Throwback Thursday: Back-to-school shopping at Independence Mall in the 1980sA kid shows off his Michael Jackson-inspired look at Independence Mall in August of 1984. The latest edition of the WWAY archive series revisits stories from 1983 and 1984, when families filled Independence Mall searching for new clothes, the latest fashion trends and emerging technology for students. The first story, from August 1983, showed families shopping for school clothes, with designer jeans among the year’s most sought-after items. One year later, WWAY returned to Independence Mall as fashion trends continued to evolve. Today, laptops, tablets and other digital devices have become common items on many families’ back-to-school shopping lists.