10 Years of the Shoppes of Battery Mill!

 

The retail photo that changed everything... (posted March 31, 2015)

Earlier this year, 10 years passed since I introduced myself to the retail community via Flickr. The year efore that, a decade officially passed since I began delving into retail history in earnest. Time sure has passed, hasn't it? There, however, is a bigger question. How exactly did we get here? Well, besides the usual ways of the world, that's one story I'd like to tell you.

I had been into retail for much of my life before that. I did enjoy whatever nuggets of history I stumbled upon online, including malls and the brands I had encountered over the years. Yet, things remained tepid for a little while. That was when I peered into the rabbit hole that was the Flickr retail community sometime in 2014. One thing led to another, and soon enough, I was hooked. I gained a broader understanding of what situations many retailers came from. I was also delightfully surprised to see what people knew about the stores I was already familiar with. By the end of the year, I was aspiring to craft something just like these retail photographers, using what I had learned about retail history. And so I did.

My formal beginnings in the retail community were on a little site called Panoramio, where I created my first account in November 2014. I chose it because I had yet to make a Yahoo! account to access Flickr (which was then compulsory, seeing as they owned said site at the time). I rolled out some of my first retail photos onto the platform, albeit to a small audience. Growth was tepid, but quite expected for such a site.

In March 2015, I finally made my Flickr debut with a glimpse into one of America's favorite retailers, as one can see above. Momentum was slow, with the initial uploads consisting of Panoramio ports. Nevertheless, my time as a retail fan was only getting started. All-new photos soon trickled in, and connections were established with the burgeoning Flickr retail and mall community.

The next three and some years saw exponential growth, leading to high highs (and occasional lows). In this time, I met many incredible people, learned incredible things about the world around me, and took the liberty to further the retail community. I achieved many viral retail photos, accumulated over 1 million views, and entered the blogging realm late in 2015 with the Shoppers Food Blog (my first such experiment). Most importantly, I also broke new ground in this time. November 2017 saw the launch of The Retail Union, a retail-focused server on the burgeoning Discord instant messaging platform (join through the sidebar link!).

In April 2019, the next chapter of my retail fan journey began. The Shoppes of Battery Mill blog was launched. From the launch onwards, the blog has provided me with a way to curate the best of all my retail photos, all while detailing the intricacies of retail history and business in each post. That's about where things stand today - though there is more to come!

As part of this announcement, I'm re-upping my commitment to this blog. Starting this August (right around the corner!), I will release a whole new slate of posts, all featuring never-seen-before content from the past few years. I apologize for the lack of uploads in this time, but you know what they say: better late than never! I'll be kicking it off with Shoppers Week: 5 days dedicated to a grocer that I know well. Posts dedicated to other retailers are sure to follow in the coming weeks as well.

Until then, I want to extend a special shoutout to all my fans and supporters over the years! I'm impressed that I have made it so far, and I'm glad you have, too. I've learned lots from your posts, and I'm thankful to be a welcomed part of the community. For the ones that aren't here to celebrate, I'm thankful you stopped by along the way. Here's to all the more years in the world!

-BatteryMill, 2025