Oglethorpe Mall is a super-regional

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 ...

on the south side of

Savannah, Georgia Savannah ( ) is the oldest city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia and the county seat of Chatham County, Georgia, Chatham County. Established in 1733 on the Savannah River, the city of Savannah became the Kingdom of Great Brita ...

. Named after General

James Oglethorpe Lieutenant-General James Edward Oglethorpe (22 December 1696 – 30 June 1785) was a British Army officer, Tory politician and colonial administrator best known for founding the Province of Georgia in British North America. As a social refo ...

, the founder of Savannah, the mall has expanded since its opening in 1969 to nearly one million square feet. Among its features are several restaurants, a food court, and 118 stores. It is anchored by

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 ...

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 ...

, and

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 ...

. The center also features junior anchors

Barnes & Noble Barnes & Noble Booksellers is an American bookseller with the largest number of retail outlets in the United States. The company operates approximately 600 retail stores across the United States. Barnes & Noble operates mainly through its B ...

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 ...

, H&M, DSW, and Crunch Fitness. It is owned and operated by

Brookfield Properties Brookfield Properties is a North American subsidiary of Commercial property, commercial real estate firm Brookfield Property Partners, which itself is a subsidiary of Alternative investment, alternative asset management company Brookfield Corpor ...

. The former

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 ...

at the mall is being converted into new apartments.

History

1967-1988

The land the mall is located on is called the Chippewa Tract, created by a 1960 subdivision of former farmland. Originally developed by Scott Hugdins of Atlanta, ground was broken in 1968. Sears and Belk developed their own stores in tandem with the mall. Oglethorpe Mall opened in April 1969 at 7804 Abercorn Street as Savannah's first enclosed, air-conditioned shopping mall. The main anchors were

-Beery, McCrory, Adler's, and

. At the time, the mall featured Savannah's only

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 ...

restaurant. Other major tenants included Morrison's Cafeteria and a

Piggly Wiggly Piggly Wiggly is an American supermarket chain operating in the American Southern and Midwestern regions run by Piggly Wiggly, LLC, an affiliate of C&S Wholesale Grocers. Its first outlet opened in 1916 in Memphis, Tennessee, and is notable ...

. By 1974, an additional of retail space was added. Additional growth came in 1982 when a expansion was completed featuring

and local department store, Levy's. In February 1986, Levy's was acquired by

Maas Brothers Maas Brothers was a leading Tampa, Florida, department store founded by Abe and Isaac Maas in 1886 that grew from a small store to a chain of 39 stores throughout the Gulf Coast of Florida. The Maas Brothers brand went defunct in 1991 when it ...

of Tampa, Florida. In 1985, Adler's closed and became a section of the mall known as ''The Promenade'': A short mall entrance hallway lined with upscale stores such as

Laura Ashley Laura Ashley (née Mountney; 7 September 1925 – 17 September 1985) was a Welsh fashion designer and businesswoman. She originally made furnishing materials in the 1950s, expanding the business into clothing design and manufacture in the 1960s ...

. By 1988 Maas Brothers was consolidated into

Jordan Marsh Jordan Marsh was an American department store chain founded in 1841 by Eben Dyer Jordan and Benjamin L. Marsh. It was headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, and operated throughout New England. The destruction of the historical flagship store o ...

, a major Federated Department Stores chain based in Florida and New England.

1989-2009

By 1987, national mall developer,

The Rouse Company The Rouse Company was a publicly traded shopping mall and community developer from 1956 until 2004, when GGP Inc., General Growth Properties (GGP) purchased the company. It was founded by Hunter Moss and James Rouse, James W. Rouse in 1939. Begin ...

was planning a new mall on 85 acres of land two miles south of Oglethorpe Mall. The proposed Southlake Mall received significant pushback from nearby residents and The Rouse Company pulled out. Meanwhile, David Hocker & Associates began planning a new mall to open in the summer of 1990 four miles south of Oglethorpe Mall. This mall opened on August 29, 1990, as

Savannah Mall Savannah Mall is a defunct two-level enclosed regional shopping mall on the southside of Savannah, Georgia, that opened August 29, 1990. The mall is anchored by Target, Bass Pro Shops, and Dillard's. The lower level of the anchor pad that is occ ...

. In order to combat mounting pressure from newer competition, a significant renovation began in 1989. The renovations changed the feel of the mall altogether featuring "coastal" design elements like whitewashed wood, tabby walls, and lighter paint choices. The mall is extensively lit during the day by natural lighting from skylights that were installed during the renovation. A new tile floor was installed and would win design awards in 1990. A new two-level parking garage completed the renovations in the summer of 1990. Further consolidation saw the closure of Jordan Marsh in September 1991, as the southern stores were folded in Burdine's, which did not operate in Georgia. In 1992, the Maas Brothers/Jordan Marsh store was converted into general mall space, and a new Rich's was added to the mall. McCrory left the mall in 1994 and was replaced by

Stein Mart Stein Mart is an American discount men's and women's online retailer & former department store Chain store, chain based in Jacksonville, Florida. Stein Mart had locations primarily in the Southeastern United States, Southeast, Texas, and Califor ...

the following year. In 1998, Morrison's Cafeteria became

Piccadilly Cafeteria Piccadilly Restaurants is an American chain of cafeteria-style, casual dining restaurants in seven, mainly southeastern United States with the majority located in the Gulf Coast region. They are owned by Piccadilly Holdings LLC. In addition to ...

as they bought Morrison's and rebranded the locations. ''The Promenade'' was converted into a

which opened in 2000. A new food court opened in 2002 in abandoned mall space that had previously operated as Piggly Wiggly and a back mall entrance. The food court allowed for relocated storefronts for

and

Sbarro Sbarro, LLC ( : stylized in all caps) is an American fast food restaurant that specializes in New York–style pizza sold by the slice and other Italian-American cuisine. In 2011, the company was ranked 15th in foreign sales among U.S.-based ...

which previously had locations at the entry of what would eventually become the food court wing. Both are now Claire's and Underground by Journeys respectively. The Abercorn Street façade was extensively upgraded throughout the 2000s and Rich's became

in 2005. Also throughout 2005 the mall introduced several new retailers to the market including

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 ...

Build-A-Bear Workshop Build-A-Bear Workshop, Inc. is an American retailer headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri that sells teddy bears, stuffed animals, and characters. During store visits, customers go through an interactive process where the stuffed animal of their ...

Nine West Nine West, also known as 9 West, is an American online fashion retailer which is based in White Plains, New York. It was founded in 1983 and closed its brick and mortar stores business in 2018. Its products continue to be sold at other retai ...

, Aldo, and

Hollister Co Hollister Co., often advertised as Hollister or HCo., is a retail brand owned by Abercrombie & Fitch Co, selling apparel, accessories, and fragrances. Goods are available in-store and through the company's online store. Hollister says it was fo ...

2010-present

In March 2016, Piccadilly Cafeteria closed after 47 years of business. It was replaced in 2018 by DSW. On August 22, 2018,

announced that it would be closing in November 2018 as part of a plan to close 46 stores nationwide. Also in 2018 the mall received its most significant renovation since 2002. This included an updated logo along with new street signs at the highway entrances, as well as new tile flooring in some areas. In 2020, longstanding tenant Stein Mart closed as the company liquidated. On February 24, 2022, developer Madison Capital was granted approval to rezone the former Sears tract to multi-family. This paved the way for the anchor building to be demolished for more than 200 apartments. In Fall 2022, Crunch Fitness took the place of the former Stein Mart. Throughout 2021 the space was occupied by Overstock Furniture & Mattress.

List of anchor stores

References

{{Shopping malls in Georgia (U.S. state) Shopping malls established in 1969 Brookfield Properties Shopping malls in Savannah, Georgia Tourist attractions in Savannah, Georgia 1969 establishments in Georgia (U.S. state) Shopping malls in Georgia (U.S. state)