In my research for my post on the Sears and JCPenney archives, I ran across some information on the former Sears store in downtown Charlotte. On Sears’ website, they said the old downtown store closed in 1979 and moved to Eastland Mall.
I thought it was a misprint because Eastland opened in 1975 and I thought Sears opened with the mall. But I was wrong: several people on a historic Charlotte website had fond memories of the old store, noting in particular the cafeteria and the architecture, some things Sears hasn’t had distinctions in for decades.
One site even had some old newspaper clippings of the vintage 1949 store and some pictures of the old store today, which is now an office for the city of Charlotte. I know that Winston-Salem had a Sears of similar design, built around the same time, but it was vacated in 1975, when Hanes Mall opened (Sears says 1976 at the archives, but I haven’t found a second opinion yet).
I never knew anything about that old store, but I do have a connection to the old freestanding Sears stores. Roanoke used to have one called “Sears-Town”, built in 1957, which we used to shop as a family before Sears moved to Valley View Mall in 1985. I didn’t give much thought to the old building on Williamson Road, just north of downtown, until I got my first job as an architect.
The biggest project I’ve ever did at LMW was the addition to and renovation of Sears-Town into the City of Roanoke Health and Human Services Facility. Renovating that building was one of the hardest things I ever did. Because of all the memories I had about that building and some design decisions that I didn’t agree with, it felt at some times like I was ripping up part of my childhood. In the end, the project turned out okay, if not architecturally stunning. It’s not what it was, but it became isn’t too bad.
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