Gwinnett Place Mall

Gwinnett Place Mall is a largely vacant shopping mall located in the Pleasant Hill Road corridor of Duluth, Georgia, in the United States. The mall is almost identical to Town Center at Cobb. For the first 16 years, Gwinnett Place was the leading mall in the region, drawing shoppers from as far away as South Carolina and centering what was then one of the fastest-growing counties in the nation until the openings of Mall of Georgia in Buford and Sugarloaf Mills in Lawrenceville. It was also used as the Starcourt Mall filming location in the third season of Netflix's ''Stranger Things''.

History

When it first opened in early 1984, its original anchors were Rich's, Davison's and Sears. In 1984, Mervyn's joined the mall (which was likewise done at Town Center at Cobb) and Davison's was changed over to Macy's. Parisian joined the mall anchoring a northwest wing (the first two were at Town Center at Cobb and Phipps Plaza, both of which opened in 1992, followed by a fourth at Northlake Mall in 1994). J. C. Penney took over the Mervyn's spot in 1984 and closed in late 1984 after a mall fire , with Beauty Master taking over in 2016. Macy's and Rich's merged in 2003 to form Rich's-Macy's until 2005 when the name was changed to just Macy's. With two Macy's in the mall, the former Davison's closed and in 2010 reopened as the first MegaMart in the U.S. In 2007, Parisian was renamed Belk, which closed in 2013 and remains vacant to this day, waiting for redevelopment. In some of these aspects, the mall developed on a very similar fashion as Town Center at Cobb on the northwest side of Atlanta. Both were in many ways sister malls, including their similar layouts. However, one of the distinct features about Gwinnett Place Mall is the Macy's (former Rich's), which features an exterior almost entirely covered in mirrored glass.

Today

The mall was seriously challenged and hurt by the openings of the Mall of Georgia in 1999 and Sugarloaf Mills in 2001 (also owned by Simon). Not only did the mall lose a large part of its customer base and all of its out-of-state shoppers to these new malls, but the mall was also unable to attract any new anchors for several years although the Macy's moved its location to the defunct Rich's on the west side of the mall and Parisian became Belk. In 2008, Gwinnett Technical College opened an International Education Center there, where students enrolled at Gwinnett Technical College to take foreign language classes such as Korean. Mega Mart opened a location in the former Macy's. Currently, a number of the mall's store fronts and spots in the food court are empty and for lease. The recent downturn of the mall in 2013 has led to the closure of Belk as well as owner and manager Simon Property Group to lose the mall to foreclosure where it was acquired by retail rehab specialist, Moonbeam Capital Investments LLC. JCPenney would close on April 4, 2015 and Beauty Master, a regional beauty department store, purchased the former JCPenney building in March 2016. Beauty Master would open on August 4, 2016.

In December 2017 the body of a 19-year-old woman was found in the back room of the food court, where it had gone unnoticed for weeks. The mall has also had ongoing issues with homelessness, gangs, and prostitution in and around the mall and surrounding areas. In January 2018, two mall employees were robbed and assaulted in the Macy's parking lot; in March 2018, a 32-year-old female was arrested for indecent exposure, solicitation of prostitution, and possession of heroin and cocaine in the Sears parking lot. On May 31, 2018, Sears announced that their location there would be closing in September 2018 as part of a plan to close 63 stores across the United States.

In late February 2019, ''The Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' and ''Gwinnett Daily Post'' reported that sports developer CricRealty intends to redevelop the Gwinnett Place Mall site to build a mixed-use development anchored by a 20,000-seat cricket stadium.

On December 15, 2020, officials from Gwinnett County's Urban Redevelopment Agency agreed to purchase the 39-acre Gwinnett Place Mall site from Moonbeam Capital Investments LLC for $23 million. Several tenants, including Macy’s, Mega Mart and Beauty Master, own their own property. The sale closed in April 2021 but plans for the site have not yet been disclosed.

In popular culture

On July 16, 2018, streaming service Netflix released a teaser for the third season of its series ''Stranger Things''. The ad was made in the style of a 1985 mall advertisement for the fictional "Starcourt Mall". In reality, the crew of ''Stranger Things'' did a cosmetic restoration of a portion of the Gwinnett Place Mall, returning authentic signage and storefronts to the mall to represent many businesses that have since ceased to exist. The transformation took place during May 2018, with production of the series taking place in the mall during the subsequent summer months. After filming concluded, the Starcourt Mall set was dismantled in the summer of 2019 to prevent fans from vandalizing the set to steal souvenirs.

Anchors

Final anchors

*Beauty Master (March 2016-present)
*Macy's (1986-2003, March 6, 2005-present)
*MegaMart (2010-present)

Former anchors

*Belk (2007-2013)
* Davison's (1984-1986)
*JCPenney (1997-April 4, 2015)
*Mervyn's (1986-1997)
* Parisian (1995-2007)
* Rich's (1984-March 6, 2005)
*Sears (1984-September 2018)

References

External links

Gwinnett Place Mall official website

{{Shopping malls in Georgia (U.S. state)

Shopping malls in the Atlanta metropolitan area
Buildings and structures in Gwinnett County, Georgia
Tourist attractions in Gwinnett County, Georgia
shopping malls disestablished in 2020
Defunct shopping malls in the United States
Shopping malls established in 1984