I just have to share this photo I recently found online:
Florence Mall, Kentucky, sometime in the late 1970's.
Ah, the memories. I was born the same year this mall opened, and practically grew up in it. I can still smell the greasy Karamel Korn and soft pretzels from the food court. Just imagine: This is what shaped my architectural sensibilities for the first couple decades of my life.
At some point Florence Mall was renovated and now looks like just another exercise in 1990's suburban postmodern schlock, but imagine the retro appeal this mall would have today if they had left the original 70's decor intact.
I've always had this weird fascination with suburban shopping malls, maybe because of my formative years spent at Florence Mall. As much as I loathe their bland homogeneity and negative impact on city centers and formerly-productive farmland, I still have a hard time resiting the urge to explore some mall I've never been in before. I guess you could call it a guilty pleasure.
Maybe one of these days I'll write a coffee table book that explores the development of the typical 1970's indoor mall, including diagrams about how the malls changed and grew (or withered and died) over the years. Then I'd follow it with a survey of maybe a hundred or so malls from all over America, with a brief history and some past/present photos and plans.
I wonder how many people who grew up in the 80's would see that book in Borders, flip through it, and say, "Hey, me and my friends used to hang out in that mall!"
Is there anything to be learned from the 1970's shopping mall? What are some of your favorite mall memories? Should I write the book?
I used to live not too far from Lakehurst Mall in Waukegan. It was already mostly dead by then... Turns out it's one of the more well-known dead malls out there.
I can't see your photo, but I really like this topic (and...I know the sprawling Florence mall, too). Before you delve into writing, I highly recommend getting your hands on the book "City Center to Regional Mall" by Richard Longstreth (MIT Press). It's more a historical account of how retail moved from Main Street to the 'burbs (although it touches on the second-life potential of this building typology)...but perhaps you can pick up where he leaves off...?! Good luck to you!!
I also think it's interesting how most of the stores in a given mall are usually owned by a relatively small handful of companies. When I was in high school and looking for my first part-time job, I headed down to the local mall and went around the stores asking for applications. Seems like half the applications I filled out were all printed on the same corporate letterhead.
As a part of my book, I think it would be interesting to do a department store genealogy chart. It would probably read something like an Old Testament family history. Example: When Florence Mall opened, it had Sears, JC Penny, Pogue's, and Shillito's as the four anchors. Pogue's became L.S. Ayers, which became Hess's, which became Macy's. Shillito's became Shillito-Rikes, which became Lazarus, which became Lazarus-Macy's, which became Macy's.
Ode to the Suburban Mall
I just have to share this photo I recently found online:
Florence Mall, Kentucky, sometime in the late 1970's.
Ah, the memories. I was born the same year this mall opened, and practically grew up in it. I can still smell the greasy Karamel Korn and soft pretzels from the food court. Just imagine: This is what shaped my architectural sensibilities for the first couple decades of my life.
At some point Florence Mall was renovated and now looks like just another exercise in 1990's suburban postmodern schlock, but imagine the retro appeal this mall would have today if they had left the original 70's decor intact.
I've always had this weird fascination with suburban shopping malls, maybe because of my formative years spent at Florence Mall. As much as I loathe their bland homogeneity and negative impact on city centers and formerly-productive farmland, I still have a hard time resiting the urge to explore some mall I've never been in before. I guess you could call it a guilty pleasure.
Maybe one of these days I'll write a coffee table book that explores the development of the typical 1970's indoor mall, including diagrams about how the malls changed and grew (or withered and died) over the years. Then I'd follow it with a survey of maybe a hundred or so malls from all over America, with a brief history and some past/present photos and plans.
I wonder how many people who grew up in the 80's would see that book in Borders, flip through it, and say, "Hey, me and my friends used to hang out in that mall!"
Is there anything to be learned from the 1970's shopping mall? What are some of your favorite mall memories? Should I write the book?
the retail vacancy rate in indy is 12 percent and climbing as the numbers don't include circuit city closings.
I used to live not too far from Lakehurst Mall in Waukegan. It was already mostly dead by then... Turns out it's one of the more well-known dead malls out there.
write it, u might get lucky
I can't see your photo, but I really like this topic (and...I know the sprawling Florence mall, too). Before you delve into writing, I highly recommend getting your hands on the book "City Center to Regional Mall" by Richard Longstreth (MIT Press). It's more a historical account of how retail moved from Main Street to the 'burbs (although it touches on the second-life potential of this building typology)...but perhaps you can pick up where he leaves off...?! Good luck to you!!
The photo seems to be rather sporadic. I've uploaded the photo, added some additional photos, and expanded the text on my blog:
Confessions of a Mall Rat
I'll have to look for the Longstretch book.
I also think it's interesting how most of the stores in a given mall are usually owned by a relatively small handful of companies. When I was in high school and looking for my first part-time job, I headed down to the local mall and went around the stores asking for applications. Seems like half the applications I filled out were all printed on the same corporate letterhead.
As a part of my book, I think it would be interesting to do a department store genealogy chart. It would probably read something like an Old Testament family history. Example: When Florence Mall opened, it had Sears, JC Penny, Pogue's, and Shillito's as the four anchors. Pogue's became L.S. Ayers, which became Hess's, which became Macy's. Shillito's became Shillito-Rikes, which became Lazarus, which became Lazarus-Macy's, which became Macy's.
there is a geneology on the dead mall dot com website about dead store chains as well.
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