Official/Rumored Store-Businesses Thread (Atlanta, Savannah: appointed, sales, neighborhood)

[Newsboy]

Originally Posted by DanielAvery

Now that you mention it, I was one of those people who rarely wandered into the mall part. At most, I would park at Target and go downstairs to Burlington, maybe look in AC Moore...but rarely ventured inside the main mall.

It's kind of morbid, but there is a site www.deadmalls.com that might be of interest, especially the "stories" section.

This site is even better:

Sky City: Southern Retail Then and Now: Savannah Mall: Savannah, GA

[TheDarkKnight]

Originally Posted by Newsboy

What did you expect on a Tuesday night? I was there on a weekday around lunchtime recently and it was pretty busy, especially the food court. The anchors are always busy -- especially Target and Bass Pro. The challenge for the management is to get people to wander the mall again -- to have a reason to venture from Dillard's down to Target. If they can get the right mix of entertainment / dining / family attractions / shops in there, they'll be fine. When Toby Keith's opens, the whole place is going to get busy.

Will it ever be a traditional mall again? No, of course not. That's what the story in Sunday's paper was very specific about. But the mall is moving forward. It's not in any danger of becoming another Regency Mall in Augusta, or Shannon Mall in Atlanta -- abandoned and bordered up. That's something you can feel good about.

I know what you mean, it's just we used to go as a family on weekdays after school and it was booming.

It's just sad for me to walk down those walkways again because Savannah Mall was by far my favorite place to go. I even remember Belk having a mini bakery area on the bottom floor next to the entrance.

I went in Dilliards and it was a huge mess. Nothing of note to buy, more employees than customers in the store during Christmas.

The nostalgia was getting the best of me yesterday when I was explaining to my buddy what was where. Blows my mind of all the places that left:

Finish Line, Lady's Foot Locker, Journey's, KB Toys, Waldenbooks, Dollar Tree, Sunglass Hut, Express, Aber & Fitch, Belk, Parisian, Montgomery Ward, Auntie Annie's Pretzels, Tilt, Verizon Wireless, Gap. I'm sure there's more I'm missing, female clothing stores I don't remember.

It's been so long I don't even remember what used to occupy the space where AC Moore Crafts is.

One day, I'm going to buy that mall and invest in it to bring it back to it's glory days.

[TheDarkKnight]

The biggest blow to Savannah Mall was Montgomery Ward, because it occupied two floors and was just a large void next to the entrance of the mall.

If they never opened Carmike and Regal cinemas right next to each other across the street, I would've strongly advocated going the route of Phipps in Atlanta and putting a movie theater in there. I remember saying here a source of mine that had been reliable, said Dave & Busters was coming in which would've really really helped the mall out.

I think the biggest problem I have with the Savannnah Mall, is the main entrance/food court is in the back not in front where Abercorn is. Is this by design? Bad comparison, but Lennox's food court is also in the back, but it doesn't have the grand entrance look like the Savannah Mall does.

[DanielAvery]

Honestly I had never really thought about a "main entrance" for the mall, but it makes sense since that carousel was right there. I guess it's like you said---it isn't facing Abercorn, so I never noticed. I never entered there, either.

One odd thing I recall about Dillard's (which I loved to shop--great clearance rack action!) was the dirty carpeting. The store itself was constantly shifting racks around and re-grouping, but that lousy carpet never seemed to get shampoo-ed.

[Newsboy]

Originally Posted by TheDarkKnight

The biggest blow to Savannah Mall was Montgomery Ward, because it occupied two floors and was just a large void next to the entrance of the mall.

No, the biggest blow was the closing of Parisian, which had the center-court anchor spot, followed by Belk. Montgomery Ward, which never had much of a presence in Georgia in the first place, went bankrupt and closed all its stores nationwide. And just FYI -- all four anchor department stores are / were two-level, and the largest far and away was / is Dillard's, which was originally J.B. White. That store is just huge, and if not for the fact that they pay ZERO rent they wouldn't still be there today.

Originally Posted by TheDarkKnight

If they never opened Carmike and Regal cinemas right next to each other across the street, I would've strongly advocated going the route of Phipps in Atlanta and putting a movie theater in there. I remember saying here a source of mine that had been reliable, said Dave & Busters was coming in which would've really really helped the mall out.

At the time the theaters were built, the mall was still pretty well leased. What doesn't make sense is why there was never any consideration given to putting signs on Abercorn advertising the theaters. If you don't know they are behind the mall, you'd never know they are there.

Originally Posted by TheDarkKnight

I think the biggest problem I have with the Savannnah Mall, is the main entrance/food court is in the back not in front where Abercorn is. Is this by design? Bad comparison, but Lennox's food court is also in the back, but it doesn't have the grand entrance look like the Savannah Mall does.

Food courts aren't generally in front of malls because food courts don't draw in shoppers. Main-line stores do. And in this case, the original mall lineup had Belk, J.B. White and the very prestigious Parisian all fronting on Abercorn. That was far more valuable than a food court. Though in hindsight, I can see how having the carousel visible from the street would work in the mall's favor today.

[TheDarkKnight]

The Abercorn side entrance next to parisian was tilt and another restaurant before Texas roadhouse.

Obviously food court isn't what draws but how many malls have you been to where the food court had a grand entrance walkway like sav? Lenox is normal auto doors. The millenia in Orlando is regular auto doors.

I actually liked parisian the few times we went in there. I am aware all 4 anchors were 2 storied. The reason I pointed that out about ward was it had two entrances. Majority of the people who went to the mall parked at the food court back in those days. Either there or dilliards and mward top level entrances.

[TheDarkKnight]

The reason I say Montgomery ward closing was more important was because it started the Domino effect. Also minus dilliards the whole side of that mall never recovered.

[DanielAvery]

M'Ward's closing was of course out of their control, but I think part of the domino effect you mention was because no other retailer really jumped to replace them in that space. The longer it sat empty, the more vulnerable/undesirable the mall looked. I remember thinking that their eventual solutions (partitioning the space by floor) made them look sort of desperate. Steve and Barry's really ought to have taken up two or three smaller storefronts in the main mall area, not unnaturally spread out in the bottom half of M'Ward's space (I say "unnaturally" because it felt as if they were struggling to make that area look full). Then the upper floor was used for temporary events and used by some college for classroom space. I interviewed for a job at a job fair being held in that space for Target (I think it was Target) when it arrived, and remember the M'Ward signs still hanging in the places where the departments had been. If they are making some money off the space, I guess they can't justify tearing that part down, but I often thought they ought to have removed it and just billed themselves as having three main anchor stores rather than renting out space for college classrooms.

[TheDarkKnight]

Got me to remember just how many times my family would drive to the Southside. My mom was big into service merchandise. They were next to books a million for many years. That entire shopping center is booming now.

I'm shocked to know that kmart on Montgomery is still open.

[gentlearts]

I know how a mall can become part of your memories, and how we want things to remain the same. I did not experience that here, but I did experience it where I lived. I watched a mall fail that I remember going to the Grand Opening of many years before. It turned around.
Savannah Mall can turn around. It has the bones to do it. Bass Pro is a destination. Toby Keith's will be a destination, too. Things evolve and changes happen. It is not as though it's in a derelict or dangerous area, so I'm hopeful.