Retro Mall Video: Wausau Center Mall Commercial

Wausau Center Mall commercial (1983)

Here's a fun 1983 TV commercial for the grand opening of the Wausau Center Mall in downtown Wausau, Wisconsin. This shopping mall (which underwent a mall-wide, multi-million dollar renovation in 2006) is currently anchored by JCPenney, Sears, and Younkers stores.

Watch more Retro Mall videos here!

Retro Mall Video: Mays Department Store Commercial

Mays store TV commercial (1979)

Retro 1979 TV commercial for the popular New York-area Mays department store chain. From everything I've read, Mays sounds like it was a pretty cool department store with lots of colorful character. And I really dig their commercials and catchy jingle! "Every day's a sale day at Mays!"

Best of all, this ad features the ubiquitous Proctor-Silex coffee makers, which were so common in the kitchen back when I was growing up in the 1970s (along with the very groovy Poly*Perks, of course)!

Previous entries: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Watch more Retro Mall videos here!

Retro Mall Video: Slim Jeans Commercial

Slim Jeans commercial (early '80s)

Behold, it's Slim Jeans! "The uncommon jeans for people with a common problem!" :D

Wow, I remember seeing these commercials on late night TV back in the day, and even remember seeing these, uh, "jeans" in stores and at the malls. They're actually still sold today in one form or another, especially in the backs of magazines and in gift catalogs and whatnot. Can't believe the stuff we buy sometimes (especially with this kind of ridiculous pitch in mind)!

The quality of this video is terrible, I know, but it's the only full-length one I could find (there's a much better version here on YouTube, but it's missing the beginning and I'm kind of a stickler for that sort of thing).

Retro Mall Video: '70s Sears Optical Department

Sears Optical Department (1970s)

Here's a retro '70s TV commercial for the Optical Department at Sears, in all its weird retro '70s glory. Man, I remember the catchy little jingle in these Sears ads very well from when I was a kid. As for the woman in this one... can you say Stepford Wives?

Retro Mall Video: '80s Korvettes Toy Land

Korvettes Toy Land (1982)

Korvettes discount stores "Toy Land" TV commercial from 1982, featuring Mego and others! This is a fun companion piece to the other Korvettes commercial I featured before (and I have yet another vintage Korvettes spot on the way next time).

Watch more Retro Mall videos here!

Retro Mall Video: NorthPark Mall Psychedelic Dance Show

Dallas, Texas - January, 1968

Why is a clip of a vintage Texas television dance show here? Ah patience, young Grasshopper, patience... It's here because it was shot in and broadcast from, the NorthPark Center Mall, in Dallas!

Local Dallas TV station, WFAA-TV, Channel 8, had a studio that was housed inside NorthPark Mall, where they shot the daily "Sump'N Else" teen dance show, which ran in the mid to late '60s. They also produced a morning game show for housewives called "Away We Go", that was shot live from the mall as well.

Anyway, in this context, I thought this groovy video highlight from the Sump'N Else Show (where they were staging a psychedelic light show that day) would be fun to look at here on the blog. Even though you don't technically see any of the shopping mall proper itself, we know it's there, in all its 1968 glory, right outside the studio walls! :)

More NorthPark Center Mall: 1, 2