Home of Carolina Circle Mall

Introduction

Ever since October 2005, people have been posting their memories of Carolina Circle Mall at my Carolina Circle City blog. I feel that maybe I should post some of my memories here at Home of Carolina Circle Mall.

How It All Began

I was born on Monday, November 27, 1989 in Greensboro, North Carolina. At the time, Carolina Circle Mall's Carousel Era had been underway for the past year and a half and Ivey's had recently been bought out by Dillard's.

I'm really not too sure when I started to go to Carolina Circle Mall. My guess is sometime on or before June 2, 1990 when I was only a baby. In 1990, as soon as I rode the Carousel for the very first time, my love for Carolina Circle Mall began.

My Circle Glory Years: Early & Mid 1990s

My favorite era of Carolina Circle Mall would definitely be the early '90s and mid '90s.

Back then, Carolina Circle Mall was still doing pretty good business, the Carousel was still up, and all the good stores were open. And I was caught in the middle of it.

As a little kid, Carolina Circle Mall was paradise. About 3 or 4 times a week, I would venture out to The Circle and ride the Carousel. The best part of the Carousel to ride on was the little seat that would seat up to about 4 people and if you spun it, it would spin. However, I soon learned that if you spun it too fast, you would get in trouble by the Carousel operator.

When I wasn't riding the Carousel, I was doing other stuff the mall had to offer. I would frequently catch a movie at the Circle Six Theatres. I remember seeing Home Alone 2 in 1992 and The Lion King and the Flintstones Movie in 1994.

Also, I would always eat lunch at the mall. I most frequently went to Circle Cafe & Deli to get a grilled cheese sandwich or hot dog with fries.

Sometime around 1995, Circle Cafe & Deli closed and was replaced by Subs & Spuds, which just about had the same food as Circle Cafe & Deli, except for subs & spuds. I remember the first time I ate at Subs & Spuds. Lets just say that ironically, it was Carolina Circle Mall's fault that I now hate mayonnaise.

Other than Circle Cafe & Deli/Subs & Spuds, I would also eat at Piccadilly Cafeteria quite frequently. I remember being creeped out by the gothic theme the restaurant had going. It literally still gives me nightmares to this day. But hey! They had good food so the nightmares don't matter.

And of course, I also enjoyed visiting many of the 60 fine stores and services the mall provided. My three favorite stores were Montgomery Ward, Camelot Music, and Everything's a Dollar. I loved visiting Montgomery Ward because they had everything. In fact, Montgomery Ward was responsible for me seeing Pee-wee Herman for the first time. Back in 1995, I happened upon a videotape of Pee-wee's Playhouse in the bargain bin upstairs at Montgomery Ward.

Everything's a Dollar was good because everything was a dollar. I would buy all kinds of cheap toys to play with as well as candy.

When I was little, I loved listening to audio cassettes, especially The Eagles and Peter, Paul & Mary. Camelot Music always had what I needed when it came to audio cassettes and videotapes. Around Halloween 1994, I remember getting a VHS tape of Nickelodeon Halloween specials such as Rugrats, Doug, and some other show from Carolina Circle Mall's Camelot Music. I also seem to recall getting a Jerry Reed tape from there as well.

Personal Experiences During The Not So Wonder Years

All good things must come to an end and this was definitely the case with Carolina Circle Mall. In fact, I don't seem to remember going to Carolina Circle Mall too much during the late '90s.

Sometime around late 1996, the mall began to take its sudden jump into decay, which was shown through the removal of the Carousel. I'll never forget the first time I went to Carolina Circle Mall without a Carousel. I remember locking myself in the bathroom at home when I found out that we were going to Carolina Circle Mall. Nowadays, I look back on that in shame due to the fact that I actually got angry at Carolina Circle Mall. However, I sucked it up and continued to enjoy Carolina Circle Mall for the next couple of years, despite the fact that it no longer had a Carousel.

By 1998/1999, I began to rarely go out into the corridor. My only memories of the mall during this time would be going to Montgomery Ward.

March 2001: The Last Corridor Adventure

In March of 2001 at the age of 11, I took yet another trip to Montgomery Ward. This time, I decided it was time to take one more trip through the corridor before it was too late. So I walked out of Montgomery Ward and into the mall corridor only to be in utter shock. I immediately noticed that other than Montgomery Ward, there was only one other store still open, which was located near Montgomery Ward. I do not recall the name of it, although I assume that it closed not too long after I visited.

As I was walking through the mall, I discovered things were not as they should be. All of the escalators were not running, the fountains no longer had water or pennies, and there was no one else walking through the mall.

I reminded myself that Subs & Spuds still had to be operating at the Food Court. I always considered Subs & Spuds to be invincible. However, I approached the Food Court and experienced a rather large shock. My favorite restaurant at Carolina Circle Mall, Subs & Spuds, had closed. The Food Court was nothing but a ghost town, other than the chairs and tables still standing.

I was in too much shock to continue. I raced back to the safety of Montgomery Ward. It was that day I realized that Carolina Circle Mall would no longer thrive.

Closing Shop and Flea Market

One rainy evening in the spring of 2001, I was watching the news after a long day of visiting family in Winston-Salem. Suddenly, the news anchor announced that Montgomery Ward had filed for bankruptcy and would be closing all their stores nationwide. Since I had already recently experiened the final breath of Carolina Circle Mall's corridor first-hand, I then knew that the end was definitely near.

Finally in very early 2002, Montgomery Ward finally closed their Carolina Circle Mall location, officially killing Carolina Circle Mall. It was a very sad day.

Later that year, however, a flea market called "Carolina Flea Market" opened inside the former Carolina Circle Mall Belk location. The day it opened, I rode down there to check it out. They had mostly left the original Belk design untouched, which was very nice.

But what made the flea market special was this. I was walking through the flea market when I noticed that the former Belk mall entrance was covered in glass. I walked up to it and saw something that really made my day. I peeked through the glass and I saw the Carolina Circle Mall corridor in all its beauty. It looked beautiful. Nothing had changed since the year before when I last walked through there. I continued going to that flea market every weekend for the next several months just to take a look inside Carolina Circle Mall. The flea market finally closed in 2003.

My Childhood Hangout Gets Torn Down

One day in October of 2003 when I was 13, I was in study hall at Pendle Hill Christian School. A friend of mine, whose father owned the Race Land go-kart track across from Carolina Circle Mall, told me that his dad heard they were going to tear down Carolina Circle Mall and build a Wal-Mart in its place. What makes that event so unique is that I found out about these plans about a year before everyone else did.

In the summer of 2004, this school rumor I heard became confirmed as truth when Don Linder announced plans to tear down Carolina Circle Mall and build a Wal-Mart and shopping center in its place. I then decided that I had to head out to the then abandoned and vandalized Carolina Circle Mall to take pictures of it before it was too late.

After six months of procrastination, I finally made it to Carolina Circle Mall on February 21, 2005. I took many pictures of not onl.y the mall, but also Toys 'R Us across the street.

I then pulled up to the former main entrance and noticed that the plywood covering the doors had been partly removed, due to the vandals. What made the trip interesting was that I was able to take a look inside the mall through my car. I was struck by how much of the mall hadn't rotted away, due to the fact that it had already been abandoned for the past 3 years.

The next day at school, I was in language arts class. My teacher decided to turn the radio on to 99.5 WMAG. When she turned the radio on, the song Two Hearts by Phil Collins began playing. Suddenly, I was struck by sense of nostalgia because I remember that song being played numerous times at Carolina Circle Mall back in the day. Images of Carolina Circle Mall began to flood my mind. It was at that moment I realized that I must devote my life to Carolina Circle Mall.

Because of that, I then began to feel somewhat depressed over the fact that the mall would soon be demolished. Everyday after school, I made sure to keep a close eye on Carolina Circle Mall when I would ride past it on US-29. With the help of my best friend, we attempted to make an estimated date of demolition, which wound up being somewhere around May or June of 2005.

Our prediction came true on June 30, 2005. I was riding down US-29 South that day when I happened to glance over at Carolina Circle Mall, only to see it being demolished. I suddenly got struck by a sense of depression. My mall would no longer exist as a mall or an abandoned building. One of the biggest icons of my childhood was being crushed into many pieces before my eyes. By the way, that picture on the left was taken on July 1, 2005, the day after demolition began.

2005-Present

Ever since Carolina Circle Mall was demolished, I have found much success with my venture for Carolina Circle Mall. In September of 2005, I started a weblog about Carolina Circle Mall titled Carolina Circle City. I knew it was going to be a successful website when the Greensboro News & Record interviewed me the next month about my website. I suddenly met many people who shared the same feelings I had about Carolina Circle Mall.

I have learned so much interesting information about Carolina Circle Mall since I started my websites. My venture has led me to meeting new people and traveling back in time to a time when Carolina Circle Mall still existed.

And just think. It all began with a simple ride on a Carousel.