LENOX SQUARE

'Lenox Square', owned by the Simon Property Group, is a shopping mall located in the Buckhead neighborhood of Atlanta, Georgia, in the United States. It was the first major shopping mall in Georgia.

Contents

History

Atlanta Traditions

4th of July Fireworks

Rich's "It's All About The South"

Lenox Today

Around Lenox

Anchor stores

Exclusive tenants

References

External links

History

It opened in August 1959 and was originally an open-air mall anchored by Rich's, Davison's and a Colonial grocery store. There were 60 original tenants, including a bowling alley and a Kresge five and dime store. A movie theater opened in June 1963.^[1]
In the early 1970s, Lenox Square was enclosed to compete with the newer enclosed malls that had opened in the region. The enclosure of the mall was undertaken in tandem with the construction of a new wing, which included Georgia's first and only Neiman Marcus. A second expansion was completed in 1980 that added a three-level section at the back of the mall and a food court, as well as a connection to MARTA's Lenox transit station that opened after service to an extension of the transit system's Northeast Line commenced in December 1984. Davison's name was replaced in 1985 with the name Davison's/Macy's and then finally just Macy's in 1986.^[2]
In 1995, the mall opened its largest expansion yet, adding a second story above the original one-level section. The expansion made Lenox Square, at the time, the largest shopping center in the Southeast, with 1.5 million square feet (140,000m²) divided among 240 stores and restaurants.^[3]

Atlanta Traditions

Lenox Square had helped to become part of the traditions of Atlanta over the years since its opening.

4th of July Fireworks

1960, Lenox Square began an annual tradition of hosting what would later become the largest Independence Day fireworks displays in the Southeast (now broadcast live, usually on WGCL-TV and WSTR FM).

Rich's "It's All About The South"

Rich's was one of the original tenants at Lenox Square Mall. Rich's and Atlanta became synonymous over the years with its expansions downtown and later into the malls around the south. In 1991, with the closure of the original Rich's in downtown Atlanta, the Rich's at Lenox Square became the chain's flagship. In 2000 it also became the home to the Rich's Great Tree, the city's giant public outdoor Christmas tree, after nearly a decade at Underground Atlanta. Rich's said goodbye to the city in 2005.

Lenox Today

With the elimination of the Rich's brand by Federated Department Stores in 2005, the Rich's location at Lenox Square became the flagship of the Macy's South division, while the former Davison's/Macy's location at the mall closed for remodeling to open as a Bloomingdale's. In 2006, the Simon Property Group launched a fourth expansion project, extending the second story completed in 1995 over the Neiman Marcus wing of the complex.

Around Lenox

Lenox Square is connected via walkway to the 27-story JW Marriott Buckhead hotel, classifed as a 4-star hotel by the AAA.
Phipps Plaza, located diagonally across the intersection of Lenox and Peachtree roads, is Lenox Square's sister mall.
The area around Lenox has grown immensely in the past 50 years, and now includes many high-rise buildings which are in essence low skyscrapers. Some of these are very expensive condos, while others are offices. A two-story Target store sits across from Lenox, connected inside via escalators and elevators designed for shopping carts as well as shoppers, and having checkouts on both levels at the exits to a parking deck. While this is common in densely-packed cities like New York, this is extremely rare in mostly low-density areas like metro Atlanta.
Traffic levels around Lenox are high and the streets are confusing for those unfamiliar with the area. Georgia 400 (a tollway to the north, and freeway south to nearby Interstate 85) opened in 1993, restricting traffic to and from the west after it cut many existing roads. However, the buc (Buckhead Uptown Connection), the free shuttle bus service around Buckhead is available, supported voluntarily by a self-taxing district (Buckhead CID) which includes Lenox, and by GRTA and other agencies. The Peachtree Streetcar initiative would also extend free or low-fare streetcars to Lenox in the north, through midtown and downtown, to a proposed mixed-use redevelopment around historic Fort McPherson, 14 miles or 22.5 kilometers south.

Anchor stores

★ Bloomingdale's ''(1959 opened as Davison's, later Macy's, 274,000 sq. ft.)''

★ Macy's ''(1959 formerly Rich's, 433,308 sq. ft.)''

★ Neiman Marcus ''(sole Georgia location, 153,722 sq. ft.)''

Exclusive tenants

Lenox Square holds the sole Atlanta metropolitan area outposts of:

★ Bally of Switzerland

★ Betsey Johnson

★ Bobby Jones Golf

★ Burberry

★ Calvin Klein White Label

★ Cartier

★ Club Monaco

★ Crewcuts - ''opening fall 2007''

★ David Yurman

★ Diesel - ''opening early 2008''

★ Energie/Miss Sixty

★ Hermès

★ Judith Leiber

★ Kate Spade

★ Louis Vuitton

★ Lush

★ Montblanc

★ Nicole Miller

★ Polo Ralph Lauren

★ Salvatore Ferragamo

★ St. John

★ Stuart Weitzman

★ True Religion

★ Zara
Lenox Square also offers larger volume/capacity or flagship versions of the following stores:

★ Abercrombie & Fitch

★ American Eagle Outfitters

★ Anthropologie

★ Apple

★ Banana Republic

★ Brooks Brothers

★ Coach

★ Crate & Barrel

★ Harold's

★ J.Crew

★ Pottery Barn

★ Restoration Hardware

★ Sony Style

★ Urban Outfitters

★ Williams-Sonoma

References

1. http://georgiaretailmemories.blogspot.com/2006/08/lenox-square-mall.html Georgia Retail Memories blog Lenox Square Early Years
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Davison%27s Davison's Information
3. http://www.simon.com/mall/mall_info.aspx?ID=207 Lenox Information

External links

★ Lenox Square Mall

★ Georgia Retail Memories blog