Buying clothes at Chess King then Structure then Gap. Laughing at the stuff in Spencers. My very trendy girlfriend dragging me to Express every weekend to see what was new. The insane crush of people Christmas shopping. The sound of the arcade change machine dropping tokens into the bowl. Smoking at the arcade! So many remembered moments in my younger days were burned in at the mall.
I worked as a stock manager at an Express in the ‘90s! I loved their clothes, your gf had good taste.
During Christmas it was a zoo, but I learned a few interesting things. Men often came into the store and would be very direct: “My wife is a size 6 and loves to wear red and black. Can you help me pick something out?” Then they’d buy the first outfit I suggested. Like they couldn’t get out of there fast enough 😆
Ha! The clothes I could handle but you just described me on a Sephora run two days ago. I know exactly what she likes and uses but if there’s just a weee bit of a difference in packaging or a name I am totally lost and terrified I will get the wrong thing. 😅
I have a friend who worked in the Staunton (VA) Mall back around 1986 in the arcade, and he’d let a few of us stay after closing while he was shutting down. He’d open up the coin boxes so we could grab quarters and put a bunch back through to rack up credits and play for free. I remember specifically playing Gauntlet a bunch. “Shots do not hurt other players…yet!”
I grew up across the street from a mall in South FL. Parts of it were on the fancy side, but it was so pleasant to shuffle around. It was also good, because it was air conditioned! The 80s were the BEST.
Ah, the mall. Where a guy can spend 15 bucks in quarters without batting an eye, the girls gathering at Express to talk for hours, and everyone went up to the attendant at Sam Goody saying, "Hey, what the song that goes like this..."
Unless you were the apocryphal "cute girl who will hook up with you over near the Galaga machine at the arcade," that would have been a misleading title indeed. :)
Suburban malls turned out to be a not-so-terrific idea; downtown malls in the name of "urban renewal" were almost always catastrophically bad. Pointless destruction of often beautiful old buildings. But damned if I wasn't at that arcade every day....
There used to be more malls in the area where I live. Off the top of my head, I can remember 6 in the metro area. That number is down to 3 and one of them I'm not even sure if I'd count because it is pretty sad and there aren't many stores in them.
Yeah, we live in a smallish beach town and the nearest mall is usually dead. I was shocked the first time I saw it and walking through just made me reminisce on how much fun they used to be
Buying clothes at Chess King then Structure then Gap. Laughing at the stuff in Spencers. My very trendy girlfriend dragging me to Express every weekend to see what was new. The insane crush of people Christmas shopping. The sound of the arcade change machine dropping tokens into the bowl. Smoking at the arcade! So many remembered moments in my younger days were burned in at the mall.
I worked as a stock manager at an Express in the ‘90s! I loved their clothes, your gf had good taste.
During Christmas it was a zoo, but I learned a few interesting things. Men often came into the store and would be very direct: “My wife is a size 6 and loves to wear red and black. Can you help me pick something out?” Then they’d buy the first outfit I suggested. Like they couldn’t get out of there fast enough 😆
Ha! The clothes I could handle but you just described me on a Sephora run two days ago. I know exactly what she likes and uses but if there’s just a weee bit of a difference in packaging or a name I am totally lost and terrified I will get the wrong thing. 😅
Jordache. Dolphin shorts. :)
I have a friend who worked in the Staunton (VA) Mall back around 1986 in the arcade, and he’d let a few of us stay after closing while he was shutting down. He’d open up the coin boxes so we could grab quarters and put a bunch back through to rack up credits and play for free. I remember specifically playing Gauntlet a bunch. “Shots do not hurt other players…yet!”
I grew up across the street from a mall in South FL. Parts of it were on the fancy side, but it was so pleasant to shuffle around. It was also good, because it was air conditioned! The 80s were the BEST.
Ah, the mall. Where a guy can spend 15 bucks in quarters without batting an eye, the girls gathering at Express to talk for hours, and everyone went up to the attendant at Sam Goody saying, "Hey, what the song that goes like this..."
Unless you were the apocryphal "cute girl who will hook up with you over near the Galaga machine at the arcade," that would have been a misleading title indeed. :)
Suburban malls turned out to be a not-so-terrific idea; downtown malls in the name of "urban renewal" were almost always catastrophically bad. Pointless destruction of often beautiful old buildings. But damned if I wasn't at that arcade every day....
Thank you for this trip down nostalgia lane!
There used to be more malls in the area where I live. Off the top of my head, I can remember 6 in the metro area. That number is down to 3 and one of them I'm not even sure if I'd count because it is pretty sad and there aren't many stores in them.
Yeah, we live in a smallish beach town and the nearest mall is usually dead. I was shocked the first time I saw it and walking through just made me reminisce on how much fun they used to be