Your Favorite Mall Brands:
Where Are They Now?

Chess King

When shopping at Chess King, a young man's train of thought went a lot like this: Maybe I'll wear a T-shirt today. Of course, if I'm going to wear a T-shirt, I might as well go with something sleeveless. And if it's sleeveless, it might as well be a half T-shirt that's cut just above my navel. At its peak in the '80s, Chess King was over 500 stores strong and routinely pulled in more than $200 million a year out of the velcro wallets of young men. Chess King's goal was to target young men aged 16-25. The chain never deviated from that demographic, a move which ultimately led to its demise. The company folded in 1995, just 2 years after being acquired by Merry-Go-Round Enterprises in 1993.

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Next: Ground Round

Ground Round

The Ground Round was originally opened in 1969 by orange-roofed American icon Howard Johnson. Its corporate website describes it as “the original ‘no rules’ place.” Ground Round showed cartoons and old Little Rascals episodes on big-screen TVs, served bottomless baskets of popcorn and peanuts -- and encouraged patrons to toss the shells right on the floor. And toss those shells mall patrons did ... until tragedy struck. Apparently, no one in management realized that peanut shells were flammable until, on separate occasions, the husk-covered floors of two locations caught fire, killing one patron and injuring scores of others. In 2004, the “ownership structure” of the Ground Round changed (corporate-speak for a bankrupt company going completely off the rails). It remains to be seen where the Ground Round will go from here. There are currently still more than 48 Ground Rounds in 19 states.

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Next: Sam Goody

Sam Goody

If you're between the ages of 25 and 45, you'll fondly recall the heyday of Sam Goody -- the "every mall" music. You knew that any album they didn't carry was probably worth listening to. But the 1978 sale to rival Musicland watered down the Sam Goody brand with a homogenized expansion. Stores lost the rarities and overall panache, more merchandise was squeezed into smaller locations, and the focus shifted from the decidedly offbeat to the relentlessly mainstream. And with that, Sam Goody became just another run-of-the-mill shop within a shopping mall. the years ahead, parent company Musicland floundered -- not just in the face of increased competition, but with the rise of the digital MP3 format. To stave off losses, it shuttered hundreds of Sam Goody stores, and eventually filed for bankruptcy in 2006. Musicland was acquired by Trans World Entertainment Corporation, which changed all the locations to FYEs

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Next: Pacific Sunwear

Pacific Sunwear

In the 80s, Pacific Sunwear exported California cool to the frigid malls of the Midwest and Northeast. It carried cool brands like Billabong and Quicksilver, which today continue to manufacture the kinds of clothes you'd expect to find at a surf shop. But there's a downside to being a curator of brands: That's not how mall rats shop anymore. The Big Kahunas at this highly visible mall brand will need to do a better job of adapting to consumer trends -- not just fashion trends -- if they want to keep their heads above water.

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Next: Spencer's

Spencer's

The modern-day equivalent of the last page of a 1950s comic book, Spencer's runs the gamut of novelties, gag gifts, genitalia-shaped pasta and obscene T-shirts that get kids suspended in eighth grade. Specializing in all things unnecessary, the retailer is the same today as it was when it first became a shopping-mall staple: Brookstone, if Brookstone were run by a stoned 20-year-old. After expanding into numerous mall locations, Spencer's toiled under several different owners. The chain was first acquired by MCA, which in turn was bought out by Seagram, and operated under the Universal Studios entertainment division. Vivendi took control of the brand when it acquired Universal in 2001 and GB Palladin acquired the store just 2 years later. Today, the company operates in roughly 600 mall locations.

More About Spencer's Staying Power

Next: Orange Julius

Orange Julius

Orange Julius: Smoothie pioneer? Orange Julius started in 1926 in Los Angeles, then famous for its orange groves. Julius Freed developed a mixture intended to ease the acidity in orange juice and make it easier on the stomach. The drink's runaway popularity resulted in rapid expansion: Orange Julius boasted 100 stores by 1929. And the by the 1960s, when shopping malls had become a necessary evil of the suburban experience, Orange Julius set up shop next to the popular stores of the day. In 1987, Orange Julius was acquired by Dairy Queen. Pairing with the better-known DQ helped raise Julius' profile. Today, there are over 200 locations, but Orange Julius now faces stiff competition in a $2.5 billion smoothie market it unwittingly helped create.

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Next: Deb

Deb

Founded in the 1930s, the company found early success with the name Joy Hosiery. Over the years, its product offering expanded to include sportswear. The clothier really hit its stride in the 1970s when its drab and dreary identity got an extreme makeover. Its product offering was built out yet again, and Joy Hosiery became the decidedly-more-youthful Deb. After enjoying steady growth throughout the '80s -- the period where Deb became synonymous with the shopping-mall experience -- the company found its greatest success in 1992, when it operated over 370 locations and reported its highest-ever sales numbers: 229.5 million. Today, Deb is still pimping brightly-colored tank tops, cheap-chic jewelry and trendy shoes to dedicated Hannah Montana fans at over 340 locations and via a robust online store.

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Next: Piercing Pagoda

Piercing Pagoda

It may surprise you to know that these little shops -- despite their unassuming location across the way from an Arby's -- actually bring in a quarter of a billion dollars in revenue for Zales, the parent company that acquired Piercing Pagoda in 2000. But it took over 30 years for Pagoda to grow into the piercing empire it is today. Even so, Pagoda hasn't been immune to the tough economic climate. According to Zales’ public filings, its mall kiosk business has been steadily declining over the past 3 years. One possible explanation for the decline is an overall decrease in mall traffic.

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Next: Thom McAn

Thom McAn

In its heyday, Thom McAn was a well-known shoe store favored by mall shoppers and athletes. Although namesake Thom McCann's roots were in golf , the brand enjoyed a mysteriously loyal following among professional baseball players. Sadly, there are no more free-standing Thom McAn stores. The last was located in the Harvey, Illinois’ Dixie Square Mall (which no longer exists either).

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Next: Frederick's of Hollywood

Frederick's of Hollywood

Nice girls may go to heaven, but for over 60 years, bad ones have gone to Frederick's of Hollywood. Inventor of the push-up bra and the genius behind the first mass-produced thong -- just the thing the average mall-walker wants to surreptitiously adjust while getting a pretzel at Auntie Anne's -- Frederick's has always had a gift for innovation.

So why has it gone bankrupt not once, but twice? To undress this naughty, corset-clad retailer and find out, click here.

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More on AOL: Will These Items Fly?

Click through our gallery as BloggingStocks writer Peter Cohan, author of 'You Can't Order Change,' reveals 14 companies with make-or-break products for 2009.

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Make or Break Products