The Mall is Dying (And it Makes me Sad)

We visited our dying mall on Sunday night and it’s mostly just creepy, liminal space with some intermittent Christmas decorations and shuttered storefronts.

It makes me sad to see my teenage hangout so deserted, but what can you do? It’s a sign of the times. 😢

I spent many Friday and Saturday nights here with my friends when we were 12 - 13 years old - walking around for hours, trying to talk to boys, eating giant M&M cookies, spending too much time in Claire's and the record store, and being picked up by someone's mom at 9:00 PM.

If we were lucky, we'd get to go to Behind the Mall Cinema to watch a movie. I remember seeing Ace Ventura and Beavis & Butthead Do America here. I even went on my very first date here!

It brings back a lot of memories to visit, but it's also a reminder of the passing of time.

It's sad to see these old places - that were once so important to our community - become a shell of what they once were. We have so few "third places" left anymore.

I know there are still thriving malls out there (and I love them). But ours has not been maintained, and now some capital company from Texas owns it. It will probably close down completely in a few more years. FYE and American Eagle seem to be going out of business, so we'll only have Dillards and JCPenney - and a handful of smaller shops - keeping it afloat.

Anyway, I'll visit again in another year if it's still around and keep archiving it's decline for posterity.