Comments on: Blue Hen Mall; Dover, Delaware

By: Steve

Steve — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 15:58:57 +0000

A friend of mine posted some recent photos of the Blue Hen Mall on flickr:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jb912/tags/bluehen/

By: Dennis

Dennis — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 08:20:45 +0000

@Sandi Naumann,
Scary Sandi, As I was reading through these I remembered Donnie’s mom at the pretzel stand and started thinking about old times in the mall, then I got to yours. Steve and I used to hang out in there when we were skipping school and when we bought Icees she would sometimes give us a pretzel to split. It was an Army recruiter upstairs, Steve almost convinced me to go in as a helicopter pilot. I also remember a weird dude that used to follow people around that were wearing sneakers. He would look down and just follow the shoes for a while and then drift off. I think just about half of our class worked out at the mall at one time or another. Closest I’ve been is a couple of years ago, just outside of Philly, I saw a couple of guys that still live in the area. This really brought back memories.

By: Amy

Amy — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 18:55:36 +0000

I was wrong when I mentioned marble walls. I think it was actually stone, but it was very pretty!

By: Amy

Amy — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 18:05:39 +0000

I miss the “old blue hen mall”, I always love thinking back to when I would go there as a kid. Some of my memories from the blue hen mall are vague….I was about 6-7 when my mom started taking us to the dover mall…probably because of jcpenney’s(we’re jcpenney shoppers). I remember jcpenneys at the blue hen mall….I remember walking in from the outside entrance and there was pajamas on the left, and in the middle was a counter….Of course my memory could be wrong. I remember the pajama section because me and my twin bought night gowns that came in a little drawlstring sack. I also remember that when I would walk in the main entrance of the mall, I always loved looking at the blue hen that was on the walls…surrounded by stone…and the blue hen was really colorful, and I would always look at the marble walls as I walked into the mall…..And we always seemed to turn right when we walked into the mall (going toward the stairs, and walden books), not sure why we didn’t go the left as often…Althought that’s where Jcpenneys was. I remember buying a mickeymouse book shaped like mickeymouses head at WaldenBooks during Christmas time. And I also remember Santa at Christmas time…I have a memory of sitting on his lap atleast once. Miss the mall…Wish it wasn’t just a memory.

By: Jeremy Smith

Jeremy Smith — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 07:58:16 +0000

I remember going to the Blue Hen Corporate Center once- it was in 1999, when I was 13. It was pretty much a dead already at the time, though. It was with the now-defunct Delaware history camp, and we doing something at one of the offices that was affiliated with the Delaware State Parks department.

I thought it was fascinating how the buiilding looked so much like a mall, but wasn’t. I didn’t know later that it was actually a mall once. I grew up in north Delaware, and Christiana Mall was my stomping ground.

By: Dave Stone

Dave Stone — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 22:22:22 +0000

Mark, that cafeteria style restaurant was probably The Harvest House.

By: Mark L.

Mark L. — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 19:43:20 +0000

I briefly worked at the Blue Hen mall in Sept-Oct. 1969 i was stationed at the Air Force Base and worked in a restaurant whcih was cafeteria style. For the life of me I can’t reember the name of it Can You?

By: Peter B.

Peter B. — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 01:46:59 +0000

I remember it well too, Josh. Being a child of the 80’s, I remember making the 2 + mile hike to the mall with my best friends and eating at Woolworth’s.

It’s tragic to see such awesome little places disappear. Every time I go back to Dover (at least 2x a year), I see how much has been lost — All the wonderful little places downtown have been raped by the slots and chain restaurants.

That flickr set was awesome… I almost got a little choked up at the sight of the old Blue Hen mosaic. People call it campy now, but it still is most loved by the locals.

By: Josh Zimmerman

Josh Zimmerman — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 19:04:13 +0000

wow.. What memories!

I wish someone had more old photos of the mall in it’s prime. Places like that don’t exist anymore and if they do, it’s forced and we label it “vintage.” My girlfriend and I took a walk through there about 2 years ago. Memories flooded back in so quickly – the smells, the reflective sounds of the floor, even the skeletal remains of what was were enough to visually put me back in 1980.

I remember eating at Woolworths with my grandmother, seeing The Empire Strikes Back with my mom and dad and throwing pennies in the wish fountain.

I wish we could go back to that simpler time.

By: Sandi Naumann

Sandi Naumann — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 03:38:29 +0000

Wow. This is such a blast from the past! I had the fortune to meet up with some fellow classmate from CRHS class of 1978 a few weeks ago and I asked about stores in the Blue Hen Mall. Most of us worked there in our high school years. We came up with quite a few.
Woolco was an Anchor Store along with JC Penney’s. The palces to eat in the Mall were a tiny diner type cafe in JC Penney…I could eat here to go if I ran from the Blue Hen Bakery and back!! My pals Brenda and Robin worked for Mrs. Knight (very sweet lady) at the Pretzel Stand..best cherry slush ever. Then there was the Movie Theater where this guy who looked like Sebastian Cabot worked…did a childrens theatre event here and saw that they stored the popcorn (popped mind you) in huge plastic bags. Never ate it again! Saw Rocky here. Yeah the first one. Then my favorite place was Woolworths Harvest House. I used to go there with my Mother as a child. Don’t forget Giacamo’s ..right next door to the Bakery. He wasn’t even married to Vickie yet when I worked there and I remember my favorite waitress was Holly. The Purple Cow! The Monkey Inn. Hmmm. Well you could get snacks at Thrift Drug before you went to the movies. OH yes. Russel Stover…those Easter eggs, Chocolates by the pound. So the stores we were remembering were….Benjamin’s, Heaven to Eleven, Craft Bazar, Craft International, Giacomos, Blue Hen Bakery, The Piano and Organ store with Rosalee, Miles shoes, Singer Eyes, Oh and upstairs was an Army recruiter or Air Force…Berack Photography, Dr. Kidd, a state agency. Back to down stairs…Central Beauty Salon, Chess King, Gordons Jewelers, Some kind of News Stand, OH Carousel Gifts, Braunstines, A couple of book stores Dannamann Fabrics, An intamate apparel store, Hess Apparal, Thom McCann Shoes, Father and Son Shoes, Bresslers 32 flavors (licorice voodoo & Bubblegum)
Woolworth’s where you could get anything from a toy to a hampster to a bra! The beautiful paintings as you entered through the main enterance. The Brass place. Can you add any to this list??