35mm Slide transparency, 1984
In the 1970s, the Wausau area was feeling the changes in shopping habits and expectations of shoppers. To provide a center for local shoppers, and also attract shoppers to downtown Wausau, the Wausau Center Mall was built in 1983.
The Sidewalk Sale
In 1969, the Downtown Businessmen’s Association of Wausau held the first “sidewalk sale” as a means of promoting shopping in town. The DBA often resorted to special events as stunts to bring novelty and thrifty shopping. They worked with the city to offer free parking days. They closed streets to create temporary pedestrian malls to connect the downtown businesses.
The sidewalk sale was an idea that was occasionally used here and there over the years by individual businesses. But this new effort coordinated across local stores would be a successful stunt that encouraged people to come out and do shopping, with special sales on merchandise that was brought out to the sidewalks in front of the stores.
The success of this first venture in 1969, led to it becoming an annual tradition in Wausau. But the popular sale could only do so much to address the difficulties of local merchants in the 1970s. As shoppers increasingly
The Wausau Center Mall
The trends of American shoppers had been changing since the 1950s. There were many reasons for this change, but the increasing use of personal automobiles to get around created new challenges to communities. Some department stores decided to relocate from the downtown streets for more room for customer parking and away from the congestion.
At the same time, new highways being built in the 1950s and 1960s allowed those driving through Wausau to bypass local streets (as they had to do before). And while this helped with less automobiles clogging the streets, it was necessary to
In the 1970s, the Wausau area was feeling the changes in shopping habits and expectations of shoppers. To provide a center for local shoppers, and also attract shoppers to downtown Wausau, the Wausau Center Mall was built in 1983.
[placeholder for an image, or ideally a slideshow of images from the mall during the 1980s]
WCM Events and Area Participation
From the time it opened in 1983 (until it was closed and torn down in the 2020s) Wausau Center Mall has been an important part of the community. The enclosed mall did not just provide the infrastructure to convince department stores like Sears and J.C. Penny’s to stay in downtown Wausau instead of moving to surrounding communities like Schofield or Rib Mountain (and the room for larger stores and free parking lots).
But the Wausau Center Mall was itself a business that existed to provide a reason for shoppers to patronize the stores in the mall. The mall advertised itself and coordinated special events to bring people into the mall itself. From annual Christmas decorations and a chance to meet Santa Claus, to putting on fashion shows and other events.
Both the Wausau Center Mall and the businesses that were in it, also took part in broader events such as the sidewalk sales that continued through the rest of the twentieth century.
35mm Slide Transparencies
One of the most iconic and popular photographic formats in the 20th century was the slide transparency. The popularity of