Tuesday, March 07, 2006

Batavia Mall

Mall Madness


Yesterday evening I checked out the Genesee County Mall in Batavia, New York. After Watergate and the career of Molly Hatchet, it was the worst thing to come out of the 1970s. City planners bought into the mall fad and tore down a row of pre-existing businesses to install a ghost town. "Nobody's here!" said one kid who walked in with her father. "Yeah," said the dad emphatically, "nobody's here is right!" You can read more about this monstrosity (yes, someone wrote a book chapter about how bad this mall is) in Bill Kauffman's Dispatches from the Muckdog Gazette.

The "Cardiology" store

The dog supply store, one of the few open at 6 PM on a Monday.

$ee It $ell is an Ebay store a la The 40 Year Old Virgin

Hiding Place indeed

From the main concourse

The main stage. I think they have square dancing here once a week.

Last time I was here a shoe display remained outside but the store was just as dark.

The "Rural Opportunites" store

I needed a flash to capture Sunny's because the lights were out.

4 comments:

Nicole said...

I went to a wedding in Batavia, NY in 2001 and not-so-unfortunately, we didn't make it to the "mall".

Anonymous said...

my family and i went 'christmas shopping' to the batavia mall once...it was like a scene right out of 'the twilight zone'....i found myself looking around for rod sterling or even alfred hitchcock lurking in one of the corners.
bobbi

Anonymous said...

Your photos make it look much cleaner and more attractive than seeing it in real life (honest)

dstrohmeng said...

I was there on April 17, 2009. It looked pretty much the same. The Hiding Place is still there and the JC Penney has survived. There was one restaurant where the older people were congregating. I didn't see the "Story for 25 cents" thing though. It's a bit odd when you get to the spot where City Hall was built onto the mall. You go from the 70's era mall to the modern look of the City Hall.