Moonlight Magic Sale Ad 1981

Picture of the Day: 11/15/2015

Here are some people standing on the Ice Chalet sometime in the 1980s.

Picture of the Day: 11/11/2015

Here’s a photo of the talking reindeer exhibit taken sometime in the 1980s. I think my cousin used to be a part of this.

Picture of the Day: 11/5/2015

Here’s another shot of the mall’s back entrance, taken sometime in the ‘80s.

Picture of the Day: 11/3/2015

My apologies for posting this rather late in the evening. Got busy today and lost track of time.

Anyway, this is an aerial shot of the mall from not long after it opened, circa 1976/1977.

Picture of the Day: 11/1/2015

Lately, I’ve been fortunate enough to discover some more pictures of the mall, thanks to generous donations and the new search tool on Facebook. Because of this, I have decided to bring back the Picture of the Day. Plus, I really need to bring action back to this blog.

This particular picture was taken sometime in the 1980s. This was the back entrance to the mall where Piccadilly Cafeteria and the Circle Six Theatres were. I remember entering the mall quite a bit through here.

RIP Radio Shack

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.

“Shalimar Photography”, a photography oriented store, opened in Radio Shack’s former spot at Carolina Circle Mall sometime in the late ‘90s and lasted a few years until the very early 2000s. The entrance to Shalimar Photography is in the photo to the left.

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.

So I am sad to say goodbye to all of the Radio Shacks closing in 2015. As a vintage computer fan, I’ll always remember them for their Tandy line of computers, most notably the Tandy TRS-80 and the Tandy 1000. To close this, here is a picture of the inside of the Radio Shack at Carolina Circle Mall taken in 2003. You can still see the neon sign that said “The Technology Store” in the background.

The Motion Simulator

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.

Happy 38th Birthday

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.

Wizard of Oz Puppet Show 1977

I stumbled across this earlier while tinkering around online out of boredom. Always a good day when I find something Carolina Circle Mall related.

Main Entrance Sign 1976

This was taken sometime in November 1976. I had always wondered what this sign looked like before the 1987/1988 renovation.

Circle Six Theatres Grand Opening Ad

This ran in the Greensboro News & Record in November 1976. I loved that theater. I’ll never forget seeing The Lion King there in the summer of 1994.

Remembering Toys R Us

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.

The Toys R Us had a pretty normal design for a store of its era, once having a giant Geoffrey on next to the sign. Inside, the store had very bright lighting with a very colorful color scheme consisting of dark blue, red, green, and yellow. In the front left corner of the store was a blocked off section containing video games where customers would pick up their video game purchases after taking the game ticket to the register.

As I mentioned earlier, I visited Toys R Us almost as often as Carolina Circle Mall on the other side of Ring Road. Toys R Us was the focal point for all toys and fun that kids got excited for in the 1990s and I was in the middle of it. I recall my dad taking me to Toys R Us in early 1994 and we got my first Power Wheels Jeep, a toy I would be attached to for years. In 1995/1996, when I was in kindergarten, my dad would take me there after school every other day to buy a Thomas the Tank Engine toy. My first video game console came from that Toys R Us in early 1997; a Sega Saturn. If only I had kept that Sega Saturn because they’re worth quite a lot 16 years later. The ad on the left is from November 27, 1994. Any of you remember Gator Golf? Good times.

I have recently been very nostalgic for the old Carolina Circle Mall Toys R Us. This week, I searched for some old Toys R Us memorabilia on eBay. I found an old Christmas catalog that I really wanted with a bunch of toys I probably remember from that era. Unfortunately, it was being sold for $80, which was way too much. Instead, I settled for something that’s still pretty nice; a 1993 Toys R Us yo-yo, pictured on the right.

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.

Picture of the Day: 12/10/2012

This is a picture of a Christmas magic show on the mall’s Ice Chalet in December 1980.

Newspaper Ad of the Day: 12/7/2012

A Christmas ad for the mall from November 1986.

Exterior Pictures from September 1980

These were all taken sometime in September of 1980.

Old Picture of Mall Exterior

A very good friend of mine found this on an old slide of his. This is the exterior of the mall, showing Ivey’s and Montgomery Ward. Not sure when this was taken. Looks like late ‘70s/early ‘80s.

Picture of the Day: 5/23/2011

This is the Ice Chalet in 1988, the same year it was removed. You can see the renovation is in full force in this picture.

Picture of the Day: 5/18/2011

That’s the famous Carolina Circle Mall Ice Chalet in 1982!

Picture of the Day: 5/10/2011

That’s the Current Event Disco at Carolina Circle Mall circa 1978.