The Surprise

On Thursday, you read that I had a very big surprise for you. Here it is.

Monday, I got on eBay and did a little searching. Well, I typed "Carolina Circle Mall" under the search and guess what they had. There was an original Carolina Circle Mall restroom sign. It was pretty cheap too. Well I bought it.

The problem was was that it was in Fort Mill, South Carolina. Just south of Charlotte. Well, we agreed to meet half-way which was in China Grove, North Carolina. Well today, we went down there and picked it up at the BP Gas Station down there.

It sure is a beauty. I've always wanted a piece of Carolina Circle Mall in my own house.

You can see more pictures of the sign here. You can also see the road sign pictures I took to and from there here. Enjoy!

A Carolina Circle Surprise this Weekend!

This week, something has happened to me that is very wonderful and amazing. This could possibly be the next greatest Carolina Circle Mall thing that has happened to me next to the newspaper article.

Wanna know what it is? Sorry, but you won't find out until about Saturday. All I can say is, brace yourself!

Wal-Mart Update: 7/24/06

That's what the new Wal-Mart looks as of yesterday. I went out there yesterday to take some pictures for you all.

It looks like it could open at anytime. This is the point in the construction project where it gets to the excitement. I can't wait for the New Carolina Circle Mall to open!

You can check out the rest of the pictures here. They're at the bottom. Enjoy!

Is Carolina Circle Mall Underappreciated?

Is it just me, or does Carolina Circle Mall not receive the respect it deserves?

There are many many dead malls in the world that receive plently attention. In fact, there are a number of dead malls in North Carolina that receive respect.

However, the dead mall Carolina Circle Mall doesn't receive its fair share of respect. That's one of the many reasons why I started Carolina Circle City.

Dead Malls.com is one of my favorite websites. It gives me information on everything except Carolina Circle Mall, but it only gives you a link to another website.

Wikipedia.com is another great source. Well, sometimes. No one needs to know that some guy needs to quit correcting the spelling of the other guy. Anyway, the articles for Carolina Circle Mall are always deleted off of Wikipedia. Why? Because they say no one cares about an old defunct mall. But still, there are plently of other articles about other dead malls. I'm confused.

Piccadilly Cafeteria

The above picture is a 2005 picture of the inside of the Piccadilly Cafeteria at Carolina Circle Mall.

In November of 1976, the Piccadilly Cafeteria opened in the Carolina Circle Mall across from the Circle Six Theatres.

For over 20 years, Greensboro had two Piccadilly Cafeterias. There was one at Carolina Circle Mall and one at Four Seasons Mall. Today, we'll be taking a look at the Carolina Circle Mall one. For the Four Seasons one, visit Four Seasons City. Not!

I believe this particular Piccadilly Cafeteria doubled as the set for the Old Rebel Show for one day. Carolina Circle was a part of Greensboro TV Land!

In the '90s, I went to the Piccadilly Cafeteria fairly regularly. My parents never really cared for it, but we went anyway. They were similar to K&W Cafeteria, but their food had a certain taste to it that K&W didn't have. Also, I never went to the one at Four Seasons.

On July 31, 1996, Piccadilly Cafeteria went out of business leaving a huge empty space in the mall. It was the longest lasting dine-in restaurant the mall ever had. Since the Four Seasons Piccadilly Cafeteria closed in the late '90s, most of North Carolina hasn't had a Piccadilly since.

I had the chance to revisit Piccadilly Cafeteria once. In May of 2001, I went with the 5th grade of Madison Elementary School to Williamsburg, Virgina. We had dinner at the Piccadilly Cafeteria in Williamsburg. It was awesome.

For some reason, Piccadilly Cafeteria has given me dreams and nightmares over the years. The most recent one was from a few months ago. I went to Piccadilly Cafeteria somewhere and had a meal. When I got back home, I told someone about my meal. Suddenly, my backpack attacked me and I woke up shaking and sweating. Because I'm posting about Piccadilly Cafeteria, I'll probably have another nightmare tonight. The things I do for my blogs.

Return of Virtual Carolina Circle

Before the January renovation, Carolina Circle City had a feature called "Virtual Carolina Circle" on the side bar. Well I've finally gotten around to putting it back.

In case you've forgotten, Virtual Carolina Circle includes links to certain store's websites that were formally at Carolina Circle Mall including Belk, Dillard's, and Montgomery Ward. I have added Monk's Cheesesteaks & Cheeseburgers and Radio Shack. I will soon add others like Eckerd Drug and Piccadilly Cafeteria as soon as I find their websites.

Monk's & More

Alright, time for a little Carolina Circle Mall food history.

In 1988, Carolina Circle Mall opened it's new food court and carousel in the former space of the Ice Chalet. There were plenty of restaurants prior to the renovation, but no food court.

Throughout the history of the food court, many restaurants thrived. Let me try and list the restaurants I can remember.

1. Chick-Fil-A

2. Mr. Wok Chinese Restaurant

3. Carolina Deli until 1995/Subs & Spuds 1995 and on.

4. New York Pizza

5. Short Lived Taco Bell

But there was restaurant I left out.

In 1990, the legendary Monk's Cheesesteaks & Cheeseburgers opened in the Carolina Circle Mall food court. It was located in the corner of the food court on the right section of the above picture.

In my opinion, it was probably the most successful restaurant at the food court. For seven years, they served a wonderful menu full of many items. They specialized in cheeseburgers and cheesesteaks.

I rarely went there. Probably ony 4 or 5 times. Usually when I ate at Carolina Circle, it would be either at Carolina Deli/Subs & Spuds or Piccadilly Cafeteria. I remember it seemed sort of like a diner. It had a black and white tiled floor with a jukebox. I think it even had a video game or two.

They also had an ice cream shop attached to it. I went there a lot. I would always get a vanilla ice cream cone with a cherry on top.

By the second half of 1995, the mall began it's major slide into decline. In June of 1997, Monk's went out of business. This might have been a major factor in killing the food court.

Does the story end there? Nope. In 2006, Monk's reopened at the Northeast Summit Shopping Center. Same great menu. In fact, I had a cheeseburger from Monk's for lunch today. I agree. They do have great burgers. And they're pretty cheep and beats McDonald's or Burger King. Also, take a look at their menu board inside. It says "Formarly of Carolina Circle Mall 1990-1997".

All of this proves my theory. Carolina Circle Mall may be closed, but it's still open in the form of memories, websites, blogs, and reopened stores. Maybe they'll put a carousel in the Northeast Summit Shopping Center or the Wal-Mart parking lot. One can dream.

You can check out the Monk's website here.

Even More Research

Not as much of load as yesterday, but I'd like to share some more information I found at the library today. I'd like to thank the folks down at the Downtown Greensboro Public Library for this.

1. For a little while, a water slide park opened beside Carolina Circle Mall in April of 1978.

2. The 1950's TV star who played the Lone Ranger signed autographs at Carolina Circle Mall at the mall's second birthday in August of 1978.

3. When the mall finished it's renovation in June of 1988, the owners touted it as a renaissance for the mall. Singers even preformed the Hallelujah Chorus and the Star-Spangled Banner at the mall. The Mayor at the time was Vic Nussbaum who made a speech. There was a weekend long festival which featured live music. That's a pretty neat way to bring in a carousel and a pink/lime green color scheme.

100 Posts of Carolina Circle City

Welcome to post 100 of Carolina Circle City.

This is sort of a small tribute because I'm saving the big Carolina Circle City tribute for the 1 year celebration in September.

Carolina Circle City started on September 4, 2005. I was iffy about a second blog, but I made a wise choice.

Carolina Circle City has allowed me to meet many great people who share a similar interest in Carolina Circle Mall. Of course, the biggest Carolina Circle City event was my newspaper interview back in October. That's when Carolina Circle City really took off.

It's hard to handle a blog like this, but it's worth it. I will continue to serve the Carolina Circle Mall and retail community for as long as possible.

Some New Research for Your Pleasure

I got a library card Thursday so I thought I would go there this afternoon and do some Carolina Circle research. I found an article from July 28, 1996 about the mall. I'd like to share some interesting items from it.

It also included several pictures. One of them was from 1981. Man was the mall packed that day. Much like that carousel picture from the early-mid '90s. The rest of them were from 1996. One was a picture of the food court at about 2:00 PM on a Wednesday afternoon. I was reminded of what the old Monk's Cheesesteaks & Cheeseburgers sign looked like. Not many people were at the food court. I guess a lot of people don't eat much around 2:00 PM. Another picture was of the corridor with a Zamias Now Leasing Sign at one of the stores. Another was a picture of the two owners of Fifth Avenue Men's. The last picture was of the mall entrance of Belk. I'd share them with you, but those microfilm machines don't do a very good job with pictures.

Apparently the carousel was still there in July of 1996. I don't think they gave it the boot until the end of 1996 or early 1997. I couldn't see the carousel in any of the pictures, but I saw signs of it.

When this article was published, the mall was about 1/3 vacant. I'm not very good at math, but I'd say it wasn't very good, but not terrible.

A lot of people seemed to have blamed the mall's decay at the owner Zamias. They bought the mall in late 1993 and apparently it started to take a pretty heavy decline. My two favorite years of my life would be 1994 and 1995, and I guess the mall was still in fairly good health. Thank goodness.

In 1996, Greensboro was still without an ice rink. Recently, a place called the Ice House has opened off of Wendover Avenue. Carolina Circle City readers know that I prefer the carousel era over the ice rink era. Apparently, a lot of people were mad when they got rid of the ice rink in the late '80s.

The week before this article was published, Piccadilly Cafeteria announced it would close after lunch time on Wednesday, July 31, 1996. I've always wondered the exact date.

I learned that Carolina Circle Mall also had a theme back in '96. It was called the "Circle of Friends". It was to promote the mall as a friendly and community-oriented mall. Boy Scout troops were even invited to camp out in the mall. That's one think I'd love to do. Wake up in the morning to a carousel and Montgomery Ward. Merchents were also given "Circle of Friends" badges. I'd love to see one of those. It was probably an alternate emblem to the famous Carolina Circle cresent emblem.

I remember Carolina Circle in 1996. I'd always get a hot dog or grilled cheese sandwhich from the Subs & Spuds restaurant. They were good by the way. As usualy, I'd always take a ride on the ol' carousel. I remember the first time I saw the "Clearance Center" sign on Dillard's. I think that was in 1996. It was either 1995 or 1996 when I got to go through the mall's emergency exit. Surprisingly, the alarm didn't sound.

I hope you enjoyed those tidbits from that article and a look at the mall 10 years ago this month. I'll try and go back tomorrow and find some more information.

Slogans

In 1988, after the renovation was completed, Carolina Circle Mall had an entirely new image. This also included a new slogan which I believe was "Come and Shop Around the Circle... Carolina Circle Mall!". I've made up some more slogans for Carolina Circle Mall. Feel free to add some more.

1. Carolina Circle Mall: Have Fun Fun Fun till Wal-Mart takes the building away.

2. One lawn mower from Montgomery Ward: $1,500 One wish from the fountain: $.1 A memorable holiday walk through the mall's Christmas Village: Priceless

3. Carolina Circle Mall: Do the Hustle!

4. Does Four Seasons Mall have a Carousel? We don't think so.

5. Carolina Circle Mall: Dillard's is NOT a Skatepark!