Santa Fe Mall, Duluth (Atlanta), Georgia

     What's becoming more and more popular are repurposed malls that were once dying, but adjusted to the community, and reborn. Santa Fe Mall is similar to this scenario, but was far from the dead mall nickname prior to conversion. Santa Fe Mall wasn't a mall at all previous to the renovation. This hasn't done a whole lot to hurt though, with Santa Fe a major community place. The mall has always interested me, and today we visit to the Hispanic community center the mall is.

Here we are entering the mall. On closer inspection, the cinema looks very swanky. 

     From all that I can tell, Santa Fe Mall was converted/constructed/renovated to its current state in 2005. The website says that they are celebrating their 12th anniversary soon, so that's probably the opening date. I presume the mall was once a storage facility, being that the layout has a lot of small hallways and garage doors. Of course, there is a lack of information on the mall online, so who knows. I do know that Santa Fe wasn't built as Santa Fe, so it had to be something. I can't confirm really anything aside from the opening date.

Here's the central mallway and one of two anchors. D&K Suit City acts as sort of a lower-income JCPenney.

     Santa Fe Mall has to be the weirdest mall I've been in yet. The layout seems simple at first, but once you pass center court, all bets are off. A labyrinth of hallways exposes itself in a hashtag shape on each side. Down these small corridors, mainly services are located, including attorneys, salons, and offices. Also in the small mall is a food court, with three bays and an odd location. Through the main entrance facing PetSmart on Venture Blvd, all the way to center court then past, then left on a small hallway takes you to the eateries. It would not be hard to get lost, and while I say it is a small mall, it may not be one. I'm a little disappointed I didn't go through the maze of hallways on my visit. 

First two shots show the center court and its stage/fountain and the last shows the right off the court, to the cinema. Venture Cinema is a cheap first-run theatre with a few Latin movies.

     The one thing that popped out here was the vibes. The architecture gives the feel of a Mexican market, with detailed yellow storefronts giving way to businesses. Many kiosks were similar to convenience stores, with Mexican candies and foods. It's pretty cool to see how a different culture goes like normal on their shopping trips, just as we go shopping. The families in the area treat a trip here like we treat our mall trips. We can't wait for birthdays and money to purchase clothes we've always wanted. The same happens here. Shopping across the world is so different, but the same.

Lone food court photo. I visited around lunchtime and it was tough to take any other pictures.

These hallways are filled with merchandise. 

     Santa Fe Mall is safe for years to come. It's been a big enough force to partially hinder good ol' Moonbeam's plan to change Gwinnett Place to the ethnic type. Combined with Global Mall, Plaza Fiesta, Northeast Plaza, and the Buford Highway corridor, Atlanta has a pretty solid international retail scene. The people it attracts almost grant it immunity, given that the area Hispanics probably use Amazon much less and with larger families, brick and mortar is the way to go. The mix of services and stores mean you could nearly go everyday and do something different. It's the perfect mall of the future in my opinion.

And this what I mean when I talk about small hallways with garage doors.

Down this unsuspecting hallway is the food court.

While it doesn't show it in detail, there is a fountain in the mall.

This is a view of leaving the mall the same entrance I entered through.