Town Center at Cobb (often called Town Center 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

Cobb County, Georgia Cobb County is a county in the U.S. state of Georgia, located in the Atlanta metropolitan area in the north central portion of the state. As of 2020 Census, the population was 766,149. Its county seat and largest city is Marietta. Along with ...

near

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 ...

. The anchor stores are two

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 ...

stores, a

Belk Belk, Inc. is an American department store chain founded in 1888 by William Henry Belk in Monroe, North Carolina, with nearly 300 locations in 16 states. Belk stores and Belk.com offer apparel, shoes, accessories, cosmetics, home furnishings, a ...

, and a

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 ...

. There is one vacant anchor stores that was once

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 ...

History

Opened in late February 1986, the mall was originally anchored by Rich's,

and

. The Mall was almost identical to

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 ...

. The Macy's store was the first in Atlanta not to have originally been part of the Atlanta-based

Davison's Davison's of Atlanta was a department store chain and an Atlanta shopping institution. It was the major competition to Rich's and it took the Macy's name in 1986. Founding Davison's first opened its doors in Atlanta in 1891 and had its orig ...

chain, which became Macy's during its opening. The largest mall in the state when it opened, a fourth anchor, Mervyn's, joined the mall later in 1986, along with another at Gwinnett Place Mall. Town Center is part of a major retail hub in northern

along Barrett Parkway. It was located between parallel parts of

I-75 Interstate 75 (I-75) is a major north–south Interstate Highway in the Great Lakes and Southeastern regions of the United States. As with most Interstates that end in 5, it is a major cross-country, north–south route, traveling from St ...

and I-575, just north of where the interstates meet or split from each other. The mall itself has seen several significant changes over the years. In 1992, a new wing extending north from the east wing was finally added with Atlanta's first Birmigham, Alabama-based Parisian department store. This was also likewise done at

Phipps Plaza Phipps Plaza is a shopping mall in the Buckhead district of Atlanta, Georgia. It is located at the intersection of Peachtree Road ( SR 141) and Lenox Road (SR 141 Connector), adjacent to the Phipps Tower office building. The mall is currently ow ...

also in 1992, Gwinnett Place Mall in 1993, and Northlake Mall in 1994. This brought the store count at the mall up to 220 stores and the amount of

anchor store 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 ...

up to five. No other mall in both the area and state had five anchors at the time except for

North Point Mall North Point Mall is a shopping mall, located in Alpharetta, Georgia (a suburb of Atlanta). The mall opened on October 20, 1993 as one of the largest shopping malls in the country. The mall was the second final property built by Homart Development C ...

, which opened also in 1993. Enormously successful and drawing away customers that originally shopped at older

Cumberland Cumberland ( ) is a historic county in the far North West England. It covers part of the Lake District as well as the north Pennines and Solway Firth coast. Cumberland had an administrative function from the 12th century until 1974. From 19 ...

and Cobb Center Malls, the mall was first renovated in 1995 but has never been expanded aside from the Parisian addition. Store consolidations and retractions, however, have varied the anchor line-up in recent years. First, in 1997,

took over the former location of Mervyn's, which pulled out of Georgia and Florida at the time. Second, Rich's and Macy's were merged into one store, prompting the closure of the three-story Macy's that had been there since the mall's original opening. However, part of the store was refurbished and was used as a Macy's Furniture Gallery (originally a Rich's-Macy's Furniture Gallery) and now operates as Macy's Furniture Gallery, Macy's Furniture Clearance Center and Macy's Men's Store. Macy's now occupies the former Rich's location. Occupancy rates remain very high at the mall, and most major chain specialty stores are found in the mall. However, the mall was facing competition from all the big box stores on Barrett Parkway, two "

lifestyle centers A lifestyle center (American English), or lifestyle centre (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English), is a shopping center or mixed-used commercial development that combines the traditional retail functions of a shopping mal ...

" that opened up on each end of the county and more upscale malls such as Phipps Plaza and

Lenox Square Lenox Square is a shopping mall in the Buckhead district of Atlanta, Georgia. With 198 tenants and of gross leasable area, it is the third-largest mall in Georgia. The mall is currently owned and managed by Simon Property Group, and is consider ...

. However, on May 13, 2008, the mall announced a year-long renovation project and also added H&M. The project was finished in May 2009 with new food court designs, family restrooms, children's play area, signage, and soft seating areas. On February 7, 2017, Macy's announced that Macy's Backstage will be opening inside Macy's in Spring 2017. On May 29, 2020, it was announced that Sears would be closing as part of a plan to close 28 stores nationwide. The store closed on August 9, 2020. Deutsche Bank was the lead lender and trustee for a $200 million loan granted the mall in 2012. On February 2, 2021, the mall was put up for public auction on the Cobb County courthouse steps with an opening bid of $130,400,000. There were no offers tendered and the mall was foreclosed on. The mall continues to operate with new management.

Anchors

Current anchors

(2007–present) *

(1997–present) *

(2 locations) (2005–present)

Former anchors

*Macy's (original location) (1986-2003) * Mervyn's (1986-1997) * Parisian (1992-2007) * Rich's (1986-2005) *

(1986-2020)

References

https://www.tonetoatl.com/

External links

Town Center Community Improvement District
{{DEFAULTSORT:Town Center At Cobb Buildings and structures in Cobb County, Georgia Shopping malls in the Atlanta metropolitan area Shopping malls established in 1986 Tourist attractions in Cobb County, Georgia