Greenbriar Mall is a

shopping mall A shopping mall (or simply mall) is a large indoor shopping center, usually Anchor tenant, anchored by department stores. The term ''mall'' originally meant pedestrian zone, a pedestrian promenade with shops along it, but in the late 1960s, i ...

in the Greenbriar neighborhood of

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

that opened in 1965. The anchor stores are Beauty Master,

Dollar Tree Dollar Tree, Inc. is an American multi-price-point chain of discount variety stores. Headquartered in Chesapeake, Virginia, it is a ''Fortune'' 500 (sometimes referred to as Fortune 200) company and operates 15,115 stores throughout the 48 ...

, Greenbriar Furniture, and Citi Trends. There are 2 vacant anchor stores that were once Burlington and Fallas. It was home to the first mall

Chick-fil-A Chick-fil-A, Inc. ( , a Word play, play on the American English pronunciation of "wikt:filet#Pronunciation, filet") is an American fast food restaurant chain and the largest chain specializing in Chicken burger, chicken sandwiches. Headquarter ...

location.

History

Greenbriar Center opened in August/September 1965 as Atlanta's third enclosed mall, after North Dekalb Center, in July 1965, and Columbia Mall, in August 1965. The mall was designed by Atlanta architect

John Portman John Calvin Portman Jr. (December 4, 1924 – December 29, 2017) was an American neofuturistic architect and real estate developer widely known for popularizing hotels and office buildings with multi-storied interior atria. Portman also had a p ...

's firm Edwards and Portman. The design of the mall was like many of the early malls in Atlanta, with an anchor store on each end and an enclosed concourse. The complex opened with Rich's on the east end and

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 ...

on the west. It was the second-largest suburban Rich's when it first opened. JCPenney closed their store on September 28, 1985, after 20 years of operation. In 1987, Uptons took over the former JCPenney site and a

Circuit City Circuit City Corporation, Inc., formerly Circuit City Stores, Inc., is an American consumer electronics retail company, which was founded in 1949 by Samuel Wurtzel as the Wards Company, operated stores across the United States, and pioneered th ...

store opened outside the mall. In mid-1992,

Cub Foods Cub is an American supermarket chain. It operates stores in Minnesota and Illinois. The company is a wholly owned subsidiary of United Natural Foods, based in Providence, Rhode Island. History Beginnings Cub Foods was founded by Minnesota-based ...

opened a location on a mall outlot facing Lakewood Freeway. Later in 1992, the Uptons and

McCrory's McCrory Stores or J.G. McCrory's was a chain of five and dime stores in the United States based in York, Pennsylvania. The stores typically sold shoes, clothing, housewares, fabrics, penny candy, toys, cosmetics, and often included a lunch co ...

stores in the mall closed for good. A

Burlington Coat Factory Burlington, formerly known as Burlington Coat Factory, is an American national off-price department store retailer, and a division of Burlington Coat Factory Warehouse Corporation with more than 1,100 stores in 47 states and Puerto Rico, with it ...

store opened on September 1, 1995, but relocated in 2019. Greenbriar Mall housed the very first

location. Local Atlanta businessman S. Truett Cathy took the chicken sandwiches served at his Dwarf House in nearby Hapeville and opened the Greenbriar store in 1967. Chick-Fil-A announced that the location would close permanently on May 20, 2023.

Record Bar The Record Bar is a former U.S. retail music/entertainment store chain founded in Durham, North Carolina. The company eventually grew from a single location to 180 stores. One of the largest music retailing chains, it was located primarily in the s ...

opened one of its stores there, to be later supplanted by

Camelot Music Camelot Music was a mall-based American retailer of prerecorded music and accessories and was one of the largest music retailers in the United States based on store count. Camelot specialized in the sales of prerecorded music, especially vinyl ...

. There was also a Happy Herman's Liquor Store, a

Woolworth's Woolworth, Woolworth's, or Woolworths may refer to: Businesses Australia and New Zealand * Woolworths Group (Australia), the largest retail company in Australia and New Zealand; named after the American F.W. Woolworth company, but unrelated * W ...

dimestore and a branch of the

Atlanta Public Library The Fulton County Library System is a network of public libraries serving the City of Atlanta and Fulton County, both in the U.S. state of Georgia. The system is administered by Fulton County. The system is composed of the Atlanta Central Libr ...

. In 1991, music producer

Jermaine Dupri Jermaine Dupri Mauldin (born September 23, 1972) is an American rapper and record producer. Raised in Atlanta, Georgia as the son of Columbia Records executive Michael Mauldin, he began his career in music at the age of nine. He discovered th ...

met the duo who would become

Kris Kross Kris Kross were an American hip hop duo, composed of rappers Chris "Mac Daddy" Kelly and Chris "Daddy Mac" Smith, formed by record producer Jermaine Dupri. They were the youngest hip-hop group to gain commercial success, charting releases by t ...

at Greenbriar. In 1996 a

Magic Johnson Theatres Magic Johnson Theatres is a chain of movie theaters, originally developed in 1994 by Johnson Development Corporation, the business holding of former basketball player Magic Johnson, and Sony Pictures Entertainment through a partnership with Sony-Lo ...

multiplex Multiplex may refer to: Science and technology * Multiplex communication, combining many signals into one transmission circuit or channel ** Multiplex (television), a group of digital television or radio channels that are combined for broadcast * ...

opened at the mall, and in 2002

Magic Johnson Earvin "Magic" Johnson Jr. (born August 14, 1959) is an American businessman and former professional basketball player. Often regarded as the greatest point guard of all time, Johnson List of NBA players who have spent their entire career w ...

himself made an unsuccessful effort to buy the mall but the theaters, unable to recover after the Great Recession, (by then managed by

AMC Theatres AMC Entertainment Holdings, Inc. (doing business as AMC Theatres, originally an abbreviation for American Multi-Cinema; often referred to simply as AMC) is an American movie theater chain founded in Kansas City, Missouri, and now headquartered ...

) closed in 2009. At that point the mall was seen as a somewhat stagnated property, although still mostly occupied. On December 6, 2019, Burlington Coat Factory relocated to Camp Creek Parkway. On January 6, 2021, it was announced that

Macy's Macy's is an American department store chain founded in 1858 by Rowland Hussey Macy. The first store was located in Manhattan on Sixth Avenue between 13th and 14th Streets, south of the present-day flagship store at Herald Square on West 34 ...

would be closing in April 2021 as part of a plan to close 46 stores nationwide. After

closed, there were no traditional anchor stores left.

References

{{Shopping malls in Georgia (U.S. state) Buildings and structures in Fulton County, Georgia Shopping malls in the Atlanta metropolitan area Shopping malls established in 1965 Buildings and structures in Atlanta