St. Charles Towne Center is a two-level, enclosed shopping mall in the planned community of St. Charles in

Waldorf, Maryland Waldorf is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Charles County, Maryland, United States. Located south-southeast of Washington, D.C., Waldorf is part of the Southern Maryland region. It is an urban area, with a populat ...

. Built in the late 1980s, it covers an area of , and is currently the only regional mall in

Southern Maryland Southern Maryland is a geographical, cultural and historic region in Maryland composed of the state's southernmost counties on the Western Shore of the Chesapeake Bay. According to the state of Maryland, the region includes all of Calvert, Cha ...

. In addition to Waldorf and St. Charles, the mall also serves the southern suburbs of

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, and has a trade area population of 338,502. Anchor stores are

Dick's Sporting Goods Dick's Sporting Goods, Inc. (stylized as "DICK'S Sporting Goods") is an American sporting goods retail company, based in Coraopolis, Pennsylvania. The company was established by Richard "Dick" Stack in 1948, and has approximately 854 stores an ...

, J. C. Penney,

Kohl's Kohl's (stylized in all caps) is an American department store retail chain, operated by Kohl's Corporation. it is the largest department store chain in the United States, with 1,165 locations, operating stores in every U.S. state except Hawai ...

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 Macy's Home Store.

History

The mall opened March 30, 1990, with J. C. Penney,

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 ...

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 ...

, 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 ...

as anchors. It was built by Melvin Simon & Associates, now known as

Simon Property Group Simon Property Group, Inc. is an American real estate investment trust that invests in shopping malls, outlet centers, and community/lifestyle centers. It is the largest owner of shopping malls in the United States and is headquartered in Indian ...

was added in 1997. The Montgomery Ward store was split between a second Hecht's location and

in 2002. Both Hecht's stores became

in September 2006. A movie theatre outside of the mall, formerly known as

Cineplex Odeon Cinemas Cineplex Odeon Corporation was one of North America's largest movie theatre operators and live theatre, with theatres in its home country of Canada and the United States. The Cineplex Odeon brand is still being used by Cineplex Entertainment at ...

(1988–1998) and

Loews Cineplex Entertainment Loews Cineplex Entertainment, also known as Loews Incorporated, is an American theater chain operating in North America. From 1924 until 1959, it was also the parent company of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios (MGM). The company was originally cal ...

(1998–2005), is now

AMC Theatres AMC Entertainment Holdings, Inc. (d/b/a AMC Theatres, originally an abbreviation for American Multi-Cinema; often referred to simply as AMC and known in some countries as AMC Cinemas or AMC Multi-Cinemas) is an American movie theater chain fou ...

(2005–present). On February 6, 2020, it was announced the Sears location at St. Charles Town Center would be closing as part of a plan to close 31 stores nationwide. The store closed April 2020.

Renovation

St. Charles Towne Center underwent an extensive renovation in 2007 to shift its image to a more family-oriented mall. The entrances and inside of the mall were redesigned, and the washrooms made larger to allow easier access for families with young children. In addition, a kid's play area was added to a section of the mall. It took two years to renovate the mall from 2007 – 2008. The

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 ...

was also renovated during the project.

2008 shooting incident

In September 2008, an incident occurred in which a police officer's firearm was used in the mall's parking lot. According to local authorities, a suspect was seen trying to steal a

GPS device A satellite navigation device (satnav device) is a user equipment that uses one or more of several global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) to calculate the device's geographical position and provide navigational advice. Depending on the s ...

from a vehicle when the officer noticed him. The suspect was treated and released from the hospital, and later charged.

References

External links

St. Charles Towne Center
Official site {{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Charles Towne Center Shopping malls established in 1988 1988 establishments in Maryland Simon Property Group Shopping malls in Maryland Waldorf, Maryland