Metrocenter Mall is a defunct

shopping mall A shopping mall (or simply mall) is a large indoor shopping center, usually Anchor tenant, anchored by department stores. The term ''mall'' originally meant pedestrian zone, a pedestrian promenade with shops along it, but in the late 1960s, i ...

located in

Jackson, Mississippi Jackson is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Mississippi, most populous city of the U.S. state of Mississippi. The city sits on the Pearl River (Mississippi–Louisiana), Pearl River and is locate ...

, United States. The largest enclosed shopping mall in Mississippi, it contained 1,250,000 square feet of retail space on two levels, including four anchor spaces. Regional real estate developer Jim Wilson & Associates built the mall in Mississippi's capital city in 1978, as one of its portfolio of properties throughout the southeastern United States. The mall is located near the junction of

Interstate 20 Interstate 20 (I‑20) is a major east–west Interstate Highway in the Southern United States. I-20 runs beginning at an interchange with I-10 in Reeves County, Texas, and ending at an interchange with I-95 in Florence, South Carolina. B ...

and Interstate 220/ U.S. Highway 49, along West Jackson's U.S. Highway 80 corridor. After years of ownership by Cannon Management and Jackson Metrocenter Limited, a decade-long decline at the mall led to a foreclosure in November 2012, and subsequent sale to Metrocenter Mall, LLC. The mall itself is closed and empty. The last tenant was City of Jackson offices, which were located in the former

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 ...

anchor store. The City left after complaints of facility deterioration. There are 2 other vacant anchor stores that were once

Sears Sears, Roebuck and Co., commonly known as Sears ( ), is an American chain of department stores and online retailer founded in 1892 by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck and reincorporated in 1906 by Richard Sears and Julius Rosen ...

and

Dillard's Dillard's, Inc. is an American department store chain with approximately 267 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 company a ...

. In May of 2025 it was announced that country music superstar Randy Travis and his wife have decided to invest in the city of Jackson and The couple is planning a development at the old MetroCenter Mall off Highway 80. "The Travises have made a large commercial real estate purchase in the city of Jackson. Current Gov. Reeves and MDA consulted with them on the various ways the state of Mississippi could potentially support the economic development project. Additionally, they discussed which commercial opportunities could potentially be viable. It has yet to be determined as to exactly what the plans are for the mall and property.

History

When Metrocenter opened March 1, 1978, it was considered to be the largest mall in Mississippi with over 100 services and stores on two levels. The mall opened with three anchor department stores, Jackson-based

McRae's McRae's was a mid-range regional department store chain founded and based in Jackson, Mississippi, with locations in Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, and Florida. The nameplate was in existence for more than a century. History Samuel P. McRae f ...

, Alabama-based

Gayfers Gayfer's was a regional department store chain in the southern United States. Based in Mobile, Alabama, the chain of stores operated from 1879 until 1998 when it was taken over by Dillard's. History C.J. Gayfer migrated to Mobile, Alabama, from ...

, and national retailer

. New Orleans–based

D.H. Holmes D. H. Holmes was a New Orleans department store and later a New Orleans–based chain of department stores. The company was founded in 1842 by Daniel Henry Holmes, after whom it is named.Service Merchandise Service Merchandise was a retail chain of catalog showrooms carrying jewelry, toys, sporting goods and electronics. The company, which first began in 1934 as a five-and-dime store, was in existence for 68 years before ceasing operations in 2002 ...

, a specialty outlet of the Jackson-based Jitney-Jungle supermarket chain, and Mississippi's only

General Cinema General Cinema Corporation, also known as General Cinema, GCC, or General Cinema Theatres, was a chain of movie theaters in the United States. At its peak, the company operated about 1,500 screens, some of which were among the first theaters ce ...

theater as outparcels, and took away most of the business of Jackson Mall, which opened in 1969 with

JCPenney Penney OpCo LLC , Trade name, doing business as JCPenney (colloquially Penney's and abbreviated JCP) is an American department store chain store, chain with 649 stores across 49 U.S. states and Puerto Rico. It is managed as part of the Catalys ...

, Gayfers, and

Woolco Woolco was an American-based discount retail chain. It was founded in 1962 in Columbus, Ohio, by the F. W. Woolworth Company. It was a full-line discount department store unlike the five-and-dime Woolworth stores which operated at the time. At ...

as its anchors, in North Jackson. Metrocenter continued to enjoy success after Northpark Mall opened north of the county line in Ridgeland in 1984. In 1993, the mall received a new makeover, which added a new center court with a skylight, a revamped food court, new entrances, and new stores.

Former anchors

D.H. Holmes was acquired by and converted to Arkansas-based

in 1989, bringing with it the closure of the Potpourri Restaurant. A decade later, Dillard's acquired Gayfers by way of a buyout of its parent

Mercantile Stores Mercantile Stores Company Inc. until 1998, was a traditional department store retailer operating 102 fashion apparel stores and 16 home fashion stores in 17 states. The stores were operated under 13 different nameplates and varied in size, with t ...

in 1999. McRae's was sold in 2006, and its Metrocenter store rebranded to

that year. Sears was the only original anchor to remain until its closure.

Decline and closure

Metrocenter began to decline in 1999, when the first of the mall's anchor department stores closed. Dillard's, which had acquired two of the mall's anchor spaces by 1999, continued to operate in the former D.H. Holmes space while closing the Gayfer's space. Dillard's remained in the mall until 2004, leaving two active department store anchors at Metrocenter. Within 2006, one of the anchors—McRae's—was sold to Belk, which assumed the anchor and rebranded the store as Belk. A steady pattern of vacancies continued until 2007, when

Burlington Coat Factory Burlington, formerly known as Burlington Coat Factory, is an American national off-price department store retailer, and a division of Burlington Coat Factory Warehouse Corporation with more than 1,100 stores in 47 states and Puerto Rico, with it ...

opened in the first level of the former Gayfers property to great fanfare, drawing patrons from more than 90 miles away. Statistics show traffic had increased at Metrocenter by as much as 3,000 cars per day. Despite the addition, changing demographics in the Jackson metropolitan area contributed to substantial vacancies. By June 2009, Belk announced its intent to close the company's Metrocenter's location in August, in order to focus on suburban properties at Ridgeland's Northpark Mall and Flowood’s Dogwood Festival Market. The year's end brought a 6–1 vote during a December 2009 meeting of Jackson's city council, to purchase the former D.H. Holmes/Dillard's property for $39,500, in hopes of spurring a revitalization of West Jackson. The former McRae's/Belk property was sold in July 2010 to Retro Metro, LLC, with plans to divide the one-time anchor between offices for the City of Jackson on the first level, and a mixed-use redevelopment in the second level that included offices, restaurants, and retail space. Watkins Partners, a Jackson-area real estate developer, announced intentions to move forward with Project Retro Metro in December 2010 and started with its mixed-use redevelopment in January 2011. David Watkins, president of Watkins Partners, said, "Metrocenter has plummeted." Despite many efforts to redevelop Metrocenter,

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 ...

announced in late November 2011 that over 100 of its

Kmart Kmart ( ), formerly legally registered as Kmart Corporation, now operated by Transformco, is a department-store chain and online retailer in the United States and Territories of the United States, its territories. It operates four remaining Kma ...

and Sears properties would close, including the Sears store at Metrocenter. The last of the mall's department store anchors, Sears closed in January 2012. After the City offices left in 2024 the mall is now completely empty and unused. In August 2018, Metrocenter closed its doors though Burlington and parts of the building that hold city offices remained open. On February 9, 2022, it was announced that Burlington would be closing its doors at this location, making the mall of void of any retail store. On May 17, the location closed its doors for the final time.

References

External links

* official website
Metro Marketplace
official website {{Shopping malls in Mississippi Shopping malls established in 1978 Shopping malls disestablished in 2018 Shopping malls in Mississippi Defunct shopping malls in the United States Buildings and structures in Jackson, Mississippi Tourist attractions in Jackson, Mississippi 1978 establishments in Mississippi 2018 disestablishments in Mississippi

History

Former anchors

Decline and closure

See also

References

External links