Comments on: Riverchase Galleria; Hoover, Alabama

By: Phoenix Beau

Phoenix Beau — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 16:02:01 +0000

Just to make things clear… these photos were probably taken on a sunday. The mall is always filled to the top with people and is at almost full occupancy so IT IS NOT A DEAD MALL!

By: Chris

Chris — Sun, 17 May 2009 03:31:55 +0000

@Jonah Norason, I used to work at Century Plaza in 1998, and to my understanding, Eastwood Mall was bought out by the same property management company as the The Galleria. They did a great face lift on the mall but due to the decline in the area, the mall did not survive and has now been torn down and turned into a lifestyle shopping center. ( it happens to have a Wal-Mart in it!)

By: danfife

danfife — Mon, 04 May 2009 17:03:06 +0000

The company that owns this mall has filed for bankruptcy. Nordstrom has cancelled plans for this project. Why were they going to wait till 2012 to open?

By: David

David — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 02:56:56 +0000

Having been employed by a major retailer at both The Summit and Riverchase Galleria, I can offer some local insight:

- Bayer Propeties, which owns The Summit, did try to block the conversion of the center’s Parisian to Belk due to it’s merchandise mix. There was rumored to be language in the Parisian lease that said the space would be occupied by an upscale retailer. After Belk assured Bayer it would make the Summit location a flagship store, Bayer backed down. It was rumored Nordstrom would take over the Parisian building at Summit.

- Bayer Properties was successful in blocking Office Max from buying the lease of defunct retailer Organized Living. Bayer had to outbid Office Max for the lease of Organized Living’s Summit location. Bayer was able to place Urban Outfitters in part of the former Organized Living space, and American Eagle in the remainder.

- Brooks Brothers will move to the new phase of The Summit from Riverchase Galleria. American Apparel will also open in the new phase, Fall 09.

- There are many empty spaces at The Summit. Less so at Riverchase, if you do not count the anchors.

- General Growth was able to muscle a Nordstrom into Riverchase Galleria. It is a kind of a coup for the mall according to this site: http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=514861

- Summit may have a Bruno’s Grocery (above Kroger/Ralph’s, on par with Publix, below Whole Foods), BB&B, Old Navy… It also has Sak’s, Anthropologie, Urban Outfitters, Restoration Hardware, Pottery Barn, BCBG/Max… all higher price-point stores Riverchase lacks. Out of the two centers, Summit is the more upscale. Also, the breadth of merchandise carried at most stores at The Summit outpaces the same brands at Riverchase (J. Crew is an example).

By: Jonah Norason

Jonah Norason — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 22:01:29 +0000

Interestingly, this mall has what is the bane of other malls…mixed demographics. The mall has lots of white and African-American shoppers, but it doesn’t get a lot of flack because they are adults actually shopping instead of “ghetto” teenagers “hanging out”.

By: Alpha

Alpha — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 01:50:33 +0000

Huh, it’s interesting they’re still operating the few Parisian stores, though I noticed they’re all in upscale malls where a Bon*Ton might seem a little out of place. (The irony is that Parisian always seemed to have its super-nice stores in a lot of failing malls like Eastwood in Birmingham and Beechmont and Forest Fair in Ohio) At least the name isn’t quite dead yet- Always seemed like the ‘right’ mix of chic upscale without being ridiculous (Nordstrom, Saks).

Belk is also a really chameleon type store, with some of their worse locations looking like a JCPenney to some of their stores (like in Haywood Mall) going upscale with a (better-than-Nordstrom) coffee bar.

By: Nitek Ketin

Nitek Ketin — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 00:21:23 +0000

The Summit tries to position itself as an upscale lifestyle center, yet it features merchants like Gap, Bed Bath and Beyond, Old Navy, Bruno’s Supermarket and a multiplex theater.

By: leoninatl

leoninatl — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 18:00:12 +0000

Great feature! I live in Atlanta and travel home to Mississippi a few times a year, so I see this mall quite a bit (great pit stop too). It has held up very well in spite of The Summit only being a few miles up the road. It is the archetype 1980’s megamall, matter of fact, the largest between Atlanta and Dallas. I will say that they have lost a lot of the more upscale and trendy stores that decided to relocate to The Summit instead…I think The Apple Store and The Cheesecake Factory are a couple of stores that could just as easily fit in at the Galleria. I think that getting Nordstrom was a stroke of genius in this situation. H&M would be a great add to the Galleria too.

Does anyone know about how the owners of The Summit threatened to try and kick Belk off from the center because they didn’t feel that Belk was ‘upscale’ enough for their center? I guess that battle was lost.

By: john gallo

john gallo — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 04:39:26 +0000

i also worked for boston store at the regency mall store in the housewares department i was ther for nine years some of the best people i ever worked with were there it all seemed to fall apart after carsons came into the mix i loved working the warehouse sales at the old service bulilding on milwaukes north side new all types of people from other stores corprate and buyers that you realy could talk to now i work for wal mart and on many days its like we are floting solo in a big box and no one cares oh how i miss the old boston store
i started my own blog on retail i call it stores forever come take a look and prange way feel free to use any of my stuff if you need it and i did link your site on mine
http://www.storesforever.blogspot.com

By: Nitek Ketin

Nitek Ketin — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 04:09:57 +0000

Riverchase Galleria is too much of a fortress mall to be done in by surrounding developments. Nearby shopping centers like the Patton Creek power center simply complement the retail offerings of this regional shopping destination.