The recent announcement that J.C. Penney is closing its Macon Mall store struck yet another blow to the center that once boasted being Georgia's largest mall.
Many Central Georgians made memories there during the mall's golden age in the 1970's and 1980's. Whether they were Christmas shopping with parents or meeting up with friends and hanging out in the food court or the arcade, Macon Mall is intertwined in the coming of age of many people here.
Nearly 300 13WMAZ viewers shared their memories with us Monday on our Facebook page about their favorite Macon Mall memory.
"My 1st day of the 1st grade, in approximately 1974, my teacher, Mrs. Wren at Jesse Rice School asked all of us kids if we've ever rode the escalator and elevator. I was the ONLY student to say I had never done so," wrote Teresa Choate. "When my granddaddy picked me up from school, the teacher told him. We left school and went straight to the Macon Mall and we rode both many many times. Best memory ever!!! Later years, my favorite was shopping for Jordache Jeans and going to The Arcade."
Many of the memories were about food and the eateries that were once housed at Macon Mall.
"Barney's Coffee was the best! I was little, but my mama would always share her coffee with me," wrote Ama Brantley May. "I loved that book store! I would always grab a kids book and my mama would sit and read it to me."
