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buglord
Jul 31, 2010

Buglord
Ill start out this thread with a review with a nearby mall .

Westfield Culver City

This one is an old favorite. Triple story indoor mall with ample parking. It includes an attached Target and Best Buy (but this is in sort of a rougher zip code so all the key caps off the display keyboards are pulled out. Food court is fairly decent, has a good variety of food, and now a slightly overpriced Popeyes. We just lost a Caribbean jerk chicken food place, but theres some weird Korean hot dog thing which I haven't tried but it's probably better than hotdog on a stick. Unfortunately this mall features a few hype-shoe resellers in case you wanted a pair of $400 Nikes. Theres some black owned bookstore that had a dude grilling food before a live audience once, which was neat but they dont do that anymore unfortunately. Store variety is generally good. Minimal dudes who want to wash your shoes, medium levels of chthonic ambiance. I almost got trampled here in a stampede once because of a supposed mass shooting (was just something in one of the kitchens popping off)

Go If: you want to do some fun fashion shopping but also need a few practical things from target. Big Santa area during the holidays.

4/5

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Internetjack
Sep 15, 2007

oh god how did this get here i am not good with computers
Top Cop
Yeah, but how is the arcade?

Worf
Sep 12, 2017

i'm OBSESSED with quibbling over minutiae!!!!!!!!
what pizza place does the food court have

buglord
Jul 31, 2010

Buglord
I think there was a tiny one there when I first went to it, but it's been long replaced by those suit (rental?) stores that nobody goes into.

buglord
Jul 31, 2010

Buglord

Worf posted:

what pizza place does the food court have

Sbarros. I avoided it for the longest time but it eventually became kinda attractive since the prices of food skyrocketed. Never any long lines there either.

Anderson Koopa
Jun 9, 2006

all is right with the world especially as I lay waste to my fellow IKs
Grimey Drawer
The closest "mall" to us is a strip mall. It gets 3.9 stars on Google.

It offers such amenities as:

Papa Ginos, Subway, D'Angelos, and Asian Bistro - So if you're hungry, you are covered. Just be sure you want sandwiches or pizza

Famous Footwear - buy shoes here.

Spectrum store - I think you can download a car here?

Martial Arts, Gym, and US Navy Recruitment office - Get in shape! Serving your country is optional.

2!! ATMs - when you need :10bux:

Gamestop - Overpriced video games

Kohls, Old Navy, and TJ Maxx - Clothes

Michaels - craft stuff

Dollar General / Movie Theater - why not?

Package store - it's cold and dark here for a solid half the year, sometimes you need something to get you by.

There used to be a mattress store, but it's not there anymore. Also there's an Applebees in the parking lot along with another ATM.

jokes
Dec 20, 2012

Uh... Kupo?

Westfield Culver City

In 2024 I shoplifted about $200 of thunderbolt 4 cables, as well as an apple tv remote and a phone case from the attached best buy

5/5

Worf
Sep 12, 2017

i'm OBSESSED with quibbling over minutiae!!!!!!!!

Anderson Koopa posted:

The closest "mall" to us is a strip mall. It gets 3.9 stars on Google.

It offers such amenities as:

Papa Ginos, Subway, D'Angelos, and Asian Bistro - So if you're hungry, you are covered. Just be sure you want sandwiches or pizza

Famous Footwear - buy shoes here.

Spectrum store - I think you can download a car here?

Martial Arts, Gym, and US Navy Recruitment office - Get in shape! Serving your country is optional.

2!! ATMs - when you need :10bux:

Gamestop - Overpriced video games

Kohls, Old Navy, and TJ Maxx - Clothes

Michaels - craft stuff

Dollar General / Movie Theater - why not?

Package store - it's cold and dark here for a solid half the year, sometimes you need something to get you by.

There used to be a mattress store, but it's not there anymore. Also there's an Applebees in the parking lot along with another ATM.

Massachusetts rear end post

Anderson Koopa
Jun 9, 2006

all is right with the world especially as I lay waste to my fellow IKs
Grimey Drawer

Worf posted:

Massachusetts rear end post

You are surprisingly close lol. What gave it away?

Worf
Sep 12, 2017

i'm OBSESSED with quibbling over minutiae!!!!!!!!
Papa Gino’s put you in the neighborhood and package store theoretically sealed it

It’s not gonna be Rhode Island since afaik spectrum doesn’t serve that state

lol eastbrook mall. Most CT rear end place ever

Worf fucked around with this message at 01:31 on Jan 16, 2025

Rubber Chicken
Mar 13, 2024

[IMG-CHICKEN]
American Dream

This mall has roller coasters, a water park, mini golf, ice skating rink, and an indoor ski slope with a goddamn chair lift. Oh and a Ferris Wheel with a view of Manhattan.

4/5 because parking isn't great and you have to be in New Jersey

buglord
Jul 31, 2010

Buglord
Westfield Century City

Further west you get an outdoor mall that is a “cut above” Westfield Culver City, in both clientele and shopping experience. There’s a Gelson’s grocery store here as well as an Equinox gym, if you get the picture. This is an outdoor mall, but mercifully the food court is indoors. Dining options are much more constrained at this mall. An overpriced mediocre kebab place, some ube donuts, a poke place, then your standard Panda Express and Chick Fil A.

This mall unfortunately suffers from teenagers of wealthy parents, so on the weekends and later weekdays you’ll see a gaggle of highschooolers doing something or another on their phones. There’s some premium clothing places, yet luckily there’s an H&M for the rest of us. A Dr. Martin’s shoe store, a LEGO store, and even a Razer store are here. Somehow, someway the Razer store still exists after over a year. I go in there sometimes to touch the clacky keyboards. I have no idea if they’re making rent.

There’s an Apple Store where I bought my iPad that I later sold in the food court of the same mall. Parking is paid. The rates are tolerable if you split it amongst a friend or two.

Go here if: you wanna see all the Razer peripherals, are kind of rich, or are the child of a rich person who wants to act cool in ill fitting streetware. You like the sun.

Avoid if: annoying parking structures bother you, you have only median-american income shopping tastes

3/5.

Worf
Sep 12, 2017

i'm OBSESSED with quibbling over minutiae!!!!!!!!
Having my face buried in my phone would have been a vast improvement in behavior in the mall from when I was a kid tbh

d0s
Jun 28, 2004

There used to be two malls in the city I spent my teenage years in but they turned one of them into a charter school in the late 90s which is fitting

Internetjack
Sep 15, 2007

oh god how did this get here i am not good with computers
Top Cop
Our local shopping mall seems to be cursed; by itself.
Every loving store just cuts their margins to practically nothing that they all fail within a year.

Don't get me wrong, I loved being able to buy 3 t-shirts at JCPenny for $10. Similar prices on socks and underwear and such. But, I practically felt guilty every time I left I felt like I just robbed the place.

There's a movie theatre and they charge like $8 a ticket. How are you still in business? Oh, that's right, you aren't.

I loved and cherished shopping malls as a kid. I've posted this before, but the mall was the hangout place for all of us young kids in our neighborhood. They were the place to be. Now I walk through one and they are the saddest place to be.

Worf
Sep 12, 2017

i'm OBSESSED with quibbling over minutiae!!!!!!!!
I was reading about some mall that was taking storefronts and making like 100 sq foot apartments out of them

kntfkr
Feb 11, 2019
Probation
Can't post for 11 days!

Internetjack posted:

Yeah, but how is the arcade?

A lot of people blame 9/11. It certainly didn't help, but America died with the arcade.

Wifi Toilet
Oct 1, 2004

Toilet Rascal
I just looked up teen-me's mall and there are less than a dozen stores left in the directory that I recognize. I guess it has been over 30 years. :corsair:

I did like this review though, it's just so Hawai'i

"" posted:

Our latest day trip to The Gathering Place included a stop here as we were wanting to try the new location of Waiahole Poi Factory. Needless to say, they were sold out of kalua pig at lunchtime, so we skipped them and browsed around instead.

The 2-level, enclosed mall opened in 1982 and looks like its been freshened up here and there on the inside. Shaped like a "Y", each wing houses anchor tenants at the ends, with shops on both levels throughout. The mall was very congested as it was holiday shopping season and a keiki hula show was happening too.

STORES:
I wanted to check out their Macy's but it was shuttered! Target, Ross and a 10-screen Regal Cinemas are the lone surviving anchors. The rest of the tenants are a mix of local businesses & services, and a handful of national retailers.

FOOD COURT:
Located on the first level, the small list of eateries is good, offering a nice variety of fast casual dining. Seating is at a premium though.

RESTAURANTS:
Not too shabby either! You definitely don't need to leave the area to enjoy grub found on the other side of the mountains. Highlights include Big City Diner, Buffalo Wild Wings, Gyu Kaku Japanese BBQ, Hawaii Pot Shabu Shabu, Kickin Kajun, Pieology and Ruby Tuesday.

PARKING:
There's a small covered area on the west end but the majority is uncovered asphalt that surrounds the mall.

OVERALL:
Suitable mall for the twin towns of Kaneohe & Kailua.

Also, "suitable mall" like, drat, making Kaneohe sound like the boonies. It's still got the Fun Factory (arcade) though, which is cool.

Wifi Toilet fucked around with this message at 03:26 on Jan 16, 2025

Chief McHeath
Apr 23, 2002

trump drinks piss
- AI LensCrafters
- AI Lids
- AI Sephora
- AI FootLocker
- A couple of brand new cars in here for some reason
- AI pretzel stand
- AI Sunglass Hut
- GameStop
- China House/King/#1
- Probation office

Milo and POTUS
Sep 3, 2017

I will not shut up about the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. I talk about them all the time and work them into every conversation I have. I built a shrine in my room for the yellow one who died because sadly no one noticed because she died around 9/11. Wanna see it?
They still exist but it's just not the same :(

Lobotomy Bob
Jun 13, 2003

Our local mall is very similar to the mall in Dawn of the Dead. It has a sporting goods store with a firearm section, a grocery store, clothing stores, and a furniture store.

Also a indoor skate park for that apocalypse sitting in place boredom.

Raere
Dec 13, 2007

I live near the Burlington Mall which is where they filmed Paul Blart Mall Cop so that’s p cool

frumpykvetchbot
Feb 20, 2004

PROGRESSIVE SCAN
Upset Trowel

Raere posted:

I live near the Burlington Mall which is where they filmed Paul Blart Mall Cop so that’s p cool

arguably not

SAY YOHO
Oct 5, 2021
I would like to review the Holyoke Mall, which I visited over the holiday. Surprisingly active and full, but like three places to get your eyebrows "threaded", I guess that is some sculpting thing. And four or five jewelry stores, three in eyeshot of each other. Hot Topic had teens inside. There was a Starbucks, and if you walked in the Target next to it, there was another starbucks.

Rubber Chicken
Mar 13, 2024

[IMG-CHICKEN]
Nice scare quotes on a thing that's been commonplace for decades

freetrialaccount
Nov 24, 2024
University Village Mall, Seattle

An "outdoor" mall that they've thoughtfully ran car lanes throughout so that you can dodge inattentive drivers constantly. Parking is a nightmare on weekends and if you're bored you can watch as the many parking enforcement mall cops ticket cars lingering in the 10 minute parking spots. It's so nice of the wealthy patrons to support their local mall enforcement jobs.

Stop by the Rivian or Tesla stores so you can laugh at how awful the poorly designed metal body panels on the Cyber truck look up-close. Drop some cash on overpriced faux-high fashion shops like Gap, North Face, and Eddie Bauer so you can fit in with the local trend of dressing like you're leaving the Amazon offices for a day hike.

To be fair there is a pretty tasty ice cream shop and a spot that brews and sells growlers of ginger beer. Plus the local eruv was generously extended around the whole mall so you can safely shop during the sabbath without pissing off god!

a dmc delorean
Jul 2, 2006

Live the dream
About 10 years ago I had this great idea to go looking for arcade games again, and the London Trocadero was like the biggest arcade in the UK, spanning several floors. It also used to house the indoor Sega theme park "Sega World" where I went to for my birthday once as a kid.

Pumped up, armed with pockets full of coins and ready for some arcade action, I set off to the centre of the city. On the underground train, I reminisced over the cool blue neon lighting, the sound of hundreds of cabinets, pinball tables and other games making noises, claw machines filled with prizes, and the terrifying Xenomorphs that roamed the basement areas.

I finally arrived and entered the building. The miniature strip mall remained with several cutesy little Japanese stores selling manga, plush toys, Japanese candy and other little things. I marched on, the coins jingling in my pockets with each step, to find the grand double escalator at the end, the escalator you'd ascend to reach the games, the cinema, the cool stuff. But it was bordered off. In front of the boards remained one small relic of time gone by... a grey, plastic, very 90s looking portable ATM.

Anyway, that's my arcade/mall story. If you're ever in London, don't go to the Trocadero. It's probably still poo poo.

deep dish peat moss
Jul 27, 2006

Wifi Toilet posted:

I just looked up teen-me's mall and there are less than a dozen stores left in the directory that I recognize. I guess it has been over 30 years. :corsair:

I did like this review though, it's just so Hawai'i

Also, "suitable mall" like, drat, making Kaneohe sound like the boonies. It's still got the Fun Factory (arcade) though, which is cool.

Is the food in hawaii really so bad that Buffalo Wild Wings is a highlight???

huh
Jan 23, 2004

Dinosaur Gum
Do any malls still have water features? That was the peak of western civilisation.

Para Brahman
Jan 16, 2025

huh posted:

Do any malls still have water features? That was the peak of western civilisation.

They do at the Asian Garden Mall.

Water features were the peak of western civilization? Are you sure the peak of western civilization wasn't eastern culture assimilated into the culture of the west?

The origins of the dragon...

dentist toy box
Oct 9, 2012

There's a haint in the foothills of NC; the haint of the #3 chevy. The rich have formed a holy alliance to exorcise it but they'll never fucking catch him.


Ones of ours got torn down and replaced with an Amazon DC... Makes u think.

huh
Jan 23, 2004

Dinosaur Gum

Para Brahman posted:

Are you sure...

Yes.

Para Brahman
Jan 16, 2025

Then you ARE correct.

Wifi Toilet
Oct 1, 2004

Toilet Rascal

deep dish peat moss posted:

Is the food in hawaii really so bad that Buffalo Wild Wings is a highlight???

Hawai'i goes crazy when a national chain comes to town for some reason. I remember when Kmart first came they literally had lines going out the door into the parking lot. Same thing when Walmart and then Target came in. There were no Buffalo wild wings when I was there, I don't know when they arrived, but if it was relatively recent I could see it being something everyone has to check out.

Worf
Sep 12, 2017

i'm OBSESSED with quibbling over minutiae!!!!!!!!

Raere posted:

I live near the Burlington Mall which is where they filmed Paul Blart Mall Cop so that’s p cool

I worked in that mall very briefly when I was young

free hubcaps
Oct 12, 2009

My local mall (Crystal Mall, Waterford, ct) is on the verge of death. None of the escalators or elevators even function anymore. Weird to feel such nostalgia for a big empty commercial space.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3UZvjptILk

This guy has a lot of good mall exploration videos.

A Strange Aeon
Mar 26, 2010

You are now a slimy little toad
The Great Twist
There's a really cool indie tabletop RPG called Green Dawn Mall where you're teenagers exploring a surreal infinite mall looking for your friend.

I made a module kinda thing to generate interesting plazas and came up with a bunch of different store names and themes, check it out if you want. The store descriptions are under the mall directory link at the top.

https://astrangeaeon.github.io/GDMPlazaGenerator/

There's that Modest Mouse lyric that's more and more prescient, "the malls are the soon to be ghost towns / well so long, farewell, goodbye"

My hometown mall is for sale, lots of memories of that place. It was across the parking lot from the library so a Saturday was real easy to squander once mom or dad dropped you off.

A Strange Aeon fucked around with this message at 14:09 on Jan 16, 2025

A Fancy Hat
Nov 18, 2016

Feelin' Fine.
My local mall is the mall from the original Dawn of the Dead.

It's still hanging on alright, honestly a decent chunk of that is probably because of the movie connection. There's a small museum and gift shop dedicated to horror movies, there's a really good theater, and every year they host the Living Dead Weekend, which is basically a huge horror movie convention centered around (mostly) George Romero movies. The remaining shops are pretty much a mix of smaller independent stores and the mall staples like Hot Topic, plus they do a ton of craft and art shows recently where people set up in the atrium and sell their stuff, which is cool.

There was also a shooting there over 10 years ago but every single boomer still posts "WON'T GO THERE, GANG ACTIVITY!" every time the mall makes the news.

naem
May 29, 2011

I left the san Francisco bay ar-yuh in 2021 and almost every single retail location downtown had shut down even before covid and then it became literal madmax video game like setting of the homeless and smash and grab flashmob thefts of anything remaining

an interesting experience to live though, I can’t think of a way to convey it though posting particularly well

I commuted by bike which started as a naive poor millennial working in an office building hearing theme song music in their head (I’m the star of the show you see) and ended with oh gently caress I’m gonna get killed goddamn it is that guy making GBS threads?? is that poo poo? why is it so liquid there is SO MUCH why are the other people touching it now NO

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Cowman
Feb 14, 2006

Beware the Cow





There’s one near me that is basically closed due to bankruptcy but it’s got some nice local stores that are probably there because the mall is desperate. There’s some chain stores too but they keep moving out

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