![]() I swear there’s one selling something that looks like crocs with golf balls stuck all over them. The shopping has turned into copy cat collection of shops selling sneakers, baseball caps, athletic jerseys, and t shirts, along with tacky kiosks. Not quite the 5 star experience it once was, but still a Hyatt. The elegant decor of brass and marble and extravagant floral displays are gone, replaced with a look that’s sleek, modern, modular and unremarkable. ![]() The gracious old Wynfrey is now Hyatt Regency. Even the beautiful Riverchase Galleria became a shadow of its former self. Lots of indoor malls shuttered, some reimagined into different kinds of spaces. ![]() Outdoor malls like the Summit in Birmingham and Bridge Street in Huntsville began to draw stores and crowds away from the old malls. Outdoor shopping was in, indoor shopping was out. Back to the demise of indoor mall spaces. At least I wasn’t stranded on the sidewalks of an outdoor shopping complex.īut, I digress. There was a cage wall pulled down between the Wynfrey and the Galleria. I’d have it practically all to myself! But, no. Even if the stores wouldn’t be open, I still thought I could get some exercise by power walking through the empty mall. The only downside was when I realized I couldn’t just walk out into the mall. Trapped in a gorgeous hotel, eating every meal in the hotel’s nice restaurants. That’s all well and good when the weather is nice, but what about when it’s nasty? Who wants to go then? Speaking of nasty weather, my husband and I were stranded in the Wynfrey for four days during the blizzard of ‘93. Shopping should be done in a bunch of different stores stuck together with sidewalks. The attached Wynfrey Hotel was marble and brass elegance.īut then some genius told us malls were passé. Jill, Ann Taylor, Waldenbooks, Godiva Chocolates, Häagen-Daz Ice Cream, and Boardwalk Fries were all part of the Galleria experience at one time or another. There was a jeep sticking out of the front window of the Banana Republic and a carousel in the center of the food court! Parisians, Rich’s, Pizitz, The Mole Hole, United Colors of Benneton, J. When Riverchase Galleria in Hoover opened in 1986, my friends and I took personal leave from work to go see it and shop to our hearts’ content. It was so pretty, with fountains, exotic birds, tropical plants, a movie theater, a children’s amusement park and all the stores my 8 year old self could imagine. I was only about 8, but I was enthralled. It was the Cherry Hill Mall in Cherry Hill, NJ, the first indoor, climate-controlled shopping center east of the Mississippi River. I recall the first time I ever saw a shopping mall. Remember shopping malls? Brookwood and Century Plaza? You could shop no matter what the weather, because everything was inside, air conditioned in the summer, heated in the winter, protected from rain all year. They say the Chop Suey Inn on Green Springs sells egg rolls similar to the ones Joy Young’s used to make, but let’s face it…nobody does it like Joy Young’s. For instance, the old John’s Restaurant in Birmingham was far superior to John’s City Diner. We really do take things for granted.īut some things truly were better. ![]() Even Outlander’s Claire Fraser, who chooses to go back in time to be with Jamie, admits that she misses “toilets…that flush”. Don’t you think George Washington would have loved our dental care today? No more ill fitting hippo teeth for him. We wax nostalgic about things “the way they used to be” when the reality was far less wonderful. I know the good old days were not always better.
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