Auntie Anne’s (Portage)
6650 S. Westnedge Avenue, Suite 207So…I’m a 90’s kid which means I spent a lot of time in the malls growing up. I vividly remember when the mall near me was built. I was in 5th grade and they might as have been building DisneyWorld in my hometown. That’s how exciting it was.
We used to go on family vacations and all I would want to do was check out the mall in whatever city we were in. If we were out of Illinois, I would be looking for local basketball jersey’s. Back in olden times, if you wanted an LA Lakers jersey but you lived in Chicago, you either had to go to LA or order it from Eastbay. It wasn’t just a click away like it is now.
Mall’s still had a ton of stores, arcades, and full food courts back in those days. I spent a lot of time going between the arcade (playing The Simpsons) and the food court.
Things were different when I went shopping with my mom though. We actually had to go shopping. Jeans from JC Penny…or….if I was lucky and had a little extra money, The Buckle and then typically a stop at my mom’s favorite mall food stand…Auntie Anne’s.
Auntie Anne’s has been a mall staple since the early 1990’s. The Portage shop in on the upper level of Crossroads Mall near what I guess can be considered Center Court.
L had a birthday party at Build-A-Bear so I J took her there while I took B to the play area to kill some time. We didn’t tell B where L was going because he would of flipped out. Once he started playing, he totally forgot L was even gone.
About an hour after we got there, B said he was thirsty. I was going to walk down to the Cookie shop and get him an Icee but that was closed. My next thought was Wetzel’s Pretzel’s because I knew they had some kind of frozen drink but I really didn’t want him to see Build-A-Bear.
We got to Center Court on the upper level and I saw Auntie Anne’s. I pushed him that direction hoping they would have a frozen drink. To my relief, they did, so we didn’t have to go downstairs and risk B seeing L building a Bear at her birthday party.
Auntie Anne’s is kind of the originator of the mall pretzel shop….at least for me. I had never had a buttery soft pretzel like that until I had my first Auntie Anne’s. There are a lot of other places that do it now…including the Wetzel’s Pretzels that is literally right below them….but Auntie Anne’s is still the one from my childhood.
I kept it pretty simple just ordering two things. I kept it pretty simple with an order of Pretzel Nuggets and cheddar cheese. They had a cup of the nuggets in the warming case right next to the cash register. The cashier grabbed those and a prepackaged cup of cheese and handed them to me. We headed over to a table nearby to sit an eat. The Pretzel Nuggets are delicious little bites of their large twisty pretzel. B wasn’t super interested. He tried one but was pretty much just using it to get the cheese in to his mouth.
The reason we walked down to Auntie Anne’s was to get a frozen drink. They don’t have Icees but they have frozen lemonade. B picked a regular one. He drank a little bit of it while I was eating then we headed back to the play area where he would occasionally come over and drink a little more before going back to playing.
The price for pretzels and a drink was under $10 which I paid for with cash.
Auntie Anne’s is definitely a nostalgia place for me. I have never had a bad pretzel from the place but I don’t go to malls nearly as much as I used to. I never walk past the place without at least thinking about getting a pretzel. I’ve tried many times to make them myself at home but nothing compares to this 90’s mall staple.
SW Michigan Dining 