For a lot of us, the local mall was the social hub of our lives when we were teens. It was the place to “be seen” and to run into friends while just “hanging out”
I was never a mall rat when I was growing up because our little city didn’t have one. Oh, we had plazas and shopping centres with what we now call “big box” stores but we didn’t have a real mall until the end of my high school days.
Halifax had a couple of malls but it meant taking buses and a ferry ride to get to them.
My first real job was at the mall. I’d been out West for almost a year after high school and I checked out the new mall that was just opening up the week I got back.
There was a book store chain that hadn’t opened yet so I knocked on the glass and asked the manager if they were hiring. He told me that they hadn’t even thought about hiring staff and asked when I could start. I said “right now” and with that I had my first job!
Working in the mall was a real eye-opening experience – from the regulars who hung out after school at the food court to all the friends who were in high school or had just graduated and were working their first jobs.
The mall was it’s own little world – it had theatres, a grocery store, a department store, a couple of restaurants and pubs, and all the little stores that make a successful mall.
I was only working retail while I waited for an opening to come up at radio school and 9 months later I left the busy world of the shopping mall for school and then a solitary job working nights at a radio station. I still miss my social time at the mall.
What’s your mall story? First job? Teen hangout? Shopping at the cool stores?
