Pretzelmaker and Pretzel Time

Looking at the Evolution of Mall Pretzels

In 2010, Pretzel Time, once a standalone staple of mall food courts across North America, was quietly absorbed into its sibling brand Pretzelmaker, consolidating two already indistinct identities into one cinnamon-sugar continuum. The merger left behind a visual residue—signage, slogans, kiosks—that now function less as corporate artifacts than as aesthetic fossils. These counters, with their cartoon pretzels and drop ceilings, perform a retail hauntology: spaces where commercial optimism lingers, laminated, just beneath the surface.