Video of Illinois K-Mart in 1990 (Formerly of Lost Retail City)

I found that on YouTube this afternoon. Brings back a lot of memories. Too bad there's no real audio in this video so we can hear the loud "whoosh" from the oversize vents.

Burlington Square Mall Hit With Foreclosure (Formerly of Lost Retail City)

According to WFMY News 2, Burlington Square Mall (It's in Burlington, duh), has been hit with a foreclosure.

If you go to News 2's website, you will find the entire article dealing with the foreclosure, as well as a very interesting video of the mall's grand opening from 1969, when it was Holly Hill Mall.

I have some good memories of that mall in the '90s. I remember when the food court (now closed) had a Panda Express and a Burger King. I also remember frequenting the music store and Woolworth (Now Goody's).

I also remember sometime around 1997/1998, the mall's Easter Bunny gave me a coloring sheet. After coloring it, I took it back to the mall in order to receive a prize, which I never got.

One major thing I remember is its first name change. Back in the late 1990s, Holly Hill Mall was renamed to Colonial Burlington Mall. I think this was when the mall started to take its nosedive. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I seem to recall it being renamed Burlington Square Mall in 2005.

What's really killing it is the new Alamance Crossing Shopping Center just down the road from the mall. Belk and JCPenney have already moved to the new shopping center, leaving just Goody's and Sears at Burlington Square Mall.

The last time I went to Burlington Square Mall was last month. Shopping traffic was alarmingly low and stores were closed all over the place, including the Apple House Cafeteria. The only store I went into was Radio Shack.

From what I saw, it started bringing back memories of the final years of Carolina Circle Mall during the late 1990s. Yes, Burlington Square Mall is currently a lot like the later years of Carolina Circle.

It's been foreclosed, however it is not closing... yet.

Next time I go, I'm taking my camera.

The News 2 article and the 1969 grand opening video is here.

Woolworth Stereo Spectacular (Formerly of Lost Retail City)

Over at Retro Junk, I came across an interesting classic commercial for the Woolworth Stereo Spectacular '71. I must admit, it really has that early '70s vibe to it.

Take a look at it here.

Fresh K-Mart Pictures (Formerly of Lost Retail City)

About a year ago, I took some pictures of the Carolina Circle Mall area K-Mart. Well, I went back there today and took some more.

Obviously, the place looked about the same as it did a year ago, but I was able to get some more higher quality pictures this time. It's all in the weather.

Like last year, I took some pictures of the inside of the store from the window. It was a very interesting view. They sure didn't get rid of a lot of stuff when they closed about 5 years ago. They still even have the cash registers!

You can take a look at all 9 pictures here. Again, let me know if you have difficulties looking at the pictures.

Knuckles (Formerly of Lost Retail City)

Let's take a look at one of my favorite defunct restaurants.

Known as Knuckles, this restaurant opened in the '50s or '60s has some what of a truck stop. It matured over the years into a nice little cafe with good plate lunches.

Sadly, it closed in I think 1995 or 1996 and was reborn as Woodard Funeral Home in the late '90s.

It was located on Sands Drive in Greensboro just up the road from Carolina Circle Mall.

Woolworth Bag (Formerly of Lost Retail City)

Last week, I went to the flea market off US-29 and bought an old video tape. That's all, have a nice day.

Oh, alright! Well, when the cashier bagged the video, he put it in an old Woolworth bag. To me, this is worth more than the video.

This particular bag was probably made sometime in the 1990's and it features two slogans "Buy With Confidence" and "Satisfaction Guaranteed".

On a smaller note about the video, the case has a Woolworth price tag with the price marked out.

Carolina Beach Maxway (Formerly of Lost Retail City)

This is my favorite Maxway store located in Carolina Beach, NC near Kure Beach. It's not lost retail but it features lost retail.

Maxway is similar to Roses except a little bigger. This particular one features beachware and beach souvenirs.

There's a similar Maxway closer to home here in Greensboro on Randleman Road. It features a lot of similar items that are at the one in Carolina Beach, but without the beach stuff.

Urgent Closer Update (Formerly of Lost Retail City)

I went by my all time favorite Pizza Hut at the corner of Cone Boulevard and Summit Avenue today for lunch. I wasn't able to get lunch there today because they were closed... permanently! Man I have so many great memories of that Pizza Hut. I wish it didn't close.

Service Merchandise (Formerly of Lost Retail City)

This is the old Service Merchandise store that was once located across from our favorite mall Carolina Circle Mall. Let's take a look behind the scenes of this very interesting store. Unfortunately, I don't have much information about this store, so hang in there.

This store opened sometime in the '70s or '80s. Just like all of the other stores in this area, this store was predicted to be a success, however was squashed like a bug soon after.

There really isn't another store to put up against Service Merchandise. It was sort of a downsized version of Sears and Montgomery Ward. But it did specialize in jewlery. I also remember buying a typewriter there in the early '90s.

Around 1996, the store decided to move all operations to the other side of town. Service Merchandise packed their bags and moved from Carolina Circle to the Landmark Center area off Wendover Avenue. It was located in the former Best store.

In its new location, the store started to sink real deep into demise. In the early '00s, all Service Merchandise locations went out of business nationwide including the Carolina Circle/Wendover one.

Today, the store's Carolina Circle location has been left abandoned and the store's Wendover location is now I believe Hamricks. Also, Service Merchandise has reopened as an Internet retailer only.

Lost Toys 'R Us (Formerly of Lost Retail City)

I've got to do 10 minutes worth of work in 1 minute. Help!

This Toys 'R Us is the one across the road from Carolina Circle Mall. It opened in 1985 with a bang. I remember going there as much as Carolina Circle. Hey, it's less than walking distance from there!

Due to poor sells, the store closed in August of 2002. Everything closed in 2002 in this area!

In May of 2005, it was demolished in one day. This was because of the Wal-Mart.

Toys 'R Us seems to be a dying chain and within 10-20 years, it'll probably end up like Montgomery Ward and Service Merchandise. More on Service Merchandise later here at LRC.

Pendle Hill Christian School (Formerly of Lost Retail City)

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the Carolina Circle Mall of schools called Pendle Hill Christian School. Even though it's not retail, let's take a look at the history and greatness of this school.

I took the above picture of the school on March 10, 2006 the day the school went belly up.

The school opened in 1997 in the basement of Hunter Hills Friends Church. When it first opened, the school was called Pendle Hill Friends School. The school was pretty much makeshift consisting of only a few students, a few teachers, and limited classrooms.

Starting in 2001, the middle school moved across the street into the basement of Saint John's United Methodist Church. Like the rest of the school, the middle school was also pretty makeshift. 2001 was also the year I started Pendle Hill.

In 2002, the building seen in the above picture was built in the backyard of Hunter Hills Church. For the first time probably, the entire school operated in one building. I think 2002 was also when the Pendle Hill Lighthouse Emblem was created as seen on the left.

2003 was probably the height of the Pendle Hill legacy. Money was coming in, the classes were superb, etc. Also in September of 2003, I became a Roadgeek which really helped the field trips.

2004 brought many new changes. One of the founding people who started Pendle Hill left (who was the adminstrator). That resulted in another big change. 2004 was also the year when the name changed from Pendle Hill Friends School to Pendle Hill Christian School.

Starting in March of 2005, I tried to film my Back to the Future the Second movie at Pendle Hill. One important thing that had to be done was to convert the school into Carolina Circle Mall. It wasn't going to be easy. I'd put a picture on here of the hallway, but there's some blogger error. Later.

2005-2006 was also the school year that Pendle Hill started the 9th grade. That gave me another 1/2 year.

Around Christmas of 2005, Pendle Hill started to fade away. Due to severe financial troubles, Pendle Hill Christian School closed permanently on Friday, March 10, 2006. It was a very sad day. The nearly 9 year old school was gone. There are so many theories on the reason the school closed, it's hard to really pinpoint the reason it closed.

We will never forget the great school called Pendle Hill Christian School.

K-Mart (Formerly of Lost Retail City)

This store isn't lost... yet. Anyway, I'd like to take some time to honor this very interesting store called K-Mart.

The K-Mart in the picture above is the K-Mart near Carolina Circle Mall. This one opened in 1976 and was the first K-Mart I ever went to.

The K-Marts of the 80's and early 90's have been know to be very unique. Why? Most of these are actual memories of mine.

I remember walking through this particular K-Mart near Carolina Circle way back in the early-mid 90's. K-Mart had this unique smell to it. Sort of a popcorn/rubber ball type smell. And the sandwhich shop. The food there sort of reminded me of Drive In movie food. The moist hot dogs, popcorn, candy. Who can forget the oversized air vents that made that loud whooshing sound? Couldn't tell you were at K-Mart or the mothership. Finally, the music. They'd always play 80's music like Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go.

Unfortunately, the blue light burned out in 2002. The Carolina Circle K-Mart closed leaving only the Super K-Mart on Wendover.

Nowadays, I do my big box shopping at Target, but when it comes to nostalgia, you can't beat K-Mart.