Stamp & Coin Still Rocking at Northlake Mall

Entering a parking lot of the once bustling Northlake Mall, stirred reflection of a changed Atlanta.

Back in 1971, when Governor Jimmy Carter was invited to cut the opening ribbon for Northlake Mall, The Atlanta Constitution and The Atlanta Journal were brimming with stories about the exciting new mall in Tucker.

Spanning 80 acres at I-285, where LaVista Road, Henderson Mill Road and Briarcliff Road meet, the mall boasted 1,000,000 square feet of retail space with over 100 merchants. It was the largest mall in the Atlanta metropolitan area.

Nearby, there was office space on 225 acres, including a 17 acre lake.

Davison’s, Sears, J.C. Penney’s, Muse’s, Farrel’s Ice Cream, Record Bar, Merry Go Round, Hot Pants of Atlanta and Stamp & Coin were among the original tenants.

Decades later, the mall, like many others across America, became irrelevant and went out of business.

But Northlake Mall has been repurposed by a Dallas company with Emory Healthcare taking over a portion of the property. There are also plans for mixed use (residential, restaurants) with the remaining space.

Of the original 1971 anchor tenants, only Stamp & Coin still remains.

“I don’t like where you are going with all this, we aren’t like the rest, our business and hobby is relevant,“ said Gil (he only wants his first name used), the proprietor of Stamp & Coin, “soon we will move to a new location at the front of the mall, next to LensCrafters.”

There is an irony, a vision toward the future, for Stamp & Coin next to the eyeglasses outlet.

When Governor Carter was weighing his invitation to dedicate the fancy, new Northlake Mall in 1971, who among us would have figured, only Stamp & Coin would survive into 2024?

Gil knew.

“Coin collecting is still extremely active. People are interested in history, accumulating a collection.”

I interrupted, “this hobby is of another time, another generation, do you agree or disagree? When I was a boy many of us collected coins but now?

“Disagree, there are so many people involved, technology has given us a lift to service our customers. We have every age involved,” said Gil with passion, “before you arrived, a grandfather came in here buying books for his three grandchildren on Indian head pennies. It’s a connection between generations.”

And stamps are sticking around too.

Linn’s Stamp News estimates there are 5 million stamp collectors in the United States and 30 national shows annually, including Warren Buffet who is an ardent fan. Serious stamp collectors stop at the year 1940.

The secret to the generational success of Stamp & Coin is simple says Gil, “collecting is fun, coins are absolutely vibrant, and we have many collectors who enjoy what they are doing.”

Numismatic News writes, “ …the passion and pursuit of collecting, which is universal, enduring, and crosses borders, cultures, ages and generations.

1971 is a long time ago, Nixon, Carter, Massell, Vietnam, Campus Protests, Flip Wilson, 40 cent gasoline, Van Brocklin—-and Gil opens Stamp & Coin inside the Northlake Mall.

Collecting rocks on.

The above is the detailed content of Stamp & Coin Still Rocking at Northlake Mall. For more information, please follow other related articles on the PHP Chinese website!