GREENEVILLE COMMONS: GREENEVILLE, TN
Phoenix's Commentary
Posted January 8, 2005 (user submitted)
The story of how Greeneville Commons is slowly dying is quite a cliche. You'll
probably hear it a million times if you haven't already, so I'm going to use
it, no matter how common of a phrase it may be. The phrase is "Wal Mart is
slowly but surely killing our mall."
Built in the early 1990's or so by New Plan Developments, the Greeneville
Commons immediately became the hub of its small town location in between
Asheville, NC and Knoxville, TN( about 90 miles either way). Complete with
national anchors such as JC Penney, KMart, Proffitt's (later became Belk), and
Goody's Family Clothing, the Greeneville Commons appeared as if it was going to
be the shining star of this town for an eternity. They fulfilled this vision
for about 16 or 17 years. That's when Wal Mart came.
In May of 2005, Wal Mart Supercenter built a location on this small town's
eastern end. In February or March of 2005, Verizon Wireless had already left
the Commons in favor of a larger free-standing location less than two miles
from the future Supercenter. I'm not sure if this was a direct result of the
Supercenter, but I would guess that it probably had something to do with it.
Regardless, Verizon leaving the commons didn't really deal that huge of blow.
The only reason I even mentioned this Verizon was to foreshadow what would
become of the entire mall itself.
In autumn of 2005, 4 stores announced they would be leaving: Dollar Tree( a
jewel in this predominately low income area), Cato Women's Store, Sally Beauty
Supply, and Rent-a-Center. This was about 1/6 of this small mall's stores.
Without the other stores to support it and stiff competition from Wal Mart
itself, I see KMart closing its doors very soon. Without KMart, this mall will
almost definitely wither away, a mere shadow of the giant called Wal Mart.
Maybe this mall isn't gone, but I have a feeling this is just a battle in the
war Wal Mart will inevitably win.