Mall Turns 16; Where Did We Shop Before?

SouthPark Mall is 16 years old this month, and it raises a question: Do you even remember what shopping was like in Strongsville before 1996?

Where did you buy shoes? Back-to-school clothes? No only was there no mall in town, there was no Kohl's, no Old Navy, no Target. 

You drove farther, that's for sure.

"We always went to Sears (at Southland Shopping Center in Middleburg Heights)," recalls Ward 3 Councilman Jim Carbone. "I think Sears was one of the first department stores to move to the suburbs."

And now?

"I can't even remember the last time I shopped at Southland. I drove by about a year ago and couldn't believe all the closed stores," Carbone says.

Along those lines, have you seen the inside of Parmatown Mall since 1996? Do you ever go to Great Northern? 

The late Mayor Walter Ehrnfelt used to lament that for all of Strongsville's great qualities, you couldn't buy a decent pair of shoes in town.

Can't say that now, right?

Carbone, who graduated from Strongsville High School in 1991, says Strongsville did have one very popular store -- the one that occupied the space Marc's is now in.

"Fisher's Big Wheel was the store to go to," he says. "It was huge in Strongsville."

*Editor's Note: I'm actually pretty fuzzy about where I bought my clothes before Kohl's. JC Penney maybe? May Co./Kaufmann's? I did spend a lot of time at Great Northern -- I shopped at Lerner. I remember going to Petries at Southland for cheap school clothes, but that was way, way back. I also have very fond memories of Gold Circle -- loved that store.