What was the mall you went to as a kid?

[Augie]

1 hour ago, RichStadiumGuy said:

Malls weren't invented yet when I was a kid.

 

Well, it seems as though they have now been “un-invented”.  

 

Internet shopping is king where you can get all the sizes and colors you want, and “malls” have become lifestyle centers, or some such thing. I love a nice restaurant as much as the next guy! 

[PromoTheRobot]

Thruway Plaza...then Thruway Mall...then back to Thruway Plaza again.

[Gregg]

Garden State Plaza, Paramus, NJ

[frostbitmic]

Midtown Plaza in Rochester 

[Mike in Horseheads]

Arnot Mall (Horseheads, I lived in Elmira then) opened in 1967 as "The Mall" Shopping Center, at which time it had only 40 stores and JCPenney as the original anchor.  It also had a 3 screen movie theater and a Loblaws. 

... They expanded this place not once but twice and then of course, Hess's, Bon-ton, Maceys, Bradlees and Sears went under and today we have Pennys again alone. Sure there are some other places but but compared to what it was its a shell. 

[Ridgewaycynic2013]

1 hour ago, Southern McButterpants said:

I was a Thruway Mall kid.  Cavages, Spencer's, great arcade, Burns Barber shop...  good times, goood times.

'Richard Fisher Sports'.  Actually a shortened version of Richard, but the TBD censor bot always has prevented me from naming the store by its true name. 😁

[US Egg]

53 minutes ago, Gregg said:

Garden State Plaza, Paramus, NJ

That’s not a Mall, that’s an Industrial Shopping Complex. 

[Mike in Horseheads]

2 minutes ago, Ridgewaycynic2013 said:

'Richard Fisher Sports'.  Actually a shortened version of Richard, but the TBD censor bot always has prevented me from naming the store by its true name. 😁

D1ck Fisher Sports

[Ridgewaycynic2013]

1 minute ago, Mike in Horseheads said:

D1ck Fisher Sports

Thank you! 😁

[Draconator]

My first girlfriend lived in Williamsville, so we would go on "date nights" to the Eastern Hill Mall. Then to my car and make out. 

[boater]

Eastern Hills Mall. Sometimes we would slum it and go to Boulevard Mall. If we were really slumming it, we'd go to Main Place Mall.

[teef]

20 minutes ago, frostbitmic said:

Midtown Plaza in Rochester 

i remember going to midtown to sing christmas carols with my class.  we would go and ride the monorail as well.  they had the clock in the airport for a while, but i have idea what happened to it since.  my mall was the irondeqoit mall.  that was a two story marvel...until things changed.

[ChevyVanMiller]

4 hours ago, BillsPride12 said:

I know most of the posters in here don't live in WNY right now but most at least have some WNY Roots. What was the mall you went to when you were growing up?  There were a lot of great ones in the WNY area back in the day when malls were thriving.

 

Summit Park Mall was my go to...Leon's pizza, original cookie factory, aladdin's castle.  Many fond memories 

It was the Original Cookie Company. I managed it for two years when I was just out of college in the mid ‘80s. Leon’s and Aladdin’s Castle were both must visits while at the mall. As were York Steak House, McCroreys and the movie theater. Walking past the smoker’s pit was like looking at downtown LA on a high smog alert day.

[Ned Flanders]

9 minutes ago, teef said:

i remember going to midtown to sing christmas carols with my class.  we would go and ride the monorail as well.  they had the clock in the airport for a while, but i have idea what happened to it since.  my mall was the irondeqoit mall.  that was a two story marvel...until things changed.

Midtown for me as well...Monroe Toy Store on the second floor was the go-to, they had everything imaginable.  Can't recall the record store name, Record Theatre?  Bought my first album there, Led Zeppelin II.

 

Greece Town Mall came in the late 60s, early 70s, followed by Long Ridge Mall.  I understand Eastview in Victor is still there and doing well, but that was a hike for us kids in Rochester. 

[BillsPride12]

12 minutes ago, ChevyVanMiller said:

It was the Original Cookie Company. I managed it for two years when I was just out of college in the mid ‘80s. Leon’s and Aladdin’s Castle were both must visits while at the mall. As were York Steak House, McCroreys and the movie theater. Walking past the smoker’s pit was like looking at downtown LA on a high smog alert day.

Still to this day thee best chocolate chip cookies ever!

York Steak House was another Summit Mall staple...although I have to admit my memories of that one are pretty faint as I was still pretty young when I was in there.  That seems like one of the first pillars that closed in that mall.  Wasn't there a pet store next to it if I am remembering correctly?

My grandmother used to work at McCroreys so went in there all the time when I was a kid.  Ironically enough she was just telling me a story(like two days ago) about how she was stranded in McCrorys for 3 days during the Blizzard of 77! Crazy stuff.  That mall has some of my greatest childhood memories 

[LewPort71]

3 hours ago, RichStadiumGuy said:

Malls weren't invented yet when I was a kid.

Same here.

As a teenager we went to Boulevard Mall.  And Summit Park Mall in Wheatfield

[teef]

Just now, Ned Flanders said:

Midtown for me as well...Monroe Toy Store on the second floor was the go-to, they had everything imaginable.  Can't recall the record store name, Record Theatre?  Bought my first album there, Led Zeppelin II.

 

Greece Town Mall came in the late 60s, early 70s, followed by Long Ridge Mall.  I understand Eastview in Victor is still there and doing well, but that was a hike for us kids in Rochester. 

i remember going into midtown right before it closed.  it was an incredibly sad sight.  i remember greece town mall too.  they had those sunken in "reflection" areas that had large lit up globes with water running down them.   since we had irondequoit, we never went to eastview.  now eastview is the main, and really only full mall.  there's ***** house of sport there which has caused more stores to come back.  

[ChevyVanMiller]

32 minutes ago, BillsPride12 said:

Still to this day thee best chocolate chip cookies ever!

York Steak House was another Summit Mall staple...although I have to admit my memories of that one are pretty faint as I was still pretty young when I was in there.  That seems like one of the first pillars that closed in that mall.  Wasn't there a pet store next to it if I am remembering correctly?

My grandmother used to work at McCroreys so went in there all the time when I was a kid.  Ironically enough she was just telling me a story(like two days ago) about how she was stranded in McCrorys for 3 days during the Blizzard of 77! Crazy stuff.  That mall has some of my greatest childhood memories 

Yes, there was a pet store. Just reading that you mentioned the pet store and it brought back the smell of the puppies when you walked in the door. My wife worked at Hungry Herman’s, though I didn’t meet het until some years later.

[Ridgewaycynic2013]

Of the three Sears stores (Galleria, Eastern Hills, Boulevard), the hardware department at the Boulevard Mall always seemed the best stocked.

*
The Sears at Pen Centre in St. Catharines in the early nineties was a gold mine for Craftsman hand tools.  Whenever new packaging was introduced, the then obsolete packaging would be blown out at ridiculously cheap prices...all because the plastic case was different. 🤔

[That's No Moon]

4 hours ago, Augie said:

We’d ride our bikes to the Boulevard Mall, where one of my friends bought a cat at the pet store and took it home to surprise his mother. My mother would have locked me out of the house if I brought a cat home. She proceeded to claim she was allergic to cats until I was almost 30, when she came clean and said she just hates them.

 

A few years later we would ride our bikes to Eastern Hills Mall, where we could inhale the air in Spencers Gifts and marvel at the black lights on the posters.  

Why did every Spencer's smell that way?