New Ice Rink Discovery

I was going through the Google news archives this evening and I came across some interesting information regarding the closure of the Ice Chalet.

First, let’s backtrack to August of 2009. That was when I finally discovered that the month the Carousel Era began was November 1988. That was good in itself, but that still didn’t tell me when the Ice Chalet closed.

Well this evening, I found a newspaper article from Burlington’s Times News from I believe March 1988 which included a story regarding someone recently skating at Carolina Circle Mall’s ice rink.

Thus, that finally partly answered my question. Obviously, the Ice Chalet closed in 1988. It had to have been between March 1988 and November 26, 1988 (the date the Carousel opened). The only question remaining is when in 1988. I’m led to believe it was before June 1988, because I have a newspaper ad from that month which used the Carousel Era Circle Crescent emblem.

Just some random deep thinking. But at least I now know that the Ice Chalet closed in 1988. Still hurts that I missed the Ice Chalet by only a year.

Ho! Ho! Huh?

This afternoon, I was on the Internet reading old newspaper articles about Carolina Circle Mall and I cam across a very interesting one from 1994.

On Monday evening, December 19, 1994, a man disguised as Santa Claus visited Carolina Circle Mall and handed out $20 bills to random shoppers.

Cheryl Martin, the mall manager at the time stated that Carolina Circle Mall officials had no clue who he was. One of the $20 bills had a note attached to it saying, "Warmest holiday wishes from Carolina Circle Mall", according to Cheryl. The next day, Cheryl tried to track this mystery man down, but was unsuccessful.

The man in the Santa suit arrived at the mall at about 6:00 PM that evening. For about 30 minutes, he would approach shoppers, ask if they had been good this year, and would then hand them $20 with a note attached. He then disappeared.

An off-duty Greensboro police sergeant, Joe Deich, was working as a security officer at Dillard's at the time of Santa's visit. He didn't recognize the man either when he was approached by Santa. Santa asked the officer if he had been a good police officer this year. He said, "Yes, I have, Santa Claus". He then shook his hand, said "Merry Christmas" and gave the officer a $20 bill with a note saying "Yes, North Carolina, there is a Santa Claus".

The officer watched in surprise as Santa went downstairs and handed out about $100 more before heading out the door near Circle Six Theatres.

The owner of Fifth Avenue Men's, Simon Simaan, also witnessed Santa handing $20 bills to several children.

Joe Deich, the officer who received his $20 at Dillard's, gave his $20 to the Greensboro Police Department Fund.

In my opinion, this is truly amazing. Whoever this man was, I think he should be proud of himself. I think he probably gave out at least $500 in this 30 minute period. I think this was one of the nicest events that ever took place at Carolina Circle Mall. Too bad I wasn't there that evening.

For Whom Am I Calling?

Alright, as you know, I've been trying to get in contact with several big people about Carolina Circle Mall data.

Zamias returned my call last Tuesday, but they did not have anything. Apparently, when they sold the mall in 1999, they gave all of their pictures, information, etc to whoever bought the mall.

So I sent out an email to Wakefield Associates, the current owners of The Shoppes at Pyramids Village, but I haven't heard anything from them.

So, does anyone know who I should get in contact with?

Pinpointing the Carousel Removal Date

Ever since I started my research on Carolina Circle Mall back in 2005, I've discovered something pretty hard to research.

For some reason, I can not find the date the Carousel was removed. But here are some clues I've come across.

Obviously, the Carousel existed all of 1995 because I remember riding it thoroughly throughout that year. Also, an editorial article in the Greensboro News & Record from January 1996 states that a daycare visited the mall Christmas 1995 and mentions the kids riding the Carousel.

I really want to say that the Carousel was still there most of 1996. However, by the second half of 1996 is where it starts getting confusing. My personal memories sort of backlash around this point because it seems like I may remember riding it around that time, however this seems like around the same time the Carousel was removed.

Unfortunately, I have found no newspaper articles relating to this event. So I always simply assume that the Carousel was removed in either late 1996 or early 1997. Any thoughts?

My Promise Fullfilled

I told you I would find some new Carolina Circle Mall information, and I did. I went to the library today and found some.

1. On Saturday, June 4, 1988, the mall held a Health Fair. The ad I found in the microfilm had a diagram of a skethiscope with the Carolina Circle Mall Crescent emblem as the shiny metal part. Seeing that the renovation was completed around the same time, this is probably one of the very first times the crescent was used.
2. In the early '90s, a group known as the Carolina Mall Walkers would walk through Carolina Circle Mall for excersise. They were sponsered by Greensboro Parks & Recreation, Carolina Circle Mall, and Moses Cone.
3. For Christmas 1993, Santa Claus arrived at the mall's main entrance via a parachute.
4. Guilford County Schools had a Science Fair at the mall every spring.
5. Richard Simmons held some sort of a demonstration at the mall in 1990.
6. The Muppets visited the mall around 1990.
7. Circle 6 Theatres closed on Halloween 1996.

More to come, hopefully.

10 Fun Facts About Carolina Circle Mall

1. The orange tiling around Montgomery Ward can still be seen today at the defunct Montgomery Ward Auto Center.
2. The carousel spun counter-clockwise.
3. The mall was 428,000 square feet.
4. More than 4,000 parking spaces were available on Opening Day. This could have changed over the 25 year period.
5. The only store to survive the mall's entire 25 year life span was Montgomery Ward.
6. Tickets for the carousel were sold throughout the mall at stores such as Chick-Fil-A and Eckerd's.
7. The late Dale Earndhart visited and signed autographs at the mall in 1990.
8. The first store to open at the mall was Belk and the last store to be demolished at the mall was also Belk.
9. The restaurant that survived the longest at the mall was Piccadilly Cafeteria which was open for 20 years from 1976 to 1996.
10. One of the most interesting fact I've come across is that "Carolina Circle Mall" was not the original name. Archival information from 1974 states that it was originally known as I think "Carolina Circle Center". Must have been the code name or something.

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.

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.

New Research

I went downtown to the Greensboro Public Library today and did some Carolina Circle research since the Internet has recently let me down.

I looked at the microfilm and found the article from the Greensboro Daily News about the opening day on August 4, 1976. I printed it out and I'll post some items I found interesting.

1. The mall opened for the first time at 10:00 AM.

2. 22 stores were open on opening day.

3. Belk and Montgomery Ward opened months before the mall officialy opened.

4. The ice rink was called the Ice Chalet.

5. Activites for the next 3 days were concerts by an Eastern Music Festival group and "Bluegrass Experience". Also, visits by characters from Alice's Wonderland and a hot air balloon exhibition, if weather permitted.

6. The ribbon-cutting ceremony included Mayor Jim Melvin and Bob Alpert.

7. It took over 2 years to build the mall.

8. The mall cost more than $25 million.

9. At the time, the planned peripheral stores were K-Mart, Weiner King, and Shoney's. All of them are currently closed. Weiner King was in the current Bojangle's building.

10. The parking lot could hold more than 4,000 cars.

11. Stores that were open at the mall on opening day were:
Chick-Fil-A
Karmel-Korn Shoppe
Orange Julius
Kay Jewelers
Gordon's Jewelers
Carlyle and Company
Kinney Shoe Corporation
Thorn McAn
Butler's Shoe Corporation
County Seat
Foxmoor
Electronics America

12. Other stores opening were:
Radio Shack
Camelot Music
Ridgeway Optical Company
GNC
K&K Toys
Waldenbooks
Champs

13. The mall's occupancy was 76 stores.