5/6/2023 0 Comments Relax now concord mall![]() ![]() He’d mention whoppers and pickles and fries, mixing them into his own melodies, creating what seemed to be public-relations gold. We were so broke that we shared a bank account, and a week later we moved in together.”Īt Burger King, Chuck, who labeled himself “whimsical,” built a local following by singing back the orders he’d taken from his customers. “We were so poor, we only had our mall jobs and we struggled for years,” Ramey said. They married in 2004, about six years after their initial meeting. ![]() “He loved me so I brought him home,” Ramey said. Ramey, then 17, invited her 22-year-old boyfriend to her home in Deerfield. Chuck, who attended Winnisquam Regional High School, canceled his plan to start a family real estate business in Arkansas. He wanted everyone to be happy.”Įspecially Ramey. The friendliest guy who wants to be everyone’s friend. “I didn’t have the heart to tell him that I don’t like them,” Ramey said. He bought her Cokes and frozen drinks, to her side of the mall. He had seen Ramey walking past Burger King wearing a Spiderman costume, part of Spencer’s Halloween promotion. “I thought he was an idiot, to catch a bus in the middle of the night, when there was no bus stop there.”Ĭhuck persisted. “He noticed me more than I noticed him,” Ramey said. Well, in this case, Chuck noticed Ramey from afar, while Ramey first noticed Chuck up close. Once upon a time, people like Ramey and Chuck noticed each other. Empty storefronts and echoing voices have replaced the energy the Steeplegate once had. The food court where Murphree once bellowed out his customers’ orders is now devoid of even a vending machine. The main doors leading to the mall’s interior closed on Friday. Six others, including The Hatbox Theatre, Zoo health club, Altitude trampoline park, Chico’s, Talbots and JC Penney, the last anchor store, have exterior doors and permission to stay in business. Everest Goods, The Arch Threading and Spa, and Wireless Zone – were evicted and forced to relocate. Recently, the remaining five businesses in the mall’s interior – Jeweler’s Workbench, Blue Sky Hair Studio, Mt. Today, teens and 20-somethings would never fathom a trip to the mall. Young lovers were finally unsupervised until mom and dad picked them up. ![]() Sometimes, love could be found at the mall. Once, however, malls represented independence to school kids back in the day. Most of the spaces have been empty for years, and three of the four anchor stores are now unoccupied. The 480,000-square-foot mall opened in 1990 with space for about 60 stores. They’re part of the anecdotal history of the Steeplegate Mall, a huge addition to the city 32 years ago, when malls were cool and the setting offered much more than a routine of parking, shopping, leaving. “The mall was closing, so I thought it was odd that he was wandering to that end of the mall for no reason.” “I remember standing outside our storefront during closing and I saw him walk by,” Ramey said. She also knew that the mall’s bus-stop area was nowhere near her neck of the woods. bus,” an embarrassed Chuck answered.Ĭhuck knew the last bus from the mall had already left. “What are you up to?” Ramey asked her future husband. Right around closing time, Chuck ventured past dozens of stores clear across the mall, to the opposite end. But first, he had to think quickly on his feet during that first-ever encounter with Brown, back in 1998. ![]() Ramey Brown, working at Spencer’s Gifts at the Steeplegate Mall 24 years ago, didn’t buy what the Burger King employee was selling.Ī Whopper Junior and fries were not on Chuck Murphree’s menu – instead, romance was. Among the respondents were Ramey and Chuck Murphree, whose life together started with sweet but awkward interactions in the Steeplegate hallways. The Monitor asked readers to share their memories of the mall and how it helped shape their lives. Note: When it opened in 1990, Steeplegate Mall quickly became a center of city life. Ramey and Chuck Murphree met at the Steeplegate Mall 24 years ago, and now they are living in the South End of Concord with their two boys, Clayton and Clyde, and their dog, Wilson. Ramey and Chuck Murphree met at the Steeplegate Mall 24 years ago but now, they are a happy family living in the South End of Concord with their two boys, Clayton and Clyde, and their dog Wilson. Ramey and Chuck Murphree met at the Steeplegate Mall 24 years ago, but now they are a happy family living in the South End of Concord with their two boys, Clayton and Clyde, and their dog, Wilson. ![]()
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