Join The Metro Community

There's a Facebook fan page for residents of the Metrocenter area, called The Metro Community.

It's not affiliated with this blog, but it shares many of the same aims, so I've embedded a fan widget in the sidebar. Check them out and add your voice to the community!

The Lights on Townley

On Christmas Eve my family decided to enjoy some cookies, cocoa and the yuletide glory that is The Lights on Townley, a 15,000+ Christmas light spectacle that is synchronized to music on 96.1 FM. It was more than part of our annual ritual of light-watching -- it was a return to the neighborhood we left over the summer when we walked away from our home on Townley that was going into foreclosure.

The neighborhood is a pretty good one, but it's been socked by the housing and financial crises about as hard as any in the Valley or even the nation. We haven't moved far, but it was nice to see there are still good people living there.

If you haven't seen the Lights on Townley, you have until the Sunday night after New Year's -- Jan. 2. Enjoy!

In-N-Out Burger going up at former site of Islands

We've become so accustomed to business leaving the Metrocenter area that when one moves in, it's certainly notable. That's the case with In-N-Out Burger, which is building a new restaurant on the site of the former Islands Burger on the north side of Peoria Avenue just west of Interstate 17.

It will certainly be a welcome addition to the area, and hopefully the popular chain is in for the long haul. The location seems to be less than ideal; wouldn't the mall circle have been more advantageous all around? It's not like there are no vacancies ... Or would that have been overkill with the Culver's that replaced Whataburger about a year ago?

But In-N-Out has made its choice, so get ready by reading up on the chain's popular secret menu.

UPDATE: The Phoenix Journal's Lynn Ducey says the restaurant will open in late January or Februrary.

Game Nightz moves outside the mall

Game Nightz, the store that offers roleplaying games, board games, card games and puzzles, and space to play those games with like-minded people, has moved from its space inside Metrocenter, on the lower level across from the old Waldenbooks space. It now occupies a storefront on the outer circle between the Olive Garden and Metro Sports that used to be a a Dahle's Big & Tall men's clothiers shop.

I noticed Game Nightz had vacated the shop a few weeks ago on my first trip inside the mall in some time, but it wasn't until this past week that I noticed their new location.

About that visit to the mall interior ... that's a whole other post. I'm still composing my thoughts from the utter devastation I witnessed. It's not pretty.

Lone Star closes steakhouse near Metrocenter

The Phoenix Business Journal reports that the Lone Star Steakhouse across I-17 from Metrocenter has closed, part of two closures locally and 19 nationwide for the chain.

That just leaves one Phoenix-area location, at 1743 E. Camelback Road. The other location that closed was in Glendale.

Read more: Lone Star closes two restaurants - Phoenix Business Journal

Another Valley mall goes to the dogs ...

Just a few weeks after Maricopa County's Animal Care and Control announced an experimental retail location at the struggling Metrocenter Mall in Phoenix, the Arizona Humane Society is launching a similar venture at the arguably more down-at-heel Desert Sky Mall.

Times are ruff for retail, indeed.

Metrocenter goes to the dogs, officially

We knew times were rough at Metrocenter, but not this "ruff."

Starting in August, the troubled mall will be host to an experimental retail location of the Maricopa County Animal Care and Control department.

The store, approved by the county's Board of Supervisors on July 7, will be on the lower level near the Sears department store, in a space vacated by a pet shop.

It will offer dozens of dogs and cats for adoption. It will also offer dog licenses, but no vaccinations or pet drop-offs, according to a report in the Arizona Republic.

Metrocenter general manager Christine Cunningham told the paper that the shelter will drive foot traffic. Sounds like they are trying to play it as the cat's meow. But to others, it's just another sign of a once innovative mall going to the dogs.

Retrocenter: The Gamekeeper

Tucked in the southeast corner on the lower level of Metrocenter was a little store that had the power to inspire wonder and fear -- and fun.

There be dragons.

It was called the Gamekeeper, and it's where my mom bought my older brother his first polyhedral dice and rulebooks for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, 1st Edition (which I now hold and cherish), and where I cleaned up on 3rd Edition books over 20 years later as it closed its once playing-card styled doors for the last time.

Yes, the doors were designed like giant King and Queen cards (I forget the suit, but I bet it was Hearts), and the large display window backed up onto a glass cabinet full of the strangest and finest chess sets anyone could ever covet.

It was beautiful.

Accounts differ on whether the name of the store was Game Keeper, Gamekeeper or GameKeeper. It's tough, even with the wikisphere, to track down official info on a store that has been out of business for so long -- and changed names in many markets long before it was shuttered. No offense is meant if the name is presented differently from what you remember.

The game store in the 1984 Dabney Coleman-Henry Thomas vehicle "Cloak and Dagger" was a Gamekeeper (it wasn't ours; the film used a location in Glendale, Calif. ... although "Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure" was filmed at Metrocenter -- a topic for another post, surely.)

The Gamekeeper was eventually bought by Wizards of the Coast, the company behind the popular collectible card games Pokemon and Magic: The Gathering that was later bought by Hasbro and would absorb the Dungeons & Dragonsempire of TSR. The Metrocenter location was renamed after the Washington state company, but some locations (such as in California) retained the traditional Gamekeeper name.

The stores were charming for their inventory and atmosphere, if not the friendliness or knowledge levels of their staff. I remember asking one clueless clerk at the Fiesta Mall location in Mesa about a Wizards of the Coast product that was due out that very week; she had never even heard of it! Still, when the lights were on it was a place you could rely on to find the basics.

But the rise of big-box toy stores and, later, Wal-Mart would squeeze this quaint chain out of business. The last Gamekeeper location closed down in 2004, after Wizards of the Coast announced it was ending its retail experiment and would focus on game design.

But at Metrocenter, games still go on where the GameKeeper fell. A GameStop electronics entertainment store sits in part of the space; the rest is a vacant storefront -- an all-too-familiar sight at the mall these days.

And, of course, the mall now has a very similar store: Game Nightz, just a few storefronts down near the elevator, right across the way from where Waldenbooks used to be.

But that's another story, and shall be told another time.

Cholla library closing on Fridays due to Phoenix budget cuts

Starting April 5, the Cholla branch of the Phoenix Public Library, located in the inner circle of Metrocenter, will be closed on Fridays as a result of city budget cuts.

Cholla joins the Cesar Chavez, Ironwood, Juniper, Mesquite, Palo Verde and Saguaro branches in Friday closures. Acacia, Agave, Century, Desert Broom, Desert Sage, Harmon, Ocotillo and Yucca will be closed on Sundays and Mondays.

The main branch, the Burton Barr Central Library, will remain open seven days a week.

All library hours will be as follows: Monday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Tuesday through Thursday 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Fridays and Saturdays 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; and Sunday 1 to 5 p.m.

At the Burton Barr library, service reductions will make the Accessibility Center, which provides materials to disabled patrons, available by appointment only.

You can reach the libraries at (602) 262-4636 (if anyone's there) or http://www.phoenixpubliclibrary.org.