Georgia Square Mall facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Georgia Square Mall

Location	Athens, Georgia, United States
Coordinates	33°56′38″N 83°28′03″W / 33.943983°N 83.467491°W / 33.943983; -83.467491
Opening date	February 11, 1981
Owner	Hendon Properties
No. of stores and services	66
No. of anchor tenants	4 (2 open, 2 vacant)
Total retail floor area	673,138 sq ft (62,536.6 m2).
No. of floors	2
Parking	3,807

Georgia Square Mall is a large shopping center located in Athens, Georgia, in the United States. It's a popular place for people who live nearby to shop and hang out. While many students go to the University of Georgia in Athens, this mall mostly serves the local families and residents.

A Look Back: Mall History

The Georgia Square Mall first opened its doors in 1981. It was built with two levels and had a unique, old-fashioned design. For example, the entrance to the Belk store had a cool, shiny copper look. When it first opened, it was one of the biggest malls in a more rural area of the country.

The mall started with four main stores, called "anchor stores." These are big department stores that attract many shoppers. The original anchor stores were Davison's, Sears, JCPenney, and Belk. Interestingly, these big stores used to be in Downtown Athens but moved to the new mall when it opened.

In 2007, the mall started to get a fresh new look. They updated the outside entrances and parts of the inside. Even with these changes, the mall still looks a lot like it did when it first opened.

Over the years, some of the anchor stores changed their names or closed down.

• Davison's changed its name several times. It became Macy's in 1986, then Rich's in 1998, then Rich's-Macy's in 2003, and finally back to Macy's in 2005. However, this Macy's store closed in 2017.
• Sears closed its doors in the fall of 2019.
• JCPenney announced its closure in June 2020 and closed in October 2020.

After these closures, Belk became the only original anchor store left at the mall.

Mall Anchor Stores

Anchor stores are usually the largest stores in a shopping mall. They are often department stores that help bring many customers to the mall.

Current Anchor Stores

• Belk: This store is still open and is about 127,381 square feet in size.

Former Anchor Stores

• Davison's: This store was about 115,623 square feet. It changed names many times before closing in 2017.
• Sears: This store was about 91,000 square feet and closed in 2019.
• JCPenney: This store was about 97,550 square feet and closed in October 2020.