Has The South Plains Mall Become Cool All Over Again?
Maybe we need to put the South Plains Mall back on our radar.
I'll be the first to admit that I'm a little over the age of the average shopper at the South Plains Mall. I mainly frequent Premiere Cinemas, and The Spirit Halloween Store, and make one annual excursion into Spencer's for black light bulbs (plus the manager is a really cool dude).
On Wednesday I went to visit a friend at F.Y.E. (a really cool store) then set off to make my way to Spencer's. I was pretty stunned by the overall look of the Mall. Everything just seemed brighter, newer, hipper, and more airy. There seemed to be more art and more thought-out areas to chill between stores. It just seemed more like a fresh big city shopping space than a remnant born of another era.
The choices in the food court were fantastic, including everything from a couple of Asian places (more than one is AWESOME) to a cheesesteak place you can't get anywhere else. It also appeared to me that the kiosks were more thought out and nicer with everything from candy to jewelry and more.
All of this is to say that you can't judge a book by its cover. It seemed like losing Sears and some of our favorite old stores weren't actually a step back, but instead a way to make a new mall for new people.
Here's another little fun fact about the South Plains Mall that I never put together. Did you realize that the Home Depot is considered part of the mall as an "exterior building" like The Cheesecake Factory? It's certainly listed that way in the South Plains Mall directory, and if that's the case, then I go to the mall all the time.