Lakeforest Mall opened in 1978. At the time Lakeforest was the largest indoor retail mall in the county and featured a movie theater, a stage for the performing arts and even an ice skating rink. It sure has changed a lot.
| Name | Date | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Nancy Zanner Correll | 7/29/09 | This mall was built on the empty, wide-open fields where my family used to run our dogs and where I went camping with my Girl Scout troop. My sister once fell into the pond that used to be next to the trees that still stand at the intersection of Montgomery Village Ave. and Lost Knife Rd. She complained about being dirty and wet the whole walk home. |
| Gretchen Staib-Buss | 11/13/09 | We moved to Montgomery Village in 1979 when I was 6. The ice rink was at Lakeforest Mall,(I was there for lessons and free-skate every weekend!) but they closed it down a few years later to build the movie theater! |
| Shawn Brooks Lantz | 11/29/09 | I was 8 at the grand opening of the mall and remember they gave out balloons and kazoos to all the kids. I went on to work at Lerner's in my teen years. |
| F. | 1/9/10 | I think the Ice Rink closed and then the movie theater was put in it;s place.This was on the lower level Sears side.I worked at the NTI movie theater in the 1980s. |
| Mike Miller | 2/24/10 | The Mall was built on Lake Walker Landed my first Blue Gill there summer of 69 Big Day for me |
| Michele | 7/5/10 | Yup, I learned to skate at that rink. I remember when it closed down to make way for the movie theater. Mom took me to see The Big Chill. I recall all of the employees wearing tuxedos. Mom was just happy she didn't have to drive to Montgomery Mall when Lakeforest opened. haha...I worked at The Lodge at Harvard Square for a short time and then Ritz Camera. |
| Laura | 8/17/10 | I walked this property daily while it was being built in wide open fields. It was a huge undertaking. |
| Gene | 11/8/10 | I still have an old "Save Lake Walker" bumper sticker up in the attic somewhere |
| Michelle | 4/7/11 | I was a Senior at G-burg high school when this mall first opened. I worked for Sears, even before they were open for business. Sears was the first store in the Mall to open. The movie theater came later, when they closed the ice skating rink. Many, many good memories there, Although I felt sad about loosing the lake! |
| Eric Rollence | 4/10/11 | I was so excited to see this mall open. I was 17 and got my first "real" job was working at Toy and Hobby World. A few years later I worked at NTI Theaters. We has a lot of fun at the theaters. We even dressed in costume during working hours for Halloween. An enjoyable place to work! |
| Paul | 8/2/11 | I skated at the Lakeforest rink in the hockey season of 1981-82, and they closed it soon after. It became a movie complex, and later that closed and it is now the food court. |
| Paul Chang | 10/6/11 | I worked at the Lakeforest Ice Arena in the early 80's. Two KB Toy stores were located on both ends of the mall. |
| Suzanne Cissel Brodt | 10/8/11 | I remember when this was all farm land. The Richardson family rented the large house on the property and we used to ride horses all over the place. No one used a saddle. We were a tough bunch back then. |
| Kim | 11/6/11 | I was interviewed and hired in the mall security department 2 days before the mall opened. They ran it like the MCPD at the time because the Director was the retired chief of detectives for MCPD and the AD was the retired director of emergence operations for MCPD. One of the Lieutenants was a retired secret service agent and another one was a retired MCPD sergeant. As for the mall itself, I used to be able to name every store and it's location in the mall. |
| Tanya | 12/13/11 | I had trouble learning to ride a two-wheeler so when they paved the parking lot, my dad used to take time there every Sunday to try to learn to ride. It was the perfect place; smooth, flat and empty of obstacles (until they put in the light posts which to me seemed huge and I was so scared of running into them!). I remember each week watching in the progress of the mall construction in the distance as I was trying to ride. Eventually, I learned to ride and eventually the mall opened. I don't remember which came first! I've also got great memories of hangin' out there as a teenager! I too used to know so many of the names of the stores. |
| Dave Hunt | 3/3/12 | Worked at the restaurant "El Palacio" when the mall first opened, and used to hang out at "The proud Popover" for drinks after work. Worked at Sears a few years later. The pop vocal group "The Village People" performed at the official opening ceremony... |
| Cat | 4/20/12 | I worked at the Coffee Beanery there in the late 90s. Me and the other "mall rats" used to hang out there after work. It sure has gone downhill since then. Now there's talk of it being knocked down and redeveloped. |
| Jim | 4/17/13 | The venue was were the Temptations who were appearing there finally parted ways with David Ruffin. He failed to show up for the gig. |
| Eric | 5/22/13 | I skated this rink every weekend. Played many a hockey games here (Wheaton Blue Devils - early 80's) as a teen. So many awesome memories made here and now I eat lunch in the food court with my son in the exact spot I used to skate 30yrs ago! |
| Tim Smith | 6/13/13 | I used to live in G-burg...went to Seneca Valley... worked at Sears.. dated young ladies who worked at the mall... and skated at the ice rink... was telling my son (youngest) about them having 1 in a mall... we live in South Georgia now, Only got to introduce him to ice skating a few years ago, he goes a few times a year when offered at civic center... not a popular thing down here... sadly... Many GREAT memories of G-BURG. |
| C Foster | 8/21/13 | Ah yes many fond memories of the rink where I spent most of my weekends as a young kid. I tell ya Gaithersburg sure has changed a lot since then. :( |
| Cheryl S | 10/20/14 | In 1984, at 16, my first job was at Fanny Farmer Candy Shopp. It was Downstairs, near JC Penney. Then in 1986 (senior year) I worked at NTI Theaters. Fun job. Free movies. When Ferris Bueller's Day Off was up, I used to try to plan my break to coincide with the parade scene! |
| Cheryl S | 10/20/14 | PS. 1. They should've never gotten rid of the ice rink. Many good times there. From my first concussion during skating lessons in 1980, to drunk skating in Junior High School! The free showing of The Big Chill was pretty cool though! |
| Mark | 9/9/15 | Grew up in Mont. Village. A lot of good memories at the rink. Mom would drop me off there while she shopped. Made a lot of good "older" friends there as I was only 9 or so and most of the folks there were teens. |
| Alex V | 12/20/17 | Does anybody remember back in the late 80s how the Lakeforest mall had Christmas decorations? With huge houses, dolls, a big tree, gift boxes and all sorts? Does anyone know what other decorations the mall had? This was in the late 80s. |