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.