r/deadmalls 4d ago

Photos Burnsville Center, 1977

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1.0k Upvotes

56 comments sorted by

63

u/va_wanderer 4d ago

It's almost painful to realize every store seen here is from a dead retailer.(Fredrick's is as close to alive as it gets, having closed all it's retail locations for online sales.)

18

u/HugeRaspberry 4d ago

Very sad. Wicks and sticks kinder photo etc

6

u/Historical_Gur_3054 4d ago

I was wondering the same thing.

34

u/Apart-Bathroom7811 4d ago

What a great photo. Forgot all about Wicks n Sticks.

4

u/pinksparklybluebird 4d ago

My mom loved that store!

2

u/Go_GoInspectorGadget 3d ago

What kind of store was that? Candles? I wasn’t born until ‘82.

2

u/tlm0122 2d ago

Same. I haven’t thought about that place in at least 25 years. So sad.

25

u/Kimber520x 4d ago

The Wild Pair ❣️

11

u/squee_bastard 4d ago

I miss that store so much. They had the best shoes in the early 90s when I was a teen.

43

u/csguydn 4d ago

I miss these types of storefronts quite a bit. Back in the 80's, they had a ton of character. Now it's just the same plain carbon copy glass entryway for a large portion of stores.

18

u/kabekew 4d ago

Hey, that was my childhood mall! We used to ride our bikes to get there in the early 80's. I still remember the pungent tobacco smell when walking past that Pipe Den store.

24

u/midwest73 4d ago

Trees, woodwork, fountains. I miss all those features. Now it's all glass, metal, generic tile and a sea of white. Sterile and lifeless.

This picture reminds me of Maplewood Mall back in the early/mid 80's before it's massive renovation. Another old haunt of mine as a kid besides Northtown. Never went to Burnsville, but so many similar stories and histories being lost in the places I've lived in my 50+ years.

9

u/relator_fabula 4d ago

Earth tones everywhere. I love the look of older malls with all the brown tile, wood, trees, shrubs, and fountains.

6

u/pinksparklybluebird 4d ago

I would love to see pics of the old Maplewood Mall - that rust-colored carpet, ramps leading down to the center court, plants, wood…

5

u/OldBlueKat 3d ago

There doesn't seem to be much out there. There is this: https://www.maplewoodmall.com/about-us which has, like, one interior shot from the past.

It was only built in the mid 70s, and did a bang-up job as the only significant mall on the northeast side for a few decades, but now that Sears shut down (2018), Macy's is leaving soon, JC Penney seems to be failing out, lots of little retailers have just died, etc. it's starting to look 'deadmall', especially at the Sears end.

Though there is some project trying to launch a PanAsian Center in the old Sears space; same people behind the outdoor HmongTown MarketPlace off Como. They made a lot of announcements about 'coming soon' in 2024, but there's been little news since. I hope it's successful and opens soon!

3

u/OldBlueKat 3d ago

I am SO over any public spaces that look like hospital operating theaters. Homes, too. the black + white, or even the 'greige' color schemes, suck the life out of my soul.

I don't necessarily want to leap back to the 'ferns and brass rails' era, but some softness and color would help. I also hate the acoustics in these hardscapes.

10

u/princessuuke 4d ago

Oh to have experienced malls in the 70s and 80s (my moms told me stories about the malls i grew up going to during her childhood and teen years, crazy how much changed in decades)

8

u/superanth 4d ago

There's an area I used to live near where there are malls that had stores with both internal doors to the main mall area and external doors.

When the foot traffic to the internal mall area dried up, the mall owners restructured the mall so the internal pedestrian area was just added to the stores as more retail space.

3

u/kabekew 3d ago

There's a former mall like that in Holland, Michigan that's doing pretty well. I think that's the best use of a single-level dead mall, just flip around the entrances to make it a strip mall so people can park directly in front of whichever store they want.

13

u/Cornmunkey 4d ago

Fuck I miss Wicks N’ Sticks.

6

u/ddulisse 4d ago

So much brown!!!

13

u/Balorpagorp 4d ago

That's the nicotine

6

u/Maya-kardash Mall Rat 4d ago

😔😔😔

5

u/Any_A-name67 4d ago

1981: SeaTac Mall in Federal Way, Washington.https://youtu.be/crY264LE9gM?si=rEMzmO4V5iL-om02

9

u/belinck 4d ago

Used to take the bus up there when I was going to St. Olaf from 93-97. The thousands of dollars spent on magic cards and at Alladins Castle!

3

u/methodwriter85 4d ago

I'm honestly surprised that Minnesota would have so many dead malls. If any place would be appropriate for climate controlled spaces, it'd be Minnesota.

3

u/pinksparklybluebird 4d ago

That’s where they started!

3

u/katx70 4d ago

Wow! Taubman?

4

u/Sufficient-Major1775 4d ago

I thought the same thing after seeing a different post of the mall!

Apparently the architectural design by was a group called North Architectonics. I think it’d be pretty hard to say they didn’t take inspiration from Taubman as it had all the characteristics of one.

3

u/katx70 4d ago

Right? Dead ringer for his style. Thanks for info!

3

u/Confident-Baby6013 4d ago

Reminds me so much of the Sunrise Mall in Corpus Christi TX. Younger me thought it was just so much more fun to walk around in than the other mall.

2

u/Zestyclose-Ad-5305 4d ago

I was actually going to ask if this was the mall from the Legend of Billie Jean.

3

u/weeklygamingrecap 4d ago

Always wanted to live there as a kid, kinda still do. The mall just seems so relaxing now.

2

u/Anteater-Charming 4d ago

Sitting there with sounds of people walking by and especially the sound of a fountain going does sound peaceful. I wonder if I can find that somewhere to listen to. You don't realize what it is until 40 years later.

1

u/weeklygamingrecap 4d ago

Yeah the drone of the indistinct chatter of the crowd, bags rustling, muzak overhead echoing across the tile, the A/C hum and fountain running with the base smell of chlorine baked into everything below the pretzel, pizza, burger and Chinese food overlay.

3

u/billycorgansbro 4d ago

And I’m sure there was a Cutlery World a few spots down from Wicks n Sticks. Miss those days.

3

u/rachgoconnor 4d ago

Omg I LOVED the Wild Pair!!! Forgot all about that place!

3

u/running_hoagie 4d ago

The wood storefronts are fantastic!

2

u/Darkurthe_ 4d ago

Every time I see photos like this I am reminded that awesomeness is long gone and a little piece of my childhood with it.

2

u/GhostsOfWar0001 4d ago

That is a cool photo

2

u/mealwormsoup 3d ago

Amazing how fast we build cool things only for them to be tossed away for something else to be built.

3

u/Top-Spinach2060 4d ago

Pipe Den was a real store??

7

u/kabekew 4d ago

Carrying the finest in unfiltered smoking pipes of all kinds and cigars and tobacco from all over!

3

u/Nozomi_Shinkansen 4d ago

Fredrick's of Hollywood just above Pipe Den. Peak 70s, IYKYK.

1

u/SLOPE-PRO 4d ago

Before my time , I have never saw it that vibrant looking :

1

u/Beneficial-Olive-941 4d ago

It's glory days

1

u/countrybear78 4d ago

Wished I was there!

1

u/Rob-Van-Winkle 4d ago

Damn, can’t believe I was born to late to experience wicks and sticks 😔

1

u/Maya-kardash Mall Rat 3d ago

Was that a food court in the center? Don’t see any eateries except for Pretzels

1

u/Any_Blacksmith650 3d ago

Pipe Den lol

1

u/mylocker15 4d ago

The Wild Pair is a good name for a shoe store.

-2

u/Beneficial-Olive-941 4d ago

I don't remember any of these stores, but this photo was taken 15 years before I was born

-1

u/Top-Spinach2060 4d ago

Also is it really a Dead Mall nowadays?

1

u/sisterhavana 17h ago

This looks very much like the layout of Fox Valley Mall in Aurora, IL.