The Brookdale Square strip mall was built in 1981 and was a landmark to all north suburban children, as it housed a Children’s Palace toy store, complete with a castle-style roof. The warehouse-style toy store always had shelves stocked to the ceiling with Cabbage Patch dolls, 8-bit Nintendo games, Transformers, and Matchbox cars.
The former OFFICE DEPOT/Children's Palace(???). Considering this is Brooklyn Center, I'm honestly surprised this place isn't overrun with graffiti
It didn’t hold a candle to the nearby, much smaller Toys R Us store. Geoferry Giraffe claimed to have everything from bikes to trains to video games, but our hearts were with Peter Panda. He was much cuter 
Paper Warehouse - now THAT's a blast from the past!
WHERE'S THE GOVERNMENT BAILOUT?
Even in its heyday, this strip mall didn’t have much to offer other than Children’s Palace, so it’s no surprise that when the toy store got of dodge in the early ’90s, it was the beginning of the end for this mall. Other tenants were Wallpapers to Go and T. Wright’s Saloon and Supper club. I don’t remember anything else. If you know of any, please let me know!
Circuit City is closed, folks. Go ahead & throw away your 15-ft. long receipt for that Smash Mouth CD you bought in 1997. It's okay!
I’m not quite sure if the Circuit City or Office Depot went in its place – Circuit City was in the middle of the mall with a the large roof (closed in Feb. 2005), and Office Depot (not sure when it closed) was at the end of the mall. I cannot quite remember if Children’s Palace was in the center or at the end. I want to say that Circuit City took over – but if anyone knows for sure, please let me know. Other tenants around this time were Drug Emporium (closed in the early 00’s), Blockbuster Video, USA Karate, and Weight Watchers. With flashy tenants like those, this mall was one groovy place! It even held a Hennipen County Services/DMV center for a while, in the mid ’00s – a clear sign of a mall on its last legs.
Pretty much the last remaining tenant at Brookdale Square
PepBoys and WeightWatchers were the last businesses standing. Troopers, indeed!
Today, this place is all but empty. The Pep Boys sign is still up, but the store is long gone. I couldn’t tell if the Weight Watchers was still in business or not – it looked like it was, though there were no cars at all in this deserted mall lot.
Why not tear this puppy down and put up a Starbucks in its place?
Sorry folks, it's closed. You'll have to find some other place to lose the Freshman 15. Not sure if it was just time of day I visited or if it was permanently closed
The outlot of Brookdale Square contained a Fuddruckers (Ruddfuckers) that closed in the early ’00s and two movie theaters, only one of which is still operating today. First, we have UA The Movies (Now “Brookdale 8″). Like the strip mall, it was also built in 1981 and was THE place to see movies for Brooklyn Park/Center residents in the ’80s and most of the ’90s.
A well-maintained Brookdale Movies sign. Over to the right, you can see the old Ruddfuckers
UA the Movies, circa early '00s
The last time I saw a movie at this place was in 1996 to see “A Very Brady Sequel.” It was a dump even back then – the place smelled like cheese and my feet stuck to the floor. Amazingly, this place is still operating today, on a bare-bones schedule (looks like only Thurs-Sun after 4PM), showing second-run and Indian (”Bollywood”) movies — a far cry from the days when, on Friday nights, the lines would be around the building just to see Jurassic Park. I’m not sure why someone would even WANT to see a movie at this place. Not even for a $1. It just looks absolutely disgusting – I haven’t been in there since 1996, but just looking at the outside of this place, I wouldn’t want to step foot in there, let alone sit in a soiled seat and eat at their “snack bar”.
- If you didn’t catch the Love Guru the first time, you can still catch this theatrical masterpiece at the Brookdale 8 Cinema
Call the hotline - you don't want to miss this week's showing of "Baby Mama", do you?
Right next door to the Brookdale 8 is the Brookdale General Cinema. Built in 1972 and closed in the early ’00s (my guess…might’ve been late ’90s). I believe this place only had 4 screens. This was considered the ugly step child of the Brooklyn Center theaters – you only went here if the movie was sold out at the other place.
I'm quite surprised this place isn't condemmed
Calling this place an "eyesore" is kind
Today, this place is some sort of religious event center. I’m not sure if it’s still in business. I hope not. I wouldn’t be surprised if this place is covered in asbestos. Ick.
My guess is that within the next few years (maybe months?) all of these places will meet the same fate as Brookdale Ford.
#1 by Ashley on November 8th, 2008
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****DRUG EMPORIUM!****
lest we forget the good ‘ol days…
#2 by The Old Scowl on November 14th, 2008
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Fuddruckers had previously been a ‘T. Wright’s’ restaurant. My father told me that by coincidence if you combine the ‘T’ and the ‘Wright’ together when saying the word, you get ‘trite’. It might be an appropriate description, since I do not recall ‘T. Wright’s’ being around for more than 5 or 6 years.
For what it’s worth, across Highway 100 at the site of the present Kohls store there had been what was at one time the only Dolby audio theater in the Twin Cities. It was hampered by the characteristic that hampered many older movie theaters in having only 2 theaters to show movies in.
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#3 by The Old Scowl on January 3rd, 2009
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Another second-run movie theater in the north metro area is up in Maple Grove at the Discount 10. Good place to take kids when on a budget and when they are not the type to have to see the movie the first week of release. It is just hard to remember the side street that the theater is on in the dark and in that maze that is Maple Grove’s commercial section. But it seems safe and pretty clean to go to.
#4 by Jay on January 13th, 2009
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I remmber the last time i seen a movie @ the brokdale 8 It was Scary Movie in summer 2000. Then a few months later the Regal across the freeway opened then 6 months later it became a cheap theater and no it wasnt disgusting inside it was good value for $2 and the popcorn & candy tasted same at the “good” theater as there I remember I seen 8 mile , friday after next bad boys 2 hustle & flow crash the 1st 2 spider man movie, amongothers this is my main theater due to the price but lately once it go there its on DVD in a cople weeks
#5 by Disco Studd on February 13th, 2009
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I remember the Children’s Palace being exactly where Circuit City was located. I can still remember the first time I ever went there. My grandparents were in town in their brand-new ‘82 Chrysler Cordoba (my brother and I spent the whole drive to CP playing with the map lights above the rear side windows) and they bought me a set of yellow “cobra” handgrips for my Huffy “Pro Thunder 2″ bike.
There was also an optical store located where PepBoys is now called “The Eye Works.” I only remember this because both my dad and I got glasses there back in ‘84 (and the ridicule I received from those nerd-tastic glasses led to me to get contacts when I was only 13.)
I coulda swore that the restaurant in the parking lot of the UA Theaters was once a Stuart Anderson’s Cattle Company.
I remember seeing ET at the UA theater, with my mom and brother balling their eyes out at the ending. Right afterword, we went with my mom to renew her license at the Hennepin County Gov’t Center down the block, and she had red puffy eyes in her license pic for 4 years…
#6 by Dave on March 21st, 2009
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The original video store was called US Video. It was owned by a guy who was big into movie theaters that showed naughty movies. It was on the far east end of the mall.
#7 by WeightWatcher on May 22nd, 2009
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Fun site! This Weight Watchers location IS open for business. I just attended a meeting there last night.
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#8 by Donald Watson on August 27th, 2009
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I was a manager at Children’s Palace from 1982-1985 before being sent to a store in Michigan. The Store was in the Center of the Mall. A drug store that I can not remember the name of was to the right. But thanks to a person on here I now know it was DRUG EMPORIUM. We often held meetings at the Chuck E. Cheese behind the mall.