Gracie the boxer loved the Steeplegate Mall.
Along with her owner, Debra Samaha of Concord, the two enjoyed their walks through its wide corridors, as recently as five years ago.
The mall extended a helping hand then, allowing this duo to exercise in warmth during the cold months. Samaha greeted old friends and made new ones. Gracie and other dogs did as well. And Gracie got in her workouts as she trained to become a therapy dog.
“She loved it,” Samaha said. “They had places where you could sit down and rest, and the elderly would come over and wanted to pet her. It was a therapeutic place to go, because someone always needed a little extra loving.”
Lots of memories are attached to the Steeplegate Mall, and we’ve documented a few here. The Monitor asked readers to send us their fond memories from years ago as the mall nears a precipice, with just a handful of tenants left.
Samaha illustrates the wide appeal attached to Steeplegate – and all malls, in fact, before the internet introduced a new, easier way to shop – click, pay and wait for the package to arrive. Little kids liked it, as did bigger kids, pre-teens, adults, seniors.
Malls were in, cool, fun, adventurous, convenient. Your age guided your enthusiasm. My favorite part of the mall in later years became the idea of one-stop shopping for holiday procrastinators. The mall was an insurance policy for people like me.
Now, though, the 480,000-square-foot facility looks more appropriate for tumbleweeds rolling through a ghost town than stores at a mall. Three of the four anchor stores at the Steeplegate are now unoccupied.
In total, five businesses that once occupied the mall’s interior space with a maximum capacity of 60 stores were told to relocate. Six others have exterior doors and permission to stay in business.
The mall’s owners say something new and exciting will happen there soon. Some think it might be the end for the mall; others aren’t so sure.
Samaha, 66, has been living in Concord for 47 years. She remembers when the location of the Common Man Restaurant was Howard Johnson’s Ice Cream.
She remembers when the Steeplegate management allowed Gracie to accompany Samaha to the mall. She said it’s been only recently that the new management forbade her from bringing Gracie inside.
Before that, though, the Steeplegate was “a great place for a dog or children, and older people could sit down and talk,” according to Samaha. “My husband had a medical problem, so this was perfect for him to walk: well-lit, safe, level. It was always so welcoming.”
Joanne Casino took her daughter to the Steeplegate before the stores and the buzz had left.
She retired in 2018, giving her the opportunity to spend more time with her 1-year-old grandson, Leon, although she wasn’t sure where to go on their first play date.
“It was a cold day, and I thought, ‘What am I going to do with him?’ ” Casino said. “The mall had already begun to look fairly empty by then.”
In the end, that hardly mattered. Casino took full advantage of the wide-open spaces, giving Leon a chance to refine and stabilize his newly-found mode of transportation: walking.
Here’s a look at five more individuals who emailed us with their memories.
“We used to have a cart in the food court area right outside Lane Bryants,” Janice-Ann Sinclair said. “I remember going in Thanksgiving night and decorating the cart and getting things ready for Black Friday. There used to be so many nice stores.”
“Rock ‘n Skeeball at Quarters Arcade was peak Steeplegate, and I still have the scar on my finger from taking an air-hockey puck to the knuckle,” Nikkiana Henninfger said. “Good times, right Matt Wheeler?”
“When my children were little we would go there in the winter as a warm place to walk and hangout. There was a Mrs. Field’s Cookie place and lots of food in the food court,” Patricia Marie Edwards said. “When my kids were older, my daughter’s Girl Scout Troop did a few fashion shows with one of the women’s clothing stores there and had a great time.”
“I remember going to the Grand Opening. They gave us a Steeplegate tote bag,” Amy Bergquist said.
“I got a job at the Sears store when it moved from Main Street. We trained in the store before it opened. The mall seemed beautiful. Steinbach moved from Storrs Street. The food court was full. It never lived up to its potential. Too far off the highways, I think. Hard to find,” said Patricia Snyder.
Here are some options readers emailed us to replace the mall:
Food: Chick-fil-A; Steak and Shake; Arby’s; Krispy Kreme; Cheesecake Factory; Golden Corral; Popeyes; a pizza place; a burger joint.Fun
Fun: Amusement park; pet store; bridal shop; travel company; ‘real’ bakery; Christmas Tree Shop; Dave and Buster’s; roller rink; movie theater; childcare center; downtown mall with car-free streets; learning center for individuals using crutches, walking boots, or wheelchairs; and, of course, a Dunkin’ Donuts, which exited the mall a few years ago and came to symbolize the fact that no one – not even the giant corporations – would stick around without foot traffic.