Malls with Original Anchor Tenants

[roadman65]

Many malls have changed over the years particularly with the rise and fall of big box retailers. However some still after decades do still have original anchors.

Florida Mall in Orlando, FL opened in 1986, still has original tenants of Sears ( one of that retailers survivors) and JC Penney.

Menlo Park Mall in Edison, NJ still has Macy's ( though originally branded at Bambergers). In fact Macys in that mall is in the original building built with the mall that was torn down in 1990 to build the current facility that is there now.  It remained open while the rest of the mall was being rebuilt and only part of the original construction left behind.

[1995hoo]

Here in Fairfax County, both Springfield Mall and Fair Oaks Mall had JC Penney locations when the malls opened and said anchor is the sole remaining original anchor at each (at Fair Oaks, the original Hecht's later became Macy's due to a merger). Tysons II (sometimes called the Tysons Galleria) has two of its original three anchors–Neiman Marcus and Saks. The original Tysons Corner Center, perhaps surprisingly, has none of its original anchors left unless you count Macy's as original due to their acquiring Hecht's (I don't consider Macy's and Hecht's the same stroe).

In nearby Arlington County, the Fashion Centre at Pentagon City has both of its original anchors–Macy's and Nordstrom.

[DTComposer]

Macy's was the original anchor tenant of Valley Fair when it opened in 1958 and has continued as an anchor throughout. Nordstrom was added as an anchor in 1987 (when the mall was expanded to include Stevens Creek Plaza to the west) and has also remained as an anchor since that time.

Fun fact: the original Valley Fair was entirely in San Jose, and the original Stevens Creek Plaza was in Santa Clara. The joining of the malls means it pays sales tax to both cities, and there was a hullabaloo a few years back when the minimum wage was different in the two cities.

[TheHighwayMan3561]

Mall of America still has 2/4 original anchors, Macy's and Nordstrom's. Sears and Bloomingdale's were the other two. Bloomingdale's is now LL Bean and Sears is still a non-permanent rotating space.

[golden eagle]

Northpark Mall in Ridgeland, MS still has JCPenney. There was also a McRae's that was purchased by Belk, and a Gayfer's that was bought by Dillard's in the 1990s.

[steviep24]

In my area the only original anchor tenant in all the malls here is JC Penney.

[gonealookin]

The hometown mall of my youth was Sunvalley in Concord, CA.  It opened in 1967 with Sears, Macy's and JC Penney as anchors.  Today the anchors are Sears, Macy's and JC Penney, the Sears being one of the very few survivors.

A fourth anchor, the Bay Area chain Emporium Capwell, went into a new building that went up in the early 1980s.  That chain was eventually taken over by Federated Department Stores, which also owned Macy's, so now both of those stores operate as Macy's, one oriented toward men and the other toward women.

[iowahighways]

Valley West Mall in West Des Moines still has two of its original three anchors: JCPenney and Von Maur. (The third was the now-defunct Younkers.)

[Stephane Dumas]

The Bay known as La Baie in Quebec, to my knowledge is the only remaining original anchor in Promenades St-Bruno at Longueuil.

[Bobby5280]

JCPenney is the last anchor tenant here in Lawton at Central Mall. Sears closed several years ago. Dillard's shut down more recently. A couple of local business development groups are remodeling the former Sears and Dillard's spaces into business incubators for defense technology companies that do work aboard Fort Sill. The rest of Central Mall has a lot of vacant spaces. The mall had a modest 12-plex cinema that opened in 2000, but that closed a few years ago.

1970's style indoor shopping malls are a dying breed. The outdoor "town center" concept is all the rage now.

Another bad thing about our local mall: it was built in a poorly chosen location. It's not near any major highway intersection like most malls. It was built in the middle of downtown Lawton in the mid 1970's as an effort to clean up the downtown district. 50 years ago downtown Lawton was a hell of a night spot for soldiers and other young adults in the region. But it had a lot of crime, lots of bars, topless joints and other features the town leaders did not like. Hulen Mall not far away in Fort Worth was one of the first big indoor shopping malls in the US. Part of the science fiction movie Logan's Run was filmed there. Lawton's town leaders were inspired to use that concept to erase about 12 city blocks in the downtown area. They also applied some really strict "overlay district" rules. By the 1980's the downtown area of Lawton had been cleaned up. But it was also stone dead after dark and it has stayed pretty much that way ever since.

[hbelkins]

There were three malls in the heyday of that genre of shopping center in Lexington. Only one of those malls remains. The original anchors were Sears (gone), Shillito's (gone), and something called Stewart Dry Goods, which I don't remember (I had to look up Fayette Mall on Wikipedia.) That space is now occupied by J.C. Penney after having a few other tenants, also none of which I remember.

I remember four major malls in Louisville -- The Mall (now called Mall St. Matthews), Oxmoor, Bashford Manor, and Jefferson. We visited The Mall regularly and Oxmoor occasionally. I was rarely in Jefferson and am not sure I was ever in Bashford Manner. There was also a Green Tree Mall across the river. Maybe someone with more familiarity with the Louisville area can chime in.

Anyone who travels I-75 in northern Kentucky is familiar with the "Florence Y'All" water tower. That structure originally had the words "Florence Mall" and predates the construction of the mall itself, but was changed because of some regulation about names of private businesses being displayed on public property. My brother told me a few weeks ago that Sears in Florence Mall had finally closed. I'm pretty sure it was one of the original anchors.

[jp the roadgeek]

JC Penney seems to be the only original one with the same name at most CT malls.  I do count Macy's for Westfarms and Buckland Hills, since they are a direct continuation of Filene's which took over G Fox; Macy's is an actual original for Danbury Mall but has closed several locations that were formerly Filene's/G Fox (Meriden, Brass Mill, Crystal Mall, Enfield).  Every Sears is gone, as is Sage-Allen, Jordan Marsh, and EJ Korvette among others. 

[jeffandnicole]

Deptford Mall:  https://goo.gl/maps/XTWzDs1rjNdcUNAb7

West side: Macy's (originally Bambergers). 
North side: Boscovs (originally Wanamakers)
East side:  No anchor here originally; JC Penney was added in 2001 and still exists
South side:  Sears until it closed in 2019; now a Dicks Sporting Goods downstairs & Round 1 (Dave & Buster's type place) upstairs.

The Wanamakers was a 3 story store; the rest of the mall was 2 stories.  Boscovs continues to use the 3rd floor; the only area not immediately accessible to outside. 

I believe the 3 original anchors all had some sort of restaurant within them when they opened.  The Bambergers & Sears eventually converted that space to a normal sales floor; the Boscov's restaurant is still sealed off and is probably just storage.  I'd love to go back there to see if the restaurant equipment still exists.

Apparently there was a delay building the mall; this site shows a picture of a sign of the town's dissatisfaction, which includes a bad guy pulling a guy on an innocent future shopper. https://plana-journ.medium.com/south-jersey-mall-history-deptford-mall-cdfedd5fc2b1

[Takumi]

Southpark Mall in Colonial Heights VA's four original anchors:

JCPenney: still there
Thalheimers: still there as Macy's (was Thalheimers, then Hechts, then Macy's)
Sears: currently vacant, planned to be demolished to add apartments or something
Leggett: became Belk, then Dillards, now partially vacant, partially other businesses (Dick's, Five Below, Firehouse Subs, and IHOP)

[XamotCGC]

There were three malls in the heyday of that genre of shopping center in Lexington. Only one of those malls remains. The original anchors were Sears (gone), Shillito's (gone), and something called Stewart Dry Goods, which I don't remember (I had to look up Fayette Mall on Wikipedia.) That space is now occupied by J.C. Penney after having a few other tenants, also none of which I remember.

I remember four major malls in Louisville -- The Mall (now called Mall St. Matthews), Oxmoor, Bashford Manor, and Jefferson. We visited The Mall regularly and Oxmoor occasionally. I was rarely in Jefferson and am not sure I was ever in Bashford Manner. There was also a Green Tree Mall across the river. Maybe someone with more familiarity with the Louisville area can chime in.

Anyone who travels I-75 in northern Kentucky is familiar with the "Florence Y'All" water tower. That structure originally had the words "Florence Mall" and predates the construction of the mall itself, but was changed because of some regulation about names of private businesses being displayed on public property. My brother told me a few weeks ago that Sears in Florence Mall had finally closed. I'm pretty sure it was one of the original anchors.

I remember my family going to Turfland Mall in Lexington just to shop at Montgomery Ward's.

[hbelkins]

There were three malls in the heyday of that genre of shopping center in Lexington. Only one of those malls remains. The original anchors were Sears (gone), Shillito's (gone), and something called Stewart Dry Goods, which I don't remember (I had to look up Fayette Mall on Wikipedia.) That space is now occupied by J.C. Penney after having a few other tenants, also none of which I remember.

I remember four major malls in Louisville -- The Mall (now called Mall St. Matthews), Oxmoor, Bashford Manor, and Jefferson. We visited The Mall regularly and Oxmoor occasionally. I was rarely in Jefferson and am not sure I was ever in Bashford Manner. There was also a Green Tree Mall across the river. Maybe someone with more familiarity with the Louisville area can chime in.

Anyone who travels I-75 in northern Kentucky is familiar with the "Florence Y'All" water tower. That structure originally had the words "Florence Mall" and predates the construction of the mall itself, but was changed because of some regulation about names of private businesses being displayed on public property. My brother told me a few weeks ago that Sears in Florence Mall had finally closed. I'm pretty sure it was one of the original anchors.

I remember my family going to Turfland Mall in Lexington just to shop at Montgomery Ward's.

Turfland had MW and McAlpin's. There was also a JCP, but I don't think it was an original anchor.

Lexington Mall had McAlpin's and a separate Consolidated, which didn't have a direct entrance into the mall.

I never understood why the Nicholasville Road corridor became Lexington's busiest retail area. I guess it took too long and there were too many hoops to jump through to keep the Hamburg area from developing.

[MATraveler128]

The Hampshire Mall in Hadley, Massachusetts still has its original JC Penney 44 years later.