Sumter Mall is a 43-acre shopping mall located in
Sumter, South Carolina
Sumter ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Sumter County, South Carolina, United States. The city makes up the Sumter, SC Metropolitan Statistical Area. Sumter County, along with Clarendon and Lee counties, form the core of Sumter–Lee ...
. The anchors are
Belk
Belk, Inc. is an American department store chain founded in 1888 by William Henry Belk in Monroe, North Carolina, with nearly 300 locations in 16 states. Belk stores and Belk.com offer apparel, shoes, accessories, cosmetics, home furnishings, a ...
,
Roses
A rose is either a woody perennial flowering plant of the genus ''Rosa'' (), in the family Rosaceae (), or the flower it bears. There are over three hundred species and tens of thousands of cultivars. They form a group of plants that can be e ...
, and
Sykes "Sykes" is a surname of Anglo-Saxon English origins, which generally has topographical roots as it original linguistic origin. The name derives from the Old Norse word "sík" or "síkja", meaning a small stream, marshy hollow, or gully. It eventua ...
.
The first use of the name "Sumter Mall" was for a 20-acre downtown mall that became known as ''Sumter Towne Mall''. Construction of this mall was announced by Plaza Associates Inc. in 1973. Completed in 1975 and defunct by 1982, this mall has also been known as the Sumter Downtown Mall and the Downtown Sumter Mall.
In 1979, the mall was announced by Jim Wilson with Belk and JCPenney as anchors.
[ The mall cost $12.5 million to build and was named Jessamine Mall, sometimes referred to as Jasmine Mall, after the state flower of South Carolina.][ The mall opened on August 6, 1980. On August 21, 1980, business was announced to be excellent at the mall with people traveling from surrounding areas to shop there. In 1989 a 53,000 square foot ]Sears
Sears, Roebuck and Co., commonly known as Sears ( ), is an American chain of department stores and online retailer founded in 1892 by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck and reincorporated in 1906 by Richard Sears and Julius Rosen ...
was announced for the mall.
In 2000, the mall was sold to Hull Storey Gibson
Hull Property Group is a shopping mall management company based in Augusta, Georgia. It was founded in 1977. The company owns, manages, and re-develops shopping malls in relatively small communities, mainly in the south and mid-west United States ...
who cited Sumter's position as the retail and financial center of the surrounding area as the reason for purchasing the mall. In 2002, the mall was renovated and renamed Sumter Mall. In 2003, the mall had its grand opening under its new name.[ The mall is one of the counties largest taxpayers paying $1.3 million annually.][
In 2009, a ]Sykes Enterprises
Sykes Enterprises, Inc. (stylized as SYKES) was an American multinational business process outsourcing provider headquartered in Tampa, Florida. The company provided business process outsourcing (BPO) services, IT consulting, and IT-enabled serv ...
call center was announced for Sumter Mall. The call center opened on September 29, 2010, with attendance from Governor Mark Sanford
Marshall Clement "Mark" Sanford Jr. (born May 28, 1960) is an American politician and author who served as the U.S. representative for South Carolina's 1st congressional district from 1995 to 2001 and from 2013 to 2019, and as the 115th govern ...
.
In 2011, a Books-A-Million
Books-A-Million, Inc., also known as BAM!, is a bookstore chain in the United States, operating 260 stores in 32 states. Stores range in size from 4,000 to 30,000 square feet and sell books, magazines, manga, collectibles, toys, technology, a ...
was announced for the mall, which has since been built.
On December 17, 2020, it was announced that JCPenney
Penney OpCo LLC , Trade name, doing business as JCPenney (colloquially Penney's and abbreviated JCP) is an American department store chain store, chain with 649 stores across 49 U.S. states and Puerto Rico. It is managed as part of the Catalys ...
would be closing in March 2021 as part of a plan to close 15 stores nationwide.
References
Further reading
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External links
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Sumter, South Carolina
Shopping malls in South Carolina
Shopping malls established in 1975
Hull Property Group
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