In My Footsteps: A Gen-X Nostalgia Podcast

Episode 173: Classic Mall Stores of the 1970s, 1980s, & 1990s Part 2(12-11-2024)

• Christopher Setterlund • Season 1 • Episode 173

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Let's go back to the mall!
In Episode 173 we are traveling back inside the hallowed halls of the indoor shopping mall. 
Back in Episode 129, we looked at some of the popular, beloved, and maybe some lesser-known mall stores that attracted customers, or perhaps at least hordes of wandering mall rats during the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s. Well, now we're back for Part 2!
A visit to the mall was always a special and exciting time back in the day. Although the indoor mall is still a popular destination today, its heyday was definitely the '70s through the '90s.
You didn't need much money as the 'mall rat' identity only required you to be inside a mall hanging out with friends. Kids of the day could spend hours sitting on benches or wandering the corridors looking into some of the stores that will be mentioned this week.
How many of these stores did you spend hard-earned money at?
If you think any of your favorites have been left out, listen to Episode 129, maybe they're over there!
For more great content become a subscriber on Patreon!

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Speaker 01:

Hello, world, and welcome to the In My Footsteps podcast. I am Christopher Setterlund, coming to you from the vacation destination known as Cape Cod, Massachusetts, and this is episode 173. We are knee-deep in the holiday season, knee-deep in holiday shopping, and I thought, what better subject to talk about this week on the podcast than part two of classic mall stores from the 1970s, 80s, and 90s. These are going to be some of the stores that those around my age, Gen X, remember frequenting, dropping a lot of money at back in the days when the mall was the place to be. So without further ado, let's get into it. Classic mall stores of the 70s, 80s, and 90s part two coming up right now on episode 173 of the In My footsteps podcast oh yeah this is going to be a whole huge dose of nostalgia wrapped up nicely under your tree wherever you are i hope your holiday shopping is at least almost done unfortunately with these stores that i'm going to be speaking about this week on the podcast the vast majority of them are closed So if you get any inspiration to go to them, I'm sorry, you'll need to meet up with Doc Brown and the DeLorean and go back in time. For those wondering, because this is a part two, back in episode 129 of the podcast, I did a part one of classic mall stores of the 70s, 80s, and 90s. And rather than leave you in suspense, I'll share with you the stores that were in that episode. So if you want to go back and listen to it after this, you can. Back in episode 129, I talked about classic mall stores like Woolworth, Sears, Montgomery Ward, The Limited, Walden Books, Orange Julius, Sam Goody, Chess King, Kinney Shoes, The Sharper Image, Radio Shack, KB Toy Store, Tom McCann, County Seat, and Cherry and Web. Those were the 15 that I went over in episode 129, the part one of this series. You may be thinking to yourself, wow, he named off all of my favorite classic mall stores. Well, you'd be surprised how easily I was able to find 15 more. Well, it took a few more minutes of research, but I did find 15 more that I think you'll appreciate, and this will be a lot of fun. Before we jump in, though, I have to get to some housekeeping as far as thank yous go. Naturally, I want to thank all of you that are tuning in, taking a few moments out of your holiday season, holiday shopping to make my podcast part of your routine, whether it's the audio version, the video version on YouTube. Whether you check out my videos on YouTube, read my blog, that is, 2024 has been my most prolific year for writing on my blog ever, which surprised me, but yet didn't. And of course, I can't start off the podcast proper without thanking my Patreon backers, Laurie, Mary Lou, Ashley, Kevin, Marguerite, Leo, Neglectoid, Crystal, Thank you all so much for putting your money where your mouth is and supporting me, supporting my content. The rest of you out there, $5 a month gets you access to bonus podcast episodes. The 14th one in the series went up on the 1st of December. It also gets you early access to videos on YouTube, sometimes access to the main show. If being a subscriber isn't your thing, there is a free tier and I'm adding more to it, including early access to blog posts. I've done a few bonus podcast episodes that I've had just for anyone, just for free people, to try to make it so I build a community over there. You may have seen the teaser image for my Christmas present to my Patreon backers. It's the video version of the very first attempt at a podcast that I did. It was kind of the dry run for this show. It's where I learned about editing, music overlays, research. And you could see by the image that it's definitely on the other end of the spectrum from what I do with this show. That's the teaser. I don't want to give too much away. I want you to go to Patreon to the free tier and see this image. And see if it'll entice you to become a subscriber to listen slash watch what I've got for the special Christmas gift for all my backers. We'll finish up housekeeping at the end of the show. I want to get into the list. 15 classic mall stores of the 70s, 80s, and 90s. Part 2. And we'll actually start with one that is still open. So if you get ideas for gifts, you can go here. So the first store on the list is Spencer Gifts. This is one growing up on Cape Cod with the Cape Cod Mall. I am very familiar with Spencer Gifts. If you're unfamiliar with it, it's a well-known retail chain. It's famous for its eclectic and often irreverent selection of products. There's always something weird slash unique that you would find in Spencer's. The irony is Spencer's was founded in 1947 by a man named Max Spencer Adler in Easton, Pennsylvania, and it originally operated as a mail order business. Those of us that grew up in the 80s and 90s, though, we know Spencer's primarily for its niche market of novelty items, gag gifts, pop culture merchandise. It's embraced the edgy counterculture image of It attracts people like me who enjoy humor, self-expression, unique items. Spencer's is often uniquely lit, a little bit dark with a lot of lava lamps. There might be a smoke machine way in the back. Not overwhelming smoke machine, but enough to make it feel like you're in a different type of store. You could get cool t-shirts and apparel that would be things with slogans, pop culture references, or humor. some of which you probably wouldn't be allowed to wear to school, but you'd get them anyway. And also way in the back, they'd probably have adult humor and gifts. You'd walk by there as a kid in high school and look at some of the things and want to stop and stare, but not want to be seen staring at all the adult gifts. I know for me, Spencer's was where I first became familiar with the Funko Pops. They had a lot of collectibles, merchandise themed around movies, TV shows, video games, loads of posters, even some home decor accessories. As far as I know, Spencer's is still going strong relatively when thinking about how malls are doing in this day and age. I think being successful means you're just still in business at this point in time. But yeah, you can go today after you're done with this podcast if you're near a Spencer's and go check out what they've got. One place that you can't visit but you still can have connections to today is Jordan Marsh.

Speaker 04:

Accessories, housewares, and more. Super! Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Three days of sizzling savings of 25 to 50%. The Super Sale at Jordan Marsh is on.

Speaker 05:

This is the place, Jordan Marsh.

Speaker 01:

Me growing up on Cape Cod, Jordan Marsh has a deep connection to my area. It was a prominent department store chain with deep roots in New England, established in 1841 by Eben Dyer Jordan and Benjamin L. Marsh. The Jordan Marsh store became a cornerstone of retail innovation and luxury in the Boston area, New England region. It's hard to distinguish department stores one from another. If you've seen one, if you've been in Macy's, basically all department stores are like that to a degree. Jordan Marsh was a little bit different because it had a couple of unique contributions to the world. One was its in-store bakery, which became famous for the legendary blueberry muffins. They were so iconic that they became a lasting symbol of the store's hospitality and quality. You can get the Jordan Marsh blueberry muffin recipe to this day. Just go online and Google it. At the restaurant where I worked at for years, we ended up making Jordan Marsh blueberry muffins and they became a big seller. Like I always say, nostalgia is a really powerful emotion. The Jordan Marsh chain also gained fame for its annual holiday Enchanted Village, which was a magical display of animated figures, winter scenes. That is still around to a degree today as Jordan's Furniture, which is a furniture chain in the New England area. They do it annually. Depending on when you're listening to this podcast, the Jordan's Furniture Enchanted Village, it's in Avon, Massachusetts, and it runs through New Year's Day. So I'm sorry if you're catching up on this podcast on January 2nd. You literally missed it by one day. Jordan Marsh expanded a lot in the 50s and 60s throughout New England down into Florida. Their major downfall came in the late 1980s when their parent company, Allied Stores Corporation, merged with Federated Department Stores, which is now Macy's. So many Jordan Marsh were turned into Macy's. I think in the Cape Cod Mall, there's two different Macy's, and I think one was Jordan Marsh, and the other one used to be the next store I'm going to talk about, and that's Filene's. Filene's was the A number one former mall store that stuck out to me, but I held off on it to give part two of the classic mall stores at least one big name store. It ended up being a lot of big name stores, but I said I'll at least show some restraint and save one for the second part. In New England on Cape Cod, Filene's was a beloved chain of department stores. Its roots dated all the way back to 1881. It was founded in Boston, Massachusetts, much like Jordan Marsh, by a man named William Filene. The store was known for its slogan, goods of the best quality at prices which represent the lowest possible cost, which you can tell it's an older slogan because it's very wordy. Where I grew up on Cape Cod, the Cape Cod Mall, when you would drive in from Route 132, the main road, The first building, the first logo you would see when you drove in was Filene's. That was kind of the centerpiece. And a lot of the times, especially before the Cape Cod Mall expanded, Filene's was the cut through. It was the main entrance. So you'd get dropped off to be a mall rat in high school. And you'd have to walk through Filene's to get to the main part of the mall. Right across from Filene's and the Cape Cod Mall used to be the food court. Filene's is seen as a pioneer of the department store industry. They offered an upscale shopping experience with high quality merchandise. But like I said about Jordan Marsh, department stores, it's hard to differentiate one from another besides the name. Some may have certain brand names that they only carry, but otherwise you kind of know what you're going to get when you go into a department store. If you're thinking about Macy's right now, you could close your eyes and pretty much imagine what you're going to get, where you would find it in the store. There was also Filene's Basement, which was more of an outlet store. We didn't have one in the Cape Cod Mall. It was actually across the street. But what happened to Filene's was very similar to Jordan Marsh. In 2005, it was acquired by Federated Department Stores, which is Macy's Incorporated. As part of a larger consolidation in the retail industry. And following that acquisition, most Filene stores were converted into Macy's. I believe it was the following year, 2006, in the Cape Cod Mall that Filene's logo was removed from the facade of the mall and the Macy's one was put up. We're going to go four for four with stores that I remember from my childhood as the next classic mall store I want to talk about is Electronics Boutique.

Speaker 03:

Meet the Home Computer Software Authority. Electronics Boutique. Hands-on trial runs. Over 3,000 software titles. Expert help.

Speaker 01:

I hear the name Electronics Boutique, I think of my friend John, he and I going in there checking out the video games. That's the big thing I remember. It said Electronics Boutique, but I thought of video games immediately. The chain was first established in 1977 in King of Prussia Mall, and it was headquartered in West Goshen near Westchester in the state of Pennsylvania. Originally, they were an electronics boutique because they started out selling calculators and digital watches. Then, as the 70s evolved to the 80s and 90s, they moved into video games, computers, software. You'd go into electronics boutique, there'd be games you could play as long as they weren't occupied by someone that just wanted to play the game forever. I'd have to ask John, I don't remember if the prices of the games were considered good or if they were a rip-off, but when we used to go, it was the Nintendo 64, the original PlayStation, those were the big new game consoles. Electronics Boutique eventually was rebranded as EB Games, because obviously they sold mostly video games, so it became an easy switch. In 2005, Electronics Boutique EB Games was acquired by GameStop, and those two were merged into the biggest name in gaming retail. Many of the EB Games locations were either closed or rebranded as GameStop, like the one in the Cape Cod Mall. So this is one where technically the Electronics Boutique chain has been closed, but it kind of lives on through GameStop. The next store I'm going to talk about, it puts my researching hat to the test here because I didn't want to make this podcast or the original Classic Mall Stores one just all the ones that I remember from the Cape Cod Mall. So the fifth store I'm going to talk about is Miller's Outpost.

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This was a

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popular retail chain, particularly in California and the southwestern United States. Their heyday was the 1970s and 80s, with Miller's Outpost specializing in casual clothing, a strong focus on denim, jeans, western-style apparel because it was in the southwest. At its peak, Miller's Outpost had more than 300 locations in California, Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada... It was a go-to destination for shoppers looking for the Levi jeans, flannel shirts, and other rugged everyday fashion items. The jeans and flannel just makes me think that this would have been a perfect grunge store in the 90s. But what happened was in the 1990s, Miller's Outpost rebranded itself as Anchor Blue to modernize its image and appeal to younger, trendier kids. And this Anchor Blue name was to reflect the shift in focus from the western and denim-heavy aesthetic of Miller's outpost to a more contemporary urban fashion style. And how did that work out? Well, in 2011, Anchor Blue filed for bankruptcy and closed all of its stores. So their failure wasn't immediate, but you're looking at less than 20 years that they went from 300-plus stores to being totally closed down. When doing my research for popular former mall stores, one name that kept popping up that I wasn't really familiar with was Gadzooks. The name is funny, so I had to put it in this list. But Gadzooks was founded in 1983 in Carrollton, Texas by Gerald Bogart and Larry Titus. This store initially focused on selling t-shirts, novelty gifts, and it operated in small mall stores. To me, when doing the research, it sounds very similar to Spencer's, as they were known for quirky items, gag gifts, novelties, graphic t-shirts. At least at the beginning. Because as it evolved, Gadzooks shifted its focus to apparel, accessories, and particularly targeting the youth market. In the 90s and the early 2000s, Gadzooks featured a mix of surf and skate-inspired clothing. This included popular brands like Billabong, Roxy, and Quicksilver. Those brand names definitely struck a chord with me as I knew if I had a Billabong or Quicksilver shirt, I'd be seen as one of the cool kids in high school. And later on, the store expanded to trendy junior fashion, denim, tops, dresses, footwear, accessories for teenage girls. Gadzooks would have trendy decor, including its Volkswagen Beetle decor displayed in stores. The problem is they didn't really differentiate themselves too much from other stores, so growing competition from Hollister, American Eagle, Abercrombie & Fitch became an issue. In 2003, Gadzooks had a significant restructuring, focusing solely on women's fashion and discontinuing its menswear line. This move was a massive fail. They filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy one year later in 2004. And then Forever 21 purchased 150 Gadzooks stores and were phased out with many of those locations being rebranded as Forever 21. So much like Miller's Outpost, Gadzooks tried to change who they were and it didn't take very long for them to fade away. One spot that 90s kids in particular will probably remember from a lot of malls was Discovery Zone.

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Discovery

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Zone is a chain of indoor play centers for kids. It was like a super jacked up playground. These were really popular for birthday parties. where a kid could invite all their friends and the parents could come and the parents could just congregate in one area and just let the kids run and go crazy. Discovery Zone was immensely popular in the United States during the 1990s. It offered a unique mix of physical activities, games, entertainment, and it was, like I said, in a safe, controlled indoor environment. There are loads of fun outdoor playgrounds, but you know if you have parties at outdoor playgrounds, there's going to be one kid that runs off and suddenly is gone in the woods or something. At least with Discovery Zone, there were four walls, so a kid could only go so far. Plus, Discovery Zone featured obstacle courses, ball pits, zip lines, arcades, party rooms, even toddler areas. But there's only so often that you can go to a discovery zone. And by the late 90s, the company faced financial difficulties. In 1996, they went bankrupt, which when you think about it, discovery zone was huge in the early to mid 90s, and they were gone really fast. I remember in the early 2000s, we had a similar type place in my town. And my oldest niece, I think she was turning five. And we had her birthday party there. There's loads of pictures. So there is a market for these indoor kids activity playgrounds. But I don't think enough for a big chain like Discovery Zone to come back again. Oh, but then we move on. The eighth store I'm going to talk about. Boy, this is close to my heart. And we're talking about Record Town. Now, Record Town wasn't as big as Tape World. I'm actually surprised they didn't make a CD universe to make it even bigger. This is where us 80s kids went to find new music. The Cape Cod Mall had Record Town at one end and Tape World at the other end. The first Record Towns, they opened in 1956 by a man named Stanley Tamer in Scranton, Pennsylvania. And obviously based on its name, initially it focused on selling vinyl records. And it became one of the earliest specialty music retailers in the U.S. Because back then in the late 1950s, an actual music store wasn't as prevalent. So having a place you could walk into and there's music playing and rows and rows of back then vinyl albums, that was something new. Record Town became a perfect shopping mall store. They'd have posters on the glass, music playing just loud enough that if you walked by, you're like, ooh, who's that playing? Let me go in and listen. Giant album cover displays. I know when I used to go in the 80s, 90s, there'd be band t-shirts on the walls. And from its opening in the late 1950s, Through the early 90s, Record Town kept growing, taking advantage of the popularity of vinyl records, 8-tracks, audio cassettes, and later CDs. Record Town later became a part of the Transworld Entertainment Corporation. They also operated other music chains you might be familiar with, like Coconuts and FYE for your entertainment. The rise of digital downloads in the early 2000s along with Transworld Entertainment owning all of these music chains. That's what led to the downfall of Record Town, as most of them were rebranded as FYE. I couldn't find an exact date, but it seems to be the early 2000s that Record Town was gone. Which, when you think about it, if they could have lasted a few more years, now that vinyl is back in style, kind of as nostalgia, maybe Record Town can make a comeback. One store that I became familiar with, particularly through doing the time capsule segments on the podcast, was a department store called WT Grant. I should have heard of them because they're local for me. They were founded in 1906 by William Thomas Grant in Lynn, Massachusetts. WT Grant stores offered affordable goods to the public. And by the mid-20th century, the company had expanded to hundreds of locations across the United States. Initially, WT Grant stores were variety stores or five-and-dime stores, but they eventually evolved into department stores. And like I've said a couple times already on this show, department stores, if you've seen one, you've seen them all. They offer Men's, women's, and children's clothing, housewares, home furnishings, toys, electronics, appliances, seasonal items. It's all basically that same stuff. Now, what made them unique was their focus on affordability, neighborhood locations that were usually in small to medium-sized cities, obviously shopping malls at some places. One unique thing they offered that led to their downfall was Grant's credit cards. They introduced their own credit cards, which obviously allowed their customers to buy on credit in their stores. And that led to a lot of customer loyalty, which was great. But there were problems with the credit cards, giving them to people that wouldn't pay. There was overexpansion. Competition, management missteps with leadership failing to modernize the stores, or adjust to shifting consumer preferences. This led to W.T. Grant declaring bankruptcy in 1976, and this was one of the largest retail failures of all time as far as bankruptcy went. I don't know if it's as big, but it would be kind of like Kmart and Sears, them going out of business. That's how W.T. Grant was seen in the mid-1970s. Oh, but it's time to get a little more risque with the next store. The tenth one I'm going to talk about here, classic mall stores, is Frederick's of Hollywood. When you think about women's lingerie, you're either thinking of Frederick's of Hollywood or Victoria's Secret. Frederick's of Hollywood was founded in Hollywood, California in 1947 by Frederick Mellinger. It was one of the first companies to bring high fashion lingerie inspired by European styles to mainstream American consumers. It's interesting if you stop to think about lingerie in general and then think about that being sold in stores in the late 1940s in America. It's like if you watch any classic American sitcom from the 1950s. It seems so far from lingerie stores. But it was a necessary product. Fredericks of Hollywood catered to women looking for more glamorous and provocative styles. They're credited with introducing the push-up bra to the U.S. market. And they sold what you would expect there. Lingerie, including bras, panties, corsets, nightwear, sexy costumes, hosiery. Later on, they expanded into swimwear, accessories, even ready-to-wear clothing, which became synonymous with Hollywood glamour and sex appeal. And they attracted celebrities and became a cultural phenomenon. I don't think I ever... knew of a Fredericks of Hollywood being anywhere near me in New England. Maybe I'm wrong, but I still knew who they were. The name was out there. What ended up happening, though, was in the late 90s, early 2000s, Fredericks of Hollywood faced increased competition from newer, trendier lingerie brands like Victoria's Secret. They appealed to a broader audience with its focus on elegance and inclusivity. And Fredericks of Hollywood filed for bankruptcy twice. First in 2000, again in 2015, due to declining sales and increasing competition. In 2015, they closed all of its physical stores. But don't be sad, Fredericks of Hollywood still today operates as an online retailer. So if you were looking for something, you can still go to their website. So that's 10 stores down out of 15. How many of those are you familiar with? How many did you visit? When coming up with this list, I tried to make it a good mix of places I was familiar with and some that seemed to be popular that I didn't know, like Miller's Outpost. I mentioned earlier Filene's, and they had an offshoot brand Filene's Basement. In the part one of Classic Mall Stores, I talked about Woolworths. And here's an offshoot company of them, and it was called Wool Co.

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Wool Co. was

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a discount department store that was founded in 1962, and obviously an offshoot of Woolworth's. That kind of shows you how big Woolworth was in the 60s and 70s, that they had their own offshoot brand. The peak for Wool Co. was the mid-1970s, where they had anywhere from 300 to 400 locations. The whole concept of Wool Co. was created to compete with other big discount retailers at the time, like Kmart, Zayer, and Target. And much like those other discount retailers, Woolco was known for discount pricing, a wide range of merchandise. Their stores offered a broad selection of items, apparel, toys, appliances, furniture, even automotive supplies. What's interesting is that Woolco locations were typically larger than the Woolworths stores. often occupying warehouse-style buildings with spacious layouts. So it sounds like it was more like a BJ's Wholesale or even Home Depot as far as being just gigantic cavernous buildings. Wolko embraced the self-service model of shopping, allowing customers to browse and select their items without relying on sales clerks, which surprisingly that wasn't common at the time. You would have to go into a store and talk to someone. I'm looking for this, can you find it? Instead of finding it on your own. Many Woolco stores included in-house cafeterias, much like the famous lunch counters at Woolworth. So it was kind of like you could go there, start shopping, get tired and hungry from shopping, eat at their cafeteria, and then keep shopping. It was a pretty smart business plan. What ended up happening, though, was... As a part of a restructuring by Woolworth, all Woolco locations were closed by 1983. And this was due to years of losses in the American market. They were competing with Kmart, Target, and then the emerging Walmart in the late 70s, early 80s. So that led to the fall of Woolco, and then in the mid to late 90s was the fall of Woolworth. I had never heard of Wolko until doing research for this episode, and it was featured in a lot of commercials in the old commercial archives that I enjoy checking out. So I wasn't familiar with Wolko, but the next one, the 12th store, Suncoast, boy, I was definitely familiar with them. The full name was Suncoast Motion Picture Company. I can still picture that red, white, neon sign that you would see as you entered. They were a retail chain. They specialized in movies, TV shows, and related merchandise, physical media, CDs, VHS, DVDs. The original Suncoast was founded in 1986, and it was a division of Musicland, which they also owned brands like Sam Goody. So it was kind of a natural branching out. If you've got Sam Goody that handles the music, then you need something to handle the movie side, that kind of the media. Suncoast was one of the first retail stores that focused entirely on home video entertainment, initially selling VHS tapes in the 80s, but later expanding to DVDs, Blu-rays, collectibles. No LaserDisc, but alright. No, I'm sure they had them briefly. At their peak, there were 400 stores in the Suncoast universe. They were also bought by Transworld Entertainment. They're the ones you heard me talk about earlier. They own the FYE chain. I used to frequent Suncoast a lot in the 90s in the Cape Cod mall. As I got older and I didn't go to the mall as much, I didn't have any ties to Suncoast. And I think that was part of the issue. The rise of online streaming services, digital downloads, competition from larger retailers like Walmart and Amazon started to impact Suncoast's business model. Because I couldn't have been the only person in the late 90s, early 2000s that said, I don't need to go to the mall for my physical media business. What ended up happening was most of the Suncoast stores closed by the mid-2000s. Their original parent company, Musicland, they filed for bankruptcy in 2006, which is how Transworld Entertainment became owners of the chain. And as I said, there were 400 stores at the peak. The latest info I could find was from the spring of 2024, and there are only three Suncoast locations left in the United States. The Parkdale Mall in Beaumont, Texas, Jacksonville Mall in North Carolina, and the mall at Fairfield Commons in Ohio. So if you're anywhere near there and you're feeling nostalgic for Suncoast, you can go there and check them out. All right, we're getting into the later innings of this look at classic mall stores part two. The 13th store we're looking at is Lord & Taylor.

Speaker 09:

Always go incognito. And finally, get into the swim of things. This is how to shop the big sale. Go to lordandtaylor.com to print a special savings offer. The big sale is going on now. Oh my Lord and Taylor.

Speaker 01:

This is another department store. They were founded all the way back in 1826 in New York City by Samuel Lord and George Washington Taylor. It started off back then as a dry goods store, and as it became a department store, its focus on quality goods for middle and upper class people set it apart. What made Lord & Taylor successful included... innovative offerings like ready-to-wear clothing for women, which was a revolutionary concept in the 19th century, and it included high-quality fashionable merchandise at a relatively accessible price. Lord & Taylor was also known for its elegant in-store displays, particularly during the holidays, that drew large crowds. They emphasized excellent customer service, including liberal return policies and personal attention. The flagship store on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, which opened in 1914, was iconic. It was one of the first stores to employ elevators and use innovative lighting to enhance the shopping experience. And Lord & Taylor were among the pioneers in suburban expansion in post-World War II America. This is how they ended up getting into shopping malls. But a common theme with a lot of these stores, the issues they had was the rise of e-commerce and increased competition from other department stores. I've said it repeatedly in this episode. If you've been to one department store, you pretty much know what you're going to get. So what was unique in the 50s and 60s is not as unique in the 90s and 2000s. There were several ownership changes which led to an identity crisis for Lord & Taylor. The final sale in 2019, coupled with the COVID-19 pandemic, led to bankruptcy and a final closure of Lord & Taylor in 2021. At its peak, Lord & Taylor had 50 locations in the 1980s. And they had been around for more than 150 years. But it shows you that no matter how big a brand was, they can still end up closed down. I mean, when I was a kid, if you had told me that Kmart, Sears, Radio Shack, even Woolworth, if they'd all be closed down, I'd have said, no way. That's like me saying today that you never know. Home Depot, Walmart, Target, they're giants, but nothing's forever. One mall store that came and went in a flash, but luckily I was around for that flash, was the Warner Brothers Studio Store. It's jumping, jamming,

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slamming, space jam stuff. What do you think? Wow. Get all the goods and jam at the Warner Brothers Studio Store. Check out nine new floors at 57th and 5th.

Speaker 01:

We had one of these in the Cape Cod Mall in the 90s. They were retail outlets operated by the Warner Brothers Studio. They sold... merchandise tied to their intellectual properties. Looney Tunes, DC Comics, Hanna-Barbera. The first Warner Bros. studio store opened in LA in 1991, with the stores aiming to combine retail with entertainment. As a child of the 80s, growing up with Looney Tunes and Hanna-Barbera, the chance to go in there and they'd have cartoons playing on the TV, it was an easy sell for me. The Warner Bros. studio stores featured high-quality branded merchandise, though. Clothing and toys, collectibles, home decor. But then they had art and animation cells, which were obviously way more expensive, but you're talking about collector's items. They were quickly successful in the early 1990s due to their themed experience with the elaborate decor that brought Warner Bros. properties to life. I remember life-sized Daffy Duck and Bugs Bunny statues, mannequins, whatever they were, inside. So even me, I was 14, 15 years old when they first came around to the Cape Cod Mall. I had a blast in there. It was an excuse to be a little kid again. And if you didn't like Looney Tunes, they had Batman, Superman, so it appealed to a diverse customer base. Even in the 90s, nostalgia was strong. And that's how they got successful was being placed in malls where parents would walk by with kids and there'd be a five foot tall Bugs Bunny in the window and the kid would naturally want to pull their parent in there to get close to it, get a picture with Bugs Bunny. Because of the success of the Warner Brothers stores, there were other specialty stores in the mid to late 90s, more specifically the Disney store that created competition for the same audience. And it wasn't cheap to run one of these stores, the elaborate designs, premium retail space in the mall, and the licensing fees for some of the intellectual properties. It just strained profits on these owners of the stores. By the late 90s, online shopping was becoming a thing. The big box retailers, Walmart, Target, they began drawing customers away. because you might not have been able to get an animation cell from a Looney Tunes cartoon, but you could probably get similar toys somewhere else and then do a lot more shopping in the same store like Walmart. The final nail in the coffin for the Warner Bros. Studio store was the AOL-Time Warner merger in 2001. They closed all of the stores as part of a broader cost-cutting measure. It was crazy because the Warner Brothers Studio store in the Cape Cod Mall seemed like it was just a perfect, successful model, and then it was gone. But then again, by the time it closed in the early 2000s, I was in my 20s and didn't really frequent the mall anymore, so I'm thinking that didn't help. It's like the Seinfeld episode when Jerry and George go into Mario's Pizza when they're closing. And they're all excited to be in there. And then the guy, Mario, that owns it is mad at them. Yeah, where were you all these years when I was struggling? That's like me with the Warner Brothers store. The last store I'm going to talk about on the classic mall stores of the 70s, 80s, and 90s part two is Anderson Little.

Unknown:

Right down to his clothes. Yeah!

Speaker 07:

Anderson

Speaker 01:

Little was founded in Fall River, Massachusetts, so it's another one that I think I was more familiar with because of where I grew up. They were an American clothing retailer manufacturer known primarily for its men's suits and sportswear. They had a history rooted in providing affordable, quality menswear and operated as a staple in malls, shopping centers during the peak in the mid-20th century. Anderson Little specialized in off-the-rack suits and menswear, stylish clothing at reasonable prices. It's kind of like Men's Warehouse, that same idea. They were one of the first retailers to market directly to consumers without middlemen. which kept the cost low. The problem came with the rise of casual wear in the 1980s and 90s, and that contributed to a decline in the demand for suits and formal wear, which was what Anderson Little gave. And there was also competition from larger department stores, changes in consumer habits, that led to the closure of most Anderson Little locations by the late 90s. I don't remember if we had an Anderson Little store in the Cape Cod mall. As a kid in the 80s and 90s, I don't think getting a suit was a big priority for me. If I needed something like that, I could always rent one from Mr. Perry's Tux, which is what we had. A local place. I used to get my hair cut there every now and then with my grandpa. That's a very specific thing to my life and to Cape Cod. But there you have it, 15 more classic mall stores from the 70s, 80s, and 90s. How many of these brought back fond memories for you? It was a lot of fun doing research on these. I mean, there were some that I knew offhand, Filene's, Jordan Marsh, Electronics Boutique, that I didn't need much in the way of notes for. But then others that I didn't really know about, like Miller's Outpost or Frederick's of Hollywood, I needed to get some info on. So I hope you enjoyed this look at the classic mall stores of yesterday. And hopefully you're almost done with your holiday shopping. When this podcast goes live, there's literally two weeks to the day to Christmas. If you're looking for gifts for people on your list, I have nine books for sale at my website, ChristopherSatterlund.com. I would say I could sign them for you, but I think if you bought one, got it sent to you and sent to me and that it's just so many steps. I could always just sign an index card and mail it to you and you can put it in there like a bookmark. Next week, we'll be back for episode 174. I'll be looking at some of the most beloved Christmas holiday commercials of all time. You want to talk about an overdose of warm and fuzzy nostalgia, you're getting it next week. I'll also be looking at the incredible hype and ultimate fail of Laserdisc as far as video media went in the 1980s. I believe my family had one Laserdisc, which was the reason why we didn't have more than one Laserdisc. The week after, because it's Christmas, we're going to skip that week. So there won't be a new podcast episode in two weeks. It's just the holiday season with Thanksgiving and then Christmas. I figure a lot of people are not listening to podcasts that week, so I don't want to spend the time creating something and have it kind of fall into the void like a Christmas present that's stuck way behind the tree that you don't see. But I'll be keeping up with my YouTube videos, the webcam weekly wrap up video podcasts, which are a lot of fun to make. They take a while to edit, but that's the look at my wacky life, random things that happen, maybe sometimes poignant things about life that I talk about. It's the video version of the initial impressions 2.0 blog that I do. So if you don't want to see me talk about the week that was for 20, 25 minutes, you can read the blog version. It'll take you far less time. Like I said, $5 a month on Patreon gets you access to bonus podcast episodes, early access to the main show, early access to YouTube videos. You can also go there and become a free tier member. I'm trying to make it where it's worth your while. If becoming any kind of a subscriber isn't your thing, you can always donate. You can buy me a coffee. That's more of a one-time thing. But as I always say, the best thing you can do for me or for any content creator is spreading the word. Sharing that you enjoy the podcast, the videos, the blogs. I will market and promote my work until I'm blue in the face, and I do that. But it means more when it's people that aren't me saying, go and check out his work because it's good. Whether you're knee deep in shopping still for the holidays or it's all done and everything's wrapped, make sure to take a few minutes for yourself. Lean into the things that make you happy, whether that's certain foods, certain people, certain podcasts, just being outside. Take a few minutes to recharge. The holidays are an awesome time. My favorite time of year, I've said ad nauseum, is from Labor Day to New Year's. But it can get stressful. That's why I hope this podcast is kind of an escape for you for an hour most weeks. Except when it's Christmas and Thanksgiving. Fun nostalgia to escape from present day. Nostalgia is a powerful thing. which is why I like sharing it. And remember, in this life, don't walk in anyone else's footsteps. Create your own path and enjoy every moment you can on this journey we call life because you never know what tomorrow brings. Thank you all again for tuning in. This has been the In My Footsteps podcast. I am Christopher Setterlund. You already knew me. And I'll talk to you all again soon.

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Christopher Setterlund

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