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Posted: 4/5/2021 3:18:54 PM EDT
[#1]
Quote HistoryQuoted: One thing to note. Very few fat people at the mall in the 80s. They were all smoking. |
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Posted: 4/5/2021 3:19:20 PM EDT
[#2]
My mom was a shopaholic. A serious one. As a tater, I spent many a weekend at the mall. Toy stores, the ninja shops, computer game shops (Babbages...), arcades with TMNT and Aliens... “exotic” fare at the food court... such a magical place where you could see live demos of the Sears Catalog.
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Posted: 4/5/2021 3:20:51 PM EDT
[#3]
 Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure - Mall scene |
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Posted: 4/5/2021 3:20:53 PM EDT
[#4]
I can honestly say that I never, on my way into a mall, stopped by the perfume counter to get some.
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Posted: 4/5/2021 3:21:18 PM EDT
[#5]
Loved the mall, the arcade, computer/game store, big old slice of pizza from Sbarro, and trying to get girl's phone numbers.
I was fortunate I got to grow up when and where I did. |
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Posted: 4/5/2021 3:22:09 PM EDT
[#6]
Here is some nostalgia for you. CBS special from 1982. A bit slow in spots, but it hits all the major points of 1980's mall life.
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Posted: 4/5/2021 3:23:53 PM EDT
[#7]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Malls were OK. Early 80s gunshows, though.... I think I heard angels singing as I entered a couple of them. Right up until about 89 when things really started heading down hill except for the cheap ammo which kept flowing a while longer. |
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Posted: 4/5/2021 3:25:44 PM EDT
[#8]
If you want the mall experience, go to anywhere in Asia. It's still rocking there.
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Posted: 4/5/2021 3:29:24 PM EDT
[#9]
It sucked if you worked at the movie theatre, which was across the mall from all the action.
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Posted: 4/5/2021 3:30:40 PM EDT
[#10]
I worked LP for a company called Strawbridge & Clothier. You're right, walking into the store took you immediately into the fragrance department. I gotta tell ya, we hade some absolute babes working in that department.
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Posted: 4/5/2021 3:32:56 PM EDT
[#11]
Quote HistoryQuoted: I go to Finland a couple of times a year on business. One of the things that fascinates me is how busy their malls still are. Amazon really did kill the local store. That’s not what killed malls. If the mall environment was safe and clean like it was in the old days, “real” stores might be able to compete with Amazon and online shopping. Millions of consumers prefer going online. Millions of other consumers do so grudgingly only because they don’t want to risk their lives going to a mall. I think it’s inevitable that Amazon and its ilk would have won the retail war but bad behavior killed the malls a generation or two before they would have died a more peaceful death. 
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Posted: 4/5/2021 3:38:49 PM EDT
[#12]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Aladdin's Castle is all I needed. |
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Posted: 4/5/2021 3:43:12 PM EDT
[#13]
Ford City Mall, Burbank IL. I dropped a lot of money at chess king, merry go round, bachrach.
Pretty sure I spent ever more on my g/f at 5-7-9. Those plaid outfits were well worth the coin Then over to Frederick's because it was raunchier than Victoria's. She was running out of places to hide the unmentionables. |
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Posted: 4/5/2021 3:44:02 PM EDT
[#14]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Bannister Mall in Kansas City, MO was the place we hung out in the 80's. It went downhill thanks to the usual "bad element" driving shoppers away. Spent a lot of time there when in college in the 80s. Worked at Sears for a college job and loss prevention at The Jones Store. Wonderful times with friends and girls I was dating. Stopped by for old times sake around 2005. It was a shock to see what happened. Walked through there and realized I was on a different planet with people staring at me and licking their chops like I was a gazelle that walked into a lion party accidentally. Most of the mall was empty stores with some still opened that had a more “cultural” clientele. Got out of there. It is gone now. Where I caught shoplifters  Attached FileTo this  Attached FileFrom this  Attached FileTo this  Attached File |
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Posted: 4/5/2021 3:45:26 PM EDT
[#15]
Quote HistoryQuoted: The 80's in general were pretty bad ass. Yep Best decade of my 5 decades. It’s been all downhill since then. |
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Posted: 4/5/2021 3:47:04 PM EDT
[#16]
I have two huge indoor malls not far from me, one 3 miles away and another 5 miles away. They seem to be doing fine, even some expansion.
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Posted: 4/5/2021 3:47:14 PM EDT
[#17]
Quote HistoryQuoted: If you want the mall experience, go to anywhere in Asia. It's still rocking there. This is true. Malls in Asia are basically what they were in the US back in the 90's. Which really speaks to the whole argument that E-commerce brought down malls and even more for the argument that the rich and vibrant had their hand in it 
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Posted: 4/5/2021 3:52:17 PM EDT
[#18]
There have been rumors that my local mall was going all restaurants. You park at the mall, except clothes and shoe stores it is all going to be bistros, coffee shops, steaks and Asian places.
I will believe it when I see it. There is still a legit mall just on the northwest side of Columbia SC. The only thing missing is Aladdin.... Oh wait, they have that too but it is an arcade/bar place, big too. We still drive over about every other month. If you know which doors to enter through you can carry. Not all stores post at the door. |
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Posted: 4/5/2021 3:52:58 PM EDT
[#19]
I used to go to two different malls back in the 80s. And when I was in college, one of the malls was two miles away. When I joined the workforce after college, another mall was about 100 yards away. So I used to hit the malls regularly.
I don't think i've been to a mall in 5 years now. All the stores I used to shop at are gone. No need to go there anymore. As I get close to 50, I've gotten very nostalgic for the past. If I had a time machine, I'd go back to the late 80s. Just to relive that part of my life again. |
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Posted: 4/5/2021 3:53:15 PM EDT
[#20]
Chain smokers indoors.
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Posted: 4/5/2021 3:53:45 PM EDT
[#21]
All the malld i grew up going to in the 80/90s/early 2000s are either abandoned or have turned into huge indoor Mexican swap meets. There are 3 that I know of that are still up and running. 2 of them are all outdoor (aka not just 1 giant building) and the other is in a fancy part of town... and even then, that 1 is never busy.
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Posted: 4/5/2021 3:54:44 PM EDT
[#22]
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Posted: 4/5/2021 3:55:07 PM EDT
[#23]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Yep Best decade of my 5 decades. It’s been all downhill since then. Quote HistoryQuoted: Quoted: The 80's in general were pretty bad ass. Yep Best decade of my 5 decades. It’s been all downhill since then. Gotta agree. Spending my 20's in the 1980's was a great time, especially the first half of that decade. Even when I got married, we went to malls all the time, got to see some of the best in the country while I was in the USAF. Cinderella City mall in Denver was a sight to behold in 1983. Long gone now. |
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Posted: 4/5/2021 3:59:02 PM EDT
[#24]
Quote HistoryQuoted: The 80's in general were pretty bad ass. Yeh...except for the cars.....cars SUCKED that were made in the 80's! Only saving grace ....there were still cars from the 60's around 
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Posted: 4/5/2021 4:00:42 PM EDT
[#25]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Malls were OK. Early 80s gunshows, though.... I think I heard angels singing as I entered a couple of them. Right up until about 89 when things really started heading down hill except for the cheap ammo which kept flowing a while longer. I never did early 80s gun shows. Did they smell as bad as early 90s ones? |
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Posted: 4/5/2021 4:00:51 PM EDT
[#26]
Quote HistoryQuoted: The Orange Julius, the Cinnabons, Chick-Fil-A, the arcade, the movie theater, the jean jackets. Spencer’s. Where else could you buy your lava lamps, black lights and black valvet posters. Posters like this that made my dad smile and my mother shake her head.  Attached FileThis is for historic reference only. 
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Posted: 4/5/2021 4:01:36 PM EDT
[#27]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Gotta agree. Spending my 20's in the 1980's was a great time, especially the first half of that decade. Even when I got married, we went to malls all the time, got to see some of the best in the country while I was in the USAF. Cinderella City mall in Denver was a sight to behold in 1983. Long gone now. When I was in tech school my newly wed wife visited and we went that mall for dinner at a steak place. HUGE |
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Posted: 4/5/2021 4:01:44 PM EDT
[#28]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Aladdin's Castle is all I needed. I was going through some of my old stuff a couple of months ago and found some Aladdin's tokens. Really brought back some fun memories |
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Posted: 4/5/2021 4:02:02 PM EDT
[#29]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Yeh...except for the cars.....cars SUCKED that were made in the 80's! Only saving grace ....there were still cars from the 60's around A lot of US made cars were crap, but my 1983 Mazda RX-7 was a good car and a lot of fun to drive. Just had to stay on top of your engine oil level. 
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Posted: 4/5/2021 4:02:12 PM EDT
[#30]
 Robin Sparkles - Let's Go To The Mall [FULL HD] |
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Posted: 4/5/2021 4:03:01 PM EDT
[#31]
Quote HistoryQuoted: I REALLY wanted a Panama hat from Chess King so I could look like David Lee Roth. Never pulled the trigger on that. Lol. Chess King. I haven’t thought of that one in a while. |
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Posted: 4/5/2021 4:06:12 PM EDT
[#32]
Quote HistoryQuoted: That’s not what killed malls. If the mall environment was safe and clean like it was in the old days, “real” stores might be able to compete with Amazon and online shopping. Millions of consumers prefer going online. Millions of other consumers do so grudgingly only because they don’t want to risk their lives going to a mall. I think it’s inevitable that Amazon and its ilk would have won the retail war but bad behavior killed the malls a generation or two before they would have died a more peaceful death. Quote HistoryQuoted: Quoted: I go to Finland a couple of times a year on business. One of the things that fascinates me is how busy their malls still are. Amazon really did kill the local store. That’s not what killed malls. If the mall environment was safe and clean like it was in the old days, “real” stores might be able to compete with Amazon and online shopping. Millions of consumers prefer going online. Millions of other consumers do so grudgingly only because they don’t want to risk their lives going to a mall. I think it’s inevitable that Amazon and its ilk would have won the retail war but bad behavior killed the malls a generation or two before they would have died a more peaceful death. I don't live in a shithole, so the mall near me is still safe and clean. What it's not is thriving. Primarily because the stores can't compete due to higher costs and a smaller selection/inventory. |
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Posted: 4/5/2021 4:10:00 PM EDT
[#33]
Quote HistoryQuoted: The mall near us formally high end anchor store is now a huge shot clinic. In wondering if we live in the same town. Lol. I'm also in VA and the same thing has happened at the mall nearby. |
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Posted: 4/5/2021 4:18:39 PM EDT
[#34]
Quote HistoryQuoted: my route at Mountaineer Mall circa 1983: Hit mom up for quarters. Enter through monkey wards. Check out sporting goods section. Question why they sold bullets without brass attached to them. Check out guns. Record Bar. Check out the album covers and look through discount section for cut out albums (remember those?) Coles books. Head straight to magazine section. Page through gun rags. Aladdin's Castle!. Tempest, Ikari Warrior, pole position, dig dug, tron, astroids, centipede, pac man! Blow all the quarters. JC Penneys. Check out the guns. Food court area, Weiner world, pizza by the slice, pretzel place. If we were lucky, we'd go see a movie and hit the Pizza Inn. @skink Morgantown? That mall is pretty much dead now. When I was last there in 2008, they had two stores open -- a shoe store and a soft pretzel restaurant. A call center was next door and it pretty much serviced those employees. Sad to see as I remember the Mountaineer Mall as glorious in the 80's and 90's. They don't even have the walkways/hallways lit up anymore, all dark and the only illumination comes from the windows to the outside or the lights from the two stores. |
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Posted: 4/5/2021 4:22:11 PM EDT
[#35]
My local mall was Macys, JC Penny and Sears anchored
the whole site is going to be demoed, and a Home Depot and a Costco are going to replace the mall I used to go to the Century III mall outside of Pittsburgh, I bought a sword there when I was a teen  |
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Posted: 4/5/2021 4:33:12 PM EDT
[#36]
I still go to one or 2 malls occasionally. BassPro is technically in a mall, and it has a theater and a couple decent jewelry stores - makes for a decent valentines date. Barton Creek in Austin is still half decent. Apple store there is a lot less pretentious (if that is possible for an Apple store). There is a higher end department store - easier place to get suits, special events clothes, decent dress shoes (so you can try them on first). Still, it is not 80's good.
One thing that really killed malls is mass transit. Liberals decided the mall was the best place for bus hubs. At least before that most people needed to afford a car to hang out in the mall AC. Worse experience I have been in was going to Highland mall during the Texas Relays. We were going to pick up some china. The pattern we were using would release new pieces a couple times a year, so we were still adding to the collection. Imagine what happens when 40k urban yutes decend on a mall to steel it's AC and anything else they can shove in their pockets or shirts. You had to go past armed security to get into a store - and walking in the commons was impossible. I am sure the relays resulting in multiple lawsuites against the mall. So much merchandise would get stolen every year, but hiring security was racist, closing the mall for the weekend was racist. Fucking bastards, steeling shit and demanding reparations afterwards. Less direct, we had a small crime wave in my home town - about 5 places were vandalized and robbed one night. They caught the bastard who did it - because his pistol fell out of his baggie pants and he kicked it across the food court floor. One of the more fun things I did for a bit in the mall was indoor RC car racing. Slot cars tracks had already died, but for a few years, the RC club would get open space to race - it was a spectator draw too. But that club moved outside and honestly, the track was a LOT better. Guess if the club had more money and a more permanent location, racing on carpet would have rocked - but cement sucked. |
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Posted: 4/5/2021 4:41:47 PM EDT
[#37]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Bannister Mall in Kansas City, MO was the place we hung out in the 80's. It went downhill thanks to the usual "bad element" driving shoppers away. Yup. And that element has set up camp in Independence Center now. :( Only it and Oak Park are left. All the others are gone. In fact I think they are physically gone as well, parts of Metro and ...shit whatever was on metcalf, they still have the Anchor Stores standing, I think. |
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Posted: 4/5/2021 4:45:04 PM EDT
[#38]
Quote HistoryQuoted: I kind of miss it. Simpler times for sure. Ditto. |
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Posted: 4/5/2021 4:46:12 PM EDT
[#39]
 Weird Science (8/12) Movie CLIP - Slush From Above (1985) HD |
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Posted: 4/5/2021 4:53:56 PM EDT
[#40]
Chess King
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Posted: 4/5/2021 4:55:21 PM EDT
[#41]
Anyone here used to go to South Coast Plaza, Orange County CA in the 80's.
I remember the nicer stores had the fancy marble flooring in the common areas and the loopy guy that always hung out there, he had a skullet, wore skin tight reddish pants/jeggings and smoked a pipe. It seemed like he was always there. |
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Posted: 4/5/2021 4:55:51 PM EDT
[#42]
I used to go to Parkway Plaza in El Cajon, and just walk around the mall. One end had Sears which had guns. Montgomery Wards and Kmart also had guns. IIRC it was at Two Guys where my mom bought me a Ruger Blackhawk .357 for my 14th birthday in 1976. I believe Two Guys was bought out by Kmart.
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Posted: 4/5/2021 4:56:55 PM EDT
[#43]
I remember when Spencer's had cool shenanigans like poo or boom cigs and the exhaust pipe whistles were fun too!
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Posted: 4/5/2021 4:57:15 PM EDT
[#44]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Malls were OK. Early 80s gunshows, though.... I think I heard angels singing as I entered a couple of them. Right up until about 89 when things really started heading down hill except for the cheap ammo which kept flowing a while longer. When I was a kid, gun shows were held swap meet style inside of malls. No cost to browse the tables! Long before 1986 there were real Thompsons for sale on those tables. |
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Posted: 4/5/2021 4:57:16 PM EDT
[#45]
Quote HistoryQuoted: @skink Morgantown? That mall is pretty much dead now. When I was last there in 2008, they had two stores open -- a shoe store and a soft pretzel restaurant. A call center was next door and it pretty much serviced those employees. Sad to see as I remember the Mountaineer Mall as glorious in the 80's and 90's. They don't even have the walkways/hallways lit up anymore, all dark and the only illumination comes from the windows to the outside or the lights from the two stores. Quote HistoryQuoted: Quoted: my route at Mountaineer Mall circa 1983: Hit mom up for quarters. Enter through monkey wards. Check out sporting goods section. Question why they sold bullets without brass attached to them. Check out guns. Record Bar. Check out the album covers and look through discount section for cut out albums (remember those?) Coles books. Head straight to magazine section. Page through gun rags. Aladdin's Castle!. Tempest, Ikari Warrior, pole position, dig dug, tron, astroids, centipede, pac man! Blow all the quarters. JC Penneys. Check out the guns. Food court area, Weiner world, pizza by the slice, pretzel place. If we were lucky, we'd go see a movie and hit the Pizza Inn. @skink Morgantown? That mall is pretty much dead now. When I was last there in 2008, they had two stores open -- a shoe store and a soft pretzel restaurant. A call center was next door and it pretty much serviced those employees. Sad to see as I remember the Mountaineer Mall as glorious in the 80's and 90's. They don't even have the walkways/hallways lit up anymore, all dark and the only illumination comes from the windows to the outside or the lights from the two stores. @WVUSIG Yep, the one off Green Bag Rd. When i lived there, They built another mall on the other side of town that effectively kill Mountaineer Mall. Mountaineer Mall was my go to place growing up, though. Need to get back to MoTown and see the changes. Don knots blvd??? It'll always be Beechhurst to me! 
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Posted: 4/5/2021 4:57:21 PM EDT
[#46]
Smells like Tiffany
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Posted: 4/5/2021 4:57:24 PM EDT
[#47]
Arcade /thread |
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Posted: 4/5/2021 5:01:19 PM EDT
[#48]
You could buy guns and cigars then light up to walk out. I was just a kid but remember the smell of pipe and cigar smoke. It wasn’t a bad thing.
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Posted: 4/5/2021 5:02:23 PM EDT
[#49]
I remember buying a gun at Oshman’s Sporting Goods, in a mall back in the ‘80s. Filled out the 4473, paid the man and walked out of the store into the mall with my new rifle in a Winchester emblazoned box. I shopped for a couple more hours and nobody even gave me a second look.
Craftsman tools from SEARS, my girlfriend worked at one of those kiosks selling ladies accessories, NO MASKS, NO yutes screaming out obscenities as they roamed the mall, penniless, but looking to cause trouble. We didn’t know how good we had it  A local mall that was shuttered a few years ago was recently “repurposed” to give COVID shots. All the local politicians were patting themselves on the back over that. My, how far America has advanced since the ‘80s.
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Posted: 4/5/2021 5:03:59 PM EDT
[#50]
Quote HistoryQuoted: When I was a kid, gun shows were held swap meet style inside of malls. No cost to browse the tables! Long before 1986 there were real Thompsons for sale on those tables. I remember Stearlings in the 1990s at the Del Mar gunshow. There were a couple of body builder types selling those, they had a large pit bull IIRC. |
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