Magnolia Mall — Local services in Florence

So I went to the barbershop in the Magnolia Mall to get a shape up today. Heard some good things so I decided to try it out. I won’t be going back. The first thing that went wrong was I walked in and stood at the counter for 20 minutes. There were 3 barbers on duty and 1 looked in my face and said nothing even though I spoke. The other hurried and turned his chair with his client in it and said nothing. The 3rd one looked up a few minutes later and said nothing. Ok I know they are not familiar with me but first and foremost I am a customer....a paying one at that. When did customer service, a courtesy hello may I help you become so hard to do?? All of them had someone in their chair, but they don’t use their mouths to cut hair. Finally one barber was done and I asked him did he have anymore clients. He barely looked at me before he said I’m going to the food court. I just shook my head. I would have been more understanding if it was Busy. It is Sunday, you just got here good and you knew you had to work so why not eat beforehand? Why not say well ma’am I need to get something to eat and I can handle that for you as soon as I am done. He hauled ass so fast out the door. Well now I am sitting here typing and not feeling this at all. I worked customer service for a long time. I could teach them a lot. They have none. I wish them the best but I will not return simply because it was too hard for them to even acknowledge my presence after 20 minutes. If these men are your barbers, I don’t care how good they are....a hello and/or a smile goes a long way. Especially when you are trying to...

This sad, decrepit mall caught COVID and has been slowly dying of it ever since. After 2020 they never returned to the 9PM closing time that had been the standard for well over 30 years. Now this rat hole closes at 7 PM. Complete mystery how they expect to get any customers from 11 AM to 7 PM; I guess they just want high schoolers shopping here... Except after 5PM they demand people younger than 18 be accompanied by an adult. Let me contextualize this - if you work a 9 to 5, you're going to have less than two hours to do your shopping. Their target audience must be the unemployed... which to be fair, Florence has no shortage of.

I can't imagine being a business that's paying no doubt exorbitant rent for the "privilege" of having a spot in this crusty old building that increasingly smells like weed just for the mall management to keep coming to me, knocking the hours I can do business down. I would immediately go rent out one of the dozens of empty shops in strip malls that keep popping up in Florence and leave this place behind.

The only thing left worth visiting for are the food spots like the infamous Chinese takeout that to this day stuffs your box too full to close. My heart goes out to locally owned places like that who just wanted a place with good foot traffic. I grew up with this place and remember when it was a respectable establishment. Now it's just a poorly managed hellhole that skates by on the fact that you can't find another mall in 70 miles. It won't be long before it becomes data point in some suit's "closed properties" report...

We realize we shouldn't take this out on Magnolia Mall... (so see Tilt for their review; but, the mall allows it so... we take a start away for that. We love just being able to walk around the mall; and when we can we stop for a quick body or foot massage in the back left side of the mall.. will add the name when I remember it. However,. the worst experience was at Tilt Studio... shame on them. We visited Tilt Studio, the game center, which has 3d rides, fun games, fun events, and ticket prizes... typical fairly modern gaming place. But, watch out for the gimmicks.. We were not told the details.. and ended up buying credits to play the game that were lost/expired. No one informed us of the rules, and we lost $50 or more in value, since we didn't know that those credits would expire after store closed! We learned the hard way. Don't be fooled... I'd be lying if said we didn't have fun; but, the wind was knocked out of us when I checked a kiosk to see how many credits I had left to use (expecting to return in a week/month) 'til I noticed a timer counting down... asked the attendant who said they didn't know the credits I bought were limited (on a timer!); tried to get a refund, she couldn't, called but the manager refused to talk to us... We plan on writing the CEO of the Studio; and Magnolia mall to tell them of our experience. Caveat Emptor (Buyer Beware!). Credits do not expire; but not all credits your buy are "real" credits, they time out and expire!!!! We will not go back.. watch out for...