I want my 1980's back! I want to go back to the future!
The Food Court always had some interesting food items, like shish kabobs, giant pretzels, and tacos - which were a novelty food back on those days. The shops in the mall were pretty much 90% women's clothes. Didn't have Apple Stores, mini-Best Buys and Sharper Images like they do today. They did have a Radio Shack, which was just as awful then as it is today.
Don't forget the CD stores. Except I never bought one there because they always seemed to charge $17.99 for a CD at the mall. They did have "cut-out bins" with discounted music but they always seemed to be filled with Pablo Cruise, Toto and Huey Lewis & The News recordings.
But they were overpriced to begin with. It wasn’t a problem as long as they had captive customers.
Once that was gone, they began hemorrhaging cash and malls began closing left and right.
They’ll still exist but they’re a shadow in the retail economy of what they used to be in the 70s and 80s.
I want my 1980's back! I want to go back to the future!
I too remember when it was cool to hang out at the malls. I was a twenty-something in the late 1970’s starting out on a geology career in Texas. That meant field work in the boondocks all week long. On the weekends when we came into town, the routine was going out clubbing on Friday night, Saturday morning golf, and the rest of the day spent at the mall.
San Antonio had three nice malls on the north side, so you even had variety. Haven’t been back there in years, I wonder if any of them are still left?
Lived in Dallas during the 1980’s: I know most of the malls that we frequented there are gone.
Today I work across from the Greenspoint Mall in Houston. After Sears left, it turned into a ghost town. I used to walk there at lunch for excercise - I don’t consider it a safe place to walk anymore.
Of the malls that still appear to be doing well in my area, I notice there is little for guys there. It’s mostly boutiques, women’s clothes, and jewelry. I do most of my shopping on the internet.
I always bought at a small local chain which did two things. First, they opened every CD case in their main stock and kept the CDs behind the counter. This cut down on theft and let you read the liner notes. Also you could then try out the CD before buying, unlike buying a sealed CD at the mall. But one Amazon started giving 30 second clips even that advantage disappeared. Between that and mp3, they switched to mainly used CDs and then gradually closed.
They also used to have arcades!