In this era of dead malls, thriving downtowns, and lifestyle centers, an active small classic shopping mall is harder to spot than Bigfoot. The Kingston Collection, formerly known as the Independence Mall, in Kingston, Massachusetts, is on life support, hanging on by a Target and a Newbury Comics, but still open. We’ll take a trip down memory lane to the early years of the Independence Mall, visit it in the late 90s, and witness its decline and current state.
I didn’t grow up with the Independence Mall. The Norwichichtown Mall in Norwich, Connecticut, was my neighborhood mall. Caldor was its anchor, and its stores were, among others, a few shoe stores, a record shop, and an arcade. The Norwichtown Mall began with mainly independent stores that moved from downtown and gave way to chains in the 90s. The history of the Kingston Collection was more in tune with that of the Crystal Mall in Waterford, Connecticut. Larger than Kingston, it has two stories but with many of the same stores as Kingston did. I’ll be using the terms “Kingston Collection” and “Independence Mall” interchangeably based on the year.
Kingston Collection Memories
I’ve lived in Plymouth since 2014, and for the bulk of my years here, the Kingston Collection has been only a few anchor stores and not much else. Sears and Macy’s have now closed, and only Target remains of the anchor stores. Inside were a few national brands, including American Eagle and Spencer’s Gifts. Billy Beez, an indoor playground for kids, and Pinz, a bowling alley and entertainment center, drew crowds, but the store spaces were mostly vacant, and the concourse was devoid of life. The food court had Pizzeria Regina, Subway, and Dunkin’. After Covid, though, many of these left, and only a few stores remained, including Newbury Comics and Maziply Toys.
Having school-aged children, I knew that the mall had reinvented itself into a fun center especially for kids, with places like Sky Zone, Billy Beez, and Big Bouncy Party. When I went to investigate the mall for this article, what I didn’t expect was nary a parking spot nearby (the opposite of the photo above, taken at an earlier date), a Pokémon card show bringing a mass of visitors, and many funky independent stores filling in the recently vacant storefronts.
The Independence Mall
In 1989, the Independence Mall opened to much fanfare. Filene’s anchored where most recently, Macy’s was located. Walking through the mall, have you seen the escalator to nowhere? As a one-story mall, it seems odd to have it in the middle of the concourse. Although out of place today, this was the former home of Filene’s Basement, which closed around 1998. Sears was another original anchor and closed in 2015. It was demolished and is now the location of The Point at Kingston, an apartment building. JCPenney was also an anchor store. Eventually, this space would house Best Buy without access to the rest of the mall. Later, it was Pump ‘n Jump, an amusement center for kids. It also housed the Big Bounce Party, a similar idea, and is now the outlet of Setting the Space upscale furniture store.
The original movie theater was Hoyts Cinema, which had a memorable intro to their movies. It’s now a Regal Cinema, which bought Hoyts in the early ‘00s. What is now the Big Bounce Party, located right next to the food court, was originally a Lechmere store. It also housed a K1 Speed and an arcade before its current use. In the Norwichtown Mall, we had Caldor; at the Independence Mall was Bradlee’s.
In its heyday, the food court was teeming with fast food pleasures, McDonald’s and A&W among them. Other favorites include Cathay Cathay, Chinese food, the Great Steak and Potato Company, cheesesteaks, and Taco Bell. Visiting now, try TrainReck Tacos, an indie taqueria. They are even hosting a meet and greet with Brutus “The Barber” Beefcake.
Late 90s Shopping Malls
The 90s at the Independence Mall mirrored my Crystal Mall experiences. EB Games, KB Toys, GNC, Hallmark, Pacific Sunwear, Gloria Jean’s coffee shop, Weathervane, Hot Topic, Spencer’s Gifts, the Disney Store, Wilson Leather- so many of the same stores. Instead of TCBY and Brigham’s, the Crystal Mall had Charley’s Eating and Drinking Saloon. Some others weren’t in the Crystal Mall, but instead at the smaller Norwichtown Mall, including Waldenbooks and Dress Barn.
Where the current Fit Factory gym is located was a Borders which was built as an addition to the mall as was Target.
Prophetic Verse
“Let’s all have another Orange Julius
Thick syrup standing in lines
The malls are the soon to be ghost towns
So long, farewell, good-bye”
“Teeth Like God’s Shoeshine” by Modest Mouse
When Modest Mouse released this song in 1997, I was a freshman in high school. Never would I ever have thought that the concept of the mall could be passe. Even for a kid like me, it was a place where I was dropped off with friends on a Friday night. It was thriving with many of the stores mentioned above. I grew up in a small city. What was dead was the downtown. Vacant storefronts proliferated as the idea of the downtown shopping district was killed by the shopping mall.
The Kingston Collection
Online shopping, the emergence of lifestyle centers, and the fact that downtowns are in vogue once again all led to the death or complete reconfiguration of the idea of the shopping mall. The Independence Mall was rebranded in 2014 as the Kingston Collection. The term “collection” refers to an upscale shopping experience a là the Natick Collection, which was rebranded from the Natick Mall years earlier.
My Kingston Collection memories only reach back as far as 2014. I remember hoisting a few pints at Waxy O’Connor’s, where Pizzeria Uno used to be. The Studio Kitchen, where a local cooking television show was filmed, was a solid restaurant. Newbury Comics actually had CDs, and in the window of Champs Sporting Goods was a Lenny Dykstra Mitchell & Ness batting practice jersey, which I just had to have. I even saw the band Soul Asylum live at Pinz!
As I started to have kids, the Kingston Collection was an easy place to take them. One vivid memory was riding the ride-on animals at Maziply for 25 long minutes with my oldest. I didn’t know if I’d ever get the hunch out of my back! We would go to Pinz for the arcade, Billy Beez for indoor playing, Sky Zone for the trampoline park, and of course, Target for all of the essentials. Each spring, the Easter Bunny would visit, and we’d take a photo with good friends.
What Goes Around Comes Around
During the early days of malls, independent stores rubbed elbows with chains. Malls increased in popularity, and American main streets were left empty. Rents rose, and chain stores bullied most of the indies out. External forces such as online shopping and the rise of lifestyle centers- a pleasant outdoor shopping experience that typically includes much more than just stores- then helped kill malls.
A “dead mall” is a mall without an anchor. As of now, my once-beloved Crystal Mall is a dead mall. It’s still open, but a shell of its former self. The Kingston Collection, though, although on life support, is not dead. Target draws tons of shoppers, although given its location, I’m not sure how many patrons also visit the interior of the mall. Families enjoy Sky Zone and Billy Beez, Pinz attracts a crowd, and so do the movies. With Sears demolished and Macy’s shuttered, Target remains the only true anchor.
The Easter Bunny
Rewind to last Easter when the Bunny was located in a different part of the mall. We’d been to Target only lately, or just to one of the kids’ play centers. On this visit, I noticed a store called 4 GoodVibes. Actually, it was the array of handmade pillows in the window that drew me in. As I took a walk into the store, I noticed that it sold mostly locally made items, such as pillows, soap, candles, and much more. I came back to do some Christmas shopping there and purchased a needed-to-have Rod Stewart pillow for my man cave…..And then found out that it was actually Steve Perry from Journey.
Walking through the corridors, there is much more here than in the past few years. There are independent clothing stores, sneaker shops, the brand new Cowabunga Collectibles, which features retro toys and video games, a doggie salon and groomer, Yoyo Records, a vinyl record store that also features cardio (what a combo!), a natural foods store, and much more. There are plenty of activities for kids, as Big Bounce Party has moved inside the mall. TrainReck Tacos and Guloseimas Brazil, which makes Brazilian candy and snacks, are at the food court. The movie theater is often crowded. What is happening is that the vacant storefronts are being populated by independent stores, as the downtown rent prices continue to grow.
From Memory Lane to the Present
It’s ironic how things come full circle. Do I think the Kingston Collection will once again be a weekend evening destination where you can get your hair done at JCPenney, buy a gown at Filene’s Basement, take in a movie at Hoyt’s, and grab a bite at the food court? No, I don’t, but at the same time, there are true signs of life. And not just places to get your eyebrow threaded, but stores by entrepreneurs who are taking a risk and bringing an independent spirit back to a location that once turned its back on anything non-corporate.
