Yes and no. There’s an outdoor mall five minutes away from me that I like… I like that it’s five minutes away from me, and it has some great practical stores like Target, Costco, DSW (commonly referred to as “Shoe Valhalla”), Sephora (right!?), LOFT and Old Navy. They also just got a Nordstrom Rack, a Carter’s and a Banana Republic Factory Store.
So lots of everyday useful stores, but I still wish I lived closer to a proper indoor mall with more variety, like the huge three-story malls in San Francisco and the East Bay where you could walk in while it’s daylight, totally lose yourself for hours, and walk out when it’s night.
I am glad, though that I live so close to a Sephora and a Target and to places where I can get an affordable dress in a pinch, then grab a Starbucks on the way out.
Right after I gave birth to Connor, man…that mall was my safe place! When I was in my postpartum no-sleep haze, El Hub would make me go to that mall every couple days just to see people and get out of the house. It got me to wash my face, brush my hair and teeth, and put on clothes (because, let’s get real, I was wearing spit-up stained nightgowns 24/7 for months) to interact with real, live human beings.
Anyways. Malls! Do you live near a good one? If so, what are your favorite things about it?
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
Malls are a dying breed here in Michigan. The two near me are jokes, I have to drive over an hour to get to a decent one. They definitely aren’t what they used to be.
Same in Indiana!
We don’t have sephora, our macy’s has clinique and lancome counters only. We do have Ulta, DSW, Old Navy, an amazing Target. We used to have and no longer have Bannana Republic, Gap, J. Crew, Abercrombie. I can go to Indianapolis for all of that type of stuff but don’t really. It’s about 90 minutes of driving and dumb traffic and road construction
Honestly I online shop.
The mall in Knoxville is THRIVING. It’s the only one in town which helps I think. But it’s awesome. It is so fun to people-watch because people dress up just to go shopping there! It’s always busy and it’s full of the good mall store standbys like Claire’s, Hot Topic, and Auntie Annie pretzels. It also has high end stores like Sephora and Williams Sonoma. It’s clean, bright, airy, and cheerful. I don’t go often, but enjoy myself when I do!
Not even close! No loft, no ulta, no Sephora and no department store for hours….no target either. Must.move.to.civilization.
Yes! I live very close to King of Prussia Mall which at the moment might still be the largest shopping mall in the east. I’ve never been to Mall of America so I can’t compare but even when I’m on vacation, I like to visit shopping malls and I’ve never met one that I liked better than the one near me. Come visit! 🙂
A side story, part of why this particular mall remains special to me is because my husband and I went there on our first date and the main reason we even went on a date was because I needed someone to take me to a Sephora because I needed to exchange something and the closest one on the map was there. My friend, who I was visiting at the time told me, oh my husband’s best friend lives near there, maybe we can ask if he could take you and the rest, as they say, is history.
Yup, I live near the Cherry Hill Mall, which is about a 20-30 minute drive. I could drive about 45 minutes to get to Willow Grove Mall and I could drive about an hour or so to get to King of Prussia Mall.
Also, there are a multitude of Targets I could get to, all within 5-15 minutes of driving.
My favorite mall! It has gotten much better in the last ten years. I worked/hung out there in high school. KOP is a close second.
I’m near Roosevelt Field mall on LI! Has the usual Macy’s, Nordstrom, JC Penny, and they have a “luxury wing” with Neiman Marcus, Chanel Beauty, Furla, Frye, Kate Spade, Tory Burch and Jo Malone. They also have a massive new food court and regular mall stores like MAC, Alex & Ani, Bath & Body Works, Sephora, Victoria’s Secret, etc. There’s also an outdoor mall called The Gallery with Nordstrom Rack, Home Goods, Torrid, Trader Joe’s, Banana Republic, Old Navy, Bloomingdales Outlet, Saks Off 5th, Ulta, Gap Outlet & Starbucks. I also have a choice of 2 DSW locations and another Ulta. That’s just what’s close. If I want to schlep further out there are more malls to pick from, but Roosevelt Field is usually a destination for people from all 5 boroughs. And to think I prefer shopping online!!
Haha, oh so no. I do not live even remotely close to a good mall. If I’m at work, I’m 3o minutes away from a dying mall. The only reason I go is because it has a Sephora.
I am a two hour drive, yes, you heard me a two hour drive from a good mall.
I’m an hour from a decent outlet mall.
And yet, I have not warmed to online shopping, except of course, for Sephora. I love shopping at Sephora online and in store.
There is a pretty big new housing development near my house and it has a nice outdoor type mall area – Target World (my name for the biggest Target I’ve ever been in in my life), Macy’s, Bath and Body Works, and a whole bunch of other stores, PLUS JC Penney with Sephora inside AND they are planning to open a new Ulta store in one of the bigger stores where the tenant (an office supply store, I think) moved out. So yeah, life is good!!!
The mall in my town has lost it’s Macy’s and Sears, and I have a feeling JCPenney will soon follow suit unfortunately. I don’t think it will be long before this mall is a thing of the past! I live about 5 1/2 hours away from the Mall of America, and there’s a bigger town with a lot more variety of stores about an hour away. We do have a SuperTarget in my town which I love.
Honey, I live in North Jersey, there are malls of all kinds
what do you want 🙂
no more than 15 minutes to get to the stores
My favorite mall : Echelon is slowly dying . My son loved the Boy Scout section in JC Penney which is now closed . A great place because Sephora is inside and you can use your charge.
Target and Walmart and just about every strip store is nearby including Nordstrom in Cherry Hill Mall .
We are hoping Nordstrom sets up shop in the nearby Promenade nearby !
I’m 45 minutes away from a not-great mall. Think Sephora inside JCPenney. At least we got an Ulta a few years ago and it’s a nice one.
To get to a better mall it’s an hour and 45 minutes one way or two and a half hours the other way. I’ve been doing more online ordering. When I make my annual visit to see my cousin in Cincinnati, we hit the mall there because they have Kenwood.
I work right across from an alright mall. It’s got Sephora and Sephora inside JCP, which is my main purpose for going there LOL. Um and Olga’s Kitchen is a restaurant I love with the best bread ever. And Pinkberry. I don’t love going to the mall though because I actually used to work at this same mall 7+ years ago! I’m an online shopper and a strip mall shopper.
I live in the Philadelphia suburbs, so I’m not too far from the famous King of Prussia Mall. I believe it’s on the list as one of the biggest malls in the country. They even just recently added another section to the mall. I do believe Mall of America is larger though. I definitely go to my happy place when I’m at King of Prussia Mall. It’s so large that walking the whole mall gives me a good burst of exercise. It also has Nordstrom, Lord &Taylor, and Sephora…just a few of my favorite places. I go there just about every other month, just to “look around.” I love to window shop!!
“Right after I gave birth to Connor, man…that mall was my safe place! When I was in my postpartum no-sleep haze, El Hub would make me go to that mall every couple days just to see people and get out of the house.”
Lol. After I had my baby girl, my husband made me go back to school. I ended up applying and going to grad school because of him. Sometimes I wish he had made me go to the mall, it would have been easier.
I live a 15 minute walk from a mall with a Bloomingdale’s, Nordstrom, Macy’s and Neiman’s, a Sephora (that’s currently closed for expansion remodeling) and so much more. Thank goodness there isn’t a Barney’s, too.
I would’ve happily taken the grad school option in a heartbeat! It’s always been my dream to get an advanced degree. I miss school a lot. I enjoyed it and was pretty good at it, and if I won the lottery, I would definitely go back!
I just find it kinda funny, because my husband would never suggest I go to a mall. I guess he knows me all too well.
I wanted to go to CCAC or Stanford, but Dear Husband would only pay for SJSU or SFSU. I just remember getting up at 5 to go to the gym, then go to school. Dear Husband would take Dear Daughter to daycare. I’d pick her up in the late afternoon early evening on my way home. Make dinner, feed her. Get her ready for bed. Study until 11 or 12, go to sleep and the next day, start all over again. I was thankful for Saturday morning sleep-ins.
I can relate to this on so many levels. The days right now fly by because from the moment I wake up I go from task to task to task and then just pass out in bed. Everyone tells me that it gets easier when they’re 5! I hope so, although I’ll miss having Connor need me so much, you know?
I feel like they never stop needing you. It’s just the needs change. Every year gets easier in some ways and harder in others. It stops being about the physical needs and ends up being more emotional intelligence needs.
It’s odd, but in some way it was easier when I had so much to do I just went from task to task. I feel like I procrastinated less. Email me if you ever want to just get it all off your chest or need someone to hear you. (Because sometimes Dear Husband just didn’t hear me or want to.)
Thank you, my friend. ❤️
Where did you get the Prince T-shirt ??? I NEED one
I love malls. As a kid growing up in late 80s-90s, the mall was IT. Luckily here in Pittsburgh we have 2 great malls. Nice way to beat the heat or spend snow days in. Let me just say when I heard your article was on malls, first thought: Debbie (Deborah) Gibson. Lol. Scrunchies. Crimpers. Ah. Those days.
Nicole! Believe it or not I have Debbie Gibson’s original first tape (OMG) around here somewhere. And I loooove scrunchies to this day!
Vintage. I say 1980s like it was yesterday. I heard on the local Oldies radio station Hangin Tough by NKOTB. OHMIGOD. I’m old.
I moved to Iowa from the north Mississippi/Memphis, TN area this year. The closest mall to me now is an hour away in Des Moines. When I inquired about a Chanel counter, I was told that they didn’t have one in the entire state!! Ugghh it made me so sad. But they do have pretty much everything else.
Let me paint this picture for you. It’s a half hour drive to Walmart, Target, TJ Maxx, Home Goods, B,B&B and “the mall”. No department stores but there is a Dick’s (and DSW)! 🙂
We’re a 3 hour drive from a couple of malls with more stores with a better selection, but nothing you would call a great mall. For that, it would be probably a 5 hour drive.
I order a lot online and am grateful that I’m not super into clothes. HAHA!
Wow, you guys really live out there, huh? I had a sense that you lived some place rural but I never really quite grasped how out of the way it is! I think that’s really cool in many ways.
We’re about an hour drive to Montreal and there are a lot of shopping options there, but not really a lot of US stores/brands. Also, an hour to Burlington, VT where there used to be a Macy’s (but it closed last year). They have a Kohls and a Trader Joe’s. 🙂 It’s a nice area and pretty traffic-free. But, not super convenient when you need something quickly, or need to try something on. We had a wedding this summer and I did the 3 hour drive to Macy’s/Nordstrom Rack for a dress. I guess it makes for a nice road trip. HAHA!
Nope. The closest big mall is 30-45 mins. away, depending on the traffic. None of the strip malls in my town even have an Ulta. I have to go two towns over.
I have a big strip mall a couple miles away with a Target, Dollar Tree, a couple shoe stores, and some other useful places. But not really any clothing stores any more (other than Target). There are a few fast food places, too. *meh*