Savannah Mall is an enclosed regional shopping mall on the southside of Savannah, Georgia. The mall opened on August 29, 1990 and has four anchor stores: Bass Pro Shops, Burlington Coat Factory, Dillard's, and Target. A 10 unit food court on the upper level of the mall features restaurants such as Chick-fil-a, Subway, and Sbarro. Since 2013 the food court has housed an animal-themed carousel. The center court features a variety of different functions, from fashion and flower shows, to art exhibits and Santa Claus at Christmas time.
History
When opened in 1990, Savannah Mall was expected to succeed Savannah's older Oglethorpe Mall. Savannah Mall was considered upscale and featured stores exclusive to the market like Blockbuster Music, Abercrombie & Fitch, Ann Taylor, Banana Republic, United Colors of Benetton, and The Disney Store. Belk and J.B. White opened with the mall. Parisian and Montgomery Ward opened in 1991. Montgomery Ward's building was slated for Jordan Marsh, but plans for this were canceled when the chain folded. Montgomery Ward pulled out of the mall in 1998 when the company began struggling. Also that year Dillard's acquired J.B. White and retired the JB White name. Parisian and Belk both left the mall in early 2003. At this point, many stores were leaving the mall and by 2005, there were more than 20 vacancies, with some stores relocating to Oglethorpe Mall, and others exiting the Savannah market altogether.
In August 2003, Bass Pro Shops opened in the space vacated by Parisian. Target opened its first Savannah area store in the mall in October 2004. Target demolished the Belk building to construct a new, two-level 213,735-square-foot (19,856.6Â m2) building. Target occupies the second level, and Burlington Coat Factory re-entered the Savannah market with a location on the first floor. Steve & Barry's opened in 2006 in the former Montgomery Ward. A.C. Moore opened as a junior anchor in 2007.
In 2008, the mall's owners undertook multimillion-dollar renovations with improvements focused on energy conservation, lighting and additional ADA access. The mall also received a new logo and modern features like Wi-Fi internet access.
Today
Although the mall still retains national anchors, most of the in-line stores are local. Steve & Barry's closed in late 2008 when the entire chain folded, leaving that building vacant once again.
In May 2011 Virginia College opened a career center inside the vacant Steve & Barry's/Montgomery Ward, while the rest became Famous Labels which later closed. The Famous Labels space later became Pole Position Raceway in December 2014, although this store closed after only three months. A Toby Keith's I Love This Bar & Grill was also slated to open, but legal disputes over delays in the restaurant's opening resulted in it being evicted in April 2015 before completion.
Savannah Mall was previously owned by Savannah Teachers' Association (1990â€"1998), Jones Lang LaSalle (1998â€"2007), and SSF Savannah Properties, LLC (Jan 2007 â€" May 2007).
References
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References
External links
- savannahmall.com · Official website