Flashback to the Timeless Malls of the 1980s

When ’80s kids went to the mall, they weren’t just going to shop. It absolutely was a location to hang out and socialize, to spend time with friends — and, in many cases, find a date. A mall was sort of cultural and civic hub, a sprawling cement playground which was home to the newest in fads and trends. It absolutely was where you could buy glittery watermelon lip gloss and butterfly clips for your own hair, even though you really wanted a couple of thigh-high platform sneakers from Brookstone, and it had been also the kind of place where, if the mood struck you, you could get your ears pierced at Claire’s. https://time.com/3805133/flashback-to-the-timeless-malls-of-the-1980s/

In the era of David Byrne’s True Stories, shopping malls were viewed as emblems of modern American life, replacing town squares and bringing people together. But that’s not exactly how malls have shaped our culture in reality. Instead, malls have already been used as a setting for sexy horror movies (Mallrats), apocalyptic thrillers (Dawn of the Dead) and teen comedies like Fast Times at Ridgemont High and Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure.

These films accentuate the strain between the pleasures of mall life and the prospect of violence, and they helped to solidify the mall’s role as an image of American consumer culture. It’s a part that hasn’t been completely obliterated by the rise of online shopping and the death of big box retailers, but it’s been diminished nonetheless.

In his 1989 book Malls Across America, photographer Michael Galinsky documented the waning glory days of those cultural and social hubs. The images are nostalgic for ’70s and ’80s babies who remember the vibrant stores, loud arcades and busy food courts of these youth. And in an era when we all appear to be glued to our phones, it’s hard not to desire to return to a time when we actually left them behind for only a little while.

But in the same way the internet has sucked up various kinds of retail, it appears that malls have already been pushed out just how by other such things as online shopping and entertainment options, particularly in places where they aren’t well-suited to weather extreme temperatures or provide much shade. Still, many have was able to thrive by becoming destinations for entertainment and leisure activities rather than places to sell goods. And they’ll probably continue this if the recent popularity of TikTok and YouTube proves anything. For the others, these time-capsule pictures of the ’80s mall world can take us back to simpler occasions when life seemed less hectic and a bit more magical.