Jackson Jambalaya

Nice. More of this please!

Thanks for posting this. Really sad. But the part at 1:50 is classic, I laughed out loud.

As the saying goes, all good things must come to an end. As a kid growing up in south Jackson during the 70's and 80's, I spent a many an hour and dollar at the Metrocenter.

Sad..
Sad for the city too.
Big tax loss for the city.

I remember a movie theater behind MMettrroocceennter..

So many memories. (Sad face emoji)

That was pretty cool. Facility is in surprisingly good shape for being built in 1978. Wonder if they tear it down?

Many of us who lived in the Delta viewed this place as a destination trip. We loaded up the kids and headed to this venue to shop for everything we thought we needed. At least a quarterly adventure.

And if our kids sports teams required a trip to the Metro to play, we couldn't wait for a few hours 'time off' to head to this mall to shop and just look around.

I guess it's at this point where the faithful will say, "Shit Happens"....

I remember a movie theater behind MMettrroocceennter..

I took my kids in there when it was well into decline and I didn't know how bad it had gotten. Patrons had taken to urinating on the carpet inside the theater and the odor was awful. Told mine we wouldn't ever go back.

Grew up in North Mississippi in the 70s and early 80s. Apart from the fun in driving into Jackson on I-55 on the "bouncy roads", the best part of coming to Jackson was going to MetroCenter and going to the Arcade, Spencers, etc. while finally getting away from the parents for a few hours (and being safe). Lots of fun. Sad that my child doesn't get to have that same experience.

Breaks my heart...suppose I’m part of the problem though according to the Jackson crowd. I left Clinton for Madison 17 years ago.

The good old days. I remember riding my bike to Toys R Us and K-Mart to purchase TMNT action figure with my allowance. I saw the Lion King at the theater that closed long ago. I remembered that my dad would drop us off with $20 each while he went to work overtime (bad parenting), and that was enough to get something to eat then spend the rest at Diamond Jim’s. Even though I didn’t have the funds to make purchases from department stores, I did not cause trouble like the youth that loiter at North Park nowadays.

My last trip to the Metro Center was a negative experience, and it involved an aspiring parking lot salesman trying to pass off knock off iPads. At the time I told him that I don’t carry cash on person, and he proceeded to display a manual credit card imprinted and carbon paper. Unbelievable.

I thought Metrocenter was the best thing ever back in the 80’s. I went all the time if nothing else just to walk around and feel the energy and excitement. It had to be one America’s great malls. Hard to believe how time has passed.

All is not lost. The Metro Center building will soon be repurposed as the Kush Nation’s government headquarters. News will be announced next week for this radical idea in the City with Soul.

@5:41,
I also left Clinton last year. My son was in 98th grade. The school has really changed alot. Fights breaking out left and right at Clinton schools. It's much like Forest hill in its decline. It happened swiftly. In Madison now. Sad to say Clinton public schools are in major decline and I hated leaving. I just couldn't afford a private school so I had to move.

8:34. My kids are in Clinton schools. The only part of your post that’s true is 98th grade.

If you couldn’t afford a private school, no way you could afford a house in Madison.

I wish Clinton and Jackson would do better with their schools. Everyone moving to Madison is ruining it. It sure isn’t the nice place it was in the 80’s. Too much trash has moved in.

I remember talking my grandparents in to buying me a pair of parachute pants at the Merry Go Round in Metrocenter.

How is that for a throwback?

"Patrons had taken to urinating on the carpet inside the theater.... "

In Jackson?!? I am shocked, shocked, shocked.......
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"If you couldn’t afford a private school, no way you could afford a house in Madison."

BS. Houses are more expensive in Madison that some towns but graduates of Madison Central have gone on to first rate colleges (i.e., outside Mississippi).

Speaking of the old movie theater at the Metro, I went to see Return of the Jedi there on the day that it opened in theaters back in 1983.

Saw Rocky Horror there... As I remember the theater drapes were set on fire and somebody put a chair thru the glass in the lobby.... ♬ Memories... ♬

This video could've been done in 3 minutes.
Here's the synopsis: It was nice. It failed. It's vacant. Carry on.

12:57...Actually, 'it' did not fail. It succeeded for decades and was a profit maker for at least a hundred businesses. The place eventually fell fallow and dropped into the ditch of whatever always claims businesses where the surrounding population doesn't work.

I suppose Sears was destined to eventually go belly-up on a national basis (since they DID), so we can't blame that on Jackson. But the hundred other stores inside that mall and on its perimeter had no reason to fail other than the dregs of society that surround the place.

Again....consider common denominators.

What's the deal with that one men's clothing store remaining open? How weird is that??

Ah, fond memories of the "good ol' days". Despite what some here obviously think about this happening solely because it is in Jackson and associated demographics, this is a nation wide trend. Time magazine had a good article about it a little over a year ago.

Just lucky they didnt get robbed by the security guard...times are tough...just goes to show that palm trees can still live innthe desert.