Mount Berry Mall
Mount Berry Square Mall is a one-level enclosed shopping mall located in Mount Berry, Georgia near Rome. The mall is named for Berry College founder Martha Berry nearby Berry College and the mountains (actually ridges) around Rome. The mall originally opened in 1993 with anchors Belk Rhodes, Hess's, JCPenney and Sears. The Hess's was very quickly converted to Proffitt's after opening when the chain was bought out the same year. The movie theater building has built on a left side of the mall called Movies At Mount Berry Square also. Toys R Us, Landmark Restaurant, Circuit City, and Zaxby's were added to be on a front side of the mall later.
Mount Berry Square essentially replaced flood-plagued Riverbend Mall and caused its premature death. However, commercial development in Rome continues to remain mostly around the old Riverbend Mall site while big box development around Mount Berry Square continues to be sparse. As it was, the mall was placed in a strange location north of Rome near the North Rome Connector (S.R. 1 Loop) in a location that, although outside of the flood plain, was too far away from all other development.
In 2005, Proffitt's was bought by Belk, which already had a location at the mall. Today, the mall features two Belk stores (no longer Belk Rhodes), JCPenney and Sears.
