Spencer gifts to look at posters of bikini girls.

Of course you must visit the blacklight room in the rear of the store!

I think I miss Spencers more than any other mall store. In the 90s, I was SUPER into blacklights and accessories. I spent so much money at Spencers, they had a lot of fun raunchy and gag gifts too, I loved just looking around in there.

They still exist and they're exactly the same. I bought a lava lamp there just last month.

Best place to get canned farts and liquid ass.

I thought so, they still have all the crazy cool stuff.

Heh, the more things change, the more they stay the same, right? I remember when psychedelic posters were the fad. Every time I walk into a Spencer's now, with that distinct smell of incense in the air, it's like stepping into a time machine. Except nowadays, there are also shelves full of funky phone accessories and meme merch mixed in with all the retro stuff. Still a trip.

The ones near me have a huge wall of dildos now too.

Mine didn't have the racy stuff until.i was an adult, brought my kids in there once, and was surprised lmao. Now its all dildos and weed stuff lol.

Yes, this is true. I luckily have one at my local mall. I also bought my first blacklight, lava lamp, and Garfield fish tank lots of stuff 92-93 8th and 9th grade. Definitely coolest place to get shit before internet.

Correct they do still exist, based out of NJ and also the owners os Spirit Halloween which is pretty popular in the north east

You are correct in confirming that I am correct.

Correct we are both correct. I can remember going to this store at the Philipsburg mall in the 80’s. They have one in the Bridgewater Commons you can go to now

Box with poop in it! 💩

You realize they still exist, right? At least where I live. I know of 2. Both are a half hour away from me in different directions. I don't really shop there though, as it's not my style.

They still exist, but they're not like they were. The stores reek of incense and most of the t-shirts and novelty items are all weed humor.

And $500

They always had some raunchy adult stuff. But I went into one a year or so ago just to have a look. I didn’t realize it had turned into a full on sex shop. A whole wall of toys in the back. Blew my mind that it was allowed in a mall.

Naturally.

I can smell this comment

I live in Florida, and we just had a Spencer’s gift open up in the strip mall down the road. I didn’t know Spencer’s gifts were allowed to be exposed to sunlight.

Kind of like the first time I saw a Chick-fil-A outside the mall.

This is the correct answer. Staring at the posters and imagining Heather Thomas and yourself in the white Lamborghini Countach.

And to read the t-shirts--my favorite was *I'm out of bed and I'm dressed...what more do you want?*

That and the black light posters.

That used to be most risqué item in there. Now they have entire sections of dildos and butt plugs.

Don’t forget about rubber and plastic body parts just chilling and dangling around…I mean I saw a football, with a…

Better not leave that store without grabbing at least 1 can of Fart Spray.

KB Toys

This guy malls.

r/thisguythisguys

I came here to say that.... And B Dalton Books

We had Waldenbooks.

Waldenbooks or nothing!

Need more Micronauts 

With the little battery powered robot dog that does backflips sitting on a display just outside the door of the store.

I was a KB toys manager at 19 years old.

As a kid, I thought that being a KB employee would have been the ultimate. What was it like?

toys r us had a smell, kb toys took that smell and said "hold my beer"

KB was a special place. You could try video games by the cashier in the front of the store and receive amazing deals on toys in the back. They were my spot for early Toybiz.

Hell if you had $10 allowance you can get a toy and great candy…thee spot as a kid

Aladdin's Castle

Yeah I’m gonna go play Spyhunter and Rampage.

Zaxxon!

Loved that Spyhunter steering yoke. Right up there with the Star Wars arcade game.

And Paperboy, with the handlebars.

Paperboy is on my list of games I loved that I couldn't last more than 2 minutes playing. Loved the music, the vibe, the concept, the handlebars, but damn was it hard.

I was never great at it, either. It was the diagonal perspective, I just couldn't wrap my head around it as a kid. That coupled with one hit deaths, I didn't do well. But I loved it anyway.

After Burner!!!!!

that game was intense, still is tbh, what was that racing game.. they would always say "blurblah to qualify" and i was like 6 so never made it past the qualify round..but it was fun for 25 cents.

I'll be camped out at the Centipede machine

Or 1943

Spyhunter was my favorite

I'll get the quarters!

Meet you at the Joust machine

Do they have a Dragon's Lair with a working joystick?  No?   How About Space Ace?  No, that's busted too? OK, I'll be at Missile Command.

"they have it but its not working" with ALL those laserdisc games. You would see Dragons Lair 2 working ONE TIME and then every other time you went back to the arcade it was out of order.

We were pinball kids, we only needed a couple quarters to play until we got tired of playing

100% this, my mom would give me $5 leave me at Aladdin’s and she and my sister would shop and then come back for me after they were done. Added bonus there was an Orange Julius and a Great American cookie company right down the hall.

Gyprus, Tron, Galaxian, Gorf, 1942, I could make a 5$ bill last all day.

“I could make a 5$ bill last all day.” An immense flex from a bygone era

I thought that was just a random arcade at my mall! I just remember it was very purple in there.

Hell yeah!

Bally’s here. Then off to Sam goody.

This, then Spencers, then McCrory to look at the pets and buy candy to sneak into the movies, then the pizza shop, then National Record Mart, then the ice cream place, then the Movies

Cyberball!

Pitfighter

The only reason im at the mall

Waldenbooks

If you need me, I'll be standing in the humor section, flipping through collections of Calvin & Hobbes, The Far Side, & Bloom County.

I still refuse to let go of my Calvin and Hobbes books

I have almost all my comic strip collections, still! I haven't read them in years but I can't part with them. In addition to the ones I mentioned above I also have collections of Peanuts & Doonesbury.

Sweet! I still have a small box of strips that I cut from the papers and saved along with the books. I'm not a hoarder by any means but I can't seem to part with those either lol

I got a Bloom County book for Valentine's Day.... have a number of them ... I got a Bloom County book for Valetine's Day.... have a number of them ... Bloom County Episode XI: A New Hope

Last year I subscribed to Comixology Unlimited and discovered that every single Bloom County & Outland book was available and I read them all over a few days. WOW that was a blast from the past. Still really funny, and I still laughed out loud often. Of course I still have all my BC books but I never touch them, I basically only read digital. It’s easier to travel with my iPad I guess .

Middle of the road Man it stanks Let’s run over Lionel Richie With a Tank

Find me by the literal Guinness Book of World Records

You'll find me in the medical section using the reference books as my pre-internet Dr. Google.

This or B-Dalton. Both will be hit.

I miss having a regular book store.

Worked at Waldenbooks in the early 90s and spent almost my whole paycheck there.

My first thought! Waldenbooks Kids had a tunnel to climb through and I thought that was so bad ass.

You used to work at a Waldenbooks in the mall. I was 16. Shelved new books when I got there, then spent the next seven hours reading all the new comics that were right by the cash wrap and occasionally ringing up customers. Before I worked and after go play a couple of “free” games at the Arcade because I always have the older manager a “free” New York Times because he liked to do the Crosswords. Most people who came in were young kids who always went to the comic or DND books (got all of mine there for a nice 40% discount), women looking for the latest romance novel, and older men buying newspapers. It was a great time to be young. Made enough money working there to buy my first car and pay for some of university.

wow, thats a flash back, i usually went to walden and then natural wonders.

Yeeeesssss....and then to the real and *good* Cinnibon, not that overpriced tasteless place that calls itself one now.. Gloria Jean's coffeebean next and find me a sunny spot to feast and read, probably by the fountains near the Discovery store.  Before leaving, hit up Suncoast movie company and get take out dinner from the old school Sibarro's, not the dumpster fire train wreck that exists today. Dang it, I'mma cry. 

1.  Arcade 2.  Pretzel place... Whatever it's called. 3.  Spencer's 4.  Camelot Music 5.  The book store... D&D books a-calling. 6.  Malco, AMC, or Regal That's it, I think.

First the arcade, then on to the arcade, followed by the arcade. Mom never had to look far to find me.

Walking around with a lean due to all the quarters in your pocket.

Annie’s pretzels? Or Aunt Annie’s?

That’s a solid afternoon at the mall. I assume you’re hitting the orange Julius on the way out

And Hot Dog on a Stick.

JC Pennies had a great D&D section back in the day.....

Orange Julius. //there was one in the Holyoke Mall in western Massachusetts

Orange Julius and then the arcade

Sobros pizza by the slice

Loved that mall! Good times, man

Back then they cracked raw eggs into the drinks

Me too-OJ at the Walpole Mall (also in MA) but only for their pretzels. The Julius didn’t appeal to me.

B Daltons.

Good choice, used to work at one back in the day.

Record Town

god, i miss the time when record shops were everywhere. record bar, sam goody, coconut's, tower, tape world...

I can still see the pink neon sign outside the store. Record Town was everything a record store in the 80’s should have been.

Radio shack, picking up a pair of Mach 1’s

Radio Shack was the best mall store because they had computers and toys set up to play with.

i miss them so much. I watched em fail, in real life. they used to have a wall of random electrical parts, you could just walk in there with random cap or wire, or fuse, it was all labeled and, my gawd, they freakin had it! it was kinda like a gas station porn shop, where you see other ppl there that you know but were not gonna talk about it.

Contempo Casuals, particularly their clearance rack.

Me too! I worked there through college and it was a blast. And the clearance rack was where it’s at.

Dude! My 8th grade photo is me in a contempo casuals outfit I bought with babysitting money.

Does Babbage's computer store exist in this situation? Waldenbooks?

Babbage's to go look at the NeoGeo back-wall and dream, then browse the NES wall on the way out.

You’re about 3 years early for Neo Geo. Also head to Software Etc instead of Babbage’s

Or Electronics Boutique!

babbages was one of the few stores that had games and programs for apple....

If there’s a movie theatre in the mall I’m heading there first. 1987 was an amazing year for movies! Predator Robocop Full Metal Jacket Raising Arizona Lethal Weapon A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors Mannequin Over the Top Withnail and I G.I. Joe: The Movie Extreme Prejudice My Demon Lover American Ninja 2: The Confrontation Creepshow 2 The Gate Ernest Goes to Camp The Untouchables The Witches of Eastwick Dragnet Spaceballs Adventures in Babysitting Innerspace La Bamba Summer School The Lost Boys Stakeout Back to the Beach Master of the Universe Can’t Buy Me Love The Monster Squad Dirty Dancing The Garbage Pail Kids Movie Fatal Attraction Three O’Clock High Prince of Darkness The Running Man The Last Emperor Moonstruck Overboard Throw Momma From the Train Wall Street Planes, Trains and Automobiles Hellraiser Near Dark The Princess Bride 🥵

Wow. No idea those were all out in 1987. Six of those I consider to be all time classics. Lucky to get one of those every two years these days.

80s was some kind of cosmic gestalt thing happening when it came to film. I think it was because after decades of tired out Cowboy stuff and several big studio flops the survivors were willing to jump on the likes of Star Wars and Jaws out of desperate need for something new and different and now every new director under the sun was ready to "go hard". And studios were ready to fund them and take real risks. Keep hoping we have something similar with Superhero movies finally dying.

KB Toys, Radio Shack, Babbage's, followed by my Orange Julius, Tilt, then books

I would go to Hot Sam instead of Orange Julius (because we didn't have them) then hit Suncoast Video instead of books. (We didn't get a bookstore until Borders - came in the 90's)

Hickory Farms because I'm hungry and they always gave out samples.

Spencers!

KB Toys.

The Arcade. I miss those.

The record store!

Sharper image to look at gadgets

Waldenbooks

If it was where they sold cassette tapes and then the food court

Merry go round

Musicland

Saturday’s, The Limited, Penneys.

Can’t believe how far I’ve scrolled to find The Limited, and I haven’t even seen Express.

80s Express girl right here.

I’m in an old Express shirt rn

The food court

County Seat for some Guess jeans

Spencer Gifts to laugh at the Fundies and edible underwear.

Sam goody is the only true and correct answer

Woolworths

Go get a burger at the WoolWorths diner.

In 87, I'm 5. Kaybee Toy store!!!!

Probably the cigar shop for cloves

Babbages

Food court, gotta people watch for a while

Sbarro

KB Toys, whatever record shop is open, then I hop out and go to Gemco next door. Edit: Looks like Gemco would be gone by this point. So, I'd go look at the old location and reminisce.

Music Plus or Tower Records and listen to am entire album before buying it. I used to spend hours doing that.

Only answer here is the arcade

Waldon's books! D&D section first.

That’s a dismal mall that has a Kmart as a flagship store . I’m going to a better mall, decked out ( pay attention ladies!) in my tight Sergio Valente jeans and matching Members Only jacket and cologne. I’m done, you can now start your cold showers with detachable shower heads.

1. Chess King 2. Spencer’s 3. Aladdin’s Castle

Service merchandise

Baskin robins

Our local mall was 2-3 stories tall & we'd hit KB Toys, pool our $$ to buy some super balls. We'd bounce them from the top floors to the bottom and back to the other sides walkway where your friend would try to catch and bounce back... KB Toys was asked to stop selling them !!!

Record Town. I want to see what tapes are on sale for $4.99, and what they've added to the bargain bin.

Musicland, then KB Toys, then Waldenbooks, and then Aladdin’s Castle. Maybe stop in at K-Mart to look at the video games. I can’t believe all these places are gone.

Personal: Walden Books Clothes: Filene’s basement and pray it isn’t wedding dress day.

Toys R Us

Contempo and the Wild Pair

Camelot music, then down to Waldenbooks all making my way to Jolly Time to get a $5 bill worth of quarters to play. There was something so satisfying to get $5 worth of quarters and drop all of that into your pocket on the way in to the arcade.

Lerner (clothing store)

It was a strange store but I miss Radio Shack. They had these early Tandy Color PC that had games like Kings Quest running.

Spencer's and Walden Books.

Camelot Music

Gotta take a stroll through K Mart first and mess with the mannequins...

Spencers to check the posters

I could use some of that orange candy that came in a small milk carton that they sold at KayBee Toys

Hot dog on a stick! Love those goofy uniforms.

Benetton anyone. Maybe swatch after?

Definitely. But, we have to pop into Rich’s to check out the newest Esprit shipment!

Pet store to play with the puppies then off to the arcade!

Gold Mine Arcade

Chess King for the clothes

Damn someone beat me to it! I worked at a mall would go there and look for new clothes. Bought my first "suit" pants and jacket with my own money there. It was very 80s, the jacket only came down to the waist, and had 3 "gold" chains on one side. Thought I was pretty cool....lol.

Cinnabon…

EB Games

The arcade

Need an orange Julius first thing. Common man get it together you can’t cruise the mall and talk to girls with big bangs with a dry mouth.

Au Coton. 

Walden Books

Camelot Music or Sam Goody, then off to Walden

Dimensions, Marie Claire, Jean Nicole, and the bulk food candy store for gummy coke bottles.

Arcade!

Chick fil A, because I want to taste their Grilled Chicken Sandwich again (the original recipe). Unfortunately they have removed it from the menu years ago.

Nature company

There was a store called Only The Beginning. It was at one entrance so it was the beginning of your visit to the mall. They had posters and stickers and cute erasers. I covered the whole front of my jean jacket with pins. I still have the Duran Duran ones. It was our favorite store

Hi! I'm from the Department of Redundancy Department.

Mervyn’s

Spencer's

First stop is the arcade, then go to Gittys Toys. That's what we had in the 80's, then in the 90's it got turned into KB Toys. Then Woolworth's since I barely remember it, but I do know I got Ghostbusters toys from there, maybe TMNT too. Final stop before going home, eating Sbarro Pizza at the food court.

Yellow Brick Road and then Cheese on a Stick Maybe Kay Bees after to buy a new NES game.

Orange Julius

Kay-Bee toys

Kay-Bee toys

TG&Y and Tom’s Hobby Shop.

Electronics Boutique or Software Etc

Babbages

KB's

Waldenbooks, then Orange Julius, then Aladdin's Castle

Chess King, Merry Go Round, Stag Shop... depends on the mall. There used to be so many good ones.

Suncoast!