6 Forgotten Mall Stores From the 1990s You Used to Love

Do you remember when the mall was the place to hang out? Before online shopping, the mall was the most convenient place to find a variety of items. You could get the latest clothes, books, toys, electronics, home goods, and so much more, all in one location. It was also a place for teens to spend their weekends, allowing them a taste of independence.

With corporations like Amazon and Walmart taking over the market, many other companies began to follow suit and closed their brick-and-mortar stores. Then, the COVID pandemic drove the final nail into the coffin, cutting off the mall experience and replacing it with websites. The popular stores of the '90s, which had been part of the peak of mall shopping, had now become faded memories.

Here are six mall stores that you loved but have probably forgotten about.

1. Sam Goody
2. Waldenbooks
3. Disney Store
4. Wet Seal
5. KB Toys
6. Radio Shack

Sam Goody

The Sam Goody store had technically been around for decades before the '90s, with the first location opening in 1951. By the late '80s and early '90s, Sam Goody had reached a peak of about 800 mall stores and generated approximately $2 million in sales.

Sam Goody started as a place to buy and sell used records and grew with the changes in physical media. It was one of the best places to get cassette tapes, CDs, and even movies and video games, as it branched out into other types of entertainment. With the advent of digital music and streaming, though, came Sam Goody's downfall. Only two stores remained by 2018, and both those locations closed by early 2025.

Waldenbooks

Before Borders, Barnes & Noble, or Amazon came on the scene, Waldenbooks was the most popular bookstore around. The company began during the Great Depression and built its legacy over the years. It was unique in that it offered such a wide range of books for the time, and it jumped on the trend of low-cost paperbacks before there was much competition.

Waldenbooks was bought by Kmart in 1984 and was merged with Borders in 1994. The company had struggled to keep up with their competition, and by 2004, had been completely converted to Borders bookstores. Borders only lasted until 2011, so any existing piece of Waldenbooks within Borders disappeared then, too.

Disney Store

The Disney Store was truly magical for a '90s kid, especially one who didn't get to visit the Disney Parks. It was created to be more than just a shop; it was a new way of shopping called "retail-tainment." Through the experiences Disney provided in their stores, it gave a little piece of "the happiest place on Earth" to kids around the world.

From its first mall location in Glendale, California, in 1987, to 1997, the Disney Store grew to nearly 750 stores in malls across the globe. But Disney overbuilt and had to close surplus locations in the early 2000s. In the 2010s, Disney shut down even more stores, shifting to online retail. Though there are still flagship Disney Stores and those inside Target, the magic and wonder have dwindled to just 21 locations in the US.

Wet Seal

Wet Seal was one of the best places to go shopping as a teenage girl. Cute, inexpensive clothes and pop music playing made this store a must during trips to the mall. But while the clothes were super popular in the '90s and early 2000s, Wet Seal began to lose traction as trends changed.

In 2015, after losing out to competition from stores like Forever 21 and H&M, Wet Seal filed for bankruptcy. When no one would invest to save the company, Wet Seal had to close all of its physical stores in 2017. There was still a website at the time, but that became inactive in 2023. So, Wet Seal seems to be truly finished.

KB Toys

Going into a KB Toys store always felt crowded. They packed as many shelves into the store as possible, and every shelf was filled with all kinds of toys. It was so alluring for a '90s kid! The 1990s were KB Toys' best era, as sales for 1996 reached $1.1 billion, which was second only to F.A.O. Schwarz.

During the 2000s, however, KB Toys dealt with stiff competition from Toys 'R Us and had to file for bankruptcy in 2004. When the 2008 recession hit, KB Toys had to file for bankruptcy again, this time closing all of its stores after poor holiday profits.

Radio Shack

Radio Shack, or RadioShack after 1995, was once the best place to go for electronics. The staff was actually knowledgeable about the products they sold, and you could get devices that were difficult to find in big-box stores at the time. It was also the place to take your phone, radio, or computer if it needed fixing because Geek Squad was still in its infancy.

RadioShack shifted to mainly selling home and cellular phones in the '90s and 2000s, but struggled with competition from online companies like Amazon and eBay. It also overbuilt physical stores, having 25 stores in one city and seven stores within a five-mile radius. In 2015, RadioShack declared bankruptcy and closed all its stores, but in 2023 it made a comeback as an online-only retail.

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