Shepard Mall is not a Mall anymore !!

[sherrid1970]

his name was George, we called him Cowboy. He thought he was mall security and the mall let him think that..........wow, how times has changed...... now they would just cart him away. he lived with his parents and they dropped him off every morning for "work". now.......question for you....my husband and I were up talking 80's for hours and got stuck on this........ we're missing a store..... Mccrory's.....then footlocker, Oak tree.....a few in between then ?????..... it was a teenish cool clothing store really similar to Oak tree........ anyone know the name???

[Achilleslastand]

I can picture the store but the name escapes me.......

[capt_john_97]

Okay am I crazy? Didnt Bob Tayar have a Bonaparte's in there early 70's maybe. I loved going to "The Hobby Shop" After they closed I went to Game Shop at Northpark then on 23rd and Meridian. I used to date a girl that worked in the JC Penney's at Shepard Mall. When I made it back from Desert Storm she was there and that was my first stop!

[bluedogok]

There was a Bonaparte's in there that I remember.

[capt_john_97]

yay!! I'm not crazy!!

[Prunepicker]

Bonaparte's was at the west entrance of the mall.

[Willb]

I think it was in '69 or '70, when I was little, we used to go out there and look around. If my sister and I behaved ourselves, we'd get to go to the ice cream store, near the restrooms and mall offices.
I took my wife out there a few years ago, to look around at the place (she had never been there), and she needed to use restoom. While I was waiting for her, another lady came out, and I said: "Well, I guess I'm about 30 years too late for an ice cream, huh?"

[Prunepicker]

There was a Bonaparte's in there that I remember.

The real (LOL) Bonaparte's was on 39th Expressway. It was part of
my Friday night cruise. It was on par with the Charcoal Oven.

[rezman]

""On a more somber note, I remember the OCU student who commited suicide sometime in the early 70s by driving his car at high speed across the parking lots from Sears straight into Mr. Buck's. They put up planters after that to prevent it from happening again.[/QUOTE]""


I remember that as well. It was actually on the west side of the mall. The person was driving a Mustang and came in on Villa side of the Mall and hit the wall.

[MWCGuy]

Shepard will always have special memories for me. That was the first time I remember seeing Santa Christmas 1981. I asked for a Tyco Train Set and it was there Christmas Morning.

When I went to visit my grandparents, we went to church every Sunday at St. Francis of Assisi on NW 18th. After church, it was lunch at El Chico and shopping at Shepard Mall and Sears. One of my favorite things about Sears was the old fashioned candy counters their stores used to have. I remember the smell of roasted peanuts and popcorn. Occasionally my grandparents would stop by and and buy few pounds of chocolates, taffy and mints for their candy dishes. Good Times.

[MonkeesFan]

Yeah, I miss that mall too, my Dad works at Shepard Mall now and it just is not the same anymore

[Stan Silliman]

I was going to college at OCU and living just east of the church at 30th and Villa when Shepard Mall was being built.
Every day the dirt would blow onto our house as the bulldozers and graders cleared the lot. For months.

I remember one winter when they had piled up about a dozen snow mountains in the parking lot and my buddy took
his Corvair onto the empty lot and used the "snow mountains" as a slolom course. That was maybe the most scared
I had been as a passenger, especially after he crashed into a couple of the mounds and still wanted to complete the course.

I'm sure Ralph Nader must have seen us, inspiring him to write a book. We're lucky the Corvair didn't turn over or take flight.

[SomeGuy]

Question about Shepard mall, were there other factors to the mall dying besides Penn Square and did it close down and reopen a few years later as an office complex or what?

(sorry for being a bit ignorant)

[Bill Robertson]

We lived off of 36th & May so my family spent a lot of time at Shepard Mall. Ate hundreds of times at Bonaparts and El Charrito. Got lots of school clothes from Penney's. Then in high school many of my friends worked at the mall. Mostly TG&Y and the grocery store next to TG&Y. I bought my first wife's engagement ring at one of the jewelry stores. I don't remember which one. Then as a young adult SM contributed to a couple of vices I have to this day. First, Tinder Box was on the TG&Y leg and I started smoking a pipe because I thought the shop was cool and smelled good. Then Garfields opened. They put your name on a brass plate on a bar stool if you drank X number of different beers. I had my name on two different bar stools. My buddies and I had "no-hands" chugging competitions using only our teeth to pick up and chug the 12 ounce mugs of beer. One of my lower front teeth is chipped as a reminder of how stupid that was. I loved the old Shepard Mall.

[Pete]

Question about Shepard mall, were there other factors to the mall dying besides Penn Square and did it close down and reopen a few years later as an office complex or what?

Quail Springs became the new hot place, Penn Square invested a lot and Shepherd Mall has a poor location -- nowhere near an interstate and in a declining neighborhood -- plus it was only one level, so kind of boring and uninspired even by mall standards.

It just slowly died away as did a lot of the tenants, which were more local than the chains you see at the newer malls.

Then, it was largely converted to state offices and now it seems very full of the same.


I have lots and lots of good memories there, especially at the movies because it was one of the few places you could wait inside to see a blockbuster. I also really loved the Square Shop, which was a direct competitor of Harold's and Orbach's... And I liked Miller's sporting goods as well.

[mkjeeves]

I didn't live in OKC when they built Shepard but I visited it when I was here visiting family. It was the first mall I remember anywhere. I was really disappointed when they covered up the color glazed brick on the outside. (but I can't imagine it still being there now and fitting in)

[Prunepicker]

I remember that the Shepherd's daughter was gorgeous.

[ljbab728]

I also really loved the Square Shop, which was a direct competitor of Harold's and Orbach's... And I liked Miller's sporting goods as well.

Pete, I think you mean Squire Shop.

[traxx]

I remember that the Shepherd's daughter was gorgeous.

Pics

[ctchandler]

Prunepicker,
Do you mean the Shepherd sisters? My wife was a private duty nurse for one of them for a short while, but they were not "spring chickens" at that time, mid 70's I believe. Of course, they could have been beauty's in their youth.
C. T.

I remember that the Shepherd's daughter was gorgeous.

[LandRunOkie]

By the mid 90s the crowd had degenerated into an odd mix of thugs and impromptu cardio walkers. I guess that was a sign of how fearful people were of the area back then, that they wouldn't even walk in their own neighborhoods. Another unintended consequence of building cities for cars instead of people.

[Snowman]

By the mid 90s the crowd had degenerated into an odd mix of thugs and impromptu cardio walkers. I guess that was a sign of how fearful people were of the area back then, that they wouldn't even walk in their own neighborhoods. Another unintended consequence of building cities for cars instead of people.

I would expect it was more a combination of shelter from the weather and the lack of sidewalks than fear of the neighborhood. Much of the surrounding area was not built with sidewalks, those that do have either some houses or entire blocks scattered in that do not and 23rd did not have them till they rebuilt it like three to five years ago.

[Prunepicker]

Prunepicker,
Do you mean the Shepherd sisters? My wife was a private duty nurse for
one of them for a short while, but they were not "spring chickens" at that
time, mid 70's I believe. Of course, they could have been beauty's in
their youth.
C. T.

No, this was Mr. Shepherd's daughter. She was a customer of my dad.
He introduced me to her but she was about 10 years older than me. I
was speechless.

She was a knockout! Similar to Jacquelyn Smith of Charlie's Angels fame.
Figure and all.

[traxx]

no, this was mr. Shepherd's daughter. She was a customer of my dad.
He introduced me to her but she was about 10 years older than me. I
was speechless.

She was a knockout! Similar to jacquelyn smith of charlie's angels fame.
Figure and all.

ttiwwop

[ctchandler]

Prunepicker,
Wow, you must be a lot older than you look! Mr. Shepherd had six daughters and two sons but the last daughter died in 1970 and she was old. She is the one my wife was a private nurse for. Actually, I suspect the lady you are referring to was a granddaughter.
C. T.

No, this was Mr. Shepherd's daughter. She was a customer of my dad.
He introduced me to her but she was about 10 years older than me. I
was speechless.

She was a knockout! Similar to Jacquelyn Smith of Charlie's Angels fame.
Figure and all.