Pennrose Mall: Reidsville, NC

Tucked in a town about 20 miles north of downtown Greensboro, NC is a mall trapped in time.  While nothing fancy, Pennrose Mall is one of the most vintage mall specimens in North Carolina.  The mall itself gets its unusual name from the nearby Chinqua Penn Plantation once owned by tobacco tycoon Jeff Penn.  Most likely, this mall would have long since died, but with the strength of its main two anchors, small size and unusual configuration the mall has limped along to succeed as a glorified community mall.  Reidsville is also a relatively blue-collar city that recently lost most of its major industries, and with a population of under 15,000 residents according to the 2000 census, it has become difficult for the mall to remain relevant.  Worse than that, better shopping in Greensboro means that any hope of significant upgrades to the mall is very unlikely.  The advantage, though, is a nostalgic enclosed mall gem holding out in the Piedmont.

Pennrose Mall opened on October 23, 1968.  When it opened, the mall had two anchors: Rose's and Prago-Guyes.  Rose's was located in the middle and Greensboro-based Prago-Guyes on the north end of the mall with Rose's remaining as the sole original anchor today.  Belk arrived on August 5, 1970, and its arrival signaled a transfer of partnership.  The downtown store it replaced was Belk Stevens, but the mall store opened as Belk Cline!  Belk Cline was one of several Belk partnerships that were not signed, and this store was no exception.  Other stores that opened with the mall included Peanut Shack, First National Bank, Golden Touch Dry Cleaners, Royce Shoes, Blue Bell Factory Outlet, Jewel Box, Bob Adams Florist, Singer, News 'n Novels, Strader's Shoe Store, Hodge Podge Hallmark Shop, City Barber Shop, Venus Coiffures Hair Stylist, and Hodge Podge China & Gifts.  Winn-Dixie also opened on an outlot on the north end of the mall.  Both Strader's Shoes and Bob Adams Florist appear to still be operating in the mall!  Thus, at its peak the mall contained 18 stores.

Today, Belk forms the south end of the mall with little changing since it opened other than the logo.  Since it is built into the mall structure, it appears that it might have been vacant space before Belk took over in 1970.  Prago-Guyes went out of business in 1978 with JCPenney arriving later to take over the space in 1986.  JCPenney itself left the mall in 2001 after only 15 years.  Belk and Roses both continue to operate at the mall, but for how much longer is uncertain.  Belk (as of 2016) sealed off their entrance to the mall.

Belk's mall entrance features the new logo at stark contrast to the aging center.  The first photo shows the ramped section of the mall between Belk and Rose's suggesting the later addition of Belk to the mall.  Photo by digital sky taken February 19, 2011 (above) and August 3, 2011 (first photo).

 Empty kiosk in the mall of unknown use.  Photo by Digital Sky taken February 19, 2011.

Hibbett Sports.  One of only about three non-local shops in the mall.  Photo by digital sky taken February 19, 2011.

Rose's is red; Belk is blue.  This sign's a little dated; the mall is too.  Photos by digital sky taken February 19, 2011.

Pennrose Mall features a strange configuration where the anchors are built into the east side of the mall while no anchors are situated along the west side of the mall: only smaller shops.  It is a modular one-sided configuration where the front part of the mall could easily be torn off to revert the center into a regular strip center.  Furthermore, Rose's in particular is not accessible except through the mall.  This pretty much forces shoppers of Rose's to enter the mall, benefiting smaller shops in the mall but also making all of those shops very dependent on Rose's own success to draw traffic.  Belk and the now-closed JCPenney, however, both have a side entrance which allows shoppers an alternate entry since there is no direct entrance from the front without entering the mall.  Belk at current is now only accessible from a side entrance.

One Stop Cellular and a local florist catering to your needs.  This means you can buy your phone there, get it set up and call the florist instead of ordering in person since it is such a long, harrowing walk between the two shops.  Photos by digitalsky taken January 19, 2011

Rose's is on the left and Belk is down the hall.  The Rose's outside entrance is to the right.  Photo by digitalsky taken January 19, 2011.

Sure Save Shoe Show.  Shay that ten times fasht (ahem) say that ten timsh fat...okay, forget it.  Photo by digitalsky taken February 19, 2011.

Concrete floors, rows of lights, dropped ceilings and ancient storefronts. Photo by digitalsky taken August 3, 2011.

What is also distinctive about Pennrose Mall is the complete lack of modernization.  Other than some minor repainting, the mall is in a complete time warp with concrete floors, interior brick walls, spartan design and an over-sized front entryway.  Other than the doors, there is otherwise no natural light inside the mall itself.  Most malls like this were either renovated, closed or demolished by the 1990's, so finding one like it is rare if not impossible in the 2010's.  What is also notable is the metallic awning that extends just below the ceiling the entire length of the mall.  To say the least, it is about as inviting as a middle school built in the era.  The only real draw are the steps between Belk and Rose's, which break the otherwise straight shot of the mall.  Outside, the mall features metal panels over the main two mall entrances that appeared to have originally been anodized aluminum but were painted over at least twice: puddy colored before and now a marine blue.

Looking up the north end of the mall approaching JCPenney.  You can see the labelscar above.  From this angle, the mall looks more like an enclosed strip mall.  Photo by digitalsky taken August 3, 2011.

Mostly covered glass for JCPenney.  The sign in the window reads "Closed" so that you do realize that there is glass there and you can't just walk through it.  Photo by digitalsky taken February 19, 2011.

Reading this is like listening to a skipping record.  I love it when they do this, though.  Reminds me of the repeating "R" on Rich's in the 70's and 80's.  Photo by digitalsky taken February 19, 2011.

This is what they didn't want you to see...the decaying hulk of JCPenney sitting idle since 2001.  Ten years of decay really shows...I guess the heat and humidity do their work even if the ceiling is maintained.  Photo by digitalsky taken February 19, 2011

Today, Pennrose Mall is in an awkward position.  Nearly every major route has by-passed the downtown area, including the mall.  While it retains its status as the main area of retail in the city, any new construction would quite possibly lure Belk and Rose's away, leaving the mall lifeless.  Interestingly enough, the mall seemed to be doing decently up until the past 10 years and was likely fully leased up until JCPenney departed.  Not counting the anchors, in 2011 the mall had about 7 of its 15 shops occupied.  Of those stores, Shoe Show, One Stop Wireless and Hibbett Sports remained the only other reason to go there with the rest mom 'n' pop stores.  The mall would be very easy to de-mall into a strip mall because of this, though hopefully it never comes to that.  If it was done, it would be as simple as demolishing the mall up to the back anchors giving Roses and Belk direct access to an extended parking lot.

On the north end of the mall is this creepy labelscar for JCPenney left behind on the outside.  They must have run out of blue paint before they reached this end of the mall.  Photo by digitalsky taken February 19, 2011.

Side entrance to JCPenney.  Now HOW did Winn-Dixie manage to be in a store like this?  I still cannot believe it was really here, but Globman's I could definitely see in this space.  Photo by digitalsky taken February 19, 2011

Rose's inside looks pretty well unchanged from the day it opened.  I'm sure it smells that way, too.  Photo by digitalsky taken January 19, 2011.

No luck finding those vintage blouses with shoulder pads on e-bay?  Just look here, you're bound to find it!  This Belk store looks about as dated as the one I saw at Tri-City Mall.  Did it open as Belk Beck?  Photo by digitalsky taken February 19, 2011.

The doors, lobby and breezeway are just huge!  Were they expecting the place to be swamped?  Was it ever?  Photo by digitalsky taken February 19, 2011.

Pennrose Mall is also in a unique position to expand with vacant land behind it and a vacant Winn-Dixie, which closed in 2005, on the outparcel.  The only current obstacle is the Social Security building.  Imagine just cutting a new mall wing between the Belk and Rose's into a backwards L-shaped mall wing.  While hardly a SouthPark, the mall could probably support smaller box tenants such as TJ Maxx, Books-A-Million, a Peeble's or a gym.  Belk could also expand into that space as well.  Belk could also expand into the empty adjacent shops (gaining a new mall entrance), and the grocery store on the back side could be connected into the mall making it more attractive to potential tenants.  In all, this is fantasy but some of these ideas could be tried in the existing space as well.  However, the greatest likelihood is that Rose's and Belk are going to bail.  Belk is probably looking at just skipping town while Roses probably is looking to occupy either the former Winn-Dixie or the nearby dead Kmart.  If they don't, then redevelopment into a regular strip center will likely be a requirement for them to stay.  As a regular strip center, they would be more likely to attract tenants into the old JCPenney while Belk and Roses would both be able to expand.

Belk's updated logo on the mall entrance looks very much like an afterthought compared to the more appropriate older logo.   Photo by digitalsky taken February 19, 2011.

Rose's, however, looks completely approrpriate on its entrance.  In fact, this may be the best that sign has looked on any building.  Photo by digitalsky taken February 19, 2011.

A whited out Cato sign flanks the outside of the mall showing that national chains do have a history there.  Photo by digitalsky taken February 19, 2011.

Belk's side entrance looks more like an emergency exit.  The concrete basement-like wall isn't too beautiful either.  Couldn't Belk at least spruce this up?  Photo by digitalsky taken August 3, 2011.

Winn-Dixie's later store behind the mall.  Photo by digitalsky taken August 3, 2011.

In all reality, Pennrose Mall still exists because the town currently does not present an attractive enough opportunity to redevelop the center.  It's small enough to maintain as is, too expensive to redevelop and the anchors are staying put for now with limited retail development around the city.  All the mall really needs is a good way to fill the empty space, a more attractive look inside (such as a couple skylights) and a larger draw.  While outmoded, it is still small enough and interesting enough to find some creative ways to make it work although small, rural malls are very much out of fashion.  Its last owners let the mall go in 2005 with the current owners Malachite Group, not really investing in it.  Whatever happens, it is absolutely remarkable that with so many malls that have failed or been redeveloped that a relic like this still has a functional department store and remains open to the public.

This map shows the anchor history of the mall, including the now abandoned Winn-Dixie on the outlot.

Mall entrance near JCPenney with Cato labelscar on left.  Photo by digitalsky taken February 19, 2011.

Old Belk labelscar in mall.  Photo by digitalsky taken February 19, 2011.

More empty storefronts in the mall.  Photo by digitalsky taken February 19, 2011.

The condition of this sign suggests it's been there quite awhile.  Is this sign original?  Photo by digitalsky taken February 19, 2011.

I definitely cannot deny the sign looks cool, but it's also a little strange.  Photo by digitalsky taken February 19, 2011.

Eden Mall: Eden, NC

The South is littered with tiny malls that probably should never have been built.  They are usually isolated enough in small cities that they really do not do very well, but offer enough to the community to linger.  Usually, the mall opened in better times before the city's main industrial base declined and retail outside of downtown was not yet established.  Nearby, there might have been a grocery store, but nothing that could really compete with the mall.   Eventually, as the suburban retail offerings in the city expand, and the base of shopping dwindles due to the local economy, the mall either drifts to alternative uses or outright fails.  Stores that remain in the mall begin to vacate to nearby strip centers.  Better stores in nearby larger cities also begin to move closer to the mall's market area chipping away at any market share it might have had.  This is because growth in the area was too stagnant to insulate the mall when this occurred.  In the case of Eden, probably all of this applied.

The town of Eden itself has a strange history as the consolidation of three separate towns in 1967 known as Leaksville, Spray and Draper.  The town got its name from its origin as a large estate that existed in the 1700's that was also named Eden.  Today it is a city with nearly 16,000 residents: a population not adequate for much more than a Wal-Mart and a couple grocery stores.  Add to this that better shopping is available close by across the state line in Danville, Virginia.  Additionally, the larger municipalities of the Piedmont Triad to the southwest offer a broader range of choices that have grown increasingly upscale.  Thrown all together, the mall was destined to fail from the very beginning.

Views of this mall take you back to a simpler time...architecturally.  It was hardly one of the showier malls built in 1980, and from this angle it looks like a middle school.  The first photo, however, shows that the retro skylights found in the former Kmart wing are basic, yet profound.  The photo above is in the Belk wing.  All photos in this post were taken by digitalsky on February 19, 2011.

Center court features a few small skylights and the cylinder light fixtures, which still look classy today.

Here is a former restaurant in the mall.  Fast food?  Morrison's Cafeteria?

The wall mural in the background was originally the Kmart mall entrance.  I would so love to see a pic of any Kmart mall entrance prior to the logo upgrade in 1992.

While you're probably out of luck on finding a summer outfit in the mall part,  you can still get your nails done!

Eden Mall's origins dated to 1980 when the mall first opened.  With its disco-themed appearance, the mall sported anchors Belk Cline, Kmart and Globman's, a Martinsville, Va. based store.  Belk is located on the west end of the mall, Globman's was on the north end and Kmart on the east end.  The first few years were most likely also its most successful as well.  The mall joined an enormous boom in mall construction in smaller cities that came on the heels of phenomenal success for malls in larger cities.  In North Carolina, Belk was heavily influential in this boom of small town shopping malls as they attempted to upscale their image, market share and offerings.

You know it's vintage when you see the diagonal wood.   You know it's sleazy when a no-name cafe with a letter board is the only hot meal in the mall.

I'm assuming mall management is too strapped to fix this train wreck storefront.  This is on the opposite side of the Globman's/Peeble's wing.

Mail Boxes, Etc, high speed internet and Publisher's Clearinghouse Gimmicks all wrapped into one neat little package!  Seeing that this store took up some space, I would love to know its history.

Diagonal wood and lattice.  I assume the store on the left was Foot Locker, but I have no clue on the right.

Funky and sinister looking diagonal wood sits next to a shop sporting a faux Colonial facade.  This is found on the former Globman's/Peeble's wing.

The mall's fortunes came into question by the early 1990's.  With a high vacancy rate, the mall was also in a time warp.  By this time, national chain retailers within the mall started to flee.  First, Globman's closed at the mall, but the store was then immediately filled by Peeble's.  The worst hit came, however, when major anchor Kmart closed at the mall.  The closing of the store was also not part of the later restructuring, but came much earlier when it shut down at the mall in 1994 when Kmart was still truly competitive with Wal-Mart and the discount store market had more players.  By this point, the mall was already being re-purposed as a haven for non-traditional tenants.  This was a move made by many of the ailing shopping malls in that era before the building boom of the 2000's resulted in the demolition of many of these failing malls.  Eden Mall, however, did not enjoy the building boom that gripped the larger cities of the South, thus it managed to survive in its diminished capacity.

Belk here blends shiny copper with fake stone, but they have the mall entrance firmly shut.  Nevertheless, they are still putting up a new sign.  I guess this is a reminder to the few patrons of the mall that yes, there is still a Belk here, but no, they are not going to lose any air conditioning to this hole.

Close-up of mall entrance doors with "Used Front Door Entrance" on the mall side and "Not An Exit" on the other side.  

Inside Belk, store merchandise is placed in front of the former mall entrance.

Overhead lights inside Belk

Here is some vintage decor inside the Belk.

Today, Eden Mall is in the twilight zone.  The mall is effectively dead with no chain store operations at all except for Belk.  Almost the entire mall is made up of small shops and offices filling less than 50 percent of the empty shops, and the mall is in near disrepair never having received a single renovation since the day it opened 31 years ago.  Curiously, however, Belk hangs on at the mall.  I assume that Belk just has not found a strip shopping center to anchor onto.  Peeble's did, however, relocating to Kingsway Plaza in 2008.  Belk, however, simply snubs the mall having sealed off their mall entrance since Peeble's fled to higher ground.  The Belk store itself looks as old as the mall, but even then it still got the new sign treatment with the blue flower and loopy letters: even on the mall entrance.

Inside Belk, it is obvious that maintenance of the building is lacking judging by this water damage.  This was a brand new sign and was already falling apart!

In front of Belk is, well was, a mall directory.  Leave your business card there, though, and you might get a free lunch!

NC DMV must be in partnership with all the dead malls, because this brings in guaranteed business.  The ceilings above this "store" also seem to look a bit older than 1980.

Here is the former Peeble's, originally Globman's, mall entrance at the end of the smaller north wing.  Note the lights on inside on what is now the Eden Events Center.

Inside the Eden Events Center, it still looks like a department store...sort of.

The mall today hangs on with obviously the bare minimum for upkeep.  New uses have been rather creative, however, such as the events center situated in the former Globman's/Peeble's store.  What once sold blouses and perfume recently hosted a wrestling match.  A DMV office also draws frowning traffic into the mall, and "Eden Business Center" seems to be an odd hybrid of Mail Boxes, Etc., a sweepstakes portal and internet cafe.  DMV offices seem to be a good fit for dead malls considering at least two other malls I covered had them.  Still, with the many dead malls I have covered, this one may possibly rate as one of the trashiest, most forgotten and most forlorn malls ever to still have the lights on.

THIS has to be one of the best examples of an unsightly Mom N Pop makeover of a mall tenant.  They even put in their own doors and painted on "awnings".  It's somewhat endearing, I guess.

This florist here captures more of that "last chance" spirit next to the mural that appears to depict a big waterfall.  The only thing I expect to be falling here are ceiling tiles.

The reference is clearly to the Garden of Eden having this apple here, but I can't help but have Ruckzuck from Newton's Apple playing in my head when I look at this.

Full-scale view of the front mall entrance shows that the mall sought to use staggered geometrics to draw in customers.  It must not have worked very well.  Is the sign original?

Another view of the Eden Mall main entrance looking east (it faces south).

Judging by the appearance of the mall, the days for this mall may have been prolonged about 15 years or so, but its days are numbered at least as a public retail operation.  With Belk being the last legitimate retailer, it does absolutely nothing for the rest of the mall.  I believe they will eventually relocate if given the chance, but they may have to build their own store considering the complete lack of new shopping centers in the area.  Why that has not already happened I cannot figure out.  Once Belk goes, I expect the mall will probably close.  What will take its place is anyone's guess.  I am sure that it could function well as a school, church, medical center, corporate offices or government multimodal facility.  It could also sit empty until it deteriorates beyond repair as well.

The Belk store at the mall now has the new logo and one of its most popular styles from the era of single level stores as well.  The clean looking store stands at contrast to the pothole-filled empty parking lot.

Closer inspection, though, shows some details have been overlooked such as the burnt out and damaged light fixture in front of Belk.

Kmart from the front of the mall looks to be in pretty decent condition considering it has been abandoned for 17 years.  It looks like it got an early remodel, too, with the red K with the cursive "mart".

Peebles here is a plain vanilla box with an awning that has all the charm of a garage door on a warehouse.

Close-up of the awning with "Eden Events Center" down in the Everlast branding style.  It's a perfect fit for "rasslin'".

Eden Mall pretty much can be summed up by the average person to be a total economic loss and a complete dump.  The Biblical Eden probably was as well after it's two most famous residents were evicted.  For modern history buffs and retail enthusiasts, however, this mall is amazing.  The chance of finding any well-preserved, largely unmodified 1980 shopping mall in 2011 is remote, but they do exist if you know where to look.  I personally have not yet had the chance to visit this mall, but I hope to see it one day to get a few pics of my own.  I might not have even known about it had I not been tipped-off about it, but thanks to digitalsky here I have this excellent collection of photos of a mall that clearly has seen better days.

Thwe back entrance to Kmart, which was like all mall-based Kmarts only accessable through the mall.

The back parking lot of the Kmart found new use as a Go-Kart track.  

Words fail me.