Metrocenter Mall closes
Metrocenter, the mall that opened in 1973 at Peoria and Interstate 17 and was once the spot for West Valley teenagers to gather and socialize, shut its doors for good on Tuesday, a victim of reduced business exacerbated by the new coronavirus pandemic.
It has been the site of countless shopping trips, first dates, movies and even a place to learn to ice skate in the desert. For thousands of West Valley teenagers, Metrocenter Mall was the spot in Phoenix to gather and socialize.
The mall opened in October 1973 and shut its doors for good on Tuesday, a victim of reduced business exacerbated by the new coronavirus pandemic.
Many of those former teens gathered Tuesday night for one last cruise around the Metrocenter parking lot near Peoria Avenue and Interstate 17. The idea was to see old friends, reminisce and say goodbye to a place that meant so much to them.
Tracy Smith grew up near 23rd Avenue and Cactus Road, not too far from
the mall. She has memories of shopping trips — she bought her first pair of high heels there — movies and cruising the parking lot on weekend evenings.
“Growing up around here, there wasn’t a lot to do,” Smith said Monday. “But we would go to Metrocenter and take a lap around the parking lot. We knew it was the place to meet.”
When she heard the mall was closing, she put a post on Facebook suggesting that she and her friends cruise the lot on Tuesday. One friend suggested she make a public group to spread the word among others who had similar memories of Metrocenter.
“Within an hour, it grew to about 1,000 (people),” Smith said. “It went like wildfire. It floored me how many people responded.”
The group continued to grow. People posted in hopes of connecting with old friends and classmates. Some shared photos of the mall back in the day or photos of the cars they drove at that time.
Many of the group’s members also gathered at the mall for a cruise-in on Saturday night.
Tuesday’s cruise-in originally had been planned for later in the evening, but Smith said the mall management asked if the gathering could begin at 6 p.m. so the cruisers could be included in a final aerial photograph of Metrocenter.
Toward the end of the evening, the cruisers planned to pull over to give police a chance to take a lap around the parking lot.
The mall is closing because shoppers hadn’t been turning out like they used to; the recent shutdowns due to the COVID-19 outbreak sealed its fate. It’s uncertain what will happen to the property.
Metrocenter will always hold a place in the hearts of Valley residents like Smith who came of age in the 1970s, ’80s and ’90s.
“We haven’t (cruised) in years, life changes, you move on,” Smith said. “But with Metrocenter closing, we had to go one last time.”