Things have certainly changed.

 

“'Cause we are living in a material world

And I am a material girl

You know that we are living in a material world

And I am a material girl.”

The days of going to the mall and shopping for hours took a breather this year. Hopefully, next year it will get its breath back—-the problem is, malls and retailers have been “winded” for some time.

The mall, for so long, was the place to hang out as teens—-and to go to with your Mom when school was about ready to start. Never, did we let the two mix. My favorite stores at the mall were the ones that sold tennis shoes (that’s what we called all shoes) and the Gap. I was not really into shopping so it was much more of a social event.

As I grew up, I found I went to different malls to shop. One of the malls was in north St. Louis, the other further south, and several in between. The stores in the mall were pretty much all the same—-except for Sears. They sold popcorn. 

Before my teen days at the mall, I went with my Dad to Sears. It was a Friday evening event— he went to look at tools, I went to the sporting goods department, and we ended up at the popcorn area and we bought a box to share. It was so good.

Move forward many years and now we have malls that are pretty much empty. One of the most popular stores or “anchors” were Sears and Penney’s—-not only did Sears have stores at the mall, in many instances they owned it. The entire mall.

It seems hard to believe…but at one point, Sears and its sister company Kmart had more than 3500 stores dotted across America. No one was bigger; customers knew it, Sears knew it, and because of this feeling, they were sure they would remain at the top…forever. Today they have about 100 stores combines.

The photo above was taken at a farm somewhere in Western Illinois. When I saw the boot on the pole, and the Sears, Roebuck and Company sign in the background, I knew things were not going well.

Thanks for stopping by.