NORTH DEKALB MALL

'North Dekalb Mall' is one of the earliest major shopping malls in the Atlanta area, located in the suburb of Decatur at the split of US 29 and US 78.

Contents

Opening

Renovations & Expansion

Store Closings & New Stores

North DeKalb Today

Current Anchors

Major Stores

External Links

References

Opening

North DeKalb Mall was originally built as one of Atlanta's first enclosed malls anchored by Rich's and was called North DeKalb Center. The mall first opened July 29, 1965, with 54 stores, along them:

★ Woolworth's

★ Zachry,

★ Regenstein's

★ The Playboy Shop

★ Flagg Brothers Shoes

★ Butler's Shoes

★ Thompson, Boland and Lee Shoe store

★ Decatur Federal Savings and Loan.

★ Casual Corner

★ Pearle Opical

★ Pet Village

★ Hickory Farms

★ North DeKalb Theater^[1]
North DeKalb Center provided the third major shopping center in the county in addition to Columbia Mall (later Avondale Mall) and Belvedere Plaza.

Renovations & Expansion

In order to compete, the mall was remodeled and upgraded numerous times over the years. One of the first expansions was to Rich's, which added a large, one-story Men's Store to the front of the mall.
In 1986, North Dekalb Mall was expanded and renovated with two new additional anchors: Mervyn's and Lechmere. The additions helped the mall to remain competitive in a county that had a saturated market with six total malls. The mall was also renamed from that time up until after 2000 as "Market Square at North Dekalb", which was later scrapped for the original name.

Store Closings & New Stores

Lechmere eventually went bankrupt and Mervyn's eliminated its Georgia locations in the late 1990s, tenants quickly filled the vacancies. Phar-Mor discount drug store was opened after Lechmere closed; however, Phar-Mor closed in 1992. When Mervyn's closed all its Georgia Locations, Upton's filled the retail space until the store closed and soon after the Upton's chain went bankrupt. Stein Mart occupied the former Upton's for a few years afterward.

North DeKalb Today

Now a Burlington Coat Factory occupies the former Upton's location. A Ross Dress for Less store now occupies the space that once housed a Men's Warehouse. Old Navy and The Gap both closed their stores at North DeKalb around 2003. The spot that once occupied Old Navy is now home to a store that supplies uniforms. In 2005, Rhodes Furniture, which was an anchor situated directly next to the movie theater, closed after the entire Rhodes chain went out of business. A movie theater was expanded into one of the empty anchors Lechmere.
In 2004, tentative plans were made to further expand and improve on the aging center by adding a Costco as an anchor and a new parking deck. So far, those plans are on hold.

Current Anchors

★ Macy's (195,752 sq. ft., formerly Rich's)

★ Burlington Coat Factory (75,000 sq. ft.)

★ AMC 16 Theatres (63,395 sq. ft.)

Major Stores

★ All About The House (40,093 sq. ft.)

★ Little Bucks (23,232 sq. ft.)

★ Ross Dress For Less (30,000 sq. ft.)

External Links

References

1. New North DeKalb Center Opens Today Linda Mills