Rivergate Mall is a super-regional

shopping 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 refe ...

located in

Goodlettsville, Tennessee Goodlettsville is a city in Davidson and Sumner counties, Tennessee. Goodlettsville was incorporated as a city in 1958 with a population of just over 3,000 residents; at the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 15,921 and in 2020 the po ...

, United States, just outside of

Nashville Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and the ...

, the

state capital Below is an index of pages containing lists of capital cities. National capitals *List of national capitals *List of national capitals by latitude *List of national capitals by population *List of national capitals by area *List of capital citie ...

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

. Opened in October 1971, the mall features of

gross leasable area In architecture, construction, and real estate, floor area, floor space, or floorspace is the area (measured as square feet or square metres) taken up by a building or part of it. The ways of defining "floor area" depend on what factors of the buil ...

, with approximately 80 stores and restaurants, as well as a

food court A food court (in Asia-Pacific also called food hall or hawker centre) is generally an indoor plaza or common area within a facility that is contiguous with the counters of multiple food vendors and provides a common area for self-serve dinner. I ...

. Its original

anchor stores In retail, an "anchor tenant", sometimes called an "anchor store", "draw tenant", or "key tenant", is a considerably larger tenant in a shopping mall, often a department store or retail chain. They are typically located at the ends of malls. Wit ...

were

Cain-Sloan Cain-Sloan Co. Inc. was a department store chain based in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. It was founded in 1903, merged with Allied Stores in 1955, and with Dillard's in 1987. It was a target of the 1960 Nashville sit-ins. History The sto ...

Castner Knott Castner Knott was a Nashville, Tennessee-based regional department store chain which operated stores in Alabama, Kentucky, and Tennessee. The chain was in business for a century from 1898 to 1998, in its later years as a division of Mercantile St ...

, and

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 ...

. Rivergate Mall has two anchor stores:

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 ...

and

. There are two vacant anchor stores that were formerly

Macy's Macy's (originally R. H. Macy & Co.) is an American chain of high-end department stores founded in 1858 by Rowland Hussey Macy. It became a division of the Cincinnati-based Federated Department Stores in 1994, through which it is affiliated wi ...

and

Sears Sears, Roebuck and Co. ( ), commonly known as Sears, is an American chain of department stores founded in 1892 by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck and reincorporated in 1906 by Richard Sears and Julius Rosenwald, with what began a ...

. The mall sits in the core of a

shopping district A shopping street or shopping district is a designated road or quarter of a city/town that is composed of individual retail establishments (such as stores, boutiques, restaurants, and shopping complexes). Such areas will typically be pedest ...

that is shared by the city of Goodlettsville and the Nashville neighborhood of Madison. This area is colloquially referred to by locals as "Rivergate," after the mall. Rivergate Mall is managed by Hendon Properties.

History

1970s to 1980s

Rivergate Mall was built by Retail Planning Corporation, an

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

-based mall developer, just outside the state capital of

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the List of muni ...

within Goodletsville along Two Mile Pike. The mall officially opened on October 6, 1971. Upon its opening, Rivergate Mall became the largest mall in

, a title it would hold until the opening of

Hickory Hollow Mall Global Mall at the Crossings (formerly Hickory Hollow Mall) was a 1.1 million-square-foot (102,193-square-meter) regional indoor shopping mall in the Nashville neighborhood of Antioch, Tennessee, located just east of I-24 at exit 59 along ...

in 1978. The mall originally included three anchor stores:

, and

. Other major tenants at opening included

Jo-Ann Fabrics Jo-Ann Stores, LLC, more commonly known as Jo-Ann (stylized as JOANN), is an American specialty retailer of crafts and fabrics based in Hudson, Ohio. It operates the retail chains ''JOANN Fabrics and Crafts'' and ''Jo-Ann Etc''. The headquarter ...

, McCrory, and

Walgreens Walgreen Company, d/b/a Walgreens, is an American company that operates the second-largest pharmacy store chain in the United States behind CVS Health. It specializes in filling prescriptions, health and wellness products, health information, an ...

. The mall's first expansion phase opened in November 1978, with a new parking area and of retail space, which included 22 stores and 74 supporting shops. Journeys opened their first location in the mall in December 1986. Cain-Sloan sold its store to

in 1987, as a part of deal which included the sale of three Nashville-area locations. A wing featuring

, dozens of new parcels, and a food court was added in 1989.

1990s to 2000s

During a tornado outbreak on May 18, 1995, part of the Rivergate Mall's roof collapsed, injuring more than a dozen people. The mall was sold to CBL Associates & Properties for $247 million in June 1998. In August of that year,

Proffitt's Proffitt's was a department store chain based in Alcoa, Tennessee. On March 8, 2006, the Proffitt's and McRae's stores were converted into Belk stores. Belk acquired the two chains in July 2005 from Saks, Inc. History Beginnings Jeweler Dav ...

purchased five Nashville-area locations from Castner Knott, including their Rivergate Mall store. With the threat of competition from nearby

Opry Mills Opry Mills is a super-regional shopping mall in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. The mall was owned by the Mills Corporation and Ryman Hospitality Properties until 2007, when the Mills Corporation was acquired by Simon Property Group. It opened ...

, CBL renovated the mall in 1999, adding new carpeting and a new entranceway. Proffitt's sold its store to

Hecht's Hecht's, also known as Hecht Brothers, Hecht Bros. and the Hecht Company, was a large chain of department stores that operated mainly in the mid-Atlantic and southern region of the United States. The firm originated in Baltimore, Maryland. By 20 ...

in March 2001 as part of a deal to sell off nine locations.

Linens 'n Things Linens 'n Things was a Clifton, New Jersey-based big-box retailer specializing in home textiles, housewares, and decorative home accessories. The chain operated 571 stores in 47 U.S. states and six Canadian provinces, and had 7,300 employees as of ...

opened a store at the mall in 2003.

moved into the mall in 2006, replacing Hecht's after it sold its five Nashville-area locations to the company. By 2008, the Streets of Indian Lake was nearing completion in nearby Hendersonville, attracting many upscale retailers, causing a decline in shoppers at the mall. Incredible Dave's, a restaurant and entertainment center, replaced a mall wing in 2012, but closed in 2014.

2010s to present

In 2013, CBL sold three of their malls, including the Rivergate Mall, to an offshore investor for $176 million. The new owner leased the malls to Atlanta-based Hendon Properties. An 11,695-square-foot

Guitar Center Guitar Center is an American musical instrument retailer chain. It is the largest company of its kind in the United States, with 294 locations. Its headquarters is in Westlake Village, California. Guitar Center oversees various subsidiaries in ...

opened in the mall in the spring of 2017, while existing tenant, teen apparel retailer

rue21 New rue21, LLC (rue21) is an American specialty retailer of women's & men's casual apparel and accessories headquartered in the Pittsburgh suburb of Warrendale, Pennsylvania. Its clothes are designed to appeal to people who desire, wish, or feel ...

, opened a larger store with an additional in the summer of 2017. Another existing tenant, shoe retailer

Foot Locker Foot Locker Retail, Inc. is an Americans, American sportswear and footwear retailer, with its headquarters in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, and operating in 28 countries. Although established in 1974, and founded as a separate company in ...

, added a new store with an additional in the fall of 2017. Sears closed its store at the mall in March 2019 as part of a plan to close 80 locations nationwide. Following the closure of Macy's in 2020, the anchor store's space was sold to Urban Story Ventures for $4 million, however the group did not announce any redevelopment plans for the space.

References

External links

Rivergate Mall Official web site
{{Nashville area malls and shopping centers Shopping malls established in 1971 Shopping malls in Tennessee Buildings and structures in Davidson County, Tennessee Tourist attractions in Davidson County, Tennessee 1971 establishments in Tennessee