I recently read this was one of the bleakest Black Fridays in Oklahoma shopping history although, if you’ve been out to many area stores, you probably wouldn’t know it, especially if you were at Penn Square Mall, where last weekend the parking lot was an overflowing sea of shiny automobiles—I wonder if they still have valet service…
But even if this year was down, I still wouldn’t want to be in there during the holidays.
Not too long ago, I went walking through Penn Square Mall, my old stomping grounds, surprised and startled at how much the place has changed into something near unrecognizable. I worked in that mall throughout much of the late nineties and early aughts, managing a string of movie theaters like Hollywood and Dickenson, as well reaching the assistant manager position at Suncoast Motion Picture Co.
They were fine jobs for an aimless sort like I once was, but probably the spate of employment that I find the hardest to live down was that one seasonal gig I took circa 2000 working for Hot Topic, the fashionable goth and trendy punk outlet that has somehow transformed into a darker version of the Disney Store, filled with totally acceptable outré gear for the whole stupid family.
But back then…