmed in a response to the user that it was the site he visited. According to the report, the store was closed because of "suspiciously elevated levels of carbon tetrachloride" that had lingered from the site's previous incarnation as a Jantzen's swimwear factory.
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The building had been set to be demolished soon after the report was published but remained intact for some time, giving Allen a chance to explore. He estimates there were "over 5,000" unopened CDs in the building along with a scrapped truck.
He was keen to stress that wasn't there to "count CDs" though and "didn't pay much attention to them" preferring to view the store as a symbol of something bigger.
"I felt like it was evidence of both waste or neglect and also the disposable consumer culture," he said. "I got that feeling as not only was there all that product just left to rot."
"So much refuse that could have been handled better," Allen added.
Allen also saw "evidence of people living on the fringes of society who'd been pushed out" and had chosen to trespass onto property that could be potentially harmful to them.
Having explored hundreds of sites across the western U.S., Allen has developed his own views on what the proliferation of abandoned places represents.
"The impression I have is that land owners, whoever that happens to be, will go for the cheapest option every time, even if that creates an eyesore or a hazard," he said. "But I choose to focus on the beauty found in deserted and unexpected places that most people don't give a second thought to."
He does believe there are "definitely more abandoned places than most would think" though. "Some stay abandoned for a short time while a new lessee or owner is located," Allen said. "Some rot for decades or more."
Thankfully, in the case of this particular space, change has happened. The store was demolished in early 2024 and is now a construction site for an apartment complex.
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