In a vintage 1991 video, teenagers spill reasons they went to the mall — it's too funny

As time passes, the reasons people gather in certain places evolve, often making past social habits feel amusing or even strange to future generations. A fascinating video from 1991 has resurfaced online, showcasing teens at the mall, revealing just how much times have changed. Posted on Reddit by u/VRI_031 with the caption "How times have changed," the video captures a slice of 90s mall culture.

With the text overlay reading, "POV: It's 1991 and you are at the mall with your friends," the video opens as an interviewer asks two girls, "What are you guys doing at the mall today?" They reply, "Shopping and looking for boys," with one adding that "looking for boys" was actually the top priority. Another girl, when asked the same question, says, "Just hanging out and looking for people," while her friend chimes in with, "Looking for guys." Other teens in the video share similar responses, citing shopping and searching for dates or just hoping to see who else is around.

This nostalgic snapshot of mall life in the early 90s reminds us how central malls once were as social hubs, where teens would meet friends, flirt, and pass the time—a stark contrast to today’s online socializing and e-commerce-dominated shopping experience.

"I am just shopping around, looking for boys, scoping," another girl revealed. Another group admitted that they were there because it was fun to hang out at the mall. "A lot of cute guys, a lot of our friends hang out here and shopping." Another bunch of girls highlighted that they were either shopping at the mall or looking for boys. "I was supposed to meet someone here," a girl shared. "Looking for two guys," her friend said. The interviewer also asked the same question to two guys. One of them responded, "Ah well, nothing." While his friend commented, "I just come here to scope out the babes. Just to look around and see." People took to the comments section of the post to express their thoughts on the video.

u/adooble22 wrote, "I just went to Northbrook Court to try and kill some time a couple of months ago. The place is now basically two stores, a California Pizza Kitchen and a few dozen senior citizen mall walkers. Very few babes to scope anymore." u/GhoulArtist commented, "I'm not gonna tell you it was better back then. But it was absolutely more social. Can you imagine purposely trying to meet people you don't know in a public place in 2024?" u/Yobanyyo joked, "You see, back then, in the long before fore, you could just go buy guys. They were for sale at every store. However, due to quality control issues in the manufacturing process, their popularity waned and eventually were more of an obligation buy instead of a want buy."

u/asdf0909 shared, "The tech nerds did it. They actually succeeded. They restructured social society to give themselves a more even playing field. They changed the entire world to be able to get girls and it actually worked." u/RevolutionaryBank465 expressed, "One summer day in high school, my mom dropped my friend and me off at the mall on the way to work... then picked us up 8 hours later on her way home from work. Trying on clothes we can't afford, drinking smoothies and yes, scoping out cute boys. RIP mall culture."