Mega Mall Adventure

Long ago the great wise-man, Ferris Bueller stressed the importance of a day off. As a follower of his teachings I am a firm believer in the value of bookending challenges with a little adventure. As you’re all well aware I have been swamped with responsibilities of late and only recently gained the chance of taking a few days to relax. This time-out just to happened to coincide with a monthly outdoor flea-market at the Mega Mall in Dewitt, Michigan. Having craved a good outing of this kind for a while I set out with full intent to report on the experience. Little did I know that this small outing would mark something far different than my return to college, more on that later on.

Despite it having been in business for decades I had zero knowledge of the Mega Mall. Seeing as my fascination with thrift stores and the like didn’t kick in until I was well into my twenties, I suppose it’s forgivable. Not to mention nobody in my household ever goes to Dewitt. When I came across it in a search for flea-markets I was officially awestruck. The place looked massive on its own, making the occasionally addition of outdoor activity into something deserving of a day-trip.

We arrived about an hour before the official close of the outdoor market though some vendors stay until the mall itself closes shop. It didn’t take long to uncover the sheer variety of items on hand. Tools, toys, advertising, old photographs, furniture, plants, magazines from the 1920s. Even antique rubber condoms, and cans of Billy Beer! There was something for any interest and I had to resist the temptation to blow my spending cash on beer signs and old action figures from my younger days. I finally caved at spot filled to the brim with toys and video games at pretty decent prices, not mind-blowing mind you but good enough to make you feel comfortable with the purchase. My sister likewise found herself finally caving at a spot loaded with scrap-booking materials.

Having popped our cherries we decided it was time to head into the building proper. Little did we realize just what a trip through this place would be like. Every single inch of the Mega Mall was filled to the brim. Some of the vendors offer classy antiques, others just some junk leftover from a yard sale, but such an endless selection threatens to blind the shopper. In fact by the end of our journey I was largely operating on autopilot, no longer capable of processing the sheer quantity of items to choose from.

The atmosphere inside is frankly bizarre, not only because of the mixture of items but the owners and customer base are from so many corners of life. Some are just eccentric old farts who like looking through junk, others are daffy hipster, families looking for a way to spend the day, and a few dedicated hobbyists hunting for specific treasures. The building itself is vast, aging, and is fully equipped with the smell one associates with flea-markets or thrift stores but not overwhelmingly so. Most of the items are clean enough to keep things from smelling too rough. Climate control is in place but hardly has enough output for such a large structure, making fans an occasional blessing. If you're just shy of needing a shower, you may as well wait until after a trip here.

I left behind so many odds & ends not only from my usual interests like video games, books, and records, but oddball items like light fixtures, and promotional art. Take for instance this video store standie for the VHS release of Star Trek V: The Final Frontier. It took so much effort to walk away from this one that I was practically dragging myself away by the ear. It checks off so many boxes from my love of old rental stores, Star Trek fandom, love of William Shatner, and I could have afforded it, but I’ve still gotta keep the spending under control. If I'm able to return with a fatter wallet and find it’s still there I’ll likely remedy that decision.

Something far less affordable and much more offensive was this wall lamp. This sort of outdated, overproduced, and downright strange décor always sinks it’s claws into my mind. Is this thing offensive and off-putting? Absolutely, but it’s a remnant of another time and place. For me the story behind something so unique and crazy far outweighs the social stigma attached to it. That's just part of my inner preservationist/crazy old man.

So what did I actually buy? Not much admittedly as I am keeping spending very limited but what I brought home still managed to surprise and entertain. The showcase item was a serendipitous find indeed. Just a few days before heading out on this spree I had been viewing a series of retrospective reviews on the Alien franchise. During the fourth part the reviewer mentioned the somewhat ambivalent reaction to the newborn, an opinion I'll never understand as I loved that ugly bugger from the moment I saw it on a theater screen in upstate New York over a bitterly cold Thanksgiving weekend. He mentioned how he was unsure if any figures had ever been made and a quick trip to ebay informed me of a few. An original action figure from Hasbro and some super-expensive model are the two primary offerings. Shipping costs being the way they are for toys made the old figure more expensive than he should be but I knew one day I'd like to have him. Unbelievable coincidence as it may be, an outdoor vendor mainly stocked with Star Wars toys and Nintendo/Atari cartridges had this lil monster in box for ten bucks. I've yet to remove it from the packaging as I'm currently content to stare at it and wonder if this toy would have ever existed had the director left in the original hermaphroditic genitalia.

Within the endless halls of the building was a vendor that only sold overstock DVDs and Blu-rays which allowed the chance to complete my Insidious collection for a mere five bucks. Sure it's not the most prestigious find nor is it that great a movie but it'd be pretty foolish to walk away from an inexpensive way to fill-out a series.

After wondering the halls of excess we went in search of food and took a detour to Horrocks, one of the best places in the Lansing area, in order to procure beer and gelato. I thought that would mark the end of a fine outing before starting school. Then shit got all screwy, the school I was going to be taking classes at this semester in order to transfer credits in the spring became virtually unaffordable thanks to a financial-aid trick trick I knew nothing about. Now I'll just be doing everything at the school I was transferring too and starting in October.

On the one hand I'm pissed as I could have just done this from the start and already had a few classes under my belt. At least this gives me another month-and-a-half to work on game designs, Halloween decorations, and a new bout of house-cleaning/ebay selling. For you all this means the Halloween season stuff should kick-off without issue since I won't be buried under fourteen credits of coursework.

Back to the main topic, I will absolutely add Mega Mall to my list of regular haunts. If you're going to be anywhere in the area I'd suggest giving it a try as well. It just might give you the opportunity to reclaim a bit of your past or point in awe at some racist old-timey art. Either way you get a story to tell.