Asheville Mall is a

regional mall A shopping mall (or simply mall) is a North American term for a large indoor shopping center, usually anchored by department stores. The term "mall" originally meant a pedestrian promenade with shops along it (that is, the term was used to ref ...

Asheville, North Carolina Asheville ( ) is a city in, and the county seat of, Buncombe County, North Carolina. Located at the confluence of the French Broad and Swannanoa rivers, it is the largest city in Western North Carolina, and the state's 11th-most populous cit ...

. Asheville Mall is located off Interstate 240 in eastern Asheville. It is predominantly a one-story mall. Its anchors are Belk,

JCPenney Penney OpCo LLC, doing business as JCPenney and often abbreviated JCP, is a midscale American department store chain operating 667 stores across 49 U.S. states and Puerto Rico. Departments inside JCPenney stores include Mens, Womens, Boys, Gir ...

, and two

Dillard's Dillard's, Inc. is an upscale American department store chain with approximately 282 stores in 29 states and headquartered in Little Rock, Arkansas. Currently, the largest number of stores are located in Texas with 57 and Florida with 42. The ...

locations. It has 132 stores and is the largest mall in

Western North Carolina Western North Carolina (often abbreviated as WNC) is the region of North Carolina which includes the Appalachian Mountains; it is often known geographically as the state's Mountain Region. It contains the highest mountains in the Eastern United S ...

. It also dominates the area's retail.

History

Asheville Mall was developed by R. L. Coleman and Company opening in stages beginning with Sears on February 3 1972 and the rest of the shopping center opening November 23 1973. The mall's development was met with resistance from city officials and nearby property owners. During site grading a neighbor pulled a shotgun and threatened a bulldozer operator with it. During the construction's final phase a helicopter crashed into roof and had to be removed with a crane. The copter was being used to move air conditioning units onto the roof at the time of the crash. The center's completion is a testament to the negotiation skill and perseverance on Mr. Coleman's part. The original anchors were

The Bon Marche ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in En ...

, Belk, and Sears. The S & W Cafeteria moved to the Mall from downtown Asheville in 1974. Shortly after the opening, an Ivey's was added in the mid-1970s, along with a minor addition to the mall. In 1989,

joined the mall, adding onto a wing that had been added earlier in the decade.

Montgomery Ward Montgomery Ward is the name of two successive U.S. retail corporations. The original Montgomery Ward & Co. was a world-pioneering mail-order business and later also a leading department store chain that operated between 1872 and 2001. The curren ...

opened in 1994 in the space that housed The Bon Marche, later regional chains Meyers-Arnold and Uptons. After

purchased Ivey's in the early 1990s, that store was converted to a Dillard's. Belk expanded its store and added a second level in 2000. In the same year the mall added a Food Court.

Chick Fil-A Chick-fil-A ( , a play on the American English pronunciation of " filet") is an American fast food restaurant chain which is the country's largest which specializes in chicken sandwiches. Headquartered in College Park, Georgia, Chick-fil-A oper ...

opened the first store in the region in the mid eighties. This was the only mall location in company history open on Sundays due to mall rules until 1997 when the lease was renegotiated. The mall also expanded a wing from JCPenney to Belk adding 30 stores. The Coleman family sold the mall in 1997. After Montgomery Ward's closure in 2000, its store became Dillard's Men's, Children's, and Home, with the original Dillard's becoming a women's store. In 2015,

Sears Holdings Sears Holdings Corporation was an American holding company headquartered in Hoffman Estates, Illinois. It was the parent company of the chain stores Kmart and Sears and was founded after the former purchased the latter in 2005. It was the 20th-l ...

spun off 235 of its properties, including the Sears at Asheville Mall, into Seritage Growth Properties. Sears closed this location in July 2018 and is planned to be redeveloped into new apartments. On June 30, 2020, an SEC filing by owner CBL Properties listed Asheville Mall among properties that would likely be foreclosed upon.

References

{{reflist

External links

Asheville MallGuide to the Asheville Mall, and other Shopping Attractions in Asheville
Buildings and structures in Asheville, North Carolina Shopping malls in North Carolina Shopping malls established in 1971 Tourist attractions in Asheville, North Carolina