Metal Sludge Gossip Board

What were the names of the cool rock stores in your local mall in the 80's? I used to go to Here & Now in the Panorama Mall (Panorama City, CA) to get my concert shirts, pins & posters. I can still smell the iron-on t-shirt presses. I also remember a cool spot called Black Sheep in Eagle Rock Plaza (Eagle Rock, CA). I would load up on all things KISS, Crue, Twisted Sister, Ozzy, Maiden etc...

Pretty much the basics at the Mall of America and Miller Hill Mall (Duluth, MN) that I can remember growing up... Sam Goody, Musicland, FYE, Suncoast. I stole my first-ever CDs from K-Mart when I worked there at 16. In Downtown Minneapolis, there was also a place on Hennepin and 5th(?) called Shinders that used to be popular. When I was a kid, it was all about baseball cards. Then music growing up, and other "adult" things in the back before the internet rendered that irrelevant.

TREVERLAST wrote: ↑Mon Jan 27, 2025 11:35 am I also remember a cool spot called Black Sheep in Eagle Rock Plaza (Eagle Rock, CA).

Eagle Rock! Side note, but when I visited L.A. my first time, my buddy lived in Eagle Rock. After a night on the Sunset Strip, I took a cab back to his place thinking the "suburbs" were similar to Minneapolis (much closer). That was the most expensive cab ride I ever took. He probably intentionally ripped me off, knowing I was a tourist.

Musicland and Sam Goody. Warehouse was in the mall at some point as well.

Rocker4Real wrote: ↑Mon Jan 27, 2025 12:17 pm Musicland and Sam Goody. Warehouse was in the mall at some point as well.

We had all those as well. Maybe living in L.A. was different. We had rock stores that didn't even sell music. Just shirts, patches, pins, bandanas, posters etc ...

TREVERLAST wrote: ↑Mon Jan 27, 2025 11:35 am What were the names of the cool rock stores in your local mall in the 80's? I used to go to Here & Now in the Panorama Mall (Panorama City, CA) to get my concert shirts, pins & posters. I can still smell the iron-on t-shirt presses. I also remember a cool spot called Black Sheep in Eagle Rock Plaza (Eagle Rock, CA). I would load up on all things KISS, Crue, Twisted Sister, Ozzy, Maiden etc...

I LOVED Black Sheep! They had a poster of Mick and Vince from the US fest in the window that I always regretted not buying. Bought my first ever rock T there, a Maiden Beast on the Road jersey!

HueyRamone wrote: ↑Mon Jan 27, 2025 12:31 pm

TREVERLAST wrote: ↑Mon Jan 27, 2025 11:35 am What were the names of the cool rock stores in your local mall in the 80's? I used to go to Here & Now in the Panorama Mall (Panorama City, CA) to get my concert shirts, pins & posters. I can still smell the iron-on t-shirt presses. I also remember a cool spot called Black Sheep in Eagle Rock Plaza (Eagle Rock, CA). I would load up on all things KISS, Crue, Twisted Sister, Ozzy, Maiden etc...

I LOVED Black Sheep! They had a poster of Mick and Vince from the US fest in the window that I always regretted not buying. Bought my first ever rock T there, a Maiden Beast on the Road jersey!

WOW someone else that remembers Black Sheep. I had a friend who lived in Tujunga and his mom would drop us off at Eagle Rock Plaza. We'd see a movie and go to Black Sheep. I remember seeing The Breakfast Club there so it was 1985.

A place called Rock Junction. Had shirts, all the rock mags, pins some import albums.
Loved that place.
It lasted until Covid. They morphed into the place to go for retro shirts, posters etc

I would love to time warp to those stores so I can buy them shirts new instead of pre owned

MattleyCrue wrote: ↑Mon Jan 27, 2025 2:59 pm I would love to time warp to those stores so I can buy them shirts new instead of pre owned

You would have loved those stores. The ones that lasted until the early 90's had all the hair band shirts super cheap too because they "weren't cool" anymore. In 1994 I would go to a spot in San Fernando, CA called El Bazar and they had racks of $2 shirts. LAG, GNR, Great White, Crue etc...

Camelot Music

Mall record stores I remember in the malls:
Musicland
Record Town
Tape World (talk about a limiting name)

Other stores that may or may not have been in malls that I remember:
Turtles Records & Tapes
Sam Goody
Sound Warehouse, which turned into Blockbuster Music
Camelot
Coconuts
Peaches, which turned into Specs
Ace's Records in Tampa which always had a ton of bootlegs

Karma Records
Headstones
Camelot
Berry's Music

Musicland
Sam Goody
Record Town

Had a real cool indie shop in Chicago and in the SW burbs called Crow's Nest (which I actually worked at for about 4 years) that was awesome.

Then there was nothing for awhile.

Now there's a lot of great record stores all over the place, many of them have cool shirts, posters, and other merch too. It's come full circle.

My local mall in nj had 4 record stores in the 90s. Even better was going to the swapmeet and getting bootleg vhs/cassettes. That is a lost art. I can’t imagine the 70s or 80s

TREVERLAST wrote: ↑Mon Jan 27, 2025 3:16 pm

MattleyCrue wrote: ↑Mon Jan 27, 2025 2:59 pm I would love to time warp to those stores so I can buy them shirts new instead of pre owned

You would have loved those stores. The ones that lasted until the early 90's had all the hair band shirts super cheap too because they "weren't cool" anymore. In 1994 I would go to a spot in San Fernando, CA called El Bazar and they had racks of $2 shirts. LAG, GNR, Great White, Crue etc...

Absolutely amazing! $2 shirts could make an absolute gold mine selling them today!

Definitely Sam Goody and Musicland. There was also a really cool Chinese store on the second floor across from the food court that sold buttons, posters, and all kinds of other awesome rock memorabilia. I can’t remember the name of it, but I do have fond memories of it.

Mall stores were too expensive for music. For a much better price, in Wisconsin, we would head to The Exclusive Company.

Playboyliquor59 wrote: ↑Mon Jan 27, 2025 5:38 pm My local mall in nj had 4 record stores in the 90s. Even better was going to the swapmeet and getting bootleg vhs/cassettes. That is a lost art. I can’t imagine the 70s or 80s

What part of NJ? For us it was always Rockaway Mall.

My town didn't have a 'metal store' as such but we had a branch of the big chain at the time, Our Price, and one of the staff was a huge metal fan. He was mostly into death and thrash, so on the "recommended listening" display you'd see the likes of Obituary or Autopsy alongside the latest pop hits, but they had a generally well-stocked metal section. I got the first XYZ and Introduce Yourself by FNM there, for example.

daveg wrote: ↑Mon Jan 27, 2025 2:47 pm A place called Rock Junction. Had shirts, all the rock mags, pins some import albums.
Loved that place.
It lasted until Covid. They morphed into the place to go for retro shirts, posters etc

In Ottawa?

MattleyCrue wrote: ↑Mon Jan 27, 2025 2:59 pm I would love to time warp to those stores so I can buy them shirts new instead of pre owned

Mattely, this place is in a mall Sanford, Florida, and it was just announced that the mall is closing. See if he'll be doing a mega sale or anything.
https://www.facebook.com/VisitRockStop


And here's a client of mine on a mall in Vero Beach, and he does pretty good for himself.
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100083973680755

Outside of the actual music/movie stores (The Wall, Sam Goody, Suncoast) we had a place called Now And Then that sold music shirts, banners, posters etc.
Also used to love buying bootleg VHS from the store on the boardwalk in Seaside.

daveg wrote: ↑Mon Jan 27, 2025 2:47 pm A place called Rock Junction. Had shirts, all the rock mags, pins some import albums.

The one in Ottawa? First started shopping there when it first opened. It is still kind of open, just selling off everything and will give bulk deals on all that is left. The place is up for rent, but since he owned the building he can take his time.

SikSyko wrote: ↑Tue Jan 28, 2025 4:49 am

daveg wrote: ↑Mon Jan 27, 2025 2:47 pm A place called Rock Junction. Had shirts, all the rock mags, pins some import albums.

The one in Ottawa? First started shopping there when it first opened. It is still kind of open, just selling off everything and will give bulk deals on all that is left. The place is up for rent, but since he owned the building he can take his time.

Yup, on Rideau street. Last time I went a few years ago, it had a "closed - for lease" sign on the window.
Mattley would have definitely loved that place.

Was visiting family in the St. Louis area recently and found an old school record shop at the South County Mall, Joe's Records. They had all kinds of rock t shirts from Sludge bands. https://www.facebook.com/joesrecordsstl

Hastings started out in Coronado Center Mall in Albuquerque and then moved to a location as big as Tower Records. It was every bit as cool as Tower.

The General Store had all the tapestries, bluelight posters, pins, etc. but that wasn't at a mall.

Camelot Music
Record Bar
Tape World

Those were the only three my mall had

Musicland
National Record Mart
The Quonset Hut

The best place for hats, pins, and shirts didn't have a name - it was a kiosk with about eight glass cases right in the middle of the mall floor. All the shirts were bootlegs, but we didn't care because a lot of them were double-sided and better quality than the ones you got at shows. They just didn't have the tour date info.

King_Nothing wrote: ↑Tue Jan 28, 2025 11:19 am Hastings started out in Coronado Center Mall in Albuquerque and then moved to a location as big as Tower Records. It was every bit as cool as Tower.

The General Store had all the tapestries, bluelight posters, pins, etc. but that wasn't at a mall.

I loved the General Store, that's where we would get concert tickets and discounted band shirts for around $5. I moved away from NM for a few years and when I went back to visit in the mid 90s, it seemed like they got rid of most, if not all of, the music stuff.

The best place to get metal clothing like tour T-shirts, boots, jewelry etc was a place called Leather Express.
I don’t know if that was just a local chain or if it was all over the country