Northland Center Mall 1975

Southfield, Michigan - circa 1975

Here's a great overhead view of the Northland Shopping Center in Southfield, Michigan (suburb of Detroit) around 1975, a year after it was expanded and fully enclosed to become a true "shopping mall". Seen here is not only the four-level Hudson's Department Store looming in back, but also the mall's (then) newer JCPenney anchor store (lower-right corner), and the new Montgomery Ward addition, which I believe is the store just to left of Penney's, both of which were added in 1974.

Mall history: 1954 - present
Architect: Victor Gruen
Current website: here
Current aerial view
Info from Wikipedia
Previous entries: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11

Disney's Lake Buena Vista Shopping Village

Lake Buena Vista, Florida - 1975

Likely a "shopping destination" I doubt I'll ever have much reason (or opportunity) to return to again on Malls of America, but nevertheless, these two postcards look so groovy I had to feature them here at least one time! :)

On March 22, 1975, the small tourist community of Lake Buena Vista Village in Orange County, Florida, officially opened to the public as an annexed part of the Walt Disney World Resort theme park, which was primarily located about five miles away. The village included (and still does) a dedicated shopping plaza area called the Lake Buena Vista Shopping Village, which the above photo welcomes you to.

Lake Buena Vista, Florida - 1975

Above is The Flower Garden store, one of Lake Buena Vista Shopping Village's early swanky looking shops. Both great images in this post are courtesy of Big Brian's Disney Page, an awesome site for Walt Disney World nostalgia fans (celebrated through vintage postcards). Some really fun stuff there!