How Many of These Bangor Mall Stores Do You Remember?

Indoor shopping malls have been around since the 1960s, but did not take off until the 1980s.

In the '80s, '90s, and early '00s, malls were the place to be.  This was especially true for teenagers and young adults.  Before Amazon made online shopping almost too easy, malls offered people the chance to get everything they wanted, from pants to TVs, in one place.

This was true even in rural Maine.

Believe it or not, one of the first modern indoor shopping malls in the country was in Augusta, Maine.  The Turnpike Mall, which is still around today, dates back to the late 1960s and was created when a corridor was built to connect the Sears and Zayre stores.

What would eventually become known as the Maine Mall was built in South Portland in 1971.  Both the Bangor Mall and Auburn Mall opened in 1979 and, somewhat late to the party, the Aroostook Centre Mall opened in 1993.

The Bangor Mall

In the four decades since the Bangor Mall first opened, many stores have come and gone.  While many of those stores and restaurants were stereotypical mall chains, there were a fair number of local stores and restaurants.

As a history geek, I was excited to stumble across a few websites that had lists of the stores that used to occupy the Bangor Mall.  Some of them were really surprising.

For example, back in the day, the mall was home to a locally-owned grocery store.  Another one of the spaces was leased to a Bonanza-style steakhouse called York’s.

When it first opened, the mall was also home to Space Port, one of the first video arcades in the state.

How many of these former Bangor Mall stores and eateries do you remember?

Do you still shop at malls or do you get everything from online stores?