Orlando Fashion Square [Renovation in Progress]

[Pete C]

All I can say is that I am glad that I grew up in the 70s, 80s, and 90s going to malls, music stores, video rental stores, electronics stores, etc. I will always have those memories. It's tough watching it all die. I guess I will always have this thing in my pocket, though, right?

Edited May 5, 2017 by Pete C

[JFW657]

1 hour ago, Pete C said:

All I can say is that I am glad that I grew up in the 70s, 80s, and 90s going to malls, music stores, video rental stores, electronics stores, etc. I will always have those memories. It's tough watching it all die. I guess I will always have this thing in my pocket, though, right?

Same here.

Back then, malls were actually cool places to go hang out when you were bored or just looking to kill some time. There were a variety of interesting stores to go browse and window shop. Record stores, gift shops, sporting goods stores, places like Black Market Minerals, The Discovery Store, Spencer's Gifts and on and on.

Now they are basically just fashion boutiques with about 90% of the stores being devoted to women's apparel, accessories and shoes with the rest being a couple of men's clothing and shoe stores and maybe a couple of sneaker stores.

Boring.

[codypet]

RIP Radio Shack.

[JFW657]

4 minutes ago, codypet said:

RIP Radio Shack.

Yep. Was gonna mention them too but I didn't want to get too wordy.

[orlandoguy]

Scott Maxwell takes a shot at OFS in his most recent column.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/opinion/os-fashion-square-mall-orlando-scott-maxwell-20170602-story.html

[jrs2]

^^

Yeah, I miss video rental stores...from Hollywood Video to Blockbuster.  Music, etc., stores like FYE were cool back in the '90's and 2000's, but they couldn't keep up with Amazon etc.

I don't know if anyone here goes there, but Florida Mall has been improved to keep up with the times.  

Regarding electronics, I used to go to Sears for that.  But then places like Service Merchandise came about as competition- but they were never inside malls; rather in neighboring mall plazas.  I don't recall if JCPenny much for electronics.  I'm talking during the Atari era.  Ward's also.  

Brookstone closed at Millennia within the past couple of years.  Now, the staple electronics stores are Apple and Microsoft, Gamestop, and sometimes Sony Style.  Third party electronic boutiques are way too expensive.

It's not like it used to be.  

Hanging out-wise, some malls are awesome.  But for purchasing stuff other than clothes/ apparel, places like Best Buy have been cleaning up.

I said it a long time ago, that the cosmetics & perfume section of department stores probably singlehandedly keep the entire department store industry afloat.  It's all about marketing to women.  I've seen that for years.

Radio Shack had the best electronics at the turn of the decade (guess which one).  I really do miss Atari.

[JFW657]

1 hour ago, jrs2 said:

Yeah, I miss video rental stores...from Hollywood Video to Blockbuster.  Music, etc., stores like FYE were cool back in the '90's and 2000's, but they couldn't keep up with Amazon etc.

I don't know if anyone here goes there, but Florida Mall has been improved to keep up with the times.  

Regarding electronics, I used to go to Sears for that.  But then places like Service Merchandise came about as competition- but they were never inside malls; rather in neighboring mall plazas.  I don't recall if JCPenny much for electronics.  I'm talking during the Atari era.  Ward's also. 

Hanging out-wise, some malls are awesome.  But for purchasing stuff other than clothes/ apparel, places like Best Buy have been cleaning up.

I said it a long time ago, that the cosmetics & perfume section of department stores probably singlehandedly keep the entire department store industry afloat.  It's all about marketing to women.  I've seen that for years...

I was never wild about video rental stores, but I do miss the old record stores of the 70's and 80's.

Florida Mall was a cool place to hang out in the 80's before they remodeled it. I'd like to check it out again sometime, but I'm guessing it's not much different than any other mall nowadays. Nothing but apparel stores, and most of them, women's.

As far as electronics at dept stores, J.C. Penney actually was the best of the big three for stereo equipment. Sears was the place for tools and Wards was the place for lawn and garden equipment.

[dcluley98]

Anybody remember going to the video rental store and getting bummed that the new release you wanted to see was out of stock?  LOL. I probably watched a lot more movies I might not have because we had to pick something else.  Now you can just VOD anything you want. Crazy how much has changed in 15 years. 

Edited June 4, 2017 by dcluley98

[shardoon]

21 hours ago, dcluley98 said:

Anybody remember going to the video rental store and getting bummed that the new release you wanted to see was out of stock?  LOL. I probably watched a lot more movies I might not have because we had to pick something else.  Now you can just VOD anything you want. Crazy how much has changed in 15 years. 

yep..... then you feel like you won the lottery when you would go to the unsorted recently returned tapes and find that new release there.

[jrs2]

On 6/3/2017 at 6:30 PM, dcluley98 said:

Anybody remember going to the video rental store and getting bummed that the new release you wanted to see was out of stock?  LOL. I probably watched a lot more movies I might not have because we had to pick something else.  Now you can just VOD anything you want. Crazy how much has changed in 15 years. 

I do.  And I used to do the same thing.  I would scour the shelves for alternate titles to watch.  Or, other titles of the series.  It was all about the video case cover.  Marketing, ya know, and it worked.  Moviestop was good, for sales of new and used movies, but they went out of business.  Now, I refuse to view the Apple TV movies list or similar in protest.

[spenser1058]

3 minutes ago, jrs2 said:

I do.  And I used to do the same thing.  I would scour the shelves for alternate titles to watch.  Or, other titles of the series.  It was all about the video case cover.  Marketing, ya know, and it worked.  Moviestop was good, for sales of new and used movies, but they went out of business.  Now, I refuse to view the Apple TV movies list or similar in protest.

Meanwhile, I'm becoming a slave to Jeff Bezos. Not only do I have Prime (and Prime Video), but Kindle Unlimited and Amazon Music Unlimited, plus I subscribe to the Washington Post (which he owns.) I'm also slowly but surely ordering more and more from Amazon and buying less from Publix, LLBean  and Miller's Hardware. Dylan was right, "the times they are a changin'....)

[jrs2]

On 6/3/2017 at 1:59 PM, JFW657 said:

I was never wild about video rental stores, but I do miss the old record stores of the 70's and 80's.

Florida Mall was a cool place to hang out in the 80's before they remodeled it. I'd like to check it out again sometime, but I'm guessing it's not much different than any other mall nowadays. Nothing but apparel stores, and most of them, women's.

As far as electronics at dept stores, J.C. Penney actually was the best of the big three for stereo equipment. Sears was the place for tools and Wards was the place for lawn and garden equipment.

I started going to video rental stores in the early late '80's- early '90's.  I don't remember them too much in the early '80's.  Music stores, yes.

What I loved about those classic Department stores was that Sears, for example, was so big, that they made a deal with Atari to sell their version of that game system with their name on it instead.  This dynamic used to fascinate me back then.  And JCPenny, even as recent as the late '90's, made deals with Kenner for exclusives, at least with regards to Star Wars collectibles merchandise.  KMart had a few exclusives too.  Marketing again.

Now, places like Walgreens, Target, ToysRUs, Walmart and Gamestop have replaced them in those roles.

12 minutes ago, spenser1058 said:

Meanwhile, I'm becoming a slave to Jeff Bezos. Not only do I have Prime (and Prime Video), but Kindle Unlimited and Amazon Music Unlimited, plus I subscribe to the Washington Post (which he owns.) I'm also slowly but surely ordering more and more from Amazon and buying less from Publix, LLBean  and Miller's Hardware. Dylan was right, "the times they are a changin'....)

...and as a result, Orlando is getting an Amazon Fullfilment Center.  That's the trend.

[dcluley98]

So I rolled through the back parking lot of Fashion Square Mall where the Anthem College just got demo'd and the new development is set to take place on my CadyWay Bike loop last night. 

There is a METRIC BUTT-LOAD of fill dirt just sitting there staged around the parking lot. I am talking truckloads and truckloads of dirt all around the lake back there.  I don't know what they need all that fill for, but it looks like they could raise the whole parking lot by several feet if they spread it out.  This photo doesn't even capture it all: 

 

[JFW657]

Anyone got any pics of Sears?

Or what used to be Sears?

[jgardnerucf]

2 hours ago, JFW657 said:

Anyone got any pics of Sears?

Or what used to be Sears?

Just imagine nothing!  It's been gone.

[spenser1058]

[JFW657]

6 hours ago, jgardnerucf said:

Just imagine nothing!  It's been gone.

The empty space is what I was interested in seeing.

[JFW657]

While not exactly Fashion Square, it's in the general area...

It was reported on the evening news tonight, that the GOAA, owner of the Colonial Promenade, has taken control of the property back from the Chicago based management company who allowed it to fall into disrepair, and plans to invest about $1.5 million into immediate repairs and general sprucing up, then eventually, may redevelop it completely.

Plan to spruce up E. Hwy 50

 

Edited June 30, 2017 by JFW657

[spenser1058]

5 minutes ago, JFW657 said:

While not exactly Fashion Square, it's in the general area...

It was reported on the evening news tonight, that the GOAA, owner of the Colonial Promenade, has taken control of the property back from the Chicago based management company who allowed it to fall into disrepair, and plans to invest about $1.5 million into immediate repairs and general sprucing up, then eventually, may redevelop it completely.

Plan to spruce up E. Hwy 50

It's about time. Mayor Buddy and Frank Kruppenbacher (GOAA chairman) are supposed to be the whiz kids but they've let the properties on GOAA land along that stretch rot for years  without a peep. Well, better late than never, I guess. First a new terminal for Herndon and now this.

 

[jrs2]

^^

anyone remember that restaurant on airport property?  96th Aeorosquadron or something like that?

^^

Sears.  I saw the empty space two weeks ago.  depressing.  On a weeknight, the mall was pretty dead.  Also depressing.

[Boomer136]

4th Fighter Group. Loved that place. Went to the same sort of thing out in St. Pete. Always a great date night. Me and my date d'jour were frequently the youngest patrons, however.

[JFW657]

1 hour ago, Boomer136 said:

4th Fighter Group. Loved that place. Went to the same sort of thing out in St. Pete. Always a great date night. Me and my date d'jour were frequently the youngest patrons, however.

Prior to that, it was called 94th Aero Squadron.

Went there for happy hour a lot. Pretty cool place. I remember how the entry foyer was modelled to look like an old WWI bunker of some kind, with sand bags stacked up and old wooden barrels, wood beams overhead etc. I recall the old wooden front door was connected to a rope that lifted a sandbag or something up when you opened it and lowered it back down when you closed it.

Great free taco bar during happy hour. Ice cold draught beer, too.

[jrs2]

10 minutes ago, JFW657 said:

Prior to that, it was called 94th Aero Squadron.

Went there for happy hour a lot. Pretty cool place. I remember how the entry foyer was modelled to look like an old WWI bunker of some kind, with sand bags stacked up and old wooden barrels, wood beams overhead etc. I recall the old wooden front door was connected to a rope that lifted a sandbag or something up when you opened it and lowered it back down when you closed it.

Great free taco bar during happy hour. Ice cold draught beer, too.

wow.  name change.  for a second I was felt like I was having a George "Sky Marshall" Carlin moment there with the name...

[JFW657]

Just now, jrs2 said:

wow.  name change.  for a second I was felt like I was having a George "Sky Marshall" Carlin moment there with the name...

You were close. Just two numbers off.

[Boomer136]

They went to 4th Fighter Group when they went from WW I decor to WW II. Late '80s I think.