Dead Mall - Carolina Circle Mall in Greensboro, NC

I've never even been to this mall in Greensboro, North Carolina, but the video gave me goosebumps and it nearly gave me tears. Thank you to roadgeek for sharing this moving video on youtube.  It starts by bringing us back to the 70's when that mall was built, which was when beautiful malls were popping up all over America like spring tulips. The anchor stores of this mall were Ivey's, Belk, Montgomery Ward, and I am not sure if there were any others. We love the very 70's Montgomery Ward color choices, and also the interesting view from outside. Were those two enormous things on either side of the Montgomery Ward entrance supposed to look like port windows or giant speakers? 

I can see from the video that other nearby stores closed too (I'm assuming they were detached, but probably next door). I recognized the colorful facade of what must have been Toys R Us at some point and I recognize that KMart awning.

Malls aren't just about shopping. They are a source of entertainment - window shopping, people watching, coffee with a friend, lunch with the kids, visits with Santa or the Easter Bunny, and more. Each mall varies in the entertainment it provides. My gosh! Just from that video alone I could see that this mall had a disco at one point, a beautiful carousel, and an ice skating rink. Clearly the mall was THE place to be in Greensboro, NC for years.

The malls I went to while growing up in Southern states usually had an ice skating rink in the center. People growing up in the South don't get the winter-long experience of ice skating on ponds, so this filled that void (year round even!) while making the mall an even more exciting place to be. I remember the disco lights and fun music at the ice skating rink at Countryside Mall in Clearwater, Florida as a girl, and I'd always have to stop at the center of the mall to watch the skaters and wish I could do the spins some of the big girls could do - or at least have an ice skating costume like theirs with the ruffly skirt that looked so pretty when they spun. I used to look at the display window of the shop next to the rink and wish for a pair of pretty new white skates or one of those ruffled costumes. I did eventually get an ice skating costume as a gift that my mom purchased for me from the ice skating shop and I wore it around the skating rink sometimes on lucky days that I got to skate there. I never did learn to do any spins, but that shiny turquoise costume with white ruffles meant so much to me that I still have it. Maybe I'll put it on and head to a mall. It would fit nicely as a scarf or hair wrap. ;-)