Smile! You're on Carolina Circle Camera!

I actually found some! There are actually at least 2 videos out there of the inside of the mall! Check them out here. These are from YouTube so you can't save them to your hard drive. If anyone knows how, let me know.

Salute to Montgomery Ward

Three things always stand out when I think of Carolina Circle Mall. Carousel, Lime/Pink, and Montgomery Ward. Tonight, we'll take a look at this particular Montgomery Ward.

In 1872 when Aaron Montgomery Ward started his successful business named after him, I'm sure he didn't expect that his business would have the opportunity to open at a certain landmark mall in Greensboro, North Carolina.

Greensboro has actually had 2 Montgomery Wards. The first one was in Downtown Greensboro which lasted until the '50s or '60s. I'm not real sure, I can't find the site that had that information.

In 1976, Montgomery Ward returned to Greensboro in the form of an anchor of the Carolina Circle Mall.

Carolina Circle's Montgomery Ward was very contemporary. I'm not talking '00s contemporary, I'm talking '70s territory. The main thing that stood out was the shag carpeting. Just looking at that picture on the left makes me wanna get down tonight. Another feature was bright tiling along the exterior of the store. However, this was removed some time around the renovation.

Much later in its life, it was renovated, however retaining the Roller Derby/Price is Right style.

As you all know, the mall was failing which was also rubbing off on Montgomery Ward. It was doing pretty good, but not good enough. During the '90s, Montgomery Ward began downsizing a bit.

I bet you're wondering what Montgomery Ward sold. Well, it was very similar to Sears. It had a little bit of everything including lawn/garden, tools, electronics, clothing, furniture, etc. Of course, I usualy hung around the electronics.

According to research, Montgomery Ward was apparently the most popular store at Carolina Circle. A lot of people I've talked to have said that was they're favorite and it was also the last store to close at the mall.

The store's layout was interesting as well. In the '90s and most of the early '00s, the televisions were located in a dark corner next to the mall entrance on the first floor. The escalators were apparently in the center of the whole thing. Customer Service was at the loading dock entrance on the first floor. On the second floor, there was a beauty salon sort of in the center. That place had strong hair spray because you could smell it all over the place.

Across the street spearate from the mall was the Montgomery Ward Auto Express. It was mainly a car repair shop containg a lot of things you would find at Advance Auto Parts.

In 2001, the folks at Carolina Circle shut down the mall corridor leaving Montgomery Ward as the only store open at the mall. Both mall entrances were blocked off and the TV's were moved to another part of the first floor. At this time, Montgomery Ward wasn't doing much business, but acceptable business.

Also in 2001, the entire Montgomery Ward chain announced it was closing all of its stores including the one at Carolina Circle. Of course, everyone packed into that Montgomery Ward looking for bargains. I bought a Sony TV, Sony boombox, and a Sony VCR there during their Going out of Business sale.

About a week before it closed in 2002, Montgomery Ward shut down its first floor section leaving only half of the second floor open. Here's what I remember about my last trip to Montgomery Ward and my last trip to Carolina Circle. I walked into Montgomery Ward with a shock. Only half of the second floor was open and most of their electronics were crammed into that small section of store. Believe it or not, they were even selling a retro Montgomery Ward brand 1980's television set!

On the last week of January, Montgomery Ward closed its doors also closing Carolina Circle Mall. A sad day indeed.

Montgomery Ward was always one of my favorite stores there at the mall including Camelot Music, carousel, and others.

Carolina Circle Worldwide

You probably think that Carolina Circle Mall is only known in the Piedmont area of North Carolina. Wrong. It's actually known as far as England.

First of all, according to an old friend of mine from Pendle Hill, Carolina Circle Mall was once featured in a skateboarding magazine.

A few weeks ago, I got online and noticed that the mall was also featured in another skateboard magazine in England. This is mainly for skateboarding, but it's still neat.

Modeling

Alright, here's what's up. I'm considering creating a model railroad sized model of Carolina Circle Mall. The design will be circa 1994 and will include a moveable carousel, hologram movies at the Carolina Circle 6, etc. I'm opened to suggestions. This will probably end up being a school project.

Carolina Circle Mall... Roadgeek Style

This is my little version of Carolina Circle Mall.

If I had bought the mall sometime around 1996ish, I would have made a few changes if I had the money. The changes are in the above map.

As you can see, I would have renamed the food court "Carousel Station" for obvious reasons.

When the mall was renovated in the late '80s and when the ice rink was removed, people were very upset which might have hurt the mall. Well what I would have done was keep the carousel where it is, but build onto the mall eastward pass the theater and Piccadilly. I would have built a special section for the Ice Chalet. It might not be as fancy as the original, but better than nothing.

Also across from the new Ice Chalet, I would have added a new store called the "Carolina Circle Gift Shop". It would include mall souvenirs like mugs saying "My friend went to Carolina Circle Mall and all I got was this lousy mug".

Not seen in the map, I would have kept most of the remaining items like the green/pink color scheme etc, but make a few changes like carpeting in certain areas and lights around the exterior of the mall. Also a few surprises.

That would have cost a lot of money, but it might have saved the mall. Hey, it's 10:45 PM and my mind wanders at night.

Moments Before Smackdown

From January to about May of 2005, people broke into Carolina Circle Mall and vandalized it. As you can see in the above picture, the most damaged done to the mall was by vandalisim and not age.

I wasn't one of the people who broke in. I just observed the exterior of the mall from the parking lot. Occasionaly, I'd get a glimpse of the interior from the entrance. But a lot of people just went in there and nearly destroyed the monument of retail. If you were one of those people, this is a citizen's arrest! Please put your hands on your computer monitor and spread them. I'll be by to frisk you later. LOL

However, a lot of people broke in just to explore. I some what admire these people. Especially those who posted them on the Internet. As for me, I was sort of afraid to explore the insides of the mall and relive my past. It just seemed dangerous with the broken glass, vandals, and mall rats. I'd just prefer to observe through a computer monitor. But I wish I took some better pictures of the inside of the mall when it was closed. I have 3 I took from the car, but still.

Carolina Circle Christian School

From March-May of 2005, I attempted to film my Back to the Future the Second movie at my dead school Pendle Hill Christian School. Unfortunately, it fell through and I was only able to film the first 5 minutes.

If it all went through, I would have had to temporarly convert the school into Carolina Circle Mall. As you can see in the above picture taken on closing day, it wasn't going to be easy. I had to figure out a way to put removable green/pink paint on the walls etc. The tin-can lights could easily have been done by using real tin-cans and wire them up. Another hard thing to build would be a carousel that could fit in the school's multi-purpose big room. Didn't get that far.

Because the movie mainly takes place in 1994, I had to make it look like 1994. You can download an actual prop from my movie below. It would have been a Montgomery Ward ad sign placed in the mall corridor (aka school hallway).