User Panel
User Panel
User Panel
|
Posted: 4/5/2021 6:40:47 PM EDT
[#1]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Always a trip through Spencers gifts with a stop at the pin up girl posters, on every mall trip. Then Sears tool section.  Amazingly our little dying mall still has one in operation. It's one of maybe a dozen stores still open there today. I remember walking through the stores as a kid and giggling at the "back massagers" and related items. |
|
|
|
Posted: 4/5/2021 6:42:37 PM EDT
[#2]
the Bon Marches and Nordstrom's had really great little restaurants in them back in the day... the Bon even had a swanky bar behind the restaurant... this was on their basement floor, so it was kinda hidden away from the real busy floor that opened into the mall proper... bar tender wore vest and bow tie kinda set up..
|
|
|
|
Posted: 4/5/2021 6:45:28 PM EDT
[#3]
Quote HistoryQuoted: The Orange Julius, the Cinnabons, Chick-Fil-A, the arcade, the movie theater, the jean jackets. |
|
|
|
Posted: 4/5/2021 6:50:43 PM EDT
[#4]
Quote HistoryQuoted: A mall near me became mostly leather stores and wig shops before it finally closed. There's a death cycle they mostly follow. First a big anchor or two go away and get replaced by discount and rent to own furniture places. Then the well known chains start folding one by one to be replaced with leather stores, wig shops, places that sell shitty Airsoft crap and fantasy knives or "urban" clothing. Eventually the remaining anchors shutter. By this point they just board up the entrances to them and pretend they're not there. The shitty stores that replaced the former chains close up shop and their store fronts get decorated with fake displays to make the place not look as empty as it is. Eventually they just drywall over them erasing them from existence. By this point you have a Bath & Body works, Claires, maybe a Spencers or Hot Topic left and the post office or local library have leased multiple store fronts. The food court is gone and the movie theater if it had one is hanging by a thread. The rent to own furniture shops are now boarded up having moved to cheaper strip mall locations or an abandoned K-Mart building. They tend to linger around in that form for several years until the place ends up needing a new roof or other major repair and the plug is pulled. |
|
|
|
Posted: 4/5/2021 6:54:55 PM EDT
[#5]
I'm not a fan of "hanging out" anywhere wasting time. But I'm glad I got to experience mall-life as a kid in the 80's. Arcades, food-courts, Spencer Gifts, Music stores, girls...Good times.
|
|
|
|
Posted: 4/5/2021 6:55:31 PM EDT
[#6]
Quote HistoryQuoted: The mall near us formally high end anchor store is now a huge shot clinic. It's a bit surreal waiting in line while you're there. My ex's mother used to love to give us gift cards to that store so I used to go there often pre COVID. |
|
|
|
Posted: 4/5/2021 6:56:28 PM EDT
[#7]
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.  A local mall near me was hopping till 04 or 05 when a Metrolink station was put out front. The decline happened pretty much overnight with the place ending up on the evening news a few times a week there for a while. The shoot out in the food court was the final nail for it, not that the regular car jackings in the parking lots helped. |
|
|
|
Posted: 4/5/2021 6:59:30 PM EDT
[#8]
Orange Julius, game rooms, Chess King
|
|
|
|
Posted: 4/5/2021 7:03:30 PM EDT
[#9]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Remember Olga's, they had kickass Gyros on homemade pitas. There's still one in operation not 15 minutes from where I sit currently. Only one still operating outside of Michigan. |
|
|
|
Posted: 4/5/2021 7:28:38 PM EDT
[#10]
I would sometimes stop at the chocolate stand and get a sack of either almond or cashew bark.
Ours had quite a few restaurants, including a Long John Silvers and a steak house. |
|
|
|
Posted: 4/5/2021 7:36:14 PM EDT
[#11]
Sometimes I went to a mall. Mostly for talkies (cinema). Sometimes for groceries (ReTarded Joe's)
|
|
|
|
Posted: 4/5/2021 7:52:55 PM EDT
[#12]
Quote HistoryQuoted: The 80's in general were pretty bad ass. Yeah, but I was a teen then so I guess I'm biased. I will say this, though...my teenagers didn't have as good a teenage life as I did. |
|
|
|
Posted: 4/5/2021 7:55:23 PM EDT
[#13]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Malls were OK. Early 80s gunshows, though.... I think I heard angels singing as I entered a couple of them. This is spoken Truth. |
|
|
|
Posted: 4/5/2021 7:55:40 PM EDT
[#14]
I miss 80s although i was a young kid; same goes for 90s
|
|
|
|
Posted: 4/5/2021 7:57:40 PM EDT
[#15]
I remember smoking in the malls.
|
|
|
|
Posted: 4/5/2021 7:59:00 PM EDT
[#16]
Radio Shack was always cool to check out while at the mall.
People mention shopping online is better but just going to the mall to interact with people used to be a good thing. There was a time when parents could even let pre-teens just go and have some unsupervised kids have fun. There was nothing better then meeting girls your age from other near by schools. Better then every kid having an Xbox and being stuck in the basement. |
|
|
|
Posted: 4/5/2021 8:04:10 PM EDT
[#17]
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  Quote HistoryQuoted: Quoted: 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 Two things about that (and part of what made the '80s awesome): 1. '60's cars were still around--and we could afford most of them! 2. Gas was cheap, and teenagers had jobs. |
|
|
|
Posted: 4/5/2021 8:05:06 PM EDT
[#18]
Hickory Farms
Awsome meats and cheeses |
|
|
|
Posted: 4/5/2021 8:13:50 PM EDT
[#19]
Quote HistoryQuoted: This was my mall, Lakehurst Mall in Waukegan IL and it was demolished in 2003. The video is shit quality. The dude who made it had no idea how to work a camera, but at least someone got some video before it was torn down. And to top things off the great political minds of Waukegan IL said they were going to replace it with "high end" retail stores. Yep... they built a Walmart. Which I suppose is considered "high end" retail for the current population of Waukegan. This was my mall in 1986 for the year I was there for duty. I saw Top Gun there. I'd ride my V65 there and easily do a lazy Saturday...arcade, movie, bookstore, couple of meals...it was a really good mall. This was in 1986 in Waukegan: (...and I think that's a Member's Only jacket, LOL!) 
|
|
|
|
Posted: 4/5/2021 8:20:27 PM EDT
[#20]
Quote HistoryQuoted: It wasn't amazon. You can't grab an orange julius on amazon. You can't go to the arcade with your friends on amazon. I can't say what it was but it wasn't amazon. To be fair, it was a lot of things...but you're not wrong. |
|
|
|
Posted: 4/5/2021 8:29:21 PM EDT
[#21]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Millers Outpost!  This was me. I was a Levi's whore. Anybody else do this? Or was it just a local thing? Kids in my school used to put a .22 bullet through the little red "Levi's" tag. It would hold it perfectly. (Of course, I had to put a .22WMR in mine) |
|
|
|
Posted: 4/5/2021 8:36:52 PM EDT
[#22]
Quote HistoryQuoted:  Space War was an amazing, if unpopular game--the precursor to what became later known as "Asteroids". Vector graphics, vice raster. It had a user-modifiable battleground...but you had to have TWO players, and that sort of killed it off. Had some good dogfights with that one. |
|
|
|
Posted: 4/5/2021 8:39:26 PM EDT
[#23]
Quote HistoryQuoted: It seemed like everyone had a Camaro or a Monte carlo SS or a Firebird of some type, simpler times for sure I miss those days. 1970-1980 Camaros. The earlier ones were still sort of unobtainium, and only the Rich Kids got the IROCs. The 1970's Camaros were so popular in Northern California that they were referred to as "High School Camaros". The parking lot was filled with them, the cruise nights were filled with them, and they were all over the dirt tracks. Good memories! |
|
|
|
Posted: 4/5/2021 8:45:31 PM EDT
[#24]
Quote HistoryQuoted: @skink When the Walmart that was connected to the Mountaineer Mall was replaced, that mall took it's last breath. Sad, too, as I loved that mall as a kid in the 80's and 90's. Morgantown Mall, in Westover, is still kicking but not doing well -- especially with the pandemic, although it is still better than Meadowbrook Mall. I lived in Morgantown from 2000 to 2007 while in school and the changes to Morgantown during that time were unreal. The changes since make those earlier changes seem miniscule. Just a fair warning, when you visit, it will look like a completely different town, particularly on the 705 going to the Mileground and Sunnyside is pretty much no more. Take a Google Maps Street View through town -- you won't recognize it, unfortunately. Thankfully, I lived there when Nick's Canteen still existed, the legendary parties on Grant Ave were unabated, and Mario's Fishbowl still had it's magic. Quote HistoryQuoted: Quoted: @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!  @skink When the Walmart that was connected to the Mountaineer Mall was replaced, that mall took it's last breath. Sad, too, as I loved that mall as a kid in the 80's and 90's. Morgantown Mall, in Westover, is still kicking but not doing well -- especially with the pandemic, although it is still better than Meadowbrook Mall. I lived in Morgantown from 2000 to 2007 while in school and the changes to Morgantown during that time were unreal. The changes since make those earlier changes seem miniscule. Just a fair warning, when you visit, it will look like a completely different town, particularly on the 705 going to the Mileground and Sunnyside is pretty much no more. Take a Google Maps Street View through town -- you won't recognize it, unfortunately. Thankfully, I lived there when Nick's Canteen still existed, the legendary parties on Grant Ave were unabated, and Mario's Fishbowl still had it's magic. @WVUSIG Bayseas on the Mileground was the place to take the lady's. Stop by the nearby video store for the latest vhs tapes. I was there when the football stadium moved from Sunnyside to the medical center. Paddy wagons at the end of Sunnyside, loading drunks in. Couch burning, goal post dismantling. Nickel drafts at the Dungeon, Nyabinghee and Underground RR(sp) concerts. The Larries. Wife loved Wings Ole. Still have a $103 credit at the Bookshelf. Wonder if Jim Sachse is still there? |
|
|
|
Posted: 4/5/2021 8:46:42 PM EDT
[#25]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Orange Julius, game rooms, Chess King Spencer's.....remember Spencer's...Posters, black lights, cool shirts, weird shit? |
|
|
|
Posted: 4/5/2021 8:48:33 PM EDT
[#26]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Two things about that (and part of what made the '80s awesome): 1. '60's cars were still around--and we could afford most of them! 2. Gas was cheap, and teenagers had jobs. Quote HistoryQuoted: Quoted: Quoted: 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 Two things about that (and part of what made the '80s awesome): 1. '60's cars were still around--and we could afford most of them! 2. Gas was cheap, and teenagers had jobs. That right there deserves and AMEN Brother!! |
|
|
|
Posted: 4/5/2021 8:51:00 PM EDT
[#27]
Quote HistoryQuoted: The 80's in general were pretty bad ass. No doubt!! |
|
|
|
Posted: 4/5/2021 8:55:30 PM EDT
[#28]
Quote HistoryTowson Town Center?? That was a great mall. White Marsh was good also. Then they opened the Avenue outdoor shops. Still nice to shop there. 
|
|
|
|
Posted: 4/5/2021 8:55:35 PM EDT
[#29]
Quoted: Do you guys remember walking into closed shopping malls in the 1980s? You'd come in through Macy's or Nordstroms anchor stores, and the first thing you'd run into would be the tray of colonges. You'd take a sniff and soon your nose would be overloaded with the smells. Then you'd hit your self with some Drakkar Noir or Cartier and you'd stink like a nightclub all through the shopping trip. Eat at the food court, check out the girlies... Maybe catch a movie. No more - most of the indoors went south when the rates went up and the cut-price big-box retailers wrecked retail business in the late 1990s, then "teens" started engaging in gun battles and "wilding." Now they're just wastelands, where the overly-tatooed flatbills hang out with their baby-mommas. I miss the 1980s -they were simpler times. As soon as the TEENS  moved in most of the places never recovered.There is one by me that is still doing good, I haven't been to it in a few years. |
|
|
|
Posted: 4/5/2021 8:58:36 PM EDT
[#30]
The deletion of social activity in the US is leading to this Country sucking a fatty. Thank Demorats and
sleEpy joe for that! Probably more then half of ar15.com voted for it. So don’t complain, you have no right. I was born in 80 and grew up going to malls. The one from the 80s became over ridden with thugs. People simply couldn’t go without getting robbed or jumped or always approached by panhandlers. It was sad- it’s where the arcade and everything was. Most of the shops became empty- it was a ghost town. It remains the same today- a bunch of empty roped off space. But another mall opened up my side of town and was the place to be in the 1990s and up until like 2010. But it became over ridden with thugs when two section 8 apartments opened across the street... then covid came and put the mall out of its misery. Thugs are the destruction of everything awesome! Lol |
|
|
|
Posted: 4/5/2021 8:58:48 PM EDT
[#31]
those were great times
|
|
|
|
Posted: 4/5/2021 8:59:29 PM EDT
[#32]
There are still a few good malls around.
Northpark Center and the Galleria in Dallas The Galleria in Houston Sawgrass Mills in Miami Malls are most certainly still a thing in Europe. |
|
|
|
Posted: 4/5/2021 9:02:05 PM EDT
[#33]
Quote HistoryQuoted: There's a death cycle they mostly follow. First a big anchor or two go away and get replaced by discount and rent to own furniture places. Then the well known chains start folding one by one to be replaced with leather stores, wig shops, places that sell shitty Airsoft crap and fantasy knives or "urban" clothing. Eventually the remaining anchors shutter. By this point they just board up the entrances to them and pretend they're not there. The shitty stores that replaced the former chains close up shop and their store fronts get decorated with fake displays to make the place not look as empty as it is. Eventually they just drywall over them erasing them from existence. By this point you have a Bath & Body works, Claires, maybe a Spencers or Hot Topic left and the post office or local library have leased multiple store fronts. The food court is gone and the movie theater if it had one is hanging by a thread. The rent to own furniture shops are now boarded up having moved to cheaper strip mall locations or an abandoned K-Mart building. They tend to linger around in that form for several years until the place ends up needing a new roof or other major repair and the plug is pulled. Quote HistoryQuoted: Quoted: A mall near me became mostly leather stores and wig shops before it finally closed. There's a death cycle they mostly follow. First a big anchor or two go away and get replaced by discount and rent to own furniture places. Then the well known chains start folding one by one to be replaced with leather stores, wig shops, places that sell shitty Airsoft crap and fantasy knives or "urban" clothing. Eventually the remaining anchors shutter. By this point they just board up the entrances to them and pretend they're not there. The shitty stores that replaced the former chains close up shop and their store fronts get decorated with fake displays to make the place not look as empty as it is. Eventually they just drywall over them erasing them from existence. By this point you have a Bath & Body works, Claires, maybe a Spencers or Hot Topic left and the post office or local library have leased multiple store fronts. The food court is gone and the movie theater if it had one is hanging by a thread. The rent to own furniture shops are now boarded up having moved to cheaper strip mall locations or an abandoned K-Mart building. They tend to linger around in that form for several years until the place ends up needing a new roof or other major repair and the plug is pulled. Dang. Exactly that happened at my favorite, east town mall/Knoxville center. I grew up in that place and it’s due to be torn down this year. Bummed about it. |
|
|
|
Posted: 4/5/2021 9:03:45 PM EDT
[#34]
We have a huge mall in the next city over. It is still very popular. It has a Macy's, Kohl's, and Dick's as the anchors. It's two floors of glitz. Lol. The teenage girls and their mommies love it.
|
|
|
|
Posted: 4/5/2021 9:04:47 PM EDT
[#35]
When the kids were small, it was a great place to GTFO of the house and people watch. Plus all the hot wimmenz loved to help the hapless man with the cute babies.
|
|
|
|
Posted: 4/5/2021 9:08:50 PM EDT
[#36]
Old school Radio Shack was awesome , before it turned into a cellphone store.
|
|
|
|
Posted: 4/5/2021 9:16:00 PM EDT
[#37]
I guess malls were a true fad. Before the malls we are speaking of, they were basically what we have now Strip malls, or shopping districts. a five and dime store sold everything like alot of smaller stores now. What is old, is new.
|
|
|
|
Posted: 4/5/2021 9:16:23 PM EDT
[#38]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Came to post this... glad @jordanmills has my back! Got you covered @digitalebola |
|
|
|
Posted: 4/5/2021 9:20:12 PM EDT
[#39]
I worked at record shops in the malls in my area back then. Good times. Lots of hot girls.
|
|
|
|
Posted: 4/5/2021 9:46:06 PM EDT
[#40]
Quote HistoryQuoted: I guess malls were a true fad. Before the malls we are speaking of, they were basically what we have now Strip malls, or shopping districts. a five and dime store sold everything like alot of smaller stores now. What is old, is new. Where I lived, before malls there were big department stores. In smaller towns you had main street. |
|
|
|
Posted: 4/5/2021 9:49:19 PM EDT
[#41]
Quote HistoryQuoted: It sucked if you worked at the movie theatre, which was across the mall from all the action. I saw the documentary about that. |
|
|
|
Posted: 4/5/2021 10:04:00 PM EDT
[#42]
Quote HistoryQuoted: The mall near us formally high end anchor store is now a huge shot clinic. For some reason, I read this the first time thru as "high end anchor shot store" .......  |
|
|
|
Posted: 4/5/2021 10:31:16 PM EDT
[#43]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Where I lived, before malls there were big department stores. In smaller towns you had main street. Yes, big downtown department stores were like malls. Some had 10 floors of shopping, a food court, restaurants, and hair salons. |
|
|
|
Posted: 4/5/2021 10:50:17 PM EDT
[#44]
Quote HistoryQuoted: This was my mall in 1986 for the year I was there for duty. I saw Top Gun there. I'd ride my V65 there and easily do a lazy Saturday...arcade, movie, bookstore, couple of meals...it was a really good mall. This was in 1986 in Waukegan: (...and I think that's a Member's Only jacket, LOL!) https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/166803/232d03ef89c8704281d07db5250d3002_zpsfdbf6a7b-341541.jpg I wear my dad's old OMC Waukegan jacket when I travel. I run into a lot of people who walk up to me and ask if I remember Lakehurst. |
|
|
|
Posted: 4/5/2021 10:52:52 PM EDT
[#45]
Quote HistoryQuoted: I went to high school right near there. The store you're thinking of was Brookstone. They had some cool stuff. Always had the perpetual motion machine in the front. Lord & Taylor had the cafe. My wife worked there in h.s. Quote HistoryQuoted: Quoted: That it was. Liked that store. Grew up in MA - we had the South Shore Plaza for our local mall. Spent a lot of time there, one of the biggest anchor stores had a cafe tucked away on the top floor that had good food (Filene's? Jordan Marsh?). Sears was still a draw, had items in stock and didn't suck. Sam Goody for music. There was another store that was a brick & mortar version of Sharper Image, but I can't remember the damn name. It had all kinds of cool shit (from an 80's/90's standpoint). I went to high school right near there. The store you're thinking of was Brookstone. They had some cool stuff. Always had the perpetual motion machine in the front. Lord & Taylor had the cafe. My wife worked there in h.s. |
|
|
|
Posted: 4/5/2021 10:54:46 PM EDT
[#46]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Aladdin's Castle is all I needed.  That and a lap through Spencer's. Fart in a can ftw..... |
|
|
|
Posted: 4/5/2021 11:01:42 PM EDT
[#47]
Quote HistoryQuoted: [[Laughs in 1960s!]] Quote HistoryQuoted: Quoted: The 80's in general were pretty bad ass. [[Laughs in 1960s!]]  Attached File |
|
|
|
Posted: 4/5/2021 11:05:09 PM EDT
[#48]
Malls were consumer driven. In the '80s America was still affluent and had a strong middle class and job. Outsourcing destroyed those jobs and they were replaced with easy money (Greenspan Put). Your house is a piggybank that will always go up. Get that equity loan and have the life you deserve. Cheap money from the Fed inflated asset prices. Then pop! in 2007. We've been on life support then and the American consumer has been tapped out. Hence the mall closures.
|
|
|
|
Posted: 4/5/2021 11:06:23 PM EDT
[#49]
Quote HistoryQuoted: I worked at the multi-plex up on the second level, it sucked cuz I had to wear a suit that didn't fit. My buddy got me to finally ask out the cute girl who worked at the pizza place across the mall. He demonstrated on a cardboard cut-out at the record store at the mall. Her house had a pool and we would go over and swim there when her hot but stuck up girlfriend was there. Her older brother was kind of a dope, but he was cool about stuff. We eventually graduated and got married. She went to college and I got a job in the 1990's driving for delivery company or some similar innocuous job that a fat guy could get (I ate a lot of pizza). She went to college and we got a house in the 'burbs. She stayed really hot and everyone wondered how a fat, stupid slob like me could keep a fox like that. I eventually got a job at the mall as a mall ninja and she became a lawyer or fbi agent and matured into a really hot milf. I started smoking alot of mary jane in the garage and people forgot me. Sometimes I go down to the mall and look at the hot girls. Now they're tearing it down. 
|
|
|
|
Posted: 4/5/2021 11:09:26 PM EDT
[#50]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Tell me some stories! Quote HistoryQuoted: Quoted: 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. Gun Show by Hartsfield around 1984. Me and my dad walked in. 1st table sat a HK91 for $800 with a real Hendsolt scope on a real HK claw mount. 2nd table had a G3 factory lower. I can't remember but maybe $150. So for $950 plus $200 tax stamp for a form 1 and you could have a 308 battle rifle. Colt M16 factory for $700-$800. I cut grass for the summer and bought a factory Ruger KAC556F for $500. Dad paid the tax stamp and it was registered in his name but I carried it in my Jeep. We also picked up a HTA MP5 for $1500 after Die Hard came out. I sold it fifteen years ago for $13.5K. I was a dumbass for selling it. |
|
|
Win a FREE Membership!
Sign up for the ARFCOM weekly newsletter and be entered to win a free ARFCOM membership. One new winner* is announced every week!
You will receive an email every Friday morning featuring the latest chatter from the hottest topics, breaking news surrounding legislation, as well as exclusive deals only available to ARFCOM email subscribers.
AR15.COM is the world's largest firearm community and is a gathering place for firearm enthusiasts of all types.
From hunters and military members, to competition shooters and general firearm enthusiasts, we welcome anyone who values and respects the way of the firearm.
Subscribe to our monthly Newsletter to receive firearm news, product discounts from your favorite Industry Partners, and more.
Copyright © 1996-2024 AR15.COM LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Any use of this content without express written consent is prohibited.
AR15.Com reserves the right to overwrite or replace any affiliate, commercial, or monetizable links, posted by users, with our own.
