Hamilton Mall — Local services in Hamilton Township

The mall is not what it used to be like in its hey-day! The stores are still operating, but at a quarter of the capacity that they once were. It was easy getting in through the doors at Macy’s, but the one door was in disrepair, and wasn’t functioning. As we entered through Macy’s, I noticed that the carpeting was in bad shape. It was coming up off the floor in spots, and looked worn out. That, and the clothes were just strewn around on the display tables, like they were man-handled, and no one took the time, to re-fold the garments, nor even noticed that they were askew. Yet, I kept going on, noticing what they did have displayed properly, before exiting to hit the Piercing Pagoda. The Piercing Pagoda is centrally located in the Hamilton Mall. They had a wide arrange of earrings and other jewelry to choose from. My 9 y.o. daughter was getting her ears pierced, and was quite nervous, to say the least. The employee was courteous, and would be the one piercing her ears. After mulling over several types of earrings, she chose a pair of pearls. After doing so, I had to fill out paperwork stating that I was her parent, and show ID. Then, sign my life away in order for her to get her ears pierced. I’m only kidding. Although, I did have to sign paperwork regarding the piercings, my minor child, their non-obligation should she have any issues regarding the piercings or earrings being to her dissatisfaction. They also had instructions for ear care along with it. So, sign away I did , after they copied my ID. My daughter was the most nervous I had ever seen! My daughter’s Aunt and MomMom were there for moral support , as it was her 9th birthday, and she wanted them there for that reason. Her 13 y.o. brother couldn’t be convinced to go because we were only going for her to get her ears pierced, and not to walk around going into stores. The employee, a woman in her early twenties, sat my daughter down in one of their chairs designated for piercings. She then got a marker to mark the placement of where the earrings were going to go on her lobes. She wore plastic gloves, which I thought was hygienic. After she marked her ear lobes, she then went to get the “ Gun“ to pierce my daughter’s ears. That’s when she really got nervous, and asked my sister, her Aunt, if she could hold her hand during the process. I was taking pictures, and her MomMom, my Mother, was talking to her gently, reassuring her that she was going to be fine, and that it would only hurt for a moment. The employee came back from behind the booth with the earrings, and the piercing gun. She told my daughter to sit still, and pierced her ears within a minute. My daughter was surprised at how quickly the piercing took place, and how little it hurt. She calmed down immediately! After that, the employee gave her a mirror to look at her earrings, which were pearls. My daughter was very happy with the outcome, as were we. I had to buy ear care solution afterwards, and we were on our way, after the employee stressed that she turn the earrings regularly and not take the earrings out for six weeks. Then, we left the Piercing Pagoda, and walked through the mall the same way we came in, and drove home. All in all, it was a great experience for my daughter. I was pleased with the service, the price of the earrings, how they looked on her, and...

Even post COVID year, it seems to be trying hard and is pretty great. We visited the Hamilton Mall just today (5/29/21). It was really nice. We had a great time. Very clean and very COVID conscious. There where attendants wiping tables at food court. All seating and rest areas maintains 6 foot standards. It was really very nice. Especially considering how things are with the year of COVID-19 really strangling a lot of the foot traffic-dependent shops and centers all around the world. We entered in and they have a huge carousel right next to the escalators. There where these big animal go cart like things that we watched tons of kids zooming around the designated area, just having a blast, I’m not sure but I’m pretty sure you it was a couple buck to ride for that. It was very clean. There where quite a few seating areas all through out the mall, that all fell with in the 6 foot distancing standard. We where able to take breaks and have a sit down and kind of have a “mask break” every so often. Having been to places like the Deptford mall, which is just awful, and where they have zero benches or rest areas, this was a real treat. Also most of the stores where open, again the Deptford mall in comparison is almost deserted when it comes to how many store it actually has open. The kiosks at Hamilton where almost all open and the food court was open, however it had obviously lost some of it restaurants during the COVID spikes but atleast half are still there, all the franchise ones and some more, with what looked to be a few more coming soon. And best of all, there was an janitor or attendant there in the food court wiping tables as soon as diners left. He didn’t miss not one. They would finish eating, get up and leave, then he would swoop in and spray and wipe some disinfectant down. Very clean and reassuring when your eating in a public space. It was great. And a thousand times better than the Deptford mall.

Now I’m gonna give a little back story to this trip, and my disdain for the other mall I mentioned. a few weeks ago we had gone to the Deptford Mall and that was terrible. It was almost completely devoid of any stores or kiosks. The Deptford mall also had no benches or rest areas at all. The had supposedly removed them all because of COVID. But come on I saw in the Hamilton mall they just placed them in ways to conform to the safety standards. And it was perfectly fine. Deptford removing there benches and seating was ridiculous considering how huge a mall it is. Even the most perfectly fit person needs a break when your doing any kind of serious mall shopping. For us on that trip the no seating issue, It got so bad that my handicap mother had over done it, with out being able to sit or rest and she had to literally limp and wheeze out...

I used to be a regular at Hamilton Mall. It was fun and busy with some unique stores and kiosks but it is a shadow of its former self. It’s a shame. I loved that mall. It was small with a boutique way about it and its Macys was above average. I was there last week and even the Hallmark store is moving. Macys still has bastions of its former self but the shoe dept is still good . But Boscovs is better on shoe prices but Macys still has more style but not the sizes. I am an 8 and probably everyone else is too.Every store I visited was limited and it seemed like an old ghost town. But, I still like to try on clothes at times if I don’t know the manufacturer’s ways. I used to love the Hamilton mall but I don’t think with the economic times we are in right now, only some people are given enough to frequent those stores and buy what they want. What can they do? I cannot speak any further on it. But one thing I considered is maybe they could have classes in there and information places with real helpful people to give people an array of different ways to get certifications for jobs, ways to teach people how to get services for living, how to make money and what skills they need. Maybe involve the local community for different types of doctors that get paid from other sources and have, not real complicated healthcare and NP to tell people to go to drs and or hospital or ER ETC. Also, maybe some type of school there. Right now it is just in...