Just stopped by Randhurst Village w/ a childhood friend visiting from LA and we watched this as we tried to match the old footprint of the mall w/ the current Village. It was great to watch this footage and think about the old days.
My dad's polka band played at the grand opening in 1962. I was there that day at the ripe, old age of 7 months with my family. Mom and I went there quite often, traveling all the way from Elmhurst. In 1988, I bought a townhouse in nearby Lake Arlington Towne, so I shopped there a lot. Carson's, Bergner's, Spiess; all nice stores. It was really a unique place. I cried when I watched the video of the dome coming down. A little bit of my past was gone.
That is remarkable. My parents had shopped here for our family since 1969, when we moved to the suburbs. The mall had many attractions here through the years: car shows, Christmas, Schwarzenegger in the '70s, the '85 Bears. Last year there was a Randhurst exhibit at the Mt. Prospect library. Two of my co-workers for Analytics served drinks to construction crew when the mall was being built. The basement was designed as a bomb shelter per architects I spoke to. I like the paperback published on Randhurst.
@@glenviewjeff Yes, some of our older employees used to fraternize with the construction workers who built the mall and the basement was designed large enough to shelter all of Mt Prospect during the Cuban missile crisis.
Brings back a lot of memories! I did my Christmas shopping here in the '80's when I was in high school. The place would get absolutely mobbed. Retail has certainly changed a lot since then because of the internet. These type of malls are becoming a relic of a bygone era.
Yes. I never thought the Internet would have such a bad effect on malls. Many things, like clothes, jewelry, shoes and furniture need to be seen and sampled in person before purchase. Buying these on a computer is risky. This transformation befuddles me.
I was a junior in high school when this was recorded, I saw the video someone took of the day before Randhurst closed forever, I didn't recognize a lot of stores when that was filmed. I moved out of Chicago area in 98. But this is a video I can relate to I recall every single one of those stores, thank you very much for preserving 1 of my favorite places as I remembered it!
amazing footage. thank you. a 13 year old me might have been buying metallica cassettes at Camelot music on the day this video was recorded :) great memories of randhurst.
Wow I was going to say my uncle was probably in that same store, buying that same cassette! We still talk about his video game and music collection from Camelot!
The Child World in this mall was where dad took me to buy my NES which I still have. I was at this mall many times in the 80s and 90s. What sits there now is just garbage.
How bizarre that something so mundane brought back so many memories for us 30 years later! Cool video, I miss Randhurst, this makes me feel like I’m there again!
They screwed this mall up. The way it was in this video and a tad later was perfect. I graduated in 1988. I would have still hung out here during this period with my friends. I really do hate when things change. :(
I worked after school at this Limited store right around the time this video was shot. Prospect High School kids routinely went to lunch (and played hooky) at the food court. Thanks for the trip down memory lane!
My life as well. The Internet completely changed the nature if retailing, causing the downfall of malls throughout the country. I predicted much of this back in 1981 and wrote a two page paper on it in high school.
Random question do u remember the name of the smoothie place in the middle part of mall ??It was in the time range of 99-03 trying to find the name to find a recipie of one of the smoothies I liked, it was the blueberry smoothie.
I bought many books at Krochs, was a regular customer at Radio Shack-buying wiring needed for closed circuit TV for our conference room recordings, Camelot to buy CDs of the latest albums and McDonald’s where I got free food-having done a lot of marketing research for them.
I wish I had spent more time in this mall; never seen another mall designed this way. First went here as a little kid when we shopped at Montgomery Ward's in 86 and 87 and saw my first movie, "An American Tale" at the theater here in January of 87, so this mall is pretty close to what I remember. Then we moved to Schaumburg I didn't come back again for almost 15 years probably because we had Woodfield. Finally came back in during my college years in the early 2000s and got to know the mall better as an adult, really regret not coming here more often.
Thank you so much for recording this. It may have seemed relatively inconsequential to record at the time, but this video is now one of the few things that brings me back to my childhood memories of walking around Randhurst (the REAL Randhurst).
I used to go there when I was little in the 2000s, I remember The Picnic sign was on top of the food court, but later in 2005, it was replaced with the courasol. I remember eating McDonald's there, and they had Old Navy, and Circuit City, but closed the same year.
I had to turn this off at about 2mins because I couldn't see the screen through my tears. I had my first kiss from a girl after I bought her a Hot Sam Pretzel with nacho cheese. One of my friends got caught shoplifting out of the discount bin at Camelot Music. WOW!!! What a complete mindfuck. I'm gonna save it and try to watch the rest later.
My Childhood memories, ooo the memories. I was born in 1987 so I was here in the early and mid 90's. So sad she is gone, thank you for filming this Mr. Kaufmann, RIP Randhurst mall...
This is the period when Malls were at their height and had it all. This is the time frame I remember and if only time machines were real. I'd run off back to the 80s and never ever come back.
I totally forgot about Wilson's Leather. I bought a jacket there for $380 when I got my first paycheck from McDonald's across from the mall when I was 16. My parents were PISSED. Aside from the letter jackets with the leather sleeves for the varsity athletes I had the coolest jacket in my whole high school. I still got ignored but at least I had a cool jacket.
That was my hometown mall when I was a child and growing up with this mall. My family shopped there every twice a month. I asked my mom about Randhurst Mall and which stores were operated in early 2000s? She told me that they’re Express, Victoria Secret, The Children’s Place, McDonald’s, Carson’s and Toy Store. I remember that I was obsessed with public restroom on second. I’m just curious right now, I remember that they have 4 American Standard Afwall Wall-Hung Toilets, but I don’t know which urinals are used before Eljer urinals installed in men’s room. Do you know?
Thanks for posting this. The church I attended growing up was across the street from Randhurst (it's a Buddhist church now). This mall was a big part of my childhood throughout the 90s.
My mom managed Lady Jane which moved to the new second level when completed. I spent a lot of time in view and in the guts of this mall. Circus World, Cutlery World, Ryan's Coins, and Hobby something were my favs. I almost forgot about Royce's Sport and Ski in the basement. Purchased my first pair of Air Jordan's there.
I see PJ's is still open in AH but I don't recall that place in Randhurst. For sure Ryan's, I spent many hours staring at his overpriced baseball cards.
Thank you so much!! I so sorely miss the way this mall was Randhurst village is for shit! Best food court hands down the next best would have been by Golf Mill the the HIP then at the time Woodfield!
I forgot they had the picnic it didn't last long after I was born in the 90s lol it then became a carousel. Man do i miss the old randhurst we went all the time growing up. the basement was creepy though so I don't miss that haha.
It was my father’s idea. It was his business and we, along with other tenants, were forced to relocate downstairs to make way for stores. He was nostalgic. I also videotaped our office.
@@cnkaufmann Thanks for sharing. My earliest memories of that place would have been around '89 or a few years before. My parents would take my siblings and I there to see Santa. lol. Also, I used to get my haircut at a place that had a spiral barber pole and they'd give us candy after getting our haircut. Ah, such good memories. I used to go there a lot throughout the 90's, such as to the arcade on the 1st floor, and I got a job at Wards after they remodeled in around 2000. I'd love to see more footage of employee-only areas like the loading area in the basement and the area behind the food court. Under Wards was another level equal in size to the 1st floor that they used to store shipments that were still in saran wrap.
@@cnkaufmann the same basement with Moondog's, Regi's and Potpourri? Miss Moondog's. I also remember Linda Lubeck's dance studio in the professional offices section. Thanks for the trip down memory lane. I've seen this vid at least 5 times. Good stuff.
Random question does anybody remember the name of the smoothie place in the middle part of mall ??It was in the time range of 99-03, it was across from carsons, it wasn't a kieosk it was a store , trying to find the name to find a recipie of one of the smoothies I liked, it was the blueberry smoothie.
