Comments on: Muscatine Mall; Muscatine, Iowa

By: Nathan Bush

Nathan Bush — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 09:47:23 +0000

Oh…I forgot….Regis and U.S. Cellular are the only two chain stores inside. And the Movie Theater has four screens…and it’s Muscatine’s only movie theater. I’m amazed it’s still going!

By: Nathan Bush

Nathan Bush — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 09:46:17 +0000

Hey I got a whole stream of pics of this mall up-to-date at my Flickr site…the mall is almost COMPLETELY dead on the inside now. I saw quite a few exterior stores like Hallmark, iWireless, an Auto Center (next to Younkers…gee, how attractive! *rolls eyes*), a TanWorld (which has it’s own mall entrance), and some others.

The west entrance next to Menards has been redone and looks great…but there’s barely anything in it. The Younkers looks nice, and the JCPenney has improved their appearance, but they need to tear down that godforsaken damn old Menards/Wal-Mart/Woolco/Whatever the hell it was when they opened lol! It’s a BIG eyesore. They also need to think about repaving that parking lot…but sorry for nitpicking…just my opinion.

By: ishia

ishia — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 16:51:18 +0000

Menards is no longer in the mall it got it’s own place out near the edge of town. there is no store there now. and instead of EB it’s a Younkers now

By: Justin Case

Justin Case — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 06:07:25 +0000

Ahh yes… I remember this mall well. I did a live remote radio broadcast from this mall about 1998 or ‘99 at a “grub pub” (I don’t remember the name) and gave away very cool expensive prizes as morning man of “93Country” and then again a live bizarre live broadcast as “Bryan Bradford” for KWPC @ Menard’s in 2004.
What I remember best about this mall’s “Glory Days” happened sometime in the mid-80’s @ X-mas-time when I went to visit my brother & his wife who were living and working in Muscatine at the time and went X-mas shopping with him there. I remember t was quite bustling and very festive. I was impressed since I was living and working in radio in the Quad Cities @ the time and thought nothing in a small town, like Muscatine could be as busy as Northpark & Southpark mall.

By: Bobby

Bobby — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 20:29:10 +0000

Sorry, i eamnt the north anchor at Marshall Town Center in my last post.

By: Bobby

Bobby — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 20:10:15 +0000

Speaking of Iowa malls, anyone know what the north anchor was originally? Storetrax, when they still had the mall listed, had this as Heilig-Meyers and a vacant spot. From what I can tell it later became Big Lots and the theater, and is now vacant. I have Woolco->Wal-Mart->Menards as the south anchor, and JCP and Younkers in the middle. Did this mall ever have a Von Maur?

By: TSEliot

TSEliot — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 19:19:09 +0000

Wal*Mart actually was an original anchor on several identical malls in the midwest that opened from 1986-1990. Prime examples were the Dial malls that opened in Ottumwa, IA (Quincy Mall), Aberdeen, SD (Lakewood Mall), Kearney, NE (Hilltop Mall), and Scottsbluff, NE (Monument Mall). Every one of these malls initially featured Herberger’s and Wal*Mart anchors on each end, with a JCPenney store recessed in the center. Wal*Mart has indeed vacated every one of these locations for exterior Super Center locations, the last one being Aberdeen in 2007. The only mall not to suffer from their exodus was Hilltop in Kearney, where Herberger’s revamped and took over the Wal*Mart space (talk about a remodel!), JCPenney took over Herberger’s former space, and Old Navy took over JCPenney’s former space.

By: Shannon R.

Shannon R. — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 05:22:08 +0000

I was born in 1981 and raised in Muscatine and remember going to the mall as a kid. I loved the fountain they used to have in the middle of the mall right outside the indoor entrance to JCPenney, but they removed it in the late 80’s/early 90’s. My parents would take my sister and I to Diamond Dave’s (Mexican restaurant) for our birthdays. I loved going shopping at the Gigi’s that used to be there. I don’t even think they’re in business anymore. There was also a Vanity, Musicland, Claire’s, and KB Toys. I don’t live there anymore because I’m trying to finish my college degree, but I get sad when I go to the mall because I had such great memories there and now it’s almost empty.

By: MM

MM — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 18:05:00 +0000

I spent a lot of time as a kid at the Musc. Mall in the 70s / 80s.
For the region it was ahead of its time. Thanks, David, for reminding me of Dinah the Minah bird…quite a local celebrity!

The Woolco was at the north end, preceeded by Woolworth.

Some memorable stores included both a Walden Books AND a B Dalton, Musicland, Maid-Rite, Baskin Robbins, Spencer Gifts, and an arcade called Land of Oz.

It’s odd how important this place was to the community. We would go on a Friday night and the place would be packed. Lots of families, kids, teens, and even retired folks sitting on the benches by the fountains. It was like a town hall meeting with the smell of Karmel Korn in the air….

By: Christian aka crispy

Christian aka crispy — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 00:24:03 +0000

I’m from Muscatine and the mall isn’t half bad now as far as the inside structure. The mall is mostly just a place for teens to hang out now and fell each other up =). Good times. They should mention that there used to be a diamond dave’s and an arcade in that dark corridor of the mall because that was an awesome hangout. There are 4 movie screens in the theater. Musca rules!