Creepy Mall music

If you grew up in the 70's your weekend treat was to head to the mall. They always played instrumental music while you walked around. Lots of reverb and all orchestra music. If you went to the mall during this time period you remember hearing this kind of music. I found some on YouTube and now it sounds a bit creepy but also brings back memories of walking in the poorly lit malls of middle America.



You know what is sad? I listened to the whole thing!

This is the mall I went to in the 70's. The Pontiac Mall in Pontiac, MI. My older brother worked at Sears when I was a kid. It was simply called "The Mall", evident on the logo.




The interior was quite dark with lots of gold and brown colors. 


I remember Sears, JCP, Hudson's (in the picture above) and Kresge's. Kreske's was kind of like Dollar General. Years later the chain would become what we know as KMart. Kresge's stores remained open for years even after KMarts started popping up. I don't remember the last time I went to this mall because we moved to Tennessee in 1980 but every summer I would go back to Michigan to stay with family so at some point I probably went there in the mid and late 80's but I only remember it during it's 70's heyday. 

I believe the mall finally closed for good in 2014. At some point it changed names to "Summit Place Mall". They tore it down in 2019.

Anyone have memories of old malls? Do you remember hearing this type of mall music? I think sometime in the 80's they eventually started playing mainstream pop although sometimes I would still hear Muzak blaring from the speakers. I remember one time even hearing an orchestral version of Cum On Feel The Noize sometime in the 80's.

It's like a soundtrack to a B movie.

I still enjoy a good walk through a mall now and then.  I grew up in South Florida with a shopping mall right across the street from our apartment building.  The highlights for me at that age were the comic book / magazine store, Jackson Byron's department store, the bakery that gave out free samples, Eckerd Drugs, Publix, and Woolworth's - which had racks of albums, a pet department with all kinds of colorful birds, fish, and reptiles, and a kindly manager who would give my brother and I free candy.  

We also visited other malls in the area (mostly to shop for clothes) but they were much larger.  Later, a friend and I started going by ourselves for the main purpose of chasing girls, lol.

In college my favorite weekend activity was visiting the Sangertown Square mall in upstate NY.   That was the beginning of the burgeoning metal scene, so the record stores were a place of discovery.   I had little money though and relied mainly on the scant treasures contained in the bargain bins....!

I've also happily spent time in malls in New Jersey, California, Washington and Oregon, both outdoor and indoor.  Bonus points if they had a Christian bookstore.   Have also taken full advantage of the movie theaters and the (sometimes) great food courts or restaurants.

The Musak was always a bit annoying, although I greatly prefer it to the throbbing hip hop or Top 40 the malls now seem to play.  Muzak also used to be a fixture in elevators and stand-alone department stores.

I enjoy watching Dan Bell's "Dead Mall" series on YouTube. He walks around malls that have been abandoned. In one mall the cops even show up and escort him out. Lately he seems to take tours of nasty, old motel rooms than malls though and some of those videos are comical. 

When I lived in Knoxville we had two mall. West Town Mall and East Town Mall. West Town is still there but East Town finally closed down in Dec 2019. My son went to East Town before they closed down and only a couple of stores were still open. He said it was strange walking around a mall that was open but had no stores.

When I was a teenager, going to the mall was a big deal.  The nearest one from where I lived was over an hour drive to Antioch, TN (a Nashville suburb) to Hickory Hollow.  They had clothing stores, shoe stores, two record stores, a Christian bookstore, an actual bookstore, and so much more.  I spent a lot of time there after high school because I didn't get to go during my high school years.

That mall was a big deal as was Rivergate for many years.  Then, they built Cool Springs down in Franklin, TN.  That pulled some business away from Hickory Hollow, but all three were going strong through the 90s.

Then, they built Opry Mills in Nashville where the old theme park Opryland used to be.  Hickory Hollow went downhill quickly.  It is still being used, but much of it is doctor's offices, a public library, government offices, etc.  There isn't much shopping in their.  Rivergate is drying up more slowly and only has about half the store space rented out.  Opry Mills seems to be going strong.

In 2010, we had major flooding and it looked like Opry Mills would close.  It took two years to repair it after the flood, but it came back and continues on.  Of course, the new refit made it look more modern and trendy.  It just doesn't appeal to my 50 year old self.  There aren't many places there I like to shop at.

Oh man, I hate to hear that! I loved Hickory Hollow Mall! We used to go there when we lived in Cookeville but this is before Opry Mills. As much as I love malls I said I would never go to Opry Mills because I was a huge fan of Opryland, we would go every summer. 



My brother begged me to ride the Wabash Cannonball with him. I think I may have been about 9 years old and I was SCARED to death! But once I got on and rode you couldn't keep me off! Always had an awesome time at Opryland. 

The only "mall" we have here now is Pier Park, which is an outdoor mall. I am not a fan of outdoor malls. I don't mind being outside but it is a pain during the rain. We might go there once a year if that. haven't been in a couple of years.

Wow MikeInFla!  I worked at Summit (Scummit) Place Mall for a while!  I was the Assistant Manager at the Walden Books there for about a year and a half in 2003-2004.  We knew it's days were numbered, especially when Great Lakes Crossing opened just up the road.

MikeInFla wrote:Oh man, I hate to hear that! I loved Hickory Hollow Mall! We used to go there when we lived in Cookeville but this is before Opry Mills. As much as I love malls I said I would never go to Opry Mills because I was a huge fan of Opryland, we would go every summer. 



My brother begged me to ride the Wabash Cannonball with him. I think I may have been about 9 years old and I was SCARED to death! But once I got on and rode you couldn't keep me off! Always had an awesome time at Opryland. 

The only "mall" we have here now is Pier Park, which is an outdoor mall. I am not a fan of outdoor malls. I don't mind being outside but it is a pain during the rain. We might go there once a year if that. haven't been in a couple of years.

Opryland was cool despite having a country music theme.  It fit the Nashville scene with that, though.  Revamping some attractions and adding/replacing rides would have been awesome.  It would also have saved the park.

Disney offered to buy the park in 1998.  They wanted all that Gaylord Entertainment owned including the Opryland Hotel and CMT.  They wouldn't sell.  The park then closed.  They started tearing it down almost immediately.  Opry Mills came to life in 1999 and has been around ever since.

I was watching a documentary on malls a few years back.  Opry Mills was late to the scene.  It was the last closed mall to be built in the USA.  Everyone is going to the open air mall where each store has an actual entrance to the outside parking lot and no connecting halls.  People don't want to do all the walking inside, but they don't mind finding parking again and again to hit the few stores they want to see.  For me, I may be old and fat, but I don't mind walking to only have to park once.  If it is a great spot, I love it even more.

The little mall they have in Cookeville, TN is still there.  Sadly, only a couple of stores are there, and the place is just creepy now.  If it were a larger city, it looks like a good place to get killed.