Dobie Mall

Maintainence takes a very long time, it’s been over a week and I’m still waiting.
New renovations are nice and welcome.

This is Highland Mall’s little sibbling. The place equally sucks re selection and decoration.
The only thing apparently keeping it from going totally under is the college students right next door — including those who don’t have a car and have to depend on either the bus or their own two legs to go somewhere.
In other words, this is as close as they get to a mall with their schedule and resources. But there are only so many times you can really go to an army recruiter, Kaplan test prep or textbook store. YIKES!
The food court was sparse when school was in session. But at least it smelled halfway decent (ie not unsafe). However, this is the first time I’ve been in a food place and there are no restrooms — public or customer only which I could find. Uh-​oh.
Maybe this isn’t a place to eat after all.

It has nothing… Foods are not bad though.
I was very disappointed at the nail shop where I did French nails. They don’t look pretty when they were finished, and they became yellowish brown at the 3^rd day. And the lady did my nails didn’t really speak English, making communication very hard.

If I come off harsh, it’s probably because I’m not from here and thus have no sentimental nostalgia associated with Dobie Mall. I think this gives me an unabashed unbiased opinion when I say this place fckin sucks. The directory listed two game stores (Resurrection and Cartridge) that sounded interesting but after wandering around for 10 minutes I could find neither. Considering how tiny the mall is i must surely be an idiot for not finding the shops, right? Found an internal directory and found the exact spots. Went. Nothing. Both closed down. Easy to miss, I suppose because they were each surrounded on both sides with more closed shops.
So the external directory, the internal directory, and the website (I later checked) are all wrong. Obviously «The Weitzman Group» maintains a high standard.
It has an army recruiter, a nail salon, a convenience store, a hair salon, a food court, a Princeton Review, and a textbook store (which also was listed incorrectly, both in name and in the hours of operation posted online).
I’m sure, containing the «college essentials,» it’s a nice air-​conditioned place to get relax when you live in Dobie apartments right next door, but as far as malls go this place is a piece of shit. Superfluous. As useless as the three Japanese good luck cats sitting next to each other in the window of «Funny Nails» salon.
Any appeal of this place extends only from convenience and no other aspect, and if you’re not a UT student (who can’t be bothered to walk across the 50-​feet across the street to the drag,) then there is no convenience in this place, and thus no reason for it’s existence.

When I was in high school and college, the Dobie represented the best of Austin for me. I had my first dates at the Dobie theatre, hung out in the (admittedly awful) food court between classes at UT, and perused the comic store downstairs at the height of my nerdom. The pizza store guy will always remember your name, and is relentlessly cheerful.
The Dobie Mall is just not the same without the theatre. I miss the free Landmark soundtrack CDs they gave out, being able to walk there from class, and seeing local shorts during Austin Film Fest.

excuse the language, but this place is a run-​down, empty, worthless shit hole.
the last time i went here (to see a movie in the odd, but surprisingly good theater), almost all of the stores were closed for good, ostensibly due to not paying rent.
it’s a shame someone hasn’t torn this place down, or used it to open decent stores that don’t just sell textbooks or random crap.
i think the positive reviews here are for the theater, which has a good selection of movies…
but the mall?
worthless.

The Dobie would get a higher rating from me if they had not gotten rid of the photo booth. I want to give them only one star for that fact, but I’m going with my head over my heart with this one.
They have a convenience store that is pretty well stocked with good ice cream, and sometimes they have good beer. There is also a funny sign that is supposedly written in blood about killing shop lifters, but I know they guy who wrote it and can tell you that it was written in marker, but if they ever get a chance the employees, though a nice bunch, will use your shoplifting blood for ink.
I like the theatre in this place, it has theme screening rooms.
There is also a crappy comic book store, a hoa hoa (Chinese restaurant) that has lots of vegan options, and a pizza place that is okay.
I want them to bring the photo booth back. It broke my heart when they took them away.

Well… I continue to love and frequent Dobie Mall (actually just the movie theater) for many reasons.
They show the coolest indie movies in town. The only other place you can see cool movies is at the Arbor and this is alot closer to those of you more in the campus vicinity. I saw several movie premieres there during SXSW and wasn’t disappointed. The theaters are smaller and more intimate, but I liked the feel.
They have a photo booth that takes grainy ridiculous pictures (I have like 3 sets on my fridge), and a food court that is always empty whenever I come. There are several other rarely used shops, but it has remained pretty much unchanged for years. Unlike the rest of Guadalupe where things are popping up and getting torn down every day, Dobie mall, and its rocking theater, remain a constant.
4 stars for the theater, 3 for the mall.

Dobie Mall is a locally famous, UT-​campus-​based two-​story shopping center that is primarily known for its 4-​screen movie theater. The exterior is dingy, but the interior has been better maintained.
Let’s start with the best. The Dobie theater is small, but mighty. Known for catering to independent, local, or underfed films, it’s a popular spot to see arthouse reels with friends. Their four screening rooms have differing «themes» (awesome) but apparently pillars in a couple of the rooms cause viewing blockage (I’ve never had this dilemma, but have been warned by friends).
The theater shares space with a food court, home to the usual suspects (subs, burgers, Indian, Chinese, pizza, smoothies, coffee and burritos). The bottom floor is dedicated to retail and service-​oriented businesses (hair and nail salons, postal and copying services, a florist, a ticketing agency, etc.). See their website for a full listing of service and individual store hours.
There are certainly more spectacular Austin alternatives to everything Dobie Mall offers; but, when you get right down to it, the Dobie sells convenience. When you’re in college, you need what’s cheap, fast and accessible. Dobie is all of these things… and a little more. I’d like to be strict and award 3 stars, but Dobie has proven herself.
One-​stop shopping at Dobie Mall.