I spent a good portion of my childhood there. It was the only place to really shop down there. I remember the K-mart entrance from the mall and you would have to go through an iron gate of some sort since they did not want their carts in the mall. You had the DEB shop with Rafters across the way. Then there was a childrens clothing store next to the DEB. Then you had a shoe store, the hallmark store and then Radio Shack. On the left side of the photo you had Rafters, then a fancy jewelry store of some sort on the the corner. We only went in with my grandmother. Then around the corner as you headed to the front entrance you had Hairport Salon and a Record Store on your right. On your left on the way out you had Thrift Drugs which in that day also had the JC Penny Catalog pick-up in the rear of the store. Beind you in the picture would be Rick’s Pizza which had some greasy pizza and then next to that you had the movie theater. Out in the mall in front of the movies you had arcade games lined up against the wall and then it all lead to the rear entrance. There was a variety of kiosks in the mall itself also. I remeber to the left of the indoor photo there was always a Santa Clause there for pictures during Christmas. So that is where as a kids we would visit Santa. Many of my Christmas wishes were told there.

In 1991 K-mart went through an expansion and remodle to the rear of the building. When Rio Grande Plaza was built down the road with the remodled Shop Rite and the demolition of the only drive-in movie theatre, things began to die there. Thrift drugs, the halmark store and Radio shack all moved out to the Shop Rite Plaza. The other spaces remaind empty. The jewelry store moved out and was replaced by sports/hobby shop that lasted about 2 years. The record store eventually closed and then the hair salon moved to another strip mall across the parking lot. Ricks pizza continued to get worse and you would never see in anyone in there. The movie theatre at one point had $1.75 tickets to see movies that were out on VHS but still a place to hang out with friends. But time and neglect got the best of it. I would say what remaind at that point held on until 1998 or so when K-mart expanded into the mall from where the jewelry exchange was back. That all became that store room for K-mart. So the access to the mall was cut off from K-mart and so did the life of the Rio Mall.

As you can see I have strong memories of the place. I remember everyone would hang out there at the front entrance and you only prayed to God that you were not caught coming out of K-mart.

Like Mallguy alluded to, Morristown itself has a very interesting retail history. Epstein’s Department Store–which closed in 2004 and has since been razed to make room (mostly) for condos–was one of the most beautiful and unique department stores that I’ve ever seen. In particular, it was well regarded for its outstanding customer service and community involvement. And, of course, there was also Bamberger’s, which opened in 1949 (some 20-plus years after Epstein’s opened at its South Street location). One interesting note about the brick Bamberger’s building was that it had (and still has) sculptures of a dozen or so major figures of the Revolutionary War hanging across the top of the building. (The city of Morristown played an important role in that war.) Bamberger’s was a very popular store in Morristown; however, the store’s popularity declined drastically around the time it changed its name to Macy’s. Sadly, Macy’s decided to completely neglect this store, and eventually decided to close it during its second round of bankruptcy closures in 1993.

And now, onto a slightly different topic: Rather than reminding me of Headquarters Plaza Mall (like what was the case with Mallguy), the Rio Mall actually reminded me of the Morris County Mall in Cedar Knolls, NJ. To the best of my knowledge, the Morris County Mall was built in 1973, and was anchored by Bradlees, Thrift Drug (which became Eckerd in 1997 and will soon become RiteAid), and a Foodtown Supermarket. The entire mall was the length of a small hallway, connecting Bradlees to Thrift Drug. (The Foodtown–which was right next to Thrift Drug–never had a mall entrance.) Up until the mid-90’s, the mall was fully filled with shops, including McDonald’s, Thom McCann, The Ground Round, W. Kodak Jewelers, Game Time (an arcade), Radio Shack, and a Sherwin Williams Paint store. One by one, however, virtually all of these stores closed in a very short time period. While Bradlees, Thrift Drug/Eckerd, and Foodtown never closed in the 90’s, the McDonald’s was the only place in the interior section of the mall that was still open by the decade’s end. The last time I was ever inside this version of the Morris County Mall was in January 2001, when Bradlees held its going out of business sale; at that time, McDonald’s was still open.

The Morris County Mall completely transformed itself after Bradlees closed, but before Wal-Mart came to take over the empty Bradlees space: The entire interior portion of the mall was gutted, to make room for stores that were part of an outdoor strip center. Today, the Morris County Mall (which it is still called, despite the fact that it really is no longer a mall) is again very successful, housing Wal-Mart (as mentioned above), McDonald’s (which relocated), Sears Hardware, TJ Maxx, an All for a Dollar store, Eckerd/Rite Aid (which never re-located), and Foodtown (which also never re-located). Interestingly enough, the strip center still has a very small indoor “mall” portion to it (that I believe is new construction that was not originally part of the old mall), which contains Radio Shack along with a couple of restaurants.

An example of this type of mini-mall that comes to mind is the Headquarters Plaza in Morristown. Back in its heyday, it was anchored by a nice 2 level movie theater (Headquarters Plaza 10…it had a $3.75 all shows student admission back in my 1st year in college), Bennigans and had about 10-15 smaller stores including Sam Goody (old music store), along with being connected to the Headquarters Plaza Hotel. Last time I was there, all that was left was a County College of Morris Office and the Movie Theater, which still gets a nice crowd, but you are reminded of the dead mall as you pass through the un-renovated, dark corridor from the parking garage elevator to the movie theater. I haven’t been to HQP in a while and I’m sure that when Hyatt purchased the HQ Plaza Hotel, some changes were made. Located just up the block from The Green, Headquarters Plaza has also suffered from a lack of adequate pedestrian access.

Speaking of Morristown, their retail history is quite interesting…The Green is the Center of Town and the West, South and East Sides have been fairly successful for years, but the NW Corner was dead for 13 years since Macy’s closed, but now is successful with the opening of the Century 21 Department Store. The South Side of The Green with Epstein’s closure (a local dept store) is now the ‘dead area’ and now that the building is razed, they are re-devleloping the area for mixed use…we’ll see how this progresses. Despite the lack of consistency retail wise, Morristown still has many great restaurants, bars and cultural activities.

Tri Towne Mall in Marlton was also one of those one corridor malls which, like the Rio Mall, connected the Kmart to an A&P. (There was never an interior entrance for the Kmart.) It was also smaller than the Rio Mall. I remember there being a CVS (no pharmacy and with interior and exterior entrances) a Baskin-Robbins, a library branch, and probably about 10 other stores. It didn’t serve much of a purpose but I guess shopping center developers at the time were still trying to capitalize on that “everyday is Springtime” enviroment.

I love those vintage captures and artifacts from bygone better days. That Rio Mall scar is creepy and ever more evident how dumpy this place has gotten. Did your provider give you dates on the photo at the top? Seems to be late 80s or early 90s (that estranged car is the only thing I have to work with)…