So, with no Rolex watches to sell, what does the mall currently offer? It does have the one leg of the mall that went ultra high end, but that is only one leg, with Nordstrom's, Williams-Sonoma, and other high end ladies wear. In the rest of the mall, however, I hate to see those junky stores that sell crap that should be selling at flea markets taking hold. Just walking by, I saw a cheap knock-off toy store selling plastic crap, one of those flea market stores that sell literally junk like a canoe adorned with a Kiss emblem on the whole bottom, or those 80's egg shaped chairs (and the stuff looks used). Then there was the store selling wooden junk but with NFL logos, and the fact that the whole anchor store where Sears was is still empty over two floors is a little depressing, to me.
We spent about half an hour to an hour talking with our sales lady there at Ben Bridge and she was telling us after I mentioned that I was worried about the mall and I do not want to see it go the way Highland Mall did and she nodded in agreement. She said she moved down here from Florida and was able to transfer from a job over there working at a couple of stores, one that doesn't exist anymore and the other a Helzberg Jewelers or something, back in 1993. She had friends who were already working over there and that at the time it was just the cooler mall to be at. It had a lot going for it. I do remember it was a very cool mall, Dillard's was on 3-4 levels, there was a Disney store, a huge food court, and Barton did not have a food court back in the 90's. I don't know why or how it happened, but in the last few years, it just got taken over by black teens.
I don't want to say they were harassing the people shopping, but it is a little disconcerting to try and walk with your family and it is like a high school with kids upon kids not doing anything but maybe enjoying the air conditioning. I can still picture it, every railing and free space where one could sit would taken up by black kids, I do not remember there being white or Hispanic kids in there. Add to that, every other store seemed to be a tennis shoe store and I can see why the flag was waved and people stopped coming there to shop.
There was also a Northcross Mall that was already going downhill and most of the stores were closed by the time we started going to it, but it had an ice rink and that was literally too cool. It would make the small food court feel cooler, so it was nice in the summer to go there. They also had a huge sporting goods store which I remember had like a hill to try snow skis on, and an archery range, and a room to hit tennis balls. It too went under, but maybe just because it was older and smaller.
As a consequence of Rolex moving out of the mall, my sales lady said she would give my contact info to one of the sales people over at the Domain. She was just mentioning the sales people and mentioned the name of the sales lady who I bought my first Rolex from who I am glad is still around. It is hard to forget a name like Princess (who names their kid that?), but they all remember me buying my watch because who writes on the back of their expensive watch "show me your tits?"
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