From Bustling Hubs to Ghost Towns: The Journey of American Malls

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You're listening to Tennessee Roads recorded in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains. Well, hey there, everybody, and welcome back for another episode of Tennessee Roads podcast. My name's Dusty and I'll be your guide as we hitchhike through all the towns and communities that make up the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains. Hey there, guys, my name's Dusty, and welcome back to another episode of Tennessee Roads podcast. Guys, I am so sorry for the delay in this episode. I'm not quite sure what happened. The audio didn't upload to the website correctly and then, when I made it back to my computer this week, this whole entry section from the intro music for like five minutes into the episode was just gone. And I, like I tried to listen to it on my phone and it was just five minutes of awkward silence and all you could hear was just like background noise. So I needed to re-record this, but I have not been feeling my best. My throat's been very sore. These kind of hit me like a brick wall. So I've waited until today to take the opportunity to re-record. So, with that being said, let's jump on in for what I think is going to be a really fun episode. I am recording today on my personal wireless system. I'm not at home so the audio quality will sound different for the beginning half of the episode, but it'll change back over to the normal as we get later in.

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In the 1950s, america was experiencing an economic boom. Suburban areas were expanding. The middle class was growing. Inner the shopping mall, an innovative concept that would transform the way that people shopped and socialized. The first enclosed shopping mall, south Dell Center, opened in Edidina, minnesota, in 1956, designed by Victor Gruen. Victor Gruen was an American born architect and urban planner. He was born July 18th of 1903 in Vienna, austria, and immigrated to America in 1938 after Germany's annexation of Austria. Gruen is widely regarded as the pioneer of the modern shopping mall and is known for his influential designs that transformed the retail industry and urban planning in the mid-20th century. This is why he's often referred to as the father of the shopping mall. South Dell Center is considered Gruen's most notable design, even though it was never fully completed. Gruen had plans to build apartment buildings, schools, medical facilities, a park and a lake at the mall. Still, his innovative concept of an enclosed shopping center with a central atrium and pedestrian-oriented layout revolutionized the way that people shopped and interacted in retail spaces. Gruen knew that by placing larger anchor stores at the same location would double the amount of foot traffic to the area, and that consumers would be more likely to visit other stores, since they were already out of their cars in the elements. By placing those anchor stores on opposite ends of the building, with smaller stores between them, people would be likely to stop and shop at a store that they were unfamiliar with because they were already there In shopping malls.

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Gruen also contributed to the design of various urban projects, such as the plan for the revitalization of downtown Fort Worth, texas, and the Kalamazoo Mall in Michigan. He believed in creating mixed-use developments that integrated retail, residential and recreational spaces, promoting walkability and community engagement. Later in his career, gruen became critical of the commercialization and suburbanization associated with his shopping mall designs. He felt that his original vision of creating vibrant, community-focused spaces had been distorted and turned into soulless, consumerist environments. Despite his ambivalence towards the commercial impact of his creations, gruen's legacy as an architect and urban planner continues to influence the way that we think about and design retail spaces and urban environments. His ideas and concepts have shaped the development of shopping centers and influenced subsequent generations of architects and designers. Gruen's book the Heart of Our Cities the Urban Crisis Diagnosis and Cure was a big influence on Walt Disney's city planning and his ambitions for his ideas for the original ebcot Gruen passed away on February 14th of 1980 in Vienna, austria.

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With Gruen's idea of a climate-controlled environment with a wide array of stores, the mall became a symbol of progress and modernization. People flocked to these sprawling retail hubs, eagerly exploring the latest fashion trends, dining in trendy restaurants and watching movies in the in-house movie theater. The mall was not just a place to shop. It was a social gathering space, a community of sorts. Over the next few decades, malls continued to thrive across America, becoming an integral part of the suburban landscape. They grew bigger and grander, with luxury amenities like indoor fountains, elaborate sculptures and even ice skating rinks. Malls became the symbol of excess and consumerism, reflecting the prosperity of the times. However, as the saying goes, all good things must come to an end.

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The 1990s marked the beginning of the decline for malls. Several factors contributed to its downfall, including changes in consumer behavior and the rise of e-commerce. With the advent of online shopping, customers could easily purchase products from the comfort of their homes, challenging the traditional mall experience. The convenience and endless options offered by online retailers posed a significant threat to the once mighty mall. People began to embrace the ease of one-click purchases and doorstep deliveries, leaving traditional brick and mortar stores struggling to adapt. The mall culture started to lose its appeal as younger generations sought more unique and personalized shopping experiences.

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The decline in malls didn't just affect the retail landscape, but also it had a profound impact on the communities that it once thrived in. As malls started to shutter their doors, numerous businesses reliant on mall traffic faced significant challenges. The closures resulted in job losses and the disappearance of one's vibrant social spaces, leaving empty shells scattered across the American landscape. However, amidst the decline, some malls managed to reinvent themselves. Faced with the need to adapt or perish, mall owners transformed their spaces into mixed use developments incorporating residential units, offices and entertainment centers. These reimagined spaces became lifestyle destinations, offering a more holistic experience beyond that of just shopping, similar to what Victor Gruen originally sought for these spaces. Today, malls that have successfully reinvented themselves served as a testament to the resilience of these structures. They showcased the power of adaptation in an ever-changing retail landscape. However, the fate of many malls remains uncertain, with the continued rise of e-commerce that reshapes the retail industry and the COVID-19 pandemic that furthered accelerated these challenges faced by malls worldwide.

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As we reflect on the rise and fall of malls in America, it's important to acknowledge the role that they played in shaping our society. Malls were not only centers of commerce, but they were cultural touchstones representing the dreams and aspirations of a nation. While some may view the decline of malls as a loss, it also presents an opportunity for us to reimagine our cities and communities Now. In our previous episode, we discussed Marvell, tennessee, and we touched on the life of Foothills Mall. I don't really have any more updates regarding Foothills Mall since the last time we talked about it. The publics is still being constructed, there's still some empty stores, but for the most part, foothills Mall seems to be doing alright. Now, just up the road in Knoxville, we have the thriving Westtown Mall, which is owned by Simon Property Group.

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Westtown Mall first opened its doors in 1972. And since then, it has continuously evolved to meet the changing demands of shoppers. Originally featuring four anchor stores and a handful of smaller shops, the mall has undergone several renovations and expansions, transforming into a sprawling retail complex that covers over 1 million square feet. Over the years, westtown Mall has established itself as a hub of commerce, entertainment and community engagement in Knoxville, but this, of course, couldn't have happened without some growing pains the mall suffered through the mid-2000s. A decline in mall culture and tough economic conditions led to several stores closing their doors, but the leaders that controlled Westtown Mall were ready for the challenge. The mall stayed on top of keeping the architecture up to date. When a store closed, the mall worked diligently to get the vacancy filled, and when Sears closed in January of 2019, it set empty for only one year, until the location was demolished to put in a Dicks House of Sports, a new type of Dicks sporting goods.

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This interactive shopping experience serves as a research and development for emerging retail brands, with influence on what happens to more than 700 Dicks sporting goods stores nationwide. The store includes 100,000 square feet of indoor shopping and activity space, along with a 24,000 square foot outdoor field. Now, one of the great aspects about the store is customers actually get to test equipment before they purchase it. This means that consumers can test out swinging a new club in the golf bays or go jogging on a treadmill. Athletes can test out a new pair of cleats on the outdoor field, or see how a new pair of shoes will hold up on the surrounding two-lane Olympic grade track, or climb the 40-foot rock wall.

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Now, one of the main highlights of Westtown Mall through the years was FunScape. Now, this was a multi-level play area featuring air blasters that would propel plastic balls at other people, and there were experiences to be had all over that structure. Guests could use a hose to suck up the plastic balls and then they would move into an elevator that would supply the upper levels of the structures with ammunition to keep all the fun going. Now, sadly, as malls began their decline, funscape fell to the wayside. It eventually closed its doors in the early 1990s and on November 6th of 1998, regal Cinemas opened a nine auditorium in FunScape's old location after expanding the building by adding space on the mall's existing roof. Now, this happened during one of Westtown's many updates.

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To stay relevant to the ever-changing consumer world, the movie theater underwent a major remodel again when it was updated for a new generation of shoppers in 2018. When it reopened, it was known as Cinnabar, described by Regal as a way to bring together the best of restaurant dining and a state-of-the-art movie theater experience. It offers a full bar and menu, open with or without a ticket to a movie. It also hosts a two-story family-friendly arcade and pool games. Now food and drink are served in the theater, starting 40 minutes before the show and 10 minutes into the previews. Servers take orders and deliver the food, while guests just sit in full recliners with tables attached to them.

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Now, while Regal was in the process of bringing this new experience to moviegoers, the mall had additional work going on completely outside of that renovation. A fifth entrance was added next to the food court, which has been renamed the Dining Pavilion plus the pavilion got new seats and TVs throughout, entrances got signs and lights, while the mall interior got new tile and carpets, led lights throughout, new signs and a new color scheme. There was also a new play area that was built in front of the internal JCPenney entrance to the mall for families to enjoy, and with that we saw the fountain that had the center bridge over it. Leave the mall Now.

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This was one of those things that came to malls when, you know, excess was popular and these grand sculptures were happening, and this fountain and bridge combo was between Hollister and I call it the emo store. I used to shop there all the time in high school hot topic and it's now gone. You know there's nothing there to say that it was ever there, which I think is a true testament to the times of how mulls have changed. Um. Now, in 2018, with those updates and kind of the years following that Um, they had some new tenants come to the mall, such as fanatic Bruin company, honeyby coffee, pop culture, toy store, hawson dog ice cream and cinnabon, highway 55 burgers and, most recently, loco burrow Now, sadly, highway 55 burgers and some other stores didn't survive through the pandemic, but I don't know if that's exactly why they closed, but still the mall has held strong and it showed continued growth as time has passed.

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Now, another mall that's been well known for years and has a bit of a sadder story is Knoxville center mall, or, as it was originally known, east town mall, and that would be east town With an e at the end. I don't know why, but it had it, and it was also located in Knoxville, tennessee. East town mall was once a bustling hub of commerce and community. Opening its doors in 1984, the iconic establishment quickly became a symbol of economic prosperity and a social gathering place for residents. However, as the years passed and changing consumer preferences, economic shifts, evolving retail landscape and a shooting from a disgruntled customer would ultimately contribute to the decline of east town mall. The following audio is news coverage from WBIR of east town mall's grand opening.

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The balloons fell and the doors went up as east town mall officially opened today. 25 000 were on hand for the opening ceremonies and to be the first inside the brand new stores.

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And just as soon as those doors opened, cash registers started ringing In 1984 east town mall opened its doors to the public, bringing a new era of shopping and entertainment to east Knoxville. With its modern architecture and a wide selection of stores and its convenient location just off interstate i640, the mall quickly became a popular destination in the area that had seen significant growth from the 1982 world's fair. It bolstered anchor stores like miller and hess, dillard's Sears, jcpenney, belk formerly known as profits and Regal Cinema. A variety of specialty shops in a vibrant food court under a circus light tent atrium became the centerpiece for this vibrant location. The mall wasn't even finished being constructed when it opened, but that didn't stop thousands of people from attending the opening day ceremonies. For years people traveled from the tri cities in the far northeast corner of the state of Tennessee. Now this trip would take about a hundred miles each direction and it would be about an hour and a half to traverse.

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They say, with a good economy things should look up for quite some time. Susan Minner action 10 news.

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What no one realized was that she was speaking a prophecy that would leave a scar on the scruffy little city on the river. Now east town mall would go on to have a thriving time. It would receive a major renovation from its owner, simon property group, in 1997. The outside was left unchanged, aside from a new entrance, but the inside was renovated with new paint, trim and other features. The mall adopted a Tennessee mountain home theme and once this renovation was complete, the name was changed to Knoxville center mall. Now the mall was thriving up until the recession in 2008.

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The decline started when Dillard's, a longtime anchor store, announced its closure. But the closing of this store would be overshadowed when, on October 8th 2008, chaos erupted as hundreds of shoppers fled from the mall or sought shelter in stores when a 42-year-old gunman entered the mall and gunned down Mohamed Adnaul, a 29-year-old employee of Reno Menzware. The gunman was upset with a purchase and he demanded satisfaction. When a mod explained that the store had a no refund policy, the gunman pulled out a handgun and shot a mod several times, killing him. Two uniform Knoxville Police Department officers confronted the gunman as he left the store and exchanged gunfire, hitting him once in the arm and once in the leg. No one else was hurt and the police recovered the suspect's handgun and took the shooter into custody. The gunman was William Johnson, a white male, 42 years of age. He was charged with murder, aggravated kidnapping and two accounts of attempted murder. Our thoughts and prayers go with those affected that day, mohad Adnaul and his family. In November of 2007, a man was shot during a fight in a locker room at the Rush Fitness Complex in the mall, and two months later, an 18-year-old male was shot in the leg outside of Regal Cinemas at the mall.

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After the shootings, the mall continued to see a steady decline as more and more stores became vacant. Now, in 2010, knox County Schools opened Volunteer Academy, which occupied 6,400 square feet of the mall. The school offered a home to academically challenged students. It was the 87th school in the Knox County school system and it was geared towards students who had issues and challenges with traditional high school settings. Students could recover credits or conduct their education at their own pace. More than 7,000 students received diplomas, with a graduation rate of 90%.

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Things started to look up when, in 2016, new investors purchased the mall for $10 million, with nearly $4 million being paid upfront, with the remaining $6 million due by the end of August of the same year, these new investors met with the people of the community to hear what they wanted to see in this space. The new investors also shared with the people some of their plans that they had, including changing the name back to the original Easttown Mall, and some of their additional plans were that they wanted to place condos, apartments and a hotel in the mall parking lot. In addition, they wanted to work with the University of Tennessee to add medical offices. However, some of the people were skeptical of these new investors as they had been tied to several failed projects that included multiple leans and lawsuits, including an unsuccessful attempt to bring Wildwing Cafe to the downtown Crest Building. Any faith the community had in these new investors was shattered in 2017, when they stopped paying for security bills, and in 2018, when they stopped paying maintenance and janitorial bills, a lawsuit was brought against them to seek nearly $950,000. Security bills totaled $505,000, $152,000, and maintenance and janitorial bills amounted to $439,746. After spending time in court, the mall owners paid up the overdue back taxes by late 2018. But by the time the mall closed, they owed nearly half a million dollars to the city and the county.

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By this time. Jcpenney had closed in 2017, with Victoria's Secret and Sears following suit in early 2018. By that summer, gold's Gym, formerly the Rush Fitness Complex, and Knox County Schools Volunteer Academy had also closed their Knoxville Center mall's locations, with the school looking for real estate somewhere else in North Knoxville. The mall was barely hanging on by a thread, with only 10 stores remaining and one Chinese food stall in the once vibrant food court. Belk and Regal Cinemas were the last anchors to try to bring people in. One could walk through this almost abandoned mall. Half the lights were turned off, presumably to save on electricity, and random corridors were boarded up, leaving customers with only a small footprint to enjoy.

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Belk finally announced in August of 2019 that they would be closing. In early November, just before the holiday rush of sales, signature Diamonds joined Belk in announcing that they would be closing their location at Knoxville Center Mall as well. In September of 2019, gate 19 opened as a live performance and concert space in the mall, hoping to provide a fun and entertaining live music venue. Like the Concourse and the International. The owners were excited for the possibilities of the future, but one morning the regal sign on the movie theater was blacked out and their website didn't list anything past October 31st. The last movie played on Halloween night and the cinema then closed forever. That same day, mall owners announced that, after nearly 35 years, that the Knoxville Center Mall would close on January 31st of 2020 we get to breaking news this morning Knoxville Center Mall is closing after a decade of decline.

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The shopping center, long known as East town ball, will shut down its last stores in January after 35 years in business. What was once a promise of economic growth for East Knoxville has now been nearly empty for years.

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Again, there is some audio obtained from WBIR local news station here in Knoxville. I'll place the links to that Article and the previous article from the grand opening in the description box. If you would like to watch those entire videos, they will be there for you now. Now the people of Knoxville quickly had their spirits brightened when Amazon announced that they had purchased four parcels of land for $22.1 million and plan to build a new Amazon fulfillment center by 2022. The fulfillment center was projected to create hundreds of full and part-time jobs paying a minimum of $15 per hour. That would be creating over 40 million dollars in wages coming to the people of Knoxville. But 2022 came and went and while the building in Knoxville was completed, it remained closed, and the same can be said for the second fulfillment center Amazon built in the neighboring city of Alcoa, tennessee. In November of 2022, amazon officials told local news station WVLT that plans were still moving forward, but no opening dates were given. Most assumed that the delay was tied to Amazon's layoff of thousands of employees and canceled plans to build warehouses in other cities in the country. Council member Lauren Ryder told WVLT reporters that the project had been delayed by about 12 months due to supply chain issues, but despite rumors that it would happen, then a rough opening would be summer, mid 2022, but by the time we've recorded this episode, mid-july of 2023, no movement has been made to start hiring, putting the project off by another year.

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As we look back on the rise and fall of shopping malls like Southdale Center and Knoxville Center Mall, it becomes evident that these once thriving retail hubs have left a profound impact on American culture and urban development. Victor Gruen's innovative concept of the enclosed shopping mall revolutionized the retail industry and brought people together, transforming these malls into bustling social centers. As we move forward, it's essential to remember the role that malls played in shaping our society and communities. The decline of malls presents an opportunity to envision new possibilities for cities and create spaces that resonate with the needs and aspirations of modern generations. While some malls may never return to their former glory, their legacies live on in the memories of those who's experienced them during the heyday of mall culture. As we navigate the future of retail and urban planning, let us learn from the successes and challenges of these architectural marvels and continue to shape the world in innovative and meaningful ways.

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Until next time, stay safe and stay educated. Today's episode has been a Tennessee Rhodes production. I hope you enjoyed it and I hope that you'll share it with someone else so they can learn a piece about history. Please be sure that you like, rate and share this podcast from whatever platform you stream, and be sure to follow me on Facebook and Instagram to see what I'm doing when I'm outside of the studio. Until next time.