Westgate Shopping Center: Asheville, NC

Malls of America back in 2006 did a piece on Westgate Shopping Center, Asheville's first major strip mall located just outside of downtown. While it has long since been eclipsed by malls and other shopping centers, the little strip was quite significant when it opened in 1956. What was especially unique about it is that it was built with its very own exit ramp! When opened, the shopping center featured a Winn-Dixie, W.T. Grant and the Asheville-based Bon Marche, which at the time had a much larger store downtown [1]. With that, I actually wonder if they closed the downtown store for this much smaller shopping center version considering the two stores were less than a mile apart!

 

Westgate Shopping Center at its peak from the late 1950's/early 60's.  Both photos are from "Malls of America".

While I was not around to see the progress over time of the shopping center, the fact is that it's still around today and hardly a ghetto strip. Asheville in all honesty really does not have a lot of ghetto compared to other cities in the South, so older businesses and shopping centers tend to hang on long after their heyday is over. In fact, a fair amount of mid-century signage and architecture hangs on all up and down US 70 on both sides of downtown. However, because of this new development in the city is very susceptible to overbuilding, which is why a major shopping mall just south of the city is failing. Westgate Shopping Center itself is not exactly thriving, but what is there is working well.

Looking today at the shopping center from the smaller end closest to I-240 and at the edge of the old Bon Marche, now sided with Earth Fare.  Earth Fare is not the first Asheville store to expand.  Ingles, Rose's and Sky City all got their starts in the Asheville market and the latter two were successful for many years despite their eventual decline.

As to the Bon Marche, I really cannot predict when it might have closed, but I am guessing the location closed in 1972 when the new Bon Marche location opened at Asheville Mall.  I have heard that Meyers-Arnold took that location, eventually bought out by Upton's.  Rose's eventually took over the Grant's as well. Shortly after Bon Marche disappeared, Grant's, of course, closed with the chain in 1976. Beyond that, what I mentioned taking their places is speculation based on previous comments about the place. My knowledge of North Carolina retail is limited, and I did not pay any attention to this place when I was younger.

Looking under the covered walkway extending from Earth Fare back to CVS.  It looks like much of the classic architecture has been covered up, but the overhanging wedge signs are still there.

Today, Westgate Shopping Center faces an uncertain future...not because of its age, but because of the grossly inadequate interstate highway it sits on. I-26 was extended through the city in 2003 along I-240, creating high traffic on a piecemeal primitive freeway through the town. Plans abounding to relocate the problematic freeway have threatened the future of the shopping center, and one of those plans involves outright tearing it down for the freeway. Fortunately, the current owner feels that the history of the shopping center is important and does not want that to happen. Now if we could find some other shopping center owners that showed that kind of love for their classic retail.

Now looking at the rest of the shopping center where Bon Marche used to be.  This part is looking a little barren, unfortunately.

Westgate Shopping Center's major tenant is Earth Fare, a local natural foods supermarket that serves as a small town version of Whole Foods. Whole Foods does not seem to be in Asheville, but Earth Fare is all over the city. When I visited, this store was extremely popular and featured a very contemporary and extremely dark interior decor. The clientele pretty much represented what modern Asheville is known for...older rich people who moved in from elsewhere and plenty of hippies. Of course, the cross section of the crowd actually looked like the kind of city I would be fairly comfortable living in.

 

A look at the Bon Marche entrance, last existing as Davis Furniture.  I wonder what filled this space after Bon Marche left in the early 70's.

The only other major tenant in Westgate today is CVS Pharmacy. Other stores seem to cater to the same crowd swarming Earth Fare. Of course, the biggest tenant, the old Bon Marche, was found lacking of a store currently. Its last occupant, Davis Furniture, up and left for the old Goody's space at Biltmore Square. Considering the condition of Biltmore Square, that seemed to me like leaving safe harbor and boarding the Titanic. Of course, the empty anchor allowed me to take a few photos of the old Bon Marche, which today still carries the bearings of a classic department store: two sets of doors and a wide open room inside with high ceilings covered with a dropped ceiling filled with lots of lights under clear glass sheets.

A look inside the old Bon Marche gives a very 50's feel.  Much about this store reminds me of typical late 50's department stores when looking at the ceiling, floor and column treatments. 

What stands out close to I-240 is the abandoned Bank of Asheville branch found in the older picture. I do not know how long this has been closed, but the location today is the most vintage element left in the center, which has otherwise been renovated fully with a stucco facade. However, I would definitely say it would make a good Starbucks if they haven't already covered the city with locations.

Looking here at the old Bank of Asheville branch, which seems to have been closed a little while.  I seem to remember the Bank of Asheville sign still being there recently if my memory is right.  Does anybody else see Starbucks potential here?

As for Westgate today, the shopping center is struggling a bit with identity in a saturated market. While Asheville's downtown is a fairly hot destination, it is not a place people go to shop like it was when Westgate opened. Most of the stores there are specialty shops, and Westgate is by no means on the city's fringe anymore. In fact, this is essentially a downtown shopping center, and it is too far removed from Asheville Mall nearby to participate in most chain retail development. The shopping center as a whole could be full again, but it would not be everyday stores filling the void. One thing that makes me cringe is something like a Goodwill opening in the old Bon Marche, but this would be a perfect location for the sporatically located and wildly popular Micro Center chain. Perhaps an upscale department store outlet might also do well here.

Looking back lengthwise along the shopping center from the old Bon Marche toward I-240.

 

Nothing too exciting with the shopping center's sign.  I wonder how long ago the old googie-style sign I'm sure was here was removed.  Also note the ramp and frontage road just behind it.

Westgate has been around at least 50 years, and it has survived this long. Today, it hardly stands out as a shopping destination since the shopping center is fairly plain and its offerings are limited, yet it gets an enormous amount of exposure with its own signed exit. Judging by the business of Earth Fare, anything that was unique to the market with a good marketing scheme would do very well here, thus my Micro Center idea. In all, this grand old lady could just use a little more attention. Just painting the stucco a more showy and attractive color and adding some unique stores not found elsewhere in the market I think would bring the sickly strip back to spry. With just the right mix, maybe it will hang around for another 50 years...that is, if NCDOT keeps the bulldozers away.

[1] Source: Barrett, Mark. "Owner gears up for Westgate face-lift". Asheville-Citizen Times. March 26, 2007.

Asheville Mall: Asheville, NC

Asheville retail has not seen much coverage, and much of this accounts from the fact that most visitors to the city are not real focused on this for obvious reasons.  On top of that, apparently not many retail photographers reside in the area.  In all, most trips to Asheville for most people involve the Blue Ridge Parkway, Biltmore House, hiking and general sightseeing.  For me, that was indeed always the case...too busy doing vacation-type things to pay much attention to the city itself.  In fact, only recently have I really explored the city in depth myself.  On previous trips, I was not able to cover much of the city in pictures, but with this post that changes as I cover the most important and successful mall in Western North Carolina.

My first North Carolina mall entry, Asheville Mall is a truly fascinating mall.  In fact, I doubt that anything compares to the downright strange and unique elements of this mall.  Asheville Mall came in as the second mall in the city, opening in the 1973 on a hillside on Tunnel Road (US 70/74A) just off of I-240.  At the time it was built, I-240 was not yet completed east of downtown and US 70 was an extremely crowded thoroughfare.  The road it is on is named for the long tunnel into downtown about a mile west of the mall.  This is technically a single level mall, but this is indeed technical, which I will explain shortly.  The mall is today anchored by Sears, Dillard's Men's, Dillard's Women's, Belk, Barnes & Noble and JCPenney.

 

 

The old part of the mall has a very retro feel to it.  The side window skylights, scattered overhead skylights and sea green color scheme feels like an ethereal 1960's mall.  This part of the mall is flanked by Belk, Sears and both Dillard's.  On the last photo, note the new Barnes & Noble on the right.

Readers, you will need to correct me but I am going on subjective accounts of others and piecemeal information when I post this.  No mall has had as radical of transformations, and also no mall lacks historical information more than this one.  When the mall opened, the mall was vastly different from today.  At the time, the mall had three anchors, two which still exist today.  Those anchors were Bon Marche, Belk and Sears.  Do not confuse Bon Marche with the one in the Pacific Northwest.  This was an Asheville-based store that also had a location in Charlotte at long-defunct Charlottetown Mall.  When first built, the mall was a simple I-shape with a continuous slope throught.  Bon Marche was located where Dillard's Men's is today.  Not long after, Ivey's also added onto the mall closer to Belk as well.  This is where Dillard's Women's is today.

 

 

 

Here is a look at all the anchors on the old part of the mall. Note the open glass overlook in the second floor of Dillard's Men's store. That hallway has one of the most beautiful showcases of natural light I have ever seen in a mall. The second Dillard's is built into the hallway like an inline tenant, and it was previously an Ivey's. The Belk is original, but has been renovated to the point it looks like a new store.  Note the Starbucks on the right of the last photo.  This is the northwest mall entrance, the first of three.

Asheville Mall in its original incarnation had some really strange quirks.  A second level was built on the east end of the old mall that went up to nothing more than a B Dalton bookstore.  This was originally for a two-level J&S Cafeteria with seating areas on the second level.  This store was gotten to by stairs and an elevator going up and a down escalator coming down from it into the main mall.  With that, a small catwalk connected to that central escalator.  This is one of those neat things that other malls should have emulated more, and this feature remains today.  I am also roughly gathering that near the Dillard's Women's interest was an escalator down to a lower level of the mall that had a Piccadilly Cafeteria that we ate at then, but I cannot confirm this area since that is a memory from the late 1980's.  I am honestly not sure where this corridor went.  If this was not where it was, then what is obvious from aerial photos is that a mall corridor stretched between what is today the joined Dillard's stores.  This was possibly where the two level portion was, but I am not sure if or how it connected outside if so.

The steps on the left go up to the former B Dalton.  I last visited this store in early 2007, but was unable to take a photo then due to a very high security presence.  The entire corner there was made up of the bookstore, which closed in early 2009 when Barnes & Noble formed a new two-story anchor.

Here is a look at the down escalator from the store that was B Dalton and originally J&S Cafeteria.  While patrons had to go up stairs or an elevator to go in, they could leave via the escalator.  It is very interesting how they built a catwalk over to the esclator going into the middle of the mall.  This is my favorite mall oddity of all time.

 

The sign next to the stairs still reads "Elevator to B. Dalton".  Barnes & Noble has phased out most of the remaining B. Dalton locations.  This was possibly the last.

Because of sparse parking around the mall, the back of the mall was built originally with a one story parking deck over the back parking lot.  This parking deck comes to a catwalk that crosses over the rear mall entrance onto the roof, yes the ROOF, where you walk along it to double doors into the upper level of Dillard's Women's.  The Dillard's Women's has a mall entrance next to the old B Dalton, while the Dillard's Men's is closer to the Sears.  Neither store is clearly indicated which is which.  The Men's store comes off of a wing with a window on the second floor overlooking the mall.  This was last used as Montgomery Ward.

 

Here is a look at the crossover section between Belk and Dillard's Women's.  This section is squeezed between the two stores to reach the expansion to JCPenney.  This apparently replaced a previous mall corridor between then Dillard's and Montgomery Ward, and I am curious as to how this connected to the 1989 JCPenney wing.  I understand this is close to where the old two-level wing was, and this makes me wonder if a basement level ducked under Dillard's/Ivey's.  Was this wing closer to Belk previously?  I absolutely cannot figure this out, but I do remember Piccadilly was on that lost lower level wing.

The wing going up to Penney's does not stop with the weirdness.  Essentially, part of it is squeezed between Dillard's Women's and Belk and the wing then turns off toward Penney's.  This wing also has the second of THREE Belk entrances into the mall.   The third entrance comes off a newer wing near the food court.  The food court is also strange in that the parking deck partly overlaps it.  The food court wing also contains a weird side entrance that goes down a long hallway with no stores whatsoever.  The result of the overlapping parking deck was the installation of a pair of escalators going straight up into the parking deck.  This also gives the mall a bit of a "second level" in addition to the former B Dalton.  In addition, this second parking deck is three stories tall.

The JCPenney wing is not as nice as the original mall.  It is darker, plainer and boring and according to what I am understanding looks far older than it actually is, apparently designed to match the original mall.  This wing provides access to the rear parking deck and the southwest mall entrance to Belk.  Supposedly this was added in 1989.

 

The southwest Belk entrance, second of three mall entrances.

 

Looking up mall on the JCPenney wing.  Like the original mall, this wing features continuous stairs and ramps.

 

The JCPenney mall entrance definitely looks 1989 despite the otherwise 70's design.

Hallway to the rear mall entrance connects off the Penney's wing across from the second Belk entrance.  This rear entrnace has never been renovated unlike the ones in the front of the mall.

Asheville Mall was expanded twice: the first time in 1989 (to compete with Biltmore Square) and again in 2000.  The JCPenney arrived in 1989, and this wing looks to have been added in the late 70's or early 80's even though it is said to have opened in 1989.  This JCPenney moved from downtown, though I had originally assumed it was Innsbruck Mall.  The addition created a new wing that gutted part of Dillard's/Ivey's coming down the side of what is now Dillard's and continued to the store.  This addition was designed differently from the original wing with less light and a more basic design.  I understand, too, that the connection to this wing was altered with a lower level removed when the second renovation occurred, also resulting in the loss of a twin screen cinema.  The odd design today was most likely to keep the mall built within the most level part of the mountain without having to construct two levels.  This was for the best overall as most two-level malls are actually pretty boring since they inevitably lead to a generic appearance.

 A mall layout like no other.  Any questions?

 

 

This very dark part of the mall is the portion of the mall connecting from the JCPenney wing to the food court.  The wing extends from the JCPenney entrance court.  The lack of natural light is due to the fact that part of the parking deck overlaps this area..

 

Along the hallway between the food court and the JCPenney court is this long hallway to the parking deck.  This is very strange to see such a long hallway with absolutely no stores whatsoever.

The mall has seen quite a bit of shakeup in anchor tenants since it opened.  Apparently the Dillard's Women's store opened as an Ivey's in the early 1970's, relocating from downtown.  Montgomery Ward was previously there from 1994-2000 (the 1994 date is from Mall Hall of Fame).  The Montgomery Ward, today the Dillard's Men's, had originally opened as Bon Marche, converting to Meyers-Arnold in the late 70's and Upton's for a brief period from 1987 to when Montgomery Ward took over the store.  Upton's had bought out Meyers-Arnold in 1987, but Upton's went out of business in 1999.  When it did, it apparently had previously left markets outside of Georgia.   The Belk that is there today is also a significant expansion of the original store, which added a second level in 2000.  Also, JCPenney, of course, came on board in 1989 with a new wing.  In all, the mall has seen an enormous amount of changes over time.  I know when I visited in the late 1980's, the mall had the typical brown tiles of most 70's malls, and I distinctly remember two levels with an escalator in one part of the mall, which it definitely does not have today.  In early 2009, Barnes & Noble opened in the front of the mall, replacing a McDuffey's restaurant, a Gap and a few other tenants.  This two-story store resulted in the closure of B Dalton, but it also added a significant non-apparel anchor sure to drive traffic to the mall.  I am hoping that the mall owners find an appropriate tenant for the old B Dalton, and that that they do not ultimately remove this neat little second level concept.

 

 

Looking here at the food court, which forms the east side of the mall.  This rather dreary dining area is joined with two escalators, but where are they going?  They are going to nothing more than the parking deck, which sits over the top of this part of the mall.

Today, the amount of tweaking it took to put such a massive one-level mall (nearly 1,000,000 square feet) on such a difficult footprint has really paid off.  They have now emerged as the leading mall in the city and the retail hub of the area.  The mall's only competition, Biltmore Square, is withering away from the impact of Asheville Mall as neither the population could support it nor could it hold a candle to the wonders of Asheville Mall.  The mall did a good job expanding and reacting to competition, and at this point they are pretty much invincible in a city noted for its tourism and overally prosperity.  Pictures do not really do justice to this place, however, so I recommend that others come and see it for themselves.  Perhaps they can do this when they arrive to see the leaves this fall!

The southeast wing forms the last sector of the mall.  With no outside entrances, this wing extends from the food court to the southeast Belk entrance, which is the third of three entrances pictured.  The second photo is looking backwards on this wing to the food court.

A view of the Belk mall entrance, which also features a very large emergency exit on the right.  No alarms and no surprises, right?

 

Rear entrance to the mall into the JCPenney wing.  This is all original, and note the overhead catwalk.  Notice that it heads onto the roof.  Now see below.

 

Yessir, you are on the roof.  On this roof, you are headed to two double doors.  Those two double doors head to Dillard's, previously Ivey's.

 

Sears, Dillard's Men's and Dillard's Women's.  The first was the former Montgomery Ward/Upton's/Meyers-Arnold/Bon Marche and looks to have been renovated extensively since a rear mall entrance originally came off one side of it.  The second entrance is to the former Ivey's.

 

Okay, maybe Penney's opened here in 1989, but it sure doesn't look it.  Note the second level parking deck entrance on the first photo.

Belk here looks new, but it is not.  It was just reworked to have a second level, resulting in a redesigning of the store.  This was done in the 2000 renovation.

 

Looking back here at the three level parking deck next to Belk and the three story stairs next to it.  How else are you going to have an adequate parking lot on a mountainside?

Barnes & Noble, the newest anchor, looks a bit out of place with its faux traditional exterior on a modernist mall.  It does look nice, though.  Of course, it still pisses me off they closed the B. Dalton in the mall for this. 

 

Now for the mall sign.  I didn't really cover the Old Navy in the mall, which was loosely pictured in the original mall section.  Those random shapes are a bit weird, and the sign looks like it hasn't held up well.