Kinston Plaza: Kinston, NC

The year before Kinston gained its first enclosed mall, Kinston was already enjoying the fruits of what was then a thriving local economy gaining its first modern shopping center with the construction of Kinston Plaza.  While small by today's standards, the center is actually a combination of strip and covered arcade that is one of the largest and most vintage arcades I have run across that is still operational.  While very local in nature today, the center once had a larger draw.

Built in 1966, Kinston Plaza was anchored by Woolco, Colonial Stores and A&P.  The arcade portion may have not been original to the center, instead added around 1970 considering that the now-closed theater that anchors the back of the arcade was opened in 1970.  The theater, named Trans-Lux Inflight Cinema, was renamed Plaza Theater in 1974, twinned in the early 80's and operated at the center until it closed for good in 2000 when a seven screen theater nearby replaced the two screen cinema.  However, the center was already in decline long before the theaters closed.

Kinston Plaza's arcade is one of the best preserved mid-century specimens featuring a mix of regionally-popular faux Colonial and 60's modern design.  While covered, the center is completely open-air making the arcade function like a cave.  The far end of the mall is now a long-closed theater.  Photos taken June 15, 2015.

Theater entrance with skylight providing eerie natural light overhead.  Photo taken June 15, 2015.

Detail of skylights, which were clearly designed with a cloudy look and obviously need some debris cleaned off.  Photo taken June 15, 2015.

Detail of storefronts in the mall, now exclusively service-type tenants.  Photo taken June 15, 2015.

It is obvious to note that none of the original anchor tenants are still in business today, so quite a few changes occurred with the anchors.  The first of those was when Colonial Stores became Big Star in 1978.  Big Star, of course, later closed after stores in the market were sold to Harris Teeter in 1988.  Second was when Woolco went out of business in 1982.  At the time, the shopping center was doing well enough and it was quickly filled by Brendle's Catalog Showroom.  By 1992, both supermarkets had left after A&P exited the market as the company continued to decline.  Brendle's itself would end operations in 1996 joining every other catalog merchant in the dustbin of history.  With the theater already closed, the shopping center probably looked nearly abandoned before 2000, but smaller chains came into fill the void and it recovered.

Leaving the mall, it is like twilight before the dawn, but about 40 years ago.  Photo taken June 15, 2015.

While ownership may have changed, this barber shop/salon is likely the oldest continuously-operating tenant in the shopping center.  Many shopping center barber shops remain mostly unchanged from 50 years ago.  Photo taken June 15, 2015.

Hollow store at corner of mall and parking lot.  Photo taken June 15, 2015.

The exterior mall entrance has, unfortunately, been updated into this deceptively boring stucco facade hiding the vintage goodness within.  Photo taken June 15, 2015.

Piggly Wiggly today occupies what was originally a Woolco.  Photo taken June 15, 2015.

This sign for the shopping center along an adjacent street is likely (almost) original considering the arrow likely replaced an older arrow with flashing lights.  Photo taken June 15, 2015.

Today, the center is alive and (mostly) well again catering to wider tastes and demographics than the original shopping center.  Major tenants include Piggly Wiggly in the old Woolco space, Big Lots in the old Colonial/Big Star and It's Fashion Metro in the old Eckerds space.  A hair salon and dance studio still operate in the "mini mall" space (what the shopping center calls it!), and the former A&P is now a furniture store.  In a town with many vacant retail centers and a mall on its last legs, Kinston Plaza remains a bright spot in the city.

Patrick-Henry Mall: Martinsville, VA

The retail news today continues to report the trend towards "open-air malls" from the enclosed malls of yore. The truth is the open-air mall was the earliest incarnation of a mall in most cities across America, but for some reason the new open-air trend seems to have forgotten that an open-air mall is a pedestrian-only facility with covered walkways designed to protect you from the elements where you do not have to dodge cars to shop at each store. This is unfortunate as a few of these classic open-air centers are still hanging on across the country including this tiny gem in Blue Ridge foothills of Virginia.


Patrick-Henry Mall is hyphened, because the name actually refers to the two counties that border each other: Patrick and Henry. The mall itself, however, is actually in Henry County. The name of not only the mall, but also the counties is also obviously a nod to the early American revolutionary of the same name. For quite some time, this mall has captivated my attention because of its striking mid-century design that has endured well past its useful life. Indeed, if the mall had ever actually been enclosed and expanded it would have likely died much sooner, most likely either knocked down or re-purposed by the late 1990's. This is especially true as the mall itself sits in an older part of the city near downtown on the east side. The road it is on is also no longer a major route since the highways were relocated around the city.

Day and night shots of JCPenney, now a classy "Mix Bag".  You can also find some "famous brands" if you look really, really hard.  Photos by digitalsky.  First shot shows the open-air mall corridor with detail of overhead canopy. 

Mix Bag, formerly Penney's, does not keep its mall entrance open.  However, the ghost of Penney's remains on the building proving that the logo was never updated.  Photo by digitalsky

Penney's former mall entrance complete with moldy hole in the overhead tiles.  Note the tiles below as well.  This is retro goodness at its finest.  Photo by digitalsky

More detail of the Penney's labelscar and mall entrance.  Photos by digitalsky

The livelihood of Martinsville was similar to cities across the state line in the piedmont region of North Carolina in that furniture manufacturing was its bread and butter. Clearly, furniture manufacturing peaked when the mall opened in 1965 bringing to the city one of the earliest malls in the region. The crown jewel, of course, was the JCPenney store, which at that time was a mass merchant of both soft and hard-lines competing with Sears and Montgomery Ward. The mall also had a Rose's, People's Drugs and Colonial Stores as its original anchor tenants. Leggett and Sears, however, remained downtown.

Inside Mix Bag.  The store still has the same brown carpet it did as JCPenney.

Old sign for the mall somewhere in the middle of the mall.  Photo by digitalsky

  

 Side view of the former Rose's, which later operated as Watson's Backroom before closing over 20 years ago.  I am waiting for Qbert to start hopping up those stepped tiles, but I think the game is already over.  Photo by digitalsky

For over 20 years, Patrick-Henry Mall thrived. While tiny, the mall was doing well enough in the late 1980's that Sears originally considered opening a store at the mall. A few anchor changes took place during that time as well. Rose's converted to P.H. Rose before closing around 1983. It was later briefly a store called "Eagles" and the last retail store to occupy the place was Watson's Backroom, part of the now-defunct Watson's chain. Watson's would ultimately leave their store in 1990. The Colonial also changed names and hands later becoming Big Star before being replaced by a Bestway in the early 1980's, later closing and no longer operating as a supermarket. Oddest of all was People's Drug. In anticipation of Sears building a store where they were located, they built a new store opposite the mall next to what had been the JCPenney auto center. While the signs were installed, they never actually occupied the space. Peoples Drugs itself would be bought out by Revco in 1993, which was already located off-mall.

Several shots of the small open-air mall itself between Penney's and the east wing.  It is still lush with trees and vegetation making clear shots difficult, but shopping here would be enjoyable if there were any stores.  Too bad Liberty Fair Mall killed it.  Photos by digitalsky

Note the gazebo-style kiosk in the background in this photo.  Looks like the kind of place you would go to get a travel package to West Germany.  Photo by digitalsky.

Former restaurant, which was most likely Bonanza.  Photo by digitalsky

Entrance to former Rose's/Watson's Backroom.  Photo by digitalsky

In 1989, Liberty Fair Mall opened, ending Patrick-Henry's hope for any further dominance in the market. Not only did the new mall eventually steal the prospective Sears from the mall, but also they took original anchor JCPenney immediately. When all was said and done, the mall became effectively a ghost town hosting a few mom and pop tenants and offices, but no major retail since. A call center last occupied the former Rose's, and Family Dollar continues to operate in the original Peoples Drugs location. A few mom-and-pop operations also operate in the mall, but no other chain stores are located there today. JCPenney itself is now operating as a low-key local operation known as "Mix Bag". With exception to one store, the mall has never been remodeled and is essentially derelict although it is maintained and open to the public.

Photos of the center from the front parking lot.  Family Dollar is where People's Drugs was prior.  Photos by digitalsky

Here is the replacement People's Drugs that never opened.  It's hard to figure out what to put in dead store space in a town this economically depressed.  Photo by digitalsky

People's Drugs in center, Big Star to the left and the outer side of the mall on the right.  Is 1 hour parking really necessary?  Photo by digitalsky

Does the future hold promise for the forgotten center? The answer is not likely since the mall is in town with little development around it in a city that is too depressed economically to support it either way. It will also be difficult to attract new stores since the footprint of the mall is very small and landlocked. In all, the only real hope aside from bringing real industry back to the city for reviving the center for retail is if Liberty Fair Mall dies and what is left chooses to repopulate the mall. Liberty Fair Mall actually is dying, too, but it will likely be de-malled before the anchors will be demolished. However, the very recent purchase of Liberty Fair by Hull Storey Gibson suggests a cheap remodel and largely empty mall will be the situation for now  Still, I fantasize about Belk taking over the old JCPenney, a healthy little remodeled mall springing back to life and land purchased to expand the mall more. JCPenney sadly is struggling in the city with their store downgraded to an outlet: the reason why JCPenney likely would not work in their old store. Patrick-Henry would be able to offer far cheaper rent than Liberty Fair and a cozy boutique setting that the current mall cannot offer, but the mall is clearly far from the wealthy suburban setting that could better support it. Does a mall like this in a place like this have anything to offer anymore?

Annotated map of the mall.

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Catawba Mall: Hickory, NC

Nestled in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina, Hickory is the largest city in that region as well as the only significant outpost between Asheville and Winston-Salem.  While nearby cities such as Lenoir and Statesville have malls, the former is dead and the latter has less to offer than the average strip mall aside from its anchors.  Hickory as a population center is significant with the city holding about 40,000 residents and the region holding over 300,000.  Hickory is also the center of North Carolina's furniture manufacturing industry, and it was the first city in the state to commence furniture manufacturing.  This is part of why Hickory has the region's dominant shopping mall, Valley Hills Mall.  Before Valley Hills Mall, however, this title was held by tiny Catawba Mall.

Catawba Mall, today Catawba Furniture Mall, was the first shopping mall in the region as well as one of the oldest in Western North Carolina outside of Charlotte when it opened in 1968.  For its compact size, it was effectively the only enclosed super-regional mall in that part of the state since Charlotte had yet to build a mall like Catawba and the nearest mall like it opened itself in High Point around the same time.  Surprisingly, this mall was also built by Simon: obviously one of their first.  Unfortunately, this potential was offset by the fact that Catawba was a plain, brutalist building that over time proved much too small for the city.

Front entrance hallway headed to center court.  Originally, Rose's would have been straight ahead.

Center court walking toward west wing.  This way went to Belk Broome, Spainhour's and Big Star.  It looks so spooky from this angle.  The mall is very dark outside of the court areas.

After turning left at the former Belk Broome entrance, I am walking toward the back entrance where Big Star used to be.  Spainhour's would have been somewhere on the right here.

Belk Broome here would have been on the left and possibly straight ahead.  It had only one outside entrance.

When Catawba Mall opened, it featured a large JCPenney as well as Rose's, Belk Broome and Spainhour's.  Spainhour's was centered in Hickory, so it was a logical anchor since early malls always had at least one local or regional department store.  A Big Star supermarket also anchored the southwest corner of the mall, possibly opening as Colonial, but it did not connect to the interior portion of the mall.  The single-level center featured an L-shaped main hallway with one additional entrance wing connecting through center court.  JCPenney was the largest anchor and the only anchor with two levels.  Rose's extended straight back from center court also containing an outside entrance behind the mall, which is now bricked up.  Center court features a rectangular room with high windows roughly halfway between the former JCPenney and the former Belk Broome.  Spainhour's was situated on the west side behind Belk Broome (and attached). In all, it was a very tiny mall packed with anchors that to all appearances left room for no more than about 15-20 inline tenants aside from the anchors.

Here I'm further back from the last photo in the vicinity of where Spainhour's entrance once was.

Here, I'm back in center court with full view of the small fountain with the front entrance hall on the left and the east wing on the right heading to what was JCPenney.  How much, if any, part of this fountain is original?

I am now looking down the former JCPenney wing just east of center court otherwise known as the world's longest furniture showroom (my bad joke).

This photo was captured precisely where the JCPenney mall entrance was.  The former JCPenney has since been integrated into the "mall".  What I'd give to see this seen with that funky old Penney's logo.

When Valley Hills Mall opened in 1978, Catawba Mall did not immediately die as a traditional shopping mall.  While it was clear that Valley Hills was the superior mall, the mall curiously opened with only two anchors including Belk Broome, which duplicated stores at both malls, and Sears, which the older mall did not have.  JCPenney did not initially relocate to the mall, and Spainhour's stayed put.  Regardless, Belk Broome had a small one-level store at Catawba while its Valley Hills Mall store a mere 2 1/2 miles east was a spacious, elegant two-level store with a wider assortment of merchandise.  Only because Valley Hills opened with skimpy anchor offerings was the game not already over for Catawba.  In fact, the two malls completely complimented each other for a decade.  If Catawba's owners had been proactive and enacted an immediate expansion through the back of the mall making it larger and more attractive, perhaps the ultimate outcome would have been very different.

The mall's main entrance along U.S. Hwy 70 looks a bit gaudy, but it appears it was always plain.

Belk Broome is now "In Your Home Furnishings".

Further inspection of Belk Broome reveals the display windows are still intact next to the entrance.  Instead of looking at chalky mannequins shaped like bulimic chicks, you can imagine yourself looking at them while instead fawning over the couch in the window.  At least you can sleep on the couch (after you buy it).

The northwest corner of Belk Broome reveals no outside entrance but a steady line of ribbed concrete protrusions extending along the back side as well.

Despite the complimentary nature of the two malls, Catawba proved to be very outmoded by the late 80's.  By then, the mall was already struggling, and this became painfully obvious when in 1988 JCPenney built onto Valley Hills Mall, closing their Catawba Mall store once the new store was completed.  Without a major anchor to pull in traffic, Belk Broome joined JCPenney simultaneously in the exodus finally recognizing that they only needed one store in the market as well.  Rose's also joined the exodus moving west into a new strip mall just west of the US 321 expressway at U.S. 70 and 12th St with Big Star likely anchoring that new strip as well.  With an exodus like that, the mall was in a tail spin.  Nevertheless, Big Lots moved in to replace Rose's and Spainhour's continued to do good business.  Even then, the Spainhour's location no longer appealed to the company.  At the time, they were already in the process of phasing out their department stores.  Spainhour's itself left the mall in 1991 leaving the mall dead.  Big Lots would ultimately leave as well seeking more space than the Rose's had to offer.

At the very rear of the mall is this bricked up entrance, which was originally the back and outside entrance to Rose's, later Big Lots.  Bricking up any entrance always looks spooky like a dark secret is hiding on the other side.

Here is more of the back side of the mall with Penney's on the right and the mall on the left.  It is unknown what the solitary door connected to.  Was this a drug store of some sort?  The store would have been very deep.

The southwest entrance is the only rear access to the mall today.  The grassy lot to the left was the former location of Big Star before the building was demolished a couple years ago.

This photo lacks detail of the entrance due to a couple annoying yokels haunting the door, but this brick portion was where Spainhour's was located.  Spainhour's was the last anchor to leave the mall in 1991.

The death of one of the state's oldest malls was not lost on the city nor developers.  Several developers came forward with proposals to resurrect the mall, but all fell through.  The city also considered, but rejected the mall site for a civic center.  Of all the proposals, the most unusual one of all came forward in the late 1990's: transforming the mall into a "furniture mall".  A novel concept indeed, a "furniture mall" is essentially different furniture vendors setting up as tenants throughout one center.  The concept was also tried on nearby Lenoir Mall, but failed.  In the case of Catawba Mall, though, it was a total success.  The mall reopened in 1998 as Catawba Furniture Mall, and it is still going strong today.  As a city people travel to just for furniture, it was definitely the best way to reuse as well as rescue a mall that otherwise would have been doomed to a date with dump trucks.

Last but not least is JCPenney...the largest single anchor at the mall.  This is the front entrance.

Here is a side view of JCPenney, which is now simply a mall entrance for the rest of the bizarre furniture bazaar.

More detail of the JCPenney side entrance.

Behind the mall, prior to the conversion to a furniture mall this very peculiar building was spotted on an aerial photo.  Apparently this was a Carmike Cinema.  It was divided into four screens and downgraded to a dollar theater before closing in the 1990's.  It has since been torn down as part of a state road improvement project.

Here is a map of the mall showing its anchor line-up the way it was during its peak of success around 1977.  It is still unclear what other tenants were in the mall, how they were positioned or how many.  I also do not know if any other hallways existed.

The sad part about Catawba Mall is that its contemporaries have for the most part not been able to survive next to competition, demographic changes and even natural disasters.  Charlottetown failed due to its small size and poor offerings.  Tarrytown in Rocky Mount was ultimately demolished after being destroyed in a long, devastating flood.  If Hickory itself had built any more malls, Catawba would have likely seen a similar fate.  While it is sad to see the old anchors with their iconic signs re-dubbed as something less glamorous, at least it is still possible to see Catawba for what it was for the most part.  As expensive, elaborate and expansive as malls are to build, even the small ones, it is worthwhile to try to save every one even if its use is not retail.  Catawba was fortunate enough to find a second life as a retail center: even if the only "retail" being sold there is furniture.