HICKORY HOLLOW MALL: NASHVILLE, TN
Daron Dunkin's Commentary
Posted June 3, 2006 (user submitted)
Hickory Hollow is a 2-level mall located in the Nashville suburb of Antioch,
which is about 10 miles southeast of the downtown area. When it opened in
1978, it was the largest mall in the state. It had about 100 stores and 4
anchors: Sears, JCPenney's, Cain Sloan, and Castner-Knott. The latter 2 were
local department stores that had downtown locations as well as stores in the
other major malls at the time (Rivergate, Green Hills). I also believe
Castner's had locations at Harding Mall and in a strip mall in Donelson.
My first memory of this mall was not long after it opened. I was about 5 at
the time. I had wandered off from my mom when she went into one of the stores. For some reason or another, I grabbed onto the outside of the escalator railing
and went up!!! This is scary, especially for a 5 year old. Fortunately, a
gentleman grabbed me off of the railing before I got to the top, and ran down
the "up" escalator to take me back to my mom.
Through the years, I have frequented this mall. For the most part, it has
seemed to do very well. To my knowledege, there were at least 2 renovations;
the first of these was about 1993, which expanded the food court area. The
other I believe was in the early 2000s. Of course, the 2 local anchors changed
names on account of mergers with other stores. Cain Sloan became Dillard's in
about 1987. Castner's became Proffits in 1998, which then became Hecht's about
2-3 years later.
As Monty Phyton would say, "it's not dead yet". However, it certainly seems to
be headed in that direction. Penney's closed in early 2006 to open a new store
in Mt. Juliet. I last visited this mall before they closed, I would say that
the stores were about 90% occupied. Then again, losing a major anchor is not
good for any mall.
Factors that would more than likely cause Hickory Hollow to suffer in the future:
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A large percentage of Hickory Hollow's customers come from Murfreesboro,
Smyrna, and Lavergne, which is just down I-24. However, the Boro's population
has grown tremendously in the last 10-15 years. As a result, the retail
opportunities have also grown. M'boro's mall, while not as large as Hickory
Hollow, has some of the same stores, and is being expanded as we speak. Most
of the big boxes and restaurants at Hickory Hollow are also in M'boro. A
second large shopping center is expected to open in about 2 years, this will
have a Best Buy, Barnes/Noble, and a few other big name stores. As of now, a
lot of M'boro residents prefer to stay here to shop, instead of driving all the
way to Nashville. This could also take away from Hickory Hollow's base.
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This factor is pure speculation, but with Hecht's becoming Macy's later
this year, it's a possibility that they decide to close this store instead of
going to the trouble of putting up new signs and everything. The same thing
could also be said of Dillard's. If this occurs, and all that's left is Sears,
it's pretty much down hill from there.
Have information on this mall's history, current conditions,
future plans, personal memories, corrections or general comments?
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