South Park Mall: Charlotte, NC

Mall builders in Charlotte seemed to have a penchant for naming malls after cardinal directions.  South Park was the first, but it was soon followed by North Park, West Park and Eastland Malls.  South Park is also the city's leading mall offering a high-end shopping experience unmatched elsewhere in the region.  In the South, luxury malls are hard to come by, and even large cities like Nashville have been slow to get one of their own.  Atlanta set the standard with Lenox Square and Phipps Plaza in the 1970's, but Charlotte's own started out as a more conventional center than today.

When South Park opened in 1970, it was a T-shaped mall with Charlotte standards Ivey's and Belk facing each other divided by the a long hallway with a fountain court in the center.  This fountain court is where the longer Sears wing made a junction to form the long part of the T.  The mall was far from conventional, however.  Belk established its flagship store at the mall with more upscale Ivey's also donning their best.  South Park was also the largest mall at that point, eclipsing all of the tiny malls dotting the city.  While those older malls were more community oriented, this was the first mall to truly phase out downtown.  The leading mall, Charlottetown, was no match to the center. What makes all of this strange, however, is the fact that South Park is unlike most any other mall: located nowhere near any interstate or major thoroughfare.  In fact, it is rather hidden, situated at the intersection of two local roads: Tyvola Road (City 4) and Sharon Road.

Four images of South Park's famous center court fountain.  It has been modified three times since it was opened, though I am unable to provide the second version.  The second version took up much more of the court and was actually the most attractive, though the first version was the most elegant.  The first photo of the original fountain comes via Malls of America/Keith Milford.

Early South Park Mall was far from dumpy.  It brought a certain level of elegance that only Charlottetown ever approached.  A huge champagne glass fountain flanked the center court, stylish late-60's decor was found throughout and all of the best stores located there.  Considering the similarities of Charlotte to Atlanta, South Park was essentially an enclosed Lenox Square that came 11 years later.  Like Lenox, it also had some years where it fell briefly out of prominence as well.  The opening of Eastland Mall in 1975 stole some of the mall's thunder, but time proved that South Park was the one with the lasting power.  While Eastland will be closing forever in a week from this post, South Park is the only mall in the state to offer two luxury department stores.

Court area outside of Nordstrom.  This portion of the mall was built after 2003, but architecturally matches the rest of the center.  The escalators connect to the parking deck and is not mall space.

A view of the Nordstrom mall entrance.  This photo looks like a canyon...something malls used to capitalize more on.

Another view of the Nordstrom court.

The morphing of South Park into North Carolina's top mall came slowly.  The first big change came in the late 1980's with a full scale renovation in 1986.  While the hourglass fountain was replaced, the surrounding mall received a more elegant treatment than its original minimalist design offered, though much of that has again been stripped away.  Along with this, the mall also gained a new anchor: Thalhimer's of Richmond, VA.  Thalhimer's formed a new wing off the north side of the Sears wing bringing the anchor count to four.  Four years later, Ivey's was converted to Dillard's.  This was the first original anchor to leave when that occurred.  Thalhimer's opening was the first time the chain opened in Charlotte, but it would prove to be short-lived as Hecht's took over that spot in 1992. 

The mall's skylights are done in a style I have never seen before, but they look like this throughout the entire mall.  It is not that I don't like it, because I do.  It's just that there is too much of it.  The best way I can describe it is like being on the lower level of a double-deck viaduct.  This is along the newer Belk wing...not the original.  Belk has two entrances.

Belk mall entrance on the newer wing, which comes off of the Nordstrom wing.  These courts maintain a late 60's/early 70's feel to them.

This court area is found at the junction of the Nordstrom wing and the long T part of the mall that used to end in Sears.

The 90's would prove to be a relatively stagnant period of growth for the mall.  Eastland was still going strong, and the mall would face increased competition with Carolina Place Mall drawing south side customers.  However, Charlotte was also seeing a period of boom with significant growth, which helped to increase the wealth and prominence of the area.  Since 1990, the city has nearly doubled in population.  While this has led to continued expansion of retail across the city, this also led to major changes to the mall itself starting in 2002.  These changes have resulted in a mall significantly different from the original mall, and they have also turned South Park into a major destination for shoppers in the Carolinas.

Along the base of the T (old Sears wing) headed toward the center "fountain" court.

More detail along the same area.

Dillard's mall entrance, which forms the north wing from fountain court.  This opened as Ivey's originally, and is original to the mall despite the fact that there is no resemblance to the original store.

The first change to occur was the closure of Sears.  It is not clear why Sears left the mall, but they closed their store there by the end of 2002.  After it closed, the store was demolished and replaced with a small outdoor wing.  In this wing, a Galyan's (now Dick's) Sporting Goods as well as Joseph-Beth Bookstore flanked a new outdoor courtyard on the west end of the mall.  About the same time, the first major expansion since the 80's also commenced as the mall was expanded to include a new Nordstrom.  This new store coupled with a new wing and new parking deck upscaled the mall significantly.  On top of this work, the mall was again renovated...this time, in the typical Simon fashion which has resulted in a mall that is really too basic to be as upscale as it is.  Simon similarly did this with Lenox in Atlanta.

The mall extends briefly east of fountain court, and an open air wing was added just outside featuring trendy restaurants.  While very nice, it was hot out here.  Smokers took advantage of the spot.

Here is the original Belk mall entrance, which I believe was done this way in the 1986 renovation.  As Belk's flagship, elegance was paramount.

Macy's forms the northwest wing catty-corner to the Nordstrom wing.  This wing is the least elegant.  The store here opened as Thalhimer's in 1986 later operating as Hecht's from then to 2006.  Rich's considered once opening in Charlotte, possibly at this mall, so Macy's fits.

The next change to come to South Park would place the mall on par with Atlanta's finest.  This was when construction began on a new Neiman Marcus store.  Completed in late 2006, this addition converted the Queen City's first major mall into not only the most upscale, but also the state's largest mall, though that was actually achieved when Nordstrom was added.  A free-standing huge two-level Crate & Barrel (not pictured) was also built across from the mall on an outlot during this time.  The unfortunate part of this process was that the owners were apparently ashamed of having any 1970's elements remaining at the mall.  This meant that the distinctly designed Dillard's, which opened as Ivey's, was gutted and replaced with a conventional Dillard's.  Belk likewise renovated its appearance to modernize its flagship.  It also appears that the Macy's (then Hecht's) was re-faced to modernize the appearance.  In fact, shoppers that visited the mall 20 years ago would recognize very little.

The food court was very nice.  It is situated in front of where Sears mall entrance used to be.  It is now an entrance to a second outdoor portion of the mall.

I am unsure if this is outside of Macy's or if this is part of the old Sears wing.

Dick's Sporting Goods outside of the food court, which opened in 2003 as Galyan's Sporting Goods.  Galyan's was sold to Dick's in 2005.

South Park Mall had a tragedy in 2007 when a woman drove into one of the new parking deck supports.  The collision caused part of the parking deck to collapse destroying two cars and killing the driver.  Issues were made about the construction of the deck especially after a major collapse occured at a similar designed deck in Atlanta in 2009.  The deck has since been repaired.

In the same fountain as the last photo with Dick's, I am looking back at the mall entrance.  Eight years ago, I would be standing inside Sears.  California Pizza Kitchen, one of the many restaurants attached to the mall, is on the left.

Joseph-Beth Bookstore is situated to the left of Dick's.  I have never heard of this store before...is it local?

In so many ways, Charlotte reminded me of Atlanta in my childhood: about where it was in the late 1980's.  It has big buildings in the core, a big city attitude but is still small enough to be bearable size and trafficwise.  This is definitely the appeal of it, and is probably why the area has attracted enough wealth to create a mall like South Park.  Still, I am a bit disappointed about the way South Park looks.  I think despite what it has to offer, it could be far more elegant like Phipps Plaza.

Neiman Marcus is absolutely unparalleled in their elegant modernist design they used here.  This is possibly one of the most beautiful department stores I have ever seen.  Too bad Dillard's ripped off their original facade, because it would have fit in well with this store.

Note the original Dillard's, which opened here as Ivey's.  It is distinct, and while outlandish was elegant for the 70's.  Photo is by cantnot via LiveMalls.

Dillard's today.  Aside from the very unusual (for 2006) mansard roof, this is a boring Dillard's clone.

In terms of upgrading the mall, I tend to think two areas need attention: adding a second level to part of the mall and upgrading the court areas.  I think posh courts with elegant touches, flowers and distinct skylights in front of Neiman Marcus and Nordstrom with escalators climbing to a second level mall entrance would make access easier and improve the appearance of both.  Likewise, I believe part of the original mall should become two levels with subdued but unique skylights connecting Dillard's and Belk complete with a reconfiguring of the signature fountain so that it shoots to the new second level.  Perhaps multi-colored glass in the skylights in the main court would make it really stand out.  Maybe the skylights along each part of the mall could be a different color.  It seems to me that the mall needs these changes to make it more distinctive, because no part of the mall really has any focal points or presence.  I also think that these improvements should look entirely different from the rest of the mall much in the way Mall of Georgia has different themes for different parts of the mall.  How could this be done to represent the culture of Charlotte and North Carolina?

I wonder how this store originally looked, because clearly this Macy's store looks newer than 1986.

Nordstrom from the parking deck.  Sadly, I somehow forgot to get pics of the Belk from the outside.  South Park was actually not my priority in this trip, but I did have to see it.  What I liked about it, though, was that it was like Lenox without the level of pretension.

Overall, the South outside of Florida and Washington DC lacks truly quality malls.  South Park is one of only five malls offering true upscale shopping anywhere in the South.  The only others are in Atlanta, Birmingham and (soon) Nashville.  It is truly impressive how much South Park has improved and expanded over the years, and this is even more true considering that no other mall this successful has been so far removed from major highways.  It was pretty obvious when I visited that shoppers arrived from miles around to shop at stores unavailable elsewhere.  Nevertheless, I think that this mall could stand out more.  Between the generic remodels of the original anchors and the simple design on the inside, without Neiman Marcus the mall looks very basic.  Still, malls like this prove when a city's progress has reached a certain level, and this mall is an effective symbol on Charlotte's progress toward becoming a major city.

MORE: Much, MUCH more on South Park can be found on Steven Swain's Live Malls blog.

Tryon Mall/Asian Corner Mall: Charlotte, NC

Charlotte indeed has far better malls, but most of those close in to the city are either lost or have seen better days.  As a city that once had a plethora of tiny malls, the advent of larger, more elegant malls in the 1970's rather quickly marginalized these centers.  Regardless, it seems all remained operational up to around 2000.  One of these I am spotlighting here is Tryon Mall, today known as Asian Corner Mall.  While no longer a mall in any conventional sense, the revival as Asian Corner Mall has successfully extended the life of a once two-anchor mall on a not-so-nice side of town to an under-served ethnic market.  While I sincerely doubt this mall will be open five years from now, it is worthwhile to look at a timepiece that was one of the earlier major retail centers of the city.

According to information I found, the mall opened in 1967.  It is much like former Gaston Mall in that one of its anchors was Woolco while the other was a traditional department store.  The department store here originally was The Collins Company, which later operated as Peebles when they were bought out in 1984.  The Collins Company also had locations at Cotswald City and Freedom Mall.  Judging by the locations, I am suspecting that the original department store was a lower-end local department store, the like which were common up until the mid-1990's.  Woolco looks to have been subdivided relatively early on, but the department store appears to have been vacant for a very long time.  The condition of that building and parking lot in front of it leads me to believe that nothing has occupied the space for at least 15 years.  The old Collins Company itself is under different ownership, which keeps the center complicated and that portion derelict since owners apparently are not interested in doing much with it.  The old Woolco looks to have had a Winn-Dixie Marketplace early in the last decade, though it used only part of the space.

The first photo shows the south court area of the mall featuring the (dry) fountain, fake stones and bonsai trees complete with Southeast Asian design features.  It would be one of the more elegant areas of the mall if it was kept up.  I suspect the fountain is original.  The second photo is the southwest entrance wing approaching the south court.  A similar-themed market is to the right, thus the shopping carts.

More detail of the dry fountain.  The wrought iron fence may be newer, but it looks very 60's to me.

A view of the same fountain looking at the dark south end of the mall approaching what was once The Collins Company department store.

A map of this relatively simple mall, but with a missing detail.

The real strength of the mall today is on the front.  Many of these shops had outside only entrances creating a strip mall element, and those most of these shops appear to be typical urban shops in lieu of Asian-themed shops.  That is not the case inside the mall.  The Asian clientele overall is of the Southeast Asian variety instead of East Asian.  Most of the signs are definitely written in Vietnamese and Thai inside the mall.  Any shops found in the mall are exclusively Southeast Asian, and it seems lately that those have dwindled in number.  While it looks the mall may have been successful for several years after the resurrection, the mall is clearly failing.  A similar type center was tried in Atlanta with Oriental Mall in the old Buford-Clairmont Mall, and it also failed before resurrecting as the wildly successful Plaza Fiesta.  Could a similar Latino-themed mall work here?

Here is a better view of the south end of the mall.  Bathrooms are off to the left on what was the Collins Company department store entrance.  The store on the right I believe is the backside of the ethnic grocery store, which is a good place in the city to get Southeast Asian cuisine.  The city is said to be known to have excellent Vietnamese food.

Looking back to the southwest entrance.  This is the healthiest portion of the mall.

A look back into the south court.  Here you can see the rest of the mall and what appears to be an old information booth.

Here, you can see that the mall is not quite so 60's looking with the pitched roof.  I honestly wish that they could have kept the original roof, but I am sure this is much lower maintenance: an obvious necessity in a mall that seemed to be have just that problem.

Inside the mall, it was truly a zombie mall.  I honestly have not ever covered a mall before I could describe like this, but basically it was a mall that looked abandoned yet still open to the public.  Absolutely no climate control existed inside, and the day was hot and humid so it was likewise highly uncomfortable inside.  The floors were also completely filthy, even grainy like a construction site.  Despite this, the owners had definitely made some improvements when it opened.  The original flat roof was replaced in the early 90's with a pitched roof, and South Asian architectural elements were employed throughout.  The yellow paint on most of the walls actually seemed original since malls of that era tended to incorporate that.  The floors, though filthy, obviously were updated as well.  I am almost certain the original flooring was polished concrete.  Much had to be done to fix the mall after Hurricane Hugo did major damage to the mall followed by major flooding from Hurricane Danny in 1999.

Here, I am looking down a narrow side wing that goes to what looks like a closed-off back entrance.  There was never a parking lot behind the mall, so I can imagine this part was always harder to fill.

A walk back through the main part of the mall shows how basic and small it really was.  The old Woolco entrance is the current wall in the background.

Go Go Gifts has an older-style entry found only in the earliest malls.  I noted a similar style in a shop at Innsbruck Mall in Asheville, and I really like these.  They appear to be typical only in the earliest malls.

Despite those improvements, the place was foreboding at best.  A blue-toned dry fountain near some fake stones, bonsai trees and a wrought iron fence looked like a spruced up, but later abandoned scene from 1965.  The side entrance hallways were dark with more original dropped ceilings and mostly abandoned.  In one hallway, it appeared there were remains from either an old Morrison's Cafeteria or Hickory House Restaurant.  Anchor entrances were plainly walled off like nothing was ever there.  The old Woolco entrance contained some artwork, which helped some.  In all, the reuse of the mall was inventive and creative, but apparently the owners lacked money for even the most basic operation other than keeping the roof from leaking.  The average upper middle class suburbanite would have been truly frightened to have visited such a place.

This rear entrance wing in this photo has its back entrance closed off with a webbed steel screen (for lack of better term).  Notice here the former restaurant on the left, which I failed to get a better photo of.  This very much looks like either an old Morrison's Cafeteria or Hickory House Restaurant.

Here is the old Woolco mall entrance.  They did a pretty nice job covering it up.

In all truth, I am pleased that the mall was not abandoned.  In the past, it actually was abandoned.  For a period of time in the 1990's, the mall was closed down before reopening in its current reincarnation.  Most likely, though, the interior mall portion will eventually be sealed off while the strip portion in front will continue to operate.  I was not there in early years to see if this ever really worked at all, but empty stores in the mall suggest it was at least 50 percent full 10 years before.  Five years ago, builders would likely be offering to redevelop the center into a more lucrative strip mall, but the severe downturn has suspended any possibility for now.

A look from the Woolco side along the northwest entrance wing.

Looking from the old Woolco entrance south toward the old Collins Company department store.

The west entrance wing where the old cafeteria was from the main mall.

Another Vietnamese shop just before the south court.  Most shops are here seem to close at 5:00 PM.

For me, the fact that the mall is still there seems like an opportunity to make it better, and apparently this would be the case if the owners of the mall space owned the entire center instead of just the mall space.  It would be nice if they could have something akin to the Buford Highway Farmers Market in Doraville, GA, which would be an excellent fit for either the old Collins Company location or part of the old Woolco.  In fact, I think they should study all of Buford Highway in Atlanta, which hosts much of the same demographic.  I see plenty of possibilities, but I also think that considering the condition of the area, this may be complicated.  The city has bigger priorities with the closing of Eastland Mall, so likely any reinvention of the struggling mall will have to wait.  No matter what happens, I was glad to see a piece of early retail history in the Queen City while it was still there to see.

Both front mall entrances feature a Pagoda-style with lots of stucco.  What did the originals look like?

An overview of the center (except The Collins Company/Peebles).

The old Collins Company Department Store is not under the same ownership as the main mall, and its parking lot is absolutely atrocious.  The building itself is creepy and imposing.  While it actually appears to be two levels, I believe it is in fact only one with high walls designed to make it look bigger.  This imposing structure is a drag on the mall.  Does anybody have any idea when this actually became Peeble's and how long it was there?

A view here shows the deterioration of the store entrance and an additional store attached on the opposite side that looks like an old drug store.  I have no idea what it was.

This inverted check mark design is almost a dead giveaway that Winn-Dixie located here around 2000 or so.  Winn-Dixie completely left North Carolina in 2005. It is also not owned by the owners of the mall, and it makes up the right side of the old Woolco.

The left side, however, has the clear signatures of the older 1960's Woolco stores hidden somewhat by paint.

Looking at the corner of the old Woolco along the length of the front of the mall.