slo’s SATURDAY poll - Shopping Malls

[Kitty 34]

I picked, never. It's been years since I've been to what I would call a mall.

I remember two you went to.

 

[slo]

My HS used to do this as well and finally abandoned the 'tradition' about 10 years ago. It was a pain to find something to wear especially with at least 140 female graduates hunting at the same stores during the same time. I still get frustrated at the double standard of the male students wearing black robes and dress clothes (no jeans or sneakers) while the female students were required to wear white robes, white dresses or skirts and white shoes. The school colors are red & gray, so it wasn't a school spirit thing. Now all graduates wear the same color robe.

Old Navy has some cute inexpensive white dresses.
https://oldnavy.gap.com/browse/product.do?pid=809162022&cid=15292&pcid=15292&vid=1&cpos=160&cexp=2223&kcid=CategoryIDs=15292&ctype=Listing&cpid=res22032605811140403529228&modelSize=M#pdp-page-content

https://oldnavy.gap.com/browse/product.do?pid=809126002&cid=15292&pcid=15292&vid=1&cpos=69&cexp=2223&kcid=CategoryIDs=15292&cvar=16846&ctype=Listing&cpid=res22032605811140403529228&modelSize=M#pdp-page-content

https://oldnavy.gap.com/browse/product.do?pid=815823032&cid=15292&pcid=15292&vid=1&cpos=60&cexp=2223&kcid=CategoryIDs=15292&cvar=16846&ctype=Listing&cpid=res22032605811140403529228&modelSize=L#pdp-page-content

Thank you VERY much for those links.
I will show them to my DD

 

[slo]

I remember two you went to.

Yes… me too
We had a DIS meet in the Lombard, IL mall (I think it was that mall).
Now I need to try and find some pictures

 

[Dan Murphy]

I remember two you went to.

Well, still, Kitty, it has been years. Too many, for sure.

 

[luvnwdwgal]

Maybe once a year. There’s not too many stores left in our nearby mall that I like to shop in. They do still have a JCPENNEY though so I like to go there if I need new clothes for vacation. That’s about it.

 

[Sinder]

I voted when I'm desperate. I go to Target, which is an anchor store but I never go in to the mall from there.
Last night we went to eat at a restaurant at the mall, but they have a separate entrance.
I did go in to Lenscrafters inside the mall a couple weeks ago. They were the only place in my area that had the frames in the size I needed and I was desperate.

 

[bobbiwoz]

The only mall I go to is outside in Cape May, well there’s the area by Walmart in Rio Grande. Are those outside areas considered malls?

 

[Dan Murphy]

Yes… me too
We had a DIS meet in the Lombard, IL mall (I think it was that mall).
Now I need to try and find some pictures

Well, yes, we did have a lot of mall food court dis meets years past. Sure do miss those. I don't have the energy to organize those anymore. We did have many, many fun times.

 

[Dan Murphy]

I need to try and find some pictures

Here are a few

 

[Selket]

Around the Washington DC area there are many malls and most seem to be holding on. These malls have some speciality retailers (Lilly Pulitzer, L.L. Bean, Nespresso, Apple Store, Lush, American Girl dolls, etc.) and aren't as heavily dependent on the anchors I think. I rarely go inside the anchor stores (Macy's, Nordstroms).

I'm also the generation that grew up going to malls so I'm older and perhaps like them more than younger people. I'd find them more enticing if they had a better mix of stores with perhaps a grocery/drug store in there so I could make a one stop shopping trip. One mall here added a Costco a few years ago (inside the mall) and between that and its Target - I think they keep that mall going.

An outlet mall around here also has a casino practically inside it - that has to help that one out I think!

 

[BayouQueen]

How often do you shop at shopping malls?


For Me….Approximately 5 - 10 times a year
DD18 needs a white dress for graduation day (the girls at her HS have been wearing a white dress under their grad robe since before I graduated from there) so we went to the local mall for the first time in 2022 a few days ago and we’ll go to another one tomorrow (casual white dresses aren’t easy to find).
During the summer, we normally go to a mall somewhere DD18 has games, to have something to do between games, and to get her in some air conditioning on a hot day. It’s always humorous taking sweaty and filthy girls to the mall - makes me laugh every time - LOL!
After summer is over, and DD18 goes to college, I don’t see me going to the mall for the rest of the year.

https://www.eshakti.com/shop/dresses?color=white

Eshakti is fun because you can kind of design your own dress in the color you want. DD has ordered from them and the quality was very good.

 

[fla4fun]

It really varies. I have had two jobs within walking distance to malls, and spent a lot of lunch hours window shopping. Other times, like now when I am not working, I don’t go at all. I don’t like the open air malls (too hot in Florida) and they keep closing traditional ones. I have a feeling I will be spending less time there instead of more.

 

[mumto3girls]

Just a few times a year for me. I went to one that is a little further away a few weeks ago when I was prom dress shopping with middle DD. There is a store at a mall north of our city that both she and younger Dd have gotten homecoming dresses.

I can’t remember the last time I was in the mall part of the local one—maybe around Christmas? There is a Target attached that I am in fairly often, but don’t usually go into the mall and about a month ago I went out to lunch with a friend but the entrance is outside the mall and we never went in.

 

[ncc1701]

I rarely go inside malls anymore, but go to the department stores or stores on the perimeter of the parking lot.

Target is physically attached to the mall and has an interior entrance, but I rarely wander out.

I used to be a mall rat as a teen/young adult, but the stores are of little interest to me anymore. Maybe just Williams-Sonoma or Vera Bradley.

Lots of malls have died or are on their last legs. Struggling malls are sad.

My favorite as a teen was the Echelon Mall in Voorhees, NJ. It was a happening place. Now it’s practically deserted and the extension that was built in the late 70s was knocked down about 10 years ago. A brand new Sears extension opened about 1998 and closed within a few years.

I grew up a few towns over from The Echelon Mall . It opened when I was in 7th or 8th grade & we were so excited . Convincing a Parent to drive us to & back from a Mall had become a possibility. ( Cherry Hill Mall was great but a bit of a drive). I remember the extension going up a few years later.
Last Spring was the most we have been in Malls in the last 5 years. We were looking for clothing for DH's Neice's wedding .Otherwise we go in the department store or go into the closest entrance to a store we want to checkout.

 

[Skywalker3]

went a few weeks back for DD to get a prom dress. I'm good now for the rest of the year.

 

[LoveSpringsteen]

Not too often. Our local mall was the place to be when I was a teen. Always crowded on the weekends and packed during the holidays. Now two of the anchor stores are gone and there are lots of empty storefronts.

 

[RedAngie]

The only mall I go to is outside in Cape May, well there’s the area by Walmart in Rio Grande. Are those outside areas considered malls?

I think Slo is referring to enclosed indoor malls.

There used to be a tiny mall in Rio Grande, the Rio Mall. Where the old K-Mart used to be. I think it had a WT Grant and A&P supermarket when it opened in the early 70s. Plus a movie theater and about a dozen interior stores between the two anchors.

http://www.labelscar.com/new-jersey/rio-mall
For the times, I suppose that was adequate for lower Cape May County.

 

[CdnCarrie]

Our malls seem to be doing fine and are usually busy on the weekends. A few empty storefronts but far from closing.
I go maybe every couple months,
I refuse to clothes shop online as it would be a PIA to return things that don’t fit and I’m picky.
And I like to buy candles and home decor in person,
Plus in cold months it’s a nice way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

 

[Kitty 34]

Well, still, Kitty, it has been years. Too many, for sure.

We met you at Battle Creek's mall and the Meridian Mall up in Lansing and yes MANY years ago!!

 

[slo]

Here are a few

Thank you for posting this - they were fun to look at.
I looked for mine, but couldn’t find them. I think they are still in my camera, which I haven’t used in over 10 years. I better charge that camera up and get everything off of it. I‘m very curious on what’s all there.