Mall of Memphis
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| Mall of Memphis | |
 The Ice Chalet at the former Mall of Memphis |
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| Facts and statistics | |
|---|---|
| Location | 4451 American Way, *Memphis, TN ,38118, USA |
| Opening date | October 7th 1981 |
| Closing date | December 24th 2003 |
| No. of stores and services | 160 |
| No. of anchor tenants | 3 |
| Total retail floor area | 885,627 square feet (82,277.4 m²) (GLA) |
| No. of floors | 2 |
| Website | http://www.mallofmemphis.org/ |
The Mall of Memphis was a large shopping mall in Memphis, Tennessee, containing 885,627 sq ft (82,277.4 m²) of retail space and 5,564 parking spaces. The mall opened October 7th, 1981, was closed December 24, 2003, and was demolished in 2004. Among other things, the mall was home to the Ice Chalet, Memphis's only ice skating rink. Memphis figure skaters and hockey players now skate during the hockey season at the DeSoto Civic Center in Southaven, MS, but do not have a permanent year round ice facility.
In the late 1980s and 1990s, the mall gained a reputation of being unsafe due to several deadly shootings and a rash of robberies. Among many Memphians, the mall was darkly referred to as the "Mall of Murder".[1] Ultimately, that reputation, along with a shift in neighborhood demographics and the closure of anchor stores like Service Merchandise, and the 2001 closures of J.C. Penney and Dillard's, led to the mall's demise. The Mall of Memphis is the largest enclosed shopping mall ever to cease operations in the United States.[2]
The mall went through an extensive renovation shortly before it closed, in an unsuccessful attempt to attract new business. Although there were new tenants opened, the mall never reached the full renovation, which would have included a full exterior renovation and a name change to Memphis Park Galleria.This meant that when the mall was closed and demolished, many of its features, such as benches, railings, elevators and interior decor, were virtually immaculate and hardly used.
By April 2007, a newspaper report by The Commercial Appeal stated that Wal-Mart planned to build a 176,000 Supercenter location on a portion of the site. At the time, the retailer was under contract to purchase approximately 22 of the former mall site's 95 acres for the project.[3]
However, due to corporate decisions about building too much too fast, Wal-Mart abandoned plans to build on the site. [4]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Mall of Memphis Timeline (English). The Mall of Memphis. Retrieved on 2006-09-14.
- ^ Page, Max. "Space Makers", Preservation, National Trust for Historic Preservation, March/April 2004. Retrieved on 2006-09-14. (English)
- ^ Maki, Amos. "Wal-Mart to rise at old mall site", The Commercial Appeal, April 4, 2007. Retrieved on 2007-04-13. (English)
- ^ The Mall Of Memphis - Lost Memphis - Main/Wal-MartPasses
[edit] External links
- Deadmalls.com: Mall of Memphis
- MallofMemphis.org Tribute wiki
- Photos by Steve Parrott taken shortly before closure
- Photos by Steve Parrott taken during demolition
- Figure Skating Club of Memphis
- Memphis Youth Hockey
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