The slow death of the American shopping mall

[Budnicks]

Yeah, those were the places to go back in the day. Also Walnut Creek. Big car scene in the early 70s

yeah Walnut Creek Main Street was a big deal
all the 70's & into the early-mid 80's
(I frequented it from 1975-1983-ish)

I'd stay out Fri. & Sat. evenings basically 'till sunrise' every week
when I wasn't out of town racing somewhere or working
All my friends were out there, young women were too

we'd all cruise there, do the loop Main & Locust Street
& later go to Encino Grande lil' strip mall shopping center
off Willow Pass rd & Concord Ave. ? (IIRC)
on the border of Concord & Walnut Creek
all the racers would gather there after cruise hrs usually
sometimes hundreds of cars in the glory days
lots of (street) races out of that shopping center parking lot
some really fast cars too, it was the place to be
either go up a ways, like a couple miles to Ygnacio Valley rd.
between Concord border & Walnut Creek
not so close to housing etc. less LEO's or complaints
or right up Willow pass rd, by the shopping center, way too close to housing
but that usually brought in the Police, soon after

good memories

 

[Duckmanreno]

yeah Walnut Creek Main Street was a big deal
all the 70's & into the early-mid 80's
(I frequented it from 1975-1983-ish)

I'd stay out Fri. & Sat. evenings basically 'till sunrise' every week
when I wasn't out of town racing somewhere or working
All my friends were out there, young women were too

we'd all cruise there, do the loop Main & Locust Street
& later go to Encino Grande lil' strip mall shopping center
off Willow Pass rd & Concord Ave. ? (IIRC)
on the border of Concord & Walnut Creek
all the racers would gather there after cruise hrs usually
sometimes hundreds of cars in the glory days
lots of (street) races out of that shopping center parking lot
some really fast cars too, it was the place to be
either go up a ways, like a couple miles to Ygnacio Valley rd.
between Concord border & Walnut Creek
not so close to housing etc. less LEO's or complaints
or right up Willow pass rd, by the shopping center, way too close to housing
but that usually brought in the Police, soon after

good memories

I remember that well. Grew up in that area snd went to DVC.

 

[Budnicks]

I remember that well. Grew up in that area snd went to DVC.

Diablo Valley College/JC, so did I in 1978, machine tech
before going to Univ. of Oregon the next year

small world
I was born in Concord July 1959
lived there, that area Concord, Pleasant Hill area
for most of my 30+ of my 1st 38 years
with short stints in Garden Valley from 10th grade to HS grad. class of 77'
in rural ElDorado co., with my dad
then moved to Atwater from summer of 77'-78'
& a couple of short stints in Oregon & Alaska
then back to Concord, Turtle Creek/Clayton area
before finally moving east to Rancho Murieta, 1997
rural Eastern Sacramento Co. for 10 years,
then moved here east of Sonora, even farther east in late 2007

sorry didn't want to hijack the Malls thread

carry on'

 

[Budnicks]

Clothing, sunglasses, MUSIC stores, (Remember those?) Book stores, other stuff too...

Big ol' water features in the middle

yeah the Sunglass lil' satellite deals
in the middle of the walkways of the malls
later a bunch of the cellphone junkies deals

Ice/Hockey rinks, roller skating rinks, laser tag

& a bunch of Photography places, artsy-fartsy stuff everywhere
toys r' Us, huge hobby/model stores/slot car racetracks
& shitloads of variety stores etc. like
JC Pennys, Sears, Macy's, Big 5, Capwell's, Pier 1, Shoe stores everywhere
Dockers & Nike stores, Abicrombies, or all the trendy BS clothes stuff/stores
Pretzel stands, Orange Julius (spell ?) stands, Nations Burgers/Hot Dogs

 

[Richard Cranium]

How many shoe and jewelry stores can you have under one roof and be successful?

Three summers ago, I was in Minnesota and I stayed in a hotel that was down the street from The Mall Of America. The hotel offered free shuttle rides to the mall, so while I had time to kill, I took the free ride there to see what all the hub-bub was about. Other than the amusement park rides all I saw was endless rows of clothing stores so I made my way up to the food court and got some dinner. In talking with the bartender, he was telling me that the mall was dying a slow death. I can't imagine that it's gotten any better in the years since. Of course, stuff like this doesn't help.....

https://www.duluthnewstribune.com/n...mporarily-closes-stores-amid-saturday-protest

 

[cosgig]

Watch the Netflix show called “Jasper Mall”, it’s a sad documentary about the state of malls in America. At least they open the mall for the seniors to do their walking.

 

[Dibbons]

I was at the dedication of the "Serra Center" mall (strip) opening in the 1970's. It was owned/constructed by my uncle and aunt in Milpitas, California. Ten years ago, only one original tenant remained (a jeweler) and maybe half the space was vacant. Slowly but surely, everyone had moved out (including Bank of America and Safeway store). The link shows it number one on someone's list for a good candidate for demolition.

https://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/news/2013/11/04/the-x-shopping-centers-you-should-tear.html

 

[moparedtn]

Don't forget quality merchandisers like Spencer's and Victoria's Secret!

Tell ya what though, it's tough to beat WallyWorld sometimes...
case in point, just this last weekend, my '04 Ram needed a battery, pronto.
800cca 65 series from any of the usual suspects started at $170.
Wally was selling them for $88 w/3 year replacement.
The way things are right now, I had no choice.

 

[mopar 3 B]

Watch the Netflix show called “Jasper Mall”, it’s a sad documentary about the state of malls in America. At least they open the mall for the seniors to do their walking.

That is why I think they would make great retirement centers. Food court there, small shops there. May need to add a swimming pool and some medical offices.

 

[Hey-O]

No problem, but to go to a big box store to have a guy show you how it works and show you pro and con's and then go buy on line to save ten bucks, that's not right. I wouldn't buy a TV on line, I want to see the guy who's going to get my foot up his *** when things go wrong. Just my way of seeing things.

 

[eldubb440]

That is why I think they would make great retirement centers. Food court there, small shops there. May need to add a swimming pool and some medical offices.

they could also be easily converted into concentration camps......for the "non-compliant" ones

 

[747mopar]

It really is sad, depresses me every time I go to our local Mall. When I was fresh out of school for years it was a happening place, always pretty busy, no empty stores but now there's just as many empty as there is open and it serves as more of a exercising (walking) area for the elderly. I shouldn't care since I'm not a big shopper but it's just one more norm dying off, in person shopping that is.

 

[mopar 3 B]

Kids from the hood have shut a few down here also. Have one now they are not allowed in with out an adult with them all the while there after 7 pm

 

[moparedtn]

No problem, but to go to a big box store to have a guy show you how it works and show you pro and con's and then go buy on line to save ten bucks, that's not right. I wouldn't buy a TV on line, I want to see the guy who's going to get my foot up his *** when things go wrong. Just my way of seeing things.

Or as I like to say it "who's gonna get this thrown through their front window if it fails?"