USA Shopping Malls, Summer 1990

Just wanted to share this neat collection of photos from ex-Sleepyhead bassist Michael Galinsky, all taken at various malls in the summer of 1990. The fashions play more prominently than the malls themselves, but you can still get plenty of glimpses into a blur of Tape Worlds and Jarmans and Patrick Swayze posters. Mall department store junkies won’t find too much to latch onto here–the only anchor that features prominently is an old Sears, though I think there’s a “Harris” logo visible in the reflection of one shot.

Can anyone identify the malls in these pictures?

EDIT: Apparently many of the photos, if not all, were taken at the Smith Haven Mall on Long Island, which we’ve featured on the site before. It looks a little different now.

Author: Caldor

Jason Damas is a search engine marketing analyst and consultant, and a freelance journalist. Jason graduated magna cum laude from Northeastern University in 2003 with a Bachelor of Science in Journalism and a minor in Music Industry. He has regularly contributed to The Boston Globe, PopMatters.com, Amplifier Magazine, All Music Guide, and 168 Magazine. In addition, he was a manager for a record store for over two years. Currently, he focuses on helping companies optimize their web sites to maximize search engine visibility, and is responsible for website conversion analysis, which aims to improve conversion rates by making e-commerce websites more user-friendly. He lives in suburban Boston.

11 thoughts on “USA Shopping Malls, Summer 1990”

  1. Its on Long Island based on the Kings Park HS jackets. That is definitely not a Harris anchor from So Cal. They never had their logo like that

  2. Love the smokers and the future “Jersey Shore” reject.

  3. Looks a lot like Walt Whitman Mall judging from the mix of natural light.

  4. Comments on the source say that many of the pictures were taken at Smith Haven Mall

  5. I can’t get the site the pics are on, to work.

  6. Most of these pictures were taken at Smith Haven Mall on Long Island.

  7. Must be in an ATT mobile area. No one is using their cell phones.

  8. Looking at these photos are there any malls left in the US where smoking is allowed? I know that just before our local mall decided to go smoke free some of the stores and restaurants around town had started their own “policy” when it came to smoking. One buffett restaurant it was strictly Marlboro & Camel only ( they claimed generic cigarettes had stank more ) while the arcade had said a no no to cigars and cloves. Then we had yet another restaurant that had an issue with menthol cigarettes such as Newport and KOOL because of their “odor”. Yes it is laughable now.

    Well it wasn’t very long before our county ( and the mall ) had got on the “no smoking allowed at all” train.

  9. I think around NC most malls banned indoor smoking by 1999. There are quite a few articles online around January of 1999 when Hanes Mall in Winston Salem banned indoor smoking. It was quite notable as Winston Salem historically was a large manufacturing center of cigs

  10. @Cathy Jones, I think there might be very limited numbers, but whatever few malls that may permit smoking are very few and far between, considering how many smoking bans have passed all over the country, and the over the top demonization of smoking. I remember reading of an out of the way mall in Eden, NC allowing smoking just before North Carolina passed a ban affecting most places in that state, and I know whoever from Labelscar profiled Woodmar Mall in NW Indiana(forget at this sec who wrote the article here profiling that mall) noted that he saw a few people smoking inside that mall. (note that Woodmar Mall was demolished at least 3 years ago, possibly more, excluding the building Carson’s is in)

    As for malls in Illinois, I recall some allowing smoking in food court areas until the early 2000s. I think I was born too late to recall the days when any shopping malls allowed smoking throughout their interior corridors, lol. (my guess from reading about when malls instituted policies prohibiting interior corridor smoking, is that most did so by the early 1990s)

  11. Amazing collection of pictures. It’s amazing to me how you always see a different cycle of retail store logos, from the ones that retail stores use today. Not to mention, of course the different styles of clothing people wore back then, versus today!

    The wooden trim look you used to see on a lot of mall store facades is long gone(for the most part, unless you see an older unrenovated store somewhere), as well!

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