Shannon Mall/Union Station: Union City, GA

If any mall could ever completely defy expectations, it's Shannon Mall, today known as Union Station. Shannon Mall is a mall that throughout its existence always seem to have the odds against it, and never was a strong performer compared to the other malls across Atlanta. Rumors of eminent demise have swirled around since the beginning of the decade, but the fact is that the mall is about to make it 30 years intact and in business. However, that success remaining will likely mean tough choices.

Center court with a small fountain.

My earliest memories of Shannon Mall are of a mall that I saw often, but never visited. Its original name most likely referred to the original developer's daughter. There is nothing named Shannon anywhere near the mall. In the 80's, me and my family would be driving south on I-85 from the northside of Atlanta down to Callaway Gardens. On our way down there, the options for dining were severely limited past the Jonesboro Road exit, so we would make our way down Jonesboro Road to eat, usually at Del Taco.

Main mall entrance facing I-85. The sign was changed to "Union Station" in 2007. The two-way mirror glass area on the left covers the food court.

This mall I kept passing intrigued me, but I never saw it in that time. Shannon Mall during those years was in a strange position: flanked by then-declining suburbs on the north and east and overall wilderness dotted with farms to the south and west. At the time, it was pure optimism of guaranteed growth that led the mall to business: much riskier on the slow-growing southside. The reason it worked was because it drew from such a large area. Shoppers in fast-growing Peachtree City, Douglasville, Fayetteville and College Park flocked to the mall in addition to Union City, where the mall is located. Unlike other Atlanta malls built in that time, this was a bit smaller than the others with only one level (except Davison's) and the smallest Rich's in the entire chain. Its only strong competition at the time was Southlake Mall, and with only three malls on the southside, this was a plus. White flight had left older Greenbriar behind by that time, further fueling the initial success of the mall.

All photos above are looking down the Rich's (Macy's) wing of the mall. In the first, the hallway extending to the left on the north court goes to Maxx Fun, originally Mervyn's and later JCPenney. The second is the Macy's (Rich's) mall entrance. The last is looking back towards center court. Original interior and exterior Rich's photos are available at the end of this article.

When Shannon Mall opened in 1980, the mall featured three anchors: Rich's, Davison's and Sears. A Morrison's Cafeteria was also included in the original mall. The mall was built with two additional anchor pads which both served as additional mall entrances. In 1985, it was announced that Mervyn's, along with a new wing, would be added to the mall. The following year, Davison's was converted to its parent company's moniker Macy's and the new Mervyn's wing was completed. Likewise, improvements began to be made to Jonesboro Road (SR 138) including interchange reconstruction at I-85, widening of Jonesboro Road and realignment of SR 138 to better connect to nearby SR 92 and US 29. By then, strip shopping centers soon grew around the mall including two movie theaters, fast food joints, grocery stores and eventually Wal-Mart all in place by the mid-1980's. The Wal-Mart was one of the first in Georgia not part of the former Big K chain. Upon completion of the addition, the mall was renamed Shannon Southpark Mall.

Looking down the Maxx Fun (Mervyn's) wing. This wing of the mall is the most vacant part of the mall. The first is of the corridor, the second is the obscure mall entrance to Maxx Fun (with a climbing wall) and the third is looking towards the parking lot entrance from this wing.

Of course, the fact I was walking through the Mervyn's wing was a sure sign of somewhat improved fortunes for the mall. This section was sealed off in late 2004, as this picture shows. I accidently had the camera on "night focus" setting, which is what created this spooky shot.

The lack of options in Fayetteville, Peachtree City and Douglasville were the largest factor in why Shannon Mall was successful throughout the 80's. Getting to the mall from those places involved long expanses of two lane roads that were eventually widened to handle the increasing traffic. For awhile, all was well but the honeymoon would soon be over. By the late 1990's, Shannon was being hit on two fronts. The first was that a ghetto/white flight element that was present in the Greenbriar area years before finally moved into the Union City area. Second, the growth of Douglas and Fayette Counties resulted in both building their own shopping venues. In Douglasville, humongous two-story Arbor Place Mall opened in 1999 taking much of the traffic from Shannon. Also, to the south, a massive big box shopping complex north of Fayetteville seized business from the other end. Peachtree City was also beginning to build its own retail, reducing the need for those whose incomes depended on the Atlanta Airport having to drive so far to shop. Also, the decline of College Park along Old National Highway was drawing away shoppers that would also frequent Shannon Mall.

Now for much happier scenes, the bright and airy center court (taken in 2009). The first photo is approaching the court with the closed Davison's (Macy's) mall entrance visible on the right. The flag apparently is covering the Macy's labelscar or something. The second is a more detailed view of the court with the fountain visible.

These two photos are both from Christmas-time 2004. The first shows more detail of the beautiful skylights, and the second is taken from the main entrance corridor towards the court with the most detail of the old Davison's entrance.

1999 was a bad year for Shannon Mall. Despite new renovations completed that year and a renaming back to Shannon Mall, trouble was brewing. Davison's, which became Macy's in 1986 closed their location at the mall. It was the first Davison's mall location to shutter in Georgia since the Columbia Mall location closed in 1992. Tenants started bleeding out of the mall as identical stores appeared at Arbor Place. The movie theater on the mall outlot also closed. While the renovation was successful in maintaining tenants and traffic initially, it was not enough. With an older smaller mall and an increasing crime problem, JCPenney, which replaced Mervyn's in 1996, left the following year relocating to Fayetteville Pavilion. JCPenney would reappear also at Arbor Place after bankrupt Upton's vacated its location 1-2 years later. The entire JCPenney wing that opened 15 years earlier was sealed off and it seemed the bleeding would not stop. Over the next five years, it seemed the mall's demise was eminent and redevelopment plans began to be considered.

The Sears wing has remained the most vibrant and successful part of the mall. Most of the chain stores that remain in the mall are on this wing, which has a direct outside entrance on an unbuilt anchor pad that crosses over to the still very successful food court. The first photo is looking down the wing. The second is at the court with the food court entrance on the left and outside entrance on the right. The third is a view of the outside entrance and the last is the Sears mall entrance. Note the unmanned kiosk for Maxx Fun in the third photo. All photos taken in 2009.

But alas, the resilient little mall may have been kicked down a notch but it was still very much alive. In fact, long dormant South Fulton became a new powerhouse for growth in its own right as part of the housing boom in the mid-2000's. New middle to upper middle class subdivisions began to spring up all over the area stretching from Red Oak down to Palmetto. South Fulton Parkway, then completed all the way to SR 154, was also drawing new interest in the area. Traffic began to increase again on Jonesboro Road and vacant businesses found new interest. It was a total shot in the arm for the mall, which actually found itself holding on for awhile longer.

View of the food court entrance from the Sears wing followed by a view of the food court from the main entrance wing. Photos of the food court were difficult because of concentrated mall security.

In late 2005, Maxx Fun would join the mall in the old JCPenney. This new anchor reopened the sealed off wing. In 2006, plans for redeveloping the mall were announced that included a 16 screen movie theater (in the old Davison's?). By 2007, Shannon Mall was given enough fuel to survive. What it was also given was a new name, Union Station. While the mall even now is still looking in the death throws, the fact is that the mall did not deteriorate nearly as noticeably from 2005-2009 and the parking lots seemed to be fuller in 2009 than they were five years ago. Handled just right, Shannon Mall might just spring back to life and join the ranks of other successful Atlanta area malls. 

Photos of the active anchors at Shannon: Macy's (former Rich's), Sears (original) and Maxx Fun (former Mervyn's and Penney's). The Sears is very drab and plain on the outside. Note the typical Mervyn's style doors on the entrance. Later, you will see how it looked before.

Today is different, though. The economy is much worse and foreclosures across Atlanta are high. Macy's (in the former Rich's since merging in 2005) and Sears remain the only major anchors at Shannon Mall. Maxx Fun did help fill an empty anchor, but overall it does nothing for that part of the mall with only about two stores operating on that wing: one with two entrances. Most chain stores have left the mall, but local stores continue to fill many of the voids in the center. The bright side is the Food Court, which remains very successful with almost no vacancies at all. Even better is Gladys Knight's Chicken & Waffles will soon be opening in the former Buffalo's Cafe. Piccadilly Cafeteria remains in the former Morrison's as well. From this, it is fairly apparent that redevelopment is not as sure as before, but interest in the mall has not waned at all. However, it still remains one of the weakest malls in the area similar to struggling North Dekalb Mall. Let's just hope that community and owner interest remains high in the mall's future.

Two views of the closed Davison's (Macy's) on the outside. The first is a closeup of the north entrance. The second is a more broad shot taken in 2004 from the south side. The south entrance pictured in the second photo has had all of its black glass destroyed since the last time photographed.

The future of Shannon Mall is that it may still be around awhile, but it is apparent that something needs to be done drastic soon to remove the tarnish. Simply renaming the mall is not going to change its fortunes. It didn't work for either Cobb Center or Columbia Malls, and the owners should study what they did and why it did not work. Demolition of parts of the mall with a lifestyle wing is almost essential, because it is not an attractive structure on the outside. Since March 2007, the mall must also compete with newcomer suburb Newnan...now with a beautiful outdoor mall offering far more than the entire retail strip of Union City.

While Maxx Fun does not look like the most promising anchor, it gives life to this end of the mall. Shannon really looked in trouble when this photo was taken in early 2004. This photo shows the original name and abandoned Mervyn's with the JCPenney modifications. The mall entrance here was also sealed off, since this entire wing described above was sealed off as well. This photo I originally distributed to deadmalls.com during that time, but I asked to have my description and photos from that site to keep bad press from the mall. The photos remained, unfortunately. I regret that entry, because I blame it on the stupid renaming. This is why this is not another "dead malls" blog, and I want this mall to succeed.

While Shannon Mall's 30 years of success and survival is impressive, it is past time to try something new with the mall. Moving Macy's back into the old Davison's (IOW, instead of a theater) and demolishing the entire Rich's wing would be a start. Don't forget that a failed multiplex was put in Columbia Mall in the old Davison's when considering that move. Providing a larger store that can be renovated cheaply in an existing structure is essential to keep Macy's at the mall since this is one of the smallest stores in the chain and may ultimately leave the mall if the economy does not recover. Maxx Fun could also be freestanding or moved into a new building at the mall since that wing of the mall never recovered. A lifestyle addition to the mall, including big box tenants, is desperately needed there, and preferably within view of I-85, which is why the Rich's/Mervyn's wing is the best choice for demolition. A Target would also be a great addition since the old Target/Richway location on Old National closed over a decade ago. In all, Shannon Mall is overall a success story, but if it does not make significant changes that aren't just band-aids, 2010 will be the end of that story.

Rich's photos below from 2004 and 2005:

Night shot, mall entrance and two exterior photos. This is the smallest of all the Rich's stores and built under Federated. All but the third photo taken in early 2005. The third photo was taken December 26, 2004.

April 2010 Addendum: Apparently I was far too optimistic on the future prospects of this mall when I wrote this post.  I will have further information about the troubled mall in the near future.  I want to add that Maxx Fun closed since this last post.

Rich's at Gwinnett Place Mall

The guys at Labelscar saved me the trouble on having to go back to Gwinnett Place again. In 2006 I was working during the summer while in college as a driver. The car I was driving wasn't in the best repair, and the car quit on me while there. While it turned out to be something that I overlooked as a result of their poor maintenance, I managed to find myself stranded at the mall for several hours. I pretty much visited every angle of the mall, but failed in that opportunity to photograph it since I obviously wasn't there for pleasure. My lack of mechanical abilities didn't bode well for that job, either.

On the first photo, sign crews begin removal of one of the signs near the west entrance. The second photo shows another side-angle view of the south entrance.

For those in Atlanta, everyone knows that Gwinnett Place has seen its better days. The traffic around the mall is more chaotic than anywhere in the entire city, and traffic jams getting onto Pleasant Hill Road from I-85 (ironically named road the mall is on) will leave you sitting for a half-hour. The scene around the mall is also my least favorite, too. The area around the mall is disected by huge high voltage lines, which makes the place seem very ugly and makes the fact it is nothing but sprawl city stand out even more.

Photos of the mall entrance. The top photo is of the first floor with more visible backlighting. The second photo was an attempt at a shot of both floors simultaneously. The last is a view from the second floor.

However, before the 2006 incident I still braved the area traffic to come and photograph one of the very last of the Rich's stores to still be flanked with the Rich's logo during the first couple months of 2005. For those of you who know this store, this is the unique Rich's store completely covered in black glass that today leaves a very obvious labelscar from when it was Rich's. The Macy's that is there now was previously in the old Davison's store, now being renovated for an Asian discount/department store known as Super M Mart. When I took those pics in 2005 and 2006, the store was still known as Rich's-Macy's.

Night shots of the sign next to the dark glass exterior. Note the street lights reflecting on the side of the building. I wish I had a better camera when those were taken.

More exterior shots of the Rich's in the daytime with greater emphasis on the sign in the first shot.

The Rich's pics here include outside and mall entrance photos. While the outside is amazing, the inside mall entrance is less impressive. I have also included pics of the Rich's Furniture Store on the outlot.

The Rich's Furniture Showroom is located on an outlot close to the Sears: nowhere near the Rich's itself. It was very obviously built later.

North Point Mall: Alpharetta, GA

The story of most malls these days is that they are either powerhouses, monolithic sterile shopping centers or archaic dumps that need a wrecking ball in the eyes of the average person. In rarer cases, though, are great malls that are taken totally for granted. This is the case with North Point Mall. Opened in early 1993, North Point Mall was awe-inspiring when it opened. Its intricate truss workings and showcase of light was almost angelic in appearance. It was also massive: the first five anchor mall in Georgia with a pad for a sixth anchor. In fact, it was the largest mall ever to be in the state and one of the very largest in the nation at that point.

Looking down the escalators in the south court. Dillard's is on the right.

North Point Mall struggled for traffic in its early years even though it was situated very conveniently off of GA 400. Even though the entire road network of Alpharetta was reconfigured for the mall, North Fulton County was still pretty rural when it was built, and north of the mall livestock was still rivaling people in numbers. In addition, much older and darker Perimeter gave the mall a run for its money when in 1993 they completed extensive renovations, adding the state's first Nordstrom. Nevertheless, North Point Mall had quite a few unique touches. The most amazing was the Rich's which opened at the mall. Atlanta natives were still quite upset about the 1991 closure of Rich's followed by the demolition of the mid-century additions it was most famous for. As a result, Federated Department Stores apparently wanted to give Atlanta an extra special Rich's to make up for it. This Rich's was like no other in design: very elaborate exterior, a "RICHSATLANTA" clock inside and out, commemorative plaques celebrating the history of the store and attention to interior details that made the store on par with the most exclusive stores of the time in design.

Details of the main mall corridor. Note the distinct truss work in the ceiling as well as the deck trusses holding up the crossovers. The last pic shows more detail of the trusswork over one of the walkways. This design is a refreshing change from the way-overdone "galleria" style.

The center court has a humongous pyramidal ceiling basking in more light than any other mall I have visited. On the second photo, note the machinery under the escalator is open to view. All but one escalator has this.

North Point Mall also opened with four other anchors: Lord & Taylor, Mervyn's, JCPenney and Sears. Of those listed, only JCPenney and Sears remain at the mall today. Macy's, then under ownership of RH Macy, was the intended sixth anchor. However, the bankruptcy of RH Macy in 1994 followed by the acquisition by Federated ended any possibility of that. The food court also offered something special in its classic carousel and outdoor sitting area (gone today). Outside, the mall featured the latest in architectural design abandoning the clean lines of the modern era and bathing the mall inside and out in white with touches of green and gold trim as well as lots of palm trees. Also unique are the escalators, whose inner workings are left to view: a treatment I have never seen elsewhere. This is also in fact the whitest mall I have ever known, invoking either something heavenly or Florida. Indeed, tropical-themed architecture was in vogue in the late 80's and early 90's.

Escalators in the south court. Dillard's is on the left in the second photo.

As North Fulton and nearby Gwinnett and Cherokee grew like absolute madness in the 90's, North Point found its own. In 1998, the mall was at its peak of success with six anchors and a parking deck. Offices and retail sprung up like crazy during this time, and Alpharetta became the most prosperous area in all of Georgia with the city limits expanding continuously so that the former county seat of Milton County completely shook off its forgotten history of desperate poverty. By 1998, the malls anchor lineup was slightly altered when Mervyn's left and Dillard's arrived. Mervyn's closed all Georgia stores in 1995. While others were replaced with JCPenney, North Point already had JCPenney so newcomer Parisian from Birmingham took advantage of the slot. Parisian was rapidly expanding in Atlanta in that time attempting to make up for the loss of a decent local store. Dillard's, also arriving in 1995, was new to Georgia, and North Point was their first store. Indeed, Dillard's went all out to create a very elegant looking store with three levels absolutely loaded with merchandise.

North court is equally as impressive. The food court flanks the west side while JCPenney enters on the east side. A Starbucks is located at the base of the elevator. The mall has two elevators: one in the north court and one in center court.

1999 was the beginning of some difficulties for North Point. Mall of Georgia in Buford was built then, and the opening took the title from North Point as Georgia's largest mall. From there, North Point would have joined the rank and file of malls if it had not been for the continual rapid growth of the area. In fact, if the area had not grown as expected, it would have struggled greatly during that time. The plan to open up an upscale shopping mall in Forsyth County, first announced in 2002, was not a welcome event for the mall. Fortunately, every attempt to start the project has been hit by an economic downturn and a huge lifestyle center project just to the north also looks to have been put on hiatus. Nevertheless, no major changes would come until 2004.

Featured in the food court is this carousel. The food court itself (shown more in the second photo, was extensively renovated in 2008 with a more elaborate and colorful decor than existed originally. New restrooms were installed on what was previously an outside sitting area.

In 2004, the department store industry started into major upheaval. Consolidation fever was in the air, and local department stores right and left suddenly disappeared from the landscape. Rich's was the first to go, rebranded as Macy's in early 2005, bringing Macy's to the mall after all. Unfortunately, this was the legacy Rich's store, so the conversion left a not-so-pretty sign on the outside that does not properly fit the architecture. Fortunately, one of the "RICHSATLANTA" clocks as well as the Rich's murals remain. It is about all that remains of Rich's today aside from the labelscar on the abandoned Cobb Center store. Also in 2005, Lord & Taylor closed every one of the Georgia locations which were located not only there, but also Mall of Georgia and Phipps.

Mall directory laying out this very large mall better than I can describe it followed by a pic in the center court of the escalator with one of those mall "street signs".

If that wasn't enough, Parisian was bought out by Belk in 2006 creating a fiasco for the mall. Suddenly the mall had two vacancies as Belk decided to close the Parisian at the mall instead of simply converting it. Instead, they reopened the Belk store in the old Lord & Taylor later in the year. What was worse is that the Lord & Taylor was not modified at all by Belk, and Belk entering the mall took the upscale wing of the mall and tossed it in the toilet. Of course, they paid for this move dearly as that store will be closing by Labor Day 2009 after little over two years in business at the mall, leaving two vacancies.

Now-closed Parisian mall entrance and exterior. Parisian here closed in 2006 after being bought out by Belk. This was small, but very nice store inside. The store originally opened as Mervyn's in 1993, but was converted to Parisian in 1996.

The closing of Belk brings up a very signicant point that mall management desperately needs to pay attention to: North Fulton and South Forsyth have money and they want a high-end mall! Much of North Point's traffic is siphoned by Perimeter, Phipps, Lenox and lesser so Mall of Georgia because shoppers want more to offer than the usual middle class fare. That is why Belk failed, and that is also why the owners need to get really serious or this mall will start going downhill. The fact is that if the upscale mall project ever takes off, it will be the death of North Point. It is also a fact that the mall would do MUCH BETTER if they took advantage of the double vacancy and added upscale department stores. A Nordstrom should open in the former Lord & Taylor. This means the entrance should be upgraded (it looks rather 70's) and interior renovated to bring luxury back to this wing. Also, a Saks Fifth Avenue, Bloomingdale's or Neiman Marcus should open in the old Parisian. It is a junior anchor and perfect for a small-scale concept store. This is an area that can support these stores, and it will make the mall more resistant to competition or gradually failure from poor marketing.

Belk here proved to be short-lived. The store opened in early 2007 and is closing by labor day 2009. This was originally Lord & Taylor and was modified very little from when it was Lord & Taylor. Belk was a poor fit for the mall.

Lord & Taylor opened with the mall in 1993, but then owners May Department Stores pulled the plug on all Georgia locations in 2005. May was poorly operating the storied chain. The store sat vacant for over a year before Belk opened here.

North Point is a beautiful mall, and the renovation to the Food Court is as far as it should go with this mall. Its design was very cutting edge when built, and the mistake of radically altering the mall like many others in the area is strongly discouraged. However, the likelihood of losing anchors in the future should be taken into account. The mall owners should raze any additional anchor space if it closes in lieu of keeping an oversized store. If this happens, this would be a good opportunity for an open-air wing or non-department store such as Dick's Sporting Goods to take the spot.

Mall entrances for Dillard's, Sears and Penney's. The escalators in front of Sears are recent. These replaced escalators that used to be located in the north court in front of the food court.

Also, the blander aspects of the mall need to be addressed. Elaborate fountains and/or waterfalls should be added in the Macy's and Dillard's court with lush vegetation to enhance the mall. The gray floor tiles should also be replaced with green or gold toned marble to liven up and upscale the mall, but nothing else drastic. However, NOTHING should be done to the ceilings or roofs of the mall. This is what makes it special. NOTHING should also be done to the exterior entrances to the mall. They are architectural sound and altering them would clash with the rest of the mall and damage the image. Notes should be taken from North Park Center in Dallas: an extremely successful upscale mall that never altered its original architectural design. If it starts looking old, remember paint does wonders.

Now on the outside, the mall entrances are both very elaborate. The second photo shows the huge pyramidal glass towers and poles for trusses. If not for the clashing American Girl exterior, this would look quite heavenly. These elaborate entrances are irreplaceable.

North Point is still successful today, but the owners need to realize that the closure of Belk and Parisian is a warning sign. As a result, they need to look at the market on how to make it more competive before competition turns their big white mall into a white elephant. They should also make sure that the architecture is maintained as much possible even though a few modifications would be beneficial. The mall is approaching 20 years old in an era when enclosed malls are being assaulted by smaller outdoor shopping centers. This is also the other mall of my high school years, which is why I would like to see the mall preserved as well as improved.

Rich's pics from early 2005 of the legacy store prior to the Macy's conversion are featured a few photos down.

Outside view of anchor stores Sears & Penney's. The Penney's is showing a bit of age on its solid white exterior.

This photo from 2005 is all-inclusive of what is NOT at the mall anymore. Note the Parisian in the background with Rich's further back. Anchors Lord & Taylor, Rich's and Parisian are all gone from the mall. Note the mall's interesting logo.

Rich's mall entrance surrounded by lots of marble. The entrance sign was as beautiful as the exterior. Photo taken January 4, 2005

The opulence in design of this store was unparalleled. Note the vine and trellis in front of the store. The "RICHSATLANTA" clock is in the middle. The sign itself was actually engraved into the structure and required complete replacement of the concrete tiles when changed over. Photo taken January 4, 2005.

Conversion of this store was much more costly than other conversions. The Rich's logo was displayed all over this building, including right over the door. Photo taken January 14, 2005.

What remains are these murals and one clock inside the store. The murals depict the history of Rich's over the years up to when the store opened. They are a beautiful and unique touch. This is just one of them. They are pretty much all that visibly remains of Rich's today. Photo taken January 14, 2005.