WEBVTT 00:00:02.140 --> 00:00:04.140 All right, well, thank you for agreeing to talk with us today. Uh, we were 00:00:05.929 --> 00:00:08.506 talking about Park Central mall, but it would start a little background 00:00:08.539 --> 00:00:14.496 information. So first, if you could tell me your name. Naomi rumor, uh, 00:00:14.529 --> 00:00:17.846 tell me a little bit about your family. Are you phoenix natives? You grew 00:00:17.879 --> 00:00:25.879 up in the area? My, my family, Well, I'm one of 9 Children. I was married 00:00:26.469 --> 00:00:32.247 in Tucson and then we heard about parque Central and that's how come we 00:00:32.280 --> 00:00:35.107 moved up to phoenix? 00:00:35.140 --> 00:00:40.537 We moved to phoenix specifically because of the absolutely came up here 00:00:40.570 --> 00:00:44.207 for that. The opening 00:00:44.240 --> 00:00:49.737 and what in particular drew you up for the opening? I'm sorry. What reason 00:00:49.770 --> 00:00:53.607 ? What specifically because of the mall opening brought you up from Tucson 00:00:53.640 --> 00:01:00.487 ? Is it just the opening of the, well, I mean, yes, we, you know signed a 00:01:00.520 --> 00:01:07.647 lease and we were here to do business and We've been here since 1957. Okay 00:01:07.680 --> 00:01:13.826 , so you were in Tucson and then essentially, originally I am from New 00:01:13.859 --> 00:01:21.859 Jersey, but we met in Tucson were married there and they really came up to 00:01:22.349 --> 00:01:24.406 phoenix. 00:01:24.439 --> 00:01:28.417 Were you at the University of Arizona when you were in Tucson? No. Okay. 00:01:28.450 --> 00:01:33.626 So what brought you from New Jersey? Oh, I had a sister. I have a sister 00:01:33.659 --> 00:01:38.107 at that time. She was young and she was having a baby and my mother said, 00:01:38.140 --> 00:01:46.140 um my parents said we want you to go um to be with her. And so I came when 00:01:46.209 --> 00:01:49.307 people didn't fly 00:01:49.340 --> 00:01:53.656 and came to Tucson and absolutely fell in love with Arizona and I knew 00:01:53.689 --> 00:01:57.007 that's for me. So 00:01:57.040 --> 00:02:00.096 and then you mentioned that you had heard about Park Central before 00:02:00.129 --> 00:02:02.757 actually being in phoenix, you've heard about that, they were going to 00:02:02.790 --> 00:02:07.147 build it. This was before the malls, you know, I'm not really too sure. 00:02:07.180 --> 00:02:14.027 Just my husband was kind of, I guess he heard about the mall and through 00:02:14.060 --> 00:02:19.686 sales people that were, there was a store in Tucson that belonged to his 00:02:19.719 --> 00:02:25.047 parents and was called the Hall of Cards. And so my husband did a lot of 00:02:25.080 --> 00:02:30.596 the buying and I guess he heard that there was a store coming in phoenix, 00:02:30.629 --> 00:02:34.737 a shopping center and he became very interested. Okay, and what was your 00:02:34.770 --> 00:02:40.916 husband's Bruce Bruce? And so he signed a lease and you open a store in 00:02:40.949 --> 00:02:45.577 which store was that? And that was rumors, rumors, rumors, distinctive 00:02:45.610 --> 00:02:53.610 gifts. Okay, it's probably, I haven't um I brought this, 00:02:54.340 --> 00:03:01.547 so if you want to take but this was his business card. Wonderful. And then 00:03:01.580 --> 00:03:06.406 this is his stationary, 00:03:06.439 --> 00:03:11.406 60 Bucks Central. Right. Yeah. 00:03:11.439 --> 00:03:17.406 Wonderful. They took a copy of that, so. Okay. 00:03:17.439 --> 00:03:22.406 Mhm. Okay. Um so 00:03:22.439 --> 00:03:28.997 he operated a store here in the mall, correct? And were you involved with 00:03:29.030 --> 00:03:34.126 this? I was, he taught me the businesses I was working and I was very 00:03:34.159 --> 00:03:39.487 involved. Uh do you remember what the other stores were like, What the 00:03:39.520 --> 00:03:44.827 mall was like at that time? First of all I know a lot of the stores. Right. 00:03:44.860 --> 00:03:51.376 A lot. Okay. Yeah. Um You probably have a list of, a lot of them. Yeah. 00:03:51.409 --> 00:03:56.126 Actually we have Ok yeah, let's try it here. Um So you mean in terms of 00:03:56.159 --> 00:04:00.017 like your store specifically, what was the shopping experience for 00:04:00.050 --> 00:04:04.247 shoppers there? It was great. It was an outdoor mel's. It was a 00:04:04.280 --> 00:04:09.767 neighborhood, it was the first shopping center of course in phoenix so all 00:04:09.800 --> 00:04:14.577 the stores from downtown moved what they called uptown. There was another 00:04:14.610 --> 00:04:19.707 mall that opened and that was uptown plaza but it was just like a strip 00:04:19.740 --> 00:04:24.746 and of course the leads here was Goldwater's and diamonds and pennies also 00:04:24.779 --> 00:04:31.217 did come but a little later. But these were individual, a lot of not 00:04:31.250 --> 00:04:37.166 change stores. A lot of individual people that only stores and maybe had 00:04:37.199 --> 00:04:42.996 been in business before they opened up in Pakistan Shal. Okay. What was 00:04:43.029 --> 00:04:50.517 your typical customer you like back then? Everybody? Young old because we 00:04:50.550 --> 00:04:57.046 had a big greeting card business. So of course attracted a lot of people 00:04:57.079 --> 00:05:02.197 and we were on a very good corner. Okay, in addition to greeting cards, 00:05:02.230 --> 00:05:06.556 you mentioned gifts. We have gifts and greeting cards, independent 00:05:06.589 --> 00:05:11.906 apartment and leather goods. And we did 00:05:11.939 --> 00:05:17.207 wedding others and anything that had to be printed through albums, 00:05:17.240 --> 00:05:22.426 catalogs that we took orders. Yeah graduation announcements, things like 00:05:22.459 --> 00:05:27.757 that and of course cards for all the different seasons were always big and 00:05:27.790 --> 00:05:35.790 lots and okay. Um We've seen photos of them all having special events for 00:05:37.720 --> 00:05:43.606 those. They did they did they tried yes they did. 00:05:43.639 --> 00:05:50.306 I actually can't think of any that would be so specific but they did have 00:05:50.339 --> 00:05:55.286 attractions and people just came to the mall to eat to walk. They saw 00:05:55.319 --> 00:06:00.507 people they knew people. It was very friendly mall. Okay. 00:06:00.540 --> 00:06:04.536 Some of the things that we know happened here, they would have car shows, 00:06:04.569 --> 00:06:08.806 they had some antique car shows, they actually had 00:06:08.839 --> 00:06:14.007 the phoenix auto show was here for many years. They did other things with 00:06:14.040 --> 00:06:18.937 like florists and Disney and things like that. Did you find that those 00:06:18.970 --> 00:06:24.077 events tend to attract a lot of people? Yes. Yes it was you know families 00:06:24.110 --> 00:06:29.147 came saturday. Yeah that was a big thing again around the holidays. They 00:06:29.180 --> 00:06:35.366 also decorated and had nice things for families to come to. Uh huh. A lot 00:06:35.399 --> 00:06:39.087 of modern malls open seven days a week. Was Park center mall in the early 00:06:39.120 --> 00:06:43.926 days it was closed on Sundays how to kind of operate in terms hours and 00:06:43.959 --> 00:06:51.116 days. Well at first when it opened there was no night hours and definitely 00:06:51.149 --> 00:06:59.149 not sunday and slowly It started to be one or 2 nights a week and then it 00:06:59.529 --> 00:07:07.529 was sunday and on and on as different places opened and required it so. 00:07:08.939 --> 00:07:16.707 Mhm. My husband didn't love that, especially sunday 00:07:16.740 --> 00:07:21.546 were there. What was the mix of stores at that time if you remember in 00:07:21.579 --> 00:07:27.296 terms of just type clothing, shoe everything, shoes, jewelry, clothing, 00:07:27.329 --> 00:07:33.806 Newbury, five and 10 the department stores 00:07:33.839 --> 00:07:36.806 um drugstore 00:07:36.839 --> 00:07:42.226 restaurants. Yeah a good mix enough to bring people in. And was it kind of 00:07:42.259 --> 00:07:46.147 sort of one of everything or where there multiple multiple dress shops? 00:07:46.180 --> 00:07:51.476 Multiple shoe stores? It just depended you know there were sporting goods 00:07:51.509 --> 00:07:58.467 store in specialty stores like that and then it was like one of that type 00:07:58.500 --> 00:08:03.197 but gift shops, there were several, there were southwest doors, a lot of 00:08:03.230 --> 00:08:10.176 clothing stores, shoe stores. Yeah. Good variety. Okay. Did your sort of a 00:08:10.209 --> 00:08:15.947 main competitor or it was, what was that like? Did it have a competitor? 00:08:15.980 --> 00:08:20.507 Like did you have a main, Well we had 00:08:20.540 --> 00:08:26.236 oh yeah a lot of people sold cards and gifts and yes there were yeah there 00:08:26.269 --> 00:08:29.406 was but 00:08:29.439 --> 00:08:33.047 my husband was an excellent businessman 00:08:33.080 --> 00:08:36.606 and he 00:08:36.639 --> 00:08:44.639 ran a very good working order business and we had a lot of good business 00:08:45.159 --> 00:08:53.159 and um worked hard And I loved it. We did we loved it and we were there 00:08:53.960 --> 00:09:01.407 for 20 years a long time. Um Did the store then move to another location? 00:09:01.440 --> 00:09:07.386 Well we in the meantime opened because Christiane opened in 1961 and so we 00:09:07.419 --> 00:09:12.626 did open in chris town and then from Christiane we went to another and so 00:09:12.659 --> 00:09:18.726 on. So but we kept parque central. Okay. Until there were changes after 20 00:09:18.759 --> 00:09:23.136 years there were a lot of changes going on possibly even with the 00:09:23.169 --> 00:09:29.047 ownership, I'm not too sure so it was time for us to, we didn't sell it 00:09:29.080 --> 00:09:37.080 moved on and left. Yeah. And did you shop in the mall as well as me 00:09:37.600 --> 00:09:44.626 personally? Oh yeah, me my kids of course, yeah. Yeah. And at that time 00:09:44.659 --> 00:09:50.557 did you live locally like in north central phoenix or were you somewhere 00:09:50.590 --> 00:09:56.907 else in the city? Where was home during? Oh phoenix, yeah, live nearby. 00:09:56.940 --> 00:10:00.006 Yes. Mhm. 00:10:00.039 --> 00:10:05.506 Um and so everybody, the whole family kind of also shopped at Park Central. 00:10:05.539 --> 00:10:10.707 Okay. Okay. Okay. Was the, 00:10:10.740 --> 00:10:14.006 the uptown shopping center much of a competition for that or was Park 00:10:14.039 --> 00:10:20.207 central place? Well, I think when chris town opened it was probably some 00:10:20.240 --> 00:10:26.006 competition. Chris town was bigger and 00:10:26.039 --> 00:10:33.797 indoor park central was outdoor and but then more people had moved and 00:10:33.830 --> 00:10:41.327 come and um so I think Park Central never really fell down. It was still 00:10:41.360 --> 00:10:47.187 always good and of course office buildings in the hospital and stuff like 00:10:47.220 --> 00:10:53.096 that, so Okay. Yeah. When you were, you know, kind of initially in 00:10:53.129 --> 00:10:57.856 business in the 60s, what was the, was the fashion like what we're what 00:10:57.889 --> 00:11:05.006 customers wear. Oh um yeah, 00:11:05.039 --> 00:11:13.039 I don't, you know, just, I don't really specific, you know, casual, but 00:11:13.720 --> 00:11:18.447 more dressed up than say, well everything was more dressed up than today. 00:11:18.480 --> 00:11:26.480 I mean today, Yes. Yeah, it's and that's why the clothing stores have a 00:11:27.059 --> 00:11:31.846 tough time. Yeah, it's a lot a lot of fashion and of course gold voters 00:11:31.879 --> 00:11:36.506 with such a leading store and so is diamonds. 00:11:36.539 --> 00:11:44.539 Yeah, it was it was good. They were busy. Okay. In terms of 00:11:46.539 --> 00:11:50.856 the mall, in terms of your own shopping, did you have a favorite store 00:11:50.889 --> 00:11:55.447 that you frequented? Uh Not really, you know, just depending, you know 00:11:55.480 --> 00:12:02.236 what I needed. And uh the merchants that privately owned their shops were 00:12:02.269 --> 00:12:09.226 very friendly with each other and so I think we shopped there, we 00:12:09.259 --> 00:12:15.707 participated in other businesses and stuff, but no real special. Um Right 00:12:15.740 --> 00:12:20.207 , I'm not the biggest shopper. 00:12:20.240 --> 00:12:25.736 Um and you'd mentioned signing the lease in the early sixties and opening 00:12:25.769 --> 00:12:30.526 the shop at Park Central, you're there for 20 years. So would you be well 00:12:30.559 --> 00:12:36.917 shop in the eighties, is that the timeline wrestling or I'm not going when 00:12:36.950 --> 00:12:41.057 you said you were in Park center mall for 20 about 20 years. Yeah. So 00:12:41.090 --> 00:12:46.307 since that's like, is it the early eighties when you closed? Probably 00:12:46.340 --> 00:12:54.340 because this was 57 to 67 77. Yeah. Yeah. Um Yeah. Okay. Were there 00:12:54.600 --> 00:12:59.677 specific reasons? I mean, business decline, was it just like different 00:12:59.710 --> 00:13:04.116 clientele? I mean, what was, what was the reason for closing? Well, our 00:13:04.149 --> 00:13:09.707 lease was up and then there were changes like I said, I think that 00:13:09.740 --> 00:13:15.587 different people that own them all. There were changes with them as well. 00:13:15.620 --> 00:13:22.287 And then of course the leases um the rental lease is quite a bit of 00:13:22.320 --> 00:13:30.320 difference in money and then we already had two other stores in phoenix, 00:13:30.639 --> 00:13:35.947 One in Christiane and then one in Los Arcos which is got stale. And we 00:13:35.980 --> 00:13:40.707 also had some shops in san Diego. So 00:13:40.740 --> 00:13:47.976 it was sad, very sad when we left Uh for us but it was the time was right 00:13:48.009 --> 00:13:52.496 there were other stories leaving around the same. Um there were changes. 00:13:52.529 --> 00:13:56.516 There were changes. Yes because we didn't have a 20 year lease. We 00:13:56.549 --> 00:14:02.486 started with the 10 and then had to release. So I imagine other stores, I 00:14:02.519 --> 00:14:06.587 don't know what kind of leases they had. But yeah there were changes 00:14:06.620 --> 00:14:13.907 definitely. was Goldwater still there. Yes when you even in the early 80's 00:14:13.940 --> 00:14:19.276 can I tell you a nice story about the Goldwater's okay in our store at 00:14:19.309 --> 00:14:23.506 busy times there were long lines because we sold cards and they had to be 00:14:23.539 --> 00:14:28.866 added up you know and not like on the register of 25 cents and 50 cents 00:14:28.899 --> 00:14:34.337 you did it in your head. And Peggy Goldwater who was Barry Goldwater's 00:14:34.370 --> 00:14:39.827 wife came into the store and the line was long. She didn't take what she 00:14:39.860 --> 00:14:44.726 had in her hand and come up to the register and say I'm mrs Goldwater and 00:14:44.759 --> 00:14:49.077 can you help me this? She stood in line with all the people and people 00:14:49.110 --> 00:14:57.110 knew her hi Peggy hi Peggy and I thought oh my God she's a real lady right 00:14:57.240 --> 00:15:02.026 and I didn't ask for anything special no matter who she was? I thought 00:15:02.059 --> 00:15:06.396 that was great. Did barry Goldwater ever come to the store? Did you see 00:15:06.429 --> 00:15:12.407 him at the mall? Um mm I don't really remember 00:15:12.440 --> 00:15:20.139 him but she, she came to them all I'm sure she shopped at her store. Yeah. 00:15:20.240 --> 00:15:22.240 Okay, wonderful. Um so we have other filters that kind of show them all 00:15:28.490 --> 00:15:33.626 being decorated for holidays, like christmas and things like that. Can you 00:15:33.659 --> 00:15:38.126 describe, do you remember that? Can you describe what it looked like kind 00:15:38.159 --> 00:15:43.587 of how it was decorated? I'm not following like you've seen some photos 00:15:43.620 --> 00:15:48.907 where they put up christmas, lights, holidays. I'm wondering if you have 00:15:48.940 --> 00:15:54.146 like specific memories of that. Oh yes, definitely. They decorated, they 00:15:54.179 --> 00:16:00.057 also had booths were they gift wrapped and the charge was to a group and 00:16:00.090 --> 00:16:06.437 the money went to charity. So they did charitable things and it was a good 00:16:06.470 --> 00:16:11.707 mall. It was, yeah. Okay. 00:16:11.740 --> 00:16:19.740 Running down, was there a specific um way they would decorate like a style 00:16:20.679 --> 00:16:25.626 that they have sort of a southwestern yet christmas style? Um Not not 00:16:25.659 --> 00:16:30.937 specifically just different things I don't really remember but it was 00:16:30.970 --> 00:16:35.776 always decorated and people would bring to show the tree and the, you know 00:16:35.809 --> 00:16:41.606 and stuff like that. It was, it was the very first class, high class small. 00:16:41.639 --> 00:16:44.856 Would they have a santa claus? And do the pictures with santa and things 00:16:44.889 --> 00:16:50.787 like that. Do they do they have like a santa claus at the mall? Oh yes. Oh 00:16:50.820 --> 00:16:57.506 yes. Oh yes, photographs. Oh yeah. everything. 00:16:57.539 --> 00:17:04.976 Um Yeah. So do you have a particular like sort of fond memory like what's 00:17:05.009 --> 00:17:10.847 your fondest memory of either running the store or shopping at the mall or 00:17:10.880 --> 00:17:17.026 both? Uh Nothing specific you know I mean you know we called shoplifters 00:17:17.059 --> 00:17:22.667 in our store. We had a very nice class of people. Uh We became friendly 00:17:22.700 --> 00:17:29.256 with the customers. Um It was good it was we loved our work, we loved our 00:17:29.289 --> 00:17:35.697 store and it was good. It was in the park Central mall was your first 00:17:35.730 --> 00:17:41.937 store? Yes it was. Okay. Um Do you and your husband primarily continued to 00:17:41.970 --> 00:17:46.447 work at that store? Like when you opened the others there we'll know when 00:17:46.480 --> 00:17:50.887 we open chris town that my husband went to chris towns. I had Park Central 00:17:50.920 --> 00:17:57.816 and then he had chris town and then divided his time with Los Arcos. We 00:17:57.849 --> 00:18:02.786 also have two grown Children at the time. And they also worked in the 00:18:02.819 --> 00:18:10.819 stores alone. So that was a great help as well. Okay 00:18:11.240 --> 00:18:17.476 and are some of your store is still in operation today? Pardon me are some 00:18:17.509 --> 00:18:23.746 of your store's in the other locations still open today? Um Yeah no he 00:18:23.779 --> 00:18:30.306 must have opened the doors are open today. Oh today today. Oh no no no. 00:18:30.339 --> 00:18:36.276 Yeah we closed the Park Central and I really don't know what went in after 00:18:36.309 --> 00:18:44.309 we left because once I leave I'm gone I can't handle going back so I never 00:18:44.609 --> 00:18:50.607 went back and I have no idea what went in and 00:18:50.640 --> 00:18:56.877 that was it. Okay. Right So really your association with them all ended in 00:18:56.910 --> 00:19:02.806 the early 80s when that store closed? Yes. Okay so my mind I'm sure my 00:19:02.839 --> 00:19:07.066 husband went back. OK so you didn't come back to shop or anything like 00:19:07.099 --> 00:19:13.147 that? Okay. Mhm. Were you still living in the area locally or had you 00:19:13.180 --> 00:19:19.707 moved? You know we still live in I still live in phoenix. Okay. Uh huh. 00:19:19.740 --> 00:19:24.707 Okay but you shifted your shopping to another area. Well you know the 00:19:24.740 --> 00:19:28.296 older you get you don't really need too much shopping and I do spend some 00:19:28.329 --> 00:19:35.826 time in san Diego. I have some Children there too and so yeah. Oh no I 00:19:35.859 --> 00:19:39.207 didn't come back that was 00:19:39.240 --> 00:19:44.207 over. Okay. Uh huh. 00:19:44.240 --> 00:19:50.387 So phoenix was obviously very different in the early sixties. Oh yes yes 00:19:50.420 --> 00:19:57.907 it was right when I first came to phoenix before we even opened up the 00:19:57.940 --> 00:20:05.637 store I went to pennies and there was an escalator and people didn't even 00:20:05.670 --> 00:20:08.816 know how to get on and off the escalator and when you went down the 00:20:08.849 --> 00:20:13.907 escalator there was a big big portrait of J. C. Penney that you had to 00:20:13.940 --> 00:20:19.746 look at and it just changed. Well first of all in parque central opened in 00:20:19.779 --> 00:20:26.006 downtown took a real beating and a lot of the stores came to park Central 00:20:26.039 --> 00:20:34.039 and eventually they did close downtown. Yeah it was too close to. Yeah so 00:20:34.940 --> 00:20:41.526 in terms of the growth, You know in the early 60's 00:20:41.559 --> 00:20:44.736 the city certainly kind of petered out around Northern Avenue and 00:20:44.769 --> 00:20:50.147 obviously now goes much much much farther. Um Can you describe a little 00:20:50.180 --> 00:20:53.976 bit about that? Just like the the phenomenal growth that was happening in 00:20:54.009 --> 00:20:57.806 terms of housing and building? Um 00:20:57.839 --> 00:21:05.839 Yeah I don't really know um you know there were houses and developments 00:21:05.880 --> 00:21:13.687 and stores but I was so busy that I really you know um didn't pay too much 00:21:13.720 --> 00:21:18.707 attention to how things were growing because it didn't affect me. 00:21:18.740 --> 00:21:23.367 Okay. Um Did you find that other developments that happened during that 00:21:23.400 --> 00:21:30.607 time period like the freeway building? They were doing affected business? 00:21:30.640 --> 00:21:35.207 Lot more people to come in the store that, well I'm sure there was a 00:21:35.240 --> 00:21:39.746 certain percent but was that percent where more people were moving in 00:21:39.779 --> 00:21:44.967 because at the time also there was the west side which was Maryvale and 00:21:45.000 --> 00:21:49.536 there was a shopping center there too which I don't even remember. But I 00:21:49.569 --> 00:21:55.877 know there was one so I imagine people could um not come to Park Central 00:21:55.910 --> 00:22:02.806 but people like Park Central they they liked it definitely. 00:22:02.839 --> 00:22:06.986 Did you find that when they built chris town did that effect business at 00:22:07.019 --> 00:22:12.627 Park central or like or did it not really draw business away? I don't 00:22:12.660 --> 00:22:16.897 think well it didn't I can only talk for our business, it didn't affect 00:22:16.930 --> 00:22:23.026 our business. It really did not because it drew people safe from the north 00:22:23.059 --> 00:22:28.897 and the west side. And parque central um you know kind of took another 00:22:28.930 --> 00:22:35.046 group. So did the Crystal Mall have a similar mix of stores? Do they have 00:22:35.079 --> 00:22:39.597 a Goldwater's? They didn't have Goldwater's, they had a store at that time 00:22:39.630 --> 00:22:44.806 called Corks and um 00:22:44.839 --> 00:22:48.976 which was later Macy's 00:22:49.009 --> 00:22:56.546 I think whatever but it was not the quality or the elegance of gold wars. 00:22:56.579 --> 00:23:00.907 I mean Goldwater's what's good 00:23:00.940 --> 00:23:06.607 and um but I think the malls did well because there was an influx of 00:23:06.640 --> 00:23:13.107 people, a lot of people. I mean it gru gru 00:23:13.140 --> 00:23:17.496 okay did you find over time that like even the park Central the the 00:23:17.529 --> 00:23:22.076 business just kept growing in terms of volume. It was good. Yeah it was 00:23:22.109 --> 00:23:27.197 good. But you see we owned it and we paid attention to it and we did the 00:23:27.230 --> 00:23:32.086 buying. We were very involved. So when there was a problem we were able to 00:23:32.119 --> 00:23:37.617 take care of it and then when new things came out we did our buying. We 00:23:37.650 --> 00:23:41.387 were the ones that did the buying. So we were on top of all the new stuff 00:23:41.420 --> 00:23:49.076 and we my husband was very good business man. Yeah was the primary 00:23:49.109 --> 00:23:56.387 customer where the women men who were the um a lot of women but men too 00:23:56.420 --> 00:24:01.407 because they would come from the office buildings on central so during 00:24:01.440 --> 00:24:05.617 lunch hour they would come if they needed cards or if they needed a gift. 00:24:05.650 --> 00:24:10.756 A lot of offices you know they exchanged gifts. I mean it was it was busy 00:24:10.789 --> 00:24:17.316 , it was busy was saturday that particular busy day? Well family day you 00:24:17.349 --> 00:24:23.127 know. Yeah saturday probably was always a good business day but was the 00:24:23.160 --> 00:24:27.167 volume pretty steady even during the week? Was the volume fairly steady 00:24:27.200 --> 00:24:33.907 even during the week? During that time period? Yeah. Oh 00:24:33.940 --> 00:24:40.776 you know it um during the week we we had a lot of office and business 00:24:40.809 --> 00:24:46.976 people and then like I say the weekends and then the nights they weren't 00:24:47.009 --> 00:24:51.766 great but you know the stores started to stay open. So of course one 00:24:51.799 --> 00:24:57.207 follows the other and there are certain rules when you're in a mall. Yes 00:24:57.240 --> 00:25:04.607 you open if that's what's happening and you don't have a choice 00:25:04.640 --> 00:25:08.957 was there when you made the decision not to renew your lease at Park 00:25:08.990 --> 00:25:12.506 Central? Had there been 00:25:12.539 --> 00:25:15.336 other businesses that we're making sort of the same decision at the same 00:25:15.369 --> 00:25:21.056 time? Ah Is there kind of a turnover of original businesses from the early 00:25:21.089 --> 00:25:29.089 60s? Not too many, not too many. Um Some but not not the majority. The the 00:25:30.869 --> 00:25:37.736 people that we're the originals and had small businesses worked them in 00:25:37.769 --> 00:25:42.786 other words, they didn't own them and then have managers so that helps the 00:25:42.819 --> 00:25:47.806 business quite a bit. Yeah. 00:25:47.839 --> 00:25:50.306 Okay. 00:25:50.339 --> 00:25:56.707 Does Park Central have a particular meaning to you? Do you think about it 00:25:56.740 --> 00:26:04.316 have do you have sort of a general feeling about them all in general? I'm 00:26:04.349 --> 00:26:09.907 sorry, I'm not, did they, does the does them all sort of have a 00:26:09.940 --> 00:26:15.746 association? Oh yeah. Oh definitely. They had an association and of course 00:26:15.779 --> 00:26:20.907 they all participated. We had um uh 00:26:20.940 --> 00:26:27.157 an occasion once a year where we party all participated. It was a party 00:26:27.190 --> 00:26:32.907 night kind of and it was a good mall, it was people that were interested 00:26:32.940 --> 00:26:38.107 in. People like I say that ran their businesses rather than managers. 00:26:38.140 --> 00:26:43.496 There were some of course. And but when you're there on the premises it 00:26:43.529 --> 00:26:47.276 makes a difference when you think back on it, does it have a sort of 00:26:47.309 --> 00:26:52.516 special meaning to you? Does it? How do you feel about, Well, I never 00:26:52.549 --> 00:26:56.107 really went to the special meetings. I went to the party the once a year, 00:26:56.140 --> 00:27:01.377 but my husband was the one that participated at the meetings. And Yeah, so 00:27:01.410 --> 00:27:05.197 I really what about the mall in general? Like if you think about it, like 00:27:05.230 --> 00:27:11.086 if you think back on the mall then now, what do you kind of feel about the 00:27:11.119 --> 00:27:14.967 mall in general? Well when I came here today, I didn't know that it was 00:27:15.000 --> 00:27:20.306 all blocked off. So I thought I was gonna walk down and look at my store. 00:27:20.339 --> 00:27:27.246 Um You know it's progress. I mean, you know, I don't know if they're 00:27:27.279 --> 00:27:31.256 putting shops in, I don't know if it's going to be a shopping center, I 00:27:31.289 --> 00:27:33.707 don't know 00:27:33.740 --> 00:27:38.177 anything about it to be honest with you. My understanding is the 00:27:38.210 --> 00:27:43.407 revitalization plan is similar to what they did to the shopping center at 00:27:43.440 --> 00:27:48.417 camelback and central where they're trying to restore it back to the the 00:27:48.450 --> 00:27:53.867 look and had originally and try to revitalize it as a retail. Oh you mean 00:27:53.900 --> 00:27:59.826 uptown plaza? Yes, so uptown Plaza about two years ago or so was 00:27:59.859 --> 00:28:03.947 completely redone and restored back to its original look and they got a 00:28:03.980 --> 00:28:08.217 whole new group of restaurants and other retailers in. I think they're 00:28:08.250 --> 00:28:12.127 trying to do the same thing here. So I'm really trying to bring it back to 00:28:12.160 --> 00:28:18.306 the way it was sort of in the sixties. Well maybe the layout is similar 00:28:18.339 --> 00:28:23.127 but they've also expanded of Town Plaza and there's a lot a lot of 00:28:23.160 --> 00:28:29.046 restaurants and there's still some stores that are empty because the rents 00:28:29.079 --> 00:28:33.506 have gotten very very high and 00:28:33.539 --> 00:28:38.367 you know it's limited parking, you know Park Central, you had parking a 00:28:38.400 --> 00:28:43.097 lot of parking and then they had a second level of parking where they 00:28:43.130 --> 00:28:47.467 wanted the owners and employees to park. So there would be enough for the 00:28:47.500 --> 00:28:54.397 customers. But I don't know too much about uptown Plaza because we came, 00:28:54.430 --> 00:29:02.430 we were so involved. You know. Uh Yeah, I 00:29:03.339 --> 00:29:10.107 I don't know I thought that uptown Plaza was just like kind of an L. Shape. 00:29:10.140 --> 00:29:17.937 Yeah, but I think it's more than that now. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. They 00:29:17.970 --> 00:29:22.806 expanded in the back and stuff like that. 00:29:22.839 --> 00:29:27.246 I probably shouldn't be talking about them, but they also are probably 00:29:27.279 --> 00:29:32.226 seen some changes. A lot of changes because they have opened up to doing a 00:29:32.259 --> 00:29:40.259 lot of outside things that they never did before. Okay. Um Are there other 00:29:41.039 --> 00:29:45.996 sort of things we haven't talked about about Park Central or your store at 00:29:46.029 --> 00:29:51.907 Park Central that you'd like to mention? 00:29:51.940 --> 00:29:58.397 Yeah. Okay. Oh, I have understood that. No, I don't think I do understand 00:29:58.430 --> 00:30:02.947 the question. Just in terms of the conversation we've had so far, either 00:30:02.980 --> 00:30:06.697 Park Central Mall or your store specifically, are there things that we 00:30:06.730 --> 00:30:14.730 haven't talked about that we would like to mention? Oh um yes, I can't 00:30:16.880 --> 00:30:20.917 think of anything, you know, it was just it was a good ball, it was a good 00:30:20.950 --> 00:30:26.207 mall, very accessible. Um 00:30:26.240 --> 00:30:31.907 It was hard to go to parque Central and not find what you were looking for. 00:30:31.940 --> 00:30:37.226 Yeah, I mean, I feel that the people didn't have to go downtown and that 00:30:37.259 --> 00:30:42.157 is what happened because then they started to close. Youngtown folks 00:30:42.190 --> 00:30:46.516 Central took over. Do you think that's essentially what sort of led to the 00:30:46.549 --> 00:30:50.147 decline of parque Central is when the stores started to leave Park Central 00:30:50.180 --> 00:30:55.187 , then they didn't have as much. Well, I'm I'm sure there were, you know, 00:30:55.220 --> 00:31:00.407 changes, like I say, I didn't go back, but I'm sure a lot and then, you 00:31:00.440 --> 00:31:04.207 know, different things happen with individuals when their leases are up 00:31:04.240 --> 00:31:09.496 and they think that maybe it's time to say goodbye and I think that that 00:31:09.529 --> 00:31:14.907 was some of it. Um Yeah. All right, 00:31:14.940 --> 00:31:21.947 okay. Um well thank you so much. Oh my pleasure. I hope I answered some of 00:31:21.980 --> 00:31:25.917 your questions and I know that I I can only tell you that from what I told 00:31:25.950 --> 00:31:31.336 you that it was a great place and we were very fortunate that we not, we 00:31:31.369 --> 00:31:36.667 my husband made the decision to come here to phoenix and open park central 00:31:36.700 --> 00:31:40.986 and he and one of the owners ralph Birnbacher, which I'm sure you've heard 00:31:41.019 --> 00:31:48.016 the name. Um he had partners, but ralph would be the one in town. They got 00:31:48.049 --> 00:31:53.847 along well and respected each other and it was it was it was good, it was 00:31:53.880 --> 00:31:59.097 very good for us, you know um I know that she's aren't they done are you 00:31:59.130 --> 00:32:02.056 done with that? So I just have a couple of things to add because I was 00:32:02.089 --> 00:32:07.286 very involved with the business as well. But um so, but a cute story is I 00:32:07.319 --> 00:32:12.496 live when you said that it left in northern, you know that the end was 00:32:12.529 --> 00:32:17.647 northern. So I live At 15th Avenue in northern right in that area and 00:32:17.680 --> 00:32:22.066 there's a part called Butler Park and I walked my dog all the time and I 00:32:22.099 --> 00:32:27.066 was walking, you know, walk every day. So one time this lady finally says 00:32:27.099 --> 00:32:31.296 to me she goes I've been dying to ask you this for so long. She goes, are 00:32:31.329 --> 00:32:36.617 you a reamer? Because my mother and I look a lot alike and probably at 00:32:36.650 --> 00:32:41.796 that time I was on the same, I was the same age as my mother. Probably was 00:32:41.829 --> 00:32:47.367 , I said, I am and she said, I knew it. I kept telling my daughter your 00:32:47.400 --> 00:32:51.407 that's a rumor. That's a rumor. She says I used to shop in your store all 00:32:51.440 --> 00:32:55.397 the time and I recognized you. And I knew and I just didn't have the nerve 00:32:55.430 --> 00:33:02.187 to ask you. So All those years later, I mean, we've been closed since 1977 00:33:02.220 --> 00:33:08.147 or 78 at park central. And all I have to do is still get people. Yeah. The 00:33:08.180 --> 00:33:13.637 band that was sitting there, right that I was talking to. Um he said to me 00:33:13.670 --> 00:33:21.397 , I know, I know man said and I said who I was and then he said, I'm 00:33:21.430 --> 00:33:25.617 trying to think of your husband's name. And then his wife was talking to 00:33:25.650 --> 00:33:31.296 somebody probably interviewing like you have you know, whatever people, 00:33:31.329 --> 00:33:36.677 they will repeat customers. They will repeat people coming into them all. 00:33:36.710 --> 00:33:41.687 It was just a gathering community. It was a community. Yeah. It was a 00:33:41.720 --> 00:33:46.097 gathering. It was a gathering place. I mean it was great. Let me tell you 00:33:46.130 --> 00:33:52.107 is this recorded. I hope, Oh it is okay. Even the owners didn't expect it 00:33:52.140 --> 00:33:59.526 to be what it turned out to be. They were like in shock. That's my opinion. 00:33:59.559 --> 00:34:03.957 And I was young, I was 30 years old. And when you ask about the events 00:34:03.990 --> 00:34:08.586 that went on, so I was little, you know, at the time when we moved here, I 00:34:08.619 --> 00:34:15.597 was five. So El Rancho was the market here and so I remember they had 00:34:15.630 --> 00:34:21.247 easter egg hunts where they closed the grocery store and all these kids 00:34:21.280 --> 00:34:25.727 came to the easter egg hunt. Do you remember that? And they gave at 00:34:25.760 --> 00:34:30.356 christmas time they gave, they had our easter maybe it was, they had the 00:34:30.389 --> 00:34:35.577 easter bunny giving away rabbits. And my brother Ben angled a rabbit for 00:34:35.610 --> 00:34:38.307 us. 00:34:38.340 --> 00:34:43.046 So they had a lot of promotional things that went on in the mall. My mom 00:34:43.079 --> 00:34:46.606 stayed in the store, we roam them all because you could do that when you 00:34:46.639 --> 00:34:53.046 were kids back then and so on. And we went, we were at the mall a lot 00:34:53.079 --> 00:34:56.617 because if we didn't have a babysitter or something like that. Well if 00:34:56.650 --> 00:35:01.106 they had to shop they could go into the stores. I mean it was that kind of 00:35:01.139 --> 00:35:06.637 the thing that they could go into diamonds especially and try clothes on 00:35:06.670 --> 00:35:11.186 and put them tell the girl who they were and tell them that your mother 00:35:11.219 --> 00:35:15.887 will come up and look at him and today the kids have the charge cards and 00:35:15.920 --> 00:35:21.146 they just, they don't meet the mothers and um they would and I would go up 00:35:21.179 --> 00:35:26.807 with them and then try the dresses on, they tried them on and then I would 00:35:26.840 --> 00:35:31.856 pick what I thought was proper and the price was right and identify, yeah 00:35:31.889 --> 00:35:38.796 it was good times it so it was it was a good life. Great wonderful lucky 00:35:38.829 --> 00:35:43.907 right corner, right place. And let me tell you that's a good part of life. 00:35:43.940 --> 00:35:48.157 You don't have to be overly smart but you have to be it just has to be 00:35:48.190 --> 00:35:53.557 the right timing and for us it was and we appreciated it and made the best 00:35:53.590 --> 00:36:00.559 of it and it worked out so great thank you. Thank you.