The Holly Center boasts many exciting shops!
Located in Fridley, MN off of Central Avenue, the Holly Center definitely qualifies as a dumpy strip mall.
Offering a smattering of mostly local businesses, Holly Center houses your typical shitty inner-ring suburb strip mall establishments and tries to be your one-stop shop. I guess it doesn’t do that bad of a job…after all, it has…
A tobacco store to get your smoke on. Earn those Marlboro Miles!
An auto parts place to soup up your Camero
A flower shop to show her you care
A shitty local pizza place with cardboard-style crust,a chinese restaurant & an Old Country Buffet to load up on MSG and other preservatives
A plasma center to make some cash. Why bother getting a job?
A Snap Fitness to work off your meal from Holly Center’s fine dining establishments
His & Her Salons: A Cost Cutters for the ladies to trim the mall bangs, and a barber shop for the guys to trim the mullet
and a year-round H&R Block to get the feds off your ass.
The eye-catching architecture of the Holly Center
See – it’s got it all. Except for a check cashing place and a pawn shop. Then the circle would be complete.
So many stores, so little time
Treat yourself to culinary punishment at its finest by bellying up to the Old Country Buffet.
Holly Center’s biggest draw is the Old Country Buffet, which is basically your school cafeteria masquarding as a restaurant. Love eating microwaved food that’s been sitting under heat lamps for the last 4 hours, protected only by a sneeze guard? This place is for you! OBC offers low quality cuts of meat as well as your choice over 100 appetizers, salad toppings, fruit, veggies, and more! And on Wednesday nights – visit the taco bar! If you have a taste for institutional cuisine, you’ll love the OCB. So if you ever enjoyed a meal in a hospital cafeteria or served time in prison, I guess this means you. Bon Apetit!
The Plasma Center used to be a Snyders. I made a few Beanie Baby runs here back in the day
The parking lot is a bitch to exit. If you’re trying to get back on University Avenue, THINK TWICE! Holly Center’s parking lot exits to the right, onto a one-way, meaning the only way to get back on University is to swing an illegal U-Turn, lest you want to drive all the way down to West River Road. Pray the fuzz isn’t anywhere near!
Here are a few “vintage” Holly Center items. These photos are from a Fridley 1999 50th Anniversary Celebration booklet.
A list of Holly Center businesses and shops from 1999
In the early '70s, Holly Center had a Penny's Market and a Ben Franklin
#1 by Scott McCormack on October 1st, 2008
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Very funny stuff! I grew up in Fridley and moved to Tennessee in 1975. Use to shop at Penny’s and Red Owl, ect. My brother is a higher up at OCB, but found your rants comical. Best friends mom used to work at Snyders. Speaking of which had a kick ass fountain bar in the 70’s. good work.
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#2 by Christine Rietsch on August 27th, 2009
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Recently one of the local gift shops in there has moved down to be next to the plasma center. There is a furniture store spread across 3 of the store fronts as well (and not near eachother–the owner has to run around).
The gift shop is chintsy, but if you are looking for good beaded jewelry–I’M IN THERE. I’m doing things from hippy beads to very elaborate stuff for the Renaissance Festival.
And Old Country has improved over the years. There actually is a decent manager in Holly Center who is making sure GOOD food is put out. It’s not casino buffet quality, but it’s good!
#3 by Christine Rietsch on January 15th, 2010
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Since the gift shop has moved locations things have really improved!!! Getting better product and more variety in now. It helps that there are more of us involved now trying to make the store a big thing (one person can’t do it alone!)
There is now a cake making store in there, the flower shop, still the OCB, the plasma center, and a small gym for people to work out in.
Not much we can do about the parking lot entrance though.