Like practically everything, malls (and in-person shopping) have evolved over the years. First we had adjoining stores along “main street”, which evolved into “indoor malls” once air conditioning became a staple. Remember seeing signs at various places in the past “Air Conditioned”?

Malls have changed in a large part, due to the changes in our society, brought about in part by LBJ’s “Great Society”. Indoor malls became and still are the local hangout for various Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) groups. The acronym should have its letters rearranged to DIE, because that’s the end result to anything it touches, most of the time.

In Alabama, my mall experiences are mainly limited to Montgomery areas.

Montgomery – Normandale Mall, Montgomery Mall, Eastdale Mall, Shops at Eastchase. Each caused the retail decline of its predecessor.
Normandale - First mall (1950s). Outdoor mall, decline began mid 1970s. Now mostly abandoned, with a few thrift stores and a bingo hall in some spaces. Very urban / diverse.
Montgomery Mall - First indoor mall (1960s), decline began early 1980s. MM is now a magnet school location at one end, and a Police / Fire substation at the other.
Eastdale Mall - Second indoor mall (1970s). Had an ice skating rink in the center, which was a novel idea for Alabama. EM is still open, but DEI is takings its toll. But it has weave shops , cell phone stores, payday loans and the like for the new customer base.
Shops at Eastchase - Outdoor mall (2010s). Current "hot spot" for mall retail. Located away from the urban areas, but still plagued by DEI predators, especially on weekends and holidays. Time will tell.

Overall, malls in Montgomery have done well initially, but as the neighborhoods transitioned from red to blue (nicest way I can say it), the malls moved further east to stay ahead, but were eventually overtaken.

Montgomery likes to say it's the "Cradle of Confederacy and the Cradle of Civil Rights", but it now needs to add "civil decay" somewhere in there IMHO.

We used to enjoy going to malls up to before the scamdemic. We'd go there for lunch, walk around the shops and be able to walk around away from the elements. We stay away from the urban malls, just don't need that type of shit in my life.

But growing up as a kid in the 80s, the mall was the place to be.

When we lived in Orlando, we used to go to Oviedo Mall, it was a dying mall. A couple of anchor stores closed but they're trying to keep the mall going. They opened a couple of entertainment centers and it brought traffic there.

When I returned from Korea in 1973 Pennsylvania still had Blue Laws. Park City Center in Lancaster PA was closed on Sundays. Park City Center had 180 stores, a large food court and an indoor amusement park. On Sundays the empty parking lot was the perfect place to teach my newly emigrated wife to drive. I purchased my first M1 Garand and M1 carbine at Woolworths 5 & 10 there. We spent many hours there, cheap way to spend the day! We left in 1974 a returned in 1985 and Park City was still thriving when we left again in 2001. Friends still in Lancaster tell us Park City is still doing well.

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Spencer Gifts

Back when they sold some crazy stuff, I purchased a "License to Fart" card. Had lots of fun with that card at motorcycle events where beer flowed freely.

Ah, the good old days of some 40 years ago.

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Originally posted by P250UA5:
Greenspoint has been a no-go since I moved back to metro Houston in 2011…

It’s called “Gunspoint” for a reason…

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Originally posted by bendable:
( no Dicks )

Store, people, or both??

The Galleria mall in Hoover, Alabama (Birmingham metro area) is known to some locals as the "Shooting Gallery Mall", due to the multiple incidents of car-jackings, drug deals , road rage in the adjacent parking deck, as well as incidents inside the mall, most recently a shooting in the Food Court.

Sad, because the Galleria used to be the best mall in Alabama. It opened in 1985 and was built by a local construction company that one of my uncles worked for at the time. He was able to give us a tour of the mall while it was still under construction.

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Originally posted by Glynn863:
Birmingham metro area

The riddle, solved

Interesting enough we have a few malls here that survived, one in Touristiaville and it's a higher end mall with big anchor stores, one up north that is older and still operating and location and historical use may be the key.

Two others are dying, one near us, but 10 miles away is an open area retail mall is thriving, big stores, small, lots of dining options, movie theater. People still go out to shop, eat and watch movies still, it just doesn't seem to be at indoor malls.

It's surprising with the massive heat and humidity here that an outdoor mall is the successful one, location in close proximity to a major university may be in part, why.

They’ve somewhat relive a mall not far from me by revamping it with all new stores but every store has an outside entrance with an entryway into the mall itself. It seems to be working as when I head over that way there are more cars at the mall than I’ve seen in years. The concept of parking at whatever store you want to visit and then having the option for a “mall” experience must work. Personally I think it’s a pretty good idea.

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Originally posted by Glynn863:

The Galleria mall in Hoover, Alabama (Birmingham metro area) is known to some locals as the "Shooting Gallery Mall", due to the multiple incidents of car-jackings, drug deals , road rage in the adjacent parking deck\.

September 1995, I went to the BellSouth data center in Hoover to start work on a software development contract that ended up being a bit over four years.

Every time that I went to the Galleria, I saw the road rage in the parking area. The competition for parking space reminded me of a bunch of sharks having a feeding frenzy.

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Originally posted by vinnybass:
I don't go to malls or movie theaters.

Congregated miscreants contemplating various nefarious activities raise my blood pressure.

It's a shame that good citizens have to live in fear of enjoying life.

Thought some might like to check out these channels:
https://www.youtube.com/@RetailArchaeology/videos
https://www.youtube.com/@BrightSunFilms/videos

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Originally posted by HRK:
Two others are dying, one near us, but 10 miles away is an open area retail mall is thriving, big stores, small, lots of dining options, movie theater. People still go out to shop, eat and watch movies still, it just doesn't seem to be at indoor malls.

It's surprising with the massive heat and humidity here that an outdoor mall is the successful one, location in close proximity to a major university may be in part, why.

I wonder how Oviedo mall is doing. I assume that's the one that's dying.

I never quite understood the popularity of Waterford Lakes. Traffic is so awful that way. My wife liked going there but I stayed away due to traffic.

I was a kid in the 70's and a teenager in the 80's.

Malls are a part of my youth. Malls had movie theaters, record stores, pet stores, girls and a long list of aspirational things I longed for as a poor kid that inspired me to work hard and get a degree and "good" office job.
Fast times at Ridgmont High encapsulates the 80's mall experience in just a few scenes.

Its a shame to see them fall out of favor against the click shopping experience.
Old man voice on - This country is going to hell - old man voice off

I remember when malls really came to the fore in the late '60s and their growth and expansion. They were handy and convenient you didn't have to drive all over town to visit three stores. I never hung out at the mall, and generally do not care to "go shopping" so I will not miss them if they do vanish. My shopping is mostly on line now.

Moving everyday merchandise in a mall is not efficient or profitable anymore.
I always thought some of these places, depending on location would be a good way if converted in an attractive way for restaurants, clubs, bars or other entertainment venues.
Perhaps couple a bit of the outdoors with the indoor accumulation of places to eat, drink or go.
Just a thought but selling typical goods have evolved - for good, bad or indifferent.

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Originally posted by Edmond:
I wonder how Oviedo mall is doing. I assume that's the one that's dying.

I never quite understood the popularity of Waterford Lakes. Traffic is so awful that way. My wife liked going there but I stayed away due to traffic.

Yep Oviedo Mall, we went there quite a bit when our daughter was young, movies, food court, shopping. Supposedly it's going to be turned into some kind of medical or retirement community.

All the big retailers are gone, Sears, Macy's only thing left is Dillards and it's sparsely inventoried.

There still are some stores there, lots of clearance/halloween types, gone are the Victorias Secrets, etc.

I can deal with Waterford a little at a time since we can run the tollways over and avoid Alafaya Trail, but yeah it's a zoo, but it's busy.

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Originally posted by Oaklane:
They’ve somewhat relive a mall not far from me by revamping it with all new stores but every store has an outside entrance with an entryway into the mall itself. It seems to be working as when I head over that way there are more cars at the mall than I’ve seen in years. The concept of parking at whatever store you want to visit and then having the option for a “mall” experience must work. Personally I think it’s a pretty good idea.

By "mall experience" do you mean running the hood rat gauntlet? Then yes, just going in from the parking lot and coming right back out with your purchase without having to go in the common areas must be a big attraction.

I recall that about 40 years ago and longer, each mall within 50 miles of me had a "Tinderbox" store in them in which you could purchase pipes, pipe tobacco, cigars, and cigarettes that you couldn't find anywhere else, foreign brands like Balkan Sobranie, and the French ones, I forget their name. I remember buying Balkan Sobranie Original Mixture pipe tobacco and the Balkan Sobranie 759, which was my favorite. I also used to buy nice cigars there. Those stores disappeared about 30 years ago or so. Too bad, like a lot of other things that are gone.

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Originally posted by Ogie:
I recall that about 40 years ago and longer, each mall within 50 miles of me had a "Tinderbox" store in them in which you could purchase pipes, pipe tobacco, cigars, and cigarettes that you couldn't find anywhere else...

Yes, they were bought out by Bong World.



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OK, I made that up. Sorry