Dairy Queen Blog

Hypercolor, stirrup leggings, body suits, snap bracelets, Girbaud jeans and Orange Julius® drinks. What do all of these fabulous things have in common you might ask? The mall and my childhood! I hear it all the time from customers , “Oh my god, you guys still exist. I used to get Orange Julius drinks all the time at [insert mall name here]!” Yes, we do still exist and yes we continue to grow today, but that is beside the point for now.

Every time I come across someone who makes this statement, I can’t help but be immediately taken back 15+ years to my childhood. This time of year brings back for me all the exhausting back-to-school shopping trips I was forced to go on with my mother. I dreaded it every year because good ol’ ma was going to make me try on those ‘old lady’ jeans that I wouldn’t be caught dead wearing and she would certainly never understand my desire to stop by Contempo Casuals to find an outfit that closely resembled what Kelly Kapowski wore that week on Saved by the Bell.

This weekend, I stopped by the mall with my mom for a few ‘must haves’ and the mall was buzzing with young girls and their mothers attempting the same impossible task that we did 15 years ago. My mom and I couldn’t help but laugh. Granted they weren’t searching for Girbaud jeans (p.s. those still exist www.girbaud.com), jellies or Multiples but we could read the angst on the majority of faces. We strolled past one of the Orange Julius stores and were reminded that the highlight of our shopping trip was always a stop by this one destination because it was one location where we could buy something and not argue. Judging by the line that day some things haven’t changed.

As we left the mall I realized three things were certain. One, as my daughter grows I can only hope that she doesn’t care enough about clothes to go back-to-school shopping each year. Secondly, if she does care, a stop by the Orange Julius store might help ease the pain. Lastly, I missed all the fashions that I loved during my childhood and would do anything to get my hands on a pair of old Guess jeans with a pinch roll!