"You've got it all in one place. This is becoming more and more important for lots of reasons, not the least of which is rising energy prices," McMahon said. "These are places that attract people's affection - places they like to be. How many people do you know who go to strip malls and hang out? Almost nobody. Skateboarders maybe."
The retail landscape was very different in 1958, when the suburbs were booming, thanks in large part to young, car-owning families. When the $10 million Harundale Mall opened, newspapers crowed about stores that were "seconds apart" and air-conditioned, temperature-controlled sidewalks.
"The stores if in a straight line would stretch for one-half mile," according to a Sun article. "Even the trash cans are to be 'gay and colorful.' "
The mall sported burbling fountains, tropical plants and lockers for heavy coats. People would travel from far away to marvel over stores' sliding glass fronts, eat at the sunken Italian restaurant and shop at Read's drugstore, Food Fair, Da-Mar shoes and S.S. Kresge - names that now tend to elicit nostalgic sighs.
Linda Simons, 56, grew up in Glen Burnie and has fond memories of the hot fudge sundaes Read's drugstore served at its soda fountain. On their regular treks from Locust Point, Mary Siemer, 62, and her aunt almost always stopped at the Italian restaurant at the center of the mall. Shoppers of yore all seem to have a favorite memory: the decorations at Christmas time, the shoestore that always had what they wanted, the local bands that sometimes played.
"We all loved the Harundale Mall," Middlebrooks said.
The mall sent nearby downtown Glen Burnie into a tailspin, but before too long, the once-revolutionary center was itself eclipsed by big-box stores and larger, glitzier malls. Marley Station delivered a particularly harsh blow when it opened a mile down Ritchie Highway in the late 1980s.
Traffic began to drop off, stores left and people complained that the once-glorious mall was shabby and antiquated. Rouse sold the project, which reopened after an unceremonious razing and a $20 million conversion, in 1999.
These days, the plaza - owned by the Cleveland-based Developers Diversified - has 18 tenants, including a Super Fresh grocery store, A.J. Wright, Hollywood Tans and a post office. A Burlington Coat Factory is set to replace Value City, which recently closed.
