Phones used to be attached to walls with cords. Movies used to need to be rewound and returned to a rental store. The common hangout place used to be malls, but that era has now passed, too. There's a video showing one final walk through a Missouri mall that was demolished 14 years ago.

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The Bannister Mall used to be a thriving collection of stores in the Kansas City, Missouri area back in the 1980's. I saw a YouTuber share a video of memories which included this backstory on their video description:

I was looking through my old hard drive and came across the rest of the images and video footage I had taken on our last visit to Bannister Mall in South Kansas City, Missouri. We had taken one last trip to reminisce before it was closed two weeks later on May 31, 2007, and then subsequently demolished two years later in 2009.

This was the iconic 1980's mall viewpoint from the top level of the Bannister Mall where many friends would gather for shopping adventures.

SharonfromMissouri via YouTube
SharonfromMissouri via YouTube
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This 2007 stroll through what was left of the Bannister Mall in Missouri showed the many already-vacant stores.

SharonfromMissouri via YouTube
SharonfromMissouri via YouTube
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Faint hints of former stores like Dillards remained here.

SharonfromMissouri via YouTube
SharonfromMissouri via YouTube
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Contrast that with video showing what these malls were like in the 1980's. Love the hair.

Wikipedia says that the Bannister Mall opened in Kansas City on August 6, 1980. The end actually began for the Bannister Mall back in 2000 when JC Penny closed. Dillards would soon follow in 2002 and Sears not long after that.

It was demolished early in 2009 with plans for a stadium to be built. That fell through and now this is all that remains on the grounds of the old Bannister Mall.

Google Maps Street View
Google Maps Street View
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The era of malls flourishing are mostly gone now, but thanks to video shares like the one by Sharon above, we'll at least have the memories of the fun hangout places they used to be.

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Gallery Credit: JD Knight

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