Eastdale Mall is a regional enclosed shopping mall located in Montgomery, Alabama. It opened in 1977.[1] As of 2010, it was 964,717 square feet (89,625.1 m2) in size.[2]
[edit] Anchor tenants
[edit] History
The retail history of Montgomery seems to be a pretty disposable one. With many dead strip malls, the city also is one of the few lucky ones to have two dead malls, which I covered prior to this post. Eastdale is the newest mall in the city, if lifestyle centers do not count. It has also shifted from an ancillary mall to the prominent destination mall providing the last traditional mall experience in the city since Montgomery Mall faded away two years ago. Eastdale is quite an experience at that as well. As Aronov Realty's premier mall, it effectively replaced Aronov's first center in the city as a super-regional shopping destination. It is also the only mall in Alabama to feature its own ice skating rink, which is quite a unique element considering that ice skating is an unheard of activity in subtropical Southern Alabama. The mall has seen many anchor changes since it opened, but several of the anchors still look original. Its original anchors were Gayfer's, Pizitz, Parisian and Montgomery Ward. Pizitz and Parisian were prominent Birmingham stores giving the mall a bigger city feel than its predecessor Montgomery Mall and a first for the city, though Pizitz itself carried over from downtown. Eastdale Cinemas 8 was also an original anchor, and amazingly it is still there! The first anchor change came in 1984 when Sears replaced the Montgomery Ward. In 1987, Pizitz converted to McRae's and Gayfer's was folded into Dillard's in 1998. The original mall was also last renovated in 2001, and I suspect it was renovated at least one time before during the 1980's most likely after Montgomery Mall updated itself. Sears at the mall was also extensively renovated inside and out, and it bears no resemblance today to its former Montgomery Ward-styled appearance. A food court was also added around 1989 along the original front entrance wing (now the JCPenney wing). The new food court was attractive incorporating planters and fountains along with burgers and fries. Nevertheless, the original mall was still not much different from the original Montgomery Mall...an older mall forming a straight shot. Eastdale, though, has a memorable center court to distinguish it and always had more department stores. In 2004, big changes began for the mall. This was when a 30,000 square foot expansion was underway extending from center court to a new JCPenney store. The JCPenney store would open in 2005 replacing the dated store at fading Montgomery Mall. The expansion, however, was not just for the shoppers: it was necessary for survival. The Shoppes at Eastchase, a new lifestyle center, had opened in 2002 and was stealing stores and shoppers from the mall. The addition, along with the full anchor line-up, was the hopeful plan to keep Eastdale from succumbing to Eastchase. The improvements definitely seem to work.
[edit] Future Wishes
Here in 2010, the economy seems to be barely functioning mainly due to the freeze on lending combined with government instability. Any major retail projects are likely to be halted or else financed internally, which will only help Eastdale in the long term. If this same scenario had played out five years earlier, the picture would look very different today. I am glad of this, though, because this mall was special despite its age. To me, I also really enjoyed seeing some of the older elements mixed with the new such as the older ceiling treatments (which resembled older Taubman malls), fountains, vintage anchor designs and such combined with the updated appearance. In an era of sameness and blandness, this is one of those malls I love to cover, because it offers something different. I hope you will agree and can shed some light on the future of this mall.
[edit] References
[edit] External links
