You can resurrect any shopping destination at all, from any point in your lifetime, as it was at the height of your memories of the place. What is it? A store? A particular shopping center or mall? A downtown street?
Greetings, Programs!
Welcome to my outpost on the Interweb! I write SF, fantasy, and horror for fun and profit. Other interests include music, nature, science, humor, food, bib overalls, and pie throwing (metaphorically AND literally). About Me Comments Policy Photo Gallery My Books: The Song of Forgotten Stars
Other BooksHow to make Buffalo Chicken Soup A Pie in the Face is a Wonderful Thing!
Where to Find Me On Social Media Facebook
(rarely updated)
BlueSky Threads Tumblr Instagram Flickr YouTube Tiktok (pending) My Substack: Dispatches from the Forgotten Stars SUPPORT!
If you like what you see here, consider supporting! See “My Books” in the pages above, or use these donation links. 
-
West Edmonton Mall was pretty cool when it opened. There was a lot of stuff to see and do besides just shopping. You could cut a record in the mini-record studio, go skating, play mini-golf and see a movie all in an afternoon. They also had the coolest waterpark and submarine rides. It's not the same anymore but back in the day it was a very cool place to spend the day. In University they had a chinese food buffet place that charged you five dollars a plate and we would use science to see how many chicken balls and noodles we could pile on a plate. For twenty dollars you could feed ten people and have leftovers for breakfast. Insane.
Oh, for sure the old Corner Store. It had penny candy.
Downtown Binghamton, 1960s. Vibrant, not dead, like it almost is now.
Actually, my favorite was Copenhagen Drive in Solvang, California, where I grew up. And you know what? Last September I visited there for three days and it hadn't changed a bit! Well, except that now there are wine rooms all over the place. I can handle that. It's one of the reasons why I'm working toward moving back there this year!
I think I'd have to go with the Tea Room near New Silver Beach in North Falmouth, MA in the late 70s. My cousins had a cottage in town not far away, and we'd stay there with them for the odd weekends during the summer. It was a kind of convenience store that had worn wood floors, a screen door on a spring that would slam with that particular snare drum sound that only wood framed screen doors can make. They stocked all manner of candy, soda, toys, beach supplies, dumb tourist gifts, tennis supplies (there were courts nearby). They had Star Wars trading cards, which I recall lots of my allowance money going toward. My cousin and I would hit that store a couple times a week. Back then we roamed freely and far even when quite young (ages 7-10 or so).
I miss the 5 and 10 in both Medina and Albion respectively. Albion's had the old wood floor that creaked when you walked across it. They both had olde tyme things that you just can't get ahold of anymore.
Tayna: Medina just screams out that it was a really nifty little burgh back in 'the day'. So does Batavia. I like our modern stuff and all, but I also might have enjoyed being in one of those towns…especially when the trains came through.