Blarg?

[teddog]

I is back from Hamilton.

Centre Mall is kinda sad now. The mall is about to undergo heavy renovations and most of the smaller stores have cleared out. Coles is now gone, which is a huge punch to the face for some reason. Dude, do you know how much money a 12 year old me spent there? I knew that store like the back of my hand and now it's GONE. Along with Blacks, a couple of sports stores, the flower shop, the "pot friendly" hemp shop, the dollar store, that candy/nut shack place in the middle of the food court. There's still some stores holding on - EB, Shoppers, Sears, K-Mart.

Which, in turn, makes me wonder about all of the stores in there that I grew up with that are now long gone.

Off the top of my little head...

- The pet store. No, not Ruffin's, but this aquarium store that was located in the north of the mall. The place was done up mostly in dark blue tile, making it look like it sucked in light.
- Robinson's. High end department store. Located where Zellers is now.
- A very 1980s kid's clothing store, just to the east of where Zellers in now. This was part of a chain - the logo had purple elephants, I think. There was a tiny ball pit in the back.
- TOYS AND WHEELS! They had this really nice stuffed german shepherd, but the thing cost $30 and my parents thought that was painfully overpriced. So, I never got it.
- Wizard's Castle. Back in the old food court. Spent too much money there. Used to like playing air hockey and knocking the puck into the hallway. I think I got it all the way to Lens Crafters once.
- Bulk Barn. Also in the old food court. CANDY!
- A second bookstore, in the North wing. Might have been a Smithbooks.
- A third bookstore, which was a closeout place that opened long after the second one had closed. I got my copy of Hitchhikers Guide there.
- Music World. Home of high priced everything, but I still miss you in a dumb way.
- Sunrise Records in their old location, that looked like a cave.
- Um... there used to be this fandomish store in the north wing at one point. This was back when such stores were common. Reminded me of "We're Entertainment", a chain in the US that's probably long dead.
- Grand and Toy! This is where I went for art supplies when I had to make do with what I had. I loved this one pen I bought there so much that I named a Mary Sue after the brand name.
- Going waaaaay back, the comic book/trading card store that used to be to the north of Shoppers. It later moved around the hall and went strictly trading card only.
- Also from about that period, Jumbo Video. I looked for strange and wacky tapes on purpose there.

Hahahaha. I feel so old now.

On the other hand, the walk from my house to Delta Secondary is about the same as every. Run down, but it now seems charming and quaint.

Comments

[pyat.livejournal.com]

Do you remember a really amateurish collage painted on the wall of the food court, near Wizard's Castle? It was up for several years - depicting a forest scene with a river, trees, etc. I painted that with my grade 9 art class in 1989!

I remember the pet store, but had totally forgotten about the second bookstore. I still think of the Hemp store as Laura Secord, and still manage to be surprised when I realize its gone.

Whereabouts is your family homestead?

[thebitterguy]

There's little worse than someplace you loved in your youth falling victim to the inexorable forces of history.

[commanderteddog.livejournal.com]

.... I completely forgot about that painting. I want to say that it was on the empty storefront that would later become Arby's, but I'm not sure. I think there was another painting over where the K-Mart snack bar used to be, but that would have closed long after 1989.

But I do remember a strange painting in the food court like that.

The family homestead is about two blocks west of Ottawa and half a block south of Barton. So, I'm right down in there. Spent a lot of in Centre Mall because there really wasn't anywhere else to go. Although, going to Eastgate used to be an awesome thing, because you needed to DRIVE to get there.

[commanderteddog.livejournal.com]

I'm somewhat saddened, though, that I have an emotional connection like this to shopping malls. My generation is messed up... or maybe it's just me.

And it's not just this shopping mall, either. Like, Square One, for example. While I wasn't alive for the open courtyard, I do remember the carousel, the video wall (which I thought was the COOLEST thing on earth) and the bed and bath store that used to be in one corner of the mall where the newer movie theater is.

[pyat.livejournal.com]

It was over the Arby's, yeah.

Man, I can't believe the Wizard's Castle managed to stay open as long as it did. That a magical place in the mid-80s. By the mid-90s, it was just sort of depressing, at least for me. :)

We lived over by Gage Park. The Centre was the first mall I have clear memories off.

[thebitterguy]

Have you ever seen http://www.deadmalls.com? Interesting site.

I never really stopped to think about whether or not malls were still viable or not.

Square one used to have a carousel? Whereabouts?

[commanderteddog.livejournal.com]

I LOVE Dead Malls. There's some other good sites like that, like http://www.labelscar.com/, http://mallsofamerica.blogspot.com (that one focuses on postcards), http://www.groceteria.com/ and http://www.mallhistory.com/ This is how I waste office downtime. ;)

I don't think that mall culture in Canada ever reached the peaks that it did in the US, which is why these sites are so darn interesting. Although, at the same time, I've heard these sites claim that malls have more staying power in Canada because the climate here goes against the ideals of power centres and lifestyle centre. That's pretty laughable, considering I lived in Thunder Bay of all places and some of the malls there still struggled and we had a power centre, which, might I add, was a total bitch to get around during the winter. I think they're putting in a lifestyle centre near my apartment and I'm curious how that's going to go when the snow hits.

The Square One carousel used to be located in the area were Empire Theatres and Old Navy are now. If you look at the map on the website, I THINK it was in the intersection of F, H, I and G. That whole section is mostly new (newer?) construction that gutted the old area, which included the carousel and the video wall installation. I can't seem to find any info on the carousel on line, but the last I heard, it had been put into storage. If my memory serves me right, it was kinda cool and the horses were themed to different provinces.