North DeKalb Mall, Decatur (Atlanta), GA

     When a mall is under construction, it was probably conceived as a good idea, being that said mall presumably saw its planning in the mall era. The conditions were ripe at the time, including good demographics, low competition, and a nice list of stores to choose from. Over time, pretty much everything has taken a shot at the mall, and it's pretty much nothing today. This was never thought of at all at the beginning, but this can't really be blamed on the original owners. Of course, stuff changes over time, and this couldn't be stopped. This rings perfectly true for the ever-forgotten North DeKalb Mall, located in Decatur, Georgia, one of Atlanta's wealthiest, biggest, and major suburbs. To elaborate, in Decatur's small city limits are 25,000 people and two colleges : Agnes Scott College and prestigious Emory. So why doesn't it have a top-tier mall?

Here we have an outdated directory. What is with these dead malls not fixing these? You know someone's going to actually think there is a Macy's.

     The history of the mall reveals its pretty much underdog status. The mall opened up in 1965, with only two anchors. A Rich's bookended one side with a Woolworth anchoring the other. This was actually unique, with Woolworth more commonly taking a space on the side. Taking the sides of Woolworth was the Atlanta grocer Colonial, and a theatre. All of this added up to Atlanta's first enclosed mall, where you could "leave your umbrella at home." It wouldn't be long before others joined the ranks, and didn't help much.

This big clock is pretty much the centerpiece here. About ten years back, this area looked much better, with no vacant spots and lots of greenery. Following the closure of Macy's, this area pretty much died.

     It didn't take long before the mall had competitors. Just up I-285, both the Northlake and Perimeter Mall opened up in 1971. If you find it at North DeKalb, you could find it there. One difference : it was all closer for a huge population. Not much was done to begin with, so North DeKalb began its decline. The movie theatre was twinned in 1976. The owners woke up in 1986, when a major expansion was completed, along with the name change to The Market Square at North DeKalb. In the large expansion was a new Lechmere, Mervyn's, and a food court. While these anchors never truly had a day, they were vastly different from the anchors at competing malls. This expansion wasn't done in the traditional fashion however. What was once a simple, dumbbell mall was now a pretty complicated diamond shape, with all corners leading to anchors.

Clock from a different angle. It is 8:53 somewhere, and that somewhere is the North DeKalb Mall.

Sterling Organization partially owns the mall, and they must be happy to know there is a store for them too. Wendy's is part of the food court. 

     Unfortunately, this wasn't the complete solution to a successful mall, and bankruptcies pretty much pushed the mall back to the pit. Lechmere closed and became Phar-Mor, which never really was a strong anchor. Part of the dead Lechmere also became an AMC 16 theatre. Not much longer, in 1997, Mervyn's said goodbye, which Upton's Furniture took up briefly for two years, and lastly turning into a Burlington Coat Factory. Lechmere would change the most, becoming a revolving door for furniture stores and eventually turning into a Marshalls in 2010. Rich's stayed pretty much static in its life, only becoming Macy's in 2005 and the latter would close in 2016, along with the mall's Ross store. This pretty much killed off a large section of the mall as usual and is now a hulking, decaying white box. And we definitely mean white box. Renters, anyone?

First is the mall entrance, second is the outside, third is the old Rich's auto center. I am beating myself for not looking inside the glass.

      So what made the North go south? An overlooked factor in its death can be the anchors. While Rich's was no slacker, Lechmere and Mervyn's never attracted die-hard fans and were never the saviors. This was before the store spaces became tons of other things, which isn't very useful. And today, while Marshalls is something of a draw, Burlington just gives vibes of a dying mall (just for fun, the most successful mall a Burlington is in is probably the Crossgates Mall in Albany, NY, but who really cares) and is pretty low on the store chain. It was never in a bad location or had the competition flu (the two main historic battlers of the mall aren't feeling so hot either). North DeKalb probably could have fallen into some niche-type center, but didn't. Yes, Buckhead, Perimeter, or the Mall of Georgia are quite the malls, but aren't the type to completely squash a mall not in the same trade area. Said malls are more or less "destinations." 

Food court photos, including on the second one a direct look at an old Applebee's.

This is a wing that runs from the food court to Burlington. I realize that the architecture is very consistent, almost too consistent, in this mall.

     So where does NDM go from here? In my eyes, there is a solution to keeping things out of the rain. For thirteen years there has been talk of bringing Costco to the mall and finishing its days of enclosure, but nothing has come to fruition. What I would do is snatch an advantage from the competitors. Kohl's at Northlake closed recently, so I would demolish the old Macy's and place Kohl's there. This would rejuvenate the whole wing and bring back a traditional department store. The old Applebee's could become a bookstore, and the whole mall would be given a renovation. The latest facelift is showing its age and is very 80's. A small big-box renovation could also be done, along with finding a replacement for the old Ross. NDM wouldn't be some massive sterile supermall, but would better cater to those nearby and supplement an area. The community garden, installed in 2012, has already begun this change. 

From the clock to the old Macy's. The light waaay down on the left is the most sadistic looking Foot Locker I've ever seen. You could probably score some decent deals there.

Looking down to Burlington's.

Here is the mall entrance entering the food court from the inside.

      I would say visit NDM while you still can. It's a pretty cool vintage mall with no shortage of dead retail, but a shortage of climate control. If you like the retailing underdog (and humid mall corridors) you won't be disappointed. If you came to shop, well, too bad. But, they have a Bath and Body Works, so soap maybe? Oh, of course you'd just visit all the dead malls for soap. Atlanta has no shortage of business failure, so you're in good hands. Well, never mind.

Stale candy, anyone?

Play It Again won't be shopping again. 

Various court shots. I'm getting oddly sick of this mall look somehow....On second glance, WHERE ARE THE FOUNTAINS AND PLANTERS?! There's the problem...