Today was one of the more miserable weather days of the year so I decided to do some local shopping instead of driving around in the rain and battling the mobs at the local malls. As you already know I have this interest in seeing small businesses in this country get ahead. I would love to see more people shopping at our local Mom & Pop stores rather than send all of our money to Wal-Mart which then goes directly on to China.
Hence, Today I passed a Wal-Mart. I still refuse to go in!
I went to Shoppers Village instead. THE Shoppers Village. West Hempstead, Long Island. Do I need to do a presentation? 😉 Lot’s of small business owners under one roof. It’s the Shoppers Village I grew up with. The Shoppers Village open from 1981-95. I was in the fifth grade when it first opened. Now most of the kids who originally hung out and shopped there are long gone. Most to the Carolina’s, I think. Some maybe to New Jersey. New York got to0 expensive.
I was somewhat disappointed to find Shoppers Village without the same bustling traffic of the local Wal-Mart but I love what they’ve done with the place! Exactly the way I remember it!
I went a little nostalgic today. After this post I’m going to watch “It’s a Wonderful Life”.
Upon walking into Shoppers Village I was bought back to a time in my teenage years where there was no Internet. You know what I mean! Yes the Internet was way too young back in 1995 to be in widespread use. Today, it’s in your pocket. I felt like Michael J Fox in “Back to the Future” only this time I’m stuck in 1985 trying to get back to 2009. I could imagine myself a teenager again only this time I’m now a blogger with an iPhone. So even though I have just stepped back in time, what am I doing….
- I’m trying to find a WiFi connection. No such luck.
- I’m attempting to look up the Shopper’s Village YouTube Channel. There is none.
- There’s no Mac Store. OK, seriously I didn’t expect one. Steve Jobs wouldn’t allow a Mac store in a flea market anyway. What about a Microsoft store? AT&T store? At least then I could purchase iPhone accessories.
- I take a picture of the live band playing and “Tweet” it. Over 150 people view it within 5 minutes.
- I search my Tweetie app to see if I can locate other users within range. No luck.
- I search twitter for the term “Shoppers Village”. No one has tweeted from here… ever. I might be the first.
- I use my “Redlaser” app to verify Shoppers Village has lower prices than the internet. They actually do.
- I add “Shoppers Village” to FourSquare, earn 11 pts. +5 for adding the venue. Now others on Foursquare can find it too.
- Check email. It works; over the 3g network.
- Shoot a few pictures for this blog posting.
Bottom Line: Shoppers Village is like having a long gone Grandpa come back to life, only Grandpa comes back still very old which means he might not last too long anyway. I want Grandpa in his prime. That being said, great website at www.shoppersvillage2.com. After a few clicks I found their facebook fan page but, as I was recently informed by a young friend of mine, facebook is for old people. I guess I’m old because I still use Facebook. 😛
I hope everyone makes a visit to Shoppers Village this Holiday Season and not just for nostalgia. The new generation will need something more to get them coming. Nostalgia alone will not work. Maybe they’ll find my tweet on twitter. Maybe someone will stumble across “Shoppers Village” on Foursquare. How times have changed.
Now stop spending your money at Wal-Mart! It all goes to China!
Quick update: Shoppers Village closed yet again after Christmas 2009. Probably won’t ever be back again. Good memories.
[Recovered from Wayback Machine on 2026-05-10] Original: http://daviddaniels.com/2009/12/shoppers-village-its-back-but-for-how-long/ · view snapshot