MALL VIDEO. Harlem Irving Plaza. Norridge IL

[@lesleysimpson5793]

I’m from Canada, but my husband and I lived in Norridge and Harwood Heights from 1995- 2004. I used to walk to the Hip frequently. Kohls and Carson Pirie Scott were the main department stores at that time. My husband would visit Best Buy at least weekly. We sadly left the area just weeks before the new Target store opened, but returned for a visit a few months later and made sure to stop by the Target. It was a great store. From your video, it looks like the Hip has been refreshed with new stores and I don’t remember the mall having two floors back then. Thank you for this tour. This brings back so many memories from my/our time in Illinois. I fondly remember those years and miss the wonderful Chicago area so much.

[@mallaholicretailadventures]

I'm glad I could bring back memories for you

[@gatormclusky2287]

I grew up in that neighborhood in the '70s and early '80s we moved in 1983 and I remember when they turned it into a mall from the strip mall weebels was there the arcade was the first one to be in a mall it looked completely different than what it does in the video now but I'm coming back to Chicago next year and I'm going to go there

[@pilotgrrl1]

One of my friends used to live near HIP, but I haven't been there in years. BTW, Main Street was an off price experiment of Bloomingdale's, Kohl's ended up taking over most, if not all, of the Main Street locations.

[@SuperBeachbum74]

Rolling Stone Records across street

[@ZeeMann_Retail]

Great video and documentation! Keep it up! Surprised there wasn't ever a Sears there.

[@BoratWanksta]

Sears never had a store here, to my knowledge even in past years. However the space Target is in today, used to be Walgreens till sometime in the 2000s I think. They moved across the street, to the northeast corner of Harlem and Forest Preserve. Before Walgreens' move, that space on the northeast corner used to be an old school sit down Pizza Hut location. It moved east to a newer sit down restaurant building, sometime in the late 2000s/early 2010s. Interestingly despite Pizza Hut recently closing down more sit down restaurant locations, that new Pizza Hut location has yet to close.

[@ZeeMann_Retail]

@@BoratWanksta Wow thanks for the information!!

[@jsc9306]

I haven't been there since the late 80's. I just remember it as any other mall. Friday night.. the place was packed with kids, just like myself at the time.

[@mitchellkelly3955]

I really like it how the mall shows the logos of all their anchor stores outside

[@mollyheffernen]

I know a few years ago I watched Lost Departments' version of this. Something about this mall I like is it seems like they fill the vacant anchors better.

[@blowmebitemepleaseme]

I remember back when I would go to the H.I.P. before the big renovation of 2004 and then I would take a walk to "Rolling Stones" and then drive to Eli's Cheesecake which was on the other side of Harlem Avenue on Forest Preserve Dr. about a mile on the right.

[@lauraperry5815]

I use to go there in the 90s to Kohls and down the street to rolling stones which is my favorite, it was know as hip. I remember it was a very old mall, but I didn't know it was older than me, surprise it's still there

[@JohnAckerman31]

I used to live two minutes from this mall. My mom would push me in my stroller, and we would walk to the mall. I still remember a lot of these stores. I remember when they added the target. I had just moved to the suburbs, and my mom and I drove past the mall one day and we were surprised by the target. I do remember the Walgreen’s as you said. Very nice to have that incase you needed something right away

[@RavenFilms]

Does anyone remember the horse sculptures that were in the raised flower bed of, Marshall’s was it? It was a dark brown brick building that was turned into the first Best Buy location. I remember sitting by them waiting for the bus in the late 80s when I was little.

[@SuperBeachbum74]

Been coming here since it was a plaza in 1973 !

[@Billboardmister36]

There was a Winchells Donut Shop across the street from the mall in that strip mall in the corner. Not exactly sure when that closed up. The LaSalle Bank building which used to be Unity Savings/Tallman Bank in the 80s & 90s was torn down recently. Maurice Lennel cookies not far from the mall went out of business a few years ago. It's now a sports bar on that corner at Harlem & Montrose.

[@kimiastewart6293]

I used to love this mall, it's close to my hometown, Oak Park

[@RavenFilms]

I hardly recognize anything. The Gloria Jeans/Lids island was there from my mall days (1988-2002) and the shop for men’s wear across from it. The food court has all new food options but looks about the same, and even the Fannie Mae was still there. I couldn’t see if the arcade was still there, but I saw it listed as somewhere still in the mall. I was sad to see the Gamers Paradise was gone according to the directory (it was in the back of the food court for some reason) but I couldn’t see what was put in that spot. The directory lists a Spencer’s there now, a far inferior ripeoff, but likely is in spot where Gamers Paradise was. I really wanted to see the side of the mall behind where you stood on the walkway to get the above shot of Gloria Jeans. That was where half the stores I went to lived. They are all gone now, according to the directory, but it would be cool to see. The mall seems really generic now. In the 90s, less than half the stores there were also commonly found staples in other malls, no Bath and Bodyworks, Hot Topic, or Spencer’s. There were 2 music shops, plus later on, the Best Buy, a tux rental place that boys for 20 miles around came for prom time, a Gadzooks which was hard to find elsewhere, Rav, Hallmark, a full restaurant in a storefront on the opposite end from the food court and a bunch more I can’t think of of hand. Kids now are lucky, they will have their entire childhood documented online. In 30 years, when they want to walk down memory lane and look at pictures and videos of their old hangouts it will be at their fingertips. If they don’t have footage of it that they took themselves you can bet that someone else will and it will out there.

[@joeschmo5710]

i worked as a janitor back in the early 2000's. It was a great job.

[@Optopolis]

That's a dang nice mall for being so old!

[@starmsjc]

I miss Jimmy's Top Shelf Gyros in the food court. Our fave for kids and I to eat at.

[@markstrouse3101]

Great video.

[@kmartradio]

Ive done a few videos on the H.I.P myself including the Kmart that used to be across the street. I'm also on the H.I.P's 60th anniversary tribute wall in one of the pictures.

[@ProspectElevators]

Was there last October when the mall was still ongoing renovations Probably one of the very few malls in Illinois that will thrive once COVID is over and the vaccine is out

[@Mastro-ph1mf]

Request: Abandoned bed bath and beyond, McHenry IL

[@SuperBeachbum74]

The international mall, people speaking Spanish, Croatian, Russian, Serbian , Polish, lol