PLANO (1080 KRLD) - Many who were there for some of the real-life events depicted in today's Netflix sensation "Stranger Things" will have one final chance to rekindle those memories Friday night at Collin Creek Mall in Plano.
The now-empty shopping center, which opened in 1981, will host a party to celebrate both its history and its future as a $1 billion mixed-use development.
Plano native Hava Johnston - who's proud to call herself a Collin Creek "mall rat" - started a Facebook nostalgia page to celebrate her old hangout. It took off literally overnight, growing to more than 7,000 members. Johnston said, "That just goes to speak volumes to how much this iconic place meant to so many different people for so many different reasons."
Johnston, a 1991 graduate of Plano Senior High School, said her Facebook page has been flooded with great memories of Collin Creek Mall. "People are taking pictures of their nametags from the stores they used to work in. Or shopping bags from stores gone by. Or receipts from their first credit card purchases (at Collin Creek). These are crazy things that people still have in their boxes and their attics," she said.
The page also includes a large number of Glamour Shots from back in the day.
The farewell party at Collin Creek Mall starts at 6 p.m. Friday. Johnston said more than 5,000 people have said they will attend. "We have people traveling on their summer vacations, coming from as far as Tennessee, Nebraska, Illinois, taking their families and taking a stop at Collin Creek Mall to be here for this party," she said.
Asked to choose her all-time favorite store at her favorite mall, Johnston thought for a few moments and then said, "Camelot Music. That was where we went to buy our rock posters and our cassettes. I'm showing my age, but yeah, before CDs. Or we would buy our buttons for our bluejean jackets and the bumperstickers for our cars. It was just the first place you went in the mall. You met your friends, and then you went on from there."
As much as she will miss those great old days at Collin Creek, Johnston is also excited about the future of the property. "The nostalgia is always gonna be there. And now it will be there really forever, because these guys are really taking the time to incorporate the parts of the mall that were important to all of us into the new development. It's not like they're coming in and leveling it with a bulldozer and a wrecking ball and trashing it," she said.
The reimagined property will include new office, retail, residential and hotel space. Developer Centurion American also plans to include 9 acres of parks and more than a mile of hiking trails. A Crystal Lagoon water feature is also under consideration.
The end of the current era will arrive on Wednesday, when the doors close at Collin Creek Mall for the final time.