39 Nostalgic Snapshots of 80s Malls for Veteran Mallrats Who Miss the Good Old Days

John Summers • Contributor

Jun 14, 2024 9:00 PM EDT

A few days ago, I uploaded a meme that jokingly suggested abandoned malls should be repurposed as Gen X senior homes, and to be honest, I can't stop thinking about it. Sure, it's a ridiculous notion—old malls don't have the facilities needed to function as retirement homes, but come on! Most of my fondest memories from the 80s and 90s are from those malls. Spending time with friends at the food court, feeding coin after coin into the arcade machines—the mall had everything we wanted, and we spent hours there. I want to go back!

Just think about it—are you telling me that if you had your tiny room at the top of a re-opened mall, you wouldn't spend your last days just hanging out? Watching 80s movies at the local cinema, eating ice cream with your fellow geezers, playing retro video games, and window shopping—doesn't that sound so much better than bingo night and Bible studies?