I’ve driven past Budaghers, New Mexico every time I’ve taken a trip to Santa Fe or Denver since I moved down to ABQ for college, back in 2009. For a decade, I’ve wondered what lurked in the abandoned complex.
Budaghers began in the 1950s as a trading post, founded by Joseph and Sally Budaghers. After i25 was built, an outlet mall would be built on the site of the trading post in 1993, but it only lasted 5 years. In 2000, the site would be rebranded as ¡Traditions! and would include a New Mexico cultural center. By 2007, the complex would be put up for sale, with rumors going around that it would be bought by a movie studio.
Now, more than a decade later, the mall still stands, but it stands completely empty and abandoned, as perhaps one of the most unique dead malls in the country.
