Hey all! Just a quick update -
I apologize for the lack of updates in the past few months. Finding time to write has been pretty difficult these last few months, but I promise you, I’ve got lots of good stuff coming up! I’ve taken a bunch of pictures of local shopping centers, but I haven’t had the chance to write the blog posts yet.
I’m currently working on posts for the Rosedale Mall (no, not a “dumpy mall” by any means, but it’s a mall in MN, so it must be covered!) and (by popular request!) the defunct Village North Shopping Center in Brooklyn Park, MN.
I’ve been putting off writing the Village North post because I’ve been trying to locate pictures of the now-demolished shopping center, and I’ve come up with exactly ZERO. I even went through old photo albums at my parents’ house, just in case, and, yep – NONE. If you have any pictures, PLEASE send them my way. I’ve had so many requests to do a write-up on this shopping center that I know a lot of people would be thrilled to see them! I’ll be posting it without pics, but if anyone has any, please send them my way.
Researching shopping centers is not an easy thing to do – there’s not a whole lot of information out there, even at the libraries! So, I need your help…
Here’s what’s upcoming that I need a little help with – these are the places I’ve had requests for, but I just don’t have enough information to go on. Of course, pictures – especially anything “old” - are ALWAYS welcome!
* Crossroads Center in Roseville: Pics and info pre-renovation?
* All those old, abandoned industrial buildings in Roseville, right off of 35W: Why is this area all abandoned? Tenants? Etc?
* Eden Prairie Center: Pics and info pre-renovation?
* Woodbury’s old outlet mall: Name of the actual mall? Tenants? When/Why was it demolished? Anything else?
* Four Seasons Mall, Plymouth MN: Any idea of old tenants?
* A strip mall off of Silver Lake Road-New Brighton. Had a Lunds that closed in 1999. Mall was demolished in 2006 & there’s now an LA Fitness, Subway, medical center, etc – any info of the old strip mall would be helpful, especially its actual NAME!
* Anoka’s Downtown: Any info?
If you have any info, please post to the comments or shoot me an email.
Thanks to those of you who’ve emailed me/posted comments – your information is very helpful! 
A new blog post will be up later this week, so check back soon!
#1 by The Old Scowl on December 16, 2008 - 8:13 pm
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Check with the historical societies and Chambers of Commerce of the towns. Anoka has theirs in the old library off of main (they have a wicked ‘Haunted Anoka walking tour’ in the Fall). Look for the book ‘The Brooklyns’ for sources on Brooklyn Park and Center. It is in the Hennepin County library system, but you will have to queue up behind me if someone else scores the second copy in the system. They might have a reference collection copy.
#2 by dumpystripmalls on December 17, 2008 - 11:14 am
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Thanks! Yep, I’ve looked through “The Brooklyns” book at the library, but it really wasn’t a lot of help. A huge portion of the book is devoted to families of the Brooklyn Park/Brooklyn Center area. That’s great and all, but not really what I was looking for!
#3 by The Old Scowl on December 17, 2008 - 3:37 pm
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How about the Brooklyn Historical Society? Their website is http://www.thebrooklyns.com/main.html
The also have a spot in the Peace building (never heard of it, don’t know what it is)west of Brookdale Center with archival space. There are no regular office hours, but appointments can be made.
#4 by The Old Scowl on December 19, 2008 - 8:29 pm
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Just had another idea for possible photos of area businesses: High School Yearbooks. I recall that yearbooks had ads for businesses in the back that were there to raise funds for the yearbook. Many of the photos in the ads were pictures of the businesses themselves, if no the business owners and employees. I know that Anoka high School yearbooks had photos of a few of the businesses, and perhaps the schools themselves have yearbooks in their library collections, provided they will let you into the school(s) to look and reproduce them.
#5 by Mary on January 8, 2009 - 9:08 am
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Stumbled upon your website while looking for info on what was left at Brookdale, after seeing the story in the PiPress about Macy’s closing their Brookdale store for – gasp – underperfomance.
I don’t know a whole lot about Downtown Anoka, but my husband grew up here and went to high school during the “cruising ordinance” crisis. Apparently, kids used to like to hang out on Main Street in Anoka at night, and other kids would cruise up and down the street at night. Local business owners complained, and an ordinance was passed that you’d get at ticket if you passed the same spot 3 times, or some such nonsense.
If you’d like, I could have my husband contact you.
Most of the malls ’round here seem to be barely limping along. I work downtown Minneapolis, and even the Nicollet Mall and the skyway system are pretty much shot. But then, I come from New Jersey, the state that invented the tacky stripmall, so my standards are a little bit highter.
Mecca for tacky strip malls in the cities: Central Ave coming up from Minneapolis. Gotta love it.
#6 by Jonny on January 13, 2009 - 6:16 pm
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God, Four Seasons — I remember it used to have an awesome hobby store, but I’m damned if I remember what it was. It used to have a normal grocery store, too — now it houses a very Wedge-esque organic food store (or did before I moved outta state — I hope it didn’t die)! It used to be such an upscale, lively mall.
#7 by Nancy on March 24, 2009 - 2:55 pm
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Regarding Village North Shopping Center — when it first opened, not sure when, the largest store was G.C. Murphy. It was in the southern most end, where the Korner Plaza was later. Murphy’s was similar to Woolworths, with a neat restaurant and a large variety of merchandise. I worked in both the restaurant and store from about 1973 to 1975. Murphy’s was headquartered out east, like Philadelphia or somewhere like that. There was also a G.C. Murphy at Apache Plaza and in St. Paul, like at University & 94 or near by. Murphy’s closed in the mid-1980s. I will always have such fond memories of my working days there!
#8 by AFS on March 15, 2010 - 6:58 pm
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Four Seasons! Ah, the bygone days of my youth, running through the mall on Tacky Hat Day with the Armstrong cross-country team. Former tenants:
Erickson’s NewMarket: As a young lass I’d kick and scream to shop here instead of that blasted Holiday Plus across the street. If you’ve been in a NewMarket and a Holiday Plus, I shouldn’t explain.
Summit School of Dance: if you weren’t quite snotty enough to go to the Dance Shoppe in “downtown” Plymouth, you went here. Was the feeder school for the Armstrong cheerleader squad, yet not the dance team.
Golden China: awrrrsome all-you-can-eat buffet. My now very obese aunt once walked off with one of the steam trays in Homer Simpson-esque fashion.
Woody’s Our Own Hardware-my dad preferred this place for some reason.
Some sporting memorabilia shop called Team Sports that lasted all of nine months. I remember my mom bought my dad a Quebec Nordiques hat from there for Christmas. Ah, they were a lovely team.
Hobby Time was the name of the hobby store on which the commenter above waxed nostalgic. I remember its train sets vaguely; I believed it was closed by the 1990s.
Some beauty school with students smoking out in front.
A bridal discount warehouse. My mom pointed out a pregnant teen girl shopping for gowns there as a “warning.”
The Fan Man: not once in my 13 years of residence in the 55442 did I see a customer in there. My dad posited that they ran some sort of mail order business, but for ceiling fans? Well, this was Plymouth.
Perfection Hair Stylists, just across the hallway from competitor salon Golden Razor. My parents always took me to GR whilst I secretly yearned for the KMS-ridden haze of Perfection.
Snyder Drug was the other anchor, after NewMarket. The source of many of my prescriptions filled through the years, where I once got a flu shot (meh) and the source of the annual coupon book with 5 free items in every book. Packing for college: 10% done. They didn’t hire me for a part-time job (bugger!) but the post office window inside was where I sent off an envelope to the UK in 1995 in the hopes of joining the Bjork Fan Club.
Some discount book shop that I had been inside all of 10 minutes when I left school early senior year of hs in 1999. The cashier gave me the stink eye.
At its high point, Four Seasons Mall got annual visits from Santa, monthly craft fairs and my Girl Scout troop setting up a table to sell Girl Scout cookies. Some 10 years later, it was where my mom called out fellow mothers of Armstrong’s class of 1999 for making and selling coffee with Four Seasons bathroom tap water.
Marcellos Pizza is still there I believe, and this former Chicago and current NYC resident will admit that its pizza was fanthasthico. Later on, it was where my track team would have carbo-loads. Going the distance, going for speed. Thanks Cake.