INDIAN MALL: JONESBORO, AR
Jarrod Long's Commentary
Posted September 13, 2005 (user submitted)
Indian Mall is the only mall in northeast Arkansas. As of today, the mall
is not dead. However, this time next year it will be on life support. Let me
explain.
The population of Jonesboro is 65,000 + 7,000 student that live in town and
on the campus during each college term. The population of the surrounding
counties that use Jonesboro for their shopping needs is approximately 230,000
people. The nearest malls outside of Jonesboro are in Memphis (about 90 miles
by the time you drive through town) and Little Rock (120 or so miles). Indian
Mall is the only mall that serves this population. For a population of this
size, you would think that there would be a decent size mall but there isn?t.
In 1967, the population of Jonesboro was 26,500. The new Indian Mall was
nearing completion. In October of 1967, the first few stores opened in the
mall. These stores were the two main anchors Sears, and Blass (Blass was owned
by the owner of Dillards before they changed the name to Dillards). Also a
Ragan's Shoes, Bettye Bliss, and T,G,&Y. opened in the mall. While these
stores were able to open early, in May 1968, the rest of the stores opened for
the mall to celebrate an official grand opening. These stores included the
following; Singer Sewing Center, Zales Jewelers, Butler Shoes, Cable
Television, Merle Norman, The Place (dress shop), Carousel Beauty, House of
Wigs, Stimson's Supermarket, Luby's Cafeteria, Bell Shoes, LePetit Sidewalk
Caf?, Broadnaux Jewelers, Hallmark Shop, Paperback Bookstore, and a Candy Shop.
This was the place to shop for years. As Jonesboro grew so did it's need
for the mall to expand. In the early to mid 1970's, JC Penny was needing a
larger space to retail due to the limited space they had at their downtown
location. With this consideration, JC Penny had a store built onto the mall.
This also added a new small wing to the mall. The mall also recieved a new
floor and a few skylights.(The floor remains today, a dark brown rock type
pattern and the skylights do not do much justice with light.) Many of the
stores remained for a while. In the early 1980's T.G.&Y. could not compete
with the new Wal-Mart store in town. This caused them to shut down.
Dillards
eventually acquired this store to make it their men's store. They then
coverted the other store to women's and children's clothing. In the mid to
late 1980's, the Stimson's Supermarket closed it's mall location. This caused
the mall to completely renovate the area. They created a new main entrance to
the mall. Also a food court and several new stores were added. This is the
way the mall looks today.
Today Indain Mall has the following stores, Dillards, J.C.Penny's,
Sears,Merle Norman, Regis Hairstyle, a Nail Salon(local owned), Autie Anne's
Pretzels, Candy Craze, Cookie Factory, Corn Dog 7, Lazzari Italian Kitchens
(local owned), Louie's Ice Cream and Deli(local owned), Sheffield's
Express(local owned), Halmark Shop, Waldenbooks, Game Stop(formerly a
Babbages), Radio Shack, Glitz Jewelers, Zales, Gordon Jewelers, Union Planter's
Bank, Aspen Shoe Co., Foot Locker, Journey's, Lady Footlocker, Payless Shoes,
Afterthoughts, Claire's, Champs, GNC, KB Toys, Sam Goody, Trevors, Bath Junkie,
The Sunglass Co., Gadzooks, The Buckle, The Gap, Casual Corner, Maurices,
Vanity and Silerball(arcade). The JC Penny's store is small, about 45,000
sq.ft. and Sears has the largest store, about 75,000 sq ft. Dillards women's
store was 55,000 sq ft and the men's store was 25,000 sq ft.
The company that owns this mall bought land on the south side of Jonesboro
and put up signs for Southern Hills Mall. This mall would be 1million sq.ft.
of retail space anchored by a Dillards, J.C. Penny, Sears, and Target (first
one in NE Arkansas). The land was cleared but no construction ever began.
Then an announcement of another mall project came and this mall would be
located about 5 blocks from Indian Mall in the center of the retail area of
Jonesboro. This mall is going to be called The Mall at Turtle Creek. Owned by
a local company that has properties all over the region, BelzBurrow, this mall
will be approximately 750,000 sq. ft. in size. They also took Dillards, J.C.
Penny, and Target from the Southern Hills idea. This mall has already started
construction. The Target and Penny's will open in September 2005. The rest of
the mall will open in March 2006.
The new mall is interesting. It is combining a lifestyle center with a
regular shopping mall. From the front, you will see a Target, Penny's, Circuit
City, Barnes and Noble, Bed Bath and Beyond, and then Dillards All stores
will be connected to the mall which will run behind these stores and connect
them together giving them mall access as well as parking lot access.
Pictures
can be seen here.
As far as Indian Mall, Dillards and Pennys have said that they are gone.
As well as most of the national stores. Sears is eventually going to leave for
a stand alone store. I figure that Sears will move into the Kmart location now
that they have combined. The management of Indian Mall has made statements
that they still planned on building their mall south of town but now they
aren?t saying much at all. I will send in updates as this mall dies.
Links
www.indianmalljonesboro.com/ - Mall's Official Website