Hello A-J readers!

I hope you have read the two stories on the South Plains Mall's 50th anniversary coming up this Tuesday. If not, this column might not make sense.

I first heard about the mall's golden anniversary from Chick-Fil-A's marketing team in June. 50 years is a big deal for any business, especially a mall, so I knew I should spend some time digging through records and asking questions.

One of the first groups I reached out to was "If you grew up in Lubbock, Texas, you remember when......" on Facebook. I posted a call for people to share their memories, most missed stores, and whatever mall-related stories they had to tell. This led me to one of my key interviews, Sue Hammons, who received awards during the 25th anniversary of the mall for her entry into contest where people needed to share what the mall meant to them.

Sue went on her first date with her husband in the first days of the mall. She also shopped for baby clothes, gifts, anniversaries. South Plains Mall trips really seemed to reflect her life.

There were several other sweet, interesting and fun memories shared through the comments, which were mentioned in the 50 years of memories article.

From there, I scheduled a time to visit the Southwest Collection at Texas Tech to peruse documents spanning those 50 years. I learned entirely too much about the mall, which was built in part to rival Dallas stores, during an all-morning study session that reminded me of college. Read more about the history I learned in the history-focused article, which also has an image of the original layout.

I want to thank the Lubbock historians on social media and the Southwest Collections for giving me excellent starting points. The weeks of work that went into these two articles were so much easier thanks to them.

Moving on to next week, keep an eye out for a smooth feature on a business that has been in town for over 30 years. If you know of other businesses with a cool story to share, please reach out to me.

Alana Edginis a journalist covering Business News in Lubbock and the surrounding area. Send her a news tip ataedgin@lubbockonline.com.

Read this article:

Edgin: What goes into a 50-year history story on Lubbock's mall - LubbockOnline.com