The Harford 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 ...

owned by

CBL & Associates Properties CBL Properties (previously CBL & Associates, Inc., then CBL & Associates Properties, Inc.) is an American real estate investment trust that invests in shopping centers and owns shopping malls, primarily in the Southeastern and Midwestern Unite ...

that is located near the junction of

Maryland Route 24 Maryland Route 24 (MD 24) is a state highway in the U.S. state of Maryland. The state highway runs from an entrance to Aberdeen Proving Ground in Edgewood, Maryland, Edgewood north to the Pennsylvania state line near Fawn Grov ...

and

U.S. Route 1 U.S. Route 1 or U.S. Highway 1 (US 1) is a major north–south United States Numbered Highway that serves the East Coast of the United States. It runs from Key West, Florida, north to Fort Kent, Maine, at the Canadian border, ...

, about north of

Baltimore Baltimore is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the 30th-most populous U.S. city. The Baltimore metropolitan area is the 20th-large ...

, in

Bel Air, Maryland The town of Bel Air is the county seat of Harford County, Maryland, Harford County, Maryland. According to the 2020 United States census, the population of the town was 10,661. The United States Census Bureau defines an urban area in northeast ...

, United States. It is the only shopping mall in

Harford County, Maryland Harford County is a county located in the U.S. state of Maryland. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 260,924. Its county seat is Bel Air, Harford County, Maryland, Bel Air. Harford County is included in the Wa ...

. The mall was built on the previous site of the

Bel Air Racetrack Bel Air Racetrack was a horse racing facility located one mile north of Baltimore Pike and east of Tollgate Road in Bel Air, Maryland The town of Bel Air is the county seat of Harford County, Maryland, Harford County, Maryland. According to th ...

History

Originally opened in 1973 by Mid Atlantic Realty Trust, it featured an

E.J. Korvette E. J. Korvette, also known as Korvette’s, was an American chain of discount department stores, founded in 1948 in New York City. It was one of the first department stores to challenge the suggested retail price provisions of anti-discounting ...

and

Montgomery Ward Montgomery Ward is the name of two successive U.S. retail corporations. The original Montgomery Ward & Co. was a mail-order business and later a department store chain that operated between 1872 and 2001; its common nickname was "Monkey Wards". ...

as its anchor stores. Among the other original tenants were Walden Books,

Friendly Ice Cream Friendly's is a restaurant chain on the East Coast of the United States. The first location, selling ice cream cones, opened in 1935 in Springfield, Massachusetts. It was founded by brothers S. Prestley Blake and Curtis Blake. It has 10,000 em ...

, Horn and Horn, and a multi-screen cinema. Korvette became

Hutzler's Hutzler's, or Hutzler Brothers Company, was a department store founded in Baltimore by Abraham G. Hutzler (1836–1927) in 1858. From its beginning as a small dry goods store at the corner of Howard and Clay Streets in downtown Baltimore, Hutzler' ...

then

Hecht's Hecht's was an American department store chain founded in 1857 by Samuel Hecht, Jr. It was headquartered in Washington, D.C., and operated in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic and Southern United States. The family business was acqui ...

, and finally

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 ...

. Another early tenant was an

F.W. Woolworth Company The F. W. Woolworth Company (often referred to as Woolworth's or simply Woolworth) was a retail company and one of the pioneers of the five-and-dime store. It was among the most successful American and international five-and-dime businesses, se ...

store in center court.

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 ...

replaced Montgomery Ward. The Harford Mall was purchased by CBL & Associates Property, Inc. in 2003 for $71 million.

Hochschild Kohn Hochschild Kohn's, also known as Hochschild-Kohn or simply Hochschild's, was a 20th-century American department store chain based in Baltimore, Maryland. It was started in 1897 as a partnership between Max Hochschild, Benno Kohn, and his brother L ...

was opened during the first expansion of the mall. The store opened in October 1977. This later became the original food court. During the period of 2006 and 2007, the mall underwent an extensive renovation. The center court and the interior of the mall were remodeled, and the exterior was also given a facelift. The original indoor food court was entirely removed in favor of additional retail space. A new "food court" was constructed outside the mall, at which time new restaurants such as

Qdoba Qdoba ( ) is a chain of fast casual restaurants in the United States and Canada serving Mexican-style cuisine. After 15 years as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Jack in the Box, the company was sold to a consortium of funds led by Apollo Global M ...

Bonefish Grill Bonefish Grill is an American casual dining seafood restaurant chain owned and operated by Bloomin' Brands, headquartered in Tampa, Florida. The company was founded on January 15, 2000, in St. Petersburg, Florida by Tim Curci and Chris Parker. ...

Five Guys Five Guys Enterprises, LLC (doing business as Five Guys Burgers and Fries and Five Guys) is an American multinational fast food chain focused on hamburgers, hot dogs, and french fries. It is headquartered in Alexandria, Virginia. The first F ...

, Vaccaros Italian Pastries, and

Red Robin Red Robin Gourmet Burgers, Inc., more commonly known as Red Robin Gourmet Burgers and Brews or simply Red Robin, is an American chain of casual dining restaurants founded in September 1969 in Seattle, Washington. In 1979, the first franchised R ...

moved into the outdoor spaces. In addition, more upscale retailers, such as Hollister (which replaced the former

KB Toys K·B Toys (also known as Kay Bee Toys) was an American chain of mall-based retail toy stores. The company was founded in 1922 as Kaufman Brothers, a wholesale candy store. The company opened a wholesale toy store in 1946, and ended its candy wh ...

and later closed) and American Eagle were also added. In 2013, the mall lost longtime tenant

Old Navy Old Navy is an American clothing and accessories retailing company owned by multinational corporation Gap Inc. It has corporate operations in the Mission Bay, San Francisco, Mission Bay neighborhood of San Francisco, California. The largest of t ...

, which moved to the new Boulevard at Box Hill shopping center in

Abingdon, Maryland Abingdon is a census-designated place in Harford County, Maryland, United States. It lies northeast of Baltimore on Maryland Route 7, near the Bush River, between Exits 77 ( MD 24) and 80 ( MD 543) of Interstate 95. The region is known for i ...

and was then replaced by

The Shoe Department Shoe Show, Inc. is an American footwear retailer based in Concord, North Carolina. It operates shoe stores throughout the United States under the brands Shoe Show, Shoe Dept., Shoe Dept. Encore, Shoebilee!, Burlington Shoes, and Shoe Show Mega. ...

Encore, and

Payless Shoe Source Payless ShoeSource Worldwide, LLC (formerly known as Payless ShoeSource Inc.), was an American multinational discount footwear chain. Established in 1956 by cousins Louis and Shaol Pozez. Payless was a privately held company owned by Blum Capita ...

announced plans to close its Harford Mall location in February 2019 as part of the chain's bankruptcy. In the same month,

Charlotte Russe A charlotte is a type of bread pudding that can be served hot or cold. It is also referred to as an " icebox cake". Bread, sponge cake, crumbs or biscuits/cookies are used to line a mold, which is then filled with a fruit puree or custard. The ...

also announced plans to close its Harford Mall location along with many other stores across the country. Other eateries located inside the mall include The Greene Turtle,

Friendly's Friendly's is a restaurant chain on the East Coast of the United States. The first location, selling ice cream cones, opened in 1935 in Springfield, Massachusetts. It was founded by brothers S. Prestley Blake and Curtis Blake. It has 10,000 ...

, and Pretzel Twister. In early February 2020,

, one of Harford Mall's two

anchor stores In North American, Australian and New Zealand retail, an "anchor tenant", sometimes called an "anchor store", "draw tenant", or "key tenant", is a considerably larger tenant in a shopping mall, often a department store or retail chain. They are ...

, closed its location at the mall, as a result of its

bankruptcy Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the deb ...

filing. The mall is located across from what is known as the Harford Mall Annex, which is a section of retail stores located directly across the street from the mall on Boulton Street, facing one of the entrances to

. Stores located in the Annex include

Office Depot The ODP Corporation is an American office supply retailer headquartered in Boca Raton, Florida. The company operates 922 retail stores in the United States under the Office Depot and OfficeMax brands, as well as e-commerce sites and a business ...

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 ...

PetSmart PetSmart Inc. is a privately held American chain of pet Big-box store, superstores, which sell pet products, services, and small pets. It is the leading North American pet company, and its direct competitor is Petco. Its indirect competitors ...

and

Banfield Pet Hospital Banfield Pet Hospital is a privately owned company based in Vancouver, Washington, United States, that operates veterinary clinics. Part of the Mars Inc. family of companies, Banfield owns clinics in the United States, Mexico, and the United K ...

, and

Best Buy Best Buy Co., Inc. is an American multinational consumer electronics retailer headquartered in Richfield, Minnesota. Originally founded by Richard M. Schulze and James Wheeler in 1966 as an audio specialty store called Sound of Music, it was r ...

. These are listed in the directory on Harford Mall's website, although they are not physically located inside the mall. On January 9, 2025, it was announced that Macy's store would be closing as part of a plan to close 66 stores nationwide. The store closed in March 2025, leaving the mall with no anchors, cementing its status as a

dead mall A dead mall, also known as a ghost mall or zombie mall, is a shopping mall that has low consumer traffic or is deteriorating in some manner. Many malls in North America are considered "dead" when they have no surviving anchor store or successor ...

Former anchors

(replaced by

, 1973–2001) *

(replaced

, 2001–2020, store demolished 2022) *

Auto Center (replaced by

Furniture Gallery, closed 2001) *

(acquired by

in 2006) *

Furniture Gallery (replaced

Auto Center, 2001–2006) *

(acquired

, 2006–2025) *

Furniture Gallery (acquired

Furniture Gallery, 2006–2025)

Shops at Harford Mall

In November 2021, it was announced that the

store, which closed in early 2020, would be

demolished Demolition (also known as razing and wrecking) is the science and engineering in safely and efficiently tearing down buildings and other artificial structures. Demolition contrasts with deconstruction, which involves taking a building apa ...

in order to build a 59,600 square foot outdoor shopping complex outside of the mall. Demolition of the old

store began in early 2022, with demolition completed in March 2022. The new complex, while adjacent to the mall, will not be physically connected to the mall. One of the primary tenants is expected to be an Amazon Fresh

grocery store A grocery store ( AE), grocery shop or grocer's shop ( BE) or simply grocery is a retail store that primarily retails a general range of food products, which may be fresh or packaged. In everyday US usage, however, "grocery store" is a synon ...

; a Mediterranean Grill has been confirmed as an eatery. The

store, which opened in 2001, replaced a

department store A department store is a retail establishment offering a wide range of consumer goods in different areas of the store under one roof, each area ("department") specializing in a product category. In modern major cities, the department store mad ...

that opened with the mall in 1973. There are no longer plans for an "Amazon Fresh" grocery store and the current space is vacant and a grand leasing opportunity.

References

External links

* {{CBL Properties Shopping malls in Maryland Buildings and structures in Bel Air, Harford County, Maryland Tourist attractions in Harford County, Maryland Shopping malls established in 1973 1973 establishments in Maryland CBL Properties