-The point is that B&N would be a more than welcome presence in our neck of the woods, in far SW OKC.

-soonerdave

As a resident in the Westmoore area i would like to see a BN as well. I made my comment earlier because I remebered a thread where some Edmond resident talking about how SWOKC isnt very nice because -

"They dont even have a BN over there."

Thats what spurred my previous comment.

But the quick jaunt on I-35 to BN in Norman meets my needs.

Understand, but for my $0.02, I don't think I should have to take a cross-county jaunt on an interstate highway to get to a nice bookstore...not like I live in Granite or some small town in southwest OK...that's all.

-sd

I hope they survive but all the big stores including Barnes and Noble are struggling for a variety of reasons not least of which is the lack of sales of books. I believe they have not made money on books in a while.

Plus just from my own personal experience they never have a particular title I am hunting so I'm better off to order it online. I do enjoy visiting the store from time to time but I don't buy much even then.

I do very much like Full Circle and some of the smaller, specialty stores seem better positioned to me to compete.

My biggest concern now is that Macy's will soon pull out. The few times I've been there recently it has resembled a tomb, a stark contrast to the bustling stores at Penn Square and Quail Springs. If they should call it quits, that, along with the departure of Penny's, would seal the fate of Crossroads.

Is there talk of Macy's leaving? To be honest, it suprises me they remained after the convert from Foley's, because Crossroads isn't the type of mall that usually would sport a Macy's. I want to say though that if the mall is to be revived, it needs to happen before Macy's leaves. It is an upscale store that a revived Crossroads would definately need.

On a similar note, its been a long time since I have been down there, anybody know how well Dillard's is performing? If Crossroads loses JC Penney and Macy's, my guess is it would start a domino effect and Dillard's would be gone soon after. I always liked the Crossroads Dillard's and would hate to see it go.

On a similar note, its been a long time since I have been down there, anybody know how well Dillard's is performing? If Crossroads loses JC Penney and Macy's, my guess is it would start a domino effect and Dillard's would be gone soon after. I always liked the Crossroads Dillard's and would hate to see it go.

The Dillard's seems to becoming more of a Dillard's outlet store. There is constant clearance and there were ads in the paper a couple months ago about all the clearance merchandise from the city being sold there during a big sale. Of course you can get all your necessary "urban wear" from Dillard's in Crossroads as well.

Macy's is no longer the very high-end, exclusive store it came to be known as a few decades ago. It migrated into a more "above average" offering over time as Federated Stores took it over. It's probably on a par with Dillard's, so its presence in Crossroads isn't quite that surprising.

-soonerdave

Macy's is no longer the very high-end, exclusive store it came to be known as a few decades ago. It migrated into a more "above average" offering over time as Federated Stores took it over. It's probably on a par with Dillard's, so its presence in Crossroads isn't quite that surprising.

-soonerdave

I remember going into Macy's about 10 years ago in Dallas and I was quite impressed. I really liked the store and it seemed very uncluttered. The sales people were helpful and seemed like they really wanted to be there and really wanted to help me yet they were not too pushy.

When I went into Macy's in Crossroads as well as Penn Sq. after the conversion here I was not at all impressed. Seemed just like Foley's, Dillards or any other department store.

Back to the origional topic... People of late always mention the shooting at Crossroads and that they do not feel safe there. That has never been an issue with me. Though Crossroads stores for the most part are unimpressive I do still go there on occasion to run to Dillards, Macy's, or some of the athletic shoe stores and I have never been afraid to go or take my family no matter the time of day or night. On that note I do remember a time when Penn Sq had its share of violence going on in and around it as well.

I get really tired of people talking about how unsafe they feel. I just don't see it and I think Crossroads gets an undeserved bad rap in that department.

And besides if Crossroads were to be shut down where would I go on the south side for a Chick-fil-a?!?! uuuuggghhh!! :eek:

And besides if Crossroads were to be shut down where would I go on the south side for a Chick-fil-a?!?! uuuuggghhh!! :eek:

Chick Fil-A is leaving the mall and building a stand-alone restaraunt in Moore.

I am waiting for two things to happen in that area.

1.Macy's will close before the end of the year if not immediately after the 2007 holiday season.

2. Toys R' Us moving west to 240 Penn Park or Southern Hills.

I am waiting for two things to happen in that area.

1.Macy's will close before the end of the year if not immediately after the 2007 holiday season.

2. Toys R' Us moving west to 240 Penn Park or Southern Hills.

What happens to Crossroads then? Bulldoze it? Turn it into something else? I see lots of posts about what could (and will) happen to Crossroads, but no solutions...

If Crossroads continues to decline that is more than one million square feet of retail that has to go somewhere. And many people believe that parts of southwest Oklahoma City and Moore are already significantly under-served.

At this point it is anybody's guess, anything can happen to it. It may become a buisness center or a community services complex.

I think it is safe to say Crossroads is dying a slow painful death. Maerich waited way too long to turn it around. There are just too many new shopping centers in the area to make it a sucess again.

Frankly, I would take a Barnes and Noble, Borders, or Books-a-Million.. just a bookstore that is not Walden's.

I'll drink to that!:drunk:

Although we could dream for a Full Circle II...

Crossroads Mall future could be an indoor amusement park / water park with an indoor golf course / driving range.

Chick Fil-A is leaving the mall and building a stand-alone restaraunt in Moore.

sweet!

when and where?

.

When I went into Macy's in Crossroads as well as Penn Sq. after the conversion here I was not at all impressed. Seemed just like Foley's, Dillards or any other department store.



I had moved here about 6 months before and i didnt go into it until one day when i just needed a few things and i was surprised at how non bad the place really was. It just seemed like your ordinary mall.

People make it out like there are murderers/ gang bangers there and it just wasnt the case - i saw more middle class white people than anything else.

Granted the outside looked dated but the inside seemed pretty normal to me. People just get a image stuck in their heads and refuse to change it, i do think its time for a new south side mall.

I get really tired of people talking about how unsafe they feel. I just don't see it and I think Crossroads gets an undeserved bad rap in that department.


I had moved here about 6 months before and i didnt go into it until one day when i just needed a few things and i was surprised at how non bad the place really was. It just seemed like your ordinary mall.

For all the problems Crossroads has, the "perception of safety" is clearly and without hesitation THE single most overblown and exaggerated problem of them all. As I recall, the famed shooting that Crossroads has had to live down wasn't by a gangbanger, but by an off-duty police officer/security guard type IIRC. As a reflection of perceptions, precious, perfect, northside, sacrosanct Penn Square had a real fatal gangbanger shooting several years ago.

My family goes to Crossroads for a little bit of everything and not once have we felt unsafe. My mom used to go up and walk every morning, and just paid attention to where she was and who was around; and when she walked, she started to recognize familiar faces and walked with or close to them. No problems.

Perception is everything, and lots of people want to tell you that Crossroads is a deathtrap gangbanger zone, and it just is NOT true. Sadly, some people see a young black or hispanic teenager and automatically assume gangbanging, and that's what Crossroads can't do anything about.

In a broader context, EVERY mall has problems with loitering teenagers engaged in everything from just being annoying, bored teenagers to petty theft/shoplifting. Crossroads has it, Penn Square has it, Quail Springs has it, but Crossroads is the only one you really hear getting negative pub about it.

I'm not going to sit here and tell you Crossroads isn't without problems, but this one is frustratingly exaggerated. And I've lived here most of my life and shopped at Crossroads frequently since the day it opened over three decades ago.

-soonerdave

p.s. Unrelated, I also heard that in addition to Moore, Chik-fil-A was looking to build an additional standalone site somewhere in SW OKC as well.....could mean the I-240 Penn Plaza area (first one that comes to mind).

The mall age seems to be pretty much over for now. There are several reasons but a lot of it is energy cost. It is terribly expensive to heat, cool, and light a mall. And the common area maintenance is very expensive. In this day of intense competition between retailers it is difficult for one to absorb the necessary rents. And it is expensive for people to drive to a mall.

People often find the mall inconvenient and prefer somewhere that is faster in and out.

I think, too, that there is a scale issue. I think one reason we see the growth of the life style center concept is that the scale of the architecture is more human than the mega mall. And the life style center is more natural. (Natural in a contrived way of course)

It should also be noted that the various government entities have not helped Crossroads with roads and access. Although if it weren't for I-35 I doubt there would even have been a Crossroads. So it is a two-edged sword. But it is really a confusing mess of roads there.

When Crossroads was first built back in 1974, it was on what then seemed to be the outskirts of town, and I-240 was a four-lane highway back then. The city has grown south and southwest, but the region deteriorates right around Shields as you go farther east.

The massive I-35 reconstruction project didn't do Crossroads (or many other merchants in that area) any favors. That said, the retail "corridor" (which is an overstatement) along I-35 in that region north of Crossroads has always been iffy. There used to be a Medco catalog showroom, and that failed; a hobby store; it failed; a Levitz furniture warehouse; it failed, but I think the whole chain went bankrupt. For whatever reason, that eastern fringe from Shields to I-35 has evolved into a bit of a "no man's land" for retailing.

Yes, malls like Crossroads just aren't being built any more, and things like that go in cycles. Malls were hot in the 70's, now they're not, and I suspect in another fifteen years or so, something like a mall will come back into vogue. Malls used to be considered convenient because they had everything from soup to nuts under one roof, but now they're a hassle because of parking and driving distance.

One thing I remember about Crossroads is that it had different kinds of vendors; anyone remember Video Concepts on the first floor? Or the bakery just outside of Penny's (had a British theme if I remember)? There was the local Emmer Brothers clothing shop that occupied two levels of the mall on the west wing...the point is that there just isn't that kind of "diversity" there anymore...

SIGH..

-soonerdave

The mall age seems to be pretty much over for now. There are several reasons but a lot of it is energy cost. It is terribly expensive to heat, cool, and light a mall. And the common area maintenance is very expensive. In this day of intense competition between retailers it is difficult for one to absorb the necessary rents. And it is expensive for people to drive to a mall.

People often find the mall inconvenient and prefer somewhere that is faster in and out.

I think, too, that there is a scale issue. I think one reason we see the growth of the life style center concept is that the scale of the architecture is more human than the mega mall. And the life style center is more natural. (Natural in a contrived way of course)



Am I the only one who would prefer a mall environment to a lifestyle center? I am personally sad to see the decline of the shopping mall in general in favor of these lifestyle centers. Lifestyle centers are a good idea in places with better climate, such as California or Arizona. In this part of the country where it rains often and the winters are cold, I personally think the traditional shopping mall wins hands down.

I agree these things are cyclical. But the cost is a significant factor. And that's on many fronts including land, construction of common area, utilities, and maintenance to name a few. In the early 70's we still had pretty cheap land, construction, and energy. And the mall was an attraction in itself so retailers could afford to pay for the increased costs because of higher sales per square foot.

Pretty tough now.

Crossroads has it, Penn Square has it, Quail Springs has it, but Crossroads is the only one you really hear getting negative pub about it.

I think the reason those two malls have overcome any of that kind of perception is by keeping the malls updated with extensive remodeling in the last 10 years. Can't say that for Crossroads and I think the aesthetics only affirm it's "ghetto" status, well-founded or not.

I doubt seriously that News9 or any other local "faux news" station checks the remodeling register before deciding whether to report on a shooting somewhere. "Sorry, Kelly, that store was freshly painted just last week - can't report on anything like theft there!"

I think its a bit of a leap to say that if something isn't aesthetically pleasing it is a "ghetto," and I certainly think its way out of bounds to call Crossroads a "ghetto."

Perception, unfortunately, perpetuates perception, and right now (along with comments like "ghetto") go a great deal to reinforcing that negative perception. I don't understand why there is this almost mean-spirited sense of "knock it down" about Crossroads. It is *not* as bad as some people make it out to be; existing retail can and is surviving in the area, and the famed shooting was two or three *years* ago.

I have to hope the new owners hold some share of optimism about it, or surely they wouldn't have thrown their $$ into it.


-soonerdave

I honestly do not think the "shooting" and gangbangers are what keeps Crossroads' reputation down. It is moreso the condition of the mall over anything else. Cracked brown concrete flooring rather than tile. Prison style railing rather than nice glass. "Urban themed" stores, and more local shopping than chain shopping. Those are the things that give Crossroads a bad rep, not just supposed crime.

I doubt seriously that News9 or any other local "faux news" station checks the remodeling register before deciding whether to report on a shooting somewhere. "Sorry, Kelly, that store was freshly painted just last week - can't report on anything like theft there!"

I was talking about public perception, not what the news reports.


I think its a bit of a leap to say that if something isn't aesthetically pleasing it is a "ghetto," and I certainly think its way out of bounds to call Crossroads a "ghetto."

I put that word in quotes because I was quoting others. People are calling it that because of the way the mall looks, and because of the stores that are there. Stores that aren't in other malls in OKC--like Frederick's of Hollywood, for example. Also, because the management doesn't require regular store remodeling, some stores are so old they still have discontinued logos for the store name. I was just there an hour ago, so I'm not making this up.

Crossroads does not have very many good stores tho. Im a teenager and I would prefer Penn Square and Quail Springs over Crossroads only because they have better stores. Like crossroads only has two really popular teen stores....American Eagle and Pac Sun, but Quail and Penn both have American Eagle, Pac Sun, Abercrombie, Abercrombie and Fitch, Aeropostle, Hollister, Gap, The Buckle, and there both nicer. But really looks and the gang problem doesnt matter, ur right.... i think out of all people teens kno more about gangs then adults and parents and other adults don't go there cause omg its "full of violence". ok well ur stupid for thinking that. theres nothing scary about it. i go there all the time
lol

I admit that when I did hear someone got shot there, I stopped going at night by myself. (I'm a girl.) But I've still gone there plenty of times during the day.

I think Crossroads' fate has already been sealed. The surrounding demographics just don't support a mall anymore, and as we all know, malls are going out of style. That doesn't mean I'm not sad about it, though. I used to love going there, but now there's just...nothing there. Anything I want, I can go to Sooner Mall for (which is another mall I have a soft spot for).

Crossroads isn't in bad shape because of the local businesses inside. The local businesses are just another sign that it's in bad shape-- if it weren't for those stores, Crossroads would have a much higher vacancy rate. If you get my drift.

Like someone else said, I think all that I-35 construction a few years back was a huge blow to Crossroads. I mean, you couldn't even get into the place without bending over backwards.

I would love to see Crossroads turned into something else because I hate to see all that space wasted. A school, perhaps? The layout would be good for it, I think, and they wouldn't have to spend millions of dollars building a new one somewhere.

It would be nice if some newer housing could be developed in the area. The closest new developments are at SE 104th and Bryant, as well as SE 89th and Sooner. There is a lot of land around there that is available. It just seems to me that if there were more people living around there, it could not hurt. The only housing any where near there is Valley Brook and that scary neighborhood across I-35 on SE 66th.

>that scary neighborhood across I-35 on SE 66th.

travel that route near daily; haven't thought of it as scary, but then I've met a few of the folks residing on or near 66th through there, and to the one there were most enjoyable and i am the better for having met them.

It's not a high end neigborhood to be sure, but it's well kept, many watch out for their neighbors and if I threw a tire and my jack were broke, I haven't seen too many doors I'd hesitate to knock on.

I guess I should not paint with such a broad brush. My experience with my son running away 9 times when he turned 13 was found by the police at a girls house on SE 66th right behind the 7-11. He had been doing drugs and drinking heavily. I guess my view of that neighborhood is a little tainted.

By the way, he is doing much better now that he is almost 15. It was a scary time for our family.

I visited Crossroads for the last time a month ago. I thought that I had made a mistake and was at Old Paris flea market. A lot of cheap imports, closeout stores and urban apparel.

The only reason i go to Crossroads anymore is Fredrick's of Hollywood:dizzy:

I went there on Saturday...Bought a book, some shoes, and an Orange Julius.

Didn't get mugged or anything!

I have been to Crossroads a few times in the past month or so. It seems to be filling up as far as businesses go. There are still quite a few empty storefronts, but a lot more full than before. However, there are a lot of local owned businesses which isn't necessarily a bad thing. However, the local businesses aren't nearly as polished as the national retailers. And, yes, there are a lot of urban wear stores which attracts a different demographic - the demographic it seems many here don't want to share a mall with.

In any case, my wife and I will walk around the mall for exercise and we also shop at Steve and Barry's which we both love. If you haven't been, it's worth checking out. It's a national clothing store reminiscent of Old Navy but prices undercutting Wal Mart. It's good clothing.

As it is the closest mall to where I live, I wish Crossroads and their new management the best!

And, yes, there are a lot of urban wear stores which attracts a different demographic - the demographic it seems many here don't want to share a mall with.
!

If some of the members on the board lived outside of oklahoma i think they would suffer from panic attacks, Its almost funny....

In any case, my wife and I will walk around the mall for exercise and we also shop at Steve and Barry's which we both love. If you haven't been, it's worth checking out. It's a national clothing store reminiscent of Old Navy but prices undercutting Wal Mart. It's good clothing.

Slight hijack... What do you mean better quality? I don't shop at Wal-Mart, but I did go through a Kohl's phase (until I realized that it was all cheap crap). Now, I spend almost all of my clothing money at either Dept. Stores or at Joseph A. Banks on sales/clearance merchandise (they have amazing prices).

Maybe we'll make the trek down I-35 to check this place out. It's been ages since I've been to Crossroads.

Crossroads to impose weekend teen curfew

By Trisha Evans
Business Writer

When Crossroads Mall's weekend curfew goes into affect Oct. 26, fewer teens will browse the racks of Eargazum, a pop, urban and hiphop music store.
That's OK, said store manager Ryan Daniels, because most teens aren't buying anything after 6 p.m. — they're hanging out.

Daniels and mall management are hoping the curfew will create a more family friendly environment at the mall on weekend evenings, which is currently a teen's domain.

"If you see the mall on weekends it's nothing but kids. Some parents just drop their kids off like we're some kind of baby sitter,” Daniels said. "I tell them they have to go, because this isn't a game or a playground. It's a place of business at the end of the day.”

The new hours prohibit those younger than 18 from shopping after 6 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays unless they are with a parent or legal guardian.

"As a business we have an obligation to listen to our customers and retailers, and to look out for their best interests. And this program addresses their requests,” said mall manager Jim Swenson. "Most of our teenage shoppers behave appropriately, but there are a few groups from time to time that we know like to loiter in the mall on weekends.”

Mall marketing manager Christie Moore said most of the incidents involving teenagers creating a disturbance in the mall have occurred after 6 p.m.

She said mall management presented the idea of a curfew to its merchants in May, which led to initial concern from a few businesses who were fearful a curfew would dampen sales. However, Moore said almost all stand behind the policy today. Moore said research shows that curfews often boost sales.

Although Crossroads Mall is the first mall in Oklahoma to set a curfew, mall curfews are a growing trend nationwide. At least 40 malls out of the 1,100 in the United States have teen curfew and escort policies. The majority started after 2004, according to the International Council of Shopping Centers.

Under Crossroads policy, teens must present an I.D. and will be asked to leave or call home for a ride if they are under age. A designated waiting area will be provided. Teens who work in the mall will need to verify employment. The rules don't apply to Texas Roadhouse or Regal Cinemas theater.

Master Sgt. Jim Hale of the Oklahoma City Police Department said the policy isn't in response to incidents as much as it is a preventative measure.

"This isn't necessarily a crime issue, it's more of an issue for merchants and citizens to be content and feel that extra safety and security in society, while they go out shopping,” he said.

Moore said the curfew hours will be adjusted if needed, and exceptions for some special circumstances will be made.

Contributing: The Associated Press

There goes the bulk of Crossroads' business...

One more nail in the coffin.

Has anything good come of this sale?

Good question. I've heard all kinds of silly rumors about the future of the J.C. Penny space, but nothing credible, and nothing more general about the future direction of the mall...surely you don't go into that kind of expense on a property obviously in need of rehabilitation without some idea what you plan to do with it...

Oklahoma County is in need of a new Juvenile Detention Center. There is already a sheriff's station on site. All you would have to do is add a 20 foot fence and few guard towers. The stores could easily be converted into jail cells. The old Piccadilly could be the jail cafeteria.

I have heard nothing about any future plans.
I am still very interested, though, so I hope they have something in mind in the near-future.

I think the place would make a GREAT indoor skate park and/or go-cart track.

LOL it's having issues with being ADA compatible, NEVERMIND go-cart compatible. Nice suggestion though.

LOL it's having issues with being ADA compatible, NEVERMIND go-cart compatible. Nice suggestion though.

Well, I know for a fact it's great for bicycles. We used to ride up there and zip through the mall when it wasn't crowded, just to get the rush of being chased by a security guard while riding on that polished concrete that was slicker than snot.

Looking back, I can't believe how far we'd ride to pull crap like that (and I still feel bad for doing it). I lived in Moore and we'd frequently ride to Crossroads, Wheel-O-Rama (59th and Walker area), even rode downtown a couple of times.

Usually though, we'd pull our stunts at the now gone Factory Outlet Mall where JC Penny now stands.

I find myself curious on the actual wording of the curfew. Sounds like the kind of thing in my younger days I'd be looking at to dance on the edge of the envelope just to help out the bp meds industry with their sales

This thread is making me feel my age. My best friend and I cut class to shop in Crossroads on the first day it opened. We were completely paranoid because we were afraid we'd get caught. Sounds like nerdowells are still hanging out there. I recall being completely blown away at the high ceilings and just the whole mall concept. Shepherd Mall was enclosed but was nothing near the sheer size of Crossroads. Penn Square was closer to my house but not yet enclosed so it was not as cool.

This thread is making me feel my age. My best friend and I cut class to shop in Crossroads on the first day it opened. We were completely paranoid because we were afraid we'd get caught. Sounds like nerdowells are still hanging out there. I recall being completely blown away at the high ceilings and just the whole mall concept. Shepherd Mall was enclosed but was nothing near the sheer size of Crossroads. Penn Square was closer to my house but not yet enclosed so it was not as cool.

In defense of the do-badders that are hanging out there now and getting blamed for it's demise...My antics there were carried out over 20 years ago.

I don't know if anybody has posted this, but Crossroads is now at the top of the list at Labelscar Retail History blog.

Oklahoma » Labelscar: The Retail History Blog (http://www.labelscar.com/category/oklahoma/)

The sad thing is that I don't think many people realize just how big a deal Crossroads was for its time. It was a *huge* (and, I guess, for that matter it still is) mall, and you coudn't turn on the radio or TV without hearing their original jingle..."Come to Crossroards, Come to Crossroads, Come out to Crossroads Mall..It's the latest, greatest, up-to-datest, shopping center of all..."

KWTV used to do the MDA telethon from Crossroads' center court, and ol' Ronald McDonald would host the "fishbowl" for people bringing donations in during the night or Labor Day. Heck, that was back when Chik-Fil-A was on the west end of the mall next to the erstwhile Wards location. That history blog doesn't note the fact that Juilus actually closed for a time several years ago, then reopened.

There used to be a Baskin Robbins 31 flavors next door to OJ; there was also a Farrell's Ice Cream Parlour upstairs where Eyemart is now. Geez, I'm remembering a lot of them now - Emmer Brothers occupied two floors on the west wing, Napoleon Nash was on the south wing going into Dillard's, and the north anchor was John A. Brown's....and the only toy shop was Toys By Roy. And they had some COOL toys in there, too!

Sorry, sorry for the waxing-nostalgic. My mom lamented the demise of the ol Capitol Hill shopping district, most of which ironically enough vacated that area for Crossroads. I guess history is just repeating itself.

I think its kind of ridiculous that ODOT is essentially putting (re)development of that entire area on hold for the next decade while it counts the lint crumbs in its bureaucratic navel. Crossroads had enough troubles to deal with before the I-35 rebuild a few years ago, and I guess in hindsight it's a miracle the place survived that. Lots of business didn't. The pitiful thing is that the defunct Burger King on the west entrance just off I-35 is a desperate hovel for transients and drunks (to be generous), with an accumulation of (at best) random trash, broken beer bottles, and heaven knows what else (I try not to think about it). That place ought to be razed, even if nothing else happens there for a decade.

-sd

My 3rd birthday party was at Farrell's...It's one of my earliest memories. That air-raid siren that they spooled up for birthdays scared the bejiggers out of me. It's a good thing that they let me sit at the player piano for a few minutes or I'd have cried a lot longer :D

*sniff*

I had my birthday party at Farrells too! It was in San Jose CA. I'll never forget it.. I was much older - 11 0r 12 but we were pretty poor ( single mom) and my neighbors must have felt sorry for me and took me for my first party there ...

That was so special. I'll never forget that.

Have any more room at the piano?

*whhhaaaaaa!*

Living on the far northwest side, we rarely visited crossroads, but I used to love the hobby shop that was on the first floor I believe next to JC Penney.

That hobby shop shut down only a year or so ago. Amazingly, it lasted a long time - only closed down about a year ago or so...it was a long-timer.

Anyone remember Video Concepts? It tookover the downstairs space previously occupied by Emmer Brothers. It was a high-end electronics store just a bit before the "contemporary" video age really hit. VHS movies were $100 each. They sold this new video thing RCA had just called SelectAVision, which were large platters contained in a disk that made it look like a giant version of an ole 3" floppy disk. If I'm not mistaken, the media wasn't optical; it was in the vein of a vinyl record with picture info etched into the surface. They were always running the first Star Trek movie on one of their big projection big screens to demo it.

There was also an AWESOME-smelling bakery on the first floor, just to the right as you exited JC Penney's. I can't for the life of me remember the name. Sadly, I remember it pretty much went down the tubes after a local TV station ran an expose about it having failed a city health inspection, or something similar to that. It never recovered. Seems like it had a British theme to it, but don't recall for sure.

And who can forget the bumper cars at the original LeMans?? By the time I was tall/old enough to ride them, they had shut them down permanently. :(

Ah, yes, the Capacitance Electronic Disc. Some of us smartasses called it "Needlevision," and yes, it had a 12-inch vinyl platter played by a stylus shaped sort of like a sleigh runner. The plastic case was to keep the dust off it: if you've ever heard what a clod of dirt can do to a phonograph record, you don't want to see what it can do to video. (I had about 75 of the discs at one point; the latter-day discs had blue cases instead of off-white, which indicated - yes! - actual stereo sound. Video resolution was not appreciably higher than VHS, but colors seemed better.) RCA lost half a billion bucks on this venture and abandoned it within two or three years.

I worked in that hobby shop, aptly named The Hobby Shop, for YEARS. It shut down years ago, not one year ago. The owner and his wife opened another shop up in the Village called M&S Hobby Shop about two years ago and it has since closed down. I know that she still sells the models and game inventory on eBay.

I also worked in their Penn Square Mall location that used to be across the hall from the movie theater. We had tons o' fun super-gluing quarters to the steps and watching people in line trying to pick them up. By the time we stopped doing that, maintenance had put several chip marks in the tile from using a screwdriver and hammer to get them up over the course of several weeks.

We had tons o' fun super-gluing quarters to the steps and watching people in line trying to pick them up. By the time we stopped doing that, maintenance had put several chip marks in the tile from using a screwdriver and hammer to get them up over the course of several weeks.
Ha, ha, ha... that's funny... damaging property resulting in unnecessary costs to the property owners, passed on to the mall tenants and ultimately passed on to the consumer... that's "tons o' fun" — for juvenile delinquents... bravo for being another burden on society.

:rolleyes:

Ha, ha, ha... that's funny... damaging property resulting in unnecessary costs to the property owners, passed on to the mall tenants and ultimately passed on to the consumer... that's "tons o' fun" — for juvenile delinquents... bravo for being another burden on society.

:rolleyes:

Wa, wa, wa... far too many crybabies that take themselves too seriously. Bravo for being a debbie downer for society.

I also worked in their Penn Square Mall location that used to be across the hall from the movie theater. We had tons o' fun super-gluing quarters to the steps and watching people in line trying to pick them up. By the time we stopped doing that, maintenance had put several chip marks in the tile from using a screwdriver and hammer to get them up over the course of several weeks.

You must be very proud.

(Oh sure, I'm a "cry baby" too.)