Do you miss "Mall Life?"
Harper Scott 
The escalators, the indoor movie theater complex, the smells of coffee and popcorn and hot dogs, intermingling with department store perfumes?
How about the mall walkers, the fake fountains, and radio shack?
The mall was like its own little village.
Those were the days.
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 125 | April 26, 2021 3:11 PM |
They still exist. Take advantage! I do!
| by Anonymous | reply 3 | April 23, 2021 6:23 PM |
I think I miss malls, but it may be that I miss how young I was when they were at their peak.
| by Anonymous | reply 4 | April 23, 2021 6:23 PM |
I do, yes. They were so bright and fun. Now they give me the creeps because they are always deserted and/or hanging on by a thread
| by Anonymous | reply 5 | April 23, 2021 6:25 PM |
I loved eating at mall restaurants, for some reason.
You could walk around, go shopping, and then plop all your bags down in a restaurant and refuel.
| by Anonymous | reply 6 | April 23, 2021 6:25 PM |
There is one good mall left in my city. I don’t want it to close, but admittedly I haven’t been to it since Covid-19.
| by Anonymous | reply 7 | April 23, 2021 6:29 PM |
The mall in Chopping Mall(1986) was such a dump. The producers claim that originally the Beverly Central Shopping Centre was to be used but proved too expensive ,so the film was shot at the Sherman Oaks Galleria in LA county instead.
| by Anonymous | reply 8 | April 23, 2021 6:36 PM |
I miss the massage chairs, but not the people who were sitting in them without paying for the massage.
I miss the Christmas Santa and the line of children waiting to see him.
I miss the free samples from Hickory Farms.
I miss Spencer Gifts and being old enough to go to the Xrated corner.
| by Anonymous | reply 9 | April 23, 2021 6:37 PM |
Yes. It's a tragedy it has disappeared.
| by Anonymous | reply 10 | April 23, 2021 6:44 PM |
As a kid I could be at the mall in about 5 minutes riding my bike. Needless to say I was there almost every day. I loved it there! There even was an arcade! I could go there and play Donky Kong for hours. Sometimes I would skip church and go to the mall for an hour instead of mass. I was so bad!
| by Anonymous | reply 11 | April 23, 2021 6:49 PM |
"Jasper Mall" is an interesting documentary about a dying mall. It's free on Amazon Prime, only 85 minutes long.
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 12 | April 23, 2021 6:53 PM |
I loved them as a kid, but in the past 10 to 15 years, many of the stores I used to love have closed down and the malls I've been to are shells of their former selves. Lots of junk stores taking up space. I loved the toy stores, music shops, and video shops. They're all mostly gone now.
| by Anonymous | reply 13 | April 23, 2021 6:54 PM |
Malls used to be interesting, when there was a mix of local and national stores, but by the time Macy's rebranded all the department stores, they had become interchangeable and generic. Any interesting features such as fountains and sculptures have given way to endless kiosks hawking useless gizmos and gadgets, and lotions and potions.
I used to do retail training and would go out to new stores maybe 20-30 times a year. I remember one time, after about a month on the road, I was sitting in the food court, eating some bland lunch and reading the USA Today I'd gotten from the hotel when I suddenly realized I was late and needed to get back to the store for my next class.
I got up and started walking but I couldn't for the life of me remember where I was or where our store was. I looked around for some clue, the national newspaper tucked under my arm was obviously no help, but it was an indoor mall with no unique architectural features, and every store I saw could've been Anywhere USA (Auntie Anne's, Starbucks, Foot Locker, Gap, Abercrombie, Claire's).
I finally found a mall directory, which let me know I was at the Northridge Mall in Los Angeles, but for a minute I felt as if I'd stepped into the Twilight Zone.
| by Anonymous | reply 14 | April 23, 2021 7:05 PM |
Do you think the Silent Generation (b. 1928-1945) who were teens in the '40s and '50s felt the same way when soda/malt shop and drive-in theater culture went on the decline in the '60s. It was the malls/arcades that replaced them as the ultimate teenage hangouts in the '70s.
| by Anonymous | reply 15 | April 23, 2021 7:12 PM |
I do, but like R13, I miss what malls used to be. You could hang out, shop, see a movie, eat dinner, etc.
In my city we have two indoor malls left. One is downright dangerous (just another shooting there a few nights ago), and the other is half empty. It is depressing.
| by Anonymous | reply 16 | April 23, 2021 7:22 PM |
A really nice mall was built about 20 miles from me in Charlotte. It had all the great usual mall stores. The area around it became full of public housing. Then the occasional shootings would occur. Now five years later, Brooks Bros, Pottery Barn, The Gap, Banana Republic, American Eagle, Abercrombie and Fitch...all gone.
| by Anonymous | reply 17 | April 23, 2021 7:53 PM |
Public housing next to a mall? What a fabulous idea! 🙄
| by Anonymous | reply 18 | April 23, 2021 8:17 PM |
Paramus Park in NJ used to be THE PLACE to be every Saturday. Packed to the gills with teens and families. Loved Spencer gifts and the food court, especially the Pennsylvania Dutch Funnel Cakes in loads of different flavors.
| by Anonymous | reply 19 | April 23, 2021 8:50 PM |
R!9 here. I forgot to add in the late 70's and 80's.
| by Anonymous | reply 20 | April 23, 2021 8:52 PM |
I was born in late 1979 so was a kid in the '80s and a teen in the '90s, which was the apex of Mallrat Culture. I remember seeing those big ashtrays almost every hundred feet or so. You could smoke pretty much anywhere in the mall, including shops and restaurants. I recall being age 10 and getting measured for new shoes (remember when shoe salesmen/women used to do that?) and noticed a woman sitting nearby puffing on a cigarette, as her daughter tried on shoes. Needless to say, I associate smoking/smokey places with so-called Mall Life.
| by Anonymous | reply 21 | April 23, 2021 8:58 PM |
No. I live in a beautiful old European city.
| by Anonymous | reply 22 | April 23, 2021 9:08 PM |
Has anyone been to Mall of America? What’s it like?
| by Anonymous | reply 24 | April 23, 2021 9:16 PM |
R12 Thanks for the recommendation. Just watched Jasper Mall. Very good.
| by Anonymous | reply 25 | April 23, 2021 9:18 PM |
Malls have always creeped me out, even before the zombie movies.
| by Anonymous | reply 26 | April 23, 2021 9:21 PM |
I saw Jasper Mall, also. That mall was depressing. That floral shop, I'm sorry, but that lady was kind of bitchy and her floral arrangements looked tacky.
| by Anonymous | reply 27 | April 23, 2021 9:22 PM |
The former Sears building which is located in the mall near where I live is now being used to administer the COVOD vaccine. I always knew it was big but without merchandise in it, it's massive.
| by Anonymous | reply 28 | April 23, 2021 9:25 PM |
I meant COVID, of course.
| by Anonymous | reply 29 | April 23, 2021 9:26 PM |
Malls were fun as a teenager and young adult.
I liked the Cinnabon frozen coffee drink & was addicted to the Otis Spunkmeyer garlic Parmesan soft pretzel.
| by Anonymous | reply 30 | April 23, 2021 9:26 PM |
I only like the mall in the off hours. There's nothing appealing about sharing public space with huge crowds and, of course, the inevitable bevy of obnoxious teenagers being assholes. And I've been like that since being a teen who WAS a mallrat and hated other mallrats.
| by Anonymous | reply 31 | April 23, 2021 9:27 PM |
No! I caught syphilis in a bathroom stall.
| by Anonymous | reply 32 | April 23, 2021 9:29 PM |
I LOVED the mall when I was a teenager - now, not so much.
| by Anonymous | reply 33 | April 23, 2021 9:29 PM |
Let’s go to the mall! 💅🏾
| by Anonymous | reply 34 | April 23, 2021 9:29 PM |
R32 then proceeded to spread it throughout his midsized, Midwestern city at an alarming rate. A couple of wives were affected as well.
| by Anonymous | reply 35 | April 23, 2021 9:31 PM |
Yes I do.
I live a 12 minute walk from a mall that was finally killed by covid. It made Christmas shopping so easy and it had an excellent movie theater where I saw everything. I'm so sad it died. I was actually there the last day it was opened to renew a car registration. March 17th 2020.
The movie theater might survive but what we'll get there will be mixed usage apartments and retail.
Back when it had problems with kids/gangs, the police set up offices there in order to combat the issue.
Now it's gone.
| by Anonymous | reply 37 | April 23, 2021 9:41 PM |
The perfect place to get shot in.
| by Anonymous | reply 38 | April 23, 2021 9:46 PM |
[quote] No! I caught syphilis in a bathroom stall.
From a toilet seat, no doubt.
| by Anonymous | reply 39 | April 23, 2021 9:47 PM |
Have malls even had young people on them? Seems that the only people who still cared about going to them were Boomers and the elderly. Everyone else orders online.
| by Anonymous | reply 40 | April 23, 2021 9:48 PM |
middle schoolers...no car teens
| by Anonymous | reply 41 | April 23, 2021 9:52 PM |
The mall near where I grew up was recently demolished and a youtuber went inside and recorded what it looked like before. It's sad and weird to see a place that was filled with life where I would go by myself, sometimes with nothing else to do, totally empty and now gone.
Summit Place Mall (aka Pontiac Mall) where Madonna and her family used to go to regularly, especially at Christmas time.
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 42 | April 23, 2021 9:53 PM |
I was at this mall a few years ago.
It's completely fucking dead. No one is there except a person cleaning the floor. No one you could randomly chat with about the 80s movie that was filmed there.
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 43 | April 23, 2021 9:58 PM |
Malls contributed to the decline and fall of American civilization.
| by Anonymous | reply 44 | April 23, 2021 10:00 PM |
R14 - if went in 2019 it had essentially become a "ghetto mall", which is both good and bad. It was good in the sense that a whole lot more unique food selections popped up in the food court and bad in that it was close to public housing and the crowds made it crazy. It was pretty much a place to go for variety though...very LA but not relaxing at all. They did build some nice areas and theaters outside with landscaping and Spanish colonial inspite of the chain places and loads of hole in the wall establishments were adjacent. If you really wanted a relaxed and upscale mall, you had to go to Canoga Park which had LV and Prada and was built with a thought to design. The shop bottoms at Nordstrom about 10 years ago were worth going. I would ask when their shift ended and we would go out and hook up as my place was close by.
| by Anonymous | reply 45 | April 23, 2021 10:07 PM |
Mary Jo got attacked at an abandoned mall on Designing Women.
| by Anonymous | reply 46 | April 23, 2021 10:07 PM |
Turn dead malls into ...
Homeless centers? Community colleges? Recreational facilities for kids? Churches?
| by Anonymous | reply 47 | April 23, 2021 10:08 PM |
Valley Girl and Fast Times at Ridgemont High are two mall-centric movies. Name some more?
| by Anonymous | reply 48 | April 23, 2021 10:24 PM |
I worked in a mall in high school. It was the best job for a teenager. People watching, discounts, and food was steps away. I don’t know where kids work today.
| by Anonymous | reply 49 | April 23, 2021 10:28 PM |
Last time I went to a mall (about 6 months ago - I had lost my glasses and LensCrafters one hour turnaround was my only choice) there was both a magnet high school and a church R47.
| by Anonymous | reply 50 | April 23, 2021 10:29 PM |
[quote]Valley Girl and Fast Times at Ridgemont High are two mall-centric movies. Name some more?
Kevin Smith's MALLRATS
| by Anonymous | reply 51 | April 23, 2021 10:30 PM |
I saw a fair amount of teenage girls R40. I think there is still something to buying clothes in person for them.
| by Anonymous | reply 52 | April 23, 2021 10:31 PM |
This mall in NC is now an empty lot.
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 53 | April 23, 2021 10:35 PM |
R53 is that an ice skating rink in the middle of the mall?
| by Anonymous | reply 54 | April 23, 2021 10:39 PM |
There's a "mall" at Atlantic Avenue near downtown Brooklyn. It's popular. But it's not very mall-like as it's basically vertical with little space for walking around in. I had to pass thru it almost daily on my way to work when commuting as the Long Island Railroad station is attached to it and occasionally buy things there. It sadly doesn't feel like a mall.
| by Anonymous | reply 55 | April 23, 2021 10:41 PM |
Deadmalls.com. A source for info on malls gone and some updates on those still around.
| by Anonymous | reply 56 | April 23, 2021 10:46 PM |
[quote] I think there is still something to buying clothes in person for them.
Clothing is one of those things I don't like buying online (unless I'm familiar with the brand and how it fits on me). I don't have a sample-size type of body, so it's hard to tell from photos how something's going to fit. Plus, sizing is not uniform from brand to brand. Sometimes, I'm tempted to order 2 or 3 different sizes (online) and just return the sizes that don't fit.
| by Anonymous | reply 58 | April 23, 2021 10:47 PM |
I grew up in a city in New Jersey that had its own downtown. I wasn't old enough to drive, and my parents weren't going to drive me ten miles so I could hang out in a mall—a relatively new concept when I was young—so "mall life" was out of the question. I went to college, and later lived, in cities, so I shopped in their downtowns rather than going to malls. The only mall I went to with any regularity was Georgetown Park in DC, at the corner of Wisconsin and M. I worked in Georgetown. I wasn't part of "mall life."
I believe it is the mall where Fucker Snarlson said he got "attacked," by the way.
| by Anonymous | reply 59 | April 23, 2021 10:48 PM |
Has anyone ever been in mall jail?
| by Anonymous | reply 60 | April 23, 2021 10:52 PM |
[quote]Those were the days.
Yeah, when I was in the 7th grade.
[quote]Kevin Smith's MALLRATS
The only time I ever found Jason Lee attractive.
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 61 | April 23, 2021 10:54 PM |
I can't remember the last time I was in a totally enclosed mall. There's no allure anymore. Although I do live near Oak Brook Center, which is an outdoor mall. I'll venture there to buy clothes sometimes as I don't order any clothing besides shoes online.
| by Anonymous | reply 62 | April 23, 2021 11:05 PM |
White flight happened to malls.
| by Anonymous | reply 63 | April 23, 2021 11:35 PM |
Best part of Mall Culture was security guards telling us NO PDA. I wasn't even close to holding hands, let alone kiss anyone, but man those guards were assholes.
| by Anonymous | reply 64 | April 23, 2021 11:45 PM |
Now that there are very few of the national mall chains left a lot of the spaces are taken up with mysterious dimly lighted local shops with cheap looking signage. Often these have a huge amount of floor space and some actually are well-stocked but with strange no-name clothing. The mall near me must have a dozen of these. The thing is I never see anyone shopping in these places. Ever. The rents must be rock bottom so they can keep the lights on. I wonder what kind of person opens a clothing shop in a dead mall. What are they thinking?
| by Anonymous | reply 65 | April 23, 2021 11:46 PM |
R63 thinks only white people go to malls
| by Anonymous | reply 66 | April 23, 2021 11:55 PM |
[quote] Valley Girl and Fast Times at Ridgemont High are two mall-centric movies. Name some more?
Dawn of the Dead.
A searing indictment of consumerism.
With beheadings and cannibalism.
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 67 | April 24, 2021 12:06 AM |
Scenes from a Mall (with Bette Midler and Woody Allen)
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 68 | April 24, 2021 12:11 AM |
Legend of Billie Jean has an extended mall scene as mentioned upthread. Chopping Mall too. Night if the Comet. Weird Science with the Icee scene.
Season 3 of Stranger Things main plot and action takes place in a 80s mall.
| by Anonymous | reply 69 | April 24, 2021 12:50 AM |
[quote] Best part of Mall Culture was security guards telling us NO PDA.
Well with r32 passing around syphillis, you can understand why.
| by Anonymous | reply 70 | April 24, 2021 12:55 AM |
There are a few malls still doing well, but they are anomalies and typically only have very high end tenants. Bal Harbour Shops in Miami is a good example.
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 71 | April 24, 2021 1:22 AM |
I miss Walden Books where I discovered the magazine After Dark. My first introduction to NYC gay nite life/culture. Quite a lot to take in for a young gayling from the Midwest.
| by Anonymous | reply 72 | April 24, 2021 1:53 AM |
So online retail killed the mall?
Will delivery eventually kill the grocery store?
| by Anonymous | reply 73 | April 24, 2021 1:59 AM |
Newport Mall in Jersey City is still fairly active. Although one of its anchor stores is Sears which you can tell is on its way out.
| by Anonymous | reply 74 | April 24, 2021 2:00 AM |
[quote]Will delivery eventually kill the grocery store?
No, because delivery of groceries has been available for decades. I think what will kill grocery stores is meal delivery services like Blue Apron and Freshly. Why shop for individual items when you can have a whole meal, with all the prep work already done, delivered?
| by Anonymous | reply 75 | April 24, 2021 2:03 AM |
I miss SNL when it was funny like in OP's clip.
| by Anonymous | reply 76 | April 24, 2021 2:07 AM |
[quote] No, because delivery of groceries has been available for decades.
Grocery delivery wasn't available to the extent it is now, all the websites, etc.
| by Anonymous | reply 77 | April 24, 2021 2:13 AM |
Remember when smoking was allowed in malls? People puffing away in the corridors. It seems like another world now.
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 78 | April 24, 2021 2:43 AM |
I love the Westside pavilion in the early 90s. Women at the Tammy Taylor kiosk rubbing lotion on your hands and waiting for you to buy a bottle. The Asian woman at the food court screaming "FREE SAMPLE, BONELESS AND SKINLESS TERIYAKI CHICKEN!"
Now it's all Google corporate offices. Fuck Google
| by Anonymous | reply 79 | April 24, 2021 2:43 AM |
We’ve had this debate before R75 & R77, but grocery delivery has ever (and probably will never) take hold for a few reasons:
Produce, fruit, and meat. People just like picking that stuff themselves. You get delivery of over ripe bananas, rock hard pears or avocados? Fuck that.
Substitutions. No, margarine is not the same as butter.
There is a reason grocery delivery has never really taken off even though it has been available for a long time.
I’m on the fence about Blue Apron. I’m just too cheap to ever use it as I can shop and cook for myself.
It is stupid, expensive and wasteful. So it may end up being a hit in the U.S.
| by Anonymous | reply 80 | April 24, 2021 2:55 AM |
This is an interesting documentary CBS News did about suburban Kansas City's megamall in 1982. Lots of interviews with teen mallrats.
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 81 | April 24, 2021 3:08 AM |
Yes. I used to work in an indoor mall movie theater. It was one of the happiest jobs I've ever had and we used to swap merchandise with all the other shops in the mall.
I still have dreams about how fun it was!
| by Anonymous | reply 82 | April 24, 2021 3:09 AM |
I was a late 80s/early 90s teenager and malls were our gathering spot. We'd all load up in someone's car and hang out at the mall for hours. It was a really fun ritual. And we were SOCIAL, which is so important. My nephew and his friends are sitting at home playing video games as their main form of entertainment. There isn't much socializing going on with this generation, and it's not very healthy.
| by Anonymous | reply 83 | April 24, 2021 3:46 AM |
You would be amazed at how coddled child today are. Did you know public schools have drive thru lanes where teachers open car doors and put elementary students in and out of cars?
They have seperate bells for walkers, bus riders, bikes and parent pickup. In my day the bell rang and everyone left.
I don't know.
| by Anonymous | reply 84 | April 24, 2021 4:03 AM |
Back in the mall days, people would say: You kids should get outside in the fresh air instead of hanging out at the mall. Now, it's: You kids should be inside the mall, socializing, instead of looking at your phones.
In a way, I kind of like people (kids & adults) being stuck on their phones. It's a pacifier & people are less likely to start fighting, etc. Texting is quieter than when people would walk around actually talking on their phone (LOUD and obnoxious).
| by Anonymous | reply 85 | April 24, 2021 4:03 AM |
About the video at OP, it's amazing how Chris Farley steal the show.
| by Anonymous | reply 86 | April 24, 2021 4:09 AM |
Great coffee table book. Highly recommended.
I love that 80's mall aesthetic. When I was a kid, my dad was away for work a lot and I was an only child until I was 8. My mom was alone with me, bored, and with a pretty decent bank account. It wasn't unusual for us to be at the mall twice a week. She'd get me a froyo from Everything Yogurt or a kids meal from Roy Rogers in the foot court. She'd alway let me pick out a 12" single from Sam Goody or Music Factory (I was particularly fond of Madonna, Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam, Debbie Gibson...). Those were really happy times. I still go to that mall. It's been remodeled and changed over the years, but I still walk past some stores and can remember what used to be Waldenbooks or Merry Go Round....
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 87 | April 24, 2021 4:14 AM |
Best part of Stranger Things are the mall scenes. It totally captures what it was like in the 80's. Toss in that there is a secret Russian base underneath the Star Court Mall and it makes it even better!
| by Anonymous | reply 88 | April 24, 2021 4:32 AM |
When I think of a mall related movie I think of Mallrats.
| by Anonymous | reply 89 | April 24, 2021 4:35 AM |
Yes, I do. Some of my earliest and best memories are shopping in malls with my mom, aunt, and grandmother 1992-1996. I remember the old Rich’s in Atlanta fondly. Also, Gayfers before it was Dillards.
| by Anonymous | reply 90 | April 24, 2021 4:47 AM |
[quote]Do you miss "Mall Life"?
Was that the name of a monthly magazine back in the '80s?
| by Anonymous | reply 91 | April 24, 2021 5:14 AM |
Dawn of the dead was shot at Monroeville Mall in PA, where I spent my teen years. Ah the memories!
| by Anonymous | reply 92 | April 24, 2021 5:52 AM |
If they get rid of malls where will Debbie Gibson perform?
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 93 | April 24, 2021 6:11 AM |
Didn't The Lost Boys have some indoor mall scenes when the kids were buying/reading comic books?
One of the Terminator films as well?
| by Anonymous | reply 94 | April 24, 2021 6:29 AM |
I scored a great job as as a sophomore in HS. Worked with a bunch of cool upper classmates at a music store with a thirty something manager dude and lesbian assistant manager. We always went to his place after work to party. Some other kids from the local hs worked at other stores and would come with. We would hit the concerts that came to town and those of us slinging vinyl we’re dealing drugs too.
This one tall Lanky guy loved showing us how he could tie his dick into a knot. Complete pussy hound who whipped it out for any reason.
| by Anonymous | reply 95 | April 24, 2021 9:16 AM |
I totally agree with you, R83.
[quote] No! I caught syphilis in a bathroom stall.
[quote] From a toilet seat, no doubt.
I thought it was a tractor?
| by Anonymous | reply 96 | April 24, 2021 11:51 AM |
Kind of, yes. My mother used to work at Filene’s in a mall outside Boston, late 70s-early 80s. I’d hang out before picking her up from work. There was an excitement about the mall back then. It was the place to be!
| by Anonymous | reply 97 | April 24, 2021 11:59 AM |
I think a lot of us lament mall culture because, before the internet, it was the best chance most of us had to find some real community.
I worked in malls throughout high school and college in the '90s. Today, I'm still friends with many people I met during that time.
But now I work entirely online, and I prefer it. It kept me alive during the pandemic. And the internet would have made me a happier and smarter kid if it existed to the same extent in the '90s.
| by Anonymous | reply 98 | April 24, 2021 12:08 PM |
[quote]Has anyone ever been in mall jail?
I remember a Seinfeld episode and a Malcolm in the Middle episode that involved mall 'crimes and punishment.'
| by Anonymous | reply 101 | April 24, 2021 3:22 PM |
Dawn of the Dead was filmed in the mall near me (Southridge Mall in Greendale). Whoo-hoo, we hit the bigtime!
| by Anonymous | reply 102 | April 24, 2021 3:25 PM |
I thought 'Dawn Of The Dead' was supposed to be Greendale but was really filmed in Canada.
| by Anonymous | reply 103 | April 24, 2021 3:33 PM |
For those of you who loved the mall for the arcade, as many of us did in the 1980's, check out this corporate training video for Space Port arcades (they had one of these in the Woodbridge Mall in New Jersey). I also remember Time Out.
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 104 | April 24, 2021 3:50 PM |
OP, are you one of those people who thinks because you don't go somewhere it doesn't exist any more?
| by Anonymous | reply 105 | April 24, 2021 4:22 PM |
Sometimes, I still go to malls and they seem so anachronistic
| by Anonymous | reply 106 | April 24, 2021 4:25 PM |
Maybe it's where (Boston suburbs) I live but the mall seems exactly the same as ever to me, particularly the hordes of kids hanging at the food court or with bags from Lids, Finish Line, or Vans. Though I haven't been there for a year. I hate clothes shopping online, if you're buying casual clothes you can't rely on sizes online, a 32 from one brand is like a 36 from another.
| by Anonymous | reply 107 | April 24, 2021 4:31 PM |
*or two pairs of pants from the same brand will have the same size and fit totally different. Also I have some clothing allergies so I have to try things on or at least be around them before I buy them.
| by Anonymous | reply 108 | April 24, 2021 4:32 PM |
I can still remember the stench of Cinnabon, Panda Express and cigarette smoke all mixed together.
| by Anonymous | reply 109 | April 24, 2021 5:07 PM |
The scent of Abercrombie Fitch as you walk by
| by Anonymous | reply 110 | April 24, 2021 5:09 PM |
I totally agree about the clothes shopping. You have to touch them and try them on.
Our mall on Cape Cod has gotten pretty run down and ghetto sadly
But they just turned the dead Sears into a Target. There may be hope.
| by Anonymous | reply 111 | April 24, 2021 5:14 PM |
The big mall near my hometown was the big gathering place and pretty upscale when I was a teen and in college. When I go home to visit and stop in that mall now, it looks like the plane from Mumbai just landed in the parking lot. I half-expect to see cows and chickens walking through the corridors.
The other mall near my hometown is so ghetto you don't even want to go near it.
| by Anonymous | reply 112 | April 24, 2021 5:24 PM |
[quote]I can still remember the stench of Cinnabon, Panda Express and cigarette smoke all mixed together.
Mmmmm. Someone should bottle that!
| by Anonymous | reply 113 | April 24, 2021 5:24 PM |
R111 Our Sears became Primark
| by Anonymous | reply 114 | April 24, 2021 5:49 PM |
2 malls haves closed in my metro area in the past year. Who the fuck is going to buy a mall?
But one was turned lifestyle/plaza/shopping/residential and has fucking boomed in 10 years. This has also become the model for a few other new developments.
| by Anonymous | reply 115 | April 24, 2021 6:09 PM |
[quote] Didn't The Lost Boys have some indoor mall scenes when the kids were buying/reading comic books? One of the Terminator films as well?
The Lost Boys took place on a boardwalk, so not quite a mall but Terminator 2 had a whole mall and arcade sequence. A few more examples: Janis works at the mall in Mean Girls. Can’t Buy Me Love when Patrick Dempsey has to chose between the telescope and helping out Cindy. The Brady kids dancing on the escalator.
| by Anonymous | reply 116 | April 24, 2021 6:42 PM |
[quote] Has anyone ever been in mall jail?
Yes, but it wasn't so bad.
Security took me into his office, and...
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 117 | April 24, 2021 7:37 PM |
R96 - I don't know how that bitch caught syphilis at the mall...must have some nasty habits. I think I hooked up with about a dozen or so bottoms at the higher end stores in the mall in their later 40s and, since they need to look nice to sell their products, they were some of the cleanest and most adorable ever. I still keep in touch with a few...that is how wholesome and sweet they were. I guess it's all about your type. I am a bit discerning and got to know them a bit. A nice sushi and sake after work after a few breaks having coffee and I can quickly gauge who I am dealing with. Too bad many lost their jobs in the pandemic and finding work is hard for many gay men in retail and fashion who are older. This is something someone needs to write about.
| by Anonymous | reply 118 | April 24, 2021 8:36 PM |
There was a Gloria Jean's coffee place in my childhood mall. I wasn't a coffee drinker back then, but I thought it was cool to have it there. I loved the Cinnabon smell and did eat the buns & the frozen coffee drink w/whipped cream. Very good.
| by Anonymous | reply 119 | April 24, 2021 9:04 PM |
Was “Mall Life” the b-side to Prince’s single, “Pop Life?”
| by Anonymous | reply 120 | April 24, 2021 9:33 PM |
The comic book store in The Lost Boys was in downtown Santa Cruz but they made it look like it was located on the boardwalk in the movie.
| by Anonymous | reply 121 | April 24, 2021 11:53 PM |
Went to Vineyard Vines at the mall Saturday afternoon. The mall was packed, like it was the holidays. Mostly high end stores close to an expensive neighborhood. The suburban malls on the outer beltway have mostly closed though.
| by Anonymous | reply 122 | April 26, 2021 4:24 AM |
They used to shoot The Wonder Years in the Eastland Center Mall in West Covina. I worked at the Mervyn's there when I was young and often saw them filming. It was a very retro looking mall so it made sense.
| by Anonymous | reply 123 | April 26, 2021 4:58 AM |
Hilltop Mall is Richmond, CA (1976) has closed for good.
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 124 | April 26, 2021 3:08 PM |
[quote]I do, yes. They were so bright and fun. Now they give me the creeps because they are always deserted and/or hanging on by a thread
Actually, it makes me sad to see closed storefronts; I live around the NOVA/DC area so if stores are closing here, it's got to be worse in places like central Ohio.
I don't miss the mall itself so much as the freedom of just roaming around from store to store, browsing for whatever, rather than that feeling I have now of getting exactly what I need & getting out quickly.
| by Anonymous | reply 125 | April 26, 2021 3:11 PM |
