Infamously Dead :: Regency Mall, Augusta, GA

     Note : I was unable to capture any interior photos or exterior photos aside from the anchors and the sign. If you would like to fill in the pieces with photos, send them to skymallblog@gmail.com. Any amount, any angles, any date, would all be greatly appreciated. I hope you enjoy the following post.

     As Georgia's second largest city, Augusta has seemingly been avoided by retail metrics. This is especially odd, considering the amount of dead retail or interesting locales across the city. I'm looking to gradually cover all of these places, as I will drive through the city plenty of times in the future. But arguably the most famous of these we will cover today. Regency Mall is something of legendary in the topic, and I find myself proud to say I saw it. It's the perfect mall that mall owners can take notes from. It is an example of everything bad that can happen to a mall, and owners should look at the mall to know right from wrong. Today it is a creepy mall sat abandoned for 14 years. As one may expect, all that didn't come easily. The mall has a roller-coaster history.

Augusta Chronicle photo of JB White and the other anchors on the sign off the road. I find it hilarious that they bothered to put JB White on the sign when it is literally in front of you. 

Another Augusta Chronicle shot of the center court. Note the "Georgia's Largest" sign on the roof, a distinction true until Atlanta malls expanded and so did the Regency rival.

     The Regency Mall opened to both great fanfare and great competition in 1978.. Only 3.3 miles northwest was the Augusta Mall, which operated on a more Atlanta level, with Davison's and Rich's. Of course this wasn't to say the Regency Mall was far less superior. Regency opened with the national Chicago retailer Montgomery Ward, Augusta's JB White, and Belk (Howard). The only problem was, Ward's had been struggling since WW2, JB White was nothing new, and Belk hadn't fallen in love with Georgia yet. Regency also saw the problems most DeBartolo malls had. Poor location, weak anchors, and little fixes weren't helping the mall's cause. The only edge the Regency had over Augusta was that it opened a week earlier, and was larger. Despite this, Regency was successful for a good run.

Retail of Yesteryear. Here we have a photo of the Ward's area during Christmas. 

Augusta Chronicle. JB White mall entrance in much happier times.

     Being the 80's, both malls held their own but nothing lasted forever. Cullum's, a junior anchor, was shuttered in 1983, before being quickly replaced by a Meyers-Arnold. With an anchor pad empty, DeBartolo planned to add JCPenney to the mall. This Penney's instead joined the Augusta Mall with an expansion. Not only did this improve the competitor, it gave a sign that Regency wasn't going to be at the top for long. Still, somehow maybe a miracle, Regency gave its rival mall a run for its money for a decade or so from that point.

Augusta Chronicle photo of the mall presumably near closing. That is most likely the former Belk in the background.

HDImageGallery photo of the mall's MW. This was probably taken around 2000, when Ward's still existed and photos this decent could be taken. The interior looks like a large Kmart. I suppose great stores die alike.

     It was around 1985 when the problems really came to light. Store turnaround was increasing along with the vacancies. By 1982, really only one Augusta store remained in JB White. The location and security began to unravel throughout the decade, and two convincing incidents occurred. In 1986, a teenage girl was abducted from the parking lot, raped, and her body would be discovered some time later in a small town outside of Augusta. A second crime happened in 1989, with the paralysis of a girl during a carjacking in the parking lot. DeBartolo was sued shortly thereafter for security issues. If you were to place a mall near blue-collar inner-city neighborhoods, good security was a must. After all, if one could head to a similar, much safer mall and not risk injury, why wouldn't you go there? 

Eventually, even the cinema abandoned the pit of a mall. This was much larger than what was originally in the mall. FYI, the sign says "Theatre Closed", and doesn't advertise some creepy flick from 2000.

Former White's and Belk from the theatre parking lot. If you wonder for the expansive cinema parking, it's partially due to a small strip center to the right of me. In that strip is a daycare. I wonder what the vibes a parent gets from dropping their kid off next to a dead mall and urban blight.

     From that point onward, the weak anchors put the mall's weight on their back. JB White and Belk were only exclusive to the mall, which helped matters a little. The reason that I don't mention Montgomery Ward is that it was far too similar to Sears, with locations at the Augusta Mall and in kind-of-nearby Aiken. Not every anchor contributed though. Meyers-Arnold became Upton's in 1987, which closed in 1993. Upton's would never be replaced as a tenant. With that, even the anchors started to fail the mall. Belk became a clearance center, and lo and behold, was shuttered in 1996. The three-screen mall cinema was replaced by greener pastures only 2,617 feet away (I enjoy the Google Maps distance tool) in an eight-screen venue. JB White was basically replaced with a sparkling new, more aesthetically pleasing store at the Augusta Mall. The grand opening was combined with the Regency store's death. Montgomery Ward was left alone, and the remnants weren't so good either. Ward's was in ruins at the time, and was closed along with the rest of the once-venerable chain. The mall, now anchorless, lasted for a year longer and then died in early 2002. The mall more appropriately "existed" though, as no one was left looking for a suit, or lost memories during the mourning of yet another dead mall. It was the equivalent of mall garbage time.

Zoom-in of JB White. This store doesn't really invoke memories of another consolidated chain, but more like an industrial park.

Old Belk, with all of its labelscar and glassy entrance removed. In front of that is a truck rest area which also contained an entrance into the mall parking lot. I would have 100% entered the place, but people were sitting around the fenced off area. I needed to spend the night at my Atlanta home and not a jail cell. 

     Unlike maybe a few other dead malls, the reason for its death is pretty clear. The location was questionable, the anchors weren't special, and security couldn't care less. It also seemed that mall owners were against change, which could have turned the tides tremendously late in life. Rents stayed high, so when the powerful national chains left, mom and pops stayed away. If the owners lowered rents, embraced unusual tenants, and looked at the future, I may have gone inside. Such an urban-type mall, with mixed tenants like national chains and small operations could have done something. Security could have been improved, looks renovated, and anchors filled. You may have had a mall that still existed, was loved, and the history wouldn't be so bleak. But.....no. It's far away now from what could have been.

Here is a sweep of the Montgomery Ward. Note the orange accent, which I believe this Ward's is only one of two to have. The other is in NC.

Another Ward's photo with an emphasis on the Deans Bridge Road-facing side. 

Zoom-in of Ward's. Seeing the logo, though partially eroded, was a treat in itself.

     Needless to say, the future of the mall isn't retail. In fact, the mall was gutted in 2013, removing plans for an outlet mall, offices, and possibly a church. The same owners have had control since 2002, yet all that has been done is paying the property taxes. However, demolition is probably a priority for the city, so visit while you can. Something that large doesn't sit unnoticed for 14 years. You may have thought the numerous possibilities for a decent-looking mall, but what killed the mall isn't helping its redevelopment. It's truly a quandary that area politicians are going to have fun solving.

Believe it or not, this sign is original. It was only fitted with leasing signs giving a former mall remnant the boot.

     Because of the length of time since usage, it remains a mystery on what happens to Regency. Recent doings point to demolition, but what comes in its place? All the lot is today is a sad story of memories past. And if the mall weathers for much longer, all that happens is a lengthening of that story. All the mall is guaranteed to live is right now, but how long will "right now" last? All that's in the forecast is what it was on my visit. Clouds and an uncertain shower.

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...