Now here’s something I’ve been after for many many years. This is actual video footage inside Carolina Circle Mall. This was recorded on Sunday, May 5th, 1996. Hopefully we can find more footage from the mall like this someday.
Also, here’s the newspaper ad that advertised this very same show!
Here’s an interesting picture of a tree with the Carousel standing behind it sometime in the early ‘90s. This picture was taken from inside Monk’s.
Here is a really good shot of the Carousel sometime in the early ‘90s. Really brings back memories.
Here’s a great photo of the outside of Monk’s Cheesesteaks and Cheeseburgers sometime in the 1990s. Part of either Circle Café and Deli or Subs and Spuds can be seen on the far left of the picture.
Here’s an interesting shot of the Carousel taken from Monk’s, presumably taken in the early morning hours since it’s not running. Photo was taken sometime in the early ‘90s.
Here is another shot of the food court, this time the back portion sometime around January 1991. The Tilt Arcade can be seen in the corner.
Gatto Pizza and Circle Café & Deli had not opened yet at this time. If anyone knows when these two places opened, particularly Circle Café & Deli, please let me know. I am quite curious.
This is a shot taken inside Monk’s, looking out at the food court sometime in the early ‘90s.
Here’s a picture of some folks riding the Carousel sometime in the early ‘90s. This picture brings me VERY pleasant memories. You can also see part of the Tilt Arcade towards the left of the picture.
Not sure who these folks are, but this is a picture of the mall’s food court and Carousel in I believe January 1991. Amazing how well the mall would light up at nighttime.
This is a racecar display outside the mall’s food court sometime in 1995, possibly February. Part of the Carousel can be seen in the background. If only I could get a close-up shot of the food court when it was still open.
I’m sure most of you reading this right now already know this, but recently, Radio Shack filed for bankruptcy and is closing most of its stores. Some stores are going to be converted into Sprint/Radio Shack hybrid stores, but all of the Radio Shacks in the Greensboro, NC area are unfortunately closing for good.
I figured that this would be a fine time to look back at the Radio Shack that was formerly at Carolina Circle Mall. Radio Shack was one of the original 22 stores to open at the mall on August 4, 1976 and was located on the second level right by Belk. Radio Shack was very successful at Carolina Circle and was one of the mall’s main-stays for many years.
Radio Shack’s Carolina Circle Mall location closed in July 1996 and moved down the road to a new shopping center that was built on Cone Blvd. at Church St. that same year. Eventually, that Radio Shack also closed sometime in the early 2000s.
I vividly remember my dad always taking me to the Carolina Circle Mall Radio Shack to buy certain pieces of electronics and electronic components. The item I remember the most that he bought at that Radio Shack was a handheld CB radio that he kept in his 1986 Nissan Pickup truck in the early ‘90s. I think he actually still has that CB radio somewhere.
A hot topic at the Carolina Circle Mall Fan Club on Facebook recently has been the motion simulator ride that would be placed in the mall on occasion.
Not much is known about this motion simulator except that it was used throughout the ‘80s and ‘90s and would be placed on the lower level near Montgomery Ward.
The simulator was not a permanent fixture at the mall, as mentioned before. It would be placed inside the mall every few months or so and would be used for about a week. It was also not known for being very reliable, which may have been one of the reasons it wasn’t used frequently.
The above picture was not taken at Carolina Circle Mall, however the motion simulator in the picture was the same one that was used at Carolina Circle.
Carolina Circle Mall officially opened this day in 1976. Over the past 9 years of having this blog, I’ve said so many things about the mall that it seems like there might not be anything else to say.
However, I got to thinking awhile ago about the memories I have of going to Carolina Circle Mall as a child and how much I enjoyed the overall atmosphere, not just the Carousel. Compared to the other malls in the area at that time, and even nowadays, there was something different about Carolina Circle, but what was it?
I think that unlike other malls that were built strictly for business and retail, Carolina Circle Mall was designed to be not only retail, but for entertainment. It was the only mall in the area with a movie theater attached to it and most notably, it was the only mall in the area to ever have an Ice Chalet or a Carousel (however Hanes Mall in Winston-Salem now has a small Carousel). Even though Carolina Circle Mall failed financially, I will always remember it for the special features it had that set it apart from other malls but most importantly, the memories the mall gave me.
First of all, I apologize for not posting here lately. Been busy with a lot of things but I’ll try my best to start posting regularly again.
For the past month or so, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about the old Toys R Us across from Carolina Circle Mall. I’ve never really discussed this store much but I actually visited Toys R Us almost as much as I did the mall.
The Toys R Us across from Carolina Circle Mall opened sometime in 1985 and was one of the first and only major outparcels to open across from the mall. Service Merchandise was next door, which opened sometime in the ‘80s and lasted until about 1997 or 1998. Another Toys R Us opened on High Point Road near Four Seasons Mall about a year later and is still open to this day.
Toys R Us was relatively successful in its life and always seemed to do reasonable business. Unfortunately, when Carolina Circle Mall started its decline in the late ‘90s, Toys R Us felt the effects. Toys R Us closed in August 2002, 8 months after the mall closed. Like the mall, Toys R Us was left empty for several years until May 2005 when the building was demolished for the new Wal-Mart/Pyramids Village.
Like Carolina Circle Mall, I’ll never forget Toys R Us. The Toys R Us on High Point Road in Greensboro, even though it’s from the ‘80s, it was massively remodeled in the early 2000s and has no nostalgia factor whatsoever. But the memories will never fade away.
This is an aerial view of the mall from February 3, 1993. I was probably inside riding the Carousel when this was taken.
