I miss malls. I miss the dynamic nature of them. I miss exploring them. I miss seeing all the things that people could buy. I miss the atmosphere. I miss the fountain you throw your pennies in. I miss meeting so many different people. I miss the escalators. I miss the joy of going into the mall pet shop and seeing the animals warm up to you. I miss sitting at the food courts, eating my weirdly quality pizza and taking in the ambiance. Hell, I miss getting lost in malls.
One of the things that feels like a stab in the heart as an aspiring parent is I will never be able to take my kids to the mall and have them experience the same experience. I look at malls now and want to cry. Look at me, a commie crying over a pillar of capitalism. That’s how much of a friend malls were to me, yet nobody I know will say they relate.
One of my life goals is to write a Broadway musical based on the life of Mata Hari.
Are you describing Sbarro’s as weirdly quality pizza or did you have a different pizza place in your mall? I used to eat that as a kid. It looked shiny and neat. I liked it. I tried it years later as an adult. That pizza was nasty. Quality might have took a dive after 10 years though.
I want to put washing machine powder in a bowl, and put farbic softener on it like its cereal.
I crave epiphanies. Discovering experiences or knowledge that I didn’t know I needed.
Come visit Minneapolis. The Mall of America, the largest single building mall in the US, is still alive, strong, and busy.
Look at pictures online, then come… come to our mall. It’ll take you two full days to see it all, anyway.
Then, take a 4 hour drive up to Duluth and see Lake Superior. If you have the time and money, another couple hours north along the coast gets you to Tofte, where there are a bunch of rental condos right on the lake. Magnificent in November, but gorgeous all year round.
I’m in the UK but now I want to go and visit that mall. 😂
It reminds me of the West Edmonton Mall that I visited when I was a kid.
Isn’t there a big ball in Birmingham shaped like a big, glass whale? That’s what it looked like to us, anyway.
And the (relatively) new outdoor mall in Bath near the train station is nice.
You mean the Bullring?
It’s okay, and it’s not far from where I live but it’s not quite the same as the ones you see in North America. Though maybe they feel different if you don’t live there.
Yes, that one! We didn’t know what it was called when we first saw it, so we called it The Whale, and that’s how we still refer to it amongst ourselves.
You’re right. American malls would never “waste” that much interior space; they cram every square foot with retail. The Bullring is almost more like a park, inside - open and airy. I like it quite a lot, although I thought it was a shame they shoved it right up against that little church, that looked so shabby and small next to the behemoth.
The Mall of Americas is actually more in spirit with the Bullring. The center is completely open, all four floors, and contains an amusement park complete with a roller coaster and Farris wheel, and a massive glass ceiling.
Most American malls are set up like rabbit warrens, though.
I definitely plan to visit it someday; theres an Ikea like, next building over, too, if google maps is to be believed!
I really like to ‘cold ears’ my dogs and cats. It’s when they have cold ears and you grab their ears between your fingers and say “cold ears!”
They don’t like it much but I really enjoy that texture for some reason.
P.S. - You can also straddle your dog and rev his ears like you’re on a motorbike
I can definitely understand why someone would feel so nostalgic about them, as a fellow commie. personally, I really enjoyed our mall’s general vibe around Christmastime especially. I associate them with a more carefree time, as well.
As for me, I really miss acting. was in musicals and drama/humor speech competitions all 4 years of high school, and even went to states/nationals for the latter, then acting classes in college. it’s such a satisfying creative outlet for me.
I suppose I could start doing it again now, but the time investment would be so much more significant than it was when I was in school, and I cant help but think that my time would be better spent toward something more “productive”.
also, the daycare I went to as a little kid used to serve us soy sauce flavored ramen with mashed potatoes (including butter/milk). so healthy! 😬 I really loved it, though, as long as the noodles weren’t overcooked. I could go for some now.
I’m not sure malls really are a “pillar of capitalism”, something akin to stores will exist in virtually any economic system, because ultimately their function in the economy is to distribute the results of production to individuals that need it, regardless of who exactly owns or profits off them, and the need for a function like that is virtually universal.
What malls are really is an attempt to recreate the experience of a busy pedestrian street, for a place that is heavy on car use and so doesn’t have many of those spaces. Hence you get a bunch of shops together in a space that lets one conveniently walk between them.
A mall store called World of Science back in the day helped propel my interest in science and exploration. Miss that store…
I miss the nostalgia of going to Toys R Us with my parents. I can still smell that new plastic smell occasionally that takes me back. I wonder what type of plastic that is because it seems more rare nowadays… Certainly carcinogenic lol.
slapping a toasted marshmallow in between some graham crackers and some low quality chocolate
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