How Many of These 25 Stores at the Maine Mall in 1996 Do You Remember?
The Maine Mall in South Portland has been around in one form or another since 1969. It was built on farmland in what is now a very developed shopping area with many other stores, restaurants, and businesses setting up shop around the largest mall in Maine.
It originally was just Jordan Marsh opening a stand-alone store.
Later, a stand-alone Sears was added to the property and the indoor portion of the mall in between the two stores, connecting them all.
Like most malls across the country in the '70s, '80s, and '90s, The Maine Mall was the one-stop shopping mecca of all of Southern Maine. If you needed it, you drove to the Maine Mall.
The mid 1990s were the peak for shopping malls across America. The rise of online shopping and the cost of lease space in malls versus building your own building were factors that led to the downfall of many of Maine's malls. The Promenade Mall in Lewiston was a victim, while other malls like the Lewiston and Auburn Malls are just shells of their former selves, with big national store names and popular anchor stores.
Thanks to the Mall Hall of Fame website, we were able to find a list of all the stores that were still in business at the Maine Mall in 1996, but have since closed. A lot has changed at the Maine Mall, and most of is just a sign of the times. Some stores are now obsolete due to changing technology, others saw declines in customers and had to file for bankruptcy, and some just ended up closing for unknown reasons.
Here are 25 stores and businesses that you could find at the Maine Mall in 1996, but are there no longer. How many do you remember?