The original configuration of the mall was an H-shaped center with Rich's on the east end and three anchors on the west end: a Storey theater on the south, Woolworth's in the middle facing the main mall corridor, and Colonial Stores on the north end. Inline junior anchors included high-end Regenstein's department store (their only mall-based location) and Henderson Furniture (which also had a location at Town & Country Shopping Center in Marietta). I was unable to determine exactly where these two stores were located in the mall, but I am assuming at least one was adjacent to Rich's on the south side due to the building jutting out more compared to the rest of the stores along the south block. The land for the mall was originally purchased by Rich's earlier in the 1960's, and the mall was developed by D. Scott Hudgins who was famous for developing many of Atlanta's major malls.
Its early years were successful serving the growing suburbs from Decatur northward, but it quickly lost its regional status when other bigger, better malls were built in the region including direct competition from Northlake Mall, completed in 1971. Historicaerials.com has a photo of the mall in its original configuration. Architectural drawings and outside aerial photos show that the mall had about three court areas with arched high window skylights and smaller overhead skylights with the court in front of Rich's reaching two stories high to allow patrons of the Magnolia Room to overlook the east mall court from the second floor. A similar design was employed at Greenbriar Mall, which opened one year after North DeKalb.
What was remarkable is that North DeKalb lasted as long as it did, but Hudgins still owned the mall in the 1980's and wasn't content to let it die. With its then very dated design (because back then 20 years might as well have been 100), small size, and maintenance issues plaguing the center, Hudgins partnered with Cadillac Fairview to restructure the entire mall with both a new design and new layout to better compete with what was by then four other malls within a relatively short distance. The update also would add 200,000 square feet increasing it from just under 450,000 square feet to just over 650,000 square feet. Although I cannot confirm when they left, it appears that Colonial Stores (by then Big Star) and Regenstein's both left sometime in the early 80's with Regenstein's still there as late as 1981 [1]. Woolworth would close for the redevelopment, but it did not appear that they chose to reopen after initially claims that they would [2]. However, it cannot be discounted that having Rich's as the primary anchor when the nearest competitor did not have one really made a difference: Northlake had Sears, JCPenney, and Davison's...but not Rich's. If not for Rich's continued success, North DeKalb would likely have been demolished and redeveloped by the late 1980's or early 1990's most likely into a strip center. In fact, Cadillac Fairview officials were quoted as saying that the success of Rich's was the primary reason they worked to save the ailing mall [3].
The first and second photos both are of the east court, featuring this big clock. The corridor to the left (original mall) in the first photo heads to the Macy's (former Rich's). In the second photo, Macy's is to the right. The second photo is one of the two Ross mall entrances.
What was remarkable is that North DeKalb lasted as long as it did, but Hudgins still owned the mall in the 1980's and wasn't content to let it die. With its then very dated design (because back then 20 years might as well have been 100), small size, and maintenance issues plaguing the center, Hudgins partnered with Cadillac Fairview to restructure the entire mall with both a new design and new layout to better compete with what was by then four other malls within a relatively short distance. The update also would add 200,000 square feet increasing it from just under 450,000 square feet to just over 650,000 square feet. Although I cannot confirm when they left, it appears that Colonial Stores (by then Big Star) and Regenstein's both left sometime in the early 80's with Regenstein's still there as late as 1981 [1]. Woolworth would close for the redevelopment, but it did not appear that they chose to reopen after initially claims that they would [2]. However, it cannot be discounted that having Rich's as the primary anchor when the nearest competitor did not have one really made a difference: Northlake had Sears, JCPenney, and Davison's...but not Rich's. If not for Rich's continued success, North DeKalb would likely have been demolished and redeveloped by the late 1980's or early 1990's most likely into a strip center. In fact, Cadillac Fairview officials were quoted as saying that the success of Rich's was the primary reason they worked to save the ailing mall [3].
First photo is looking back down the main corridor to the Macy's mall entrance (Rich's mall entrance shown below). Second photo is looking out on the longest (east) wing with Macy's behind me. Last photo is of the mall corridor extending from the east court to south court.
In 1986, the renovations and reconfiguration of North DeKalb Mall were completed with the mall renamed "Market Square at North DeKalb". This renovation reconfigured the H design into T-shape with a central diamond where the mall could maximize space, fit in a food court inside part of the diamond, and add anchors all largely within the existing footprint. Shoppers who originally could walk straight from Rich's to Woolworth would then have to navigate around angular corridors to do so. The renovation brought with it new anchors that were also new to the market as well: Mervyn's, and Lechmere. At the time both Mervyn's and Lechmere were divisions of Dayton-Hudson with one being a clothing store similar to JCPenney while Lechmere focused largely on electronics and sporting goods. As Dayton-Hudson began its evolution into Target, it would shed stores like Mervyn's and Lechmere in the process resulting in these stores eventually fading away. Eventually Burlington Coat Factory would replace Mervyn's after they left the market in 1996 while Rhodes Furniture would replace Phar-Mor that itself had replaced Lechmere. The mall's original cinema was also replaced with a 16 screen AMC theater. Ross and Stein Mart would also take up inline space by the 2000's. The timing of the mall's update was critical considering that the nearest Rich's at Belvedere Plaza, the only location not in an enclosed mall, closed in January 1986. Had the mall not gotten the huge boost it did, Rich's might have relocated that store to another mall - most likely Northlake.
It should be pointed out that the update of North Dekalb Center into "Market Square" followed a typical pattern of older first-generation malls in the late 1980's that were taking drastic measures to survive with limited options due to lack of available land to expand and locations that had become less ideal due to since-completed interstates removing traffic from them. This was less of an issue for this mall given that US 78 remained a major through route and that the Stone Mountain Freeway was later extended to end right at the mall giving it easy access to I-285, Atlanta's beltway that would be completed a few years after the mall opened. As to these early mall redevelopments, they would frequently accept anchors that were unknown to the market, were less popular, or were not traditional (such as big box stores), would massively renovate the interior (or enclose a strip or open-air mall), and often would change the name to attempt to shed any negative perceptions of the mall. Cobb Center had a similar makeover/renaming in 1987. The updates almost always added more light to the mall by putting in larger skylights, adopting brighter, softer materials and colors, and in some cases adding neon lighting as well.
Saved 2009 directory from the mall's now defunct website showing the odd configuration of the mall. It was this design that made me really want to see this mall for myself considering that I had never seen it prior to 2004.
By then, malls were beginning to saturate their markets, and the older malls really were not positioned to survive against demographic shifts, new mega malls, massive bankruptcies and consolidation in the department store industry, and increased competition from off-mall category killers that did not exist when the malls first opened. These older malls also lacked the land to build larger malls without great expense, and it would take the attracting of upscale stores to justify that cost. North DeKalb did well to attract Mervyn's and Lechmere, but these were both stores that did not need malls as much as the malls needed them. By the 1980's, the most popular malls were anchored by established chains or higher end stores, and these older malls usually only had one or two stores like that, in this case Rich's. Although the mall never regained its destination status, the change did buy the mall over 30 more years! That's not bad considering that North DeKalb 2.0 outlasted 1.0 by more than a decade.
Photos include view of south court, view looking down the southeast wing and view looking down the south wing. The southeast wing is really strange: it is part of the mall itself but also a store. While it has a pseudo entrance, the walkway through it is mall while the stuff on each sides is the store. This was a Rhodes Furniture when I visited in 2004. Today it is a local furniture store. The south wing (last photo) is the wing to AMC Theaters that originally opened as a Lechmere.
In the early 2000's, "Market Square" was quietly renamed back to North DeKalb Mall. By the middle of the decade, North DeKalb was also becoming very troubled. It's once exciting roster of new anchors was constantly being shaken up by bankruptcies/liquidations such as Lechmere in 1989, Mervyn's in 1995, and Rhodes Furniture in 2005. With time, the mall was looking more and more like a regular strip center with an enclosed walkway, and small tenants were fading away while its anchors began exploring their nearby options as well. It also didn't help when Rich's merged companies with Macy's in 1995 then consolidated the two stores into one 2005. The Macy's (former Rich's) at the mall was then in direct competition with the Macy's (former Davison's) at Northlake resulting in both stores cannibalizing each other for sales weakening both malls further. The construction of the Mall at Stonecrest in 2001 also took shoppers away leaving both malls to very slowly die. A plan by Hendon Properties in the early 2000's involved adding a Costco as an anchor to the mall with a parking deck, but that fell through after nearby neighborhoods fought the plan over flooding concerns. Eventually, Hendon would give up on the mall and sell the property.
The Food Court makes up the west court of the mall. The first photo is approaching it from the side and the second features the huge domed skylight over the main seating area. The last is looking back from the food court to the west (rear) entrance. Note the Applebee's on the left. This is approximately where the original Woolworth's was located.
It was fairly obvious when I first documented this mall as early as 2005 that it was terminal. What I did not know is how long it would take. It wasn't until 2016 that (the rather run down) Macy's finally closed their store, but that legacy Rich's was a keystone to the mall. Hollywood would use the mall as a filming location during that time for dystopian flicks, but Hollywood could not revive the ailing center which would finally close in 2020. However, that closure should not be seen as completely sad given that the mall managed a very long life for a second-tier center. It lasted 55 years when in its early configuration it might not have even lasted 30 years. My own system of mall success has tiers, and a "50-year mall" is generally a huge success while a "30-year mall" is a mall that never quite caught on. North DeKalb found its niche, and it worked for a long, long time.
The redevelopment plan will be yet another mixed-use urban village, and rest assured it will be as inspiring as a box of store-brand corn flakes. Unfortunately, times have changed in ways that are pretty miserable, and an expansive B-mall catering to a broad middle class living in single family homes with disposable income has been edged out of the modern paradigm consumed by corporatism and its associated depressed wages and sky-high living costs. Nearly every facet of the mall had become outdated and outmoded as decades passed, and the land it was sitting on likewise became way more valuable than the mall itself. While I'm pretty sure the new development will do fine, this full circle back to the bad old days of overcrowded, overpriced urban living vs. the expansive suburbs with nice malls full of nice stores is why so many felt their eyes tear up as the wrecking ball tore into this tarnished palace of retail.
And now for a look back in time to late 2004 and early 2005 at Rich's just prior to the changeover:
Now for some night shots:
* Original post dated July 2, 2006, updates on January 6-7, 2025*
First photo is view of the north court followed by photos of the north wing to Burlington Coat Factory (former Mervyn's) and northeast wing to parking lot (Ross comes off of this wing as well).
This photo is looking from east court (at the clock) to north court.
And now for a look back in time to late 2004 and early 2005 at Rich's just prior to the changeover:
Rich's mall entrance prior to the changeover.
Two views of the south entrance to Rich's. This was the best preserved part of the original facade. Note the letters mounted on poles!
Rich's north entrance falls short of original, but luckily the green signs were retained in the 1986 renovation. Note that the display windows next to the door were covered up as well as the original arched awning. That is still visible underneath the ugly stucco cover.
The east side features two entrances. The one-story wing entrance was completely original. The second photo focuses more on it.
The last daytime shot of Rich's focuses on the auto center. It, too, was completely original from 1965.
Now for some night shots:
Rich's southeast entrance at night. Note the lightbulbs under the arch.
Rich's east entrance at night. The lower sign is in better shape because it is newer: note the forementioned stucco awning.
One more look at the south entrance: this time at night. This is my favorite angle of the store. The Macy's sign that is here now is in a big white box in lieu of these poles.
* Original post dated July 2, 2006, updates on January 6-7, 2025*
[1] The Atlanta Journal; Sunday, April 26, 1981, Page 104
[2] The Atlanta Journal; Friday, December 27, 1985, Page 9
[3] The Atlanta Journal; Thursday, September 11, 1986, Page 155
