North DeKalb Mall is an enclosed

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 unincorporated

DeKalb County DeKalb County may refer to one of several counties in the United States, all of which were named for Baron Johan DeKalb: * DeKalb County, Alabama * DeKalb County, Georgia * DeKalb County, Illinois * DeKalb County, Indiana * DeKalb County, Missouri ...

, near Decatur, a suburb of

Atlanta, Georgia 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 ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. Opened in 1965, the center currently comprises more than eighty-five stores on one level.

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 ...

s include

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 1,000 stores in 40 states and Puerto Rico, with it ...

and

Marshalls Marshalls is an American chain of off-price department stores owned by TJX Companies. Marshalls has over 1,000 American stores, including larger stores named Marshalls Mega Store, covering 42 states and Puerto Rico, and 61 stores in Canada. Mar ...

, the mall also features a food court and multiplex movie theater. The 2018

Clint Eastwood Clinton Eastwood Jr. (born May 31, 1930) is an American actor and film director. After achieving success in the Western TV series '' Rawhide'', he rose to international fame with his role as the "Man with No Name" in Sergio Leone's "''Doll ...

film '' The Mule'' had scenes shot in the parking lot of the mall.

History

Originally and formerly called North DeKalb Center, the mall was designed by Barrett + Associates, Architects, and first opened July 29, 1965, with fifty-four stores; original anchor stores included Atlanta-based department store Rich's, and a Woolworth dime store. Plans for the extension of the

Stone Mountain Freeway Stone Mountain Freeway is a freeway in the north-central part of the U.S. state of Georgia. It connects Interstate 285 (I-285) east of Atlanta, with the suburbs of Stone Mountain and Snellville before transitioning into an arterial road that co ...

in the late 1960s would have led to the demolition of the mall, but were never put into effect. In 1986, North DeKalb Mall was expanded and renovated with two new anchor stores: department store chains

Mervyn's Mervyn's was an American middle-scale department store chain based in Hayward, California, and founded by Mervin G. Morris (1920–2021). It carried national brands of clothing, footwear, bedding, furniture, jewelry, beauty products, electronics, ...

and discount chain

Lechmere Lechmere ( "leech-meer") was a Massachusetts-based chain of retail stores that closed in 1997. At the time of its closing, it had 27 stores, including 20 in New England. The chain offered electronics, appliances, and various household goods. It a ...

. The mall was renamed Market Square at North DeKalb at this time. Lechmere closed in 1989 and was replaced with the discount pharmacy chain

Phar-Mor Phar-Mor (stylized as PHA℞-MOR) was a United States chain of discount drug stores, based in Youngstown, Ohio, and founded by Michael "Mickey" Monus and David Shapira in 1982. Some of its stores used the names Pharmhouse and Rx Place (purchas ...

, which closed in 1992 and was eventually replaced with a movie theater and

Rhodes Furniture The Rhodes Furniture Company was a retail furniture company based in Atlanta, Georgia. Beginning with a single store in downtown Atlanta, the company would expand throughout the United States.Haverty, Rawson (1989). ''Ain't the Roses Sweet.'' Ha ...

. Mervyns shuttered all of its Georgia locations in 1997; the store at North DeKalb was replaced by an

Uptons Uptons was a department store based in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. The chain operated primarily in the Southeastern United States, with locations in Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia. The cha ...

, which closed in 1999, then it became

Burlington Burlington may refer to: Places Canada Geography * Burlington, Newfoundland and Labrador * Burlington, Nova Scotia * Burlington, Ontario, the most populous city with the name "Burlington" * Burlington, Prince Edward Island * Burlington Bay, no ...

. Stein Mart was added in the early 1990s, replacing a portion of a mall wing which once housed a Spinnaker's restaurant, a Bonanza Steakhouse and smaller mall stores.

Old Navy Old Navy is an American clothing and accessories retailing company owned by multinational corporation Gap Inc. It has corporate operations in the Mission Bay neighborhood of San Francisco, California. The largest of the Old Navy stores are its ...

was also added but later closed, becoming

Ross Dress for Less Ross Stores, Inc., operating under the brand name Ross Dress for Less, is an American chain of discount department stores headquartered in Dublin, California. It is the largest off-price retailer in the U.S.; as of 2018, Ross operates 1,483 stor ...

. Rhodes Furniture was later Shoder Furniture for a short time before becoming

in 2010. A furniture store also replaced the old Stein Mart. Hendon Properties, which bought the mall for $25 million (USD) in 2003, planned on bringing a

Costco Costco Wholesale Corporation (doing business as Costco Wholesale and also known simply as Costco) is an American multinational corporation which operates a chain of membership-only big-box retail stores (warehouse club). As of 2022, Costco i ...

to the mall. On May 15, 2014,

Lennar Lennar Corporation is a home construction company based in the census-designated place of Fontainebleau, Florida, with a Miami postal address. In 2021, the company was the second-largest home construction company in the United States based on the ...

in partnership with Sterling Organization, purchased the mall for an undisclosed amount, with plans to convert the enclosed portion to an open-air concept. In the spring of 2016, the Macy's anchor closed. North DeKalb Mall has since become the 'almost' mall of DeKalb County with Costco 'almost' becoming a store anchor for nearly a decade. The mall's primary traffic stems from

Emory University Emory University is a private research university in Atlanta, Georgia. Founded in 1836 as "Emory College" by the Methodist Episcopal Church and named in honor of Methodist bishop John Emory, Emory is the second-oldest private institution of ...

employees who use North DeKalb Mall's vast parking lots as a temporary location for ride sharing into the University. This along with limited traffic from the AMC movie theater has helped keep the mall from going completely under. As of 2019, multiple vacant storefronts in the North DeKalb Mall in Georgia were now renovated so that they could be used for filming.

Casual Corner Casual Corner was an American retail clothing chain founded in 1950. It operated stores under the names Casual Corner, Petite Sophisticate and August Max Woman brands, among others, with more than 525 stores at its peak. History In 1950, childho ...

Software Etc. B. Dalton Bookseller (often called B. Dalton or B. Dalton's) was an American retail bookstore chain founded in 1966 by Bruce Dayton, a member of the same family that operated the Dayton's department store chain. B. Dalton expanded to become the ...

B. Dalton Bookseller B. Dalton Bookseller (often called B. Dalton or B. Dalton's) was an American retail bookstore chain founded in 1966 by Bruce Dayton, a member of the same family that operated the Dayton's department store chain. B. Dalton expanded to become the ...

Musicland The Musicland Group, Inc. was an entertainment company that ran Musicland, Sam Goody, Discount Records, Suncoast Motion Picture Company, On Cue, and the Media Play Superstore Chains. The Musicland Group was purchased by Best Buy in 2001 at the he ...

and Gadzooks were placed. As of October 1, 2020, North DeKalb Mall had officially closed its doors due to poor sales and the impact of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. Marshalls and AMC Theatres remain open. In 2019, the property was sold to Edens, which plans to develop the site into a mixed use facility. In February 2022, local journalists obtained preliminary site plans in a public records request. Parts of the mall were used in 2021 for the filming of the live action Loud House movie,

A Loud House Christmas ''A Loud House Christmas'' is a live-action Christmas comedy adventure family television film based on the Nickelodeon animated series, ''The Loud House''. The film is directed by Jonathan Judge, written by Liz Maccie, and stars Wolfgang Schaeffe ...

References

External links

Sky City: North DeKalb MallTomorrow's News Today - Atlanta
{{Shopping malls in Georgia (U.S. state) Buildings and structures in DeKalb County, Georgia Shopping malls in the Atlanta metropolitan area Shopping malls established in 1965 Defunct shopping malls in the United States Decatur, Georgia Tourist attractions in DeKalb County, Georgia 1965 establishments in Georgia (U.S. state) shopping malls disestablished in 2020 2020 disestablishments in Georgia (U.S. state)