Shopping Can Be Fun (1957)

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sirgraves

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1957 public domain PR short, "Shopping Can Be Fun: A New Concept in Merchandising", that chronicles the Hillsdale Shopping Center in San Mateo, California.
Visit the MALLS OF AMERICA vintage mall blog for more retro retail goodness! http://mallsofamerica.blogspot.com

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There also used to ... ( 1 year ago by karenzero1)

There also used to be a Hillsdale Movie Theatre across the street from the mall, which closed in the late 90s. It is now a furniture store. I LOVE these giant toys. I wonder where they are now??!!

WOW! I'm from San ... ( 1 year ago by dogeymon)

WOW! I'm from San Mateo, and that's my MALL!!!! WOW!!!

Clowns scare me ( 1 year ago by lnicko)

Clowns scare me

PLEASE DON'T READ ... ( 1 year ago by michaelpw)

PLEASE DON'T READ THIS. You will get kissed on the nearest possible Friday by
the love of your life. Tomorrow will be the best day of your life. However, if you don't post this comment to at least 3 videos, you will die within 2 days. Copy and paste this, to be saved

I shopped there in ... ( 1 year ago by 457fosheezy)

I shopped there in the 70's, 80's, and 90's. I don't go there anymore. Too many gangsta/thug wannabees. Boy, have times changed!

It is easy to make ... ( 1 year ago by barbie64258)

It is easy to make fun of

What a great ... ( 1 year ago by mtg1263)

What a great flashback! Grew up in San Mateo and was a resident until last year. Just a couple of minor corrections: The mall was enclosed in 1980 and the See's Candy store is stil there too. I worked at Macy's from '83 - 96' The mall is small by today's standards but still a nice place to shop with stores like Crate and Barrell, Nordstrom, William's Sonoma, etc. Thanks for posting.

OMG!!! I grew up ... ( 1 year ago by HarleyBeck)

OMG!!! I grew up there.. thats MY mall!!! I LOVED the holidays with the giant toys, the displays with moving toys and such, the live bunnies in the little kiosks... omg, I cried thru this!!!

I grew up there too ... ( 1 year ago by HarleyBeck)

I grew up there too! Went to Knolls, Abbott, Hillsdale High.... yeah, farmers market... the fountain... the Bufano statues! Do you remember the slide at Melarts and JJ Newberries??? Good times... GOOOOOD times....

I wonder where the ... ( 1 year ago by HarleyBeck)

I wonder where the toys are nowdays too!!! Wouldn't that be cool to find out?? And yeah, Hillsdale Cinemas... used to go there all the time as a kid! We'd go to Mayfair Market across the street first for penny candy!!! Woww... memory lane... *sigh*

Yup, that was my ... ( 1 year ago by griz4)

Yup, that was my mall, I worked their in the 80's, at La Belle Beauty Salon, downstairs next to the US post Office. what ever did happen to those large toys?

I was born in 1960, ... ( 11 months ago by mtuttle328)

I was born in 1960, and lived about 3 blocks from the Mall,it was THE hangout for me from about age 11 to 15 or 16, and they added a Round Table Pizza next to Mayfair. I LOVED the indoor slide at Melarts!My Nana and Pa used to walk that mall every day,I don't know about the "fine cuisine from all over the world," lol, but the Chinese was always pretty good. Newberry's & Leed's shoes got plenty of my babysitting money!

I was a bus boy ... ( 9 months ago by socoolbob)

I was a bus boy there in 1961. So were a bunch of my friends. Ah ... The Farmer's Market and everything else. Favorite Memory ( Just One ) Best friend 'fired' a match into a woman's hair who obviously had discovered ... hair spray. AUGA Dukes! ... amboyduke dot com Go Knights!

I am born in 1983 ... ( 8 months ago by legaata)

I am born in 1983 and I find this video really interesting. The 50's was a completely different time.

My Grandparents ... ( 6 months ago by irishmenRsexy)

My Grandparents live down the street from Hillsdale. My brothers and I would walk to the mall. I remember those sculptures!!! My Grandma would tell us they were by a famous artist, and my brothers and I would climb on the cat one.

I was a proud ... ( 5 months ago by howlinrock)

I was a proud offical hilLSDale Mall Rat. Alumni 1968. Leroy would throw me out of Farmers Market

Wow. Do I remember ... ( 5 months ago by chauncy2006)

Wow. Do I remember this. The giant toys, Santa, Mr. & Mrs Easter Bunny, The Emporium, JJ Newberries where we would go and get ice cream or a soda while grandma and my mother went shopping. My great aunt would give us a $2.50 gift card from The Emporium every year at Christmas. It was really hard to decide what things we were going to buy. I even remember when it went through a make over and enclosed the mall. Originally it was an open mall. I think I was 12 when they enclosed it. I loved it.

Capitalism's ... ( 5 months ago by DaniboyBR2)

Capitalism's creator tought that consumism was no good, he was right. "There is enough for everyone's need, not for everyone's greed" Ghandi

Hey, looks like we ... ( 5 months ago by rulesoflilly)

Hey, looks like we grew up near each other. The slide at the toy store was the best, Banana Records where I would save for a 45 record once a month!

Hillsdale Mall was ... ( 5 months ago by SamssonBilly)

Hillsdale Mall was a very special part of our family. For 23 years a man only known to many as Sam greeted and opened doors for many shoppers at Farmers Market. He was a courtesy clerk. He greeted everyone with a warm smile and a hardy goodbye when leaving. He was the "Unofficial Spokesman" for Farmers Market because he was the first person to see the customer come into the store and the last to see them depart. He was my father Samuel P. Rutland and he won the Sir Hillary Award in 1970.

My Grandfather used ... ( 5 months ago by CrazyKrysCool)

My Grandfather used to work there!! My uncle is right below.

thank you for this! ... ( 4 months ago by thesaratonin)

thank you for this! I was born the year the mall opened but I remember a LOT of this stuff. Do you remember the huge tree they would put in the mall near Macy's and See's candies that local groups actually carloed in? I was a blue bird and then a camp fire girl. we sang in that tree every year and every year you got to be higher up on the tree. When I got to sing in the top row--I HAD ARRIVED!!! It was a big deal when I was a kid. What happened to all the Buffanos?

you really screwed ... ( 4 months ago by Hdtex)

you really screwed over a lot of good will by abondoning your moa blog....true colors really came through there buddy
gave it up for boobs huh?

Fun memories here. ... ( 2 months ago by avalleygirl)

Fun memories here. I was in high school when this video was made and I lived on Arrowwood Lane ajacent to the mall. We went to the Farmers Market and when I had children, their grandmother walked them there every visit for fried rice. My kids all say they had never tasted such good fried rice again!! I remember Sam, the greeter. How cool is this!
I had forgotten and I am grateful for the memory jog! Are the Bufano statues still in the mall? Does anyone has info about other San Mateo videos?

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