Where is the Mall????

The first week or so in Duluth, Bob’s (my husband) cousin’s wife, Josie told him that he really needed to show me the newest shopping place in town…"it's wonderful, you’ll love it," she said. Now, I need to tell you that in Pennsylvania we started getting large free standing stores like Target and large malls very early in the 60’s. At that time of my life I really loved to shop, because growing up on the farm, the only time we shopped was the end of August right before school year began. One of my cousins, also from a farm, still to this day tells about how “Linda wanted to shop at the The Bon Ton”, but we never could because the Bon Ton was too expensive (The Bon Ton would be like a Marshall Fields today). We shopped at the “discount stores” and 5 & dime stores (remember them?). My Mother was never able to justify spending money on clothing I guess, when money was so short, except for “School clothes”. Even then, we only bought a pair of new shoes, new underwear and maybe one new dress…never much. For the school year, I had mostly hand me downs, and one pair of shoes to last all year. I had a cousin who lived in the city, and I received hand me downs from her… she had the best of the best, so when I could get her hand me downs I was in “heaven”. I remember one year, her mother gave me 3 lovely pull over sweaters, I was in Jr. High when sweaters were the rage. I didn’t have one. I wore those three sweaters until they were in shreds. I’m sure my classmates must have gotten sick of seeing them…but I felt “so fashionable”. Pam lived in Lancaster, a good hour or more away from us, if she had lived closer, I’m sure I would have received clothes more often. Pam probably doesn’t know how much her hand me downs meant to me.

After high school, working my first job, I was determined to make up for not being in fashion when growing up. So I shopped. I’m sure I spent foolishly, because I was buying myself clothing because “I could”. I lived at home, and my parents did not charge me rent, so all the money I made was mine. I remember buying 2 mohair sweaters, one in blue and one pink. My mother was appalled… “one would have been enough”, she told me. She was also appalled that I was not “saving”. For a time I worked at a Kinney shoe warehouse, we were allowed to purchase shoes and handbags from there at deep discounts, and boy did I ever spend money there! I was determined to “look fashionable” because when I was growing up I felt that I never did. It was great having more than one pair of shoes, and oh my gosh, a purse to match those shoes, who could have imagined that possible! I shopped at our new large discount stores, Korvettes, JM Fields etc. Large malls came to York and Hanover and Harrisburg. I drove, (my parents co/signed a local bank loan so I could get a car)….I was shopping every pay day. We thought the “Mall” was great, all these stores under one roof, especially nice when it was winter. In Southeast Pennsylvania we thought our winters were terrible! I used to think that when I married I was going to live somewhere warm! In defense of my wild spending, I will
say that by then, I had a little sister, and I bought some things for her too. I remember the first Christmas I had a job, how happy I was to be able to buy nice presents for everyone.

I told you this background, so you know that when Bob said he’d take me to “Target”, I was expecting to see this large mall. I was excited to shop once again, like I did back home. (Little did I know then, that being a new wife, with husband’s starting salary to work with, that I would have to be like my Mother and not shop…that reality hadn’t hit me yet). Off we go to Target. We drove up Central Entrance, which was virtually empty at that time, maybe a gas station or two, a new building sat to the right on the hill “Highland Village”, exciting new apartments, that was about it. There were no fast food places, no office spots, it was bare. (look at it today…umm!!) Imagine my surprise when Bob pulls up to Target and I say “THIS is the wonderful shopping “center” that Josie was talking about. Why Bob, this is just like one of our JM Fields back home,
where oh where is the mall???? That is the day when I began to realize that Duluth was not the large city, like Harrisburg or York that I thought it was. I also had no idea then, that the MIDWEST was behind the east coast in many ways. I would learn that over the years.

A month or two later, “Shoppers City” opened in the western part of town, (west end, closer to us) that was like Target. It is where Bob & I would shop for groceries every payday, and groceries would be the only shopping I would be doing for many years. My shopping days were over…even when the MALL finally did come to Duluth. I think that was in 1972 or 73. The people here were so thrilled, and again…the mall here was nothing compared to our Malls back east. I also would find out that Josie and her husband made many trips a year to Minneapolis to shop at the “Dales”,malls that were built in Minneapolis about the same time as the east. Duluthians appreciated a mall being built here so that they didn’t have to make that trip to Minneapolis. (Remember, there was not a freeway from Mpls to Duluth at that time, south on Hwy. 61, through every small town, quite a trip)! I was in Duluth at least two years before I went to the big city of St. Paul for the state fair.