This is sad: Dying Malls

[Deleted]

Dying malls of America: Shoppingtown past and present (photos)


By Michael Greenlar | Posted April 11, 2019 at 11:18 AM | Updated April 11, 2019 at 11:37 AM


expo.syracuse.com/news/g66l-2019/04/1e4225b1ee1785/dying-malls-of-america-shoppingtown-past-and-present.html

Oh how I remember that Mall. I bought a pair of black trouser's there that I needed for a function. All i had while doing an extra year of college at LeMoyne in Philosophy was two pair of blue jeans and a pair of brown cargo shorts and several tee shirts. Oh I bought a white shirt there to. I also need that. Which I did not have.

[Clipper]

I only remember being in that mall once. Many years ago we took a drive to Syracuse for my ex-wife and mother inlaw to shop at both Shopping Town Dewitt and Fayetteville Mall. It was something that we did occasionally on Sunday. My father inlaw and I would sit at the food court and drink coffee while the girls shopped. I loved it when they opened the Carousel Mall. They had a bigger food court and a Cinnamon Bun shop. We would buy a huge cinnamon bun and coffee and then go to the food court to "people watch" while the gals browsed and shopped. If just the wife and I went I would wait for her in the book store. The book store had a coffee concession with tables and a sitting area where one could sit and read while enjoying a cup of joe. As an avid reader I could be content browsing the aisles or purchasing a book to read while sitting with coffee. She could shop all she wanted and then meet me there when she was ready to leave. The favorite place to eat after shopping was at an Old Country Buffet that was on the West side of the city in the Fairmount section.

[clarencebunsen]

I am pretty sure I was never in that mall. I have seldom gone to Syracuse to shop. Back in the 90's my company was doing regular business with a chrome plating company in Syracuse near Destiny Mall. If I made the run to pick up or drop off parts, I normally stopped at the bookstore in Destiny. This was during the period when the bookstores at Sangertown had closed and the one at Consumer Square had not yet opened.

Since Sears closed I seldom go to Sangertown anymore. I used to leave my car there for tires or whatever and walk through the mall. Now I have very little reason to go there.

[Clipper]

I an relate to your comments about servicing you car at Sears while wandering around the mall. I continued to do that occasionally here when Kathy's minivan needed service. Our mall is now closed and empty. There is a proposal for a cannabis operation to open there, producing medical grade marijuana and CBD oils in the old JC Penny store and Belk store. It is also a proposal by some investors that want to open a casino in the remainder of the mall, and a gambling law was passed recently in the state of Virginia that would allow the casino. The law states that the proposal be put to a vote in the fall with a proposed public referendum.

Of three Sears stores, one in each of the tri-cities, we have but one left in Johnson City, and that store is on life support. I miss our local Sears. Sam's Club has become the go-to place for tires. I have the truck serviced at the dealer, and I don't remember the last time I bought tires. In recent years I have traded my trucks before they needed new tires.

While it would bring millions of dollars to the area, be a boon to local businesses and hotels, and create over a thousand jobs, I have my doubts as to whether the casino project will ever see the light of day, seeing as how we are smack dab in the middle of the bible belt. It is doubtful that the proposal would ever pass with the heavy concentration of Baptists, and evangelicals in this area. It has only been since we moved here in 2002 that the Tennessee side of town was allowed to sell liquor by the drink. Up until that time there were a limited number of beer licenses issued by the city of Bristol Tn, only one liquor store, and the only bars that served wine or liquor were on the Virginia side of town. Bristol Virginia has but one liquor store. A state run store. I probably stand a better chance of getting pregnant than I do of ever sitting down to a slot machine in Bristol Virginia.

[clarencebunsen]

Tires were on my mind this week. We had the brakes done on Barb's car. Pep Boys offered to replace the front tires. The car has 27,000 miles on it. The tires are somewhat worn but not to the point of needing replacement. That would have added $400 to the bill.

Sears keeps sending me offers to renew my credit card. I really don't need their card if I don't have a store to shop at.

[Deleted]

Cb what type of business did you have and when. Was it located in Utica or New Hartford?

[Clipper]

I still keep my Sears Master Card. I love the Wonderlite slip on shoes and Sears is the only place I have found them over the years. They are the most comfortable casual shoes I have ever worn. The last two times I have bought the shoes, it was at a time when they were offering a fairly substantial discount if you used the Sears credit card.

[Deleted]

I Googled Sears and I did not know they still sell through their web page. I thought when they closed they dropped the web site also. I have no idea why I thought that!

[clarencebunsen]

PB, For several years I worked for a company called Hamilton Digital Controls. It was on Beechgrove Place in East Utica, When that closed the Quality Control manager and I decided to try and run the business on a much smaller scale. We rented one of the building which Hamilton had owned plus manufacturing equipment from Charlie Gaetano. We knew all of Hamilton's customers and convinced several of them including IBM to continue doing business with us.

We operated with minimum overhead which is why the president of the company drove parts to Syracuse for chrome plating. My partner and I also mowed the lawn after work but that got to be too much. I got my son to do it once a week for us.

We started with 12 employees and I think got up to about 30. The market for magnetic heads continued to decline and we eventually closed. Sad but I slept much better when I no longer worried about where next month's payroll would come from.

Took me about 7 years to pay back the personal loan I had taken out for start up money.

[Deleted]

Wow that had to pretty exciting. Amazing that the need for the product stopped.

[clarencebunsen]

Much of the world has moved on from magnetic recording. Our most profitable line was heads for 1/2 inch tapes. Those went to makers of the refrigerator sized machines you would see lined up in computer rooms in the 70's and 80's. Even when the manufacturers of those machines went out of business we still made good money selling in the aftermarket for repairs and replacement.

Another profitable line was heads for check sorters to read the magnetic ink characters on the bottom of checks. We only had one customer for that product: IBM. All we needed. I wonder if they even make the sorters anymore. The volume of checks written today is only a fraction of what it was.

We one of our competitors went out of business we went to the auction and bought a bunch of file cabinets. We didn't need the cabinets but I spent weeks going through their engineering and marketing files. People like the IRS and the military were willing to pay for someone who could make replacements when their single source supplier had folded.

Eventually even those markets dried up and we decided to move on with our lives.

[BHU]

You must have known Pete C. who worked at HD?

[clarencebunsen]

Apr 15, 2019 15:45:14 GMT -5 BHU said:

You must have known Pete C. who worked at HD?

I probably did but no one comes to mind. Do you have any other info which might jog my feeble memory?

Another former HDC employee was on my mind yesterday. Ray Stalloch, a man I worked with for many years passed away this weekend at age 101. I went to the calling hours and spoke with his son and grandson. They said he was still very active until about a year ago. I know he was still biking 15-20 miles at a time when he was in his 70s.