Nestled in the heart of Decatur, Georgia, stands a monument to the changing retail landscape in America. Welcome to North DeKalb Mall, a place where memories are woven into the fabric of time, and where the echoes of bustling shoppers once filled its corridors.

Aside from being one of the first enclosed malls in the Metro Atlanta area, this shopping mall has seen its share of ups and downs along with many redevelopment attempts.

Today we will be going over the Fascinating History of North Dekalb Mall.

Beginning

The vision of North Dekalb Mall dates to 1959, when Atlanta-based Rich’s, Inc. became interested in developing a center in which only the Rich’s department store would own its store.

By 1961, store officials purchased a 50-acre site off Lawrenceville Highway near North Druid Hills in Dekalb County as a site after a careful study of the existing population already in the area and the potential for expansion of that Market.

Rich’s would then seek a developer interested in buying 46 of the 50 acres for $1.5 Million with the remaining 4 acres retained by Rich’s for a 100,000-square-foot department store.

Atlanta Developer John Hancock Co. was looking for an opportunity and agreed to purchase the portion of land that is not occupied by Rich’s and to provide financing for all the structures except the Rich’s Branch Store through Mortgage loans.

In June of 1964, the ground was officially broken for the 400,000-square-foot shopping center which was believed to be the second-largest shopping center in the Southeast. Notable tenants such as F.W. Woolworth Co., Henderson Furniture, Casual Corner, and Butler Shoes were notable tenants who already signed leases.

Being Metro-Atlanta’s first regional shopping center with an air-conditioned mall, North Dekalb Center had a three-day grand opening on July 29th, 1965. Miss Dekalb County (Sue Griffiths) along with other county beauty queens served as the hostess during the opening.

Rich’s which held its grand opening a week prior had two stores with a one-store linked to a two-story building by a sidewalk café that housed its store for fashion, men, and home furnishings.

Other major draws to the mall were an 850-seat North Dekalb Theatre which was operated by Storey Theatres Inc., a Woolworth Store, and a 21,000 square feet Colonial Supermarket.

The stores combined with the inline tenants provided 420,000 square feet of shopping space lighted by skylights, colorful chandeliers, semi-formal gardens, and fountains.

Expansion

In 1986, the mall was expanded and renovated adding 2 new anchor stores: Department Store Chain Mervyn’s and discount chain Lechmere.

The renovation expanded the mall from its then 447,000 square feet to 652,00 square feet with work being a joint venture between Cadillac Parkview Shopping Centers of White Plains NY and Developer Scott Hudgens of Atlanta.

Vaulted Ceilings, Glitter-lit skylights, new floors, and a new exterior façade were among the improvements of the mall.

Along we a fresh new look came a new name North Dekalb was renamed “Market Square at North DeKalb Mall.”

A new Access Road was constructed off Lawrenceville Highway, providing access to the mall's south side to accommodate the increased traffic to the mall.

After the Expansion and renovation were completed, Market Square now housed 120 specialty stores.

Store Changes

The roughly 88,000-square-foot Lechmere store would close in 1989 and a Discount variety store chain took over the spot along with former Lechmere sites in Morrow, Kennesaw, and Duluth.

The Mall owners tried to recruit a more traditional anchor tenant negotiating with several potential tenants most notably, Belk Department Store, but Mall owners felt Phar-Mor would help Market Square already anchored by Rich’s and Mervyn’s, because it “is a very good draw.

Stein Market would also begin to construct a store becoming the Mall's 4th anchor store, occupying a space left by several tenants.

Phar-Mor would remain at the mall until it shuttered in 1993, due to the company's widely known fraud embezzlement scheme. This store would shutter right before Stein Mart opened leaving the mall with a vacant anchor.

In 1996, AMC would open a 16-screen Mega Theatre boasting 2,800 seats making it Dekalb County’s largest theatre at the time absorbing the former spaces of Phar-Mor Drug store and the Former Forest Green Theatre.

The Mall would also revert to its old name that same year.

Mervyn’s would announce plans of shuttering 34 stores nationwide including all its Georgia locations in 1997, and owners of North Dekalb Mall filed a suit in DeKalb County Superior Court seeking to block the closing.

The Mall owners stated that Mervyn’s signed an agreement with the owners of North Dekalb Mall in 1987, promising to operate a store there until 2001.

The Superior court judge ordered the store to remain open despite it having little merchandise left and a few employees. It was also under court order to operate for at least five days each week, eight hours each day, staying open until 9 p.m. on three days.

Mervyn’s Spokesperson expressed difficulties in keeping the store open since they already had what was supposed to be their going-out-of-business sale and difficulties holding on to its last remaining employees.

Lawyers for Mervyns would further argue that it would be wrong to force the store to operate at a loss while displays of clothing for sale were spaced out around a mostly empty floor.

Norcross-based Uptons began looking into opening a store in Mervyn’s spot (that was still being operated under court order) and eventually got Meryn’s off the hook after it signed a lease.

Uptons would remain at the Mall until the end of 1999 when the entire company went out of business. Many people also speculated that the mall was cursed due to businesses shutting down each time they came to the mall.

General Growth Properties was also brought on by Cadillac Fairview Corp. around this time to manage and lease space at the mall under a contract.

In 2002 Burlington Coat Factory opened its expanded concept store in the spot left by Uptons. A grand opening was attended by various Burlington Coat Factory Representatives and Miss Dekalb County.

New Ownership

In 2003, Charlie Hendon (A successful developer of Big-box retailers) purchased the Mall for $25 million to try to revive the aging Mall.

He noted that the Mall struggled to compete with larger, snazzier malls including nearby Northlake Mall, and began to add discounters to keep spaces filled.

Planned improvements of the mall included better lighting and parking, spruced-up entrances, and better accessibility to AMC Theatres.

The owners would then announce that Costco would join the mall along with a two-story parking garage on 11 acres in a flood plain behind a nearby dealership.

The community was worried that the new store and development would disrupt a 28-acre nature preserve. The plan to bring Costco and the Parking Garage was eventually postponed/scrapped.

More Store Changes

Rich’s would be rebranded as “Macy’s” in 2005 eliminating the 138-year-old name.

Rhodes Furniture filed for bankruptcy in 2004 and all its stores including the North Dekalb Mall store were liquidated by the end of the year. Rooms To Go would eventually win the auction and pay to take over Rhodes ’50 Stores and other assets but chose not to open a store at the mall since it didn’t fit its plans.

Tim Ulrich would eventually lease the space operating it as “Shoder Furniture” by swapping the letters “R” and “S” around to save on the expense of a new sign.

Shoder Furniture would be short-lived, and Marshalls would take over the space opening in 2010 along with a furniture store opening in the old Stein Mart Place.

New Owner

On May 15, 2014, Lennar in partnership with Sterling Organization, purchased the mall for an undisclosed amount, with plans to convert the enclosed portion to an open-air concept.

The Mall by then was anchored with Macy’s, AMC, Burlington Coat Factory, Ross, and Marshalls.

The initial plan called for the Food Court and Main Entrance to be replaced with a Costco. Eventually, more of the mall would be razed with a wide boulevard being cut.

through the structure.

In December of 2015, Macy's announced that it would be closing 36 stores nationwide with North Dekalb Mall being the only location in Georgia to be closed. Macy's would depart in Spring of 2016 which was the last remaining original tenant of the mall.

Ross would later relocate to the recently upgraded Suburban Shopping Center that's located 2 miles from the mall being a tenant along with Walmart, HomeGoods, Joann Fabrics, and many other Big Box Stores.

Redevelopment Plans

In 2018 Sterling got back to the drawing table and came up with a proposal called “Decatur Landing.”

The developers stated the project would be much like Krog Street Market and include a food hall.

Other Amenities would be 50,000 square feet of office space, 425 apartments, 50 Townhomes, and a 150-room hotel.

The plans also stated that AMC would remain on the property along with Burlington and Marshalls.

During the first public meeting about the plans, DeKalb County School Board member Marshall Orson encouraged the developer to consider the project’s impact on the nearby schools since the developers never called the school district.

Other arguments arose on the increased traffic the shopping center would cause and commissioners raised concerns on whether the area could support another grocery store.

The proposed “Decatur Landing” would be nixed after the developer and the county couldn’t agree on a master plan hampered by budget constraints.

It was also said by Sterling that “The county wanted to move our big box stores to the main entrance street,” she said. “Which meant our customers would be parking where our trucks would be unloading. It’s not safe much less inviting.”

Burlington, which has been one of the Mall's anchors since 2002 shuttered after relocating its store 4 miles away at Briarc liff Village in 2021. This left the Mall with AMC, Marshalls, Challenges Store, a Jewelry Store, Dollar Tree, and a few smaller stores that were located outside the mall with Exterior entrances only.

Closure

North Dekalb Mall officially closed to the public in 2020 with tenants who only had exterior entrances to their stores remaining open.

Edens, a national firm with regional headquarters in Atlanta would purchase the mall a year later and began to draft redevelopment plans.

In the Summer of 2023, it was announced that the property would be renamed “Lulah Hills.”

Plans called for the mall to be demolished to make way for shopping, dining, and lodging options.

Edens’ Lulah Hills blueprint calls for 2.5 million square feet overall, with a new PATH Foundation trail linking the property to nearby Emory University. The redevelopment breakdown included: 1,700 multifamily units, 100 townhomes, a 150-key hotel, roughly 320,000 square feet for retail and restaurants, and no office space.

The goal was set to have the site fully open by 2028. Tenants were given a few months to vacate in preparation for the demolition.

In November of 2023, The North DeKalb Mall project got $70 million in tax reimbursements which would mean that EDENS could start tearing down the Mall within the next 60 days.

Filming Destination

Multiple vacant storefronts were renovated so that they could be used for filming the Fear Street Trilogy. Stores like Casual Corner, Dalton Musicland, and Gadzooks were placed throughout the mall in 2019.

The Mall would also be used for Zombieland Double Tap in which vacant storefronts of the Mall were dressed up as popular modern stores with the Former Macy’s being dressed as an H&M, The former Ross being an Old Navy, and various other known retailers.

This film also used many abandoned buildings throughout the Atlanta area most notably the vacant hotel near Spaghetti Junction.

Parts of the mall were used again in 2021 for the live-action film “A Loud House Christmas.”

Today

North Dekalb Mall Currently has 2 businesses that remain open the Marshalls Store and the AMC Theaters which is a big draw to the site. The rest of the mall appears to be sealed off with power remaining on.

Marshall’s store is currently going through a small renovation as of January 2024, which makes you wonder that the store probably won’t move and that it will be redeveloped into the new Lulah Hills Shopping Center.

A few Urban Explorers have since made their way through, and the mall has notable water leaks, damaged storefronts, and heavy vandalism.

Most of the mall remains intact and salvageable, but the legacy Rich's/ Macys that closed back in 2016 appears to have the most damage with severe water leaks and mold.

The former Burlington and Ross appear to be in excellent condition along with the Mall corridor.

A lot of remnants from past movies remain on site as well along with blueprints for movie sets and mall memborilla.

Dollar Tree and a USPS branch were the most recent tenants to leave, which only had exterior entrances and no interior access to the mall.

Challenges Games and Comics a long-time tenant would relocate to nearby Northlake Mall.

Mall Security is also still onsite monitoring the safety of shoppers as well as patrolling the Mall Grounds.

Demolition was originally planned for late 2023 for “Lulah Hills,” but as of March 2024, no work has been done aside from Asbestos removal on some of the former stores and a construction headquarters post.

We can all agree that North Dekalb Mall North DeKalb Mall has since become the 'almost' mall of DeKalb County with Costco 'almost' becoming a store anchor for nearly 2 decades.

Let me know your thoughts on the Lulah Hills redevelopment Plan and if you think this is a good fit for the area.