Attention, Retro Shoppers: Enjoy Several Hours of Old-School Christmastime Department Store & Mall Music

Jeff Pfeiffer December 22, 2023

black and white 1968 photo from the Denver Post taken at the now defunct Northglenn Mall at Christmas time. We are seeing a shot of the mall looking down the long corridor, with stores on either side, lined with Christmas trees on both sides. People are walking ahead in the photo, and centered in the image is the back of a woman wearing a '60s mini-skirt and looking at the trees. — Dave Buresh/The Denver Post via Getty Images

**Christmas shoppers at Denver's now-demolished Northglenn Shopping Mall in December 1968.**

You may no longer be able to do your Christmas shopping at a number of once-crowded malls that are now “dead”, or at department stores that for a long time were staples in most major downtown areas, or even at Kmart, but you can still sort of relive the experience by listening to the seasonal background music that used to accompany consumers searching for that perfect gift way back in the day (and perhaps drive the employees who had to listen to it all day long a little nuts).

Below are videos featuring several hours of Yuletide music that either was created specifically to be played in stores by outlets like Muzak (which is still around actually, but now branded as Mood Media), Seeburg and Customusic, or tunes that at least sound like they could have been heard by Christmas shoppers at various points between the 1960s and ’80s.