Opry Mills

Opry Mills

Location	Nashville, Tennessee
Opening date	May 2000
Developer	Mills Corporation
Owner	Simon Property Group
No. of stores and services	200
No. of anchor tenants	17
Total retail floor area	1,200,000 square feet (110,000 m2)
Parking	Lighted Lot
No. of floors	1
Website	http://www.oprymills.com

Opry Mills is a super-regional shopping mall owned by Simon Property Group, formerly by its initial owners Mills Corporation and Gaylord Entertainment. It opened in Nashville, Tennessee in 2000 on the former site of the Opryland USA theme park.

The mall is adjacent to the Grand Ole Opry House and the Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center.

It is currently closed due to damage suffered during the 2010 Tennessee floods. Currently, the mall has been going well with the construction. So far, Bass Pro Shops, Sun & Ski Sports, VF Outlet, Regal Opry Mills 20/IMAX, and Dave & Buster's are now open for business, and the remainder of the facility will reopen in March 2012.

Description

Prior to its temporary 2010-2012 closure, Opry Mills was a single level mall that contained over 200 stores (although no department stores), including Bass Pro Shops, Blacklion, Bed Bath & Beyond, Gibson Showcase, Saks Fifth Avenue Off 5th, and Barnes & Noble. There is also a large food court that contains Chili's, T.G.I. Friday's, Burger King, Subway, and Sbarro. Johnny Rockets, Tony Roma's, Rainforest Cafe, Aquarium and Romano's Macaroni Grill restaurants are located outside the court. Many, but not all, of the retailers will return to the mall when it reopens in 2012. There will also be some structural and aesthetic enhancements made to the mall, but much of its basic original design will return.

The General Jackson and Music City Queen showboats, which operate on the Cumberland River, are docked just outside Opry Mills.

Other attractions include Regal Opry Mills 20 and an IMAX movie theater along with the restaurants in its Entertainment Neighborhood 5.

Closure due to flooding

Flood waters from the 2010 Tennessee floods in early May reportedly reached as high as 10 feet inside the mall, and forced the closure of the facility temporarily. The entire property was remediated. In September 2010, restoration work was halted while litigation over insurance claims played out in court, and many of the mall's retailers sought locations elsewhere in the area, either permanently or until the mall is restored and reopened. The initial reopening date was set for August 2011, but that self-imposed deadline was not met due to the litigation. There was speculation that Simon Malls may not reopen the mall at all, due to Simon Malls' choice to stop renovations to the mall during litigation. Simon Malls denied that it has plans to close the mall permanently. The Bass Pro Shops store reopened October 14, 2010 separate from the rest of the mall. On November 14, 2011, Regal Cinema's Opry Mills Stadium and IMAX movie theater re-opened. On November 18, 2011, Sun & Ski Sports reopened. On November 23, 2011, VF Outlet reopened. On November 28, 2011, Dave & Busters reopened. On April 12, 2011, mall officials announced that a financing deal had been reached to resume reconstruction of Opry Mills, and the mall is expected to reopen in Spring 2012, with some of the anchor retailers opening sooner.

Retailers opening before March 2012

• Dave & Busters
• VF Outlet
• Sun & Ski Sports
• Regal Opry Mills Stadium 20 & IMAX
• Bass Pro Shops

Mall entries

Opry Mills has 7 mall entries in its five neighborhoods.

• Bandstand Entry 1-to Neighborhood 1
• Porte Cochere Entry 2-to Neighborhood 2
• Front Porch Entry 3-to Neighborhood 3
• Garden Trellis Entry 4-to Food Court and Neighborhood 4
• Entertainment Entries 5, 6 & 7-to Entertainment Neighborhood 5 (Entry 5 is to Barnes & Noble, Entry 6 is to Regal 20 Cinemas, Entry 7 to Aquarium Restaurant and Stingray Reef.)

Apple Barn, Workshop Tools, Barnes & Noble, Bass Pro Shops, Dave & Busters, Bed Bath & Beyond, XXI Forever and VF Outlet also have exterior entrances.

External links

• Official Website