My friends and I used to hang out at the local mall, one of the largest and busiest in the area, on Saturdays, bouncing between the video arcade and the Radio Shack (where they let us use the computers which we could not yet afford and which our parents had no use for), the book and music stores (which actually stocked some unusual titles; they were chain stores, but they were not yet totally homogenized and generic), and the restaurants.
The food court arrived toward the end our “Shack Rat” era, and caused the demise of our favorite little diner on one quiet end of the mall. I think that was a sign of things to come, as mall stores started getting shinier, louder, and more expensive - but not necessarily better.
Now, there are no arcades left to hang out at (well, very few), Radio Shack is just a mutated, shiny thing that was once a great store, and that mall has been totally vacant for a couple of years and is about to get bulldozed. I feel a nostalgia for certain aspects of the era, but I will not miss the overpriced specialty shops.
