Prien Lake Mall in the 1980s

Wow. It's amazing how much Prien Lake Mall has changed over the years, I guess if you left here in the 80s and just came back, you wouldn't recognize the place.

There were a ton of different stores at the mall back then and I remember them pretrty darn well. for example; I'm sure I'm not the only one who remembers when there was a lounge in the mall. I think it was called "The Premises."

I worked at the mall when I was in school and I have a lot of fond memories. I was the assistant manager of a men's clothing store called Chess King. It was a men's store, but a lot of beautiful ladies used to shop there. I wasn't upset by that situation at all. Later I worked at Musicland until I was transferred to Beaumont to open the Musicland in Parkdale Mall.

It seems the folks at Prien Lake Mall were digging about and turned up a bunch of old pictures of the place. According to the mall manager, these pictures come from around the early to mid 80s and they really are a flashback. Check out some of these shots and see which one's bring back some memories.

Here is a shot of the clothing store known as The Ranch. Despite the name, they didn't sell just western clothes and such. I worked there briefly when the mall was pretty new. The Ranch was located around the area where Claire's is now.

Well, this shot is clearly from around Christmas. Check out K&B drugstore.

The White House was a pretty cool place to shop. That location is now the entrance to the theater.

Here's a great shot of Morrow's Nut House. Cool place where people loved to get all kinds of nuts. I loved their Pistachios. This is where the Coffee Beanery is now. Notice the Walden Books store in this shot as well. I spent a fortune there.