There was a time when the local shopping mall wasn’t just a place to buy things—it was a destination. These vintage postcards capture that moment when sprawling shopping centers were shiny new destinations, complete with acres of parking, eye-catching architecture, and the promise that you could find just about everything in one place. Whether they’ve since been demolished, remodeled beyond recognition, or continue serving shoppers today, each image captures a moment in time that’s unlikely to be seen again.
Our opening image is at the Southgate Shopping Center in Lakeland, FL.
The Center, Omaha, NE.
Hillsdale Shopping Center, San Mateo, CA.
Park Central Shopping Center, Phoenix, AZ.
Riverside Plaza, Riverside, CA.
Stony Brook Shopping Center, Long Island, NY.
Westgate, Lima, OH.
Lloyd’s Center, Portland, OR.
Pontiac Mall, Pontiac, MI.
Golden Gate, Bartow, FL.
Cherry Hill Shopping Center, Cherry Hill, NJ.
South Shore Plaza, Braintree, MA.
Winter Park Mall, Winter Park, FL.
Cooper’s Shopping Center, Chaska, MN.
Tacoma Mall, Tacoma, WA.
I’d never guess Stony Brook was retail and not residential if I didn’t know.
That shopping center has an interesting history. It was built by Ward Melville, who was the founder of Thom McAn Shoes, and became a multimillionaire. After making his fortune, he became a philanthropist as well – he lived in Stony Brook, and donated hundreds of acres to the State for the creation of the State University of New York at Stony Brook.
Melville said he liked beautifying things, and created the shopping center to be a town square. The big white building in the background is the post office. He was an interesting person with creative ideas. Incidentally, he wanted the University to be designed with federal-style architecture as well, but the State refused, and instead built it with ugly 1960s-era boxy looking buildings that Melville loathed.
The shopping center still looks exactly like it did in this postcard.
To bring the Thom McAn and Mall discussion back around to Automobiles. At one point the majority of Thom McAn stores were in stand alone buildings and strip malls on major thoroughfares. With the increasing dominance of the enclosed shopping malls they made a shift. That left a lot of empty store fronts that were sized well enough for Super Shops, and that was during their rise. The Super Shops store that I used to shop at was one of those former Thom McAn stores when they moved to the mall a mile or so away.
That’s interesting – thanks! Sounds like Super Shops basically stalked Thom McAn outlets and scooped them up quickly
Even more. It is CVS and Aetna now.
Thom McAn & Melville Shoe Corp: In 1922, the Melville Shoe Corporation was formed and opened its very first Thom McAn store. The Conglomerate Era: As Melville Shoe Corporation grew, it diversified wildly. It changed its name to Melville Corporation in 1976 and acquired massive brands like Marshalls, KB Toys, Linens ‘n Things, and a small New England drug store chain called Consumer Value Stores (CVS), which it bought in 1969. The Pivot to CVS: By the mid-1990s, the shoe business and traditional retail chains were declining, while CVS was wildly profitable. In 1996, Melville decided to ditch everything else. They closed or sold off the shoe stores, spun off their other retail divisions, and officially renamed the entire parent corporation CVS Corporation.
The Modern Healthcare Giant: CVS Corporation later merged with Caremark to become CVS Caremark, then rebranded to CVS Health. In 2018, CVS Health acquired the insurance giant Aetna, solidifying the final step of its evolution into an integrated healthcare titan. Legally and financially, the corporate shell that pays Aetna and CVS pharmacist salaries today is the exact same corporate lineage that was manufacturing Thom McAn leather oxfords a century ago
I had no idea about that – thanks!
As someone said in conversation, malls and shopping centers killed downtowns (especially bona fide movie theaters), box stores started beating malls (or certain retail sectors like music and books) and ecommerce in most cases finished them off.
The Tacoma mall still stands, well at least some of the original Mall still stands. The old Sears store was demolished but there has been new buildings built on the site in the mean time.
Lloyd center still stands in much the same form as it has been but the wrecking ball is on the way as the scheduled last day of operation is less than a month away.
Looks like a ’50 Chevy read “Park Central” as instructions instead of the name.
The Lloyd Center’s days are numbered as there are demolition plans in place after years of decline. In the 90s it still had an operational skating rink, as did Clackamas Town Center, famous as Tonya Harding’s home ice.
I think a there was either convergent evolution or the same architects because a lot of these remind me f the Cross County Center in Yonkers NY. I actually spent much more time in White Plains which didn’t have a big shopping center since the department stores sprang up in and around the then vibrant downtown area. This has changed out of all recognition with malls being built and in some cases torn down.
I was at Clackamas Town Center recently, the REI ReSupply outlet is a gem. When I mentioned later to someone that I had been there, Tonya Harding’s name came up. Some of the younger people present asked “Tonya who?”
I just stopped by Lloyd Center this last week end to take one last look and some photos. Very said that it is going to be demolished. I went there for years starting as a kid in the late 60’s. I even took Ice Skating lessons there in the 70’s you could even still see the open parking garage from the rink. Even my High School ,Cleveland High, class of.80, is starting to be demolished so I am losing 2 of my younger days. I know there is always progress, but it does take away from your past.
I’ve witnessed the evolution of car-oriented shopping from the sprawling, glitzy outdoor center, to the urban indoor shopping mall, to the rural mega-mall, and the culling of department stores seems to foretell the passing of all except the strip mall connected to a supermarket. But through it all, the survivor is Cross County Center, which has had more lives than I’ve had hot dinners.
Is that an Auto Union coupe in the Riverside Plaza picture? I know SoCal was early in adapting to “imports” but wow, that must have been a rare one.
Unusual, but not exactly rare. At least for a few years. What’s the white car, beyond the Auto Union, next to the ‘58 Chevy? A Simca coupe, or just a Studebaker? Seems a bit small for a Studebaker.
By the way, Hillsdale in San Mateo is still going strong.
Center trim on the trunk seems to match a mid-50s Studebaker – car was only 70 inches wide so it was not that big. Web sources appear to indicate less than 500 Auto Union 1000s were imported to the US in 58, the approximate date of the photo. Even if all of them went to SoCal, that’s a pretty small number.
The once beautiful and popular Livingston Mall in NJ was a destination not too long ago, Now with most of its stores shutted and the state of disrepain inside, it resembles the mall in the film ‘Dawn of the Dead’.
Many memories brought back by these .
Good car spotting too, not many pickups .
-Nate
LOL! That’s when pickups were used as…..pickups. Not cars.
I remember back in the ’50s and ’60s when shopping centers were popping up all over the country like pimples. going to them and walking around was a popular pastime. Now, thanks to the internet, most of them are gone and few remaining are trying to re-purpose themselves.
The Cherry Hlil NJ Mall is, like most other malls, struggling to survive by reinventing itself. It had the phase of losing several big department store chains followed by adding a number of large chain restaurants which recently closed down and now a large sporting goods super store and recreation complex is gong in. Maybe it will survive. Other nearby malls are going the huge apartment complex path and some with outpatient medical facilities. A few malls still have a single large regional chain department store which serves an ever-aging customer base, which promises even more changes down the road. There had been a periodic cars and coffee event across from the mall but that ended.
The first center I can recall is Topanga Plaza Mall in Canoga Park where we moved to in June 1966. Never had seen anything like that back in Maryland. Next was Fashion Valley Mall in San Diego. An open mall for obvious reasons like the weather. Shot those Kodachrome slides there. Then moving north the place to go was Sunvalley Mall in Concord. The best for me as there was a large Sears Auto Center and parts store. Sadly that section closed long ago while the main store is just hanging in there. Picture 2026.
The local shopping plaza in the city I grew up in had a drugstore that had postcards with pictures of the plaza for sale. As a kid, I thought, why would anyone want a picture postcard of a shopping center, especially one I go to almost every day? Now I’m kicking myself, because I wish I had that postcard today! I’d scan it and send the image to you guys! The shopping center in question was called Beverly Plaza, and while it still exists today, it looks nothing like it did when I was growing up. If you want to see what it looked like back in the day, rent the movie, “The Thomas Crown Affair” (1968), starring Steve McQueen and Faye Dunaway! The Plaza was one (1) of many Boston area shooting locations used for that movie, and there’s a scene where the cops tackle a suspect coming out of the Woolworth’s where me and my brother bought a lot of model kits as kids!
One thing I have always liked about this site is that I can come here and enjoy discussions on cars while politics are supposedly banned.
Our local mall, though no one used the term then at least for shopping centers with individual outdoor entrances to each store, was El Cerrito Plaza in El Cerrito, California. Several generations of East Bay kids got parental driving lessons in that parking on lot on Sundays when the stores were closed, or at least didn’t open till late (after church), or on weekday evenings (except Thursday, late shopping night).
I’ve been in that plaza in Lakeland FL! For those who don’t know, Lakeland is the birthplace of Publix! That plaza had a Publix in it and the front was still intact as shown in the photo! Beautiful Mid Century modern pillars!
I remember when Lloyd Center was the only large shopping center in the Portland metro area. We’d come down from eastern oregon to do our Christmas shopping there. Loved smelling the Karmel Korn, playing in the wind curtain at Meier & Frank, eating at the Pink Hippopotamus and watching the ice skaters. Sad it will be demolished this year.
Me and my odd comments.
The Center, Omaha, NE. – Those parking garage columns look way too skinny.
Riverside Plaza, Riverside, CA. – The Stardust casino influenced sign.
Pontiac Mall, Pontiac, MI. – It’s the only one in town so just call it The Mall. Even if it had a name people would still just call it The Mall.
Tacoma Mall, Tacoma, WA. – The well known ‘Bank’ architecture.
I have very fond memories of the third mall featured in the story Park Central. I was an 80′ kid and my family and I were frequent shoppers at that mall. Diamonds and Goldwater’s (which was owned by the politician Barry Goldwater) were my mother’s favorite stores. They also had great food Miracle Mile a Jewish Delicatessen, Dusty’s Cookies, and a wonderful old fashioned candy shop that sold candy in big glass jars. Now Park Central is mostly a business complex but its legacy still lives on.
The South Shore Plaza as shown was an open air mall. Walk out of one store in January and freeze until you get to the next. It’s all under one roof now, expanded out and up and improved in ways that I don’t know because I haven’t been there since the mid 80’s.
As told to me by my Dad: On the opening day of a new shopping center in 1960, a helicopter dropped ping pong balls thru the open air central corridor of the mall. Each ball had a value (10¢, 25¢, 50¢, $1) which equated to a discount on a purchase at any of the mall stores. Being a family of 6 kids (I was just a baby), my other bothers and sisters scurried enough for my Mom to get a gas dryer at Western Auto. Prior to this, Mom would hang clothes on the back yard lines.
Westgate Plaza shown is about 1960. Of the store marquees I can see, only Kroger is still around. I can’t speak for that shopping center but I believe a Kmart was there at one time.
Ah…the shopping mall. Where you went to pick up girls when you were a teenager. Fun times indeed.
Thanks old photos. Thinking same. Photo location but different time Aug 2026 yours yours truly Evans w Robinson
\Where’s the Holiday Village Mall in Great Falls, Mt? My uncle Don Robinson and his partner built the mall in the 1960s. Supposedly, it was the first mall built west of the Mississippi River7.
My wife and her sister grew up in Lima, Ohio. They both agree there was never a Kroger at Westgate Shopping Center. The only Kroger in Lima was on Main street. It appears you have the wrong city.
Just a follow up:
The name “Westgate” was used nationally for many new shopping center developments after WW2, from California to North Carolina. The “Lima” photo seems to have made the rounds online. There were other Westgate Shopping Centers in Ohio. Adding to my confusion is this: according to a Lima, Ohio native (via Facebook), this aerial appears to match up to the above posted color image!
I think the image is of Lima. Kroger was one of the Westgate Shopping Centers original tenants – opening in 1956, but Kroger closed that store a few years later.
My sister-in-law would have been 6 in mid-1956, so her recollections would better fit the early to mid-60s. The only Kroger she recalls was on Main Street downtown.