Town Center at Cobb
 | |
| Location | Kennesaw, Georgia, USA |
|---|---|
| Opening date | February 26, 1986 |
| Management | Simon Property Group |
| Owner | Simon Property Group |
| No. of stores and services | 200+ |
| No. of anchor tenants | 5 |
| Total retail floor area | 1,269,000 sq ft (117,900 m2). |
| No. of floors | 2 |
| Website | Town Center at Cobb |
Town Center at Cobb (often called Town Center Mall), is a regional shopping mall located in Kennesaw, Georgia near Atlanta.[1]
History
Opened in late February 1986, the mall was originally anchored by Rich's, Macy's and Sears. The Mall is almost identical to Gwinnett Place Mall. The Macy's store was the first in Atlanta not to have originally been part of the Atlanta-based Davison's chain, which Macy's eliminated after owning it since 1929. The largest mall in the state when it opened, a fourth anchor, Mervyn's, joined the mall later in 1986.
Town Center is part of a major retail hub in northern Cobb County, Georgia along Barrett Parkway. It is located between parallel parts of I-75 and I-575, just north of where the interstates meet or split from each other. The mall itself has seen several significant changes over the years. Built with a pad for an additional wing, a new wing extending north from the east wing was finally added in 1993 with a Parisian department store, the first to open in the Atlanta area. This was done likewise in 1995 at Gwinnett Place Mall with the same being. This brought the store count at the mall up to 220 stores and the amount of anchor store up to five. No other mall in the state had five anchors at the time except for North Point Mall, which opened also in 1993.
Enormously successful and drawing away customers that originally shopped at older Cumberland and Cobb Center Malls, the mall was first renovated in 1995 but has never been expanded aside from the Parisian addition. Store consolidations and retractions, however, have varied the anchor line-up in recent years. First, in 1996, JCPenney took over the former location of Mervyn's, which pulled out of Georgia in late 1995. Second, Rich's and Macy's were merged into one store, prompting the closure of the three-story Macy's that had been there since the mall's original opening. However, part of the store was refurbished and is now used as a Macy's Furniture Gallery (originally a Rich's-Macy's Furniture Gallery)and now operates as Macy's Furniture Gallery, Macy's Furniture Clearance Center and Macy's Men's Store. Macy's now occupies the former Rich's location.
Occupancy rates remain very high at the mall, and most major chain specialty stores are found in the mall. However, the mall is facing competition from all the big box stores on Barrett Parkway, two "lifestyle centers" that opened up on each end of the county and more upscale malls such as Lenox Square. However, on May 13, 2008, the mall announced a year-long renovation project and also added H&M. The project was finished in May 2009 with new food court designs, family restrooms, children's play area, signage, and soft seating areas.
Anchors
Current
- Belk (128,819 sq ft., formerly Parisian, northeast wing)
- JCPenney (originally 82,000 sq ft., northwest wing)
- Macy's (238,000 sq ft., east wing)
- Macy's Furniture & Men's Store (was never a Davison's, originally Macy's)
- Sears (170,570 sq ft., west wing)
Former
- Rich's (238,000 sq ft., east wing) (1986–2005; re-opened as Macy's)
- Parisian (128,819 sq ft., northeast wing) (1993–2007; renamed Belk)
- Mervyn's (82,000 sq ft., northwest wing) (1986–1995; re-opened as JCPenney in 1996)
References
External links
Coordinates: 34°01′01″N 84°33′51″W / 34.016846°N 84.564029°W