Laurel Centre Mall, October 11, 1979 ~ May 1, 2012.
Photos: John Floyd II
Thanks to long-time Laurel resident John Floyd II for trekking over and confirming this week’s final closure. To my knowledge, there weren’t any press releases or announcements; just a handful of bright green flyers taped to the doors announced the final closure of the long-suffering Laurel Mall.
Much more to come on the mall’s closing soon, as well as some early articles and photos trumpeting its grand opening back in 1979—when it got substantially more respect than a few bright green flyers.
Lost Laurel 
I helped open the JCPenney store in 79’I will miss the old mall!
Farewell, Laurel Mall. You’ll always have a place in my heart.
Man, there goes a major landmark for when I visit my folks (who still live in Laurel). @.@
Sad, sad day. RIP Laurel Centre Mall. So many memories. Hope the new Town Center livens things up.
I knew it was coming, but to see the news reports that showed the signs on the doors saying that Laurel Mall had officially closed for good was a bit hard to take. I grew up in the Adelphi-Beltsville area, so Laurel Mall was a place I had grown up with and enjoyed throughout the years. So many memories are kaleidescoping through my mind as I type this, enough for a web page of their own. It’s sad to see another “haunt” of my youth closing up-so many places I knew and loved down in my home stomping grounds have been closed up, built over, sold out, and burned down over the years that it’s not home anymore.
I think Kenny Rogers said it best in his song “Twenty Years Ago:”
“Oh, how memories from those days come gather ’round me,
What I’d give if they could take me back in time!
It almost seems like yesterday. Where do the good times go?
Life was so much easier twenty years ago.”
Farewell and RIP Laurel Mall. You were a favorite spot of many people, and you will be missed!