Before online shopping took over, these iconic stores helped make the American mall the place to be.
Sam Goody
Shopping for music used to mean heading into a store like Sam Goody and flipping through rows of CDs, cassettes, and (even earlier) records. Located in most malls, Sam Goody was a popular spot for teens to browse new albums.
The rise of digital music hurt brick-and-mortar record stores, and eventually Sam Goody disappeared from malls across America.
KB Toys
Few things were as exciting for kids as spotting the giant KB Toys logo when walking into a mall. The stores were filled with every toy imaginable, including action figures, dolls, video games, RC cars, and shelves stuffed with toys reaching toward the ceiling.
Big-box competition and shifting shopping trends were difficult for KB Toys to overcome, and it liquidated the remaining stores in 2009.
Waldenbooks
For years, if you walked into most American malls, you could count on seeing Waldenbooks. These small stores were filled with bestsellers, magazines, children’s books, and paperbacks. As online bookselling grew and its parent company struggled, Waldenbooks locations slowly disappeared until the last ones closed in 2011.
Limited Too
There were few stores that kids in the late ’90s and early 2000s frequented quite like Limited Too. Between the store’s playful clothing, glitzy accessories, bedroom décor, and graphic tees, there was something for every youngster. In 2008, the physical chain was converted into Justice stores.
RadioShack
RadioShack wasn’t exclusively a mall brand, but you’d be hard-pressed to find a mall in America that didn’t have a RadioShack at one point or another. Need a battery, cable, adapter, electronic part, or radio? RadioShack likely had it. But eventually online retailers and changing habits for shopping electronics sent the electronics retailer into a tailspin.
Suncoast Motion Picture Company
Suncoast was another go-to destination for movie buffs before films could be streamed instantly. Mall locations stocked VHS tapes, DVDs, movie posters, merchandise related to blockbuster films and TV shows, and countless other collectibles. As with most retailers that dealt primarily in physical goods, streaming dealt Suncoast a heavy blow from which it never recovered.
The Limited
Long before mega-retailers like H&M and Uniqlo became widespread, America’s malls were defined by specialty clothing shops like The Limited. The chain was among the largest women’s clothing retailers in the country for years, but its days in retail came to a close when it closed the doors to its last stores in 2017.
B. Dalton Bookseller
Long before bookstores turned into massive destinations with cafés and places to lounge, B. Dalton books were often found in malls. The chain was one of America’s largest book retailers at its peak, but stiff competition from larger bookstore chains and e-commerce led to its demise. The last B. Dalton Booksellers closed its doors in 2010.
Chess King
Chess King clothing was everywhere if you spent time shopping at malls in the 1980s. The mall-based store built a reputation on trending 1980s fashions and clothes that appealed to young men. But as times and styles changed, Chess King began to falter. The company went bankrupt in the mid-1990s.
Gadzooks
Gadzooks clothes were made for the teenage mall shopper. The store wanted its guests to feel cool and different by creating a quirky shopping experience. Shirt graphics, jeans, and accessories made Gadzooks popular throughout the 1990s and early 2000s. Forever 21 acquired the remnants of Gadzooks and folded it into that chain’s locations.
Like our content? Be sure to follow us.
10 viral products that vanished without explanation
These once beloved products quietly slipped out of production while nobody was paying attention. So here are 10 products that used to be everywhere but now barely exist at all.
