Lenox Square 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

Buckhead Buckhead is the wikt:uptown, uptown commercial and residential district of the city of Atlanta, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia, comprising approximately the northernmost fifth of the city. Buckhead is the third largest business district within ...

district of

Atlanta 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 ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

, United States. It is adjacent to Phipps Plaza, both of which are owned by

Simon Property Group Simon Property Group, Inc. is an American real estate investment trust that invests in shopping malls, outlet centers, and community/lifestyle centers. It is the largest owner of shopping malls in the United States and is headquartered in Indian ...

. Lenox Square spans of

gross leasable area In architecture, construction, and real estate, floor area, floor space, or floorspace is the area (measured in square metres or square feet) taken up by a building or part of it. The ways of defining "floor area" depend on what factors of the bui ...

and has 198 tenants, making it the third-largest mall in Georgia. It is anchored by

Bloomingdale's Bloomingdale's Inc. is an American luxury department store chain founded in 1861 by Joseph Bloomingdale and Lyman Bloomingdale. It was acquired by Federated Department Stores in 1930, which purchased the Macy's department store chain in 1994, ...

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 ...

, and

Neiman Marcus Neiman Marcus is an American department store chain founded in 1907 in Dallas, Texas by Herbert Marcus, his sister Carrie Marcus Neiman, and her husband Abraham Lincoln Neiman. It has been owned by Saks Global, a Corporate spin-off, spin-o ...

, and is connected to the JW Marriott Buckhead hotel by parkway. The mall is known of the start and finish line of the

Peachtree Road Race The Peachtree Road Race (branded AJC Peachtree Road Race for sponsorship reasons) is a series of two 10-kilometer runs held annually in Atlanta, once during the first weekend of January and the other on Independence Day. They are held on the sa ...

s, with the mall being the start line of the July southbound running, and the finish line of the January northbound running.

Development

Establishment

Lenox Square was the work of Ed Noble, a former developer from

Kansas City, Missouri Kansas City, Missouri, abbreviated KC or KCMO, is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri by List of cities in Missouri, population and area. The city lies within Jackson County, Missouri, Jackson, Clay County, Missouri, Clay, and Pl ...

, whose company J. Noble Properties, acquired the site in 1956. Groundbreaking for the shopping center occurred in July 1957, and it was completed on June 29, 1958. The public opening ceremony for Lenox Square was held on August 3, 1959. The three-level mall -Mall, Plaza and Market featured of retail space. It was anchored by Rich's,

Davison's Davison's was an American department store chain founded in 1891 in Atlanta, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia, United States. It was a local institution, and competed with Rich's (department store), Rich's in the Atlanta market. Davison's expande ...

, and a

Colonial Stores Colonial Stores was a chain of grocery stores once found throughout much of the South. Most were transformed to Big Star Markets in the 1970s and later most became Harris Teeter or A&P. History David Pender Grocery Company The chain evolv ...

supermarket. There were 52 original tenants, including a

bowling alley A bowling alley (also known as a bowling center, bowling lounge, bowling arena, or historically bowling club) is a facility where the sport of bowling is played. It can be a dedicated facility or part of another, such as a clubhouse or dwelling ...

, indoor golf driving range, and a Kresge

five and dime A variety store (also five and dime (historic), pound shop, or dollar store) is a retail store that sells general merchandise, such as apparel, auto parts, dry goods, toys, hardware, furniture, and a selection of groceries. It usually sells th ...

store. The Mall Level concourse featured several statues depicting

Uncle Remus Uncle Remus is the fictional title character and narrator of a collection of African American folktales compiled and adapted by Joel Chandler Harris and published in book form in 1881. Harris was a journalist in post–Reconstruction era Atlant ...

characters, such as Br'er Fox, Br'er Frog and the Tar Baby. A movie theater opened on the Market Level in June 1963.

Early expansions

In keeping with a then current retail trend, a major renovation and expansion in the early 1970s enclosed the entire shopping center. It included a new wing and the addition of the first

location outside of

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

and

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

. It is still to this day the company's only location in the state. A second expansion completed in 1980 added a three-level section at the back of the mall which included a

food court A food court (in Asia-Pacific also called food hall or hawker centre) is generally an indoor plaza or common area within a facility that is contiguous with the counters of multiple food Vendor, vendors and provides a common area for self-serve di ...

. This replaced the previous open-air Plaza Court and supermarket. Lenox Square then encompassed 1.04 million leasable square feet. The new food court was soon joined by a 19-story, 370,000 sqft (gross), class-A office building, a twin-like 24-story hotel, 1,800 space, five-level partially submerged combined hotel-office parking garage (two below ground), and 800-space four-level retail pre-cast concrete parking deck. These were adjacent to the MARTA's Lenox transit station, which opened in December 1984. Davison's, owned by Macy's since 1924, was rebranded as Macy's in 1986. In 1991, Rich's relocated their flagship store to Lenox Square from

downtown Atlanta Downtown Atlanta is the central business district of Atlanta, Georgia, United States. The largest of the city's three commercial districts (Midtown Atlanta, Midtown and Buckhead being the others), it is the location of many corporate and region ...

. In 1995, the mall underwent its largest expansion, adding a second story above the original Mall Level. The expansion made Lenox Square the largest shopping center in Georgia, with 1.457 million square feet (140,000 m²) divided among 200 stores and

restaurant A restaurant is an establishment that prepares and serves food and drinks to customers. Meals are generally served and eaten on the premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and Delivery (commerce), food delivery services. Restaurants ...

s. This distinction was relinquished to the newly built, Mall of Georgia in 1999. In 2000, the celebration of the Rich's Great Tree moved to the flagship store from

Underground Atlanta Underground Atlanta is a shopping center, shopping and entertainment district in the Five Points, Atlanta, Five Points neighborhood of Downtown Atlanta, downtown Atlanta, Georgia, United States, near the Five Points (MARTA station), Five Points ...

, after having been held

downtown ''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in American and Canadian English to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political, and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business district ( ...

for decades.

Effects of Macy's conversions

In 2003,

Federated Department Stores Macy's, Inc. (previously Federated Department Stores, Inc.) is an American holding company of department stores. Upon its establishment in 1929, Federated held ownership of the regional department store chains Abraham & Straus, Lazarus (departm ...

began integrating the

name with their other regional department store brands, including Rich's. Following the news, the Lenox

location closed and the building (along with the location at Perimeter Mall) was renovated extensively to house the first

in the South, which opened in October 2003. In 2005,

dropped the regional names of all of their department stores. The former Rich's-Macy's location at Lenox Square became the flagship of Macy's Central until all of the company's divisions had consolidated into one.

Later expansions

A significant 2007 expansion enlarged the existing Neiman Marcus by and added a an upper level to the wing connecting the store to the main mallway. The shopping center then housed 1.545 million leasable square feet and 240 stores and services. In Fall 2013 another renovation took place in the mall with additions of both exterior and interior with new lightning, landscaping, windowing, and many more. The renovations were completed as of 2014. By 2023, since the government lockdown, Lenox Square had announced several newest additions, among them are Psycho Bunny, Savage X Fenty, Cotton On,

Moncler Moncler S.p.A. is an Italian luxury fashion brand specialized in ready-to-wear outerwear headquartered in Milan, Italy. Its core branding includes the Rooster#Terminology, cockerel, "M" monogram, felt appliqué badge, crossed skis and cartoon duc ...

Sandro Sandro is an Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Swiss, Georgian and Croatian given name, often a diminutive of Alessandro or Alexander. It is also a surname. Sandro may refer to: Given name or nickname Sports * Sandro (footballer, born 1973), Braz ...

, The Webster,

Ferrari Ferrari S.p.A. (; ) is an Italian luxury sports car manufacturer based in Maranello. Founded in 1939 by Enzo Ferrari (1898–1988), the company built Auto Avio Costruzioni 815, its first car in 1940, adopted its current name in 1945, and be ...

, in addition to an entirely new store format for

Apple An apple is a round, edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus'' spp.). Fruit trees of the orchard or domestic apple (''Malus domestica''), the most widely grown in the genus, are agriculture, cultivated worldwide. The tree originated ...

. It also has the largest Pottery Barn in their chain as well as one of the largest

Forever 21 F21 OpCo LLC, trade name, doing business as Forever 21, was a multinational fast-fashion retailer. It was originally founded as Fashion 21 in Highland Park, Los Angeles, Highland Park, Los Angeles in 1984.Forever 21History & Facts, n.d. Retrieved ...

stores in the Southeastern United States.

Economic impact

Lenox Square is the third largest shopping mall in the state, as well as one of the largest in the Southeast. Only the Mall of Georgia and Perimeter Mall have a larger

. Visited by more than 35 million people a year, Lenox Square is one of the most popular and profitable retail centers in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. Together with Phipps Plaza, an estimated $1 billion was generated in 2007. An estimated 40% of all visitors to the shopping center in 2009 were tourists. The area around Lenox has grown immensely in the past few decades following its opening, with expanding retail developments and over 75 restaurants within a mile radius. In addition, Phipps Plaza is located to the northeast of Lenox Square across Peachtree Road. Traffic levels around Lenox are high and the streets are confusing for those unfamiliar with the area. Georgia 400 opened in 1993, restricting traffic to and from the west after it cut many existing roads. However, the BUC (Buckhead Uptown Connection), the free shuttle bus service around Buckhead, is available, supported voluntarily by a self-taxing district (Buckhead CID) which includes Lenox, and by GRTA and other agencies. The Peachtree Streetcar initiative would also extend free or low-fare streetcars to Lenox in the north, through midtown and downtown, to a proposed mixed-use redevelopment around historic Fort McPherson, south. MARTA, the city's main mass transit system, provides one station across the street from the J W Marriott, as well as the

Buckhead station Buckhead is an at-grade subway station that serves the Red Line of the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) rail system. This station is the first station only served by the Red Line. It is located in the Buckhead neighborhoo ...

a quarter mile Northwest on Peachtree Road.

Incidents

Seven shootings occurred at Lenox Square in 2020. A robbery occurred outside of the mall in 2021 after it was closed. After a string of shootings and robberies, the mall now has security measures in place and requires people under the age of 18 to have adult supervision after 3 pm.

In pop culture

Within its first few years Lenox Square would be a part of several major events in the city. It is the starting point, as of 2025, the summer southbound running, and starting in 2025, the finishing point of the winter northbound running, of the 10 kilometer

s, one of the largest 10 kilometer races in the world.

List of anchor stores

Gallery

File:Lenox Square.jpg, Lenox Square Mall, Peachtree Road front before renovations (2006) File:Neiman Marcus Wing.jpg, Interior of mall looking toward the Neiman Marcus wing (2019)

Notes

References

External links

Lenox Square Mall
(official site)
Mall Hall of Fame article

ToNeTo Atlanta
{{Simon Property Group Buildings and structures in Fulton County, Georgia Simon Property Group Shopping malls established in 1959 Buildings and structures in Atlanta Shopping malls in the Atlanta metropolitan area Tourist attractions in Atlanta 1959 establishments in Georgia (U.S. state)