Houston County Galleria: Centerville, GA

My previous post discussed Houston Mall, the little hybrid strip mall/enclosed mall that eventually emptied out when another mall opened.  That other mall responsible for this exodus was Houston County Galleria, which opened to the west in the suburban town of Centerville.  Centerville is much like Warner-Robins in that it lacks a downtown, and part of that was that the city itself was not even established until the 1950's.  It is also similar in that it caters to the military crowd, thus displacing much of the businesses in Warner-Robins in the process.  Centerville is also an extremely fast growing area.  In fact, surrounding Houston County is one of the fastest growing places in the state.  Since the city has no central business district, the mall has essentially established itself as the downtown of the city since it opened in 1994.

Houston County Galleria is not clearly named at all.  The sign on Watson Blvd reads simply "Galleria" and it is also referred to by others as "The Mall at Centerville" and "Houston Galleria".  The vague nature of the name is reflected in the owners, Zamias Realty.  The Pennsylvania-based company seems to be having difficulty managing its portfolio.  Despite the fact the mall is in a red hot retail corridor, the mall has enough vacancies that shoppers are genuinely concerned that it may, too, be a dying mall.  Personally, I'm wondering why it is having the trouble it is.  The only obvious answer I see is that it is a bit poorly located, situated a couple miles east of I-75 at the intersection of Watson Blvd (GA 247 Connector) and Houston Lake Road.  It is a reasonably attractive mall, and it has three solid anchors with Belk, JCPenney, Sears and a movie theater.  Of course, the same can be said for a mall I covered in Cleveland, TN that seems to be having issues of its own.  Perhaps it is just the curse of the 90's mall?

The first photo shows the east court, which is the most attractive part of the mall.  Inside is a tropical planter with this rather unusual fountain with water exiting an elephant's trunk shown in the second pic.

A stroll down the east wing from Belk.  The design of the ceiling reminds me of the inside of an airplane hangar.  Is this deliberate to pay tribute to Robins ARB?

A look at the mall just outside of Sears.  Note the hit and miss open stores.

The center of the mall features a pseudo food court, but only one national chain restaurant can be found in it...Chick-Fil-A.  In the background is a sunken area with planters that apparently is just there for looks...it is fenced off.

Looking down into part of the sunken area.  Very nice, but what purpose does it serve?

What really stands out to me is why is this mall not thriving or at least improving considering what is going on at Macon Mall.  For years, the mall has played second fiddle to the monstrosity to the north but Macon Mall is indeed a troubled mall.  It seems that the lost business from there would translate into bigger business for the Galleria.  They could even lure Macy's to the mall if Macon Mall continues to struggle like it has been.  I guess the main problem, though, is that being a military town it is likely more difficult to attract the upscale shops.  Most of those have gone to North Macon along with all the money since The Shoppes at River Crossing opened.  It is not that Galleria lacks chain stores...it has stores such as American Eagle and Victoria's Secret...but it could definitely offer a lot more in the trendy chain store department.  I also thought the mall could have had far better lighting.  It seemed a bit dreary.

Another look in the center area with the "food court" on the left.  This is definitely not an award-winning shot with that pole in view.

Here, I am walking back toward Belk. 

A side entrance corridor comes off to the side past the east court.  Not much of interest here really.

The mall does have an interesting layout, which resulted in there being two JCPenney mall entrances.  I did not photograph the lower one.  Note the top empty anchor.  There is nothing there other than an outside entrance, because that is a planned future anchor.  Goody's was between that and Belk.

The mall also seemed to have problems from the beginning.  According to KA Turner, construction was started as early as 1990, but the site sat idle due to Zamias being unable to finance completion of the mall.  A steel skeleton was beginning to rust in the middle of Centerville for quite awhile until funds were finally secured to complete the finish the mall a couple years later.  Regardless, the mall was still far more attractive than Houston Mall with its detailed vaulted ceilings, elaborate court areas and completely contemporary 90's design.  I wonder if perhaps the local shoppers were not pleased about what this mall did to Houston Mall.

The main JCPenney mall entrance from the center of the mall.  Note "Le Nails" on the left...the only business to also have a location at Houston Mall.

The Sears mall entrance is quite different.  I like it!

Belk mall entrance.  You can make out where the holes were covered up where this previously read Belk Matthews. 

Goody's former mall entrance flanks the most dead corner of the mall.  I think the big banner is there more to remind you something is there, because I doesn't look to be accessible from the inside.

The website says "Houston County Galleria".  The sign on the highway, however, just says Galleria.  Personally, I'd rather it just be called "The Mall at Centerville".

Galleria was built with room for six anchors despite the fact the mall is not particularly large.  Four anchors opened with the mall, however, including Belk Matthews, Sears, JCPenney and Goody's...all but JCPenney stolen from Houston Mall.  A 15 screen movie theater took the fifth anchor leaving one empty spot in the back side of the mall that is yet to be filled.  Goody's has also since left the mall after closing in 2009 with the chain, and Stage Stores has not shown interest in replacing that location.  The owners instead made the Goody's into a new conference center.  It seems doubtful the sixth anchor will ever be filled, though anything is possible.  For any expansion, though, the mall will need to become a better regional draw.

When Belk Matthews became Belk, only the Matthews part was removed.  The sign was not repositioned or changed otherwise.  This is really kind of a neat looking store inside and out.

JCPenney is the keystone anchor dead center.  It is obviously a very successful location.

The Sears is a one-level clone of the store at North Point Mall in Alpharetta, GA.  It is also equally nice inside.

The theater complex looks very 90's.  Unfortunately, it is configured outside the mall so it adds no traffic to the interior despite the fact a sign is inside at what would be the mall entrance reminding people it is there.

A look here at the former Goody's.  Maybe this should be converted to mall space.

Today, the strength of Galleria seems to be in the anchors.  Belk was very busy when I visited as well as JCPenney, both filling much of the parking lot.  A stroll through the mall, however, revealed somewhat of a dearth of shoppers.  If nothing else, I feel the mall could use somewhat of an update as well as different owners who could market this place better.  I know some of the criticism could be placed on the fact that the whole Macon region is simply over-retailed, but a mall has been on Watson Blvd since 1971 so the location is well established otherwise.  However, it should be noted that Houston Mall was much smaller and built before the retail explosion along the corridor.  Overall, this was a decent looking mall, and I felt this mall had much going for it.  This is why I want to know why the mall itself is not thriving. 

A look at the front of the mall from Belk to Sears.

Mount Berry Square: Rome, GA

A previous post I made detailed Riverbend Mall, the predecessor to Mount Berry Square. From that post, I basically detailed how Mount Berry Square was directly responsible for the death of that mall when this mall opened in 1991. Built by Crown America, then owner of Hess's, this mall today is a troubled mall in a very odd location. Mount Berry Square is named as such for Berry College close the mall and Lavender Mountain to the north and west, thus the "Mount". Mount Berry Square was isolated when it was built, and today remains just as isolated. Basically, it is located about 2-3 miles north of Rome beyond Berry College near Armuchee and is located a considerable distance north of the by-pass. Shoppers must drive past the college campus to get to the mall. In fact, chain retail stores are few in number around the mall, and what stores are there are all located on outlots of the mall. While it maintains three major department store anchors, it was a poorly conceived and poorly planned mall that has never been completely successful, though it has maintained an A-list tenant roster since it is today the only mall in the city.

When Mount Berry Square opened, its anchor stores were Hess's, Belk Rhodes, JCPenney and Sears. JCPenney jumped ship from Riverbend Mall the minute this mall opened, but both Belk Rhodes and Hess's maintained stores at both malls for a time since their leases had not yet expired at Riverbend. This was problematic for the new mall as stores at Riverbend did not leave right away, meaning the mall was mostly empty when it opened aside from the anchors. However, it was not lost on the stores still at Riverbend that the mall was looking old, cramped, dated and had a history of costly, unpleasant things such as floods. The problem was that stores in Riverbend did not all go to Mount Berry Square by default. A few remained until the end and many others relocated to nearby strip malls or standalone locations in lieu of Mount Berry. As a result, Mount Berry never completely filled up. To say the mall is on death watch is a bit ironic since the mall has never been a really big hit. Maybe the mall is just too big.

Looking at the inside of the mall entrance on the Belk wing.

A look along the Belk wing of the mall. The mall is typical early 90's fare with a mostly whitewashed looks and a few well-placed plants and trees. They really went on the cheap with skylights, though. The Belk wing has always struggled and had few tenants even during its peak years.

After the Rhodes sign was removed off of Belk Rhodes, the facade was left with many holes. Nevertheless, from a distance the sign looks decent, and at least it was centered properly.

JCPenney has a mall entrance on the Belk wing, but not the ONLY mall entrance. The other comes off the front court across from the former Proffitt's.

 

Looking back into the mall from the JCPenney mall entrance.

In 1992, Mount Berry saw its first anchor change as Hess's was sold to Proffitt's. Proffitt's, however, was not at all interested in the old Riverbend location forcing Bon-Ton, which purchased Hess's northern division to take over the remainder of the lease at that store. Later in the 1990's, Toys 'R' Us and Circuit City both found homes on the available outlots. A couple other restaurants are found on outlots, but not of the variety of usual malls such as Applebee's, Red Lobster and Chili's: all of which are found near, you guessed it, old Riverbend Mall. The next anchor change came in 1998 when Belk Rhodes dropped the Rhodes family partnership to become a company Belk store. The 1990's were the peak success of the mall, though it can never truly be said it was raging. The part of the mall near Belk has many stores that were never occupied.

A look along the Sears wing, which looked way emptier than the last time I visited. 

This Sears store anchors the north end, and is relatively successful. Much of the mall business was found on this end until recently. This store moved from a free-standing location south of downtown when the mall opened.

Toward the center of the mall, the mall appears to have the most life.  Here, an American Eagle joins several other A-class tenants situated mostly between the Penney's and former Proffitt's in the main mall corridor.  The former Proffitt's entrance is to the right.

Proffitt's former entrance comes off the Sears wing, but like JCPenney it also has a mall entrance in the front court. This store also operated briefly as Hess's and at the last as a short-lived second Belk store.

Similar to Bradley Square Mall, Mount Berry had a quirky design. Both Proffitt's and JCPenney were built with two mall entrances accessable both from the main mall and the front entrance wing. The mall was typical 90's in design with light tones and very shiny faux marble floor tiles. The center court has a large fountain with muted planters, and a carousel forms the center of the front court. The mall also has a built-in food court, which is only about 50 percent full. The mall also contains a few other planters with trees, which were last common in malls built in the early 90's. No part of the mall has two levels, not even the anchors. In all it is a pretty standard mall for the time it was built, and the major advantage it held over Riverbend was size, a contemporary design and...no risk of flooding. Few other building sites in Rome proper are not at risk of a devastating flood, and the entire downtown sits directly in the flood plain.

The mall map is shown here.  Note the dual entrances for the former Proffitt's and JCPenney.  The mall is a pretty straightforward design, and definitely offered much more in terms of space and anchors to Riverbend.  The problem is, much of this space is not being used, and the mall today has the same amount of anchors of its predecessor in the early 1990's.

This mall, unlike Riverbend, is very front facing. There is absolutely nothing behind the mall. It is very much oriented facing US 27, yet there are still back entrances and ample parking behind the mall. After the 1990's, the mall pretty much was holding its own until 2006 when Proffitt's was sold to Belk. Belk suddenly had two stores at the mall: the last time two Belk stores operated in Rome since the Riverbend overlap. Apparently, the lack of sales and traffic in the mall drove Belk to quickly abandon this arrangement, closing its second store in 2008. Now, the mall faces a vacant anchor with few potential tenants and a bad economy. In fact, the mall has very recently actually seen a decline in inline stores: especially on the Sears wing. In addition, Circuit City closed their location at the mall with the rest of the chain.

Looking along the front entrance wing toward the center court and food court.

Now I'm looking toward the front court and carousel. It seems carousels were as essential in 90's malls as fountains in 80's malls.

A full shot of the carousel.

The carousel with the front court Penney's entrance on the right.

Next to the former Proffitt's is this very hopeful banner on an empty storefront asking local citizens what they would like to see at the mall. Their heart is in the right place, and I hope it works. A junior Dillard's would be nice in the old Proffitt's and Best Buy in the old Circuit City.

To the left of the closed Proffitt's front court entrance is this abandoned restaurant. It is impossible to tell what this was, and it looks to have been closed for quite awhile.

The empty front court Proffitt's entrance. Very depressing indeed. This store was open, alive and assumed well only three years prior before the buyout.

Today, Mount Berry has an uncertain future. Now 18 years old and on a national list of malls in danger of failure, the mall has much working against it and not enough for it. The only reason it has survived this long is due to the lack of any other legitimate mall options in the city. If anything resembling a mall or lifestyle center with department store anchors opened closer to the city, the chances of survival would be dismal. As it is, the mall has had difficulties due to the redevelopment of Riverbend Mall. While the old mall is today a strip center, it features many tenants normally found in or around malls. In addition, the majority of retail in Rome remains situated near Riverbend Mall. The fact that the big box stores have never moved closer to Mount Berry has always hurt the mall. In all, it seems to have been built assuming the retail chains would all move closer to embrace it. That just did not happen. The bright side is that at present no new major shopping centers have been planned in the area.

Center court is open, airy, lush and features this basic but attractive fountain.

The reality of the mall having to redevelop partially or completely in the future is quite high. This is not lost on the mall as they have placed a large banner and comment card offering the public suggestions of what they would like to see in the mall. The reality is that Rome does not have a strong economy on its own, and many people commute to Atlanta for work. If this was not the case, the mall would be in better shape. Mount Berry is not located in an area that takes advantage of that. In fact, what keeps the mall alive for the most part is the fact the city has three colleges, and much of their business comes from high school and college-age students. This is why what is in business in the mall tends to be A-list, and youth is the most important demographic in higher end retail.

The food court in the mall has always struggled with vacancies, and opened basically empty.  Today, it features a few restaurants that fill about 40-50% of the possible tenants.  This food court is just too far from most of the core market lunch crowd.

Mount Berry in the future will go one of three ways. It will either maintain status quo for several more years to come, the mall will see a renaissance due to a renovation and interest in the currently vacant stores or it will succumb to competition that does not currently exist. Of course, there is also the possibility the mall may just die with no close competition, but if so that would be a symptom of a greater problem (such as a complete economic collapse). Any way you look at it, I have cause to be concerned about the future of this mall. While I think it is a decent and relatively attractive mall, I think it is in dire need of renovation and I think it does not adequately serve the needs of the area. Maybe I am wrong, but this mall is not in a favorable position.

Shown here are exterior shots of the smaller mall entrance into the Belk Rhodes wing and the main sign on US 27. Note that there is not much in the way of retail development across the street.

Here is a look at the outside of the lost anchor, Proffitt's.  How I wish I had gotten a mall entrance photo!

Here is a look at all the anchors today fron the outside. A previous shot of the Proffitt's was included on my Proffitt's post.  The door to the former Proffitt's still says "Welcome to Proffitt's" despite being a second Belk briefly.