Bland Boring & Beyond
February 23rd, 2007
This Bed Bath and Beyond used to be the Marshall’s Mall. I forget if that was the official name of it, but that’s what we called it.
In the late 90’s it was turned into the BB&B that it is today. It’s an ok store, I don’t really have anything against it besides the fact that it’s there instead of the mall. It’s kind of an overkill too. Since when did we need a store the size of a small mall for bed and bath products?  Ok, I know it’s goes “beyond” to kitchen stuff but still, it just seems like there should be room to share the space with some other shops.ÂÂ
Although I didn’t have the foresight to take pictures when it was there, I’ve wasted about a half hour on the computer creating what I remember the mall looking like (and this was the best I could do):
 The Marshall’s Mall was great because it was small enough that it wasn’t super hectic, parking was easy and was it well lit (I think they had sky lights). Plus it had a nice variety of stores. Along with Marshalls, some of the tenants were a card store, shoe shop, hit or miss and Bop City comics had lived there for a while at one point too.
Even though I never made it into either of these, I distinctly remember the Pewter Pot restaurant and the Big and Tall men’s store that got street exposure. I also remember in the late 70’s/early 80’s there was some sort of health food cart in the middle of the mall and they had soft serve frozen yogurt. My mom asked me if I wanted some and I said ok because it was in a cone and looked just like ice cream but this was before frozen yogurt tasted like it does today. I took one lick and was disgusted/shocked that it was so sour. That turned me off of health food for a while.
It’s too bad a lot of the small malls have been turned into mega-stores, it’s nice to have a little variety.ÂÂ
I used to love the frozen yogurt and would beg my mother to buy me some just about everytime we went to that mall.
Wasn’t there a store called Popcorn in that mall also? I think it was a music store.
I also remember a hair salon. But most of all I fondly remember the chocolate chip muffins from The Pewter Pot!
Comment by Jennifer — February 23, 2007 @ 6:53 pm
For some reason I don’t remember the Pewter Pot at all. Was it there until the mall was torn down? I of course remember Marshalls, Payless Shoes, Bop City Comics, the Hallmark Store; but no Pewter Pot.
Comment by Michael — February 23, 2007 @ 9:46 pm
I also remember a lingerie store and a great jewelry store in that mall.
Comment by Laraine — February 24, 2007 @ 12:17 am
BB&B is the suck. Their selection is not that great and their “customer service” is wretched
Comment by Homer — February 24, 2007 @ 2:48 am
I used to love that mall and other smaller malls like that. I get overwhelmed by these huge power malls that we have now. Wasn’t there also a shoe store, maybe Payless, in the mall? I really can’t stand Bed, Bath, and Beyond now that they’ve added the health and beauty aid section. It’s taking over the store. Frankly, I don’t know how they survive. It’s usually pretty dead over there for such a large store.
Comment by Karen — February 24, 2007 @ 12:59 pm
That was a great mall. There was definitely a hair salon in there — my mom used to work there! And the record store (was it a Strawberries? I can’t remember) sold 45s for 99 cents. Funny that a song on iTune is still 99 cents, over 25 years later. Although, I guess with a 45 you get two songs, and with iTunes just one. That Pizzeria Uno (although they have now changed their name to simply Uno) has been there for a long time, too, at least since 1984 and probably before then. I was inside a few years ago, and at the time it hadn’t changed at all since 1984.
Comment by Kim — February 25, 2007 @ 4:54 am
I used to go to Bop City Comics when I was in middle school. I haven’t thought about it in AGES!
Comment by eileen — February 27, 2007 @ 2:19 pm
the record store was called Popcorn. It had been in the Lechmere mall previously, then they expanded into the Marshall’s space. They had great imports and hard-to-find stuff; this was before Newbury Comics existed (or at least the suburban ones). Strawberries was close by though, I can’t remember if it was where Uno’s is now. Which is where Giovanni’s was when I was a kid.
Comment by Jeff — February 27, 2007 @ 8:12 pm
I know the Pewter Pot was there as late as the summer of ‘81 because that was the one and only time I ate there.
Also, there was a health food/supplement place across the way from Popcorn records.
That’s all I got.
Comment by dango — April 15, 2007 @ 6:48 pm
The pewter pot was on the right side.
Bop City is still around, now it is Bedrock on Rte 9. Same crew running it.
The wife of the owner of Giovanni’s used to babysit me when I was a kid. She used to cook up a storm while my parents were gone, I got my love of Italian cooking from that woman.
Comment by Jeremy — January 16, 2008 @ 7:39 pm