It’s both interesting and sad that malls are not what they used to be (physically, culturally, or socially).

Those of you around my age (or millennials in general): do you remember the role that the mall played in your childhood/teenagerhood? I was never an “OMG I gotta go to the mall!!!11!!1!!1” type of girl, but it still played an important role in my existence throughout my early life.

I would always spend the weekends at my dad’s place. Our routine – from as far back as I can remember – was always to go to the mall on Saturday mornings. He’d give me $20 and set me free for an hour to wander around the mall and buy whatever I wanted. Books/CDs from Hastings; makeup, notebooks, and pens from Rite Aid; art stuff from Michaels; books from Waldenbooks; earrings from Claire’s; weird miscellaneous nonsense from The Card Farm (I have no idea if anyone remembers that store, but I loved it) – these were frequent purchases, and I enjoyed the “independence” of getting to wander around the mall on my own for an hour.

My dad bought me Beanie Babies from Hallmark (back when they were a thing).

I got my first Tamagotchi at JCPenny.

I bought a copy of The Sims at Toys ‘R’ Us.

I bought my prom dress at Macy’s.

My high school friends and I would wander around the mall when we all wanted to gather.

Hell, when Rob and I were dating in college, we spent a lot of our time at the mall (there were…other reasons for this, but we’re not getting into that right now!).

Malls just don’t seem to be as integrated in kids’/teens’ lives anymore, which is super sad. I guess that goes along with the idea of the “death of third places” thing, which is the decline in public gathering places outside of home or work, but still.

It’s a bit depressing is all.