What do You Miss at the Plymouth Meeting Mall?

What do You Miss at the Plymouth Meeting Mall?

1/1/2022

by Brian Coll

On this rainy holiday I took my kids to the Plymouth Meeting Mall for a quick lap, not that I needed it or wanted it to be a quick lap, but there aren’t as many stores these days. As I looked left and right, upper and lower levels, ghosts of stores long gone came back to me. Of course, we all remember different time periods, so a store that was in one spot to me in my mind, may have been something else for you. Today I spent money at the Rock Shop, buying a couple CD’s and checking out some vintage vinyl for the collection. My kids did some crazy bounce thing in the center area. Watching them bounce, I was thinking about old Woolworth’s food counter, and the arcade I worked at that was close by. My dad worked in Woolworth’s for a few years before it closed.

I remember the various restaurants I spent my lunch breaks at, spending my money on my usual beef with broccoli at the Chinese restaurant or a milk shake at the Woolworth’s counter. Chick Fil A came in upstairs at one point near an entrance/exit. Was there a Roy Rodgers downstairs, or was that the King of Prussia plaza? I remember the Friendlies outside by Germantown Pike, and two places that weren’t really mall property… Rathbone’s and Houlihan’s.

One of my funny memories from mall life as a kid/just about to turn a teenager was my friend, let’s call him Dave to protect the innocent, well he took a goldfish from the pet store and set it free in the big fountain. I told my son that story today as we walked by the fountain… Don’t worry “Dave” no one is coming for you for setting that fish free.

I have more memories… I’ll leave you though with a couple stores I miss. That upstairs corner sports store, and all the competing record stores/music/video stores and then I thanked they all joined forces at one point or so it seems. I think they took over a spot in the mall that was once home to a place called Rookie King that had some cool sports stuff over the years.

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