quote:

Originally posted by parabellum:

quote:

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.



.

OK, I made that up. Sorry

Ha!!! Anything is possible!

Sad to watch this. I do indeed miss the mall. I would only go twice a year. But it was where I’d go to buy clothing, especially work clothing. We have a twice a year no sales tax on clothing sale. The Macy’s at my local mall, close to the house, would in combination with the tax deal with the state, slash their prices on clothing. And they would allow you to go in many days early. You would pay for your items, all on the discounted prices, with no tax, and they bagged them up. You could pick them up during or after the sales weekend. So once a year I’d examine the work clothes, workout clothes, etc, and hit that deal up on like the Monday before the coming weekend the madness started. They’d use these clear trash bags to bag all my shit up. It was amazing to spend $300 and get bags of stuff, getting slacks for $15-20, work shirts for $20, socks, shoes, I’d case the entire store as nobody was in there.

Then I’m a sneaker head so if I had some down time I’d hit the mall up during a slow time (never on a weekend) and check out the different sneaker stores. Also go by the Sears if I needed something for the kitchen, new appliance, or a tool. Wasn’t as big or as nice as the mall where I grew up but they had the food court, etc, with a couple of places of actually pretty decent food. Better places than drive thru.

You couldn’t pay me to go in there from November to February, nor in the summer but the months outside of that it was a nice to have thing just 5 or so minutes from the house. We have a few left but they are all a considerable drive and like he talked about, real slow, with plenty of empty stores. As much as people like to go to the shops I’m still surprised by the failure rate. People here, their main hobbies are going out to eat and shopping.

quote:

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, 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.

I remember that there were small knife shops in malls, too. Not any more, but the big online retailers are cool in that they carry everything. But in all of Houston, there is not one really good knife retailer. There are a few that each carry one or two lines, but no one carrying a wide selection.

quote:

Originally posted by parabellum:

they were bought out by Bong World. OK, I made that up. Sorry

It's a real thing! https://www.bongworld.ca

quote:

Originally posted by V-Tail:
It's a real thing! https://www.bongworld.ca

That website looks like something from 1998.

quote:

Originally posted by Ripley:

quote:

Originally posted by V-Tail:
It's a real thing! https://www.bongworld.ca

That website looks like something from 1998.

I never heard of them before. I just thought that parabellum's post was funny, and that inspired me to google for "bong world," and this one showed up.

^^^^

Yep, V-Tail, I just was tickled by the crude website.