u/gags12345

This shopping center was one of my favorite places as a kid. It was called Polus Center's "Western City" and the entire interior was themed like an Old West town, with wooden storefronts, saloons, and a painted sky covering the ceiling.

Around 2012–2014, the mall was renovated and most of the Wild West theming was removed. The fake sky was replaced with a normal ceiling, and the whole place became much more modern and conventional.

Looking back at old photos, though, there's something strangely unsettling about it. The artificial clouds, the indoor streets, the dim lighting, and the way everything imitates an outdoor town while being completely enclosed creates a weird sense of unreality. It felt magical as a child, but now it gives me that classic liminal feeling - like a place caught somewhere between indoors and outdoors, reality and imitation.

Maybe it's nostalgia talking, but these images feel eerily empty even when people are present. It's a version of the mall that no longer exists, frozen in time.