by Miranda Flores

Bright lights, dozens of different aromas, and chatter all around. From the early 80s to the late 90s, malls were the place to hang out with friends. From grabbing a bite to eat to shopping for clothes and electronics, the mall was the place to go.

With the rise of online shopping and social media, the need for in-person shopping drastically declined, along with the popularity of malls. This raises the question: Are malls still popular?

Saturday is the busiest day for Mall St. Matthews in St. Matthews, Kentucky. With over 150 different stores, it is no wonder so many people want to visit. 

The smell was the first thing that hit me after walking through the automatic sliding doors leading straight to the food court. My boyfriend, two friends, and I arrived around 11:30 a.m., only 30 minutes after the store opened. I was surprised to see that there were already dozens of people there sitting down and enjoying their food. 

Looking around I was drawn in by the free samples the employees were passing out. I only tried two samples before I knew what I wanted to eat. The large portion of sweet and tangy orange chicken and the vegetable lo mein from Chinese Gourmet Express was delicious. It was hot and fresh and it only took about two minutes for my order to be completed, including the time it took for me to be rang up and checked out. The staff was also very nice and the food was cheap. There were many places to sit in the food court and it was spotless. 

After we finished eating we visited numerous stores. The St. Matthews Mall has a wide variety of stores and all kinds of merchandise. They even have places that can fix your watches, jewelry, and even your phone all while you shop. We went to the smaller stores, which surprised me with the amount of stuff they were able to keep inside. 

Each store we went into had clothes and toys all up and down the walls. I had trouble getting things down because they were just out of reach, so I had to have my boyfriend hand me the clothes that I wanted. This was a bit bothersome, but it is something that I have to deal with in most stores. Some of the stores were so small that they felt very cramped and packed in, especially some of the more popular ones. 

Walking through the mall itself it was wide and open with enough room for everyone to spread out and walk around. Surprisingly the lights weren’t blinding and they had a few large skylights instead. The St. Matthews Mall has a lot of interactive areas for all ages such as a large lifesize chess board with moveable pieces built into the floor and the indoor water fountain where people toss coins into. There are even designated areas for children and tots to run around and play. The mall has both stairs and ramps for easier access for families with strollers and wheelchairs.

One main issue that I had was the bathrooms being hard to find and they were extremely smelly. Large signs were hanging from the wall that said “restroom,” but they were hidden behind other shop signs, and the restroom itself was down a very dim and hardly lit hallway. I was scared that I was in an “employee’s only” area, but then I stumbled across the restrooms. When I opened the restroom door an intense odor of urine hit me and it was so bad that I was turned away from the bathroom altogether. 

Luckily there were multiple other restrooms around that were much cleaner without any bad odors. A good thing about the restrooms is that they have a family room along with other full restrooms that also allow for more accessibility.

Around 3 p.m. more people had shown up and it was getting hectic, so we headed back to the food court for one last time. There, an employee from King Gyros, a Greek restaurant, was passing out samples of their lamb. Once again we fell in love with the sample and decided to get it to go. My boyfriend and I chose to get the lamb platter to share, which came with rice and a creamy tzatziki sauce smothered over the top. The to-go box was heavy from the amount of food they packed into it and we left very satisfied.

The overall experience of visiting Mall St. Matthews left me wanting more. I loved the food, the clothes, and the experience, which is why I have no doubt the store is so popular. I am eager to return and visit the other stores I have yet to see and I highly recommend going out and visiting for yourself.