Village Square Shopping Center and American Fare: Stone Mountain, GA

Thanks to a fan of the site, some footage was found from 1979 showing Village Square Shopping Center. With a little detective work, we located it and I set out to find it and see just how it looked today. While not much physically has changed today, it is by far a shell of its former self. So is the highway that it sits on. One of the more depressing events to cover in retail is the fall of a principal retail corridor due to issues of competition, white flight, planned obsolescence and the effects of its own age. In this case, the highway is Memorial Drive (Ga. 10), which I have covered bits and pieces of on Sky City.

Memorial Drive was one of Atlanta's first suburban retail corridors starting with the opening of Belvedere Plaza in 1956. This would soon be followed by Columbia Mall in 1964 with the growth of retail strip shopping centers spreading eastward in a wave along the road throughout the 70's to where the highway ends into the Stone Mountain Freeway. Village Square was part of that wave, opening in 1975 along the eastern leg of the corridor in the booming Stone Mountain area. As one of many dead retail strips along that road today, this one was highlighted because of its highly distinctive design elements that remain intact today.

The first two images at various levels of detail show the strip with the interior mall/office portion.  Note that the entrance to the mall "courtyard shops" portion and the unknown smaller anchor tenant (shown here as Refugee Family Services) has arches like a Kroger.  These arches used to match the Kroger store itself.  

Detail of the long-vacant Kroger from two angles.  The greenhouse addition was added at an unknown date, but it replaced an older superstore design that was still intact in 1979 per the footage provided.  

The strip to the right of the "courtyard shops" looking west with the junior anchor visible in the background.

Access to the upper level offices is through these stairs, but it doesn't appear that anything is up there any longer.  With plenty of space on the lower level, why would they go to that trouble?  It appears it may be completely closed considering that no elevator was visible to the second story.

Village Square originally opened in 1973 as just a Kmart (coupled with Kmart Foods).  In 1975, it was joined next door with a mixed use center that was a hybrid of a strip mall and open-air mall.  Likely this design was chosen due to terrain and lack of space.  When the addition opened, it featured anchor tenant Kroger with a SupeRX drug store, which was later absorbed into Kroger itself.  The open-air mall in the middle that included among its tenants a Piccadilly Cafeteria and a club named "The Stone Pony" referencing the "Stone Poneys", a band fronted by Linda Rondstadt in the late 1960's and the shopping center's proximity to Stone Mountain.  On the second floor were offices, but the offices were not aligned with the mall area itself, instead running perpendicular facing the parking lot also overlooking part of the "courtyard shops". It appears one other small anchor tenant was in the center, but it is unclear what exactly that was.  My guess would be either Turtle's Record Shop or a five-and-dime type store like McCrory's.

Walking under the offices to reach the "courtyard shops".  The courtyard is a T-shaped center with access to the back parking lot on the left side.

Looking back from two vantage points at the second level office promenade from the courtyard.  It looks like it was blocked off with bars at some point on purpose

Vacant shops/offices to at the corner of the inner courtyard facing northeast.  It appears there were no stores/offices on the east side of the courtyard with the wall of Kroger making up most of that area.

A look back to the front parking lot from the courtyard.

Despite the two year gap between the opening of Kroger and Kmart, Kroger and Kmart were typically partners building shopping centers throughout the 1970's, and this holds true in many shopping centers across the state.  Indeed, the center had a solid 20 year run before things went south.  Kmart was the first to leave departing in 1994, Kroger hung on longer, but left in 1999 relocating just down the road to a former Big Star that originally was built in 1988 at the junction of Memorial Drive and N Hairston Road.  The Village Square store was made even more interesting when compared to the footage in the link above in that the Kroger there was originally a superstore design with the arches clearly removed with the store updated to the famous greenhouse design: a transition that likely occurred around 1984 or 85.  The update suggests that Kroger initially had no plans to relocate from the center for many years, but the planned departure of Kmart apparently spurred the store to eventually relocate to a more competitive location at the intersection of two major roadways.  Village Square is located about a mile west of N Hairston Road, which is a major four lane belt highway on the east side of Atlanta.

At one point it was possible to lounge in the courtyard next to a well-tended planter.  Today you're sitting on rotten benches next to a weed-filled hole.  Also note the "Stone Pony" in the background.

A bit more detail of the courtyard.  It is unclear what the original tenants were except for Stone Pony, which was apparently a bar or club that opened there in the 1970's and was never replaced with anything else.

Detail of the "Stone Pony" inscription which today looks to be stone dead.  A peek inside would have likely uncovered vintage wonders untold.

A view of the entire courtyard including the front entrance and upper level terrace to the right from the back entrance.  It must have been fun back in the day, but today it's a scary place.

The cloudy pictures were a return trip in July (two trips were included in these photos).  Note the very tall weeds that filled the planters in the previous images.  You know when that passes for landscaping the place is basically dead.

The story of Kmart's exodus is a bit more interesting, however.  While Kmart remained until 1994, Kmart had already effectively been replaced when Kmart joined forces with now-defunct Bruno's in 1989 to start a hypermart concept known as American Fare.  Its initial location was a little over three miles away at the intersection of the Stone Mountain Freeway (US 78) and Mountain Industrial Blvd meaning that American Fare likely cannibalized this store badly.  The new store was more than twice the size of a typical Kmart and very popular but turned out to be a flash in the pan as the gigantic store proved to be too large and too far ahead of its time.  The Stone Mountain American Fare store was the first of three total stores that opened under the Kmart/Bruno's experiment.  The other two were located in Charlotte and Jackson, MS.  In addition, the Bruno's partnership faltered due to the sale of the company after a tragic crash that killed much of the upper management including many family members and the CEO.  In 1994, Kmart later rebranded and downgraded American Fare to a Super Kmart replacing the Bruno's-operated supermarket section with Cub Foods.  The change to a regular Kmart resulted in the closing the Kmart at Village Square at the same time.  Later, the American Fare turned Kmart eventually closed the store during the 2002 round of closings.  Today the former American Fare operates as an alternative school for DeKalb County.

The three photos shown here show the American Fare that is located on Mountain Industrial Blvd just south of the Stone Mountain Freeway (US 78).  Mountain Industrial Blvd becomes N Hairston Road connecting to Memorial Drive.  This three-store hypermart concept owned jointly by Kmart and Bruno's opened in 1989, but was later downgraded to a regular Kmart replacing the Kmart at Village Square in 1994.  It converted to Super Kmart in 1995 and closed for good in 2002.  It was sold to the DeKalb County School Board and today is an alternative school.

Kmart was not exactly abandoned when the store at Village Square closed.  While Memorial Drive was in the early stages of decline, it was still far from dead.  The old Kmart found new life and today the main store still operates as "Value Mall" while the Kmart Foods is now a local gym.  While not exactly the draw that Kmart was, the reuse of the former Kmart store keeps the property from becoming derelict.  However, no store has yet to emerge to fill the former Kroger space, which has been vacant for over 15 years.

The original Kmart still stands as "Value Mall".  It is not clear if there were any other tenants in the store between 1989 and present.

Kmart and Kmart Foods.  Action Sports Academy fills the former Kmart Foods.  The former Kroger is a short ways to the right of this photo.

Detail of Kmart Foods.  It is curious how long this operated being less than a block from Kroger.  Was it converted to regular Kmart space before it closed?  Perhaps Bruno's operated the Kmart Foods location at this store thus spearheading the American Fare concept.

While the forces that killed the center were based on its major anchor tenants seeking more competitive venues, the fact remains that the complex today is only partially occupied, and most of those tenants are service-oriented and not retail uses.  Thus, the story is that although competition initially killed Village Square prematurely, it was the continued declining fortunes of what was once a prime retail corridor that have made the shopping center difficult to fill.  The entire center is ripe for redevelopment today, but so far no interested parties have swooped in to occupy the partially vacant center.  Perhaps in the future Kroger will relocate back to the center taking over the old Kmart as yet another location of its "Kroger Marketplace" concept helping to spur a redevelopment of the adjacent center that it left behind many years ago.  For now, Village Square remains as a decrepit monument to 1970's sprawl that has only survived the wrecking ball because nobody cared enough to do anything about it.

Jackson Mall: Jackson, MS

Some malls never really die even if that means the mall is reinvented into something radically different than it originally was.  Jackson Mall, now Jackson Medical Mall, is a good example of that.  The concept of "medical malls" has had mixed success.  The Riverbend Medical Mall in Rome, GA was an abject failure while 100 Oaks Mall in Nashville and this mall have both been wildly successful.  While the concept is definitely unconventional, the mall is a mix of offices and a small amount of retail keeping the oldest mall in the city alive when it otherwise would have been closed and demolished.

Opening in 1969, Jackson Mall was the very first mall in the state of Mississippi.  Unfortunately, it did not provide a complete retail experience for Jackson.  Closer to downtown than the other three malls in the city built later, stores that had a presence in the city such as Sears and McRae's remained downtown.  The anchor line-up in the original mall included a two-level Penney's, huge three-level Gayfer's and Woolco with Elmore's variety store near Woolco.  The mall was a straight shot south to north between Penney's and Woolco with Gayfer's off to the west side in the middle.  It also has a main entrance in the middle on the east side and side entrance wings near Woolco and Penney's.  In other words, it was a pretty conventional mall for the era aside from two showy anchors and quite unexciting when Metrocenter and later Northpark Mall arrived on the scene.

This is the current mall directory.  The South Office Center cluster next to the red shops on the left is the former JCPenney, the West Office Center is the former Gayfer's, either 3 or 5 is the old Elmore's, Piccadilly Cafeteria is 35 and the UMC Cancer Institute is the former Woolco.  The first photo is pretty much how the entire main mall looks.  I was unable to photograph center court.

Southeast mall entrance where the retail shops are located.  This is next to JCPenney, and the entire left wall into the mall and former mall entrance contains the former store.

East side of former JCPenney.  Note the design in the white part with the "Funky P" laid out in an array.

When Metrocenter opened, Jackson Mall was able to co-exist with the newer, larger mall since they served different markets in the city.  Jackson Mall served the east and north parts of the city while Metrocenter served the areas south and west.  However, the closure of Woolco in early 1983 began the mall's troubles.  By then, the mall was located far from the interstates in the city and failed to expand and modernize to remain competitive.  When Northpark Mall opened in 1984, it was a catastrophy for the mall immediately taking both JCPenney and Gayfer's leaving the mall anchorless.  Soon after, the mall would close with nothing to draw customers in what had by then become a declining area left behind by retail development.  Most of that new development had mostly sprung up along the eastern side of I-55 while the mall was well west.

View of JCPenney court looking toward Piccadilly and the southwest entrance.  The main mall is to the right.

JCPenney mall entrance with southeast entrance wing to the left.

Woolco court.  Note the large tree and planter.  How come a repurposed mall can have one but a real mall can't have a single one?

In 1995, a local doctor came up with the idea to revive the dead mall as an inner city revitalization project.  Instead of a conventional mall, Dr. Aaron Shirley, according to the mall's website, "proposed that Mississippi's first retail mall be converted into a state-of-the-art ambulatory health care facility providing quality care for the urban poor of Jackson, Mississippi".  As a result, the mall reopened, anchors were filled with medical offices and a retail component was even retained to serve the patients and employees.  A Piccadilly Cafeteria is still operational on the west side near Gayfer's and a few small shops operate in the mall clustered near the former JCPenney.

View of the mall and main entrance with the former Gayfer's in the background.

View of southeast mall entrance with JCPenney in the background.

This former Woolco is pretty self-explanatory.

In appearance today, the interior of the mall retains much of its 1960's appearance.  It has the same high courts next to the major anchors, and the main change seems to be the wooden flooring throughout.  Outside, the anchors also maintain much of their original appearance: especially the old Penney's, which still has a Funky "P" array repeating over the entrances outside.  The mall also is probably busier than it was at its peak keeping a completely full parking lot.  In fact, it was extremely difficult to find a parking place when I arrived.  Rest assured, most of the people that were there probably did not want to be there.

The pictures of this mall are not the best, because it was difficult to get pics both inside and out.  The absense of parking and presence of too many people made getting good angles tough, especially outside.  This was the former Gayfer's.

This is my best shot of the old JCPenney.  Other than the lack of a logo, the store still looks like it never stopped being JCPenney.

Another impossible mall angle due to congestion.  JCPenney is ont he right, the southwest mall entrance in the center and Piccadilly Cafeteria is on the left.

While the mall is no longer in its original use, I applaud the efforts to keep the mall alive.  I believe it is important for the state's oldest malls to be kept open and in use at any cost as they are historically significant.  Malls such as McAlister Square in Greenville, SC, the oldest in South Carolina, likewise found a re-use as a multi-university campus.  While I wish these historical malls could become real malls again, I was pleased to see that all of Jacksons malls are still intact in some form and that the city has a vested interest in keeping them all alive.

View Larger Map

Regency Mall (Part 2): Augusta, GA

In the normal world of retail, vacant malls do not usually stay vacant long.  Either the property is too valuable, the public screams loud enough about the blight, a non-conventional retail use is tried (such as a flea market) or non-commercial interests resurrect the structure into something they can use similar to Eastgate Mall in Chattanooga, TN.  Because of that, the "Dixie Square" scenario is a rare and generally unfortunate event where a mall stays abandoned for more than about 5-7 years before any action is taken.  By then, the property is beginning to deteriorate.  This means that the forces of change must come together to make things happen before the forces of nature come together to make things moldy and decrepit.

In the Southeast, I know of only one other mall that has been abandoned longer than Regency Mall and that is the open-air Normandale Mall in Montgomery.  After languishing for 15 years, the mall was closed completely in 1995.  It is also hidden deep in a very depressed area mostly invisible to the wealthier side of the city.  Regency is not so hidden.  It sits at the intersection of two major U.S. highways, and it is even visible in the distance along the newly-opened I-520 in South Carolina.  While the neighborhood has declined, it is not exactly a row of abandoned buildings around it either.  Decay has noticeably set in on the structure since its closure a decade ago, but overall it is still in very good shape.  Most of the mall looks more trashed than it does crumbling.

Montgomery Wards in all its burnt orange tiled glory in the first two photos.  This is not only one of the best Wards entrances ever, but also one of the best mall entrances ever.  The cream-colored brick next to the shiny tiles and great looking logo make the store seem very inviting.  It is also such a relic of a mall entrance that honestly it looks contemporary again.  If this mall ever reopened a new store anchored there, I would hope they would keep this all intact.  Photos by KJ.

Same view from lower level.  Photo by KJ.

The next three photos above are from a different photographer.  As one of only three modern-era Wards in Georgia, and the last one open, the store is indeed extra special.  All photos by BT.

A couple views inside Wards.  This is the only department store anchor with any natural light since one of the entrances was not boarded up.  Unfortunately, this store does not include any of the infamous burnt orange or lime green shag carpet that the chain was infamously known to have as late as the 90's.  Photos by KJ.

Escalator well in the middle of Wards.  Seeing these photos make me long so much for when this was open and it was possible to buy quality hardlines at some place besides Sears.  Photos by KJ.

King's Jewelry on the lower level.  Photo by KJ.

Another trashed mall directory.  Photo by KJ.

Because of the lack of a decent mall directory, I decided to create my own.  I am not exactly certain of Ruben's location, but I do know it was close to Belk.

Inside, the mall is like a Steven King book where you got to go back into the past, but all the people were gone with only the buildings remaining.  Christmas decorations still hang from the ceilings dirty and tarnished with age from the last Christmas the mall was open in 2001.  Dated storefronts abound throughout the mall.  Both Montgomery Ward and JB White still have their signs up over the store entrances greeting ghost shoppers.  While dark in places, skylights that look somewhat like those in an Air Force hangar still provide abundant cheery light against the white sheetrock during the daytime.  Most of the mall seems to be in surprisingly good condition, though locations are found in the mall where holes have opened in the ceiling, flooding the mall.  However, a recent inspection by the city did not find any mold problems in the mall: surprising considering how it has been vacant all this time aside from the marshal's substation that left this past year.

Upon closer observation, one of the escalators has unfortunately been significantly deconstructed by vandals.  Photo by KJ.

The blind can see again as light is cast along a wall showcasing what was once your choice of blinds.  Photo by KJ.

Was this Chick-Fil-A?  Regency never had a food court, so it could have been anywhere in the mall.  Had the mall been renovated, the theaters would have likely become the food court.  Photo by KJ.

It seems that Lens Crafters or Pearle Vision is found in every mall.  This one is situated next to Wards on the upper level.  Photo by KJ.

Lens Crafters takes up about three tenant spaces.  I'm sure it did a thriving business in the day.  Photo by KJ.

Major water damage is an unfortunate feature just in front of the main entrance to the store, which is protected by a screen door unlike the busted out glass along the rest of it.  Photo by KJ.

EEEEEEEEEYE EXAM 2000.  Iiiiiii remember when 2000 was considered an exciting year way off in the future where we would live like the Jetsons driving flying cars on sky highways.  I also remember how Y2K was hyped as the end of modern civilization.  It pretty much was for this mall.  Photo by KJ.

You can get your glasses adjusted for free if you can just find anyone working.  You might be waiting awhile, because the staff took a very long lunch.  Photo by KJ.

One last look at Lens Crafters.  Photo by KJ.

Lady Foot Locker was one of the last stores to close at the mall along with Foot Locker.  Photo by KJ.

Quite a few observations can be made otherwise about a 70's mall never renovated.  For one, if this mall had stayed alive such a scene would likely not exist.  Storefronts in the mall are a mix of eras, but for the most part they are pretty much set in the first decade the mall was open.  In all, maybe 12-15 signs still exist on store fronts with label scars elsewhere.  One should not expect to find much sheetrock over closed stores either.  They sit right out in the open for you to walk into at will.  While the mall itself has managed to maintain its charm the presence of heavy vandalism, trash and grime are everywhere.  Glass is broken out of most storefronts and most stunning are the escalators where the rubber handrails have been mostly yanked off and left in a large pile at the top.  Most planters are just bare dirt now and fountains are of course dry.  Eerily enough, though, are all the banners posted announcing stores moving and such as if the mall was still open.  Three of the four outside mall entrance corridors lack skylights, so they sit in total darkness since the entries are boarded up allowing no natural light to filter in.

Abandoned post office branch in the mall.  Photo by KJ.

These two photos above were inside a shop near JB White.  Photos by KJ.

Not everything in the mall is truly vintage.  Since the mall held its own into the mid-90's, some stores did move in the mall and some did get remodeled.  This storefront definitely isn't.  Photo by KJ.

Along the wing of the unbuilt fifth anchor is this awesome extremely retro Master Cuts.  To me it looks like it should be called Master Funky with a functioning disco inside.  The photographer also captured the inside as well.  Photo by KJ.

Inside the Master Cuts, mirrors and green pattered wallpaper abound.  The mirrors were useful to catch  your stylist before they hacked your hair up.  Photo by KJ.

Kidsmart?  Sounds like a less than subtle cover for child trafficking.   I guess if they'd succeeded they would have branched out to ParentStupid.  Photo by KJ.

In this image Cullum's, later Upton's, is on the right.  This junior anchor was far more visible outside than in the mall.  I am curious as to whether Upton's used both levels.  Photo by BT.

The upper level entrance to Cullum's features a folded entryway that is unmistakably similar to Rich's mall entrances in the 70's. Photo by BT.

One of the features of greatest interest in the mall is not as obvious from the outside: the anchor pad for a fifth anchor.  This was the anchor that would have been filled by JCPenney had they not left for Augusta Mall.  This was also what is shown outside as Mall Entrance 3.  It is a sad reminder of the grand aspirations for Augusta's first mall to be the powerhouse of the region.  It almost makes the mall feel alive and even new to see a location for a planned anchor.  The brown linoleum tiles, though, found on the edges of fountains, center island areas and the staircases are there to remind you that this was a dream long in the past, highlighting the unfortunate importance of renovations.  The flooring consists mostly, though, of square terrazzo tiles giving a tan/peach color.  Twin escalators are also located on both the Montgomery Ward and Belk wing pointing upwards towards each respective anchor.  A clock also sits on a flat wall in center court with its time stuck at 4:20.  Is this when the clock stopped or did the vandals move the dials deliberately? 

Both levels of Cullum's are visible in this shot.  The lower level looks similar to the outside entrance.  If only mall entrances had this much attention to detail today.  Photo by RM.

I traced the Cullum's logo found in my earlier posts and photoshopped the logo in the same photo above to demonstrate what it might have looked like.  Below is a picture of just the lower level with the same logo including an outline.

Cullum's lower level mall entrance with logo added by me.  Photo by KJ.

Now moving onto JB White sitting at the end of a very spacious center court.  JB White is fronted with simple brick matching the exterior but the awesome logo remains never being removed after the store closed.  This is definitely the only JB White mall entrance sign left intact with all other JB White stores converted to Belk, Dillard's or demolished.  In my older JB White post, I have a picture by C Lewis of the logo on the outside.  Photo by BT.

More detail of the mall entrance.  The logo is smaller on the upper level than on the lower level.  Photo by BT.

Close-up of the JB White mall entrance.  Photo by KJ.

White's inside was extremely dark, so very little detail is visible.  This was one of the best photos.  Photo by KJ.

Looking back from center court (JB White is on the left) toward Wards.  Photo by BT.

Small, locally-operated mystery meat Chinese restaurants and malls have a long relationship.  So long that you still know about the specials 10 years after they close.  Photo by KJ

It's hot and boring in Augusta meaning people aren't getting outside as much, so this store likely did a brisk business back in the day.  Photo by KJ.

What is really most amazing in the mall, though, are the mall entrances.  A Belk label scar is still visible with the right light on the stunning copper toned mall entrance.  JB White in its older classy cursive logo still retains its white sign on the brick entering the store that has sat in complete darkness since 1998.  Best of all is Montgomery Ward, though.  Burnt orange tiles back the sign with cream colored brick placed on each side.  Neither the sign, the tiles nor the brick look any worse for wear.  In fact, with so much time passed by the sign almost looks hip.  Cullum's is the most mysterious of anchor tenants blending in with store fronts between Ward's and White's.  All that is noticeable is the distinctive window features placed on both levels that were nicely not removed by later tenants Meyers-Arnold and Upton's.  However, any evidence of a logo has long since been painted over since the store was the first anchor to close in the mall.

Approaching Belk from the lower level.  Photo by KJ.

More detail of Belk from the lower level.  Note the copper toned awnings.  While this store may have closed in 1996, it was definitely not covered up. Photo by KJ.

View of the Belk entrance from the upper level.  Photo by BT.

Close-up of the Belk mall entrance on the upper level.  Photo by BT.

The Belk labelscar is visible due to the place where the sign covered being less tarnished.  While the store was a partnership store (Belk Howard), Mr. Howard chose not to place his name on this store.  Photo by KJ.

The glass on the exterior of the store was very similar to this.  Photo by KJ.

Detail of what was once an impressive terraced skylight.  Photo by KJ.

While very dark and dusky, it was plain that the interior of the store was elegantly designed.  Belk had extremely attractive stores in the 70's and 80's especially at major shopping malls.  Photos by KJ.

The best photo available of the escalators and elevator inside Belk.  Photo by KJ.

Not only is Regency Mall a living time capsule, but it is also is a perfect specimen of wasted potential.  A victim of its location, management and unstable anchors it has become a tough to impossible sell with all the anchor consolidation and stigma attached to one of its major anchors simply closing due to poor sales.  If it was possible to revive the mall, it would take millions just to renovate and repair the damage from decay and vandalism.  Cardinale Entities has emerged as the latest owner with a plan, but their expertise tends to be malls catering to an ethnic market.  Augusta is far less diverse than Atlanta or Charlotte making that a pretty tough sell.  Regency's closing, though, left Augusta undermalled.  Augusta Mall is completely overwhelmed with shoppers.  The problem is, what anchors would choose to move in to this mall if they wanted to?

70's malls always had a cafeteria and it just so happens that this gem of a mall also included a gothic Piccadilly Cafeteria.  Unfortunately, none of the photographers really explored the interior.  Photo by KJ.

Piccadilly Cafeteria's labelscar is visible in this image.  The restaurant sits right next to Montgomery Ward.  Photo by KJ.

Apparently the cafeteria was operated independently for a period of time after Piccadilly closed at the mall.  It is unknown when the restaurant closed this location.  Photo by KJ.

Next to JB White is this store.  I thought it was a former B. Dalton but upon closer inspection was some sort of clothing store.  Maybe somebody knows.  Photo by BT.

Former Rainbow at the mall.  Note the much older logo style.  Photo by KJ.

A couple more pics of Rainbow.  Photos by KJ.

This note was inside a former store that appears to have been Upton's.  Note the Super Wal-Mart in quotations back when the stores were still a novelty.  Photo by KJ.

Detail of a wall around a mall entrance.  It is unknown what store this was.  Photo by KJ.

View of JB White fro lower level.  Photo by KJ.

With Regency, its retail days are most likely over, though an outlet mall could possibly work there.  Imagine a center like Discover Mills anchored by Bass Pro Shops and outlet stores filling up the anchors.  It could work, but it would take a huge investment, heavy promotion and even heavier security to make sure that Regency Outlets did not become Shoplifting 101 and Decrepit Mall 2.0.  My personal idea is that Hollywood should honestly consider turning the entire mall into a set.  It would a perfect mall to feature TV shows and movies based in the 70's and 80's or movies featuring the South.  Perhaps the anchors could even be turned into studios and talent recruiting agencies.  Also important to note is how having the department store anchor signs from the era would make it even easier.  Filming movies in the mall would help pay for the center's upkeep while still maintaining its historical aspects.  Dixie Square Mall became famous because of a movie filmed in it after it closed.  Why can't Regency do the same?

Few things are a blast from the past more than these mall lists.  They list tenants that haven't existed at least since the late 1980's such as Jeans West, Hardy Shoes and Kinney Shoes.  Petland was also a mall tenant.  One near where I live is now very much off-mall.  Photos by KJ.

Here are a couple shots inside Wards Auto Center.  The noise of power tools, engines and mechanics hard at work is long gone but the ad banners advertising what they can do for you still linger.  Photos by KJ.

This one last photo of White's from center court concludes the two-part series on Regency Mall.  Photo by BT.