Regency Mall (Racine, WI) - 1980s mall covered in carpet and drywall

Regency has had three personalities: it started as as 1980s brick beauty, was remodeled to a 1990s tiled wonder, and today is a dull but pleasant mall with carpet and drywall.
Check out John Gallo's blog for 1980s photos of the mall: storesforever.blogspot.com/200...
Check out more photos of the mall by gameking3: www.flickr.com/photos/6685554...
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[@donlarsenjr2332]

This is my hometown mall. I spent so much time there as a teenager. Demolition of the east end of the mall began two days ago. Making way for Woodmans grocery store and gas station. It hurts seeing it be leveled and so I am on a stroll down memory lane which brought me to this video. Thanks,

[@gobbletegook]

I remember going to this mall sometime in the 80's or 90's, a lot... and I think the store that impressed me was the Bergner's. It had glass and mirrored elevators from the mall entrance to get you to the 2nd level. I think that same store had 3 different names over the years before it closed. The stores were much smaller than the ones we had in the suburbs of Milwaukee...but it served the area well.

[@charlie0871]

In the 80's, I worked at several stores in Regency including DJ's Fashion center and Merry Go Round. In the 90's, I worked at JC Penny. In 2002, I worked for the mall itself as a security officer. I spent every second I could at Aladdin's Castle arcade, and when I was hungry, I ate at places like York Steakhouse, Mama Rigatoni's pizza and Orange Julius. I could probably draw you a map of where every store was back when they opened (even the obscure ones like "Olga's Kitchen"). Regency had a "sunken" seating area in center court with a water feature. It was a fun mall with lots going for it. Now it's DEAD and parts are being demolished (including 2 anchor store locations). Once the rents were raised-Curt Pruitt managed the mall back then-the smaller stores were done. Regency was a huge part of my young adult life!

[@YodelingLoonRetail]

Wow, I had no idea about the sunken seating area! I'm glad you got to see the mall in its glory days.

[@Minnie_Bear]

I grew up in Racine. Regency was THE place to be when I was a kid. So sad to see what it became.

[@mollyheffernen]

Great video! I think I like the 1990s look with the tile.

[@totalretailandmore]

I love this video. I've actually went to this mall a few times, as my dad lives a mile away from it, and have done a few videos on it. I learned a lot about the history of this mall.

[@YodelingLoonRetail]

I watched those videos. It was great to see more photography of the place while it's still there.

[@geekysteved]

Is that really an old school Spencer’s sign on that store? That’s amazing!

[@user-jd9fu3sw3p]

I seen Avril Lavigne there outside of the Boston store March 4th 2004!

[@clairelfhs02]

It wasn't long that Regency was nice to shop at. When Burlington left, that really killed things. I always liked going there...not much reason anymore.

[@YodelingLoonRetail]

It was a pleasant place to visit, but I agree there wasn’t much for shoppers.

[@penbucket]

I was a bit shocked to see the Spencer’s Gifts. One of the most interesting remaining stores in Many A Mall that you’ve filmed. Love your work👍😎👍

[@flatdanii_]

I don't think I've ever been this early. Your videos are great! I love the calm narration, the midwest touch, and the little skit y ou did.

[@YodelingLoonRetail]

Thank you! I had fun recording it.

[@ZacAttackAtl]

Great video :), if only the mall still had the 90's charm.

[@DyingRetail]

OMG! Hull loves that crappy carpet. Similar design at the mall in Danville, VA they took over.

[@gobbletegook]

Much much smaller stores here compared to the ones in Milwaukee. Boston Store had several locations in the state that had the smaller format stores like this (Bayshore was another example), selling just the basics compared to the bigger ones. I think there was a Sears here at one point that I must have been too...because I remember it was more for tools, lawn and garden, and I think appliances.

[@user-zx8de8op9l]

I have been to this mall many times over the decades, Usually to the anchor stores. I was there when Steve and Berry's was going out of business, I also remember the book store, the only reason to get my dad into a mall.

[@nannerbotz4680]

The mall used to be very packed and busy even when i was a kid and im not even old. The redesign was a horrible idea as ive seen two people puke on it when i was there. There's nothing fun there anymore. They used to have an arcade, mini golf, coin operated rides for kids, etc. All gone now.

[@st4tical981]

I go to the mall every now and then to look at vinyls at fye or go to gmc but it’s hella dead and there is only like 10 stores open

[@st4tical981]

I miss the arcade and I remember this one store it had toys and candy or smth I can hardly remember

[@kizzume]

When I look at pictures of this mall from the early 80s, with the brick floors, all the plants everywhere, and sculptures, it makes me wonder what the people who remodeled the mall were thinking. I mean, the carpet they chose looks nice, but it automatically means there's probably not going to be any plants, and not much focus on food.

[@YodelingLoonRetail]

Do you have a site you can share with the 80s photos? I would love to see them.

[@charlestonpinballarcade]

I have to assume cost for remodel and visual mind games are in play. White and off white paint is cheap and easy, someone scuff it up, cover in one brush. Old tile looks old, even though vintage mall folks like us love that stuff. Carpet squares are dirt cheap to replace and require minimal skill. Putting up the walls and adding local history pics “kinda” takes your mind away from the fact it’s a dead mall. Just think about when you walk around a dead mall and you “see the glass walls and empty stores”… your mind thinks worse than when you see painted walls and historical pics. Example: Sumter mall owned my hull is close to Columbia place owned by moonbeam. When you walk around Columbia, you feel negative and almost creeped out with the dark vacancies and bare glass everywhere not lit up versus Sumter with the typical Hull remodel which can actually be warm and kinda inviting.

[@kizzume]

@@YodelingLoonRetailHmmm... it deleted the link, even though I removed the periods.... let's see here. Let me try a number of different methods of posting.

[@kizzume]

@@YodelingLoonRetail Stores Forever Blogspot 2008 06 regency-mall-racine-wi

[@kizzume]

@@YodelingLoonRetail Were you able to find that site?

[@jsperb82]

Great video! Urbex did some good footage of this a few years ago (I think before the latest remodel) but it's good to see it still getting some love in the end. I've of two minds about this place, having been visiting it off and on since the 1990s. On the one hand, I do miss the vintage look, but it was also a pretty dark and depressing place to visit by 2016 or so. I had a photo at one point of the easter bunny there, slumped over. I think he was just hot, but had the effect of looking so depressed! Lol. I appreciate that there's at least some attention to brightening the place up and, while I don't love the carpet, the Wisconsin native in me loves the attention to local Racine history (some archivist got quite the workout) instead of just a bunch of photos of generic shoppers, shopping bags, food, etc., which I think a lesser remodel would have settled for.

[@jsperb82]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/f3uqaa2vbbF9rpI here's a good point of reference, circa 2017.

[@YodelingLoonRetail]

Thank you for sharing your comments and the video. It doesn’t look like the same mall until you see the Boston Store and Burlington portions of the video.

[@charlestonpinballarcade]

I know people don’t dig Hull, but Sumter and Prince of Orange are great examples of perfect malls for those communities and Hull keeps them clean and safe. I wonder what some of these malls would be if Hull didn’t have them. We gotta appreciate what we have, not what we wish we had, especially in bad times.

[@YodelingLoonRetail]

That’s a good point. I didn’t mention the security presence at the mall. One day there were two security guards patrolling the mall. I never felt in danger.

[@charlestonpinballarcade]

@@YodelingLoonRetail hey, I forgot to mention awesome vid as always! I dig your chill vibe. Yea, Orangeburg here in SC is a bit of a rough area in most spots of town. Having a clean, safe place like Prince of Orange for all ages to walk around with a good mix of local and national retailers is awesome compared to what it could be… many towns their size would beg to have any mall. Keep the vids coming!

[@Stacey-tb6vq]

I was born in racine so I remember how it uses to be like

[@dotwavexplores]

This looks like early 2000s decor

[@jamesf7602]

The demolition started yesterday just so you know. (03/04/2024)

[@brooksrownd2275]

I wonder if the closed chinese place early on was a converted Sbarro? (I NEVER ate anything from Sbarro)

[@YodelingLoonRetail]

Hmm, I know they had a Chick Fil A down that hallway. I loved Sbarro as a child. On a few occasions, I went to the location at Town Square in St Paul. I thought it was fancy back then.

[@Brenton81]

Nah, there was never a Sbarro in the mall. I know it was some kind of little McDonald's at one time before the Chinese place.

[@DavidBrown-zx9tm]

That was a good mall in the 90s and early 2000s then slowly started to suck.

[@denverleatherboy]

Blah blah blah blah, KZbin pay the man posting!