BonK!

ARCADE SQUARE, Require Shoes & Shirt, No Pets, No Bikes or Skates, Noise Ordinance Enforced

[Apologies for the sideways image. Posting directly from my phone, I turned it sideways to better fit the logo. I'll see about adjusting it. Until then...]

GEEZER ALERT!

25 years ago this place was a bustling hub of commerce.

I remember performing Christmas music here with my high school choir.

I remember many lunches in the food court under the glass-domed roof.

I remember taking weeks carefully deciding what kind of shoulder bag would best suit my needs from the luggage store.

I remember a Coca-Cola "museum" on the second floor, where you could have vanilla or cherry flavored syrup added to your Coke just like they did at the soda fountains of old. In the early 80's such flavors hadn't been made available in bottles yet. The place was filled with nearly every bit of Coca-Cola decor and memorabilia you could hope to see.

I remember my first ever Chinese food (simple but delicious chicken fried rice & an egg roll), purchased from Mandarin Kitchen, enjoyed with a friend who worked security for McCrory's.

It was like having a mall in a downtown setting... funny thing, with Courthouse Square right across the way and major retail anchors in place, it was exactly like a Town Center and it was in an ACTUAL Town Center!

I'm sure I'll touch on this again in the future...