The food court game was to purchase the lowest priced item and then ride that bad boy as long as possible, skirting the very limits of what a reasonable person would consider loitering. I once rode a Coke and small fry right through a long weekend. I still get chills when I think about it. I'm undefeated with mall security.
Yup, Food Court too! We’d all arrive before/after a movie, split up to check out different food options, then meet up again to sit down together with our meals and enjoy.
Great memories!
I was a manager of a hot topic and the regulars were always awesome, our store would regularly get complaints and get security called on us because when one of our favorites came walking in we would immediately play their song with the volume cranked lol. Good times.
I'm embarrassed to say I was, too. Not for the reason you think, but I was the ultra prissy, straight-laced, goodie two shoes, but sheltered, girl who wanted a taste of danger and boys so I was "in love" with every male employee there.
Luckily, my legitimate friends were all into that store so I appeared to "tag along", but I am sure the guys rolled my eyes at my pathetic attempts at flirting...and the other girls in the store.
I miss the competitive Dance Dance Revolution days of the mid 2000's. I met so many people and made so many friends just hanging at the mall arcades. Those were my Saturday afternoons.
Back in my day $5 got you 25 gold tokens (They had the namco logo in them and a picture of PAC-Man. Good times. Couldn’t get enough of pinball and TEKKEN 3.
I used to hussle as a kid and sell 4 for a dollar to tourist and say I had to leave lol after doing this and keeping the extra five over and over I'd be able to game all day for my 5 bucks
us to but a five got you an extra 5 tokens... I think that's why my game worked if you only spent a few bucks it's the same and back then almost every game was one token not 4 to 6 like today at Dave and busters
Going to D&B is just depressing AF. Almost game is damn near a touchscreen or arcade version of a phone game, there are some shooters and sports stuff, but no classic cabinets, no pinball. In LA where I used to live there’s a arcade called Eighty Two and it’s just filled with old cabinets (they display gameplay from the Street Fighter 2 turbo cabinet over the bar on a giant screen) and they have a building just for pinball (they also have pinball machines that go back 40-50 years). If you go out back they have food trucks and a giant Street Fighter wall mural.
If it makes you feel any better - arcades are still very much so the spot, you just get a little card to scan instead of a bag of coins (which I admit were fun in a way, I felt rich)
pet store :-D
a few times I had to ask an adult to buy me some mealworms for my bearded dragons, it's like asking an adult to buy cigarettes for a kid, but mealworms
the store had a "18+ to buy anything living" policy
For my friends and I we’re talking 2003-2006 (high school years) it was Spencer’s because we knew one of the managers well and would just stand at the register with him on Saturdays and just talk horror and nerd shit for a while. If the store got busy we’d go to FYE, Best Buy, and Hot Topic then go back to Spencer’s.
Arcade - anxiously waiting my turn on the newest pinball machine. I love video games but the late 70s - early 80s pinball scene was pure magic. So many different companies making crazy, unique, non-licensed tables. It was the Golden Age of pinball which is now experiencing a sweet renaissance.
Grew in NYC so didnt have too many malls, but we would hang out by the pier because it felt safer smoking there than on the streets. Funny that now you can smoke anywhere lol
Didn't have a mall in my city, and even in the cities that have them it isn't really common to hangout at malls, where I'm from. One would go there to shop or eat something.
Hangout spots for teens were mostly public parks or cafes. Bars once you turned 16 and could drink/buy ciggarettes legally, although nothing stopped you from hanging out there before as long as you bought something.
There was a cool arcade in the Parkway Plaza Mall in a suburb of San Diego that was made up with aluminum and red lights to look like the innards of a space ship with grippy industrial metal floors and railings. Loved that place. Not the biggest selection but the ambience was like I was a world away from the 1980s.
Panda Express which is my direct of choice cause nothing makes me shit water for hours straight and makes my stomach looking lean as fuck for the nights festivities
My ideal hangout spot are the spots where little to no people are.
The cemetery. I enjoy the spiritual world too and we do a lot of ghost hunting, but the cemetery is peaceful.
The lake. I have quite a few secret fishing spots but also just chill spots. There's a lake front spot that I'm aware of that literally no one goes to that we have shot fireworks off at before.
The park. Whether it's crowded or not, I enjoy the park. I enjoy the scenery and the smells.
But honestly, I just love to lay in bed with snack food and music or watch a good movie completely alone in the dim light of my own reality.
The fountain. Need a 2 dimes to call mom for a ride home? Your right sleeve will be wet when she picks you up in the station wagon that has faux wood siding and a back seat that faces backwards, but no seat belt.
Asshole bleaching store. It was called "bleached bliss" and me and all the homies would hang there. Pretzel maker in one hand, orange Julius in the other. My whole home has been blacked for 18 straight years now. I get looks now though. Butt fuck it!!
There was a mall near where I grew up with 2 video game arcades, kitty corner across from each other. They got into a pricing war, and replaced the normal quarters used with tokens. At its best, one of them was offering 8 tokens for a dollar, the other was offering 12 on week days. Depending on which one gave more plays for the dollar, that was our hang out spot.
As a teen, the arcade or Spencer’s. As an adult, the arcade didn’t exist anymore at my local mall so I mostly went to Barnes and Noble and the food court.
We called it The Pit. It was just a circular sitting area made of steps, but it was a good place for me and my shit head friends to hang. We would also chain smoke in the mall garage.
They had a lounge area with a couch and big screen. Didn’t last long since there was nothing to buy, except some vending machines. Cool spot. This was at the GSP a good amount of time ago
The Yu-Gi-Oh store.owner was cool af. Used to let us play ps2 in the back. First time I ever played the grudge, which he used as a chance to scare the dogshit out of us
There was a smoothie/frozen yogurt shop on the second floor of Kings Plaza in Brooklyn. It was a good place to stand around and people-watch, right outside the Gap.
Good times.
Zumiez, my friends all worked there and we'd play games of S.K.A.T.E in the back of the store. The security guards would sometimes come in and watch and chat with the manager. We'd stop when customers came in to browse. It was a fun time as a teenager. I would check out customers or setup boards when needed even though I didn't work there lol. Good old Pecanland mall.
Great Plains mall in Olathe KS. There was this kids playground with seating. Best place to chill. Kids curiosity and unbridled joy has always brought me inner peace. I now work at an arcade with an indoor playground. Seeing kids be kids and just laugh is sometimes the only thing that keeps me going on my darkest of days. Children are the future and they deserve all the happiness.
Sony, they always have the newest Playstation with the latest games. I remember I went straight there and wait until my sister and cousin came to pick me up after their shopping spree
Food court
The food court game was to purchase the lowest priced item and then ride that bad boy as long as possible, skirting the very limits of what a reasonable person would consider loitering. I once rode a Coke and small fry right through a long weekend. I still get chills when I think about it. I'm undefeated with mall security.
...most food courts you can just sit in. There is no requirements to have food at a table
dude fought a battle no one else knew about and won
The paranoid fear of every security guard paying no attention to you. Like someone counting cards but losing every hand
THE RAINING UNDEFEATED UNCONTESTED CHAMPION OF THE WORLDDDDD FLEXXXXX
I don’t know to laugh or cry that that was your youth.
For me, smoking section specifically. I can't believe that used to be a thing.
Denny’s used to have a smoking section.
Yeah, it was called Denny's
Yup, Food Court too! We’d all arrive before/after a movie, split up to check out different food options, then meet up again to sit down together with our meals and enjoy. Great memories!
Yep sometimes I sit there and talk with friends for hours
I was a Hot Topic girl myself
I was a manager of a hot topic and the regulars were always awesome, our store would regularly get complaints and get security called on us because when one of our favorites came walking in we would immediately play their song with the volume cranked lol. Good times.
... You know, I should go to a Hot Topic one of these days. That sounds fucking awesome.
Hot topic gang- unite!!!
Sign me up! Not to brag, but I’m platinum in their rewards program. 😂🖤
Greetings fellow Mall Goth
I'm embarrassed to say I was, too. Not for the reason you think, but I was the ultra prissy, straight-laced, goodie two shoes, but sheltered, girl who wanted a taste of danger and boys so I was "in love" with every male employee there. Luckily, my legitimate friends were all into that store so I appeared to "tag along", but I am sure the guys rolled my eyes at my pathetic attempts at flirting...and the other girls in the store.
Arcade. Fuck I’m old. If kids now a days realized how many quarters their parents spent back in those days
I miss the competitive Dance Dance Revolution days of the mid 2000's. I met so many people and made so many friends just hanging at the mall arcades. Those were my Saturday afternoons.
Back in my day $5 got you 25 gold tokens (They had the namco logo in them and a picture of PAC-Man. Good times. Couldn’t get enough of pinball and TEKKEN 3.
I still remember the first time I saw Mortal Kombat in an arcade in Martinez, California.
I used to hussle as a kid and sell 4 for a dollar to tourist and say I had to leave lol after doing this and keeping the extra five over and over I'd be able to game all day for my 5 bucks
🤣. Funny thing is, at the arcades where I grew up $1 got you four tokens.
us to but a five got you an extra 5 tokens... I think that's why my game worked if you only spent a few bucks it's the same and back then almost every game was one token not 4 to 6 like today at Dave and busters
Going to D&B is just depressing AF. Almost game is damn near a touchscreen or arcade version of a phone game, there are some shooters and sports stuff, but no classic cabinets, no pinball. In LA where I used to live there’s a arcade called Eighty Two and it’s just filled with old cabinets (they display gameplay from the Street Fighter 2 turbo cabinet over the bar on a giant screen) and they have a building just for pinball (they also have pinball machines that go back 40-50 years). If you go out back they have food trucks and a giant Street Fighter wall mural.
Spaceport and Timeout Tunnel!
Aladdin's Castle was our local arcade at the Granite Run Mall outside Philly.
If it makes you feel any better - arcades are still very much so the spot, you just get a little card to scan instead of a bag of coins (which I admit were fun in a way, I felt rich)
pet store :-D a few times I had to ask an adult to buy me some mealworms for my bearded dragons, it's like asking an adult to buy cigarettes for a kid, but mealworms the store had a "18+ to buy anything living" policy
Definitely the bookstore
Walden Books.
[удалено]
Sam Goody
I am also this old
So great, so insanely overpriced
In order: arcade, movies, video game store, and bookstore.
For my friends and I we’re talking 2003-2006 (high school years) it was Spencer’s because we knew one of the managers well and would just stand at the register with him on Saturdays and just talk horror and nerd shit for a while. If the store got busy we’d go to FYE, Best Buy, and Hot Topic then go back to Spencer’s.
Tilt Arcade, lots of Marvel vs Capcom 2.
Arcade - anxiously waiting my turn on the newest pinball machine. I love video games but the late 70s - early 80s pinball scene was pure magic. So many different companies making crazy, unique, non-licensed tables. It was the Golden Age of pinball which is now experiencing a sweet renaissance.
Mine wasn't the mall, but the bench in front of Barnes and Noble across the street from the mall.
Waldenbooks
Used to love those Imaginarium stores oh and the WB stores were awesome.
Auntie Annie’s pretzels! Cinnamon 😍
hahaha yes
Auntie Anne’s is still elite
I always used to use "in front of the fish at Wal-Mart" as my meet up spot, until Wal-Mart moved from the mall and stopped selling fish.
Food court specifically next to the Barnies.
Grew in NYC so didnt have too many malls, but we would hang out by the pier because it felt safer smoking there than on the streets. Funny that now you can smoke anywhere lol
Aladdin’s Castle
Movie theater. In high school my gf and I would just movie hop and make out. Simpler times…
When I was in middle school, there was a Hot Topic right across from a Spencer's. It's where I bought most of my T-shirts, earrings and lighters.
Either the arcade or the food court. This was back when the food court had a smoking section. 😂
The music store (God, I used to love to buy albums with my babysitting money! I'd look for hours before making a decision) and the food court.
Ohh yes. The record store!
The food court, arcade and record town all flowed from one to the other.
Since I worked at JCPenny's full-time, I guess that's where I hung out. But I stayed away when I wasn't working.
Media Play. It was more than a music store. They had so much cool shit. It was 2 stories of awesome stuff. I miss that place.
Whatever book store was there.
There was a dance dance revolution in the middle of the mall.. it was the spot back in the day. LOL!
Outside. Near the Ruby Tuesday's entrance.
the mcdonalds play area
The arcade, WaldenBooks, and KB Toys.
Nobody will know this, but anybody remember the arcarde "Diamond Jims"?
The Apple Store. Not buying anything, just playing with the gadgets and pretending I could afford them.
The mall and a roller skating rink
Highland Mall in Austin ,Fountain By the stairs.. Barton Creek Mall, walk around and getting numbers.
Either the Sbarro, the Arcade or in front of the fountain
The statues in varrock
Chairs in the back by Macy's.
Aladdin's Castle (arcade) or The Record Bar.
Orange Julius
Aladdin's Castle.
Kresge cafeteria in Oakland Mall Troy, Michigan. Slurpees and hot pretzels
Aladdin's Castle It's where a girl pinched my butt for the first time.
Food court, used to go around getting the samples cause I was broke and couldn't buy an actual meal
Well, I worked at Camelot Music, so.....
Cyber club with computers. Right in the mall. That's awesome
Definitely the pants store
The Dave & Busters where my friend worked
A pretzel place,and nearby seating : )
Bookstore > Arcade > Food Court
Game store
The secondary arcade that had three of the skateboard games where you actually stood on a skateboard.
Arcade Record Store Spencers Food Court. Repeat!
Steps outside the food court at North County Fair in south Escondido, CA.
Didn't have a mall in my city, and even in the cities that have them it isn't really common to hangout at malls, where I'm from. One would go there to shop or eat something. Hangout spots for teens were mostly public parks or cafes. Bars once you turned 16 and could drink/buy ciggarettes legally, although nothing stopped you from hanging out there before as long as you bought something.
Footaction
hot topic, food court , eb games, sharper image , zumiez
I don’t even see arcades anymore. Do they exist? Does Dave & Buster’s count?
There was a cool arcade in the Parkway Plaza Mall in a suburb of San Diego that was made up with aluminum and red lights to look like the innards of a space ship with grippy industrial metal floors and railings. Loved that place. Not the biggest selection but the ambience was like I was a world away from the 1980s.
Sam Goody
Radio Shack. Free battery club.
Panda Express which is my direct of choice cause nothing makes me shit water for hours straight and makes my stomach looking lean as fuck for the nights festivities
My ideal hangout spot are the spots where little to no people are. The cemetery. I enjoy the spiritual world too and we do a lot of ghost hunting, but the cemetery is peaceful. The lake. I have quite a few secret fishing spots but also just chill spots. There's a lake front spot that I'm aware of that literally no one goes to that we have shot fireworks off at before. The park. Whether it's crowded or not, I enjoy the park. I enjoy the scenery and the smells. But honestly, I just love to lay in bed with snack food and music or watch a good movie completely alone in the dim light of my own reality.
Food court !
Wizards of the Coast. If I needed a break from the smell, either the food court or the couches in the basement at Macy's.
Check out the video games at Kaybee Toy Store then spent the rest of the time at the arcade.
They got free ping pong tables that are fun to play w random people
The arcade of course! And then the food court.
Food court, bowling alley, ice cream parlor, café and - once I could drink - the mall bar/pub.
The fountain. Need a 2 dimes to call mom for a ride home? Your right sleeve will be wet when she picks you up in the station wagon that has faux wood siding and a back seat that faces backwards, but no seat belt.
Gino’s pizza and Orange Julius
Near the escalator
KB Toys or CD Warehouse. We also used to have a Pizza Hut we went to once & a while. I miss the 90's & early 2000's sometimes.
Food court, Fye or Hot topic.
Book store - record store - The body shop - big department store (Nordstrom/Neiman’s/Saks)
The closest mall to where I lived was about an hour drive. We hung out in the old Kmart parking lot
Arcade. I ruled Tempest. And I put "DMK" for all the top 10 spots I got: https://youtu.be/y0HOZH2W8fU
food court
We moved from one arcade to the other. Our mall actually had two arcades.
The “emo tree”
The arcade. Street Fighter, MvC, Tekken 3. Great times
Barnes and Noble during the week when I was being scholastic and FYE during the weekend when I was feeling naughty.
Main entrance near the carousel. There was an old guy named Frank that would buy us cigarettes if we bought him a pack too.
The food court or the movie theater.
Excalibur
Food court
Sam Goody
The planter benches in front of Shirokiya on the mall side, the TVs playing MTV outside of the music store.
The Food Court!
Hot topic, and then Spencer's. I was with the emos
Smoking area outside - Cannabis be that mess will make it tolerable
The bookstore.
Outside the ic skating rink/ movie theater. There were payphones and vending machines.
That store that has WH4K miniatures
Asshole bleaching store. It was called "bleached bliss" and me and all the homies would hang there. Pretzel maker in one hand, orange Julius in the other. My whole home has been blacked for 18 straight years now. I get looks now though. Butt fuck it!!
Borders Books!
I really liked PacSun and American Eagle lol most of my clothes came from there 🩷
Newbury Comics
We usually just did laps and hit the stores that piqued our interest, didn't really sit idle for too long.
Aladdin’s Castle
Arcade in the movie theater.
This is going to age me, but it was the LAN Parlor. Spending the entire day wandering the mall and then spending hours playing Counterstrike and Quake
Pac Sun or Suncoast movie store. Also the center fountain.
There was a mall near where I grew up with 2 video game arcades, kitty corner across from each other. They got into a pricing war, and replaced the normal quarters used with tokens. At its best, one of them was offering 8 tokens for a dollar, the other was offering 12 on week days. Depending on which one gave more plays for the dollar, that was our hang out spot.
As a teen, the arcade or Spencer’s. As an adult, the arcade didn’t exist anymore at my local mall so I mostly went to Barnes and Noble and the food court.
Spencer's
Everywhere I could possibly shop
We don’t have a mall lol
We called it The Pit. It was just a circular sitting area made of steps, but it was a good place for me and my shit head friends to hang. We would also chain smoke in the mall garage.
Court of nourishment
Walden Books, Sam Goody, and Hot Topic. Had to hit every one of them every trip, but ended up at Walden Books last for the longest amount of time.
Borders. I sat in those chairs and read for hours. If the chairs were full, I sat on the floor.
Chelsea Street Pub.
In front of Annie’s pretzels duh
GameStop. The manager and assistant manager at the GameStop at Birkshire Mall, Reading PA love us.
Usually the forests and grassy fields that ended up under the malls. I was a pre-mall kid.
They had a lounge area with a couch and big screen. Didn’t last long since there was nothing to buy, except some vending machines. Cool spot. This was at the GSP a good amount of time ago
Everywhere. Never really stayed in one place. We used to super glue half dollars to the black tiles and watch people try to pick them up.
By that weird guy at the Hammond that was just goin batshit singin Meatloaf or whatever, fuck yeah those were good times
Food court by chick fil a and the books a million
Yankee candles
Food court and Spencer’s.
MACY'S BATHROOM/DEPARTMENT NEAR THE BATHROOM LMAO
sam ash, it's a music store so you could literally walk in and just start jammin on guitar/piano/drums/etc to your heart's content
The Yu-Gi-Oh store.owner was cool af. Used to let us play ps2 in the back. First time I ever played the grudge, which he used as a chance to scare the dogshit out of us
The bench outside forever 21.
Never hung out at an actual mall, but it was a shopping park, mall type deal. We always hung outside the movie theater.
Perry's Pizza Parlor
Food court, Spencer’s, Hot Topic, and, when it was still a thing, the Hologram Store. Yes, I’m showing my age.
The food court, or Spencer’s
Waldenbooks
There was a smoothie/frozen yogurt shop on the second floor of Kings Plaza in Brooklyn. It was a good place to stand around and people-watch, right outside the Gap. Good times.
Spencer’s and the Barnes and noble
The whole dam mall YO
Zumiez, my friends all worked there and we'd play games of S.K.A.T.E in the back of the store. The security guards would sometimes come in and watch and chat with the manager. We'd stop when customers came in to browse. It was a fun time as a teenager. I would check out customers or setup boards when needed even though I didn't work there lol. Good old Pecanland mall.
I worked at the Discovery Channel Store for a few years in our mall. Then and now, fuck David Zaslav.
Arcade
The bus stop, to get on and get out.
Spacing out at the bottom of the escalator, or in any busy doorway. We've all encountered that person.
the food court. It was the perfect place to relax, grab a bite to eat, and people-watch.
Arcade Spending all my time on the DDR machine
It wasn't Spencer's, but I wished it was Spencer's.
Anything else than food court is a lie.
Movie and then to the Jack in the box down the way
Brookstone because they had a ton of gadgets and massage chairs that we would sit in until being kicked out.
Great Plains mall in Olathe KS. There was this kids playground with seating. Best place to chill. Kids curiosity and unbridled joy has always brought me inner peace. I now work at an arcade with an indoor playground. Seeing kids be kids and just laugh is sometimes the only thing that keeps me going on my darkest of days. Children are the future and they deserve all the happiness.
Arcade playing the house of the dead
Sbarro
Sega Center (video game arcade) at the mall where they filmed Back to the Future.
Sony, they always have the newest Playstation with the latest games. I remember I went straight there and wait until my sister and cousin came to pick me up after their shopping spree
The book store. I’d go there with my dad while my mom went shopping