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Subject: What was the first SHOPPING MALL in your area?
Written By: Tony20fan4ever on 10/19/05 at 9:58 pm
The first ever shopping mall in my area was called SEARSTOWN..and is now known simply as Shore Mall..in Egg Harbor Township.
One of the first malls in ALL of Southern NJ was Cherry Hill Mall..Cherry Hill High School actually had a PROM there soon after it opened.
Subject: Re: What was the first SHOPPING MALL in your area?
Written By: whistledog on 10/19/05 at 10:03 pm
The first major mall in my town was called the Kingston Shopping Centre. My grandfather helped build it :)
Last year, they began tearing it down so they could build box stores
Subject: Re: What was the first SHOPPING MALL in your area?
Written By: ultraviolet52 on 10/20/05 at 1:54 am
We had a mall in Antioch that I believe was built in the mid-1970's called County East. It was outdoors up until about 1990 and then they tore down the outdoor stores and turned it into indoors. I was there the opening day.
Our realy major mall was Sunvalley Mall built in 1967. Before it was a mall it was just a piece of mass land that the city of Pleasant Hill no longer wanted, so they sold it to the city of Concord, who took advantage of it and turned it into a major shopping mall. So, my Dad lived across the street from the mall - but when he crossed the street, he was in Concord, not Pleasant Hill. That borderline still confuses me, lol. "Am I in Pleasant HIll or am I in Concord?"
It's sort of funny that a mall can change the city limits...
Subject: Re: What was the first SHOPPING MALL in your area?
Written By: quirky_cat_girl on 10/20/05 at 10:54 am
The first one in our area was called, "Greengate Mall"....they just recently tore it down a year or so ago to build....yep....another Walmart super center plus a new shopping center containing all the stores that we already have around....what a waste! I am so sick of all of these landmark buildings being torn down to merely make room for yet another Walmart. We have a Walmart on every flippin' corner, so it seems. Greengate was a cool mall....it had neato water fountains...and even a HUGE bird cage at one point. Yes, it needed renovated...but I would have much rather seen that happen then what the fate ended up being.
The JC Penny's Entrance
http://www.deadmalls.com/malls/greengate_mall/greengate08.jpg
Erin :)
Subject: Re: What was the first SHOPPING MALL in your area?
Written By: Philip Eno on 10/20/05 at 11:35 am
http://www.snapperdesigns.com/37_piccadilly_arcade_london.jpg
Opened in 1909 in the grand Edwardian style and to the design of Thrale Jell, the Piccadilly Arcade, is one of the oldest malls in my area.
Subject: Re: What was the first SHOPPING MALL in your area?
Written By: Tia on 10/21/05 at 11:25 pm
baybrook mall opened up near my house in friendswood texas in the late 70s. (we moved to washington d.c. in '81.) i loved baybrook mall, i would brave hell or high water to get to it.
they say malls are on the way out. the wave of the future is simulated old towns.
Subject: Re: What was the first SHOPPING MALL in your area?
Written By: Tony20fan4ever on 10/22/05 at 5:07 am
baybrook mall opened up near my house in friendswood texas in the late 70s. (we moved to washington d.c. in '81.) i loved baybrook mall, i would brave hell or high water to get to it.
they say malls are on the way out. the wave of the future is simulated old towns.
The old town concept has actually happened in my area...it's called Central Square, in Linwood NJ.
Atlantic City now has an outlet store shopping center,it's called "The Walk", on Atlantic Avenue.
Subject: Re: What was the first SHOPPING MALL in your area?
Written By: Tia on 10/22/05 at 10:09 am
The old town concept has actually happened in my area...it's called Central Square, in Linwood NJ.
Atlantic City now has an outlet store shopping center,it's called "The Walk", on Atlantic Avenue.
yup, be on the lookout. one of my favorite web sites on the subject, though it's not well maintained, is
www.deadmalls.com
hunt valley mall in maryland has a real interesting history to it. dig those pictures! it's like mad max meets day of the dead. anyway, i went up to hunt valley recently and they'd torn the mall down and they were going to build this little disneyland-style main street shopping plaza there. ugh. gimme gritty, grimy little ma-and-pa storefronts any day.
Subject: Re: What was the first SHOPPING MALL in your area?
Written By: Marty McFly on 10/22/05 at 5:13 pm
I don't know for sure, but that's definitely the kinda thing I'd love to do some research on.
The only one I know for sure is Oakridge Mall in (suburban) south San Jose, it was built in 1973 I think, or sometime in the mid 70's. It apparently got revamped around 1995 (just one year before I moved to San Jose - I wish I could've seen it before, lol), then it got a major facelift again just a couple years back. About 50 new restaurants/shops, a parking garage, everything.
The "old" mall from just a few years ago is hardly recognizable from the front entrance.
Subject: Re: What was the first SHOPPING MALL in your area?
Written By: ultraviolet52 on 10/22/05 at 5:14 pm
Here's one of our JCPenney's entrances at Sunvalley Mall in Concord. Luckily it hasn't been torn down, as this mall is still hugely popular despite competing outside malls in nearby cities. Sunvalley is a fossil in mall terms. It was built in 1967.
http://www.gallconsulting.com/cities/concord/sun.valley.mall.jpg
Subject: Re: What was the first SHOPPING MALL in your area?
Written By: ultraviolet52 on 10/22/05 at 5:16 pm
I don't know for sure, but that's definitely the kinda thing I'd love to do some research on.
The only one I know for sure is Oakridge Mall in (suburban) south San Jose, it was built in 1973 I think, or sometime in the mid 70's. It apparently got revamped around 1995 (just one year before I moved to San Jose - I wish I could've seen it before, lol), then it got a major facelift again just a couple years back. About 50 new restaurants/shops, a parking garage, everything.
The "old" mall from just a few years ago is hardly recognizable from the front entrance.
I have heard of Oakridge Mall being advertised, but I have yet to explore San Jose (except I did go through the very outskirts of it (Campbell, etc) about a year ago). Have you been to or heard of the Stoneridge Mall in Pleasanton?
Subject: Re: What was the first SHOPPING MALL in your area?
Written By: Marty McFly on 10/22/05 at 5:27 pm
I have heard of Oakridge Mall being advertised, but I have yet to explore San Jose (except I did go through the very outskirts of it (Campbell, etc) about a year ago). Have you been to or heard of the Stoneridge Mall in Pleasanton?
Campbell is a nice area - ironically, even though it's a few miles from where I live, I work (and hang out) there much more than my own area, LOL.
You know, I'm sure I have been to Sun Valley at some point, simply because I've pretty much lived everywhere in the Bay Area by now. ;)
Is that the one right off 680? I can't recall exactly, but on the way to Sacramento, there's one or two around that area I'd pass.
Subject: Re: What was the first SHOPPING MALL in your area?
Written By: ultraviolet52 on 10/22/05 at 5:31 pm
Campbell is a nice area - ironically, even though it's a few miles from where I live, I work (and hang out) there much more than my own area, LOL.
You know, I'm sure I have been to Sun Valley at some point, simply because I've pretty much lived everywhere in the Bay Area by now. ;)
Is that the one right off 680? I can't recall exactly, but on the way to Sacramento, there's one or two around that area I'd pass.
Yeah, Sunvalley is right off 680 and is on your way to Sac. At one point you kinda drive between the Mall and across from the intersection you see a Krispy Kreme lit up on the other side at the Willows Shopping Center.
Yeah, Campbell looked pretty nice when I stopped through there. I actually have been there about 3 times, because we took a short cut back through Santa Cruz and then one time around August of '03 I was trying to get to Carmel and I had to stop at a Campbell Gas Station to gas up.
Subject: Re: What was the first SHOPPING MALL in your area?
Written By: Marty McFly on 10/22/05 at 5:35 pm
Yeah, Sunvalley is right off 680 and is on your way to Sac. At one point you kinda drive between the Mall and across from the intersection you see a Krispy Kreme lit up on the other side at the Willows Shopping Center.
Yeah, Campbell looked pretty nice when I stopped through there. I actually have been there about 3 times, because we took a short cut back through Santa Cruz and then one time around August of '03 I was trying to get to Carmel and I had to stop at a Campbell Gas Station to gas up.
Slightly off-note, but I LOVE Krispy Kreme (I'm pretty sure I've been to that exact one too). I even have a little in-joke whenever me or my parents bring any of their donuts home that, "I'm sure these will list at least 10 minutes." ;D
I actually went to WaterWorld, and Great America (separate trips) this last summer with a couple friends. So yeah, that sounds very familar to me.
Subject: Re: What was the first SHOPPING MALL in your area?
Written By: ultraviolet52 on 10/22/05 at 5:41 pm
Slightly off-note, but I LOVE Krispy Kreme (I'm pretty sure I've been to that exact one too). I even have a little in-joke whenever me or my parents bring any of their donuts home that, "I'm sure these will list at least 10 minutes." ;D
I actually went to WaterWorld, and Great America (separate trips) this last summer with a couple friends. So yeah, that sounds very familar to me.
lol, yeah, I had a slight addiction to them when they first came to town *our first one was in Pittsburg - then they built that one in Concord just shortly after*
That's really a coinkidink that you went to Waterworld and Great America this past summer JUST LIKE ME! lol
Subject: Re: What was the first SHOPPING MALL in your area?
Written By: Marty McFly on 10/22/05 at 5:45 pm
^Really? Cool. Both of those were fun, although I think I was the one screaming the loudest on the big waterslides that first day. ;)
I loved the trips and would happily do it again, but I learned the hard way, even a vacation a mere 70 miles away ain't cheap, LOL!
Subject: Re: What was the first SHOPPING MALL in your area?
Written By: ultraviolet52 on 10/22/05 at 5:49 pm
^Really? Cool. Both of those were fun, although I think I was the one screaming the loudest on the big waterslides that first day. ;)
I loved the trips and would happily do it again, but I learned the hard way, even a vacation a mere 70 miles away ain't cheap, LOL!
Yeah, luckily, Waterworld was a mere hop-skip-jump for us (as Walnut Creek is a neighboring city) but Great America was by far much further for us.
^ lol Yeah, I did some screaming on that funnel ride and most of them were rather relaxing. I enjoyed the lazy river the most, I think.
Subject: Re: What was the first SHOPPING MALL in your area?
Written By: Marty McFly on 10/22/05 at 6:00 pm
Yeah, luckily, Waterworld was a mere hop-skip-jump for us (as Walnut Creek is a neighboring city) but Great America was by far much further for us.
^ lol Yeah, I did some screaming on that funnel ride and most of them were rather relaxing. I enjoyed the lazy river the most, I think.
I think there were 4-5 slides there altogether - I liked the ones that went through a tunnel.
My bad, it actually was Marine World in Vallejo I went to (I actually lived there briefly back in '95). Funnily enough, I thought the upside down roller coasters would scare me the most. Those were really fun after the first spin, LOL. It actually was the rickety wooden one that was the scariest.
Subject: Re: What was the first SHOPPING MALL in your area?
Written By: ultraviolet52 on 10/22/05 at 6:08 pm
I think there were 4-5 slides there altogether - I liked the ones that went through a tunnel.
My bad, it actually was Marine World in Vallejo I went to (I actually lived there briefly back in '95). Funnily enough, I thought the upside down roller coasters would scare me the most. Those were really fun after the first spin, LOL. It actually was the rickety wooden one that was the scariest.
I gotcha (about Six Flags - Marine World ). I've been there about 5 or 6 times *several times before it turned into a roller coaster park in 1998, I believe* That seems to make more sense as it being even further than Waterworld for you. I bet that was one heck of drive!
Those coasters were a bit jerky when I went last year to Marine World. I actually don't remember many of their names because my head was aching a bit after each of them, plus it was raining and stuff. The ones I remember most were on the ground, like that scrambler one. Man, that made all three of us sick and we kept slamming into one another as it jerked us around.
lol, I hope we haven't thrown everyone off for a loop goin' off topic here (sorry!)
Subject: Re: What was the first SHOPPING MALL in your area?
Written By: Hoser-Hoosier on 10/22/05 at 10:48 pm
I believe it was Eastgate mall in Indianapolis, originally an open air mall, followed soon by Glendale. Nearer to where I am it was Boulevard mall in Crawfordsville( I won a blue ribbon there in a Halloween art show when I was 11). Both are now in their death throws. It seems people prefer strip malls these days. Sad, sad, so sad.
Subject: Re: What was the first SHOPPING MALL in your area?
Written By: Tony20fan4ever on 10/24/05 at 10:02 pm
The most modern mall near me is Hamilton Mall, near Mays Landing. The mall opened in 1987...it has stores for all budgets...On one end is expensive(for most of us)and trendy Macy's....on the other end is Sears. and in between, two floors of stores of all kinds for whatever you need or whatever you want. And a food court that even sells HEALTHY stuff like fruit smoothies. Not to mention CLEAN public bathrooms.
Subject: Re: What was the first SHOPPING MALL in your area?
Written By: PennyLane0630 on 10/25/05 at 10:08 am
It was the Crossroads Mall built in the early 70's here in Omaha. It was 'groovy' to say the least back then, but Downtown totaly died until the mid 80's. :-\\
Subject: Re: What was the first SHOPPING MALL in your area?
Written By: Trimac20 on 10/29/05 at 5:55 am
Here in Perth, Western Australia our first mall opened in the early 60s (though I wasn't here to see it). The local mall (we call them 'shopping centres' down here) Garden City opened in 1972 thought they did heaps of renovations to it. Pity we only have a few multi-storey malls, most of our shopping centres are single storey only.
Subject: Re: What was the first SHOPPING MALL in your area?
Written By: Trimac20 on 10/29/05 at 5:59 am
btw, as someone studying planning in uni I'm also interested in the history of architecture of retail buildings. Does anyone know any old photos/movies.etc which show the interior and exterior of shopping malls (I'm talking 60s, 70s and early 80s)? It would be great if you knew any websites, etc. Cheers
Subject: Re: What was the first SHOPPING MALL in your area?
Written By: Tia on 10/29/05 at 9:18 am
btw, as someone studying planning in uni I'm also interested in the history of architecture of retail buildings. Does anyone know any old photos/movies.etc which show the interior and exterior of shopping malls (I'm talking 60s, 70s and early 80s)? It would be great if you knew any websites, etc. Cheers
i don't know of any web sites, but i can recommend a lot of movies with great mall/shopping center footage from different times. there's dawn of the dead, of course, there's this fabulous movie called "carnival of souls" from 1960, thereabouts, with a long funky shopping sequence. and here's a really obscure one -- "progress island usa," a tourism short plugging puerto rico with some really cool early 70s mall stuff -- there's this jeans shop called "groovy's"! -- it's on a mystery science theater 3000 movie called "beast of yucca flats."
fast times at ridgmont high's got some good early 80s mall stuff.
and who could forget that timeless classic, "chopping mall"? particularly since if you saw that piece of crap you're probably still paying off the therapist bills.
Subject: Re: What was the first SHOPPING MALL in your area?
Written By: Trimac20 on 10/30/05 at 12:24 am
i don't know of any web sites, but i can recommend a lot of movies with great mall/shopping center footage from different times. there's dawn of the dead, of course, there's this fabulous movie called "carnival of souls" from 1960, thereabouts, with a long funky shopping sequence. and here's a really obscure one -- "progress island usa," a tourism short plugging puerto rico with some really cool early 70s mall stuff -- there's this jeans shop called "groovy's"! -- it's on a mystery science theater 3000 movie called "beast of yucca flats."
fast times at ridgmont high's got some good early 80s mall stuff.
and who could forget that timeless classic, "chopping mall"? particularly since if you saw that piece of crap you're probably still paying off the therapist bills.
Thanks for the info. Btw, if you have, do you reckon you could send me this 'Progress Island USA' short as an mpg as I don't want to have to buy the movie just to see it. Thnx.
Subject: Re: What was the first SHOPPING MALL in your area?
Written By: Tia on 10/30/05 at 12:48 am
Thanks for the info. Btw, if you have, do you reckon you could send me this 'Progress Island USA' short as an mpg as I don't want to have to buy the movie just to see it. Thnx.
i only have it on vhs and don't have the hardware to transfer analog to mpeg, but i'll totally make you a copy if you like, just for the sheer pleasure of sharing the joy. just send me a msg offlist...
Subject: Re: What was the first SHOPPING MALL in your area?
Written By: ktelqueen on 10/30/05 at 1:39 am
MicMac Mall in Dartmouth,NS(CDA)..early 70s :)..still going strong 8)
Subject: Re: What was the first SHOPPING MALL in your area?
Written By: DaBukaba on 10/31/05 at 4:47 am
btw, as someone studying planning in uni I'm also interested in the history of architecture of retail buildings. Does anyone know any old photos/movies.etc which show the interior and exterior of shopping malls (I'm talking 60s, 70s and early 80s)? It would be great if you knew any websites, etc. Cheers
Trimac20, the following website has photos taken in 1970 of the interior of an Ohio shopping mall that had opened in August of 1967. Click the pics on the site for larger views. It's really cool! Follow this link: http://elyriapride.elyria.com/timemachine/themall.html
Subject: Re: What was the first SHOPPING MALL in your area?
Written By: DaBukaba on 10/31/05 at 5:09 am
Trimac20, the following website has photos taken in 1970 of the interior of an Ohio shopping mall that had opened in August of 1967. Click the pics on the site for larger views. It's really cool! Follow this link: http://elyriapride.elyria.com/timemachine/themall.html
Trimac 20, I found another website -- this one with many old mall pictures! Very cool site! Here it is:
http://mallsofamerica.blogspot.com/
Subject: Re: What was the first SHOPPING MALL in your area?
Written By: hot_wax on 11/06/05 at 11:33 pm
Tony, maybe because it's 15 minutes away from the heart of New York City or there isn't any taxes on clothing or related items or both, but if anyone out there is from North Jersey they can attest to this that North Jersey is the "King" of having the most "major" malls the world compact in a 5 mile radius from the George Washington Bridge and the Tunnels...maybe 15 to 20 major malls and about 40 in a 15 mile radius, that's not including the the hundreds of stripe malls on every highway in the same area.
They all look alike, they all have the same stores in them, and they all smell alike from the stinking candle shops, yet on any given weekend it's hard to find a parking spot in any of their lots. I think in the late 50's the Garden State Mall on route 4 in Paramus, Bregen County was the first mall of it's kind in Jersey, an "indoor/out door open air" type mall, way before the roof topped indoor malls were even thought possible and not until the late 60's when the Willowbrook Mall on route 46 opened in 69' was the first enclosed mall in Jersey. It was like a role model of every other malls that mushroomed up in the 70's. Yes, the 1970's produced 95% of our present day malls in the country and killed 95% of the downtown city stores around them throughout the country by 1980...all the cities that are dead cities today due to the Mall explosion in the 70's, except for porno shops and dollar stores city shopping might never happen again in our lifetime. I hope what goes around comes around and the city retail stores get a new life I think it's about time for change again.
Personally, I was forced to work in the these major malls in the 80's due to the changing times in our declining city retail stores. They are impersonal with revolving door employees who work slave hours for minimum wages where 90% are teenagers from junior high because no adult wants to work under those conditions that don't have to and it won't get better
Hot Wax
Subject: Re: What was the first SHOPPING MALL in your area?
Written By: Trimac20 on 11/08/05 at 1:38 am
Just for a comparison, here in Australia where, as you know, most people live in the ''burbs'' and like America there are a million shopping malls our city centres are doing better than ever. Hats off to local councils and planning authorities which had revitilised the central cities. I prefer strip shopping because most malls today are exactly the same; apart from a sliglhtly different design ALL the stores are the same.
Subject: Re: What was the first SHOPPING MALL in your area?
Written By: Tia on 11/08/05 at 5:54 am
Just for a comparison, here in Australia where, as you know, most people live in the ''burbs'' and like America there are a million shopping malls our city centres are doing better than ever. Hats off to local councils and planning authorities which had revitilised the central cities. I prefer strip shopping because most malls today are exactly the same; apart from a sliglhtly different design ALL the stores are the same.
in the UK, where i visit a lot, they're also pretty good about keeping their urban centers, their towns and cities, fairly efficient and concentrated. you're either in a town or youre in the country, but there's not much sprawl. every once in a while you see these little weird malls in the middle of nowhere so sprawl's making some inroads.
in northern virginia near washington, where i live, the sprawl is horrendous. you hardly ever see a living soul on foot.
Subject: Re: What was the first SHOPPING MALL in your area?
Written By: hot_wax on 11/09/05 at 2:19 am
Just for a comparison, here in Australia where, as you know, most people live in the ''burbs'' and like America there are a million shopping malls our city centres are doing better than ever. Hats off to local councils and planning authorities which had revitilised the central cities. I prefer strip shopping because most malls today are exactly the same; apart from a sliglhtly different design ALL the stores are the same.
Your authorities must have done a research study in how the US destroyed their cities economies and destroyed thousands of acres of farm land to build these cement block structures for I don't know what reason that the cities didn't have to offer already. In a ten year span from 1970 to 1980 it was like who can "out-do" the other in building these monstrosities as quick as possible to draw that customer to spend money in their mall, and every year cities around them would collapes. In the 1980's there were to many malls available with the same Gaps the same Penny's and those stinking candle shops that you sometimes forget what mall your in. Soon the shoppers were thinned out to support these mall rents and many of these malls fell to the same fate as the city stores did.
New Jersey is a small state and there are to many malls in North Jersey taking up precious land for retail sales that there is little land for new housing and pushing what ever new homes close to a Million dollars to buy...our cities are dead, prime land is scarce and to high to buy and it's hard to live in North Jersey. Many of the people from the suburbs are moving down to South Jersey were it's like living in a different state far away from everything and you can point a lot of the blame on the mall explosion in the 1970's...Shame on us for being so short sighted and egotistical letting the Rouse Mall Construction company come in and sell the local politicians a bill of goods in order to put up one of their malls and in the long run is killing us slowly for it.
Yes, hats off to your local goverment for saving your cities and not let the mall life kill real life.
Hot Wax
Subject: Re: What was the first SHOPPING MALL in your area?
Written By: Tia on 11/09/05 at 7:31 am
yall should read some, i think james howard kunstler is his name? i know his last name kunstler. talks about how the boxy architecture of the shopping mall is an outgrowth of the bauhaus movement (before i read kunstler, i'd heard the word but never knew what it meant) which was a reaction to ornate german architecture around WWI. so ornate architecture got connected with nationalism and imperialism. so there were all these boxy structures with concrete walls -- look at your libraries, your public schools, all your public structures built after, say the 20s, they almost all have this plain square look with flat roofs. and this is true too of shopping malls after WWII, they're all very boxy.
jane jacobs is interesting too. "Dark age ahead" talks some about this stuff.
Subject: Re: What was the first SHOPPING MALL in your area?
Written By: hot_wax on 11/15/05 at 12:22 am
http://www.snapperdesigns.com/37_piccadilly_arcade_london.jpg
Opened in 1909 in the grand Edwardian style and to the design of Thrale Jell, the Piccadilly Arcade, is one of the oldest malls in my area.
Yes, I wanted to bring this to the table and comment how inner city malls are the right way to go to save the cities and progress into the 21st century. I was in the Galaria Mall in San Fransisco in 1988 and was really impressed with the concept, different from malls of the 70's. While on our Honeymoon in 1969 I bought my wife L' De Temp perfume in the Piccadilly Arcade, it's a beautiful buiding with little shops in it. Now that I think of it, the concept of the Galaria Malls of today have a strong resemblance to the Piccadilly Arcade in London. I liked to find more about the builders of the Galaria Malls and their vision on city re-developement and if they got there idea from the Piccadilly Arcade.
That's a great picture of it too, I have pictures of it also somewhere in one of the 100 shoe boxes full of pictures, I'm going to try to find them they must be with the Carnaby Street photos, another London shopping area that was a fashion hot spot proably dead now, is King's Row still active or is there a modern Mall close by that killed it?
I'll be back, Hot Wax
Subject: Re: What was the first SHOPPING MALL in your area?
Written By: hot_wax on 11/23/05 at 11:18 pm
There was some good memories I have working in our mall stores. In the Brunswick Square Mall in East Brunswick, NJ Bonjovi used to be a mall rat when he was a kid, Whitney Houston used to hang out at Woodbridge Mall before she was a celebrity too, and patronized our stores at times. In the 20 years that I spent working in our 14 mall stores in New Jersey, I had the pleasure of meeting and knowing many sport figures, singers, actors, politians, religious heads and other forms of celebrities. Yes, the malls did, and still do, bring to their shoppers that extra incentive to shop in them where downtown city stores just didn't have the capabilities to do the same which didn't help their fate.
I had a love/hate relationship working with the mall stores. I was sad but glad when we closed our last mall door in 1993, I needed a change in my life and the "Trickle Down" economy that President Reagen gave us in the 80's and the other union labor job killing policies that the Republician era of the 80's afflicted on us and our economy, forced me to make that change. The Republican "Anti-American" economy finally took it's toll in the early 90's and like "dominos" one American industry at a time collapsed and we were part of it. So out of the mens clothing business I went after 28 years and into the Airline business and loving it for the past 12 years...one door closes and another one opens, such is life.
Does anyone out there now work or have ever worked in a mall? any your stories about them?
Hot Wax
Subject: Re: What was the first SHOPPING MALL in your area?
Written By: Tia on 11/24/05 at 10:45 am
i worked in a mall for a while in high school. i worked at a place called "The Orange Bowl." i had to wear a goofy green apron and baseball cap with a big orange right in the middle of my forehead. it was very traumatic, particularly when gaggles of cute girls would come in for chili dogs and laugh at me. :(
Subject: Re: What was the first SHOPPING MALL in your area?
Written By: hot_wax on 11/24/05 at 8:03 pm
HA! HA! HA! I can picture you now...you see what I mean only a high school kid can work under those conditions, no adult would...I'm still laughing!! sorry about that, it must have been real humiliating for you. How long did last there? HW
Subject: Re: What was the first SHOPPING MALL in your area?
Written By: Tia on 11/26/05 at 12:03 pm
^a couple months. that's okay to laugh, it was pretty dang funny in retrospect. i always think of that scene in fast times at ridgmont high when judge reinhold had to wear the pirate's hat and give that little schpiel... any Orange Bowl employee could really relate to that.
Subject: Re: What was the first SHOPPING MALL in your area?
Written By: ultraviolet52 on 11/26/05 at 5:56 pm
i worked in a mall for a while in high school. i worked at a place called "The Orange Bowl." i had to wear a goofy green apron and baseball cap with a big orange right in the middle of my forehead. it was very traumatic, particularly when gaggles of cute girls would come in for chili dogs and laugh at me.
Subject: Re: What was the first SHOPPING MALL in your area?
Written By: Drachen on 11/27/05 at 7:52 am
New Jersey is a small state and there are to many malls in North Jersey taking up precious land for retail sales that there is little land for new housing and pushing what ever new homes close to a Million dollars to buy...our cities are dead, prime land is scarce and to high to buy and it's hard to live in North Jersey. Many of the people from the suburbs are moving down to South Jersey were it's like living in a different state far away from everything and you can point a lot of the blame on the mall explosion in the 1970's...Shame on us for being so short sighted and egotistical letting the Rouse Mall Construction company come in and sell the local politicians a bill of goods in order to put up one of their malls and in the long run is killing us slowly for it.
And some of us native South Jersians picked-up and moved further south - to Delaware then Georgia.
Right now, Georgia is going through the tyep of growth South Jersey did back in the 60s and 70s.
As a matter of fact, the county I live in (Henry Co.) is in the top five fastest growing counties in
the US. And unfortunately, Wal Mart is following close behind the waves of people moving to the
area and is bound and determined to have a Super Center within three miles or so of everyone.
Atlanta itself has so far managed to keep Wal Mart from opening a store inside the Perimeter
(I-285, which circles the city, like the Beltway does DC) but a new Wal-mart opens somewhere
in the Metro Atlanta area every six weeks or so, usually on what was previously undeveloped land.
So, not only are we losing hundreds of trees with each new store, we also get several acres of land
covered in concrete and asphalt, which acts as a giant heat sink and also prevents rain water from
being absorbed into the soil. So yes, IMHO - Wal Mart is contributing to global warming. >:(
But, back to the topic....
The first mall I have conscious memory of is the Moorestown Mall in South Jersey. The mall used
to have two or three duck ponds inside, connected by 'streams' running through the mall. I used
to love going there just to watch the ducks swim up and down the streams and feed them popcorn.
When I got older, we moved to Voorhees NJ, within walking distance of the Echelon Mall, where I
spent the proceeds of my after-school job on Sbarro Pizza, Orange Julius and Space Invaders.
I recently joked to one of my co-workers that I probably spent more time and money on video games
than some people do raising their children! Not too far from the truth, I'm, afraid. :-[
Someone else mentioned Cherry Hill Mall - after I graduated HS, I dated a woman who worked in the
'Ladies Accessories' dept (handbags and such) of Strawbridge and Clothier - one of the anchor stores
of the mall - so I spent quite a bit of time there too. There used to be a really good independent
pizza place there for a while, don't know if it's still there or not, and of course a killer arcade! :D
I'm going back to NJ for the holidays this year, have to see if that pizza place is still around.