Malls are not the shopping destination they used to be. The time when going to the mall with your friends to hit the arcade, catch a movie or grab an Orange Julius are gone. The malls that remain in Maine today are a shell of their former selves or have had to reinvent how they do business to stay viable. One mall in Maine doesn't even look like a mall today after seeing renovations years ago.

Lewiston Public Library
Lewiston Public Library
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As these 1980 photos from the Lewiston Public Library show, The former Promenade mall in Lewiston used to be an indoor mall with two major anchors, Bradlees department store and Shaw's Supermarket. Bradless went out of business and Shaw's moved twice nearby.

Lewiston Public Library
Lewiston Public Library
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In addition to these major stores there was a Value House catalog showroom later  becoming a Service Merchandise.

The mall had two entrances before the major renovation in a decade after these photos were taken that turned it into a shopping plaza with separate entrances for all the stores.

Lewiston Public Library
Lewiston Public Library
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Check out the sign hanging in the window of Shaw's inside the mall touting their super scanners at the checkout. They were a new innovation at the time this photo was taken.

Lewiston Public Library
Lewiston Public Library
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The Promenade Mall is now called Gendron Plaza and looks quite different on the outside today.

Lewiston Public Library
Lewiston Public Library
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Google Streetview
Google Streetview
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Zayre 88, a site dedicated to the history of malls in New England, has a list of several business that used to be in The Promenade. How many do you remember?

  • Bradlees
  • Value House
  • Service Merchandise
  • Fashion Bug
  • Radio Shack
  • Fayva Shoes
  • Lewiston Travel
  • Bonanza
  • House of Fabric
  • Bookland
  • NHD Hardware
  • Promenade Lunch
  • Baskin Robbins
  • Cathay Hut
  • Plan-A-Tan
  • Movie Gallery

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