I took some pictures of the very dead Carolina Circle Mall (1976-2002) in Greensboro, NC and posted them online at my photo site. The picture above is of the very funky Montgomery Ward store that was there until the mall's bitter end.
View Carolina Circle Mall, Greensboro, NC
I coudn't include a description on Yahoo! Photos, so here's what the photos are:
1. Left to right; former Belk, upper level mall entrance, former Ivey's/Dillard's
2. Left to right; former Belk, upper level mall entrance, former Ivey's/Dillard's, alternate angle
3. Former Ivey's/Dillard's at left, former Montgomery Ward at right.
4. Former Montgomery Ward auto center, across the street from the mall.
5. Former Montgomery Ward, showing upper level side entrances.
6. Former Montgomery Ward, showing upper level front entrances, former Ivey's/Dillard's is on the left.
7. Former Montgomery Ward, showing lower level entrances, loading docks and garden center.
8. Rear of the mall, with Montgomery Ward garden center at left, Belk at right.
9. Rear of the mall, with Montgomery Ward in the background.
10. Former Belk, showing lower level entrance and the garden center. The rest of the mall is on the left.
11. Former Belk, showing lower level entrance and the garden center at center of photo. The rest of the mall is in the background.
12. Former Belk, showing upper and level entrances.
Here's some music for your journey: Sun Goddess -- Ramsey Lewis with Earth Wind & Fire. I call this “the Carolina Circle song” because it reminds me of Carolina Circle Mall, which, like this song, was very, very ‘70s. Listen
I used to walk to Carolina Circle mall as a youth through a path near the waste treatment site and I worked a the Circle 6 theater through college. It was truly an odd mall with its acrchitecture, but also a 'Black' mall because most of its patrons, like myself, were Black. The mall holds a lot, and I mean A LOT of memories for me, especially in the 80's with stores KB Toys, the Ice rink, and the Arcade. But I knew when I worked at the theater that the mall would go down hill and could not compete with Four seasons. The location was terrible over time, no quick way to get there from other parts of town. It was almost secluded in a way being on Hwy 29. I have long since moved from Greensboro to work in RTP (I live in Durham) and I have watched another Mall here, South Square Mall in Durham, get demolished and replaced with Super Target, the first target in Durham, and your usual strip mall. A new Southpoint Mall off I-40 has become the rage. The new Target has revitalized the area in Durham, and maybe with the new Walmart scheduled to replace the Carolina Circle Mall will jump revitalize that part of Greensboro as well.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comments, Circle6 refugee. You're not alone in your love for Carolina Circle Mall. I didn't go there as often as you did, but I feel like a big part of my chilhood memories had something to do with that mall. I hate to see it gone.
ReplyDeleteI hope for the best for that neighborhood, too.
I have no comment. All of mine are on my blog, so you get the picture.
ReplyDeletePS: I recently got the full version of that "Carolina Circle Song". It's still not as Carolina Circley as Two Hearts by Phil Collins, but it does sound very Carolina Circley.
You got "Sun Goddess?" Sweet! Like I said before, you are the most "old-school" teenager I've ever met :-)
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